#eizen and illusion!edna...

[lastthroes]

not posting the full drawing, but thank you fuchina-san for this beautiful drawing. i will now proceed to imagine the whole scenario around it

[talesofourworlds]

@ednaeflowers liked for a Spring Festitales starter!

Her nose wrinkled as she set aside the cookies she'd been tempted by. Only one bite had been taken out of one of them, and even as she chewed she found the same familiar disappointment. That boy had been so sure she'd like them, and she would have felt bad. In a way he'd reminded her a little of Laphicet. Still, she'd known going in that there was a chance of this happening. Her sense of taste hadn't magically gotten any better now that she was in Spring Rise.

Aside from that, being there wasn't as bad as she thought. Did the Lord of Calamity really belong there? Did she deserve to be having a good time? Probably not, but no one had kicked her out or anything. In fact, no one seemed to suspect for an instant that she was anything other than a girl who insisted on wearing bandages around her left arm. It was an odd thought, she told herself. She probably stuck out even more amongst the sakura trees of Cherry Hills. Still, there was an oddly peaceful feeling about the place. Just as long as she was there, she decided, she would allow herself to relax.

At least, Velvet could have relaxed if she hadn't noticed someone else nearby. Velvet had turned her head for only a moment when she saw Edna. A dead ringer for her older brother, that one. Even if Velvet hadn't been witness to the illusion Melchior almost had tricked Eizen with, she'd have an idea of who this girl was related to. But... what was she doing there?

Surely she hadn't intended to seek out Velvet specifically. Malaks were keenly aware of malevolence, Velvet knew, and she was pretty certain that even in that little village she carried a potent amount within her. For a few moments, Velvet just continued to sit there. Eventually, she settled with the idea of seeing how this played out. Velvet gathered her cookies and put them in her bag, standing up a moment later to meet the malak in question.

"...I take it you're Edna?" If that was rude, Velvet wasn't about to act like she cared. "Your brother's mentioned you before. He speaks highly of you." Appeal to that much, Velvet thought. She still had no idea what the malak must have been thinking, or how she'd even respond. There was only really one way to find out, and that was to just see what she said.

[talesofourworlds]

A double layered illusion. Now that was diabolical, Edna thought. She had... things she wanted to say to Eizen, if she got a chance to see him. Almost falling for an illusion of her wasn't surprising. The earth siblings cared about each other quite a bit, after all. Still, to think Zaveid had needed to help him break through an illusion. She knew there was history between the two of them. Zaveid never would tell her just what they had experienced together. But they had history.

Still, she wondered. Laphicet knew Zaveid, too. Which just lent further proof to her thought process. The Eizen here in Spring Rise was still Eizen. Just... not the one from her point in the timeline.

"So Zaveid was involved, too. That makes sense. Figures there'd be even more that wind idiot wouldn't tell me," Edna finally said. She'd leave that as that for the time being. Elaboration would come. No further need to comment on the Alisha stuff, though, because Laphicet had moved on to answer her question. Apparently the answer wasn't as obvious as she thought.

She wasn't going to fault Laphicet for it, surprisingly. His suggestion did make sense. Eizen was very much a malak stuck in his ways, liking things just so even with his adventurous life. She'd read plenty about what Eizen had been willing to tell her about his travels, after all. Still...

"Bzzzzt." Her best imitation of a 'wrong answer' buzzer before she employed the tip of her umbrella to poke Laphicet's arm. Not as rough of a poke as she would have given Mikleo. Maybe she just was being softer since this one was a friend of Eizen's. Maybe. "Nope. Still... marks for effort, I suppose."

Time to explain, she supposed. She brought her umbrella to rest tip side down in front of her, folding her hands neatly over the handle. Her gaze drifted away from Laphicet, though.

"It's because we're from different points in our world's timeline. I travel with the Shepherd of my time. You travel with a woman who opposes your Shepherd, and so does Eizen. He said so himself in a letter I received a long time ago. And the fact that he still calls himself a malak here instead of a seraph means he's still himself in your time."

"...But in my time, he's become a dragon. So this festival exists in some kind of space that allows our times to come together. Weird, huh," she said. Though she tried to sound nonchalant, her gaze had drifted further away. The pain of acknowledging Eizen for what he had become was still difficult, even after all that time.

"He almost didn't. It was a double illusion; Eizen saw through the first layer because he tricked the illusion of Aifread into claiming to remember something that he'd never said, but he really hesitated when he saw you. I don't know what he would have done if another Malak called Zaveid hadn't broken the illusion."

He honestly didn't expect that Edna would know the name. Why would she? There were many Malakhim in the world, and despite them both having ties to Eizen, it seemed like there would only be a small chance of them having crossed paths. Especially since Zaveid had said that he wouldn't make any move towards her until after Eizen was no longer himself: something that, at least from Phi's perspective, was still potentially a long way off.

Of course, time seemed to be weird in Spring Rise, if the commonly-used term Malakhim from his time was several hundred years out of date by Edna's. So what did he know, at least in this case?

"Huh. She didn't say that she was a princess."

Then again, it hadn't really come up. They'd mostly talked of books and of Malakhim - or Seraphim depending on which of them was speaking - and not much else had come up. Plus, maybe she was deliberately using this time at Spring Rise to have a break from that for now.

As to why Eizen still called himself a Malak and Edna called herself a Seraph... could he guess why? Small boy tilted his head, puzzling over the question. Edna seemed to think it was obvious, but...

"Is it because... he's always been pretty set in his ways? I know Magilou said that he always brought the same outfit whenever he needed new clothes, after all. So he's got used to being called a Malak and sticks to it, while you find it easier to change with the times?"

He honestly felt like he could be miles off. But he didn't know Edna well enough to guess if she had another reason for preferring the newer term.

[jcmorrigan]

001 - Tales of Zestiria?

Favorite character: It's a tough call between Maltran and Symonne, and Lunarre is trailing right behind both. I tend to call them the "Heldalf Squad," but make no mistake, Heldalf himself isn't part of it. I just like his swagalicious minions. The dry and sarcastic political manipulator, the sadistic and wordy theater nerd, and the flamboyant cannibal who hates everything. Yes. LOVE. But I have to give a shout to my boy Dezel on the hero side! Angsty/stoic characters are very hit-or-miss with me, but Dezel is the flavor I love - obvious soft spots and quirks, and slowly he builds from being antisocial to showing how big his heart is. When he stops the woman from leaping off the Guinevere tower...that's one of my favorite scenes in the entire game, because you can see when the switch flips, when he realizes that he CANNOT stay aloof any longer when there's a stranger's life on the line. He's still a grump about it but a compassionate grump.

Least Favorite character: Heldalf. His backstory is really clever, and I like the curse on him. But he himself just feels like Ganondorf but more boring. I kinda hate that he's so vanilla when his three lieutenants are in my arsenal of pet villains from the vastness of fiction. Also shout-out to Chancellor BART in the opening Ladylake act, because I distinctly remember liveblogging this to a friend, and I played Zestiria *after* Berseria (I'd loved Berseria and that's why I eventually sought out Zestiria) so here I am just comparing up the corrupt church in Ladylake to the Abbey's suave rogues gallery like "Yeah no BART has nothing on Lady Teresa Linares." Thankfully BART was never seen again.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): DezeRose, SorMik, Symonne x Coco Atarashi (The World Ends With You), Alisha Diphda x Sergei Strelka, and...I swear you have to bear with me here...Zaveid x Anna (Frozen). I also kinda wanna note a couple ships I'm on the fence about for my other favies - those being Maltran x Ebony Maw (Marvel Cinematic Universe or Marvel Ultimate Alliance) and Lunarre x Arkham (Devil May Cry).

Character I find most attractive: Dezel. It is a scientific fact that guys with pointy teeth are just hotter.

Character I would marry: Maybe Dezel, maybe Sergei. I wouldn't want to take them from those I see as their wifeys, but at the same time, they are husband goals, both of them.

Character I would be best friends with: Catch me clinging to Maltran's train and she drags me along annoyedly as I yell "PLEEEEAAASE LET ME HANG OUT WITH YOU GUYS" and Lunarre is losing it laughing while Symonne rolls her eyes

a random thought: So I toyed around with basically every accessory I picked up, and I decided to put the sideburns on Rose because fuck gender roles. Well then I just got used to seeing her with facial hair in every cutscene where her 3D model was used, and now I headcanon that she does get it. Maybe nonclassical CAH intersex? Like, I don't necessarily see her as trans (but I support everyone who hc's her as such) but moreso "a cis woman, but I grow this stupid damn facial hair like a dude and I don't get why." And this is why you shouldn't let me play with customizable accessories on RPG characters because I can and will abuse my privilege to headcanon.

An unpopular opinion: That this is actually a very good game. Listen, I think I get it - the initial marketing promised something far different. And that's disappointing. But coming back to it several years after its release, after the release of its PREQUEL, when I never had that hype building up...it actually exceeded my expectations. I held off from it for a while because I thought Eizen's fate would make me too sad, but that didn't end up the case at all. I actually had just come off playing a more recently-released triple-A game that was hyped up for years, and I completed it to my satisfaction in 20 hours. $80 for 20 hours. Zestiria gave me my money's worth in comparison; it took me about 60, and I loved just how MUCH story it had to offer me. I honestly like Rose better than Alisha anyway (Rose was one of the biggest aspects that interested me about playing it in the first place). I've also seen complaints that the characters weren't well-developed enough? Which I just kinda take to mean "They didn't angst enough." Listen. There are PLENTY of games out there if you want angst and sad stories. I don't really like sad stories in my games. I like adventures where the party is a goofy foundfam that jokes around with each other and helps each other work through shitty situations, and that's EXACTLY what I got. (And Berseria really worked on me too because it kinda started at the bottom of the angst barrel, then worked its way up through "The edgy and tortured protag has gained a party of idiots and oh noooooo she's learning friendship and happiness.") Dezel's death is one of the few game deaths that just made me SATISFIED to watch instead of depressed because of the closure he got and the themes tied into his final moments and sacrifice. I loved going on this adventure, I loved the idiots who I went on it with, and I loved seeing what Glenwood had to offer me in world design the further I explored.

my canon OTP: There's not much for canon romance in this game, come to think of it. Just subtext and some flirting. So I'm blanking on if there actually were any canon couples at all.

Non-canon OTP: DezeRose! Which maybe can be considered almost-canon based on the amount of subtext, but still. It's adorable. (And it's the exact same dynamic as EiRoku except M/F and a thousand years later. I need these four to double date...the dual-wielding goofs with their edgy, grumpy Reapers...)

most badass character: Rose! Not only able to wield the Shepherd's Armatization powers, but also to be a dang good assassin on her own, able to hold her own against Heldalf before she even had her eyes opened to seraphim! Though a shout-out goes to Edna because her armatization was my favorite to play with. There's something just satisfying about bashing the enemy in front of you with a pair of GIANT FISTS

pairing I am not a fan of: RoseAli. To be honest, it was at one point something I kinda enjoyed as a third-tier ship for Rose (Dezel first, then Lailah in second). But then...Alisha's Story. I didn't actually purchase it, thank goodness, just watched it on YouTube, and it was the most grating addition that anyone could've made to this game. First of all, I can sum up the issues with Alisha's Story by reminding everyone that it canonized a secret entrance to Camlann that was much easier to get to and wasn't protected by Muse's sacrifice. But the real thing that hurt to watch was how far down they had to knock Rose and Alisha's friendship to get them to rebuild from scratch. Rose claiming she was never Alisha's friend because she's grieving Sorey? The two of them getting into a PHYSICAL FISTFIGHT over it? Nope nope nope. That's not my Rose. Even less my Rose is that whole scene where she...you know...pounces on Alisha to dress her in the silly noblewoman's dress, and it's framed like...let's just say it's really uncomfortable to watch if you don't know the punchline is just a silly outfit. Even though Alisha's Story isn't canon in my head, it still really killed any buzz I had for RoseAli. I will also say I'm not a big fan of Eizavie - first of all, EiRoku or bust in this house, and second, I have a little bit of a hard time seeing Zaveid as mlm due to how much he goes on and on about The Ladies(TM). (Though I could see Eizen as having a tiny crush on him, though. Just like "Oh no he's hot but he's connected to Aifread's disappearance help")

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Mostly just in Alisha's Story. I was mad about the aforementioned Rose stuff, but also...like...they undid Lunarre's original cathartic death, they did so to team him back up with Symonne and then do a whole fakeout that they had Maltran with them too, but Maltran is just an illusion and immediately after this, Lunarre and Symonne just decide "Yeah, we're not gonna work together anymore, have a nice life." Why does Maltran need to stay dead if LUNARRE somehow survived EXPLODING? And just...look to next question for more clarification:

favourite friendship: I just want to imagine that Maltran, Lunarre, and Symonne were weird evil friends. The kind who'd take artistic selfies and caption them "Murder and mayhem with my besties!". Maybe they even had a sibling dynamic. They were all pretty dang jaded, so I like to think they sat around sometimes talking about the things in this world that did them wrong. The reasons they were drawn to Heldalf. Heldalf himself wouldn't have cared, he would've kicked them around like disposable tools, but the three of them were too entrenched in his dogma to see it. Maybe if they met up again after he was off the board...then they'd sing a different tune. Realize they're all three better than this, and now they're gonna do things THEIR way, because remember when they made a three-point attack on Glenwood and Sorey was barely able to keep up with them wrecking Lastonbell AND Pendrago AND Glaivend? Remember when Lunarre and Symonne had each other's backs the night Dezel died? Now they can do what they want on their terms! And I just - I have many MANY feelings about these three.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: Okay silly self-insert time but the thing is, Archibald Snatcher (The Boxtrolls) and Roman Torchwick (RWBY) are my two favorite parental f/o's (and also my OTP to end all OTPs), and I have this thing about how they'd be PERFECT crime dads to Symonne in particular because she's like a little, more theatrical Neopolitan. So there's a universe in my head where Symonne is basically already my little sister, and I look out for her - well, okay, she's a seraph with powerful Artes and I am a powerless mortal so really she looks out for me because "I suppose SOMEONE has to make sure you don't die" and I am grateful to her for it.

[shipcestuous]

Tales of Berseria, part 1 (Submission)

I just finished playing what has become one of my favorite games of all time, Tales of Berseria.  And while it might not be a Fire Emblem game, it’s way up there with FE when it comes to… interesting familial relationships.

There’s a lot of different sibling pairs to talk about here, of different levels of “suggestive,” and I’m going to start off with a submission about the more minor ones, even though they’re all interspersed throughout the story of the most major ones I’m going to talk about in part 2.  And that’s when I’ll get into the plot itself and those most prominent relationships, between the main character Velvet Crowe and various members of her delightfully, tragically screwed up family.

Beware of spoilers and feels.

Rokurou and Shigure:

(Older brother Shigure is on the left; younger brother Rokurou is on the right.)

The first party member that Velvet teams up with is Rokurou Rangetsu, a swordsman whose main motivation is to kill his older brother Shigure in a duel.  That doesn’t sound especially ship-worthy, until you take into account the kind of people that the brothers are.  For both of them, fighting is their life, their one true love… and each of them anticipates fighting the other brother above anyone else.

The two belonged to a family of honor-bound warriors, but their other brothers died young because of that honor.  Only the first and sixth sons lived, and as Shigure was the head of the family with all the adoration that entailed, Rokurou resented him.  He started a rumor that Shigure was a traitor, and ended up being sent on a mission to kill Shigure.  He failed.  He tried and failed again (and again, etc).  He literally became a daemon because his desire to defeat his brother was so powerful.

Near the end of the game, they finally get their big, For Real, Rokurou-actually-has-a-shot-this-time duel to the death.  And let me just say, both brothers are having the time of their lives.  When Rokurou finally manages to deal the killing blow after so, so many failures, it’s obvious that Shigure is immensely proud of how much he’s grown.  He’s happy for his brother, and they have a nice little conversation before he dies.  That duel was the only possible way to clear the air between them, and since fighting is what they love best, it was… almost heartwarming, in a twisted sort of way.

Later, Rokurou says that when they really put their all into fighting each other, “I got this sharp, vivid feeling that pierced straight to my core.  …We wanted to keep on fighting forever, like an unquenchable thirst.  That’s a feeling we only got from each other.“  What a suggestive way to put it.  Surely the writers didn’t word it that way without realizing the implications.  I mean, come on!

Eizen and Edna:

Eizen is another party member of Velvet’s, and we don’t find out for a long while that he has a younger sister.  (Technically, as this is a prequel to the game Tales of Zestiria, most people would already know, but still.)  When he’s caught writing letters, his friends assume he has a girlfriend.  When Eizen is rattled by an enemy’s illusion showing a young girl with an umbrella, again they assume she’s a girlfriend.  Finally, he gets frustrated enough to tell them that it’s his younger sister.

In ToB, we don’t meet Edna directly, though she’s influential in ToZ, but still, Eizen speaks of her in such fond terms.  Even her flaws, he speaks of in a way that makes it obvious how much he loves her.  He also makes it very clear that his little sister is completely off limits to guys.  When he’s labeled “protective,” he disputes the terminology, saying he’s more “obsessed.“  Hmmm.

The two aren’t human.  Malaks, their species, don’t have biological families.  Eizen and Edna were born from the same location… but that alone didn’t make them siblings.  Eizen tells the party that there were many others who were born there, but they never felt like family to him.  But when Edna was born, he felt it right away, drawn to her, like they were meant to be brother and sister.  In a way, that’s even sweeter.

Eizen has a terrible curse on him that brings bad luck on those around him, so he left Edna behind to protect her.  He sends her letters out of guilt, even though she never writes back.  In a sidequest, it’s revealed that she’s tried to write him back but had trouble expressing her feelings adequately.

A brief digression about Tales of Zestiria, which takes place hundreds of years later (malaks can live a while): eventually, Eizen turns into a feral dragon and Edna is forced to mercy kill him, and it’s super sad.  (From what I hear, he’s spared in the anime adaptation, though.)  Still, their bond is sweet as heck.

Oscar and Teresa:

Finally, we come to the most explicitly suggestive sibling relationship of the three, between these two lovelies.  Blonde hair, green eyes… are they secretly Lannisters?  I mean, if the shoe fits…

Oscar and Teresa are members of the Abbey that Velvet is fighting against throughout the game.  However, they’re definitely some of the most sympathetic antagonists in the game from the start.  Oscar is a noble man in more than just social status, and he truly believes in the cause he fights for.  Teresa might seem cold to most people, but she’s warm and loving to Oscar.

The two are half-siblings.  Oscar is the second son of the illustrious Dragonia family, and he was often ignored by his parents in favor of his older brother, the family heir.  The only person who paid him attention was his older half-sister.  As an illegitimate child, Teresa was of a lower social status and was like a servant to the legitimate members of her family, but her little half-brother always treated her with kindness, and as a result, she adored Oscar.  Really, really adored him.

(An aside: Teresa and Oscar are explicitly set up as mirrors of Velvet Crowe and her younger brother Laphicet, but I’ll talk about those two in my next post.  Still, it’s important to note.)

At some point on one of her birthdays, Oscar gifted Teresa a pair of beautiful blue earrings that he’d been entrusted with.  What he didn’t realize at the time was that those earrings were supposed to be a gift for the woman he would eventually marry (a theoretical woman, that is–his only love interest in the canon is Teresa, haha).  When Teresa informs him that he was supposed to give the earrings to the most important woman in his life, the woman he loves most in the world… he smiles and says that, to him, Teresa is the woman he loves most.

That’s right, even knowing that they’re supposed to be for his future wife, he asks Teresa to keep them.  She wears them every time she appears in the game, and he comments on how well they suit her in their first scene together.  If they didn’t look nearly identical, I’m sure a lot of people would’ve assumed they were lovers from their dynamic in that scene.  And to be fair… they’re probably right anyway.

Oscar and Teresa are recurring minor antagonists through a lot of the game, and Teresa’s main motivations are getting revenge on Velvet because Velvet wounded Oscar near the start of the game, and otherwise protecting Oscar.  When Oscar gets a dangerous assignment that’s basically a suicide mission, Teresa concocts a scheme to keep him safe.

She lets herself be taken hostage by Velvet and her party and volunteers to help them stop Oscar’s mission, on the condition that they spare his life.  During this time, Teresa opens up a little bit about her and Oscar’s childhood, strengthening the parallel to Velvet and her own brother.

Then they run into Oscar, and when Oscar is persuaded to drop his weapon to save her life, she breaks free and ends up fusing herself with a daemon (the very thing the Abbey fights so hard against) in order to defeat Velvet and co. and protect Oscar.  Even then, she pleads with Oscar to not look at her when she’s so hideous.  (Her priorities, tho.)  It’s also noteworthy that the daemon is basically the embodiment of lust.  Just in case anyone had any doubts about the nature of Teresa’s feelings for her brother.

Velvet incapacitates her, but then Oscar attacks and she ends up killing him in self-defense.  Teresa is enraged (“you killed my Oscar!”) and attacks, and Velvet ends up mortally wounding her too.  In their dying moments, Teresa crawls over to Oscar, saying she’ll get his wounds all fixed up.  She reaches out with the last of her strength and grasps his hand in hers, and they die like that.  Lying beside each other in a field of white flowers, Teresa clutching Oscar’s hand.

It’s exactly as tragic as it sounds, and their deaths REALLY shake Velvet.  She usually acts like she doesn’t care who she kills (and often really doesn’t care) but in this case, the death of this loving older sister and her beloved younger brother shakes her to her core.  (You’ll understand why once I get into the story with her own brother.)

In the end, Oscar and Teresa do kind of get another chance at life.  They are reincarnated as two of the “Empyreans,” gods of the world, as their souls that were taken by Velvet are used to revive the Empyreans.  So… despite all that sadness, they do get another chance at life, in a way.  It’s not touched upon in-game, because the story’s nearing its end then, but this means they can be together again.  In a way… they almost end up having a happy ending, right?  I can live with that.

–

So that’s all for the more minor sibling relationships in Tales of Berseria.  Next time, I’ll get into the main plot and how it concerns Velvet and her family.  And let me just forewarn you… it’s a doozy.

What a wonderful write-up!!! Thank you so much for all of the details and pictures. I love your passion for the game and you make a really good case for each of the relationships you mentioned. Shippable AND suggestive. I love them all. 

[atozblog]

This post contains spoilers. I'm on mobile so I can't hide it under read more. Please scroll past if you want to avoid it.

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Okay but how do oaths in this game work? We all know that they are bound to not tell anyone what they had to sacrifice lest they lose the power they gained in exchange -- Lailah's purification power, Edna keeping Eizen in Rayfalke, Zavied and his shirt(?), Symmone's illusions, then there's Mayvin's immortality.

Mayvin showed Sorey and his party the arrangement of the iris gems in order for it to make sense. But unless I'm missing something, Mayvin did not, by word of mouth, had to tell anyone about the past yet he died. Sorey and the others found out about the limitations of Lailah's oath yet she didn't lose her purification power, the party also found out how Symmone makes her illusions yet she didn't lose it.

Also, to whom do they make their oaths with? Who is the person/entity who demands the fulfillment of their obligation? How do oaths in this game work?

[princesszelda90]

durarara!!, star wars, akayona, tales of berseria and fullmetal alchemist for the fandom ask uvu

Durarara: 

the character i least understand - probably the orihara twins honestly

interactions i enjoyed the most - all shizuo/izaya interactions lol, OMG AND I LOOOOVE ALL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN SHIZUO AND CELTY!!! BROTP FOREVER

the character who scares me the most - Izaya~ ♡♡♡

the character who is mostly like me - maybe Anri? Lol, it’s bad to say Erika and Walker right??? 

hottest looks character - this is difficult…. ummm… I’ll just list my top 4 cuz I don’t think I can choose: Izaya, Shizuo, Shinra, Kida ♡

one thing i dislike about my fave character - I’ll go with Izaya for this: well, of the 10,324 things wrong with him, I’ll just point out the whole “doesn’t give a crap that his actions can completely destroy the lives of others, but rather laughs at the thought” thing

one thing i like about my hated character - I think Harima and Seiji actually gave both Anri and Mikado sound advice once or twice.

a quote or scene that haunts me - I wouldn’t say it “haunts me” but I will never be over the fact that Anri was inches away from literally saving the entire world if she could have just cut Izaya?? Although knowing him there would have been some crap like “he loves too much so he would have no problem controlling Saika and would just use it’s powers to screw everything up even more” lol

a death that left me indifferent - did anyone die??

a character i wish died but didn’t - I don’t “wish” they’d die, but I would indifferent if Seiji and/or Harima died.

my ship that never sailed - none I can think of!

Sorry I kinda focused on season 1 for this...

STAR WARS

the character i least understand - I guess I don’t fully understand agent Kallus? Oh and Snoke. Tell us more about Snoke. No one from the original trilogy really stands out...

interactions i enjoyed the most - I really loved all Ahsoka/Anakin, Ahsoka/ObiWan, and Ahsoka/CloneTroopers ineractions. Also Han and Leia interactions!!!!

the character who scares me the most - Thrawn makes me incredibly nervous. I am so scared for the final season of rebels. So scared.

the character who is mostly like me - hmmmm.... it’s bad to say thrawn right after saying he terrifies me right? I guess I can see some of Leia in me, but I can also see some Hondo (lol none of those are even slightly related but whatever) - again, I could probably pick bits and pieces out of any character but none are really “me” - ooooh wait actually maybe Hera would be closest? But that’s being very generous towards myself lol. I hope I am even mildly similar to her. 

hottest looks character - young Han Solo will always be near the top lol. But not gonna lie, teenage me was very attracted to Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor when the prequels came out. Adult me is still very much attracted to young Han and Obi Wan. But if I were into aliens, Hondo would be my guy 

one thing i dislike about my fave character - I dislike that a large portion of the fandom doesn’t know about her because she’s not a part of the movies :(

one thing i like about my hated character - Idk who my hated character is.. Although I will say that I reaaaaally dislike Anakin’s relationship with Padme in the Clone Wars series. like. yuck.

a quote or scene that haunts me - Obi Wan yelling “you were my brother, Anakin! I loved you!” breaks my heart. Also the entirety of rogue one.

a death that left me indifferent - I wasn’t really overly emotional for anyone’s death... there were a few but I won’t list them for Spoilers, but yeah, I was indifferent to a lot.

a character i wish died but didn’t - none come to mind? (sorry apparently I don’t wish death on many characters lol)

my ship that never sailed - Maul X Happiness :’(

Tales of Berseria **SPOILERS**

the character i least understand - Zaveid probably, and maybe Rokurou

interactions i enjoyed the most - EIZEN AND ROKUROU LOOKING OUT FOR LAPHICET. Also Eizen nerding out over literally anything. 

the character who scares me the most - Maybe Melchior

the character who is mostly like me - Eizen. Yup. We’re soul mates. GETITCUZWE’DBEPIRATESTOGETHERANDCALLEACHOTHERMATE

hottest looks character - EIZEN with Rokurou being a close second

one thing i dislike about my fave character  - He had to go and turn into a dragon what the heck

one thing i like about my hated character - Melchior was intelligent at least, that’s good?

a quote or scene that haunts me - A LOT OF THEM yikes. Um, a lot of Laphicet’s big moments were good. Eizen’s face when Melchior used an illusion of Edna against him. 

a death that left me indifferent - I didn’t really care about Shigure or Melchior

a character i wish died but didn’t - sorry, nothing again. We got our sweet, sweet revenge on most of the bad characters

my ship that never sailed - no ships besides the Van Eltia sailed lol, but idk I didn’t really have any major ships 

FMA - I’m gonna go with the manga/brotherhood version

the character i least understand - I want to know more about the Xing characters. Specifically Xiao Mei lol

interactions i enjoyed the most - Scar, May, and Yoki lol, Also Greedling and Ed, and just plain Ling and Ed.

the character who scares me the most - Tucker.

the character who is mostly like me - Olivier, although just like with Hera, that’s me being quite generous with myself. #Goals

hottest looks character - Ling, with Ed close behind

one thing i dislike about my fave character - Idk who my favorite is... Hughes - died, Ling - didn’t think about others besides his subordinates when pursuing his goals sometimes, Riza - nothing she is flawless, Ed - work on your temper child

one thing i like about my hated character - I’m no sure who I really hate... Bosque Grand was... a good fighter? 

a quote or scene that haunts me - “daddy said he has a lot of work to do and if they bury him he can’t do it when he wakes up” :))) Also “your hands aren’t meant to kill, they’re mean to give life” there were a lot more too

a death that left me indifferent - Kimblee, even though I really enjoyed him

a character i wish died but didn’t - none

my ship that never sailed - Trisha and Hoenheim could’ve gone better

Thanks, pal! This was fun even though it took like 3 hours lol

Akayona - was answered in a previous post

[carnelianwings]

What do you think of a modern AU where Sorey, Rose, Dezel, Alisha, and Eizen (plus the Beresia cast) all end up reincarnated but Seraphs still exist and the Zestiria seraphs (Mikleo, Lailah, Symone, Edna, and Zavied) all watch over them, but they

Same anon of the modern AU But so Sorey and the others can't see them. At least not yet.            

I think this would be sweet yet really angsty to start.  Also, still haven’t started Berseria yet, so I’m going to leave them out and just write for the Zesty cast.  Cutting because I couldn’t resist writing a little bit of something for everyone.

Like, just thinking of Mikleo wanting to see/touch/interact with Sorey.  Bonus angst points if we go with Sorey doesn’t remember his past life, or maybe slowly remembers - like he sees fragments of memories, maybe he remembers a voice in these fragments, or any time he sees that shade of teal, the same one Mikleo wears all the time, he thinks he has a flash of recognition, but it all slips away before he can figure out who/why he’s getting these visions.

In the meantime, Mikleo keeps watching over Sorey, acting as his guardian angel.  He’s given up on trying to talk/interact with Sorey once he’s figured out Sorey’s resonance isn’t what it used to be, and he knows Sorey doesn’t remember him, but at the same time, he just misses him so damned much.  So much so, he has a total meltdown one day.

And as for Edna, at first, she’s really happy - it’s Eizen!  He’s back!  She can see him as he was again!  Only to realize, oh wait, he can’t see her, or talk to her, or even realize she’s there.  She gets super snippy and snarky and snappy when during this time period, but at a certain point, Mikleo melts down,  She happens to be nearby, and they both realize they’re in similar (yet different) situations with people they care deeply about.  So they start relying on each other a bit.  And little by little, things go back to normal between them.  That is to say, she says something snarky, makes up a nickname for him, he reacts (predictably, lol), but it’s enough to keep them both from wallowing in their own despair.

Symonne actually takes an interest in Alisha.  Here’s the reincarnation of the human who actually thanked her for her (debatably) evil deed, and gave her some semblance of worth when she felt she had none.  Symonne feels indebted to her for this, and tries to act as her guardian angel.  She’s no Mikleo, but she does the best she can.  Maybe her powers of illusion let her grant people dreams, so she uses her powers to give Alisha happy dreams and chase away her nightmares.

Lailah just happy to see them all reincarnated.  She does what she does best - providing comfort and advice where she can to her fellow Seraphim, especially for Mikleo and Edna, both of whom care very deeply for the ones they’ve attached themselves to.  Symonne comes by frequently for advice - she’s not used to this “looking out and caring for people” thing and while she’s earnest in her attempt, she’s still not entirely sure what constitutes as a happy dream, given how little happiness she’s had in her own life.

Zaveid’s there to knock some sense into them when they need it.  He’s also looking forward to being able to go drinking with Eizen again, just like the old days, and he’s secretly happy to see that lonely child of a wind seraph he adopted so long ago is getting a second chance at life, and this time, surrounded by friends.  Dezel’s still a quiet kid, but at least Zaveid can smile knowing that he’s got friends he can rely on and trust.

In any case, the day they can all see and interact with each other again, the reincarnations regain their memories in full - Eizen gives Edna the biggest hug in the world, the only way a big brother can.  And then has to put up with her grousing as Zaveid drags him off to drink the night away.  Dezel gets dragged along for the drinking trip too, even though he complains, it’s only half hearted.

Sorey sees Mikleo for the first time, and is promptly left speechless.  Edna, Rose, and Zaveid are entirely too happy about being around to see it, as it’s their punchline of every joke for decades to come.  Of course, Mikleo’s all blushy and flustered, and embarrassed (the only way he can be when he’s the center of attention), and goes Tsunleo on Sorey . . . for all of a minute before he’s breaking down into a sobbing mess because he’s finally finally able to hug Sorey again.  A really gorgeous sobbing mess, as Sorey would mentally note, but a sobbing mess nonetheless.

As for Alisha, she realizes that all her happy dreams throughout her life were Symonne’s doing, and thanks her again. Symonne is, understandably, shocked.  And is even moreso when Alisha offers her friendship, followed by asking if Symonne would like to join her for tea.  From there, Alisha shows Symonne all sorts of things, and together, they discover that Symonne loves classical music, theater, and reading books.  Lots and lots of books, from all genres.  Occasionally, when she finds a passage in a book she really enjoys, she’ll use her abilities to show the scene as she thinks the author intended it to look for the others, much to their enjoyment.  And so Symonne discovers alternative ways to use her abilities that can be used to bring joy to others.

As for Rose, well, she just realized she got her biggest co-conspirators back (Edna and Zaveid).  Sorey and Mikleo are rightfully mortified when they remember all the crazy antics they’d had to endure in the past.

And Lailah?  She’s just happy her little found family’s back together again, and that Mikleo’s smiling like he hasn’t smiled in decades, and Edna’s actually genuinely smiling for once, and she’s just ecstatic that all the time she spent with Symonne has paid off as Symonne’s found herself a lifelong friend and a purpose.

[exarchics]

tob spoilers below the cut

that edna illusion throwing eizen off guard had me crying. when will this game just kkill me?

[lomxd]

QAQ

That part in the tower with Eizen and that illusion of Edna Ouch. My feel goods..

[8bittheatrics]

So something I love about this little series of Tales installments is that they pay SO much attention to little background details. Zestiria was all about the visual details, and that’s carried over here.

Like how the illusion of Edna wasn’t wearing shoes, even though most of the segment was brief enough that they probably could’ve gotten away with just using her Zestiria character model. But that wouldn’t have worked with the split-second full shot--Zestiria-model Edna wears Eizen’s boots.

[lastthroes]

i played at least one version of all tales mainlines and have a lot of faves so in the end rays satisfied me a lot (besides i already like most of the "hated" entries of the mainlines and i'm used to get my food by eating around the edges), but edna is my favorite tales character which brings me back to my wish that they had addressed the earth siblings differently

to circumvent eizen's curse, they pulled out a questionable deus ex machina and did whatever they wanted with the games' lore, then… pretty much never made them interact much anyway? they were never starring on an event together, and after the nor doll event (where eizen spent most of the time avoiding her), the only times you see them interacting are a few lines that can be counted with one hand, a few very short scenes like the summer festival where he comments she looks beautiful in the kimono (her sma) and then reunite with the others; in arc3 (a farewell); the god eaters event at the end (where they basically just check up on e/o for a moment); and the asteria event in arc 4 where edna's possessed so it's not like she can talk either (and it basically ends after she retains her conscience and thanks him after eizen breaks the collar. we don't even know what kind of illusion she was put under like it happens in asteria*)

and yes i know there's this point in where they came to the conclusion of how things had changed from back when they lived together, because eizen had his group and his life and edna had hers too, but 1) this was obviously to not separate them from their main casts and cause trouble writing-wise too much, which i'm fine with, and 2) considering this is a crossover game, and how many times characters got mixed with the casts of different games, it's not an excuse to not have them together in substantial ways beyond a line of an offscreen interaction mentioned by a third person whenever they remember about it, like it happens in the new year event eizen's sma comes from (scene that we never see either), or in the christmas event zaveid got his sma from, he also asks her if she wants to see eizen and edna tells him to just deliver her letter and it just ends there

i'm really just… stumped that they tried so hard to justify edna being able to stay by eizen's side, just to not actually let them be with each other that much in a relevant way anyway? like really, not even an event where they're both bonus characters? there are so many things you can do with their relationship in tir na nog that i just can't understand it. i'd have even accepted something silly and not really plot relevant like eizen freaking out over edna getting a wedding alt like hisui did when kohaku got hers

[talesofourworlds]

"Enough of your tricks! ...Huh?"

Happy seventh anniversary, Tales of Berseria!

"Draw the scene with Eizen seeing the illusion of Edna Melchior conjures up," I said. "It'll be fine," I said! I love the earth siblings but man are they detailed. xD Not helping is I decided to draw Eizen in a bit of a more complex pose than simply standing and facing the illusion Edna, choosing to go for the moment just as he turns to face her and first sees her.

I don't know why I love this scene so much. Maybe it's because of how shocked Eizen is to see 'Edna' and how thrown off he is because of it. It's such a rare moment of vulnerability for Eizen, at least at this point in the game. 

[eigwayne]

I just did the fight against Heldalf in Aifread’s Hunting Ground in Zestiria, after having beaten Berseria. And everything Zaveid says about Meotelus has a new meaning.

More chatter behind the cut because there’re spoilers for both Zesty and Bersie.

Like, he says he felt a presence when Symonne had them caught in her illusions, but Mikleo didn’t feel it (Edna implies she did, but never said it right out. Which could mean she did or she could just be ribbing Meebo, it’s Edna so it could be either way). Maybe Zaveid was able to feel a presence because he’s older and more powerful and hopefully wiser than baby Meebo. Or maybe he felt something familiar (We can reasonably guess that he knows that Laphicet the malak is Maotelus, after all. He seems to have hung out with Eizen and it’s bound to come up because Zaveid would probably wonder what happened to the kid, and Eizen, for all that he has Mysterious Edgelord moments, loves to talk)��and that’s how he was able to sense a presence that Mikleo couldn’t. He’s not telling, though. 

And Lailah’s hesitation in the battle? She knows, but she can’t say. But we all knew that anyways. I wonder just how much she knows about Maotelus, though (I also want to know what she was up to during Berseria, but she’s not the focus of that story so we may never know).

Basically? The Berseria team did such an amazing job tying together the lore from Zestiria that even Zestiria takes on a new depth, holy crap.

[jcmorrigan]

A while ago, I promised a Tales of Berseria headcanon dump, and this is all incredibly specific and based on my own reading, and I know no one else is going to agree with these exact interps or even the ships that built their foundation, but hey, here I go anyway

SEXUALITY/ROMANTIC ORIENTATION

Velvet Crowe: Lesbian. I first got an inkling she liked women in the prologue, when she was teasing around with Niko about “If you were a boy, I’d be in love.” True, she said it was a good thing neither was a boy at the time, but given how much the citizens of Aball drill ideas about marriage into Velvet’s head, it seems like a very heteronormative society and not that progressive. It’s a rural village in the middle of nowhere; what do you expect? Later on, Velvet would grieve heavily for Niko, in a way that I feel is reminiscent of a lover, and when it comes to Eleanor, she participates in “Women are mysterious creatures” rhetoric about her - the kind men usually say about women. Also has a fair share of soul-bonding moments with Magilou. I personally find more ship chemistry for her with any number of the women in ToB than any of the men.

Magilou: Bisexual. Seems to have an interest in Velvet. One particular victory screen has her joking with Phi about how if you can’t touch Velvet’s sword, everything else on her is fair game to touch. That’s wlw at least. However, her relationship with Bienfu of all things is where I get the impression she’s attracted to men - her talk of “punishing” him physically during nights at the inn read a little like innuendo to me. (Yeah, I just implied she has a sexual past with the Normin.) She also welcomes attention from all genders in general as to how amazing she is.

Eleanor Hume: WLW asexual. I don’t really have definitive subtext to point me toward ace, but I recall my own experience thinking I was morally upstanding because I wasn’t sexually active when my teenage peers were, and Eleanor, given her devotion to the Abbey and her pride in meeting its standards, just seems like she could have the same story: thinking she’s morally upstanding because she doesn’t act on any sexual urges, only to realize that’s because she doesn’t have them the way her teammates do. I already mentioned the subtext tension between Eleanor and Velvet - Velvet is the only person I can really pick out potential romantic chemistry for Eleanor with. Because of that, I’m not certain if she could also be attracted to men or not, as I don’t have any good samples.

Rokurou Rangetsu: MLM. I went back and forth between gay and bisexual for a while. For one, Rokurou has that scene when he talks about how women can break your heart worse than any danger in the field (and Eizen agrees), implying he’s had a past dating women. He also at least feigns interest in knowing about Velvet in the hot-spring bath. But this is underscored by a punchline of just wanting to make Phi sweat. Rokurou’s archetype of the heavy-drinking, optimistic idiot often comes paired with “womanizer,” but that wasn’t present here. And there was also the scene where he commented on how Velvet’s ragged outfit must be cold in Figahl only for her to scold him on ogling her - which I suppose can be read as him discreetly ogling her, but I see it more as him looking at Velvet in skimpy clothing and having the go-to reaction of how practical it must be in the weather. His chemistry with Eizen drips romantic to me, given how they share drinks and argue for fun.

Eizen: MLM. Same case as Rokurou - mentioned having his heart broken by women, and joined in on the Velvet-in-the-hot-spring discussion, but also expresses lots of affection toward Rokurou that was likely written to be platonic but comes across as very close. I’ve also seen the popularity of the Eizen/Zaveid ship, and given that Eizen told Zaveid his true name, which “can be seen as a confession of love,” there’s definitely subtext for that as well. So, again, whether gay or bi (or pan), I am not certain yet.

Laphicet: Bisexual. Obviously is attracted to the illusion of Edna and, to an extent, Velvet in the inn scene in Meirchio, but bonds with Videl intensely and devotes a major part of his life to making Videl’s dreams come true.

GENDER IDENTITY

Magilou: Transgender, identifies as very female. This was actually something I got an inkling on very early when some of her victory screens had her making jokes about her weapon in the way that some might view as phallic (I’m thinking especially of the one where Eleanor and Rokurou are talking about the benefits of short weapons, and Magilou says “Mine can be as long as I want!”). So I was of the mind that Magilou perhaps did possess a dick, and that actually got weirdly reinforced when she lifted her book-skirt to fluster Phi and he said “I wasn’t expecting that” - the joke is he was more interested in the books, but in the subtext, I’m reading that despite him definitely knowing what a cis woman’s nether regions would look like (Eleanor is his vessel), he didn’t expect something about Magilou’s lower half. So I was thinking either pre-op transgender or intersex (I’m not certain what types of gender reassignment surgery or artes would be available in Desolation). When all of a sudden, her backstory was revealed that as Legate Magillanica, she had a whole identity and a name that she erased (going so far as to say “Magillanica” is dead), as well as a background growing up in a conservative/religious household with Melchior, and, before that, being passed around to guardians who didn’t love her, leading to her feeling emotionally repressed. And all of a sudden it all fell into place: her story really parallels transitioning. So now I love to just complete the analogy. We know she was going by she/her pronouns at a young age in her traveling show, but we also know that she was exhibited at a “freak show” due to her high resonance. It’s possible she was also advertised as (insert a horrible slur about androgyny here). If she was already well-known going by she/her, Melchior would probably have wanted to keep that intact so as not to cause a stink in the Abbey. But, Melchior being the horrible person he is, he probably also thought Magilou was fit to stand as a legate where no other woman was because she was “male” to him. Anyway, by now, at least the other women on her team have seen her naked and have nothing negative to say on the subject - the party knows and they love her.

Laphicet: I actually see him as a little genderfluid based on a couple of throwaway things. For one, when the party discovers the “unicorn horn” (narwhal tusk), there’s a big discussion about how only a “maiden” pure of heart should be able to pick it up. Velvet offhandedly says Phi should pick it up anyway because it’s his quest. In the end, the myth was dismissed, but I rather like the thought that Phi sometimes identifies more female and therefore could fill the bill of being a maiden pure of heart. His/her personality also influences Innominat, whose outfit of choice is androgynous as far as gender-specific fashion conventions go (and also really spiffy). Most days, Phi is male, but some days, not as much. With his status at game’s end, it also feels a little more fitting to say that such a guardian of the world should be less adhered to one side of the binary.

NEURODIVERGENCE

Eleanor Hume: OCD and anxiety. It’s outright mentioned how she takes responsibility and guilt for everything, even things that have nothing to do with her and aren’t her fault - a telltale marker of OCD. She’s also introduced as being emotional and teased for being a “crybaby,” showing that ordinary situations can easily push her over the edge. I’m only talking main party, else Kamoana would be her own entry, but Kamoana canonically has panic attacks that manifest as fevers according to Mahina’s note, and can be “cured” with placebos. Eleanor’s arc is linked to Kamoana throughout, and the moment where this is revealed is one in which Eleanor is outlining her similarities to Kamoana and how that should mean Kamoana would resent her. I feel like this draws a pretty blatant parallel between Kamoana’s rampant anxiety and Eleanor’s, and how Eleanor jumped to the worst-case scenario only to be shown that the child she worries about has something very big in common with her that might actually be a bridge between them rather than a wall.

Eizen: Autistic. Infodumping is a major character trait of his, and there’s an entire skit dedicated to talking about how “picky” he is about his routine, needing to wear his clothing in specific ways and dock at the same place every time in Port Zekson.

[thosetaleskids]

"He almost didn't. It was a double illusion; Eizen saw through the first layer because he tricked the illusion of Aifread into claiming to remember something that he'd never said, but he really hesitated when he saw you. I don't know what he would have done if another Malak called Zaveid hadn't broken the illusion."

He honestly didn't expect that Edna would know the name. Why would she? There were many Malakhim in the world, and despite them both having ties to Eizen, it seemed like there would only be a small chance of them having crossed paths. Especially since Zaveid had said that he wouldn't make any move towards her until after Eizen was no longer himself: something that, at least from Phi's perspective, was still potentially a long way off.

Of course, time seemed to be weird in Spring Rise, if the commonly-used term Malakhim from his time was several hundred years out of date by Edna's. So what did he know, at least in this case?

"Huh. She didn't say that she was a princess."

Then again, it hadn't really come up. They'd mostly talked of books and of Malakhim - or Seraphim depending on which of them was speaking - and not much else had come up. Plus, maybe she was deliberately using this time at Spring Rise to have a break from that for now.

As to why Eizen still called himself a Malak and Edna called herself a Seraph... could he guess why? Small boy tilted his head, puzzling over the question. Edna seemed to think it was obvious, but...

"Is it because... he's always been pretty set in his ways? I know Magilou said that he always brought the same outfit whenever he needed new clothes, after all. So he's got used to being called a Malak and sticks to it, while you find it easier to change with the times?"

He honestly felt like he could be miles off. But he didn't know Edna well enough to guess if she had another reason for preferring the newer term.

They'd read Eizen's letter to her?

Whichever one of Eizen's friends Rokurou was, Edna would have to make sure he did the Normincarena as penance for his crimes. It was very inconsiderate to read a brother's heartfelt letter to his adorable little sister. Laphicet... well, he'd been complicit in the crime. But he also was throwing Rokurou under the bus. Plus he was clearly embarrassed about the whole thing.

He wouldn't be getting the Meebo treatment, then. She'd let the matter of the letter slide for the time being. What was interesting was the fact someone had made an illusion of her. She and the others had only ever come across one seraph capable of doing that sort of trickery. Trickery that was used quite effectively up until a certain point, when she'd started to lose her grip on things and they'd started to get closer to their end destination. Was she behind it? Or had there been someone else capable of that sort of magic?

"But you all broke through the illusion. That right?" Edna could think of a couple of ways that had happened. Someone had figured out the illusion of her was an illusion, or Eizen himself had snapped out of it and realized it wasn't her. Somehow, though, she imagined the former. And considering Zaveid knew Eizen...

Hmm. Things to think about, for sure. Edna twirled her umbrella, but shifted the line of thought when Laphicet asked his question.

"Alisha? Yeah. That's one of Sorey's squires we travel with. But she has to keep going back and forth between that and princess stuff. More human stuff I don't get. Politics and all that" she answered. It didn't help that Alisha also couldn't armatize, but that was another matter entirely. If he'd met Alisha, and they'd talked, then he must have worked out some things. But there was a way to work that much out.

"Malakhim fell out of the vernacular about a few hundred years ago, at least. But Eizen still calls himself one, and I call myself a seraph. Bet you can guess why." Helpful? Maybe not. But when was Edna ever the most helpful of seraphs?