#earl does rambles

[earlgreytiefling]

Season 10 Grian with kingfisher wings.

That is all.

[earl-grey-crow]

witch 🤝 time traveler

[themoomoorn]

Megathread Review of the Lupicia x Fire Emblem Fódlan Tea Collection by a Tea/Coffee Addict (UPDATED!)

Ahem

LOOK AT WHAT RIKA SUZUKI DID TO MY GIRL BYLETH! SHE'S GORGEOUS!!!

And now that I have your attention...guess who bought the Fódlan Tea Collection from Atai-Kuji? Meeeee.

Out of all the bizarrely belated FE3H merchandise to actually come out, the tea set is definitely one of the better ones, and one of the most fitting. Not only does it fit the setting completely, but it's also a great bit of merch for an older weeb like me who does not care for figurines. You can either use/consume the merch, or display it, and it looks classy! And I really like tea. A lot. I even broke out my mother's fine china tea cups for the occasion. So for the curious, I decided to post a review of every tea in the set. Please note that I'm a fanatic, not an expert in tea by any measure. I hope you enjoy this anyway. Now if only they actually did a full-blown tea parlor café I mean come on it's the perfect fit and would probably bring in money hello???

Of note, the teas used in this set are blends and leaves curated by a high-ish end Japanese tea merchant called Lupicia. The majority of the teas used here are derivatives of tea they sell on their site, with a few custom blends put in here and there. They have a U.S branch based in Hawai'i, and they also have merchants in Taiwan, France, and Australia. Each store also sells region exclusive blends, like the Hawai'ian tins for the U.S site, which is pretty cool.

Also, I only purchased the tea box set (the box with Femleth on it), not the box with the special tea cup and Hresvelg Blend tin (the one with Manleth on it and also of course that blend got the big fancy tin with five satchets...), so the Hresvelg Blend will go unreviewed.

Also, I'll be sharing my favorite teas and there's a lot of hyperlinking in this post. This is NOT any kind of endorsement - I just really like tea, okay?

UPDATE: Disregard the above statement! A second run of the set was made available and I have now the Manleth box, teacup, and Hresvelg Tin in my possession!

Let's begin!

Bergamot

In-Game Description: "The bright notes of this tea stem from an infusion of citrus oils. This blend is highly favored by nobility."

Tea Base: Earl Grey tea

This well-known tea's biggest feature is being blended and cooked with bergamot oil, giving it a very unique flavor. Being a black tea popularized and cribbed by the English yet having Chinese origins (as the English so often do), Earl grey tea is one of the most accessible and affordable teas out there, and you can get it at any grocery store. Lupicia has their own base blend along with some special blends.

Alas, because this tea is normally accessible as can be, I can safely say that this set's Earl Grey is not very special - if anything, there's a lack of bergamot. Since EG is one of my all time faves, I can safely say that there are better greys out there. For personal picks, I really like Twining's Lady Grey derivative (it's an Earl Grey with lemon and orange peel added).

Two packages of bergamot come in the box. One is eagle red with Aymr illustrated on it; the other is lion blue with an illustration of a wax-sealed letter, presumably for Sylvain.

Favored By: Edelgard, Sylvain, Lorenz, Constance, Hanneman, Anna

Final Rating: 2.5/5

Dagda Fruit Blend

In-Game Description: "A stark, bitter fruit from Dagda makes this black tea particularly pungent. Connoisseurs enjoy its unique flavor."

Tea Base: Assam tea with bits of mocha

This black tea comes from a state in India that shares its name, and it is one of the biggest producers of any tea leaf in the world. By itself it is malty and bold. Because of its flavor profile and ability to grow quickly and in high amounts (due to Assam's soil and weather conditions), the tea is fairly easy to come by. If you see "breakfast blend" teas (I.E English or Irish), there's a 99% chance that it's made from a blend that includes assam tea leaves. Most straight assam teas and blends especially are quite affordable and widely available. This particular bag appears to be a custom blend, as none of the assam teas on Lupicia's site feature the mocha bits within them. A similar black tea with cacao nibs and cocoa powder is also on the site.

The tea itself is nice and malty (I already enjoy Irish Breakfast a lot, so that helps), and the mocha bits add an extra bit of sweetness and depth that enhance it. Believe it or not, very small bits of coffee flavor mixed with tea actually can taste good, as Canandian teamaker David's Tea has a pu'erh blend with coffee beans and vanilla. "But MoomooRN," I hear you say, "this isn't a fruit blend!" Technically, coffee begins its life as a fruit that resembles a cherry, so actually yes, this tea is a fruit blend. Hah!

Two bags of the Dagda blend are in the box. One is eagle red with a bag of coffee beans, funnily enough, representing Hubert. The other is one of the four grey ones for the Ashen Wolves, featuring a drawing of assorted pebbles, which Hapi likes to collect.

Favored By: Hubert, Ignatz, Marianne, Hapi, Anna

Final Rating: 5/5

Almyran Pine Needles

In-Game Description: "This tea is composed of oxidized pine needles from eastern Almyra, giving it a distinct, earthy tone."

Tea Base: Lapsang souchong

This beautiful Chinese black tea originates from Fujian Province and gets its distinct flavor by its leaves being smoke-dried over a pinewood fire. While not quite as widely available as other black teas, it is nevertheless fairly affordable. This is a special tea for the set, as Lupicia does not sell lapsang souchong on their site.

Because of its signature smoke, this tea is very divisive (I hated it when I tried it the first time). I've had a blend of the stuff from Twinings that dialed down the smoke a little and liked it, and I can safely say that this lapsang is fantastic for the same reason. It even had a little bit of a chocolate-y aftertaste, and it smells wonderful.

"But MoomooRN," I hear you again, "There's no pine needles in the tea!" Pine needle teas (like this Korean one) do exist, but it's been cited that multiple breeds of pine needles, when brewed, are poisonous. Plus, the tea in-game is described as having an "earthy" taste and the needles are oxidized; oxidization is one step in the LS-making process if smoked hot...It's the thought that counts?

...The fact that this tea is inadvertently tied to the guy making homebrew poisons is pretty funny, actually.

Two bags of the Almyran goods are in the box. One, fittingly, is deer yellow with Failnaught illustrated on the front. The other is eagle red with a drawing of a tea cup with a tea tin and bag of leaves, representing Ferdinand as one of the continent's leading tea connoisseurs.

Favored By: Ferdinand, Linhardt, Felix, Claude, Cyril, Balthus

Final Rating: 5/5

Angelica Tea

In-Game Description: "A cleansing herbal tea blended with angelica."

Tea Base: Herbal tea mixture of rosemary, jasmine, lavender, chamomile, and verbene

The angelica plant exists in varying forms across the world, particularly in Iceland, Lapland, Greenland, and in parts of China. It is a popular plant for herbal medicine, and some seeds are used to flavor gin and liqueur -

"MoomooRN, there's no angelica in this tea!"

Yeah, that's actually correct. Whoops. Despite this big fat omission, this tea is a fantastic blend of plants that always taste great together, especially the jasmine and verbene.

This is notably the only tea in the box that is a true herbal tea. The tea base for this is Lupicia's custom Lumière blend, which appears to be only available in the Japan store.

Two bags of angelica tea come in the box. One is eagle red with Linhardt's down pillow illustrated on it. The other is deer yellow with a drawing of a bow and arrow set made by Leonie.

Favored By: Linhardt, Ashe, Leonie, Seteth, Rhea

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Ginger Tea

In-Game Description: "The sharp spiciness of ginger laces the body of this tea, unforgettable and brightening."

Tea Base: Assam tea with ginger

Ginger is one of the single most ancient herbal remedies on earth. Not much else to say about it, other than the fact that it often breaks its back carrying both good tea and great food. I personally prefer ginger blends to straight ginger, and I definitely liked this blend since the assam it's mixed with isn't too strong.

This tea is based on Lupicia's ginger blend, which is African CTC (a type of assam) tea mixed with dried ginger.

Two bags of ginger are in the box. One is eagle red with a drawing of a broken hatchet, presumably belonging to Caspar (none of his Lost Items are a hatchet); the other is ashen gray with a bag of coins, presumably belonging to Balthus (again, he lacks a Lost Item of this nature).

Favored By: Petra, Caspar, Dedue, Raphael, Balthus, Seteth

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Albinean Berry Blend

In-Game Description: "Dried albinean berries give this black tea its fragrance. The sweet, relaxing scent is popular among many."

Tea Base: Black tea with dried rhubarb and strawberry

Strawberry is a pretty popular additive to teas, especially of the iced and sweet variety. It's unknown when this trend began, but I suspect that Europeans who raided the Americas had something to do with it (while strawberries as we know them were produced in France, the plants that form its base originate in North America and Chile, respectively). Very sus. Rhubarb, meanwhile, is a bizarre plant. Much like how avocados and tomatoes are fruits treated as veggies, the opposite is true for rhubarb as its inherent flavor is very tart. Strawberry and rhubarb have become a classic pie-filling combo, and this translated into some tea blends, like this one.

Rhubarb is also involved in the human creation myth in Zoroastrianism. Neato.

In spite of all this, it's a pretty bog standard black tea with overpowering strawberry flavor and no rhubarb detected. And there's no berries either, if you want to take your pedantic meter to the next level. Booooo.

Lupicia has both a black tea with just strawberry, as well as a custom blend called Merci Mille Fois, which is the same thing but also includes peaches and rose. This blend appears to be based on the former, since there's mainly only strawberry flavoring.

The two bags of berry blend are both eagle red. One has a drawing of Dorothea's hat, while the other has a hedgehog toy that's presumably based on the case Bernadetta made.

Favored By: Dorothea, Bernadetta, Jeritza, Mercedes, Hilda, Yuri, Constance

Final Rating: 2.5/5

Four-Spice Blend

In-Game Description: "A novelty tea blended with four unique spices inspired by the Four Saints. Enjoyment requires a mature palate."

Tea Base: Black tea with cardamom, cinnamon, peppercorns, and cloves

The above listed spices are popular options for chai tea blends, which in turn has translated into popular dessert drinks overtime like masala chai. The original chai combo actually didn't have any tea leaves in it, but was a medical spice mixture that has origin points in both India and Siam (modern day Thailand). The British coming a-knocking on India's door because of course they did would be the launching point of the modern chai tea as we know it.

Despite this sweeping history with an even more sweeping flavor, this tea fails to live up to its name. While four spices are visible in the sachet, the cardamom overwhelms the other three, although I could taste some pepper in there too. The cardamom itself isn't even that good. The tea itself is also very weak. So much for being the tea labeled for a mature palate.

A bag of assam with pepper and cardamom is available on Lupicia's site. This is likely what this blend is based off of.

The two bags of this blend are eagle red with a drawing of an exotic feather owned by Petra (it's a peacock feather, actually) and a lion blue with a worn practice blade presumably belonging to Felix, as one of his Lost Items is a sheath fragment.

Favored By: Petra, Dedue, Felix, Leonie, Hapi, Seteth

Final Rating: 1.5/5

Chamomile

In-Game Description: "A stark white floral tea with bright notes, this blend calms nerves and heightens concentration."

Tea Base: Black tea with chamomile leaves

Chamomile is ancient, with the first citations of its long medical career stemming from ancient Greece and Egypt. Its claims to fame are sleep promotion and assisting with GI problems, so much so that it's actually become one of the few herbal remedies that's been validated to an extent in the medical world for its effectiveness. Not bad for a flower that looks like a cute little daisy. It's brewed either alone or as part of a blend, and I personally prefer the latter since chamomile by itself has a bitter taste. My personal favorite is the Sweet Dreams blend by Bigelow, which is chamo with rose, hibiscus, mint, and orange. This may not be as good, but the chamo and black tea in this blend mesh nicely together.

This appears to be a custom blend, as the chamomile Lupicia sells is all herbal and features elderflower, mint, and rosehip; this tea is a black mix mainly featuring only chamomile and some mint.

The lone package of Chamomile is in lion blue, and Areadbhar graces the front of it.

Favored By: Dimitri, Ingrid, Claude, Shamir, Rhea

Final Rating: 4/5

Cinnamon Blend

In-Game Description: "An aromatic bark blend referred to as the king of spices. Its unique taste appeals to similarly unique people."

Tea Base: Black tea with dried cinnamon

I've already bought up cinnamon in the Four Spice review above, but I did find some more fun information about it: It's origin points are Sri Lanka and Egypt, there are multiple types based on where it's grown, and the Ceylon version of cinnamon has a chemical called coumarin, which can inhibit clot formation. On the flipside, coumarin can be toxic and even cause liver damage, which makes a specific gag in Persona Q have its comical elements sucked out of it (the gag is that Elizabeth forces her brother Theodore to eat an extreme amount of cinnamon). Luckily, there's only so much cinnamon in this bag, and it tastes great, being complimented by a moderate-strength black tea.

This is based on Lupicia's black tea and cinnamon blend. A bag of cinnamon mixed with assam is also available.

Only one bag of cinnamon is in the set. It is lion blue and uniquely Dedue, as the illustration on its bag is of one of his earings.

Favored By: Hubert, Dedue, Marianne, Hapi

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Sweet Apple Blend

In-Game Description: "A tea blended with two types of apple peels. elegant and sweet, it is popular among common folk and nobles alike."

Tea Base: Black tea with dried apple slices

Apple is not as common a tea additive compared to other fruits, and I suspect its flavor profile and fragility might have something to do with it. The closest to a true blend I could find was this blend from a Turkish seller called Hazer Baba. It's apparently often sold to tourists in Istanbul. In any case, a friend of mine on Discord mentioned that apples in tea often don't work twofold: Apple's mild flavor is prone to being destroyed by tannins found in black tea, and caffeine from black tea also destroys apple's natural acidity.

Lo and behold, she was right. This is probably my least favorite tea in the set. Not only is the flavor poor, but it smells almost artificial.

Lupicia sells a black tea with apple, and is used for this tea.

The two apple teas are in a lion blue bag with a drawing of a music score sheet, presumably by Annette; the other is ashen gray with Constance's fan.

Favored By: Dorothea, Jeritza, Annette, Lysithea, Constance, Flayn, Hanneman

Final Rating: 1/5

Mint Leaves

In-Game Description: "An invigorating mint blend that revitalizes and refreshes all who partake."

Tea Base: Black tea with mint leaves

Mint is a perennial favorite for digestion woes around the world. In North African countries, Maghrebi tea (mint + green tea + cane sugar) is the socially significant drink of the region, similar to the socialization surrounding rize tea in Turkey, Cyprus, and some Balkan countries. Mint tea's efficacy as a GI aid is debated, but that doesn't stop it from being a hot option for tea.

Another simple combo, another great delivery. Mint is delicious and its use in savory stuff (I.E mint jam on lamb chops) is underrated.

This appears to be a custom blend, as the sole mint tea product on Lupicia's site is a Baï Mu Dan (white peony) blend.

The two bags of mint in the box are both in lion blue, with one featuring a book about a knight (Ashe) and the other featuring metal horseshoes (Ingrid).

Favored By: Ashe, Ingrid, Hilda, Manuela

Final Rating: 4/5

Crescent Moon Tea

In-Game Description: "Fermented dried seeds blended with tea leaves. It has a soft and subtle flavor, akin to the gentle light of the moon."

Tea Base: Black tea with vanilla flavoring

In spite of its rep as being the default of "boring," vanilla is one of the most expensive spices in the world due to its intensive cultivating process. Anything flavored by the beans (particularly the Madagascar and Tahitian varieties) is nothing short of divine, and the demand was so much that we got some of the earliest examples of knock-off flavoring out of it (I.E vanillin). Interestingly, while vanilla is a very popular additive for chai beverages, a true chai mix does not include vanilla in it.

It's a damn shame that this tea sucks. It has an artificial scent and taste like the Sweet Apple blend, and the vanilla itself is very thin.

This tea is derived from their black tea and vanilla blend. A small variety of other vanilla teas are also available on the site.

There is only one bag of this in the set. It is lion blue with an illustration of a hand-sewn bow, presumably Mercedes'.

Favored By: Mercedes, Lysithea, Shamir, Alois, Rhea

Final Rating: 1/5

Rose Petal Blend

In-Game Description: "Black tea laced with rose petals. A classic floral blend often enjoyed by Kingdom and Alliance nobles."

Tea Base: Darjeeling with rose petals

Darjeeling is akin to assam, Ceylon, pu'erh, and lapsang souchong in that it is specifically grown and harvested in select locations - West Bengal, in this case. Leaf types are determined by season, or "flushes," with the most commonly consumed teas being the first flush (March and April) and the second (May and June). First flush teas are typically classified as being floral-tasting and having a strong aroma. Rose petals, meanwhile, had their start as an herbal remedy and tea in China, and is cited to have GI and menstrual woe-relieving properties; It is also akin to lavender and chamomile in that it's a soothing agent. Rose petals are also a dinner and dessert darling, especially in Middle Eastern countries, with the Lebanese/Syrian zhourat tea mixture being one example.

I liked this tea a lot. Weirdly, while rose petals make for excellent blending catalysts, it doesn't fully mesh with the darjeeling here. Both taste wonderful nevertheless.

A set of first flush darjeeling can be found on Lupicia's site. Several blend varieties exist as well.

There is only one bag of this blend in the box. It is deer yellow with an illustration of a rose, the rose of the based Lorenz Hellman Gloucester!

Favored By: Annette, Hilda, Lorenz, Constance

Final Rating: 5/5

Almond Blend

In-Game Description: "A refined, nutty tea that is blended with leaves and thinly-sliced almonds."

Tea Base: Black tea with almonds

Since the composition of an almond appears to be diametrically opposed in possibly contributing to a tea blend, one would think that this wouldn't work. But this tea is fantastic, and easily one of the best "dessert" teas I've had recently. It would definitely be a great catalyst for a fancy iced latte that doesn't require metric shittons of extra sugar.

As an aside, during my research for this post, I stumbled on this old-time Chinese recipe that's a mixture of Chinese almonds, milk, and rice...except the "almonds" are apricot kernels, so they're not quite the same thing. Pretty cool though.

This tea is based on a Lupicia custom blend called...Cookie. No, seriously. The blend has almond and tiny specks of caramel mixed in the leaves, which is likely why the flavors blend together so nicely.

Only one bag of this tea is in the box. An illustration of Raphael's presumably-germ-riddled leg of mutton graces the bag.

Favored By: Annette, Raphael, Gilbert

Final Rating: 5/5

Honeyed Fruit Blend

In-Game Description: "A candied blend made up of dried honeyed fruits. For anyone with a sweet tooth, this tea can't be beat."

Tea Base: Black tea with marigold and honey-glazed dried fruit

The stunning marigold comes in shades of red, orange, yellow and white, and is an icon of Mexico, serving as its flower of the dead. The pot marigold bloom has become a popular option for herbal tea blends, and the whole plant itself is cited to be safe for human consumption. Its inherent flavor is a bit bittersweet yet still floral.

This is my second favorite of the "sweet teas" after the Southern Fruit Blend, as it was hard to parse whatever dried fruits were used. Nevertheless, the floral marigolds and honey made for a pitch-perfect combo.

This tea is specifically based on Lupicia's Neptune blend, stated on the bag.

There is only one bag of this blend in the set. It is in deer yellow with a drawing of cake and cookies on it, presumably belonging to Lysithea, who I can only assume will struggle with diabetes if her Crests don't take her out first...

Favored By: Bernadetta, Jeritza, Lysithea, Yuri, Alois

Final Rating: 5/5

Seiros Tea

In-Game Description: "A black tea common to the south of Almyra, it is fairly basic in its flavors. [Seiros Tea] is its common name in Fódlan."

Tea Base: Ceylon tea

This is yet another example of a coveted regional tea. Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon), like India and China, is home to lands that are primed for growing tea leaves which naturally made it yet another target of the British Empire, the assholes. This tea must meet extremely strict qualifications in order to even be considered a tea worth exporting, and the requirements include it being grown by Sri Lankan farmers and even being packaged in said country - no lion label means that it's a dupe. Ceylon blends, including ceylon grown out of Sri Lanka, are fairly easy to come by compared to their genuine counterparts, but the latter is still obtainable.

In any case, most true ceylons are described as being bold yet brisk, and this tea lovingly delivers, making it stand out compared to the other black teas in the set. Unfortunately, this is also yet another case of game-versus-reality suspension: While the use of an in-universe localization of this tea's name is pretty cool/fitting, the text describes the tea being "basic," which true ceylon definitely isn't. There's also that aforementioned pesky extreme standards of perfection to consider. Maybe they do the same in-universe?

Side Note: For the longest time I assumed this was another Almyran tea, but the text reads "to the south of Almyra," which, going by the world map, is presumably Morfis...but there are also two islands below Almyra, so they might be from there instead. Either way, I doubt the devs give a rat's ass if their Three Hopes interviews are anything to go by.

Lupicia sells a ceylon tea blend called Ratatam, which also includes some assam leaves and vanilla flavoring.

Two bags of this tea are in the set. One is deer yellow with a painting Ignatz presumably made (it shows a view of the Monastery he looks at with Marianne in one of their Supports), while the other is ashen gray with a sword that's likely associated with Yuri.

Favored By: Ferdinand, Sylvain, Lorenz, Ignatz, Yuri, Anna

Final Rating: 5/5

Lavender Blend

In-Game Description: "Tiny dried purple lavandula flowers are sprinkled into this refreshing floral tea."

Tea Base: Black tea with lavender petals

This beautiful purple flower, much like chamomile, is one of the go-to options for relaxation and better sleep. It's less likely to be steeped on its own due to how delicate it is, however, and it is arguably more popular as a culinary ingredient and as a scent option for essential oils. Lavender has even joined chamomile in the "verified for its boasted properties" club.

Like the chamomile, this simple combo tea is great, and the lavender itself is plenty strong.

This is another custom blend, as the sole lavender tea product on Lupicia's site is a white tea blend, which this tea definitely is not.

Another deer yellow exclusive oner joins this set's club. On its cover are birds, likely companions of Marianne's.

Enjoyed By: Ignatz, Marianne, Manuela, Gilbert

Final Rating: 4.5/5

Southern Fruit Blend

In-Game Description: "A blend with a unique dried fruit of the south. Popular for its intoxicatingly strong, bright notes."

Tea Base: Black tea with mango and hibiscus

Mango is a superstar tropical fruit that has a unique flavor, is found in multiple countries across the world, and is one of several Vitamin C powerhouses. The hibiscus flower has hundreds of species across the subtropics and tropics, being commonly associated with places like Hawai'i and Haiti. The flower is even worn by Kali, the Hindu goddess of power, destruction, and change. Hibiscus in particular is an extremely popular option for teas and blends due to its lightly tart flavor, while mango is more of a popular flavoring option for the stuff - just ask Snapple.

This is definitely the best of the "sweet teas" in the set, courtesy of a good tea base, dried mango, and just enough hibiscus to avoid a sour flavor. Now in-universe, where "to the south" would be is a mystery -maybe Brigid? - but they certainly picked two fitting flavors for it.

The tea on the bag is called "Grenada," but no tea fits that description on the Lupicia site. However, there is a black mix called Alphonse Mango, whose flavors seem to align with this one.

There is only one of this blend in the set. It is yet another deer yellow (what's up with that) and features a set of three used perfume bottles, all belonging to Hilda.

Favored By: Ferdinand, Jeritza, Mercedes, Hilda, Lysithea

Final Rating: 4/5

Leicester Cortania

In-Game Description: "A specialty tea from the Alliance blended with a variety of leaves from the east. This tea is of the utmost quality."

Tea Base: Second-Flush Darjeeling

What separates second-flush darjeeling from first flush is that these leaves are specifically plucked between May and June, after a period of heavy rainfall. The flavor is muskier (and sometimes more floral depending on where the leaves are harvested from), with some farmers describing it as a "muscatel" flavor, or like muscat grapes. Second flush teas often boast more potent flavors in exchange for a less noticeable aroma. Due to the shorter window for harvesting, as well as the tea-making process, this tends to be more expensive than its first-flush counterpart.

This tea was a good option for the Leicester Cortania label, and it definitely had a pleasant faint grape flavor and a nice floral scent.

Lupicia has both first and second flush darjeeling, with the latter being this tea's base. Darjeeling blends also exist on the site.

The lone package of Leicester Cortania is one of two that are purple. The illustration on it is of the Sword of the Creator.

Favored By: Catherine

Final Rating: 5/5

Tea of the Saints

In-Game Description: "Even commoners have tried this cost-efficient tea, which is a mixture of herbs. It's a tad bitter."

Tea Base: Pu'erh tea

Pu'erh tea is a unique tea originating from Yunnan Province in China, and said uniqueness comes from the fact that it is made by microbial fermentation. Much like how the wood of a barrel and aging flavors a whiskey, oxidization and how long the fermentation process goes on determines the tea's flavor. As you can see by the length of the linked wiki page, the creation process is extremely intricate.

There's a variety of flavors to any pu'erh, but the most common heard is that it tastes "shroomy," likely because of the fermentation. This pu'erh is subtly shroomy, earthy, and a bit grassy, and absolutely wonderful because of it.

This is one of the single most egregious cases of in-and-out of universe separation for this piece of merch. In-universe, this tea is cited to be common, inexpensive, and made of an herbal mix. Out-of-universe, they happened to pick a tea that's one of the single most expensive to produce in the world, is highly coveted, and, uh, there's no herbs in it. It's straight pu'erh tea. That's pretty bad, IntSys.

Lupicia sells a highly affordable blend of pu'erh made in the Menghai Factory in Yunnan, which is one of four pu'erh processing plants in the province. If you want to look elsewhere though, be prepared to shell out some serious dough for it.

The lone package of Tea of the Saints is the other sole purple bag. The illustration on the front is of Sothis' elaborate tiara.

Favored By:...No one, which is probably why Sothis' tiara is on the package. Perhaps she herself liked the tea when she was alive?

Final Rating: 5/5

And now, at long last...

❁Hresvelg Blend ❁

In-Game Description: ✽ "A high-quality blend of leaves procured specially for House Hresvelg. Its refined flavor brings sheer bliss." ✽

Tea Base: Assam and nilgiri tea with rose petals and safflower...and fragrance.

If you bought only the tea cup and the yellow box with a Byleth who looks oddly angry for some reason, then this is the tea you got saddled with, and they let you know it because you got the elite, better-than-you House Hresvelg's epic, boasting tin of how their tea leaves were specially procured only for them. In-universe, this tea and the Leicester Cortania are the most expensive teas to purchase, and the Kingdom gets no equivalent because they're too cold and mopey for one, I suppose. Fittingly, they have assam and rose mixed in with nilgiri tea leaves from Tamil, India (ironically reverse-engineered by English colonists, as the camellia sinensis tea leaves grown there were given to India in the 19th century) and safflower is what the Crimson Flower route is called in the Japanese version of 3H (紅花の章).

In addition to being flowers thought useful in attracting love and marriage, safflowers are both drought and wind-resistant, is able to grow and tolerate slightly acidic soil, can make a dye that can wash away easily depending on the cloth it's placed on, and is considered a cheaper alternative to saffron in cooking.

🤔

In any case, this tea's scent borderlines on being a potpourri ball. The flavor is similar to the rose petal blend but it's much more bitter and leaves a harsh feeling on the roof of the mouth. Safflower flavor is said to be similarly bitter, which is apparent. While it's not the most unpleasant-tasting of the teas (Albinea and Sweet Apple are still at the bottom of the barrel), the princess treatment is a bit overrated.

Funny how that works.

As boasted on the tin, this is a custom blend, and no equivalent exists on Lupicia's website.

As shown above, this tea gets the princess treatment with its own tin. The tin itself is...fine? I guess? It looks and feels very cheap. Furthermore, unlike the individually wrapped teas in the purple box, the tin has the five sachets packed together in a single aluminum bag (similar to how some companies package matcha powder).

Favored By: Technically no one, but both this tea and the Leicester Cortania are the most expensive teas in-universe, and some characters will comment on said expense if you give this to them.

Final Rating: 2/5.

Final Rating for the Tea Cup: 6/5. Unlike the tin, it's gorgeous and much sturdier than the average piece of china. Can be used to drink out of, or as the perfect knick-knack! And I will say that Rika Suzuki's art of Male Byleth does look fantastic.

Overall, most of these teas are pretty great and I'd honestly get the set again if it's ever available. This sort of merch is also my favorite - think of all the fic ideas and accidental laughs you can get out of stuff like this - Like how the Bergamot tea shall hereby be named the "Duke Aegir" because "Earl Grey" is an actual guy, plus in one of the few bits of Hopes' fun worldbuilding bitw is how the Aegir Dukedom actually owns a stretch of sea that serves as their trade route with Morfis. See? Fun!

(IDK why male Byleth is frowning here, he's having the coveted Hresvelg Jingle Juice, he should be happy lol)

[ambidexedition]

still thinking about how I was watching a slay the princess letsplay and they got Chapter II: The Razor, and because we had just left Chapter I: The Princess, my immediate thought was "ooh, that's a cool royal title. I wonder where it is, hierarchy wise," and proceeded to google. razor definition. to which google said "uh. you mean the little shaving things?"

[ikoarts]

Sonny the Well-Tank Engine (my HC :p)

More of my Sonny Bunny, I wanted to show some comparisons, mostly with his livery and overall appearance, over the years in my headcanon for him.

This is my baby and I am fighting Mattel for wasting such a good boy

I'll add some rambling under the cut to read if you so wish x

So, just to get one thing out of the way first, my Sonny is not a sibling to Bellerophon, or Bellerophon herself, but in fact a bootleg created to the same design for work on a colliery in the south (which explains his inexplicable southern accent lmao)

The original livery for the colliery's engines was that navy blue he's seen in in canon, of course being changed when the NCB was founded, I don't know too much about the NCB liveries (there's a lot) but I opted for him to wear the same green as Bellerophon did.

Some time after, as dieselisation took hold, he was restored back into navy blue, in hopes he could serve as a heritage engine.... thoooough those plans fell through when the colliery ran out of funds, and Sonny was sent to be scrapped.

After that, he was "rescued" by Baz and Bernie. Feeling indebted to them, he did them the favour of being their getaway vehicle, and brushed off their abusive behaviour towards him, as he was just thankful to be alive. Unable to do much about it anyway, any protest he did have towards their actions stopped, as he became apathetic and hopeless. My headcanon gets a little darker than whatever non fleshed out silliness we got in Marvellous Machinery, maybe a little bit of murder involved, who knows!! Hence the blood... Oh dear!

After finally being rescued FOR REAL by the NWR, he was taken in as a private engine on the Earl's estate, working alongside Stephen, Glynn, and Millie, mostly working to pull goods to and from Ulfstead Castle. Millie does most of that work, and being narrow gauge, it limits where she can go and what she can pull, Stephen and Glynn probably shouldn't be doing that sort of work, so, Sonny feels perfect here. He IS an old Victorian engine, bootleg or not, he catches the interest of the Earl, and he's keen to have him on his estate. Sonny is just happy to have finally found a home at last, his past is troubled, and he has the scars to prove it, but he made it in the end!

Anyway I'm wrapping him up in bubble wrap and keeping him close, he deserved much better than BWBA and Marvellous Machinery, but alas, if he's gonna be given nothing then I'll have to do it myself

[sapphiel]

Could we get some facts about McDee

(He so silly💕)

Earl McDee (his full name) is autistic, and has a STRONG hyperfixation for trains and anything related to them.

So much so he has a massive collection of train paraphernalia in his home, be they toys, models, images, even actual scrapped parts of old ones that he managed to bring home.

He is best friends with Daziel, the mechanic of the train. The two are incredibly close, and despite Daziel's short temper, Earl is able to ramble to him about his hobbies all day long without so much a furrow of the brow.

Earl almost never gets angry, in fact most people say it's impossible to make him angry, as even his best friend's and boss' crude behavior never seems to dampen his mood. However, there IS one thing that WILL set him off: And that's hurting the people (not things. People.) he deeply cares about.

He has an older sister, Emma, who cares for him very much, to the point that she researches everything about neurodivergence/autism just to make sure she's on the same page as he is.

He does a daily jog around his block an hour before heading to work, and he always walks his way there.

[zalia]

Experiencing Destiny 1 as a D2 player

I picked up Destiny 1 in a sale recently despite being told a lot about its problems, and honestly I'm really enjoying playing it! I feel a bit like a time traveller visiting important places and events from the past.

I also have friends who played Destiny nearly from the beginning and it's fun to go back and go 'ooooh that's what they were talking about!'. I am also very aware that if I had started playing it without already being invested, I would be having considerably less fun. (Also, being fair, much of the fun is doubtless novelty after playing *mumbletymumble* hours of D2 over the past couple of years).

But it's genuinely been really interesting from a design and narrative perspective going back to it and seeing where the story began and how things have changed and I wanted to ramble about it. Full disclosure, I have played up through the first couple of missions of The Taken King. There are also things I can't comment on such as Crucible (because getting enough players for a match has not happened yet), events (no longer happening) etc. Also haven't managed to run a raid yet but hopefully will eventually!

I will start with the bad, to get it over with. A lot of stuff here will be well known and honestly it's probably less interesting than the good/thinky stuff.

The Bad

Oh boy I have maligned D2's New Light introduction so badly since it is miles ahead of D1 just by merit of actually having one! D1 gives you the opening run through the Cosmodrome where they tell you what buttons to use and then refuses to explain anything ever again. (This very definitely ties into it being a game I enjoy now but would probably not have enjoyed if I wasn't already invested)

You don't realise how many QoL improvements D2 has until you have to go to orbit and select a new destination every single time. Also no fast travel points. And no you cannot just look at a map of the place you're traversing. Fashion is difficult too.

Up until Taken King, I am not sure why they bothered hiring voice actors for anyone except Ghost, Elsie Bray, and maybe the Speaker. And I have no idea why they hired Bill Nighy for that part (I mean I do, it's because they wanted to use Big Names for marketing but still...). The Vanguard could easily be replaced with cardboard cutouts because they are basically uninvolved in anything until Taken King begins. I know they aren't involved in every seasonal plot now, but they do appear and develop.

The story and writing is... well, it makes an attempt to exist. It does not succeed until The Taken King. I went in knowing what happens in the story and I'm still not actually sure what happens in the story because it is basically someone's pre-first draft bullet points of a narrative. The only reason I knew I was starting different storylines is because the mission popup tells you which storyline it is. 'I don't have time to explain why I don't have time to explain' is a meme for a reason, but another bit which I think illustrates the point well is from House of Wolves. Petra tells you that Skolas has entered the Vault of Glass and this is bad so you need to stop him. It is never explained before then what the Vault of Glass is, what it does, why it would be bad for Skolas to be in there, or... anything. While D2 can be obtuse, and sometimes leaves important info in easily overlooked lore tabs (or in vaulted content), it at least tries to tell you what the story is. I feel like D1 actively resents that players do not read the bullet points and fill in everything the writers had in their heads. Another example is the Devil's Lair strike. it's the first one you take on in D1, and after doing it in D2, I was expecting backstory and build up. Nope, you just get sent in with nothing to really explain what is going on, who the House of Devils are, what a Servitor is... I know it had troubled development and the story got torn apart and remade very close to launch, and it really shows in the early stuff. It's a series of missions that were made and then had to be strung together with the thinnest of threads. It gets better in Taken King, but at times is still not great. You first encounter the Taken on Phobos, I think Ghost asks about what they are. I was expecting more discussion about them and what they are and how horrifying it is. But nope, they just exist now and we're all fine with that.

So. Much. Grinding. The pinnacle grind was annoying in D2, the grind to just get your light up in D1 is so much worse. You will be doing bounties desperately to try to get your rep up with the various groups just so you can actually get fragments of story and quests. You will be grinding just to level up your subclass and it takes ages.

The places you visit are very expansive - even the Cosmodrome is significantly larger - which is great when they're used well, but a lot of the time they feel very empty, there to make you play for longer to get between areas than because there is anything to do.

The Good

The game is gorgeous! I'm loving getting to see Venus and Mars and the Dreadnaught. They're beautiful environments. Everything feels very expansive which can be very cool (as above, it can also be less good). When used well, it feels like there are so many mysteries and secrets hidden in this abandoned world. There are hidden bunkers and spaces, huge Vex structures and ruined cities, tunnels burrowed beneath the Cosmodrome and the Taken King's dreadnaught. It's genuinely fun to explore (up to a point).

It does an excellent job of making you genuinely feel like it's post-apocalyptic and the existence of humanity is precarious. And you, the Guardian, are brand new and everything is trying to kill you. You don't have multiple gods stored in your vault in the form of guns! Everything feels more dangerous. For example, I think if D2 is your intro, you look back at the Great Disaster and the first Crota fireteam and go 'but how did that happen when I go onto the moon and take out ogres with a single punch? The biggest threat in the Abyss in Crota's End is falling into a pit or getting hit by a pendulum! Yeah no I get it now. In D1 you are much less powerful and it makes swarming thralls and normal enemies much more of a threat. Things feel dangerous in a way that D2 rarely manages. I'll talk about this a bit more in depth later.

By making your supers and abilities less powerful, they have weirdly made them more useful. In D2 I usually save mine for bosses since it feels like a waste to use them on normal enemies. In D1, it makes absolute sense to use your abilities basically as soon as you have them. You should absolutely use your Golden Gun on a normal Hive Knight or Fallen Vandal!

There's some great atmospheric touches. I love hearing the snippets of distorted music when I'm near a Rasputin bunker. Going into some of the ruined buildings on Mars or Venus where it's dark and suddenly seeing so many red Vex eyes staring back at you is chilling.

The opening mission of Taken King is fantastic. Genuinely creepy and the Taken in general in D1 feel much scarier and threatening than in D2.

All the different enemy factions are different colours and designs! I love that!

Weapons still go brrrrr in a very pleasing way. And getting new gear feels genuinely satisfying in a way that it rarely does in D2. I junk 99% of the armour and guns I get in D2, in D1 I end up being much more considering of whether something is useful. Legendary weapons and armour feel precious!

I keep picking up random Warmind weapons to turn into Banshee that I know lead to an exotic quest and I am enjoying the feeling of that being another Secret Thing I am discovering.

Honestly, I really like Banshee's weapon bounties - you get given a prototype weapon to test out and gather data by doing certain things (killing X number of a certain enemy etc.) and that gains you rep. And you can then order a legendary version of the weapon from him to be delivered the next Wednesday.

Thoughts/Observations

Knowing that the 'original' story was seemingly going to focus more on Rasputin, and an exo version of him getting stolen by the Hive makes the appearance of some of the Hive areas on the Moon make more sense. There's some bits that are high tech in a way that feels very at-odds with what we see of the Dreadnaught and, other Hive locations which lean much more towards the organic and magical.

Similarly, Rise of Iron feels a lot more hard sci-fi than much of what Destiny has become, and has such a huge Rasputin focus. I believe it was partially developed by an outside studio, so I do wonder if it was based, at least in part, on the 'original' story of Destiny, and was either too far into development, or the other studio just never got the memo about the change in tone.

Vaguely related to the above, but way more speculative, I wonder if Banshee was originally meant to be a Rasputin exo, then that story got shifted to Felwinter, but the seeds were used for the story of Banshee having been Clovis Bray.

Honestly while it's fun to think about, in general I find the obsession parts of the Destiny community have with 'the original story' (of the 'maybe they're finally going back to the original story!' type where the unspoken idea is that this was the perfect undiluted pure story that was 100% planned and set in stone) to be fundamentally misunderstanding how creating stories work. I can guarantee that even if that first story had been used, after 10 years of multiple writers etc. it would still be in a very different place than where the people who came up with it initially thought it would go. It would have evolved and changed and shifted, even if it was following the same vague plan. That's just what stories do.

Oh wow, suddenly all the Nightmare Hunts in Shadowkeep make way more sense! I get it now!

Actually I get a lot of references now XD

Oh wow Shaxx sounds so depressed. I guess this was before he started therapy.

So many identical caves...

Thoughts on Power Creep

D1 leans much more into the post-apocalyptic setting and it does an excellent job of making the existence of the Last City, humanity, and Guardians feel precarious. Everything seems more dangerous, more of a threat. You really are part of the last bastion of humanity. And there's a few ways this is done.

First, you are much less powerful. Yes, you have supers and grenades, but they do much less damage (and are much less flashy) than in D1. There has been a huge amount of power creep! You won't be one-shotting bosses, even normal Vanguard Strike bosses with golden gun easily.

Legendary weapons feel rare and special, and I am still using Blue weapons at times because sometimes I have to just to get the higher light level. I have reached level 40 and have only just got my first exotic armour pieces which I bought from Xur! They are FR0ST-EE5, an exotic I have never bothered with in D2, but in D1 the recharge for abilities when sprinting is genuinely handy. I don't have any exotic weapons at all yet!

It leads to a very different playstyle - I play much more carefully because I cannot just charge in with something like Osteo Striga and wipe out a room with a few shots. In D2 we have killed multiple gods, taken down an Empire, and forged alliances. In D1, we're just some random Guardian and the gameplay reflects this.

And I hate to say this, but I also kind of get the YouTube/Stream BNFs who complain about things not being hard enough. It's just... they're completely wrong about the reasons and the solutions.

They seem to think that what is needed is more enemies with higher health, and nerf Divinity because it makes it too easy, and everything should be designed to stop normal players being able to do it. And it... it doesn't work? Ghosts of the Deep was fun, but holy fuck the health bars on the enemies make it feel grindy and dragged out. Legend Avalon was a slog because there's Too Much - too many elements at the same time so it's just overwhelming instead of fun. (Starcrossed on legend is tough, but feels more enjoyable and managable. I'm looking forward to doing it again instead of dreading it).

More difficulty isn't what makes D1 feel harder, being weaker is what does this. I have no doubt that if I could put my D2 stuff against D1 enemies I would decimate them. But in D1 I am a lone Guardian with scavenged gear and yes, I have the Light and can be resurrected, and it gives me an edge vs normal humans, but not a crazy amount.

In D2 I have so many exotics and weapons that I can just throw them away. I can have intricately crafted builds to take on any enemies! I am basically one of the most powerful entities in the solar system.

And that's not something you can really scale back. They did it with Red War at the start of D2. Maybe they could do it as a result of Final Shape and do smaller stories focused on Earth and recovery and what you even do after your purpose for fighting for so long is gone (and I think there is value in those stories! I would love it personally). But uh... I don't think most people would actually be happy having everything nerfed on such a scale. Give up your 999,999 Celestial Nighthawk boss damage, for a Golden Gun that with a bit of luck might one-shot a yellowbar?

Give up a lot of creativity in terms of what you use and how you play, in exchange for a tougher game with way less choice for builds, but one that is potentially more atmospheric and in-keeping with the post-apocalypse and the dangers of the solar system?

I don't have an answer for that! And it's not even the most important thing. Gamer BNFs gonna always want to prove that they're better than everyone at pressing buttons, and forget that the majority of players are casuals. But it's been interesting playing a different type of difficulty, rather than the forced difficulty of insanely high HP and Too Many Things.

Power creep is a real issue in a lot of long-running media (just look at superhero movies, or many many monster of the week TV shows). You're in a position of feeling like you need to one-up yourself every time. Every new villain has to be the biggest and baddest, and so you have to become more and more powerful to combat that, which means the next villain has to be even bigger and badder.

With Destiny we've gone from a scrappy underdog, to a god-killer.

I'm reminded of Osiris talking about Saint in The Sundial lore.

'I watched him grow from neophyte to demi-god'.

King of fitting for us to have done the same as Saint's inspiration.

[fraudulent-cheese]

For the ramble prompts, 1. And 7

You're very lucky as i actually have access to my computer currently!!!

I'll pick 7, as i've already seen some people point out the differences between the twins but NO Staci analysis posts!

So. Staci. What the fuck is up with her. Why did she think lying about her family on a consistent basis and not helping in challenges would work? How exactly did that make her think it was the best she could do, to the point she thought she "was doing so well" (quoting her at her own elimination) after that first day?

I think Staci's goal while on the show was to win via social game - or at least, make friends on the show. Her lying could be due to either 1. wanting attention from them, so she started making shit up to make herself look more important or 2. she actually believes what she says and just wants to impress people with her family history. I don't think i can conclusively say which one canon's leaning into? Realistically, her exaggerating her family's achievements is the more likely option, but her actually believing them would be more tragic.

HOWEVER. Just looking at her one episode of content + her audition tape isn't enough. We need to look at her contestant biography.

YEAH IM GOING THERE! If you weren't aware, for the first 5 (6?) seasons of TD as well as TDRR, there were official biographies for every contestant depending on the season, all of which were available on the official (now defunct) Total Drama Website. I'd consider the information featured in all but two of these biographies canon, as they either came from the official website (ROTI + WT), the Teletoon site (TDAS + TDPI) or from Total Drama: Totally Interactive! Im unsure about the canonicity of the Action bios and the TDRR blurbs (because yeah. they're just blurbs. sad.) as they were released only on Cartoon Network's site and the Action bios have... inconsistencies with other sources, let's say.

Thankfully, Staci was lucky enough to be a gen 2 contestant, so she gets the most detailed contestant answers biography model, so i can get alooot more info out of them.

I'll get the smaller observations out first:

In her last answer, she mentions her great-great-aunt Mildred and how she "told the first lie." I could look into how this could be Staci's least favorite relative (as she does seem to value truth/honesty), but also what if that's Blaineley? Her legal name's Mildred after all! It would be really funny! We need more "Staci and her great aunt Mildred" content STAT

She seems to really like pop music

The only answer not related to lying or to her family is the First Job question, instead it's foreshadowing to her elimination

Now, for a larger one: She barely talks about herself in these answers. Sure, she answers the questions, but she spends the vast majority of her time talking about her family instead. She manages to link the fucking Favorite Color and Food question to them! Her love of her family is made very clear here. Knowing about them is literally what she picks out as her Best Quality!

...but only her distant relatives. No mention of closer grandparents, sisters, nephews/nieces, aunts/uncles, and only a single indirect mention of a mother. Only distant, mostly older family members and cousins. And she had to have met some of them! Her Craziest Dream answer describes a dream where her great-great-uncle Charlie was telling her lies, implying they've met and talked before! So where's the mention of her closer family members?

I'd say it's because if those family members are further away, or if they're dead, it's harder to fact-check what she's saying so her peers wouldn't find out it's at best an exaggeration and at worst an outright lie.

I think the answers that show this the most well are the Best Memory and Most Embarrassing School Moment, her presentation on an older family member and realizing the topic was a lie.

This feels like something that would happen earlier in life to me? Maybe primary school level, or even earlier. If she made her entire class project on it, she had to believe in it, right? Despite how absurd that notion is! This indicates to me that Staci was/is very naive, and her love for her family started in childhood. She seems very interested in her own family's history, to the point of exaggerating their accomplishments; maybe her great-great-aunt Lois created a plate design patent or her Great-great-uncle Jason simply looked into the history of the letter E, so either Staci exaggerated them to seem more interesting, or her family members would exaggerate these achievements at family reunions as jokes or something and little Staci just believed them.

Im also unsure on her family being good or not... her Dream Date answer is apparently Richard Nixon because she'd want to learn more about his life, specifically citing that he "reminds [her] of [her] third cousin once removed, Andrew." If you know anything about recent US political history, that is not a good thing. This also shows she has some interest in politics/recent history/other people's lives! This girl does have interests!!!

And this is where i bring up the Favorite Movie answer. The movie it's based on, according to the wiki, is "The Invention of Lying", a 2009 movie. skimming the Wikipedia article, it's a romantic comedy film about a guy with the ability to lie in a world where people can only tell the truth. He first abuses this power for selfish gain but in the romantic resolution decides to not lie to benefit himself and lets his love interest actually choose to be with him.

I think the reason why Staci likes this movie so much is the romantic resolution; this is what she'd want to happen if/when she'd reveal how her family's achievements are either fake or exaggerated to her friends, and they would stay. That she'd get people interested in her with those lies, before actually being honest with them when they're closer... But it never happened with anyone on the show.

TLDR, i need this girl to realise she doesn't need to lie so much about her family for others to like her, as hiding behind masks won't get you any real friends. Something that applies to the majority of the roti girls, actually.

[corvus-the-trickster]

Honestly is it any wonder that Evie and Jacob gravitated towards Henry & Roth (respectively).

A month after their father's passing (at least according to theirs and George's bios) they're sent on a mission with George who seems annoyed by them both ("a successful mission then, in spite of you two") and then they go to London and (at least that we can see as an audience) Henry is the first person to truly offer condolences for their father's death, something that would resonate with Evie considering how much she revered Ethan. And then there's Jacob, who spends most of the game being insulted by the templar's (Ferris calling him a coward, Elliotson mocking him about Ethan, Pearl using him, the Earl of Cardigan calling him a villain and a coward etc) and then here comes along this man (Roth) who calls him brave and heroic and seems to genuinely like him and the way he does things (which is important later with Evie's comment of "father was right he never approved of your methods").

They're probably both still grieving to various degrees and are looking for some sort of comfort. Evie resonates with Henry who is kind and gentle (and we know Ethan was emotionally and physically distant from them) and Jacob resonates with Roth who shows him approval and praise and warmth, something he might not have gotten from Ethan. In a way Henry and Roth are filling in the gaps of what Evie and Jacob might've felt was missing from their lives. Except in Jacob's case Roth is more so what he wants rather than what he needs and it ends in tragedy.

This is long and ramble-y sorry. I just have a lotta thoughts about these 2 and I'm bad at articulating things.

Jacobs bio at the end also talks about how Ethan's death granted him freedom from being the watchman and that freedom aspect probably tuns a whole lot deeper what with his canonical night time escapades in gambling rings and dens. And what does Roth offer? That very same freedom he say desires. Maybe not explicitly but it's very much implied.

Jacob gets that freedom away from Ethan's expectations (be it from ethan, evie, george or other assassins) via that chaos from Roth. Even with as cautious as one should be around Roth, Roth still gives him at least the illusion of choice when it comes to the start of their partnership.

[queencryo]

would give it all up to be a driver for a minor noblewoman (widow) (vaguely western-european) stuck with her in the coach after i was forced to release the horses: this is the worst storm in decades, not even my paw coulda kept these posting-station horses calm through the peals of sky-splitting thunder.

We came to a stop in the middle of the road, the churned mud of the road eagerly assisting the coach's brakes. I'm completely drenched by the time I enter the cabin to report that we'll not be going anywhere, not that that isnt already clear. Plenty of Ladies like this, they would howl and beat at me for getting the road's mud into their carriage. but not mine: she worries only of the mud's water, and my hair's water, and my clothes' water, and how these all offer ample avenue for the night's cold to pierce my frame.

And pierce it does: now that the exertion of driving is ended, i am alarmed at how the cold has already convinced my body to take its side over mine, chattering and shivering so I can hardly understand it when my Lady pushes a parcel of cloth toward me. Its dry, she says, and she'll turn her back while I replace sodden roughspun with dry linen. after a moment of shivering hesitation, she does while i do. The fit is odd, in style as well as cut. She's plush where I'm paucious, I'm fowl bones failing to fill out sheep's skin. I keep the comparison to myself. I cough, and she turns, and she smiles. Says this frock suits me. The blood rushing to my face warms it, almost enough I stop chattering.

We start making the carriage a little warmer, lining the door with another of her dresses. It is a summer cut, too thin to keep the chill from your skin; cladding the coach door, though, it keeps the worst of the wind at bay. And once my cloak mirrors it on the door's opposite, the cabin changes. Less now a channel whose seams the wind can run through unabated. A haphazard little down, and we the rabbits.

And like rabbits, we huddle together. She has a great fur cloak, surely a gift from some earl or czar or other title. It's warm, utterly so, and so is she. The thought of her as a sheep was untoward, but I can't help but think of it again now. I had tried to avoid touching her for propriety, but she had insisted. Wrapping her arms around me like a child, but I was so cold I hadn't stopped her as she encompassed me. I'm not cold anymore, but I stay in her soft embrace nonetheless. She doesn't evict me, and I do not bring myself to ask why.

She asks me questions, about my family and my trade, about horses. It takes time, but soon I ask in turn. We have little in common, but that's an object of fascination rather than deviation. She's never horsed a shoe, I've never ridden in a coach. Her brother is a bore, mine is dead. Before we know it we are talking like friends, conversation passing between us like the present situation was the comfortable norm rather than the best way to avoid death by frost.

I don't know how long we talk, but in time the night in the cracks of our den turns from dark to pitch, and the rain calms from diluvian to quotidian. Our conversation slows with the rain, we sit in warm silence. I look up from a rambling story about my grandmother, and the lady is sleeping. Her snoring is just audible over the rain, and my heart flutters to hear it. I pull myself closer into her, and sigh through my smile.

I close my eyes, and sleep. I am warm.

[bizlybebo]

jrwi headcannond

?

YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY HII ANONNN

this is such an awesome fucking ask to get. ouguohigohoh i’m about to RAMBLE

plspls let me know if the post doesn’t minimize so i can add a “read more” thing i don’t wanna clog peoples dashes

I’ve really only watched PD and Riptide so. take these ^__^ (SPOILERS UP TO RIPTIDE EP109 AND UP TO PD S2 EP19)

Riptide:

- Chip tried to teach Gillion sign language, but he was very confused at first. He didn’t get it because signing “sun” didn’t make a literal sun, etc. He even thought they were magic spells/incantations at one point. Eventually, though, Gill finally understood them— most prominently, the sign for “I love you”. He signed it to Jay during that moment in ep 53, and Chip found the slightest bit of strength during that moment in 109 to curl two fingers in and sign “I love you” to his crew, with what he thought was the last of his strength.

- Mae (May?) Ferin has very curly hair, which was brown but greyed with age. Jay got the vibrant orange hair from her father, but in my brain she has the curls from her mother, and to me that symbolizes how she strikes a balance between being a Ferin and being her own person, following what her mother wants for her (which is just to be happy).

^^^(Ava Ferin had the same hair as her father. She was the spitting image of what a navy captain was meant to be. She was like a mini Jayson growing up.)

- All the Ferins have wings. That’s it. Jayson’s, Jay’s, Ava’s, etc. are white, slightly blue-ish feathers. Drey’s wings are brown and black. His wings are pretty out of shape now, he can’t really fly anymore, but he can still lift them enough to put them over Jay’s, or Ollie’s, or Finn’s shoulders, and it’s like a blanket. He does it to Earl sometimes just because Earl hates it lmao

- Gillion has very long hair and prides himself on all the ways he can braid it into the traditional styles of the Undersea. It’s a slightly different way of braiding than on the oversea, though, so he taught his way of braiding to Jay, who taught her way of braiding to him. They also taught Ollie. who does Drey’s hair for him and occasionally Chip’s if he can be convinced.

- Hair is also a very sacred thing in the Undersea— one only cuts their hair when they have lost a battle, and so long hair is very respectable. When Gill first was exiled to the Oversea, his hip-length hair got cut very short, up to his chin. It grew out gradually over the campaign, but he tried to cut it after the events of 53, only being convinced not to by Jay when she fully understood why he was doing it. Gillion prides himself very much on his hair.

- Jay is dyslexic. In the Feywild, during that one segment, she lost the ability to read because the magic was preying on one of her insecurities, in a sense. Dyslexic Jay the headcanon i truth most.

- Chip has mild apraxia. It’s real to me.

- Also all of albatrio has/had speech impediments cause I said so. Gillion has rhotacism, Jay has a stutter, and Chip had a lisp growing up which still slips out occasionally.

-Joke headcanon that slowly became real to me: Gillion did Chip’s top surgery in ep 15

Prime Defenders:

- MORE SPEECH IMPEDIMENT HEADCANONS CAUSE I LOVE PROJECTING !! Dakota has a lisp/stutter, and Ashe has a general speech disruption. Ashe also has selective mutism ^__^

- To me, Summer and Cantrip had an enemies to lovers sideplot in early to mid season 2. I think Doug probably mentioned how when he was a villain, he worked with this girl Cantrip, who was Ruby’s sister, and Summer got curious and was like “damn. I wonder where she is now” and sought her out to try and talk to her. And literally their early dynamic was Jade going “kys” and Summer being like “i can fix her!!!”

- Xavier and Jade are mlm wlw hostility. Summer and Doug are mlm wlw hostility. Not reaaaally a headcanon but i had to say it.

- William’s family was very religious growing up. He also came from one of those small, Southern hunting towns and so he has the accent and everything (moomin infected my brain with this one <3).

- The PD season 1 finale took place a few days before Halloween, and the four of them had matching costumes planned out together but never did get to wear them.

- Also, to me, the greyscale arc takes place on or very close to Christmas.

- Dakota didn’t really celebrate his birthday nor Christmas for many years because of how lonely those holidays got for him— he didn’t really get a very good birthday/xmas after the events of the Resurgence. However, Tide didn’t know this and got him a birthday gift once, and Dakota ugly cried while hugging him.

- Shockwave was transmasc. He means the world to me. (Also why Tide is such a good hashtag ally)

- Dakota is very scared of spiders for no apparent reason. Whenever they show up he jumps up onto a table or onto Ashe’s back and tries to fight it off with a broom. Ashe is the one who has to take care of it.

- Gender straight up Isn’t Real on Fauna. Vyncent is literally genderless but nobody asked him when he got to Prime so he literally just went along with being he/him’d and didn’t really mind. (this one’s from arachnid lmao)

- Doug and Summer are queerplatonic that’s it that’s the post

- Ashe is a natural blonde, just like Mark, but bleaches their hair. Everyone was fucking shocked to find out about this

- Lightspeed and Wordsmith are also mlm/wlw hostility. real and canon to me

this is literally just the first ones off the top of my head i have so many but i’ve been writing this post for nearly an hour so i think i’ll cut it off here ^__^

[earlgreytiefling]

Ok so I was already sold on the Tech assassin theory, HOWEVER ep7 gave us the assassin was using a vibroknife and that is CODY’S WEAPON. Either way that’s one of my boys under there and I want them SAFE!!

[earl-grey-crow]

okay lads what did we think of that

[lionmythflower]

HIIIIIIII!! What’s your Headcanons for Lizzie/Bunny/KittyMaddie. platonic or Romantic?? (Or really your Wonderlandian couple headcanons)

i STARTWD ANSWERING THIS AND THEN IT DIDN'T SAVE-

anyways imma js give u some headcanons if u want me to type what I was gonna put before I can but it was mainly js Abt who kissed who when

(I'm also including Alistair in their polycule bc why not lol)

Maddie rambles so much and their partners are the only ones who can understand them

lizzie made a bag for Alistair that works the same way as Maddie's hat :)

THAT ONE SCENE WHERE KITTY TRIES TO EAT EARL GRAY (Maddie's mouse) HAPPENS ON A DAILY BASIS 😭

(Justice for Earl Gray)

bunny would love graphic novels and Maddie would buy them for her

Alistair can also read an entire novel in a day and Kitty says it's terrifying

Also back to the graphic novel thing bunny's fav graphic novel would be the Tea Dragon Society by K. O'Neill (I'm projecting and I js got the rest of the tea dragon series)

Lizzie is great at drawing and does so many drawings of her partners<3

When ever one of them makes Lizzie flustered, she'll be like "off with ur head" while blushing furiously

Kitty has a very specific tree that they sit in all the time and when their partners can't find them anywhere else they look there

Maddie is genderqueer and Kitty is nonbinary and they both go by they/them pronouns :)

Alistair gives trans vibes idk

lmao there's no way that bunny and Lizzie are cis

I think bunny is genderfluid and Lizzie is bigender or smth like that

Maddie and Alistair both have ADHD

Lizzie is bipolar

And bunny is dyslexic and has autism (they go nonverbal sometimes and all her partners know sign language for when that happens)

Kitty has OCD

And both kitty and Alistair have apd bc I said so

Kitty will js curl up w their head in their partners lap when one of their partners are sitting

Maddie is the most affectionate and bunny is a close second

Bunny likes to turn into her rabbit form and js sit on her partners laps

They all have great music taste

But Maddie can't sing to save their life (but they still try to, bless their soul)

Kitty can't spell for shit and bunny's like "I'm the one with dyslexia? How come u can't spell???" And it's js bc they hardly passed elementary/primary school 💀

bunny is the one w all the half used or not even opened journals

Maddie brings the best snacks on road trips

Kitty js sleeps the whole time while they're on the road

Alistair is the designated driver bc the last time they let Maddie drive they ended up in monster high (how do u get THAT LOST that u end up in another universe mads-)

Lizzie is the the astronomy person in their polycule

She absolutely loves constellations :)

Maddie will js be like oh look at the moon!!! No matter what phase the moon is in at the time

And then Lizzie will inform them what phase the moon is in

The all cuddle a lot

Like 24/7

Thank you for ur time

^ that's the scene I meant (I could only find it in an edits so that's why there's words lol)

[acaplaya-musings]

Voiceplay Visuals - Be Prepared

Voiceplay's full-length cover of Be Prepared was released on the 28th of September (or the 27th depending on your timezone, same deal as always), and in fact it's still the 28th for me as I type this! Yes, I'm getting this ready at least a couple of days in advance of when I plan to post it, 1 because I've waited long enough already, and 2 because VoicePlay's next release (their Halloween video) is meant to drop on Patreon before the end of September and I wanna get this done before it happens!

Anyway, this features Mykal Kilgore, who's an OG member, not technically of VoicePlay, but of "4 The Love", which consisted of Mykal, Geoff, Layne, and Earl, back when they were about 17 I believe? Then at some point they added Scott Porter as a beatbooxer and became 4:2:Five. Mykal appeared a little bit in Just Sing, but otherwise this is the first time he's properly reunited with Geoff and Layne and gotten to meet Eli and Cesar! He was definitely a great contribution to this video.

There's a lot to unpack visually in this video, and again, I've been dying to make this post, so let's! get! into this!!!

Honestly I can't even think of much to say about the overall set design right now other than yoooooo look how cool this is!!

They absolutely nailed the vibe/aesthetic of the original scene, while still keeping the set "simple" enough for plenty of movement and use of space!

Layne was in charge of the arrangement, creative direction, and video editing for this video, shocker to no one (a Disney song cover that places Geoff front and centre? Gotta be Layne's doing 😂 (and we love him for it!))

Oh yeah also I'm pretty sure the aspect ratio is a bit "narrower" than it often is for most VP videos? (Like the screen is more noticeably wider than it is tall.)

There he is!!! (It was at this point on my first watch-through that I had to take a moment to steel myself because I was like "nope nope nope hang on wait I don't think I'm actually prepared for this" 😅

As to be expected, Eli is credited with lighting, but he also helped out with the fog machine things shown here in this image (the one on the left is more visible here). VoicePlay hadn't worked with these things before, but they worked amazingly, and it's another thing to give the video similarities to the original movie scene. However, these things were actually Quite Loud

Not the clearest image but look at Layne and Cesar being all sneaky/creepy here! (Layne does a little skip-step thing in this shot here that's brief but kinda reminds me just a touch of his little run in This Is Halloween)

Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Rick Underwood the man that you are, please, let me shake your hand, I love you (whether I'll still love him after the Halloween video remains to be determined, but anyway)

I mean honestly this is a Whole Look and I adore every part of it. The "facial scruff", the eyeliner, the freaking awesome jacket, the hair... I'm gonna stop myself from rambling too much too early ^^;

"I know that your powers of retention... are as wet as a warthog's backside."

A couple of things here:

1, You would probably expect Layne to just be another hyena (after all, there's many more than just Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed in the original scene), but it's possible that he might have intended to be a warthog, given this moment here (and also at the end of the BTS there's a clip of Layne messing around with one of the smoke/fog machines in a very Pumbaa-esque manner, lol).

And 2, credit to @ambular-d who first noticed this and pointed it out in the Discord server: Layne dips his shoulder here, "like Geoff's casual disdainful little swipe has some strength behind it." (directly quoting them here)

Okay now let's pay attention (ayyy) to our "main hyena trio" for a moment

There is no real style coordination here and yet somehow it works (well they're all in black/dark grey so they've got that in common). But like Cesar's got a grey leopard-print jumper/sweater (kinda cute ngl), Mykal's got a black fluffy (fringed?) shirt/sweater thing, and Eli's got a black leather jacket on (he looks very cool in it though - definitely suits him)

Mykal's the only one of the total five who isn't wearing some sort of necklace, but I guess he makes up for it with the bones hanging from the top of his head (and for all I know that actually might be a necklace that he just wrapped around the base of his hairbun)

ALSO I just went to go check my post for Friends On The Other Side because I was wondering if Cesar's necklace here was one of the ones worn by Geoff or Layne in that video, and I don't think it is (too short), but I'm 90% certain that Eli's necklace here is one of the same ones that Geoff was wearing!

Dramatic lighting flash! Low-key similar to Hoist The Colours (another video featuring scruff, guyliner, and heavily colour-tinted lighting), and also Geoff's recent Song Of Durin video!

(Also man I'm gonna hit image limit aren't I, lol rip)

"It's clear from your vacant expressions, the lights are not all on upstairs"

It's a blurry image, but I couldn't help but be tempted to do a Screenshot Comparison for this moment (plus another one a bit later in the song) because Layne absolutely understood the assignment and I was quite pleased that this bit got recreated!

(Also yes, Cesar is Ed, lol)

This moment in the video with Geoff and Cesar (including the second half of the line) got turned into a meme gif on the Patrons Discord server to represent VoicePlay and the audio distributors that they've been having issues with 😂

"And where do we feature?" "Just listen to teacher"

I don't remember it looking like that in the original scene! 😝 (but seriously, I love how Geoff and Cesar can't help but be cute together here - you should see their dynamic in some of the BTS videos, it's the best)

Pfft, this moment also got memed in the Discord server XD ("ask me to sing a G-1 one more time!" (credit again to @ambular-d) or alternatively "I said there are ants in the coffee again!" (that one's a reference to one of the BTS videos))

I'm honestly a little jealous of how cool Geoff looks while doing the sort of lifting motion he does in this moment here

Oh yeah that's definitely one of the Friends On The Other Side necklaces that Eli's got on

Also it took me an embarassingly-large amount of watches to realize that Cesar had painted nails for this one (in my defence, I was very distracted 😂)

Sure go ahead Eli, have your moment, stare into my soul, go on (affectionate)

"Of course quid pro quo you're expected, to take Certain Duties on board"

Again, not a great screenshot, but again, another moment recreated (at least in a general sense) from the original scene!

This is also a good place to point out how the lighting has changed from green to yellow, just as it does in the original scene, and it changed at the same spot as well (right on or just before the "it's great that we'll soon be connected..." line)

Oh rip it is tough to get good screencaps for this one (probably at least partially due to all the fog)

Anyway I wanted to point out that Layne's a little over an inch taller than Geoff (possibly two inches if you count the hair, lol), but in this one he mostly stays at least a little hunched, at least when Geoff's next to him, making Geoff look equal height if not taller (and from a storytelling perspective, it's great!)

"YOU WON'T GET A SNIFF WITHOUT ME!"

A quick shift to red colouring, again just as the movie scene (and also now the video looks crystal clear as well!)

(Also goddamn Geoff is really working the crazy evil villain look... like man 👀)

Mykal and Eli vibing, I love it

Cesar, Mykal, and Eli's reaction to the growl/roar 😂

Cesar is shook! Literally! XD

Nothing much to say here, just that Geoff looks amazing and is amazing

(Also shoutout to his white-grey hair, which was looking wonderfully-prominent in this video and I adore it)

(woof) HELLO THERE GOOD SIR 😳👉👈

This is a rare case of me not having a "he's so pretty" moment with Geoff in a video, but that's because for this one, it's more a case of "he's so hot" 👀

*insert evil laughter here*

And that's Be Prepared! Man, what a video!

Next on the list is of course VoicePlay's Halloween release for 2024, whatever that turns out to be. I'm both excited and nervous (or scared, even), but hey, I have no doubt it will give me plenty to talk about! Until next time!

[amazingmsme]

Playing Possum

AN: day 9, here we go! This is an unofficial sequel to this fic. You don’t have to read it to get this one, but it does help add context. This one was really fun & sweet! Hope y’all enjoy!

Eiffel was getting used to their routine. What started out as paranoid sleepovers became a quiet comfort- for him at least. He doubted it meant as much to Minkowski.

For once, he woke up before her. Or rather, he woke up because of her. God, why did she have to twitch in her sleep?

He tried to keep his breath slow and even, squeezing his eyes shut tight. What the hell was she even doing in her dream, playing piano? The gentle tapping was just enough to set his nerves on edge and keep him on the verge of a giggle for.

Her fingers pressed into his sides, long nails leaving ticklish pinpricks in their wake. He couldn't help but violently twitch away, biting back a yelp. Then the nails began tracing his ribs and he gasped, trying to muffle the sound behind his hand. He tried to stay still so that he didn't wake her, but it proved to be an impossible task when he felt his hip on his other side being traced with agonizingly soft circles. He shook his head, arching his back and biting his hand when laughter began to spill free.

He had just wanted to sleep in a little, was that too much to ask? He couldn't fall back asleep even if he tried. And trust me, he'd rather be unconscious right now.

He turned over onto his stomach as gently and slowly as he could so he wouldn't wake the sleeping beast next to him. He was laying on his side when Minkowski shifted in her sleep and threw an arm around him, hugging him close.

He went completely still, afraid to move a muscle. She groans in her sleep and nuzzles into the back of his neck, and he quickly grabbed the pillow to muffle a snort. Her breath is slow and even, coming out in hot puffs of air against the back of his neck.

He was giggling now, scrunching his neck and burying his face into the thin cushion. He was trying to be as quiet as possible, but it was proving to be more difficult than he thought.

And then he was screaming.

Minkowski blew a raspberry right at the nape of his neck, sending him into hysterical laughter. His legs kicked out uselessly as he held the pillow tighter. He couldn't escape her grasp, and he decided to drill into his hips while she blew another raspberry. Eiffel cackled and scrunched his shoulders.

"Nohoho! Minkowski s-stohop!" he pleaded as he blindly reached down to pry her hands away. It was a pathetic attempt.

"Y'know, it's actually pretty thoughtful how hard you tried to stay still. I bet it was driving you nuts," she taunted, nuzzling closer to growl in his earl. The deep, gravely sound sent goosebumps down his arms, and he frantically tried to rub the feeling away from his ear.

"You knew?" he asked incredulously, forcing himself to choke down a shriek. Her thumbs her circling the hipbone, digging in just enough to send him up the wall. He bucked and writhed as he fought against her grasp. "You were ahahawake the whole dahamn tihihime!" he accused, only making her grin more smug.

"I didn't know you were ticklish Eiffel! Why didn't you tell me? This is perfect for morale, and now I won't have any problems making you do your work," she rambled, and he could feel his face flushing with embarrassment.

"What? Nohoho! You cahan't!"

"Actually, I can do whatever I deem necessary for the crew."

"Ohoho come ohon! You're just beheing mehehean!" he whined. "Have mercy!"

"Sorry Eiffel, that's not really up to code. Rule 633 of Pryce and Carter strictly states: "Mercy is such a 20th century value." I'm just trying to comply with the manual."

"Ohoho yeah? Well rule 634 says: it's still best to beheheg!"

"Oh? Is this you begging?" she taunted before the realization hit her. "Wait a second. Did you just quote the survival manual?" she asked, masking how much it impressed her by teasing him.

"NO! I refuse to memorize it!" he insisted.

Minkowski sported a downright malicious grin, "Mhm," she hummed, tracing the shell of his ear. He snorted and scrunched his neck helplessly as a flood of giggles escaped his lips.

"Ohokay! Ohohokahay, lehet me goooo! Ihit's too damn early for thihihis!"

She only continued for a few seconds longer before finally releasing him from her evil, ticklish clutches.

"Asshole. I'll totally get you back for that, just fyi," he warned.

"Yeah, I'm really quaking in my boots."

"Eiffel scoffed, "I'm serious! You'll regret it!"

"Oh I'm sure I will," she played along. But when the time came, she knew she'd be just as giddy and nervous as Eiffel.