#doing emerald/experience lore? a little

[prince-less]

THE EGGSPERIMENTS AU MASTERPOST !

This is an au I've been cooking up based on an idea I made a few years ago where Sonic and Tails were chaos energy experiments transformed by Dr. Robotnik!

I plan on making this into a comic at some point, maybe soon.

Here are Sonic, Tails, and Eggman's ref sheets !

My written lore and story is right below the cut !

Eggman discovers a chaos emerald and learns of its physical energy properties. He wants to do a live experiment and so he finds a young Sonic, who isn't fast at this point but is still on his own, and captures him. Eggman starts giving Sonic blood transfusions comprised of blood samples and extracted chaos energy made by taking slivers off of the chaos emerald and liquifying them. It starts changing Sonic, filling him with overwhelming energy that only calms down when he runs, some expelling through the static electricity in his quills.

After a certain amount of time testing, Eggman is brought a proposition. A family of foxes offered up their twin-tailed toddler, wanting rid of him before he grew and brought humiliation to the family for his birth defect. They had heard of a doctor who was in need of unique subjects and so decided it was best they hand him over. Eggman began the treatment of the little fox not long after, and the effects were different, much to Eggman's surprise. The chaos energy was affecting the fox's sense of gravity. He began floating, moving if he was on the moon, and used his tails to propel himself through the air. Eggman had to weigh down his ankles and keep him in a pressurized cell to keep him from sitting on the ceiling.

After awhile, he finally let the two meet, and they immediately hit it off. They were inseparable and would make a fuss when they had to go back to their respective cells. As they hung out they began to wonder if they could go outside, and when they brought it up to Eggman, they were met with an immediate shut down. Sonic argued that they shouldn't be cooped up in his lab for the rest of their lives. They were yelled at and immediately separated to their rooms.

It started coming to a point whrte their testing starting to become more combative rather than reflexive, with Sonic questioning the doctor's motive for their creation, so when the doctor was out one day, he fried the lock of his cells with his energy and did the same to tails, making their way to the doctor's computer. Tails makes his way into it, having quickly gained an affinity for machines and technology through watching the doctor, and they soon find out that they're going to be utilized as some kind of super soldier. Horrified by this news, Sonic decides right then and there that they need to break out. They begin to make a break for it when Eggman returns right as they reach the door. Furious with their insubordination, he calls for his badniks until he's suddenly tazed by Sonic spindashing directly unto him. With Eggman unconscious they run like there's no tomorrow out into the bright, unfamiliar world.

Please send any questions you would like about them, I'd love to talk about them.

So, uh, yeah this is all I have for now ! I love my little eggs <33

Here's some bonus doodles for anybody who read all my ramblings

[octosan]

Working on one of the videos for my drinking game series and I got mad and wrote a whole rant that I realized was a little too much for a drinking game post.

I just hate this script so much you guys. I hate SO MUCH how much they simplified the dialogue, the worldbuilding, the puzzle solving in this game.

I've seen a lot of complaints about fans being illiterate towards the story and to that I say of course they are! The game doesn't ask them to think! Rather than throwing up your hands saying "maybe they had a good reason to dumb down the dialogue and spoonfeed you this stuff"

consider that critical thinking is a muscle

and players do not exercise it when the game is afraid you will forget the core premises of the game, or individual missions, and so repeat them constantly.

When your companions all get along and share the same basic principles beyond bland culture differences, and their principles are all ones deemed acceptable to "modern" audiences, so you never have to think about what life experiences might have led them to feel that way.

When you have your companions constantly patting you and the other companions on the back and saying "nice job!!" in combat as if we wouldn't understand that they are friends otherwise.

When you constantly have characters make juvenile comments like "this is evil, even for the venatori!" or "they did that just for power?/greed?" or "man this makes me hate the venatori even more!" (even more?? these are fantasy nazis!!! you didn't hate them already??) and then don't give the evil factions any nuance because they're afraid you won't get that these factions are eeeeeevil. (The Venatori were never very nuanced outside Calpernia but at least there was lip service that they were a symptom of broader issues, not the convenient cause.)

When you're constantly explaining to the player how many blight pustules they still need to pop, how many crystals you have left, and oh!! the gate's open now! go through the gate! or look! there are darkspawn there where your camera is already pointed! Even late in the game they were doing this! Even at the end of Bellara's questline she was explaining that laser mechanic to me!

When they present you with lore reveals that have been highly anticipated for decades, as well as multiple memories which are meant to add to our interpretation of a core character, and they literally just tell you what to think about them and how to interpret them, at length, in that godawful regret questline. (And tbh even Solas' memories in the Crossroads did not tell me anything I did not already know)

And then Mythal saying "hey those murals are not 100% reliable memories" in a single missable dialogue option that we don't address any further, rendering even that agonizing bit of handholding pointless. Like okay what does it MATTER that they are not 100% reliable? because the redemption ending relies on your interpretations of it being 100% correct!! what purpose does that line serve except to give the writers deniability?

When you don't even bother to GIVE new worldbuilding details when they could absolutely be relevant at the time, except when it makes the writers' job easier like "turlum" or Bellara's clan's funeral practices being indistinguishable from ancient elven ones even though that's literally not what we were told about Dalish practices in the past, guess the Emerald Graves don't exist anymore-. Like just as one example that has stuck in my head, Elgy and Ghilly use terms like The Blight, Archdemons, Darkspawn, the Crossroads, etc. despite being from time periods that predate those terms and presumably having their own words for those same concepts. You can't tell me that Ghilly honestly thinks of her beloved hell children as "darkspawn", or that she would tolerate other people calling them that. You can't tell me that Elgy would agree to call his instrument of reshaping the world, which he is trying to convince people is a good thing, the Blight.

When the game actively punishes people who are familiar with the prior materials with their worldbuilding, punishes people who are reading the codex entries and looking for minor throwaway lines that acknowledge previous shit like the fact that Crows are literally tortured as part of their training and killed if they fail contracts, by having it not be remotely relevant to the story and make it much harder to have the appropriate reaction to what's happening in it (like Rook has no choice but to be happy Jacobus is taking in more orphan crows??) This is low-hanging fruit but it's so illustrative of what I mean.

What other outcome is this all going to have but players who do not look further than the surface? Who miss and ignore little details they have been trained to think do not matter and largely do not inform the broader story and characters? Players who are easily stumped on puzzles because they were not allowed to figure anything else out by themselves?

Are you going to claim that the Orzammar questline in Origins didn't teach anybody a lesson about paying close attention to the social structures and culture of a society when you pick the person who's going to rule it, as opposed to picking the guy who the narrative frames as wise and kind and the other guy framed as a power hungry third child? Are you going to claim that the Archon choice teaches anything remotely as useful?

Like!!!!

GOD

Inquisition had plenty of this stupid handholding too btw. You can argue all of the games had it by degrees. but it wasn't even remotely this bad.

[tazienimp]

Haunted

(Tw for Janice and Janice related activities, also eyestrain. And super far down, super complicated timeline jargon that will probably become outdated sometime soon so, beware.)

I'm starting to talk like you do.

I can't remember

WHO I AM.

THIS IS WHAT YOU WANTED, RIGHT?!?!

(Recommended song for the long lore read)

There's times where Doom's husband looks at him, and he can tell by his eyes alone, that that's not Mephy.

It wasn't enough for Janice to abuse Mephiles. It wasn't enough for her to continously try and kill his child out of blind jealousy and rage and in a fight for control. No she had to go beyond petty domestic abuse.

Although she's dead, she never left. She toys with Mephy in his sleep and makes him experience all of his worst fears and memories night after night, she fucks with his words and makes him a liar and a manipulator where only his most subtle of actions speak of who he really is, she turns him into a monster when he's angry enough that she can take the reigns, she's all but destroyed what little hope there was for him to be normal, turned him into her puppet.

All this and he has no idea he's haunted, that when he killed her she never released her razor sharp grip from his skin, and no one else knows either, everyone believes, that's who he is, that's who he always was. But Doom has always known something's not right. No, something's completely fucked when Mephiles looks at him like this. When he goes quiet, and all that's left is the molten, unadulterated hatred in his eyes.

However it's only there for a brief instant and then it's gone. It's a short enough window where Doom doesn't question it, he only assumes it's Mephy being upset, this is just how he is.

It fills Janice with great pride to know she's still fucking up her husband's life from the inside out. Just like she did all those years ago. The only thing that's changed for her is the body that she's in.

So, as you could probs tell, the other one was a warmup. You literally can't go into the Janice stuff raw without a bit of a warmup, yanno? This is the main course, and i hope you all enjoy~ i despise her but she's also been seeping into more of the lore lately, whether it be mentions of her or her signature color. So naturally i figured, yanno, why not shed some more light on this fucking boogeyman of a woman. She is the villain of my entire au, after all. At least, of the Corrupted/Neutral branch.

Now, warning, this is gonna get hella confusing, I'm gonna be talking about updated timeline nonsense. Stuff that i had to grab notes for, and i rarely have to do that with my au. So if you'd rather hop off now, this is your time to do so. Otherwise, class is in session.

The Corrupted/Neutral branch consists of:

- Corrupted

- Neutral (Genderbent doesn't count cause it's just Neutral but fucked in a completely different way)

- Second Chance

- Doomsday

- Kidnapped

- Abandoned

- Found

- Cult

- Arcane

- Overprotection

- Faithless

- Faith

- Hopeless

- Hope

- Rekindled

- Restored

- Liberation

These are all of the, at the moment, timelines that have happened the way they did because Janice existed for the first Mephiles, Phantom.

She drove him crazy. Just like Neutral Mephy, he killed her and spent three days pacing and ripping his face out of all the pictures in the house. He found the purple emerald which heightened his madness. He sacrificed Janice's kids to the void for power in the case he ever didn't have a chaos emerald on him, ensuring the Void's grip on him. He committed 06, yet he didn't forgive Sonic and Elise, so he died. As a ghost, he tried, and tried, and failed, over and over again to find a version of himself who would agree to forgive them and reset time to fix everything. Then he trapped that Mephiles, Neutral Mephy, for 15-16 years in the void and made him patch the Neutral Timeline so that what happened to Corrupted wouldn't happen to Neutral.

In doing so, he woke up his own dead children, and they began consuming time and space. So Phantom fucked around with the Neutral timeline, to create other timelines. Mainly Second Chance, Doomsday, Kidnapped, and Abandoned. Those four Crys's and Ames's were yanked into Corrupted with Neutral Crys and Ames, and the five pairs of counterparts were forced to fight their baby variants to protect every timeline.

Every timeline that has cropped up after that is a split, a twin, married into the timeline, or a child timeline of two other timeline.

Faith, Hope, and Rekindled are child timelines to Hopeless and Faithless, specifically, with Hopeless being married into the branch. Hope and Rekindled cannot exist without each other, while Faith can only exist by itself, technically creating a multi-timeline paradox

Overprotection is an early split of Neutral while Faithless is a later split from Neutral.

Cult and Arcane, twin timelines, are super early splits from Abandoned and Kidnapped (two more twin timelines), while Found and Liberation are later splits of Abandoned. The original Mephiles from Cult and Arcane, not the ones currently there, has been turned into Subject from Hopeless, while Mephiles does not naturally exist in Hopeless. The Mephiles's currently residing in Cult/Arcane, as mentioned before, was Abandoned/Kidnapped Mephiles. Yes that does mean there are 4 of this specific variant of him, and every single one of them are drastically different.

And Restored, is a split of Corrupted. A timeline where the ghost of Neutral Mephy is accidentally sent back to the very first timeline and stops Phantom from killing Sonic right before it's too late.

And of course, Neutral is the first split. The one that led to the creation of all other timelines.

Time is not relative. Time does not exist in a straight line. You cannot kill a timeline unless its strand residing in the void is destroyed/consumed. Time branches. It creates hybrid, child timelines with other timelines. It goes through similar reproduction to plants, fungi, and bacteria, spreading and growing their own strands within the void until eventually there will be an unending winding forest of them. If there is the possibility of a change drastic enough to change time, it creates a whole new timeline. And each timeline will crop up at different times, but every timeline will match up with each others' present, making the Void and time itself a truly eldritch creature.

Each timeline is biologically different in some shape or form. So you get errors. Deviations. Things that aren't possible in another timeline. People who act ever so slightly different on a fundamental level, or who look just a little off from their counterparts for seemingly no reason. If it weren't for these biological differences, timelines would not exist outside of mere tampering. Yet there are constants. Red strings of fate, the reassigning of souls, deaths that cannot be undone, only exchanged for other lives.

And all of this. Every single bit of this madness. Is due to Phantom, wanting to give the world another chance, give humanity another chance, live a normal life, do what he thought normal people did.

And he picked the one mortal woman who could fuck up reality itself and give the Void true sentience.

Sentience that has been influenced by people it favors.

Janice is my secret villain. Janice is the reason everything happened. Phantom would have never killed her and gone mad if she hadn't done the things she did to him. Things that i can only partially mention. And now, she haunts a handful of timelines by still being physically present, residing in the body of her unaware, suffering husband. The only being unchanged by time itself. She's a blight, a sickness. The creeping darkness that even the shadows are afraid of, that even the Void won't threaten. The only woman who can terrify a god. The only woman who can strike fear into an alien warlord with only a look. The only woman that can be felt and percieved by so many that don't even know she's there. Her red string of fate is forever tied to Mephy, to the point counterparts who have never met her, such as Null, still flinch at her glare and feel the intense urge to run if ever they are unfortunate to still cross paths with her.

She'd be so thrilled to see the mess she's caused.

WOOOOO OKAY EVERYONE WHO MADE IT PAST ALL THAT, GOOD JOB, HIGH FIVES ALL AROUND, ARE YOUR HEADS SMOKING CAUSE MINE SURE IS!!!!! I'm sorry i just get a huge rush whenever i get to go fully fucking mask off like this about my lore and how it works XDDDDDDD i genuinely doubt anyone else has made it this far so like, lemme know if you actually did and if you have any questions, i LOOOOOVE talking about this stuff XDDDDD

Also i totes didn't grow up as a massive Doctor Who nerd you're crazy shush-

Alright, i think i got like, one more thing lined up for you guys after this for today, you'll like it i promise, it's just Whiteboard doodles, and there'll be no long conplicated paragraphs so yanno you can get a break from my bullshit i sweeeeeaaaaar~ this is getting pinned tho. For like a while.

Love you all, see you then XDDDDD 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

[marigold-petalz]

I've dreaded having to do this but I can no longer hide from it... I must do it now.

This is Émilie Frollo, an oc who I am going to lore drop about right now

She's from the Hunchback of Notré Dame, arguably one of Disney's best creations to date. As her name suggests, she's the wife of the infamous Claude Frollo, Minister of Justice and general asshole. She's in her thirties, and has had leukemia for nearly all her life

Being bedridden nearly all her life, her condition has caused her to experience a certain level of psychological issues, including disillusionment and hysteria.

About ten years ago, her father, who used to be a baron but gambled away his fortune after his wife died, married her off to the judge in an attempt to gain something out of the union to pay off his debt. He was killed by debt collectors shortly after Emilie's marriage. Her maiden name is Moreau.

Émilie spent her life getting ignored by her husband, and having the physicians repeatedly attempt to cure her illness, but never succeed. She was eventually driven insane by the loneliness and constant cruel neglect.

During the plot of the original movie, when Frollo starts lusting for Esmeralda (gross) he noticeably starts to visit her and check in on her a bit. (This is probably the same effect as when a cheater becomes paranoid of their partner finding out of their cheating and starts becoming clingy and possessive). Émilie deludes herself into believing that things might get better for her and that her luck has turned around for the better. Unfortunately shortly after the end of the movie rolls around and Frollo dies a miserable death in the fire at the cathedral (deserved) and Émilie goes into shock at the news of his death, in which only a few days later her illness claims her life for good.

Delving into her design details, you'll find that she is the complete opposite of Esmeralda. As compared to Esma's brown skin and dark hair, Émilie's pale skin and blonde hair are a stark contrast. Esma's eyes are a cool emerald green, while Émilie's burn an intense amber. These amber eyes also parallel the hellfire that Frollo is so afraid of, since in the original book Frollo has a fear of women because he is a very carnal man with little control over his desires and fears they will invoke the want for sin in him. If Esma is like the sun with her bold and confident demeanour that commands your attention, then Émilie is like the moon who is more quiet and reserved and serious.

Random fun facts:

- Émilie cannot ride horseback, so in any event where her presence is necessary and she has the energy to go, she arrives in a small personal carriage drawn by a snow-white mare named Wyntr.

- Émilie enjoys rain

- In her childhood she used to be very active and would often go play in the forest where she met a silver horse similar to the one she has now that helped her out of the forest when she got lost

- Émilie did not originally live in Paris before the marriage

- Her mother died during childbirth

Here's an art dump for her

1) Collab with a friend (right after she got informed of her marriage)

2) an au where Émilie died before frollo

3) (Frollo redemption au) Emilie after watching Frollo having defended Quasimodo from the taunts of the guards and crowd during the festival of fools and acting rationally instead of being a fuckin asshole (she was about to help the poor guy herself before he intervened) (she's delusional lol)

4) Émilie sitting in her carriage during a rainy day

small émilie animatic

okay that's all PHEW see this is why I was dreading this like who is even gonna read all this

I can send my friends this post now whenever they ask about émilie

[mama-qwerty]

Ok so as someone who enjoyed the Knuckles series, I honestly appreciate that it didn't end up pertinent to movie 3. You could have skipped the series and lost nothing because sure-! Knuckles delegated the master emerald to Wade? Funny joke on brand for these movies - let's roll with that! It even makes some sense if you consider it with an approach that Knuckles has chosen a hiding place no one would ever suspect.

But if you *have* watched the Knuckles series, you know all the context for that decision. Knuckles went on a buddy trip with Wade. Wade is now a kind of protégé to Knuckles, and they have developed a level of friendship and trust that goes with it.

When Knuckles began telling Sonic about where he's hidden the master emerald I had this grin on my face because I knew exactly who we'd be jump cutting to next. It was a sweet pay-off to the Knuckles series. A nod to events that happened, without feeling compelled to over-explain those events.

I think in short I'm just saying, this is exactly how the SCU should handle any spin-offs for its universe. Make them act as nice bonus features that are not required viewing for the main film series. They augment the viewing experience and they do NOT fragment it.

Examine the MCU as evidence of how much of a mess can be created when streaming shows are made out to be required viewing in order for successive films to make sense. It sends story arcs into a complicated blitz and just makes the viewing experience feel like homework.

I'll happily accept more spin-offs in the SCU that add to personal character stories without interrupting the film series.

YES

I also enjoyed the series, I enjoyed the way Knux and Wade clicked and played off each other. They are good for each other, in the sense that they help the other grow as a person but don't feel like they're simply forcing themselves to interact.

I absolutely do not want the SCU to end up like the MCU where there are a billion different series and movies and if you haven't seen each and every one you're hopelessly lost in the plot and know you're missing out on things in them. Things are referenced and unless you've 'done your homework' you don't understand them or the importance of them.

The thing I like about the SCU is that while Jeff and Co take inspiration from the games and comics and other media, and add little Easter eggs and nods to them, if you're not intimately familiar with every teeny bit of Sonic lore you don't feel like you're missing some secret in-joke that only real Sonic fans will get.

There are likely lots of callbacks and nods that I'm missing, mostly because I've come into Sonic through the movies themselves, and much of the game & comic lore I've learned incidentally as I've been in the fandom. I don't know the plots and details of every single game, I don't know the characters and happenings in every single comic. But it doesn't affect my enjoyment of the movies if I don't catch each and every little nod and wink to those long time fans.

The Knuckles series was filler. It was something to tide us over as we waited for movie 3. I've never claimed it was perfect, it had its flaws, but I enjoyed it for what it was, and really liked how they handled both Knux's and Wade's characterizations. I really liked them hanging out together.

I don't want a complicated cinematic universe. I want something with good characters, interesting stories, and decent world building. These are enjoyment, and once I feel like I have to watch every single thing that's released for that universe, it feels more like work to keep up with it.

I'll gladly watch any future series, so long as they remain just 'filler' or little 'side quests' that don't really have an effect on the main movie storylines.

[sharpedgedfool]

i fucking love your monster au design for shadow could we have some lore abt him? (if you want to :])

Apologies for the essay I'm about to drop for your ask jddfgsdkgf, but here's a sketch as a peace offering and I'll drop all the lore I have for you under the read more! Glad people are interested in it cause I'm currently obsessed with it lmao

OK so basically Eggman in this universe is still the mad doctor type, he’s just obsessed with the occult instead of robotics. He’s a mortal human but hunts monsters for experiments and he’s obsessed with gaining supernatural powers to rule the world, and Sonic and Amy with their usual group are his main enemies.

He has a big following of humans (who think he’s trying to save them from monsters) and a rather large army of other monsters who work for him - so he has a ton of resources despite being a 'regular dude', and he’s slowly collecting spellbooks and teaching himself magic.

He finds a rare grimoire, and it unlocks a treasure trove of dark magics. Now his big master plan is to summon a demon to serve him and gain ultimate power, to do this he needs the seven emeralds for the ritual.

Sonic and Amy are the main hero duo in the story, Sonic was cursed with lycanthropy as a child when a pack attacked his village, he was spared because he was young, and went to find a witch in hopes of a cure. The witch he found was Vanilla, her daughter Cream, and Amy who is her apprentice. Before Sonic could be cured he made friends with a few other cryptids who live in the same woods and in the end decided he’d rather stay cursed with them as he had nowhere else to go anyways. He’s not in a traditional pack (all were-creatures) instead they have a rag-tag group with all kinds of different monsters that live with the witches (Tails and Knux are in there somewhere I promise jkfgdhdf). He likes having the werehog strength so he can fight back and protect his new family.

Rouge is a born Vampire, not turned. Her parents were killed at some point and she took over their coven after she avenged them and proved herself worthy. She’s like the Queen of sorts and rules over a majority of the vampires across the world - she has eyes (and ears) everywhere, there's very little she doesn’t know about. So Sonic and Amy ask her for help when they realise Eggman’s planning something big. She has a huge hoard of gems locked up in a big spooky cliffside castle, she’s obsessed with treasure still. She agrees to aid them to overthrow Eggman in exchange for the seven emeralds for herself. She doesn’t want to use them for their power, so they agree.

Everyone teams up to find the emeralds first, but Eggman outsmarts them, and the ritual begins before they can stop him, and once it’s begun it’s irreversible. The only thing they can do at this point is change who the demon is bound to, so Sonic throws himself into the curse (he already has one after all).

Shadow is the demon that’s summoned. Typical demon pacts imply that he’ll do whatever the summoner asks, granting them ultimate power, but he’ll get their soul in return. The catch is if Sonic never asks him to do anything, he’s technically not indebted and Shadow won't get his soul. It’s a game of temptation, but since Sonic was technically an unwilling participant, Shadow's more intrigued than anything - he’s confident Sonic will eventually cave and ask him for something (they always do) so he doesn’t attempt to trick him, he sees no need.

Sonic now has a demon chained to him constantly, and he’s extremely on guard (demons are as powerful as creatures get in this universe) and he’s off put by how genuine Shadow comes across. Shadow asks a lot of questions, and Sonic assumes he’s doing it to learn how to manipulate him - Shadow finds it amusing. Eventually they get used to each other, Shadow and Rouge get along well (though they both tease Sonic mercilessly together so he tries to avoid her but Shadow will nag him to visit) Amy tries to work on a spell to break the bond between them but it's a notoriously hard spell to break (perhaps impossible as they destroyed the grimoire in the fight with Eggman), but eventually Sonic and Shadow are both unsure if they want it to be broken at all…

Sonic starts asking Shadow questions too, and finds out more about Shadow. Originally he was an angel - thousands of years ago he had a mortal friend (Maria) and the two of them were inseparable. Unlike demons, angels rarely interact with the world so her village mistook her good fortune as witchcraft and assumed Shadow to be a demon. They killed her over it, and Shadow was heartbroken - in a fit of rage he lashed out, wiped out their town and proved to them he could be the demon they thought he was. He became a fallen angel, scorned and bitter - not born of pure evil but clearly capable of carnage all the same.

Unlike hellborn demons, Shadow doesn’t enjoy mindlessly committing atrocities - he has to feel it’s a necessary evil or he’ll turn it on his summoner (this makes him dangerous to summon, he’s normally considered off-limits). He’s one of the more powerful demons but he’s hard to reason with to make it worth it. Eggman targeted him specifically because he thought Shadow would side with him as Maria was a distant ancestor of his.

Once the annoyance of being forcefully summoned wears off,  Shadow’s rather pleased Sonic isn’t trying to use him for anything - he’s secretly happy to have someone with decent morals to hang out with (he’s an outcast in hell for obvious reasons) but he’d refused to make mortal contact with anyone willingly after Maria for fear of resigning them to a bad fate all over again.

Again thank you for reading!! I'll have more art to share soon!! :)

[kimberbohwrites]

Alright, I'm officially launching this. It's been a long time coming on this one. Dusk & Honey: Chapter One Next Chapter> Word Count: 4,157 Rated: Overall fic rating is Explicit, this chapter is SFW READ ON AO3 (or continued below) Please don't forget to kudos/comment/like/reblog <3 >Halsin x Tav art by @ DARKURGETRASH on tumblr<

Summary: The story of my OC Tav, Luna and her experience during the timeline of the game, not modifying canon so much as adding more to the Halsin-romance path. Featuring: world-building, action, well-researched drow lore, hurt/comfort, slowburn Halsin romancing, and eventual smut. PLEASE MIND THE TAGS, we'll be exploring trauma in several areas including touching on some of the darker canon trauma faced by Halsin. Tags/Warnings: Eventual Smut, Enemies to Lovers, mildly they are gonna fight, Halsin Romance Route, Named Tav, Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Slow Burn, Slow Build, Drow Culture , Half-Drow Tav, Anti-Drow Racism, Anti-Tiefling Racism, Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Baldur's Gate 3, Cleric Tav, Implied/Referenced S*xual Assault, (meaning the eventual discussion of Halsin's time in the underdark), Pining

Chapter One

Luna had seen a lot in her life but the events of the last tenday had left her unsettled and she didn’t care much for the feeling. It was probably the fact that she’d experienced true terror before in her past and she wasn’t keen to relive it again so soon. She was relatively young for her kind, only 50 or so years old, as a half-drow that settled her in her final years as a young adult. Were she human she might be considered middle aged or even older by the archaic standards by which they viewed women.

I guess that was something the drow do have right, holding our older women in reverence.

She shook the thought away, she knew the cost of that reverence was absolute tyranny under Lolth. Pushing her long white hair out of her eyes she peered out from her bedroll at her strange new companions. Sleep wouldn’t come easy for her and so she silently stood and retreated from the circle of safety in which they slept each night. Their forms were still, save for Karlach who let out a snore and a grunt every so often.

A tiefling barbarian powered by infernal mechanics, an vampiric elf with tragedy in his eyes, a cursed human man with too much mystery to make him simply a harmless wizard, a fairytale prince with a dark past, an alien from a different plane whose hardened armor likely shielded more than just her body, and another half human stuck worshipping a terrible goddess for unclear reasons.

The half smile that crept across her face in the moonlight held warmth. She couldn’t help but already feel a certain attachment to them. Was it too soon to call them friends? How does one describe a group of perfect strangers who are about to risk their lives together?   They were on the eve of storming a massive goblin war encampment. Where hopefully they’d be able to retrieve a Druid who might be able to heal them of the mindflayer tadpoles they’d found themselves infected with at the start of their adventure.

Halsin, they’d called him.

The handsome older tiefling at the grove seemed certain that if anyone could set everything to rights, it would be him. Luna held no love for the Druids of the Emerald Grove for she had seen their cruelty firsthand. While her Goddess, Eilstraee called her to good, it had been all she could do not to rip out the Druid Kagha’s throat when she had discovered her holding a child under the threat of death by a venomous snake. She could have killed a little tiefling girl all over a statue.

As a Cleric, her reverence for her Goddess was absolute but she was certain that the Dark Maiden wouldn’t call on her followers to kill children for removing a statue. Luna wasn’t educated in the ways of Sylvanus but surely he wouldn’t have wanted blood spilled over his idol. With a deep huff, she cleared the memory of Kagha from her mind and gazed up at the moonlight.

Moonbathing was her favorite thing to do since she’d made it to the surface. There wasn’t a moon or a sun in Menzoberanzan — just the Narbondel and the fairie fire of various shades that lit the cavernous spaces and houses, some bioluminescent flora and fauna existed as well. Largely, there was darkness and the bleakness of the Underdark had weighed heavy on her. They’d said it was because she was a “filthy half-breed” and that was why she couldn’t abide the Underdark. But the joke had been on every person who’d pursued her as she’d fled Menzoberranzan. Every member of the party was a full drow, a whole hunting party meant to eliminate her before she could escape the Underdark. Her survival had been mere dumb luck, because as she’d finally made it to the surface they’d overtaken her to discover it was a midday on a brilliantly sunny summer morning. They’d been forced to turn back, some falling to the ground in pain and being left by the group to suffer.

Luna had continued into the sun, her eyes and skin burned against the foreign rays of the sun — but that pain had been all that stood between her and freedom.

That had been almost 30 years ago but the memory still felt like a fresh wound in her mind. She forced the sounds of screaming and the curses chanted on the wind from the Clerics of Lolth. Instead, she let the moonlight kiss her skin as she offered her arms and her troubles up to the visage of her Goddess in her lunar form. Swaying lightly in the breeze as she allowed her muscles to ease and willed the stress and unease away. She scanned the reaches of her mind, her memories for something sweeter to replace them.

Images of perfect ripe berries, sunflowers, the yellowed and worn pages of her favorite book, and silver swords ringing true all flashed across her mind. Her favorite things never failed to bring a smile to her face. But something else, just a flash of something new had been in the mix: kind eyes and the warm words of the very Druid they currently sought to rescue.

The words were easy to know the source of, she had taken Halsin’s journal and his pipe from the Grove while Nettie hadn’t been looking. While she didn’t approve of stealing, she couldn’t help but want to know more about the Elf that everyone spoke so highly of on both sides of the simmering conflict. Besides, she had told herself repeatedly that she would return them to him as soon as she rescued him so it truly wasn’t stealing. Many of her nights were sleepless and reading over his notes and journal entries had been like getting to know the man a through one-sided correspondence. Luna couldn’t help but notice an obvious warmth in the tone of his words, even in something as clinical as his research notes.

The flowers were drawn so lovingly, as were the animals depicted in the quite talented sketches that accompanied many of the notes. She thought of the soft Druid that must have drawn them — probably meek and scared in the hands of their goblin captors. Her resolve strengthened.

The kind eyes took her a moment longer to connect, but after a moment a blush crept across her dusky, storm-blue skin. They were Zevlor’s eyes, of course, the kind and handsome older tiefling that had sent them in search of Halsin in the first place. Luna had always had a soft spot for people who care for those around them who are weaker. Zevlor’s dedication to his kin had been admirable.

She’d wished she hadn’t talked him out of laying out Aradin, that failed adventurer, but alas it has been the right thing to do. Violence was nessecary, yes, but only as a last resort when the time for words was passed. With the new lightness of spirit provided by her meditation came the clarity of the truth before her. It was very likely that unavoidable violence lay on the horizon for Luna. It wasn’t that she was afraid for herself, as a tempest Cleric, her ability to heal and destroy had already made her valuable for her camp-mates.

Luna recalled the stunned look on Gale of Waterdeep’s face when his thunderwave had missed during the battle at the front gate of the Druid Grove where they’d first happened upon Wyll, Zevlor, and Aradin. She had stepped up right after and with a deft hand, thunderwaved two goblins from the top of the outcropping on which they’d chosen to make their stand. The goblins had perished and her party had been able to fight its way to the small group in front of the gate to rescue them from the Worg and Bugbear which had surrounded them.

“What kind of Cleric are you exactly?”

Gale had done little to disguise the shock in his voice as he asked that question. It was colored with both amusement and surprise. Luna had smiled sweetly at the question and offered her answer. In truth she had barely avoided the wizard and her other companions. She was powerful but like the storms she wielded, her power was unruly and dangerous.

No, it wasn’t herself that she was afraid for.

Zevlor popped into her mind once more, triggered by the memory. His dusky crimson skin, the wrinkles and ridges that adorned his rugged face, and the nervous twitch of his tail as they’d spoken together in private in his cave. With a start, she shook his face loose of her mind and started back for the campfire. Sleep would be important to the success of tomorrow’s battle. She had already let Astarion feed on her, she couldn’t handle any distractions or weaknesses.

She climbed back into her thin bedroll, flat on her back to look at the stars as she let the sweet sounds of the evening carry her to sleep.

—*—*——*—*—

The battles had been trying, but they had lived to tell the tale — but only just. Sneaking in through a weak wall in the temple facade had proven a key strategy, she was grateful for Wyll and his ability to blast down the rubble. It had allowed them to bypass the leaders and goblins within as they’d made their way back to where Astarion had spotted a bear being tortured by the goblins.

It was very likely, this was their Druid but they had no way of knowing for sure.

Only Wyll and Karlach had supported her in her decision to free the bear without knowing fully. But her companions had followed her into battle nonetheless. The large brown cave bear had in fact, been the Druid Halsin and he’d noted her potential madness at freeing a bear with no questions asked.

The moment Luna had laid eyes on him out of wildshape form, something had caught in her chest. Something she’d never felt before. She’d seen many handsome men and women in her time, surely this wasn’t just about Halsin being easy on the eyes. He was an altogether unexpected thing, the soft and meek Druid she had been anticipating was instead an unusually large elf, built more like an orc than any elf she’d ever laid eyes upon. It was another thought for her to bury in her mind for another time. There was additional bloodshed ahead of them and it didn’t look like it was something they would return alive from.

When Halsin had offered to go with them to finish off the goblin leadership and the hundreds of goblins within the ruined temple of Selune, Luna had eagerly agreed. She found the presence of a large cave bear padding softly behind her, oddly soothing despite the way he seemed to unsettle everyone else in her party.

The full drow that had awaited them in an antechamber, Minthara had chilled Luna to the bone. There had been such hate in her eyes and it had forced bitter memories to the forefront of her mind. Like savage childhood beatings from Lolth’s favored that looked just like the cruel drow woman, who they’d come upon plotting the mass murder of the Druid grove with the eagerness of someone picking what to eat for dinner. Killing her had been easier than she would have liked to admit. 

Halsin and Karlach had lead the charge in, with Luna, Astarion, and Wyll on their heels. But Minthara’s focus had lasered in on Luna.

“Oh, whelps like you are quite rare for a reason, half-breed”

The Paladin’s words had settled on her like ice that threatened to paralyze her and she had felt the familiar panic rise in her chest one more. She was never going back, she’d sooner die. Minthara could tell she had hit a nerve and continued her line of verbal attacks, coupled with brutal physical blows to Karlach.

“Usually, someone would do you the kindness of putting an abomination like you out of your misery as a babe, how uncared for you were that they couldn’t have spared you the shame.”

When it happened, her heart had been beating so hard that it pounded in her ears like some artificer’s creation. Her blood ran cold and the rage she felt within had let loose to a blissful emptiness that overwhelmed Luna like the tide pulling her out. What had come next was a surprise to everyone but her, oh she knew what would happen and it had been too late to stop it.

Luna’s power had exploded it out in a violent storm surge of thunder and lightning, like a typhoon contained within a dropped flask — it engulfed everything around it. Wyll and Astarion were lucky enough to be standing far enough back to simply be knocked to the ground and hit with bits of debris from the blast. Minthara, Halsin, and Karlach couldn’t say the same.

The sound of Minthara’s scream growing quieter before fading away completely as she had plummeted to her death in the cavern below them was all Luna could hear as her eyes had tried to refocus from the blast. Tears had already brimmed in her eyes, if Karlach and Halsin had been standing in the wrong place — not even her healing magic could bring them back from that fall.

“Luna! For gods sake, help!” Came Wyll’s voice on the ledge of the pit. His arm had been latched to the unconscious form of Halsin, dangling in the cavern. He had been knocked out of wildshape and was elven again. Astarion was clinging to Wyll’s ankles and pulled back with all of his might to try to stop the warlock from sliding off the edge after the Druid.

She’d bit back the forming tears and dove down to the ledge and spread herself out flat, grabbing Halsin’s other arm. Still, the three of them weren’t enough to haul the Druid back to safety and she could feel them slipping after him.

“We need to let go damnit!” Astarion had hissed as he continued to hold Wyll’s legs.

Luna knew he had meant it to save their lives, but still she had held fast and pulled in an attempt to accomplish the impossible. She was unwilling to let Halsin die alone because of her foolish lack of control. She had been so ready to accept her death, she had just needed to get the other two to let go.

“Take Wyll!”

She’d shouted back at Astarion, hoping he’d choose to save the two of them as opposed to dying. The look of shock on his face had been new.

“No one is letting go, solider” Had come a groggy voice over their heads as Karlach had reached over the edge and grabbed Halsin by the back of his tunic. She had clearly been knocked unconscious by the blast and was bleeding from a large gash on her head. Her arrival was like a hero of old, auspiciously timed when all hope seemed to be lost. Tav wondered if Karlach had become used to having to save the day constantly as a result of her hard decade in Avernus.

Her fingers had still clung to the massive Druid’s arm, his skin slick from the battle but her grip felt more secure. Karlach had begun to slowly pull Halsin back up as the three of them scrambled to help. Incredibly, with her help it had been easy to move him.

Luna scrambled to her feet to make room for the massive Druid’s form and she’d encouraged Karlach to lay down as well.

“Please Karlach, i’m so sorry this is all my fault, let me heal you”

The guilt that threatened to paralyze her had risen like a tide from within. It’s all my fault. She had willed a steady breath into her lungs as Karlach settled before her. The moon controls the tides. She had repeated it to herself over and over. Before long her heart had begun to beat steadier and she had allowed herself to relax after a few moments.

Looking Karlach over had revealed some painful looking, but easily healed superficial wounds. Luna had quickly rummaged through her pouch to find the bottles she kept wrapped in grimy scraps of fabric so they didn’t break.

“Got a bottle of the strong stuff while you’re in there, solider?”

Karlach’s jokes had seemed quick but the wince she had made revealed that the humor was a simple front. Finally she had located the bottles she was looking for, glowing red and freshly brewed by her that morning. She’d always loved herbalism and luckily there were a lot of herbs and other reagents found on the road.

“Drink this, I promise you’ll feel good as new, friend.”

“Bottoms up, mate”

She’d then been able to turn her attention to the Druid, she had found him being tended to by the less capable hands of Wyll and Astarion. The latter being the real culprit. Wyll had removed his jacket and forced Astarion out of his to create a pillow under Halsin’s head. Halsin had appeared awake but only barely, his eyes looking up at the cavern ceiling above him without focus.

His eyes had seemed to try to find hers as soon as she had entered his field of vision when she leaned down to look him over.

“By… Sylvanus” He had murmured “My lady”

She’d found blood pooled on the ground under his head and more running slowly from one of his ears. It was then she bad been positive, her stomach sunk slightly at the truth, the bleeding in combination with the difficulty focusing had meant massive head trauma. Fatal, if unhealed.

“Shhhhh, it’s just a bump on the head, you’re going to be okay”

Wyll had glanced down at the blood pooled on the ground and then back to her, bristling at her obvious lie to the Druid. Sure, it had been much more than a bump on the head — But Luna planned to make good on her promise. There had been no need to panic the large elf. She liked Wyll, he was brave and had the makings of the kind of hero she’d always heard about in tales that had inspired her. But he was also young.

She had shot Wyll a firm look before turning her attention back to the Druid. Luna had then gently eased his head down flat on to the ground and removed the makeshift pillow from under him. She’d tossed them over toward Astarion who had immediately taken issue with the state of his jacket. He’d held the bloodstained garment aloft with a look of disdain.

“Would you look at the state of —“

 Luna had fixed Astarion with one of her harder looks and his sentence had trailed off. While Luna never liked to issue threats of violence unless absolutely necessary — she also wasn’t above letting someone know they were toying with the line, with a single glance. Growing up the way she had and being alone for so long, that look had been a life saving mechanism.

She’d turned her attention to her charge once more and had found him even more dazed than he had been only moments before, a smile had spread across his broad face as his eyes tried hard to focus on her. Something had stirred like a tickle in her chest at the sweet look on the dazed man’s face. What was wrong with her? He was dying for goddesses sake and she’d allowed a momentary distraction.

“It’s you” he’d murmured

“Shhhhh”

“Eilstraee, I saw you in a painting…” Halsin’s voice had trailed off.

Luna had fought back the blush she’d felt at such an obvious but flattering mistake. He was concussed and needed healing, he didn’t know what he was talking about. She’d hushed him gently again and closed her eyes. She had looked to the night sky within her and the beautiful pendant of the moon hanging on its canvas. A deep breath had centered her within her power as she summoned the strongest healing spell she had been capable of in that moment.

In hindsight it had probably wasteful to expend the most powerful healing spell she had on hand before they’d dealt with Dror Ragzlin. Still, it had worked out for the best, the hobgoblin had been no match for a full strength cave bear blessed with the might of her goddess. Of course he’d been helped by a freshly healed and mended Karlach, Wyll, Astarion, and herself.

They’d agreed there would have to be a discussion on what exactly happened when Minthara had pushed her too far. She’d begged for their patience and to respect her privacy. It was the same respect given to all of them. They had agreed with varying levels of ease — some outright vowing to pry it out of her. There was a lot she should have probably said to her new companions but she couldn’t begin to understand how to start. For now she was content in respecting their secrets and begging them to let her have hers.

They were grateful to reach camp and the rest of their traveling companions that night. Gale had prepared a stew of foraged roots and some fish he’d magicked out of the Chinothar. It bubbled on a smaller fire the wizard maintained just for his nightly prepared meals. Always ready for whenever his companions were ready to eat as he lounged in a chair nearby, reading a heavy tome.

Strangely, even now as they began their post-battle and evening rituals, her mind drifted back to sweet moment when Halsin had awoken freshly healed. She’d been holding one of his hands as the spell took hold. As he had come back to full consciousness, his thumb had begun to stroke her hand tenderly. Luna had tried not to think much of the action until the Druid had sheepishly cleared his throat and pulled his hand away from her grasp with an awkward chuckle.

But now, standing outside her tent, gathering her supplies for a bath her mind drifted back to the gentle touch of his large hand in hers. Why did she feel so strange after healing a man she’d just met? Sure, the elf was attractive but she was sure it wasn’t that. She’d taken people to bed before and none had caused such an unusual reaction. Logic clearly pointed to a romantic affliction. However drow were not known for being romantic and in that regard Luna was more drow than human.

Maybe I should just bed the giant elf and get him out of my system.

Her goddess embodied love of all types but romantic love had always seemed beyond her understanding. Eilstraee had been patient always in their meditations, but deep down she worried her goddess believed such a thing beyond her. Not that it matters and I’m missing much, she thought.   She enjoyed carnal relations and had never met anyone to change that to anything deeper. She shook these questions and frustrations from her mind as started off toward the river, sundries in hand.

By the roaring fire, several of her companions had already gathered around warm bowls of food, fresh from their baths. Tomorrow they were due back at the Grove, Halsin having already headed there right after the fall of Dror Ragzlin to set the escalating conflict to rights. She continued past her companions with a quiet smile, polite but quick enough to not invite company.

As she scrubbed the grime and blood of the day away her mind drifted to Minthara again. She’d been a Baenre. After so long free of that nightmare and yet the conflicts and horrors of her people had found her already. A Baenre. Minthara’s family had essentially ruled Menzoberranzan since not long after its founding. Of course Lolth’s will was the final word, but the Matron Mother of House Banere had only the Spider Queen herself above her in station.

Her heart began to race. Even a Half Drow like herself, kept out of sight as a servant and whipping post, knew about House Baenre. All Minthara had probably ever known was violence and at the end, she’d died a violent death. In her chest, her heart heaved at that thought. Her eyes brimmed with tears, she refused to allow to fall, she wouldn’t cry for that monster.

Am I any better than they are after this?

 As she lingered in the water the tears had fallen anyway, carving little rivers of their own in the blood and muck on her cheeks — the evidence of her guilt. She scrubbed harder at her face in the broken reflection on the surface of the water.

Scrub as hard as you want, the truth will always be there. You’re just. like. them.

[werothegreat]

Azurite Sea - Almost Done!

A few more to go through! I'm ignoring vanillas unless they're neat.

Oh hey that's neat. What a shame all the Nanis cost 5. *flips table*

Nani seems deece though. That's a solid effect you can sink ink into, provided she survives.

So this little shit is the reason why the set numbering has been off. He's experiment 6 (set 6) 2 6 (number 26 in the set) - get it? Our first instance of "fire-breathing" in Lorcana.

Have you ever wanted Deceiver of All to be able to sing We Don't Talk About Bruno twice?

Amber gets their own version of Ice Block! I think this will be most playable in Amber/Ruby, where you have Brawl and the Sisus that do stuff when played, as exerting one of your characters gives you fewer options for challenges.

Not too bad, though the location itself is pretty easy to deal with first.

Okay this is nutty. This is making me want to play Emerald/Sapphire discard slash Basil kindred. Turn 1: play Basil. Turn 2: play Basil. Turn 3: play Prince John, sing One Jump Ahead. Turn 4: shift this Basil onto the 1-drop, ink per turn, use it to force a discard, then this boy can sing Bruno or Let It Go.

Our Lorcana original location! I have a funny feeling "Owl Island" is gonna be the name of set 7. "For each character here, the first action you play each turn costs 1 less. When you play your second action each turn, gain 3 lore." Emerald songs deck, baby!

I am disappointed he isn't a 1-drop. Maybe next set we'll get a second 1-drop Aladdin...

WHAT IS THIS NONSENSE HOW IS THIS INKABLE. These are insane stats for a 1-drop, and why would I care about challenging? Just quest baybee. Plus there are plenty of Captains to play. I also love that she's a Pirate! Perfect shift target for the new floodborn!

This might see play in a location-heavy deck, such as the one with the location-caring-about John Silver.

Slot this right in the Pirate deck.

This is... a worse version of Grand Councilwoman for a different classification.

LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS. You'll run this in Ruby/Steel Pirate decks and nowhere else.

"Bodyguard, if he has no damage he gets +4 strength" a 5/5 bodyguard for 4 ain't bad at all. However he gets a lot worse once he takes damage. But there is that new Mickey that gives Plutos Resist +1, and you can play him the turn before, so... maybe?

Flexible. The one thing I dislike is that you can't just do 4 to the same character.

And that's it this time around! I won't post again until the rest of the set drops.

[beesmygod]

Bloodborne questions rattling in my head -

Why does the shaman bone blade have shaman in its name? That's such a specific, almost regional term. Just a translation quirk?

How seriously do you take cut content in studying lore? I just learned about the Great One Beast, and there's a hell of a lot going on in that name alone. A Great One that became a beast? A beast that became a great one? Maybe just a placeholder name since file names refer to it as a silverbeast? Or, as it never made it in, should it be essentially ignored entirely?

ok business as usual, pure speculation is in italics.

this first answer is going to suck so bad: i basically don't have a single clue. the japanese word they chose to translate as "shaman" (祭祀者) doesnt appear on jisho or literally anywhere else in the game. like i just did a ctrl-f on the re-translation text dumps and found nothing. they seem equally baffled but one of the two translators notes that it's used to describe people involved in ancestor worship. the full word is "祭祀者の骨の刃". so like literally "_____'s bone knife".

there's no surprise ambiguity in the description. it doesn't resemble anything else in the game. the green goo (not blood, notably) oozing from it is not seen elsewhere. that emerald green color is unique to the blade.

what the fuck! they are also extraordinarily rare: the only place you can find them are in the nightmare of mensis in the "nightmare apostles" (big spider) room, where you can pick up six from the corpse of a healing church doctor in front of a little vestibule containing nothing. the only remarkable thing about this room is that it once contained a cut version of the giant nightmare apostle with the head still on. this is interesting only because it suggests that they're not just giant spiders, they are giant HEADLESS spiders. the connection the player was supposed to draw, perhaps, is that the headless nightmare apostles seen throughout the game have already been harvested for their goods.

this is uninteresting because there's 7 headless spiders in the room, not 6. maybe one broke?

the only other places you can find them are in the pthumerian labyrinth root dungeons in, specifically, treasure coffins. only after obtaining the lower pthumeru chalice will the item be added to the insight shop, so whatever those shamans were doing, it was very secret and very ancient. they are a 5% drop from brainsuckers...except for the ones in the cathedral ward and the orphanage, which are 2%. hey i never noticed that before. so that's where those brainsuckers running around yharnam came from.

the creation of this item is apparently linked to augurs/phantasms.

the spider guys are their own. thing. i haven't even touched them yet because, segueing into your next question, so much surrounding them was cut. there's a bunch of stuff in the game, especially relating to byrgenwerth, about reflections and symmetry that kind of hangs in the air awkwardly unless you start poking around under the hood and start looking at how much spider-related shit there is. and like. isn't a spider an invertebrate. isn't "apostle" another word for "messenger". anyone else seeing this. aren't these things augurs?

not for nothing, but amygdala is referred to as the "lost apostle" in the alpha.

when it comes to cut content, i take a very liberal approach and inhale all of it into my brain where i can sort it and determine what bits are even useful. i think this kind of thing comes entirely down to personal taste; some people think the completed project in its retail form is what should be analyzed on the reasonable basis that it's the story we were intended to experience. i don't disagree with this approach; my approach is like if i wanted to read "pride and prejudice" and decided after reading it to analyze all of jane austen's letters and biographies. like it's absolutely not required to enjoy or understand the story and themes of bloodborne; it's just a good example of how much a reading of a text can differ depending on how you approach it.

i wish we knew why the great one beast was cut because it was basically finished outside the textures being low-res. people have hacked a working version into the game and it looks like a hell of a fight. and you're right, it raises a lot of questions about what the hell a great one is. prior to this it was assumed that beasts were the opposite of great ones. but...maybe beasts are ONLY intended be compared and contrasted with kin. and a kin is not a great one. very mysterious.

[styrmwb]

I beat World of Warcraft: The War Within (for now)

Every single word I am about to write I do so with the fear of god that none of it will age poorly

(also wow this is a long one sorry that my ramblings keep getting more rambly)

The summer of 2024 is the summer of "why do I have two separate MMOs that I want to play I hate myself", cause I already had FFXIV Dawntrail a bit ago, and now we got WoW, my first MMO love who I have had a horrible relationship with During BfA and Shadowlands and All That Blizzard Shit I was like Jaina in the scene of Warcraft III with the Culling of Stratholme "I'm sorry Arthas, I can't watch you do this." But then things (as far as I know) in real life are getting better, and then they did Dragonflight which in game was getting better and I'm over here tentatively having fun with a smile on my face ready for it to go bad at any time, and that's how I felt about War Within: This looks cool, are they going to be able to do it, or am I going to be disappointed once again?

And god. PLEASE DON'T LET THIS AGE POORLY BUT HOLY SHIT THEY LANDED IT SO HARD, I LOVED THIS EXPANSION!!!! I want to talk about why!!!! And like I said in Dawntrail MMOs obviously release more content (hell by the time I beat my set goals a raid came out (I did not do the raid), so I considered "beat" to be Loremaster (all the quests), all the dungeons, and all the delves so DON'T COME AT ME WITH "BUT YOU DIDN'T DO NERUB'AR" I WANTED TO WRITE A BEAT A GAME POST FOR AN MMO LEAVE ME ALONE

Story

This is what I was scared of. I love Warcraft, I love it so much I love the world, I love the lore, I love the everything, and obviously this game has had a... Not Great experience with respecting its own universe with... good writing. So I am understandably hesitant! Even Dragonflight which was a step in the right direction still didn't grab me in some ways and was a little cheesy I did really like the avengers assemble in the emerald dream though I'm not above that; so I didn't come into War Within expecting the best thing ever, but I really did appreciate how they did this.

Everything fits pretty well within the world, nothing feels like it contradicts previous info, it actually takes a lot from the existing world and expands on it; Xal'atath and the sword was Legion, Earthen have been a thing since Wrath, Nerubians have been around since WCIII, they got Kobolds, they got a healthy amount of previous guys you know from Dalaran/other people who happened to be on Dalaran (lmao) to really make the whole thing FEEL Warcrafty and not something kind of disconnected, despite the new concepts being introduced, which made me very happy.

The story itself was great. I felt invested fighting against Xal'atath because she fucked with my mans, and I really liked how much of a presence she was; involved in everything, but not to an annoying amount, and it didn't feel like the conflict with her was bullshit like the Jailor (they can still fuck this up we got several patches to go). I enjoyed learning about the Earthen, the Arathi, and the Nerubians, and like I said it all fit really well and I didn't have any moments of like "wait what the fuck why this"; even the Arathi felt pretty well explained "oh there's an empire somewhere else we haven't seen" cool and awesome, doesn't contradict anything already existing and opens up a new place in the future.

I think the one thing that was strange was how short the main campaign was. I hard focused it on my main and it wasn't enough to get me to max. But once I did all the Sojourner achievements I could see where the rest of the writing meat went, because so many of those side stories were amazing; some I'm genuinely surprised WEREN'T in the main campaign (the Haranir got like 2 steps in the main deal and then never showed up?? do the side quests to figure out anything about this person we put in the teaser cinematic; this is like my one beef with the main campaign, anyways). So many heavy emotional hits, stories that actually made me feel. The old Earthen losing his memories I think was a highlight for me.

What I really appreciated about every quest I did was the focus on emotions, on internal processing; like yeah, this is World of Warcraft. We fight a lot. There's a lot of fighting. But this expansion takes its own title to mean more than just being in the world, and focuses a lot on trauma, fighting with yourself, accepting yourself, connecting with others after trauma, and I really really appreciated that a game like this actually managed to slow down and question these little large things that it never really did in the past. Also, even with the deeper, more serious tones being so strong, the humor this time around is really great. There are a lot of moments in the main story and in the side quests that actually got me laughing out loud. Overall, I was really satisfied with all the story they gave me and I cannot wait to see if they are able to continue this upward trend to finish the expansion off.

I also want to say "stay a while and listen"s have been the greatest thing this game has ever introduced to give nerds like me more good writing while letting other players not have to suffer through it if they don't want to.

Characters

This is also an important section which was really hard to separate from the above; like I said, Warcraft does not have a great track record of how it treats its beloved characters who can be amazing at the highest of times (COUGH SYLVANAS SHADOWLANDS AS A WHOLE COUGH), so I was worried here. But the way our returning characters were treated, on top of the new characters, was really surprising.

Our Returning Friends:

Anduin - My fucking boy. I love Anduin, he is one of my favorite characters, if not my favorite character, in all of Warcraft. Seeing his struggle with himself hit really hard, and I really appreciate how they did it, it didn't feel disrespectful, he got moments to bring him up, he got moments that validated his current state; it hurt me to see the optimistic prince in such a state, and I love where his journey is taking him. He also calls me friend and that makes me happy Anduin if you were real I would be your friend

Alleria - I think her story is going to be cooked a little longer in the future, cause for this expansion she was often in the background hunting, but I love that despite the internal AND external things trying to keep her alone, she's not so far gone as to be separated from the people she cares about; I am actually excited to see how she'll play out. The fact that her and Turalyon still clearly love and care for each other despite the circumstances makes me happy.

Moira - I very much enjoyed that the Bronzebeard-Thaurissan family got such a spotlight this time around. It was great seeing Moira continue to prove herself as a leader with the action taken + the diplomatic role she placed herself in with the Earthen. The sidequest where she gets Fearbreaker was really a place for her to shine on her own. While I was a big fan of the trio of her, Magni, and Dagran, I can't help but feel like her portion didn't stick with me as much as the other two, but that could be a me flaw rather than a game flaw. I do hope she continues to get more screentime to show off.

Magni - Did not at all expect where this man was going. Depressed and angry speaker was an interesting way to start the expansion, and I enjoyed seeing him be able to reconnect with his family, to be freed from his prison (they hatched him!), and to really start his grandpa arc/hopefully make a relationship with his daughter arc.

Dagran - If you told me that the 3 polygon baby in Ironforge was going to be one of the best characters in a future expansion I would have been very surprised. He's such a nerd but in a really enjoyable way, and the connection he has with his family + Brinthe is really heartwarming to see. I want more of this 🤓 motherfucker

Brann - Not really a character in the main story, but he's here and I love it, except when he tells me that those webs will summon Nerubians, and not to stand in them. I hope he gets more uncle moments.

Khadgar - Fuck. This old shitty wizard is also top contender for favorite Warcraft character, so the way this expansion started gutted me. I was actually real life mad I wanted to destroy that stupid purple elf and all her spiders; I am so happy that he's fine I am going to put him in the best retirement situation possible and he can get his girlfriend and live the rest of his life happy DON'T YOU FUCKING DO THAT TO ME AGAIN BLIZZARD.

Jaina and Thrall - Did not get to be there lmao. Thrall really got the short end of the stick being on the loading screen. The Horde as a whole could have gotten more love this expansion, and this is coming from a man loyal to the Alliance. But also you guys got a lot in the past so uuhhhhhh fuck you lmao

Side note, where the fuck is Muradin; your brothers, your niece, and your great nephew are here, your brother hatched, Where Are You.

Our New Friends (and Enemies)

The Earthen - Initially, incredibly off putting. Why are they not scottish. But I really grew to love these robot dwarves. The council was all surprisingly great, Merrix has his whole sidequest where "oh he's a bad guy" no not at all he cares about his people, Baelgrim warms up to you and is the Obligatory Sacrifice Character, Adelgonn really showed the humanity these people can have, Brinthe was surprisingly funny and charming, and I loved to see her grow closer to Dagran (new aunt unlocked let's go). Overall, it was really cool to see this race of people show both their construct nature mixed with the free will they've unlocked. So much more interesting than I expected.

Faerin and the Arathi - Definitely the strangest part of this expansion, but incredibly cool to see. I was unsure going in, did they really feel like the fit in, their vibe seems a little separate from Warcraft and more Diablo-y or a different franchise, but I was really interested in their culture, the genuine nature their society had despite the traitors (like I was totally expecting Steelstrike to be evil not to have a cooking quest with her and her family); Faerin was likewise a surprise. I see the name "Lothar" and I'm like oh geez how are they gonna mess this up and I was instead greeted with a kind yet tough warrior who Has feelings and struggles with loss and is a wonderful friend to Anduin (the quest where you sit down with Faerin and Anduin might be one of my favorite sidequests ever).

The Nerubians - Ok so yeah we're all used to these guys being Bad Spiders Go Kill which they were def introduced as, but then you get to their zone and they're presented as their own society in such a cool way?? These are people! They're spiders, but they're people! The Severed Threads are a fun trio of characters that I enjoyed talking to. Honestly, surprisingly enough the Nerubians as a whole are like, really funny? There's a bunch of really good comedic moments, some played straight which hit the hardest. (Mr. Sunflower my beloved) I loved the split in society shown, the dislike, the Reason for dislike shown between the Ascended and the normal Nerubians, I could really feel the reason for dissent against the Queen (I haven't done Nerub'ar like I said but I do wish she was more present.)

Xal'atath - I said my main opinion earlier, she was a great presence in the story and I very much enjoy her as a villain. I really like the bonus dialogue you get if you've interacted with her before. I really think she has the potential to be one of the best major villains we've ever had if Blizzard plays their cards right (I am scared).

World (of Warcraft)

Dragonflight's zones were cool; but. Nothing really WOWed me (funny joke). Going into TWW, I thought underground was cool, but I wasn't sure at first. Looked at the little pictures for each zone, still unimpressed. Once I actually got Into the game and played it though, these are some of the best zones in the game.

I have these four screenshots, my favorite parts of each zone, and I still feel like I am not doing them justice. They're huge, they're so incredibly varied, and you feel like you can still breathe despite being underground (and they're confining when needed). I've always said that despite the lows, Blizzard's art department hard fucking carries the game, and they continue to flex. The cities are getting so much better at feeling sprawling and lived in, an evolution from the tiny Stormwinds of classic WoW. I love Khaz Algar so much. One of my favorite parts of my playthrough was when I entered Hallowfall for the first time, during the Beledar shifting event (not the story one! the random one), and I was amazed and confused. I don't think I've felt this mesmerized by the game since I was like 10 walking through Teldrassil. Something really special I also loved about Hallowfall (might be contender for top 10 zone of all time) is yes, this feels outside. There is grass. There is water. There is sun. But then you look at the land, you look at the rocks, the stalagmites, you look up and it reminds you that you're underground. There's so much spectacle here and I feel like I could go on and on and on about each zone and how amazing they are. (I'm ending this section now but I have to say I love Bug Suramar)

Music

Piggybacking off the last section, the music this expansion has been absolutely incredible, I haven't really hooked onto as much of the soundtrack as I have since BfA; Shadowlands really just had Maldraxxus and Revendreth and I honestly don't remember much of Dragonflight's, but here it's so strong. Isle of Dorn's windy outdoor flutes, The Ringing Deeps' sound of echoing mining, Hallowfall's beautiful choir, and Azj-Kahet's plucking spider sounds, it's all so strong, so memorable and unique.

Cutscenes

Really small section here but I love the cutscene work they've been doing. The fact that we get what used to just be in the prerendered ones in game??? The models look so nice there! Yeah sure my character looks a little awkward doing default standing they haven't mastered it like FFXIV yet but I LOVE the cutscene work. Even the lower quality ones have shown a lot of character. I think of the scene with Elrich and Brinthe, he still shows off and feels like an asshole, and you can clearly see the humorous frustration Brinthe feels at being interrupted. It's great.

Gameplay

I am the least excited to talk about the gameplay here, but I really do enjoy what they're doing this expansion. I love Delves and the solo content they're doing, I think their quest design continues to be engaging and fun (even though I was a little tired of the shout instruction randomly to get item/do task and all of the pulling slowly mechanics), and even though I'm not really a dungeon guy each one was incredible, they all excelled in presentation and vibe. The mechanics didn't really get me like I think Dawntrail's dungeons did, but I imagine they go harder in Mythic which I will not be doing.

The classes I played during my session of goals were Warrior, Evoker, and Warlock, which I had fury mountain thane (later slayer), arms slayer, augmentation chronowarden, and demonology diabolist. I really enjoyed the flavor they all brought, and in the case of diabolist it's SO fucking fun holy shit. I know not every class got something cool, and I will be playing those eventually (haha two of every class split between factions I have a problem haha).

Speaking of alts, I love Warbands. The fact that I got to work on loremaster, level Brann, and work on renown across 4 separate characters is an absolute godsend.

Last thought here; Skyriding is amazing. Yeah it was introduced in Dragonflight but I really just needed to be able to fly Invincible everywhere. The fact that Blizzard finally embraced flying and made it engaging by just making the zones huge is the best path ever.

I Have Talked So Much I Am Sorry

yeah i hate this expansion isn't it clear

I really truly desperately hope that WoW continues this upward trend, continues this energy forward. I want to be able to hit each patch, to look back, and still feel the same happiness and excitement as I do now for the game. WoW is a game I have loved for most of my life. I want it to succeed. I want to say that I love it and not be embarrassed. If we continue to have more times like what War Within is at launch, I have no doubt that those things will be the case. They just need to not prove my fears right. With all of this very very very long post said;

9.5/10. The most love I've had for Warcraft in a long while. Honest competition with Legion for favorite expansion. Please Don't Fuck This Up.

please help me i still feel like i could have talked more

[hevexns-realm]

Came to talk about Iris from your previous ask and how she is lowkey relatable (father issues part) and been wondering about the lore with your versions of Nazo and Seekladoom (no really where do I start? I’m only more familiar with Nazo)-—

Sees your reblog with superscourge.

Oh ahaha, well it was flattering you thought it was me for a second, but that was not me unfortunately. If they manage to top Glaze’s and Frontier’s AUs though I will be in awe and very scared….

I think it’s safe to say we Scourge Fans tend to really hurt the poor hedgehog when we can I suppose. 😅

On the other hand, hope with whatever we’re going through that we’ll both heal from it. 

-squeals- I AM SO HAPPY YOU ASKED!! 🖤💙🩵

Okay, I have so much on these two in general, I’m going to try and shorten it to keep things from getting out of hand! Because I’ll be here until 9:00PM the next day if I do- (/hj)

Also, I appreciate you being able to relate to Iris. I try to make my characters at least a little relatable, as we’re all human at the base, no matter what we physically look like. We all share similar feelings, emotions, personalities, and blood colors. Why should we judge on one’s physical appearance when we don’t know their lives? That’s at least how I try to think, even if my intrusive thoughts make it difficult sometimes, I always try my best to make sure they don’t affect my morals and hurt others.

So here’s their physical look to describe them as of now.

Nazo is 21 in this AU. Considerably studious amongst everyone else in the group. (with the exception of mephiles and iblis, because they’ve been around much longer than him in this AU.) His fur and quills are slightly darker in color than how he’s seen in Nazo unleashed, and are arguably more soft and fluffy due to his care routine.

Nazo has this mixed style of Old money, Dark academia, and whimsigoth all in one. Lots of simple yet elegant pieces with lots of accessories. He tends to wear a lot of crystal jewelry when he can, and tends to lean towards gold jewelry rather than silver. As it makes the contrast all the more appealing. That doesn’t mean he does experiment with different styles and designs, as he doesn’t care much about societal standards all that much. He wears what he feels comfortable in, and doesn’t mind the stares.

Despite him being a literal being of negative energy, and still being regarded as a villain by most, he’s considered more empathetic out of him and seelka. We also see him have more morals than most of the other villains you see throughout the story, and that’s due to his ability to sense negative energy in general. (Also through Sonic multiverse mayhem, where Nazo shows genuine concern over seelka wanting to burn down an orphanage, so we know he’s got some sort of morals.) as negative chaos energy Isn’t the only thing he feels, it’s negative energy in general, which includes negative emotions.

This negative energy goes into creating his perfect form, which is still obtainable with or without the chaos emeralds now, he just uses them as a power boost.

He loves classic/dark academia literature and history of humans, the scent of rain and earth when a storm is about to hit, and also likes melancholy type of weather. He loves tea, particularly the more sweeter ones, as he does have a small sweet tooth, and prefers to either stay inside or go somewhere quiet. He prefers solleanna’s cathedral libraries, the ones that are open until the late evenings as he drowns out the world in the great minds of the past. The histories of the world as he sees them form in his head. He also loves classical music, as there’s usually no lyrics to them. If there are, they have no cuss words or slang, innapropriate themes of drugs, gangs, SA, etc. It feels timeless to him, and it helps him relax whenever he is angry, or when he’s in the artistry room in their home, either designing something that came from his head, or drawing something that he saw while out and about.

Seelkadoom is 22 in this au, and is almost the complete opposite of Nazo. While he is also quite intelligent in not only books, combat, and street smarts, he’s also quite loud and brash when in particular groups of people. He’s quite extroverted, and is much more physically active than most of the others!

He loves anything grungy or alternative, this goes for both clothing and music. He loves the smell of metal, roses, leather, and rain. He loves comfort foods like soups, cultural comforts like onigiri, shrimp Alfredo, and just anything that’s warm and soft, warm, and filling. Although he’s not afraid of trying all sorts of culinary tastes from all over the world! He particularly likes music artists like Troy, Johnathan young, etc!

Cozy games from independent developers like lost in random, subnautica, and cult of the lamb are some of his favorites to play. Although he isn’t afraid of loading up overwatch or COD if he’s up for it!

Seelka has less morals than nazo, but not so few he’s considered a borderline monster. Even he has his limits and boundaries, and it’s best to be wise and not purposefully cross them too much, less you wish for death.

Seelka is a night owl. You cannot get this man to sleep at night unless you shove melatonin down his throat, which is why he likes to sleep all day and participate in cool stuff at night!

The only real “family” either of them have outside of the gang is seelkadoom’s creator/father, Dr. Eggman. They actually have a good relationship of father and son, and they tend to still hang around him on holidays.

How do they meet? Well, given the context that Nazo doesn’t die and he isn’t immediately taken into G.U.N’s custody, he’s basically Eggman’s right hand man. He’s the one that’s in control while the doctor is gone doing villian shit as he rests and recovers from the huge fight between him, shadow, and Sonic.

Few days later, seelka comes out of his coma after his fight with hyper sonic. With an itch to fight, he starts heading towards the doctor’s chambers to either get a fight out of him, or figure out where Sonic and shadow are to give them a beating maybe.

That is until the two lock eyes, and then the confusion begins. Who is this guy? Why is he in the doctor’s lab? Is he a friend or a foe? And why does he look conviently attractive?

So after a lot of confusion of the two wondering what the hell was going on, Eggman introduces them to the other and makes them work together.

It’s a slow process, but it’s not like they actively hate each other’s guts. It’s the usual strangers to friends thing with a little bit of awkwardness from Nazo. Eventually he warms up to seelka, and they become good friends.

Then a world pandemic happens, and G.U.N requires not only Dr. Eggman’s assistance, but seelka and Nazo’s help as well.

Then after a lot of soft moments while under G.U.N’s care, seelka finally got the guts to confess to nazo, which leads to a very soft and sweet moment between the two of them!

Once the experiments are done, and the pandemic subsides, Nazo and seelka are both paid generously by the government for their contributions and cooperation.

They both expected to get maybe like, $10-$20k, at most $30k. What they didn’t expect was for Eggman to come out crying tears of joy, showing they have almost $20 million in the bank.

So then Eggman takes on the role of seelka’s dad figure and helps them with the adult stuff. Taxes, bills, credit, investments, etc. In return he ends up being gifted $2,500,000 by the two, allowing him to be able to retire and live his life abroad. Not needing to keep fighting Sonic, as they’re willing to be the ones who cause mayhem for him.

Does that stop egghead? Nope, if anything it helps him get started on his empire! But instead of trying to take over the world, he starts with becoming the leader of a small nation, and start from there. Then he uses the money to invest into the people, the country, everything. Plus, unlike in Sonic prime, he’s actually a good and genuine leader, not blinded by the greed of wealth. As he knows wealth builds in the long run, and if he does it right, the world will be his. He just needs to keep a level head!

However, seelka starts getting bored staying inside all night and sleeping all day in their new home. So he eventually decides to take a shot at a night shift job, and is lucky enough to be taken under the wing of solleanna’s most prominent employer in the entertainment industry, Mary Jane the Cat, or MMJ for short.

She teaches him everything he needs to know about being a bartender and a card dealer, and eventually hires him for the job.

And that’s where they are now in my AU! I’m so sorry it took me so long to make this, school has been wacky, so I hope it’s worth the wait anon!

Taglist for any mutuals who want the lore:

@thebreadmeower @hunniegl4zed

[madraleen]

Black Butler - Yana Toboso Ch. 86-107: Yana appreciation and general introspection - A Reread. (*spoilers up to the current manga arc)

-oh, yana and her beautiful art.

-ah. the staff fam :')

-real curious to see how they'll approach the german dialogue

-yana and her beautiful settings.

-ciel panicking over not being able to communicate with sieglinde without sebastian is the cutest thing

-i had my issues with the public school arc anime season, but i believe in them for this one. i believe they'll do this one right, 'cause the pace, humor and tension of the manga pop off so much that it can just guide the animation even if they don't add anything to it.

-yana, the artist that you are

-ah. this is gonna be painful to watch, won't it. it's already too painful reading it. makes me tear-eyed (*post-forest ciel having his flashback)

-the "ciel!!" panel in the flashback, our ciel's mouth is covered so you really don't know who's speaking, him or the other person. you just naturally assume it's the other person. oh yana.

-ciel: "ci...el?" damn. hindsight is 20/20.

-the panel with the sun streaming in as ciel begs for a light. yana, the artist that you are

-YEAH GEE, I WONDER WHY CIEL DIDN'T LASH OUT AT CIEL-SHAPED FINNY WHO WAS HOLDING HIS HAND. hindsight. 20/20.

-i'm glad the anime insists on giving sebastian pointed teethies btw.

-thinking back, i don't think i did the black butler manga justice in my first read. it was my second foray into manga after death note, and i really don't think death note can prepare you for the average shounen manga. so when reading black butler, i was hesitant to form opinions and scared to engage with the content, 'cause i had no idea of manga norms, manga conventions, how one absorbs information in manga storytelling - i wasn't used to the medium at all. it was a very fumbling and stumbling experience. i still came out of it liking the manga and the things you'd expect to like in black butler, but i think that if i weren't so green, i would have noticed, appreciated and retained so many more things.

-"a butler must welcome his master's return in a fit and flawless state" that line from tanaka hits different now

-finny, my little love <3

-my god, the dream chess scene, yana the artist that you are

-"have i the scoop of the century for you, old boy" AHAHAHA oscar why

-snake's and emily's faces When Oscar, ahahaha

-OMFG WE'LL SEE DEMON SEBASTIAN IN ANIME FORM WHEEE WHEE WHEEE

-can i just say, doll's colors are less well-defined than the others that are dead. nice nice

-sebastian and ciel, rascals, the both of them

-the emerald witch arc is wild. totally wild

-gosh i love finny

-@ the anime: you can have such cool action scenes, pls don't mess it up, pls don't mess it up, pls-

-"a running oven" ciel so cold wtf XD

-i'm so glad there's so much of the phantomhive staff in this arc

-oh, this was when the grim reapers lore dropped?

-really, so many of the regulars make an appearance in this arc, so nice

-not me tearing up with sieglinde and wolfram. the flowers when they agree to stay together, yana the artist that you are

-lizzie <3

-what a great arc this is

[kirbynoodle]

Spider-Man 2099 + Pokémon hcs (part 1)

First of all I have an uncanny talent of being able to make Pokemon AU out of anything. Second of all, thank you @xinakwans for inspiring me with your post about what Pokémon Xina would have.

Miguel

Ariados

He’s Spider-Man right? He’s gotta have a spider Pokémon. There are a few different spider Pokémon I just think Ariados suits him the best.

Miguel raised Ariados for his research and experiments to re-create Spider-Man’s powers. After the lab accident which gave Miguel his powers, he takes Ariados home with him.

Ariados does not like Miguel at first but they do eventually grow closer and make a great vigilante team.

“Its feet are tipped with tiny hooked claws that enable it to scuttle on ceilings and vertical walls. It constricts its foe with thin and strong silk webbing.” – Pokémon Emerald

Umbreon

Miguel has had Umbreon since he was a kid, when they met it was still an Eevee. He was surprised when it evolved late one night.

Eevee is “The Evolution Pokémon”, I think Eevee might have sparked Miguel’s interest in genetics. Unfortunately, there isn’t much money in being a Pokémon researcher…

Salamence

The year is 2099 and dragons are still really really cool.

Zubat

No real reason for Miguel owning a Zubat, my Miguel plushie just sits next to my Zubat plushie on my window and I think they look cute together.

Xina <3 <3

So I think that Xina is one of the better actual Pokémon trainers, never went pro or anything but took training and battling seriously.

Gengar

Xina traded Miguel for his Haunter, and it evolved into Gengar.

Snorlax

I haven't decided if Xina patiently raised Snorlax from a hungry little Munchlax or is she played a mean flute solo in order to capture it.

Kadabra

Xina planned to trade Kadabra to Miguel so it would evolve into Alakazam.

Starmie

When Xina was young, she would train every day in the pool with Starmie.

Espeon

A while ago someone made a poll asking what kind of pets Xina and Miguel would have. I couldn't quite pin down if they were a dog/cat/lizard/squirrel couple but I knew for sure they were an Espeon/Umbreon couple.

Charizard

Xina and Charizard are really close, with Charizard being Xina’s starter Pokémon raised from a Charmander.

Charizard does not like Miguel. Xina may be willing to forgive Miguel but for Charizard it’s an on-sight flamethrower to the face.

Xina can mega evolve Charizard to Mega Charizard X.

Lyla

Rotom

The “lore” around Rotom in the Pokémon franchise itself is interesting. Rotom is a ghost-type Pokémon that can inhabit and “possess” appliances. Rotom originally seemed to be a sort of mischievous poltergeist, but in the latest entries in the franchise it seems to come with and be an essential working component of some electronics like phones and pcs. The Rotom inside the Pokedex even talks.

So essentially in this AU Lyla is a Rotom. She still takes the form of the Lyla we all know and love but the reason Lyla sometimes feels like a sentient being with thoughts and feelings is because…she is. Inside the box that contains “Lyla” there is a Pokémon.

Miguel had no idea that Lyla was a Pokémon until he brought her to Xina.

Lyla-Rotom is an Electric/Fairy type.

Thanks for reading! If you like these I'll drop part 2!

[totaleclipse573]

I've talked about there needing to be some changes in Terios' lore post to match the more current ideas before, yall want to hear about one of them? (Bit of a rant warning bc ofc, its oc universe)

So for a while I was thinking about how to make sense of Terios also being around during the events of Sth2005 in this au, since here both technically happen together. What I came up with to have this work is kind of simple (to me, at least,) but I think it works well

In the actual game, Doom wants Shadow to collect the Chaos Emeralds, right? In the au, Doleon uses Terios to help him find the Shards of Chaos. Doleon may not seem like it sometimes but he's smart as shit. He KNOWS about the Chaos Emeralds. Sure, they could never come CLOSE to the power he knows the Shards of Chaos possess, but its still A LOT, especially ADDED to what he already had planned! Two little hedgehog puppets, two sets of all-powerful gems at his disposal, to use as he pleased, if all goes as planned (which it WILL, he's 100% sure of that.) How perfect would that be?!

So, he basically just plays gaslighter on both of them, simultaneously (keeping with his manipulation of Shadow in the actual game.) After sending Terios out on a task, he'll check in on Shadow. And Shadow? He's PERFECT for this. He doesn't go astray…usually. Doleon has found him to be rather stubborn. But, at least its better than Terios, always getting sidetracked, failing, he raised him better than that! There IS that possible risk of them accidentally meeting too early…but Doleon is sure to be cautious of that. Keep their directed locations far apart, and the chances of that decrease significantly.

THEN SOON ENOUGH, after both have made a good amount of progress, Doleon sends them out to fight one another. First he goes with Terios, he's easier to manipulate and control. This is it, this is all he's been training for. Go and show no mercy! But haha, you know, just in case you need a reminder!! You know what happens if you fail me again.

Then he goes to Shadow. Oh, you're doing well with the Chaos Emeralds, yeah, but we have a problem lol. This hedgehog? Black and white? Long tail? He wants to stop us. And I need YOU to stop him first, got it? SO GO DO THAT. And he goes to do that.

And I've had this random scene in my head when they face one another where Shadow finally gets a good look at the "hedgehog" he's fighting and is like you look like me??? A lot??? The thing is that Terios has kind of never seen himself? Ever? Is this supposed to be a distraction? Because it won't work! He'll just fight back harder, what an insult!

A bit after that, the whole experience was FOR SURE strange to Shadow. And when Doleon goes to face him again? Well, Shadow's strong will and stubbornness really shines here. After that, and a lot of stuff before, he remembers THINGS. So bro is going to rebel against Doleon now. He'll get him back, soon enough. For now, he still has Terios, he can still get the most important set of gems he needs. He could get the Chaos Emeralds at a later time, be it through Shadow, or on his own.

(Bonus bc after Terios decides to join the heroes, at one point, he's finally able to see his own reflection. He's not really concerned about the blood or the bruises or any of that...that was kind of normal with Doleon. But what catches his interest? His general look. The black fur, the stripes, the fur on his chest, the quills...he does look like Shadow. In a lot of ways. And it scares him.)

[roocomehome]

me to an irl friend: hey i wanna build u a house in mc for no reason at all, what do u want your house based on irl friend: idk,,, crystal-y witch hut? me: ok >:)

So I've been building houses for some of my irl friends and here's the third and prolly last one!! I went WAYY overboard but idc I got adventurous and I love it (it's also a MAJORRRR wip rn)

Here's a bit of rough lore I have for this area :D I like to think this is an abandoned witch hut (all of the houses kind of are bc none of my friends will ever live in them) because of a couple experiments gone wrong, those experiments being massive crystal shards getting launched into the earth, and those experiments caused the witch to be exiled from Eunia (rando region name I chose) :)

extra pics of the crystal pits and some more yapping under the cut <:P

So I still have one more crystal pit planned and it'll be the smallest one of the other three, this one will be orange/yellow, I'm probably gonna add some more crystallization around the house, considering the fact that my friend said "crystal-y" witch hut.

Also yes I KNOW the pits dont look very crystal-y considering they are conceived of like 99% different blocks and then 1% Emerald/Amethyst, but it's all about the *look* and what it conveys... which doesn't rlly make sense tbh oops LMAO

I like to think that the sheer heat from the crystal shards making impact with the land caused miniature pits of lava/magma, hence the little pockets near the bottom with magma blocks/"out-of-place?" blocks

[spinningbuster98]

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles (Knuckles) Part 3: Hyper not living up to the hype

Unfortunately I had to cut this one short because I had to stop the session, so it’s just me Emerald hunting

So while we’re here what about those Super and Hyper forms for Tails and Knuckles?

They’re lame

I don’t understand why Sonic gets to have a unique design, but Tails and Knuckles (and later Amy, Mighty and Ray) only get to glow a little. They don’t even fly! Tails is especially egregious because he still needs his tails to fly and can still get tired!

Not only is it lame from a gameplay perspective (Tails’ invincible flickies would be great if not for the fact that he himself is already invincible thus making it much faster to kill enemies yourself, and Hyper Knuckles is literally just Super Knuckles except he has a wall smash attack that is nowhere close to being as versatile and fun as Hyper Sonic’s hyper dash), it also makes little sense from a lore perspective

I know that the whole “Sega said only male hedgehogs can turn Super” has (from what understand at least) been proven by a member of Sonic Team itself to be misinformation, but this is one of those cases where I think the games themselves don’t do themselves any favors because look: Sonic, Shadow and Silver get proper Super forms, all the others only have them in the Classic games and they just glow a bit, while in the modern games no one else ever turns Super and that one time in Heroes Tails and Knuckles only receive Super Shields from Super Sonic. The only exception to the rule being Blaze really. It’s easy to imagine, even from an outside perspective, that the super forms of most characters that we see in the classic games are a purely gameplay related thing and not story canon. I’m not claiming that’s the case, just that that would be an easy conclusion to come to just looking at the material on its own

Furthermore it just doesn’t make sense period: Knuckles should have more proficiency at handling the Emeralds given his ties to the Master Emerald, honestly he should be second only to Shadow! I remember reading somwhere that the reason why Tails needs the Super Emeralds to transform is because he has little experience. I wanna stress that I don’t know if this is official or fan theory, but either way it’s just nonsense: oh sure he doesn’t have the ability to handle the powers of the Emeralds, but their more powerful versions? He can handle those no issue!

And if we really wanted to follow this type of logic then, again, Sonic himself should have trouble using the Emeralds, because he, by this point, has only encountered them 3 times, and the first time it wasn’t even the full set! Yet he can totally use their full power by his second adventure with them, while Tails for some reason still has issues and Knuckles, the guy who’s spent his life guarding the biggest Emerald of all, can just do the bare minimum with them?

And for the record: no I’m not saying I want everyone to spam Super forms all willy nilly. But when I see Sonic go Super to fight the latest threat while the others just stay back and cheer him up I would really like to know why exactly it’s always just him and maybe one other guy who’s turning Super instead of the whole gang which, y’know, would be more practical? (I mean look at SA2: Sonic and Shadow turn Super to fight the Biolizard while Knuckles, the guy who should also be able to go Super according to S3, just stays there literally slack jawed)