#every character who uses magic will have the potential to get in too deep

[thelonelyshore-if]

The fog immunity question made me wonder about something else about the powers again.

It's more about the mechanics of it though. So, you said multiple times that the powers are a sort of balance, where if you lean too much into it, it will be very bad but too little and it won't really be usable / controlled. But what does that mean "gameplay wise" so to speak? For the time being, I don't believe we had any checks related to powers, considering our MC didn't even discover their power yet. Now, some choices may have influenced what the power may be I assume, but as far as I know, no actual checks yet, right? But anyway, once MC discovers their power and it's "set in stone" for the game, I guess we'll start getting instances where MC can chose to use said power or something else instead, and using it would raise the "skill level"? But does that mean we'll have to balance very carefully how many times we use the powers to grasp them but not be consumed by them? Or does that mean only using them in some specific circumstances while doing so in others will "make it bad"? Something else instead?

I know it's a weird question but I'm always paranoid about stuff like that in games so I prefer knowing how it actually works so that I can be mindful of it.

Howdy! Thanks for the ask. I'll try to explain a little more below the cut c:

To start out, you're totally right: there are no stat checks related to the magic/powers yet. And there (likely) won't be until the point in which the MC's magic choice is locked in. I won't say that 100%, because that's a while away, but that's my current plan.

And hm. I'll do my best to explain without getting into spoilers, but I'm sorry if it still ends up unclear!

There is absolutely a balance to be had when it comes to using your magic. MC training their powers/skills is important--not knowing how to use them is dangerous--and there's a 'sweet spot' where the magic is stable, more or less.

Frequency of use is a big part of it Using magic every so often isn't a problem, but if your MC starts relying on it constantly, it could raise their chances of being corrupted. For example, a clairvoyant MC trying to see the future in an emergency is different than a clairvoyant MC who uses their magic daily to see the weather, if that makes sense?

Part of it is also how much magic is being used. There will be certain events/opportunities in game where MC (or other characters who can use magic) will have choices that could use a ton of magic. One huge burst of power can be a lot more dangerous than several smaller ones.

There will be a stat tracking this, and it very well might be shown on the stat page for the player to see, but I haven't decided for sure yet.

Apologies that this isn't the most specific, but I hope it gives you a general idea!

[eeldritchblast]

Wyll Ravengard Deserves Healing Too

Every origin companion in Baldur’s Gate 3 is traumatized in some form or another, and they all deal with it in different ways. That is only realistic. But let’s take a deeper look at the inequality between how these stories of trauma are written and presented to the player. Because when we do that, it is extremely noticeable that there is one character who never receives the same level of catharsis bestowed upon everyone else: Wyll.

Shadowheart was abducted as a child to be raised in an abusive cult. When this is brought to light, the player is able to help her confront her abuser and find her parents again. Even if her parents die, Shadowheart is at least given closure; she has a whole scene in which we see her finally break down into tears, and the player can comfort her.

Gale ended up with an orb of Netherese magic inside him, ready to explode and destroy not just him but everything in his radius. He went into a deep depression and relied on Tara to keep him alive, pre-game. His goddess/ex-lover then tasked him with a suicidal mission. But Gale is able to confront Mystra and either regain her compassion or reject her and forge his own godhood. Either way, Gale is able to heal physically and emotionally.

Lae’zel, much like Shadowheart, was also raised in a torturous environment, only to realize that her Queen Vlaakith is nothing but an abuser and a user. She is able to ally herself with a rebellious faction rising against Vlaakith, not just freeing herself but potentially her entire People.

Karlach was betrayed by Gortash and sold to Zariel, who replaced her heart with an infernal engine, making it impossible for Karlach to keep living outside of the Hells. Even if she doesn’t end up with a cure, the player can at least help her confront Gortash, and like Shadowheart, she gets a whole special scene for her to finally work through her bottled up emotions.

Astarion was enslaved and tortured by Cazador for over two-hundred years, who would have used him in a ritual that resulted in his death. The player can help Astarion confront Cazador and potentially kill him, which leads to Astarion getting a small scene where he cries out in a mixture of emotions.

But what of Wyll? At just age seventeen he was given the choice of either selling his soul to Mizora, or see Baldur’s Gate fall to a dragon cult. The terms of his pact prevented him from telling the truth about the situation, resulting in his idolized father banishing him. Ever since, he was bound to Mizora, and we see how she treats him in game as if he’s a dog. Wyll is just as traumatized as his companions, and yet, where is the ability to comfort him? Where is his closure? It’s all disregarded, in favour of more content with Mizora.

Wyll’s personal quest at the start of Act Three has him forced to choose between giving up his soul to save his father, or freeing himself and seeing his father die. Now, it is possible – though difficult – for the player to rescue Duke Ravengard themselves even if Wyll breaks his pact with Mizora. But even if this is so, reading Mizora’s mind results in the player hearing her admit she will never stop trying to harm Wyll’s father.

The reason you can read Mizora’s mind is because she is just there, hanging out at your camp! There is even a sex scene between her and the player available! Just imagine for a second, if that was Cazador or Viconia in Mizora’s place. Mizora is nothing but Wyll’s tormentor, just like Cazador for Astarion and Viconia for Shadowheart, and yet she is permanently there, giving witty one-liners and trying to seduce the player. Attack her, and she only disappears to reappear again, unharmed. You cannot get rid of her, and it’s played for laughs.

Wyll deserves comfort. Wyll deserves a chance to show his emotions, too. Yes, I’m aware that part of his character is that he tries to downplay his concerns in order to maintain his heroic persona, but that just means it would have been even more powerful to finally gain his trust enough for him to share how he feels with the player, truly.

Wyll is the only Black companion – and only one of two visible characters of colour, period. (The other being Karlach, who while yes is a tiefling, based on her facial features in the full release of the game is East Asian.) It is hard to believe it is all just coincidence that it is the only Black companion was given no opportunity by the writers to receive any significant emotional support or show any significant relief from his trauma. Statistically, African Americans who need mental health treatments receive less than 50% of treatments that white Americans receive. This is despite African Americans having 20% more likeliness to undergo serious psychological distress than white Americans. [X]

No, Wyll Ravengard is not a real person, and I am not attempting to equate a fictional character to real life struggles. My point here, is that the way in which Wyll was written mirrors the way in which the mental health of Black men and boys in real life is systematically ignored and downplayed, with the belief that they can and must “tough it out”. My point here, is that I have a hard time believing the prejudices and stereotypes against Black people did not contribute to Wyll’s lack of content. Specifically, the lack of content related to his healing.

[gachagon]

I love it when characters who were previously incredibly pompous and egotistical realize that the pedestal they've placed themselves on is actually worthless given the current situation they're now in.

Kaiser is realizing now that his idea of what it takes to be on top, to be the best striker is wrong and that it's probably been wrong for a while. And that's really got to suck, because while Kaiser has accomplished a lot of great things, ultimately his goal pales in comparison to the people he now has to go up against. Isagi and the other Blue Locker's aren't just there to rise up the ranks slowly, this is a last man standing program and Kaiser isn't strong enough to stand on his own.

He had become a great player, but he's not the best player. And he needs to be better in order to even have that position of acclaim in the first place. I am reminded of what Isagi taunted him with earlier, calling him a "Naked Emperor/King" which is an obvious reference to the "Emperor's New Clothes".

In that short story, a king orders himself new clothing that outshines everyone else and so the court creates "Invisible Clothing that only he can see" for the King. The king accepts the clothes and "wears" them, and so to him he is wearing the finest cloak imaginable, but to everyone else he is just a naked man making a fool of himself.

In a way, Kaiser ended up being the naked emperor in that he only came to the realization that his past achievements weren't good enough to stay in the team until this very game with Isagi.

I really think that fear of losing everything he worked for was always holding him back from really going above and beyond as well, because while he does have the support of a partner to do passes for him and he's able to read the field accurately, he doesn't take chances that tougher opponents hand him.

His backstory as a thief really puts this into perspective too because thieves wait for the right moment to strike instead of going out into the open to steal. And just like a thief, everything they get is "unearned" because they just take it from other people. In a way, you could almost say Kaiser's position as the best and the king was unearned because he hadn't actually done what needed to be done in order to get to that level.

And that's why I think this makes him so upset when Ness rattles off all of the thing's he's done, because ultimately none of those things will really amount to anything if he can't keep control of this team and be the best among them. It won't matter if he's scored a goal in every match, or if he's gotten offers from top teams, his goal is to be better than everyone and right now some dude from a no name prefecture in Japan is wiping the floor with him, and easily.

You really gotta feel sorry for Ness too, because he thinks of himself as one of Kaiser's "accomplishments" in a way, but Kaiser literally doesn't care about him enough. He just see's Ness as a tool to use, someone who's easily replaceable and loyal like a dog.

My moot (@miyamiwu) made a really good observation about how Ness might just leave Kaiser soon if he doesn't keep playing in that magical way that captured Ness in the first place, and I think that's true now especially since Kaiser himself seems to also realize it. When he's thinking about all of the achievements he could potentially lose if he doesn't win this, Ness is one of them.

"I thought I was becoming human." Is so sad too because I think deep down he really did think that by being close to Ness that he was truly becoming a normal player, that he was on the fast track to achieving his goals. But because he doesn't really know what that goal is anymore, the rug has been pulled from under him now and he has to literally reevaluate what is probably years worth of self reflection.

I also think this chapter is Kaiser ditching the rose as a symbol of his ego because he's truly looking back on things and realizing that the object that really gave him solace wasn't that symbol of the impossible, but the soccer ball itself. He is coming to terms with the fact that without soccer, he doesn't have anything at all, and that it is the only reason he was even able to get this far or have the courage to fight back against his abusive shitty dad.

Instead of the rose tattoo being here, we see there's a new tattoo that's prominent now and it's in the shape of a crown. And rather than being in a place where he's most vulnerable (his neck), the tattoo is on his hand, which I think symbolizes how he is able to take his own freedom and by extension his own place as a king with his own two hands.

Kaiser's solitude is something he really needs to become the best, because if he can't do it alone, than he can't do it at all. He is clinging desperately to the things he has managed to gather throughout these years, including Ness' loyalty and he's so afraid of losing even one of those things that it's making him a worse player.

However, whether or not being totally alone is what he needs to heal as a person is another thing entirely, which is ultimately why I don't think Kaiser will ever beat Isagi and that if he does it'd actually be the worst ending for him. Throughout this entire manga, Kaiser comes off as a really calculated person who's always thinking ten steps ahead, but inside he is just a damaged kid who is using soccer as his one means of coping with the trauma he faced as child.

And that phrasing "I thought I was becoming human" really just makes me feel so sad for Kaiser, because to him if he doesn't have soccer he is less than human and has nothing to give back to the world. He has never allowed himself any time to just be a normal teenager and just make friends in a healthy way, and the one friend he does have might just up and leave if he's not playing in a groundbreaking way. He thinks so lowly of himself that he hinges his entire identity around how other people perceive his abilities in the game, and if he's not the best at the game, he surely can't matter that much as a player, no matter how much Ness tries to placate him with words about how he's "already done enough".

Ego Jinpachi said it as well after Nagi made his really good goal, that some people are content with just being average and "good" instead of being great. And that it's because they're content with where they are in life, that they never advance at all. The idea that they are totally fine in their current position makes them lose the drive they normally would have if they weren't still thinking about trying to get better.

And Blue Lock's philosophy hinges on the player wanting to always get better and better and beat the other players on the field. Being "good" is never enough, hell being "Great" isn't enough at times, you need to be the best forever. You need to make it so that dethroning you is an uphill battle.

[bairdthereader]

Let's talk for a minute about the magical creature that is Tao's mom, Yan Xu.

One of the things I completely adore about the show is that it has given so much space to the secondary characters, space that the comic format doesn't allow. And one of the best things in that space is Tao's relationship with his mom.

The first hint we get of Yan's awesomeness is her obvious adoration of Elle, her heartfelt interest in Elle as her own person, totally independent of her relationship with Tao. Yan sees Elle wholly, cares about all the aspects of her life, and openly admires her beauty and talent. It's never discussed in the show, but Elle must have felt some fear or trepidation about how her friends' parents would react to her coming out as trans. No need to worry with Yan Xu. Her attitude is in such direct contrast to some of the other treatment Elle has received that it must be healing and comforting for Elle on many levels.

Let's not forget this completely on-brand mom moment, when Yan realizes, maybe even before Tao himself, that romantic feelings are developing between the two teens. [At least she manages not to use the phrase 'hanky panky." Shudder.]

She is so supportive of Tao, believes in him so completely, that Mr. Ajayi's assertion that Tao is struggling is unfathomable to her. She doesn't look embarrassed or annoyed (like Charlie's parents), though I do wish we could see her face after she sees his coursework 😂

Yan is so in tune with her son that she rivals, and maybe even sometimes surpasses, Sarah Nelson levels of understanding and sympathy/empathy toward him. She knows he's hurting and worrying, knows that his dread of Elle's potential move must be eating him alive.

But she doesn't push too hard. She's clearly taken the time to give a lot of thought to how she would approach doling out advice to her son. She expresses her love and support of him first, and acknowledges his pain, before making herself vulnerable and telling her story about Tao's dad in a way that he hasn't heard before.

I just love Tao's face in this scene. Will manages to portray all of Tao's love for his mom, his acknowledgment of her unique grief and personal journey, and his appreciation for how she's using her story to show that she sees him, understands him, in a way no one else in his life really can.

Yan's vulnerability, her openness with her son, and the strength she's had to show in the face of tragic loss, all serve to make her words of wisdom to Tao both deeply meaningful and, importantly, acceptable to Tao, who doesn't always take advice well. Yan knows her son, and she knows this is the best way to connect with him.

And when Tao responds to this moment with a joke, she knows him well enough to understand that he's not laughing off her suggestion; he's just coping in the best way he knows how with the intensity of the emotions they're both feeling. It also has to be said that this entire scene is a balm after the rawness of the rest of this episode, where almost every other family interaction has been negative and strained.

And when Tao comes back from the Paris trip, settled and happy... "The perfect girl for my perfect boy." Such a simple statement, but it encompasses so many levels of acceptance, such deep love, hope, and pride.

Yan Xu, we adore you.

[fantasyfantasygames]

Hi Legion, I'm Dad

Hi Legion, I'm Dad, Flat Spats Games, 2018

The phrase that goes before the title is "We Are Legion", in case you didn't guess it right away.

Hi Legion, I'm Dad (HLID) is a tongue-in-cheek game following a bowling team full of suburban dads as they face a demonic invasion. Well, "face" isn't the right word. It's going to be more "run from" for the majority of the game. The whole thing is about 64 pages of 6"x9" format, which is probably more than it needs but it works just fine.

Characters in HLID are fairly simple. You have only skills, no core attributes. These include Defensive Driving, Workout, Household Maintenance, Man Scout, and of course, Bowling. Bowling is your standard attack skill. There are some not-quite-skills like "I got a cousin knows this guy..." that get rolled just like everything else. The game uses d12s because they roll the farthest, like a bowling ball. (d12 mechanics are my pet peeve. It's not great for anything. It's exactly wrong. It does not "need more love." Let it go.) Rolling a 1 or a 12 has an extra effect, so you're going to be seeing those a lot. That plays into the expected zany antics.

The art is cartoonish but really nails the expressions on the characters' faces. There are five men on the team, and you really get a feel for their emotional makeup. There's the smooth one, the nerd who got dragged there, the wholesome friendly guy who dragged him there, the guy who might be in the mafia, and the guy who works out a little too much. There's a good spread of ethnicities depicted, and one of them is even trans, which is cool.

The game definitely knows its target audience (i.e. these kinds of dads and their kids). Every header in the book is a dad joke or pun of some kind. Some of them you don't get for quite a while. You just think "Oh, huh, a normal-named ability" or "I have no idea why it's called that" and then 4 sessions in you hang your head in shame. Well done, Flat Spats. Well done.

The game includes a sample scenario, It Didn't Just Get Up And Walk Away, a zombie-survival-type adventure in which demons possess bodies and you have to defend yourselves from them until you can rescue the magical extra-glittery bowling ball from the ball return and send them back to hell. The NPCs feel like they could be in Army of Darkness. There are a ton more NPCs than the scenario needs, as well as a d100 list of potential adventure seeds. The authors would really like you to roll that with an actual d100. You know, like a bowling ball.

It's kind of rare that you get a game that's funny when you read it and funny when you play it. Sometimes the book did all the jokes for you and there's nothing left for you to actually contribute. HLID feels like it could be both. The well of dad humor runs deep. Well, it doesn't run at all really. Oh, well.

They actually tried to sell this game at bowling alleys. Since no one buys a book at a bowling alley, and also COVID happened, it didn't really sell well. Most copies got returned, which means they got pulped. Somewhere, though, you just know there's a dad using a well-worn copy of this book as his "office reader" and chuckling at it every day.

[variousqueerthings]

8 11 32 PLEASE!

HELLOOOOO AND THANK YOUUUUUU! also I remembered how much I overthink when looking at these whoops

8. Describe your gender without using any words traditionally related to gender: You know the opening to the Mr Bean series? Mr Bean gets beamed down onto earth and then it's implied that everyone Mr Bean does after that is literally because of being an alien, but it's never actually confirmed in the text? that but like. with a much more extensive wardrobe

11. Favorite (or just one you love) piece of LGBT media?: WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME???? I'm gonna give u three out of Many that are perfect. and I'm going to connect them to a Theme (I'VE CONNECTED THE DOTS). the thing is that these movies are movies that have at some point held me gently and guided me into a greater understanding of the queer community and history generally, as well as my own feeling of place within this community

My Beautiful Laundrette: This is one of my personal seminal queer movies, I watched it as a young'un/baby queer and it's just. Oh. such softness amidst the violence of the times, and the thing is that the softness is something that saves the main characters from the violence, both as potential perpetrators and victims (and how those can be blurred concepts to begin with). the core of it is two men who come back together amidst the height of neo-nazi anti-immigration 80s England, one of whom is Pakistani British and the other a white skinhead. And they open a laundrette together. This movie is sweet, I promise! it also features one of the subtly hottest moments to me in film history, in which one of them licks the others' neck in public while being watched on one side by Pakistani family members and on the other by white racists but it's angled so none of them see it!

City of Lost Souls: Listen, Rosa Von Praunheim's documentation of trans people (and generally queer people) is so so important for our community and you should check him out, but this film in particular is such a wild fucking ride that is hard to explain. a bunch of queer artists in 80s Berlin (and this movie was made in the 80s so you get some real footage of that great big wall) just like... fuck around? share intense elder wisdom? connect? sing! (oh yeah, it's kind of a musical, a trashy punky musical). This is some of the real deep magic of queer connection. there's an iconic moment in this film (there are several) in which a trans woman picks up a one-night stand and explains to him that she's trans and he's like. "eh no idea what all of that means, but you're saying you're a woman right? great!" and it's just Fine

Desire Lines: listen this movie... I'm almost hesitant to recommend it, because I feel so personally affected by it and it's a one-of-a-kind (so far) insight into transmasculine gay culture that is just. deeply precious and not understood by a lot of even the wider queer community. myself and every transmasc person I know who's seen it have felt somewhat transcendent about it, the way you do the first time you see yourself as (positively) visible in this way, it's almost too much. it's a documentary at heart, but quite experimental in elements of its structure, with parts of it being a fictional telling of a middle-aged iranian trans man who works in an archive and is told of the history of trans men's inclusion in gay bathhouses, lou sullivan, and personal testimonies from gay transmasc people. sometimes you don't notice how deprived you've been until something gives you real oxygen

Hon. mentions: Joyland, Great Freedom, Die Beautiful my personal favourite queer films of 2023, still have me by the throat!!!

32. Do you do arts and crafts? Post a pic of a project you've done: okay I will share a picture of something, but I need to go take a picture when I have a sec. It's not complete, but I've started a little zine that's just a big collection of euphemisms and ways of talking about queerness and it's such a fascinating, fun project that's made me think more expansively about how queerness gets talked about, whether it's in the past or present (or potential futures), within and without the community, as modern, or bigoted, or outdated, or fun, or out-of-the-box, or specific, etc. -- it's very far from done, but I can give a sense of just how many words/phrases/concepts I've picked up + imagery I want to include + the construction of the zine itself, which has a few little secrets to it

[mixterglacia]

CONTENT WARNING

VIVZIEPOP CRITICAL/STOLITZ CRITICAL BELOW THE CUT

You have been warned.

I wanna clear some things up before I get to the episode. (Yes I will clarify when I get into the ep itself.)

Stolitz in and of itself isn't the issue. Them being toxic, or messy isn't actually a problem. In fact, that can make for very interesting characters.

If you actually put in the effort to do so.

Currently as it stands, they're just a lukewarm, half-thought out, sad microwaved piece of steak. They were once a very satisfying meal. They could POTENTIALLY get back to that point. But you have to treat them right.

My biggest issue with these two is how easy they are to fix. Or rather, how easy they could be. I actually don't hate the idea of them together, I just hate how they're executed.

Here's a few things I would have done, and the problems I have with the current state of things.

One, make it like an addiction. I often jab at Stolas being the architect of his own undoing, but...the biggest risk he's taken has already happened. He's gone through with the divorce. As the child of one, they suck but to put it bluntly, Stolas has lost practically nothing.

If he were risking being disowned, that would be one thing. But you've given no indication that he's dealing with anything short of normal problems. Royalty has to deal with assassination attempts already, so Stella trying to take him out is just a Tuesday for him. (In fact, that would be a very funny potential running gag. "Ugh, Stella you really think I would fall for this? You know I have royal bomb sniffers. Try harder, you witch!")

Instead, make it so he and Blitz never had any real reason to keep getting together. Make it so SO easy for them to get over each other. No matter how many 'last times' they have. It's never going to be enough.

Their motives can be different, sure that's great. Blitz started it in a very shallow way, and Stolas craves the relationship he's always wanted. I agree with you, that's an interesting start.

But the book bribery just makes anything in this whole deal lack a punch. Blitz CAN'T get out of this. He has an entire team, one of which is his daughter to support. He literally couldn't get out of this if he wanted to. He likely still thinks the gem is some sort of trick. Like it's a test.

Instead of what it should be. A deep, unavoidable NEED. Something so addicting that they can't stop. They keep falling together, Blitz clearly struggling with his burgeoning desire to stay. Stolas with his clear understanding that he's going to destroy his daughters life.

Because as it stands, it's painfully boring. We've seen plenty of royals hooking up with servants. And that's what Blitz is/was for the grand majority of this. He was that vision he had. A man on a chain, unable to get away from this rich bastard because he NEEDED his magic.

Give me substance. Give me two deeply flawed men finding comfort in their own ruination. Give Stolas more stake in the game. Make his life well and truly fall apart because he just can't stay away, even though it's as easy as breathing.

Because at the end of the day, Viv and Co can't decide what they want. Do they want us to believe that Blitz wants this too? Because I sincerely haven't seen evidence of it.

There is a difference between showing and telling.

You're SHOWING us that Blitz is desperate to keep what little he has afloat. You're SHOWING us a struggling father who's grasping at every little moment to keep his adopted daughter and two employees fed. You're SHOWING us a man so driven to carve out a niche for himself that he'll subject himself to being a prince's dick for hire.

You're TELLING us that he's growing feelings for Stolas. You're TELLING us he's just as wrong as Stolas is.

Blitz is wrong about MANY things, but this isn't one of them.

You're SHOWING us Stolas is constantly demeaning Blitz. You're SHOWING us he's just moping around his big fuck off castle, not putting in more than the bare minimum for his daughter. You're SHOWING us that he's a petulant toddler in a grown man's body. You're SHOWING us that Stolas has allowed Blitz and his daughter to live in abject poverty this whole time.

You TRIED to show us that he's actually got some level of feelings below all that, but you keep throwing the sincerity of that into question.

You're TELLING us that he's always held him in such high regard/value. You're TELLING us to feel bad when he's arguably worse of an asshole than Blitz.

Give us real character development. Not rushed one-liners that are often so hard to tell if they're genuine or not.

My big issue with the Helluverse in general, but ESPECIALLY Boss, is that the team is so obsessed with getting to the juicy bits that they DON'T PUT IN THE EFFORT TO GET THERE. This isn't a telenovela. This is a early 2000's drabble fic pretending to be a plot.

Your work lacks any true substance. It's EMBARRASSING. You're letting your fans do all the work for you and hardly putting forth any quality writing yourself.

You need to stop CONSTANTLY contradicting yourself.

They're both often in the wrong, that much is true. I won't ever argue that. But I am dreading how this episode is going to shit on Blitz when he was ABSOLUTELY JUSTIFIED FOR WHAT HE SAID TO STOLAS.

Okay, let's get into this crap.

Let me start by saying this. Viv and Co? If you're going to try and gaslight me, at least make it fun. Or less obvious.

Why is it bad when Blitz says he wants to earn his ticket to earth? He so SO clearly thinks this is just a test by Stolas. It's so plainly obvious that they never communicate, and why are we pretending Blitz has no right to be mad here? Sure Stolas got hurt, but how is that anything other than his own fault?

Blitz has NEVER pretended he was anything other than a booty call for Stolas. It really REALLY isn't his problem that he didn't recognize that.

"We don't do words. We do sex." There we have it folks.

You can't make me feel bad for Stolas over this. He made a deal with a man who NEEDED him to keep his company running. Why should Blitz have to grow feelings for a man that never wanted more than his body?

“Everyone just hates me for shitty reasons.” This is the line that makes Stolas look like a total dickwad. EVERYONE else (from what we know) has genuine, valid problems with Blitz. Stolas just misunderstood him and is mad that he couldn’t coerce this man into being in a relationship. Why should I feel bad that Blitz ripped into him?

You’re SHOWING me Stolas is throwing a tantrum. Then you’re TELLING me to be mad at Blitz? Fucking why? He’s RIGHT.

“I don’t look down on you!” FUCKING PROVE IT. You’ve made literally no effort outside of some throw away lines to show that he actually cares. Everything he’s after from Blitz is sex. He never gives any hints that he wants more until he explodes. He’s always baby talking him and treating him like a toy. You are SHOWING us something totally at odds with what you’re TELLING us.

Why is Stolas acting like Blitz didn’t send M’n’M to save him? Why is he acting like Blitz wasn’t literally in another ring of Hell during this? Blitz was literally doing all he could in that moment, because NEWS FLASH YOU IDIOT! He was being a good dad and taking care of his daughter! Take notes!

I’m getting very concerned that there’s no continuity editor. Because this was either an intentional misrepresentation of the truth on Stolas’ part, (which if that was the case, he’s even more of a prick.) or they just forgot their own show!

Stolas is crying about showing Blitz so much attention and time and care. WHERE? Is it between the sex and hired jobs? When are they spending quality time together? Sex. Is not. A relationship. Blitz was never putting up signals that he wanted anything more, he is not in the wrong here.

I know damn well Stolas isn’t out here asking Blitz if he feels remorse. DO YOU? I refuse to be gaslit into thinking that Stolas isn’t the problem here. Blitz is totally justified when he shouts that he doesn’t owe Stolas anything. He doesn’t. He never signed up to be in a relationship. He’s functionally just doing his job.

The mini-apology tour was actually quite fun. Especially the humans. Good job.

I’m also somewhat confused why the party was held on Earth. At first I thought it was because the others didn’t know Blitz had the crystal, so they did it in a place he couldn’t go. That would have been a pretty decent stroke of writing on their part. But then they said it was the one night any of them could go through? Why bother with Earth? It just seems kinda pointless? If I’m missing some narrative reason, feel free to let me know.

Honestly the one shining star of this episode is Verosika. She was BRILLIANT. I wasn’t anticipating how much I was going to enjoy her writing. She’s going out of her way to basically give these folks a night to let their hurt out once a year, at her own expense. She’s functionally holding a group therapy session. I really adored that nuance.

Unfortunately, it all just makes Stolas look so much worse. These people were wronged by Blitz. Deeply, truly wronged. (Though how he can cause this much damage in what, like thirty, thirty five years is a lil…weird. Unless she’s just inviting everyone he’s slept with.) Compared to them, Stolas looks like a petty ass.

I’m really not that mad at the song, but more so how she’s trying to make us feel about it. Everything Stolas is saying is more or less true. He’s the one that misinterpreted what they had. He’s the one trying to get this man who never showed any actual interest. He’s the problem. But every time you give us a moment of introspection, you then use it as fuel to try and force us to feel bad for Stolas. For once in this show’s life, can we actually let someone be mad at Stolas and not use it for a future pity party?

He is not the victim in all of this.

While Blitz is an undeniable asshole, he’s not the one that asked for this. He made a desperate deal to try and survive. Never once did he pretend to be anything outside of that. Do you seriously expect me to believe this song is what would make him go “oh no i hurt him im a meanie”?

This would GALVANIZE him. “Fuck this royal bird for pretending I’m such a bad person. Like he wasn’t playing with me like a toy.”

Why should we pretend that this apology/confession isn’t totally out of left field? The only one I wanted to say sorry to was you? He wouldn’t fucking say that! He had what, an afternoon of fake sorries and this is the one he actually wants to give? No!

It feels cheap and rushed. While the sequence is decently written (and very well acted, kudos Brandon) out of contex, it feels stupid when you look at the show as a whole. Especially when you follow it up with Stolas directly stating he just wants SOMEONE to be with. He doesn’t want Blitz. He just wants someone that isn’t obligated to be with him. So why does that have to be Blitz? Why are you forcing this relationship when you directly clarify that Stolas isn’t even after Blitz in particular?

I’m sorry but you all have ship-blinders on.

When you take them off and look at everything in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t work. And that’s okay! It’s honestly fine to let a relationship end! They can be a step on each other’s journeys and there’s nothing wrong with that. I truly don’t get why they’re pushing for this to be the end goal when there’s far more weight in letting them move on. Honestly it’d be refreshing to see them tackle it in such a way!

But that’s the problem I mentioned with Viv and Co’s writing before. They excel in drabbles. But when you try to make a show out of drabbles, it falls apart eventually. The narrative doesn’t flow. The characters are all over the place. It makes it all the more infuriating when you get moments like the balcony sequence.

Gods that started so strong. It was so SO well done.

Then you shoot it in the foot by once again trying to force this boring, broken ship down our throats. You know what Blitz needs?

SOMEONE THAT WANTS HIM FOR WHO HE IS. NOT SOMEONE THAT’S JUST LONELY AND WANTS ANYONE THAT LOOKS HIS WAY.

He deserves Fizz. Or hell, he deserves to grow as a person and learn to love himself outside of the lens of others. He shouldn’t have to keep chasing a guy he didn’t like in the first because he thinks no one else will have him.

That’s pathetic and sad. Why should we be rooting for these two? Just because Stolas felt bad that he was using Blitz’s desperation as a tool to keep fucking him? I DON’T FEEL BAD WHEN HE CLEARLY WAS EXPECTING BLITZ TO ROLL OVER AND THANK HIM FOR COMMON DECENCY. You don’t do good deeds to expect anything. Despite them TELLING us he was willing to give Blitz the crystal, come what may, that’s not what they SHOWED us.

Stolas is a total creep and I won’t be gaslit into wanting them back together. Until they actually prove to us that he can value Blitz as a PERSON and not a toy? Hard pass.

Learn how to actually write a good toxic ship and get back to me. Because for how interesting these two can be, you had the unmitigated gall to make them BORING. Christ on a bike, let Blitz be interesting in his own fucking show challenge. You can’t just write the fun bits. You gotta work for it.

[authoralexharvey]

INTERVIEW WITH A WRITEBLR — @magic-is-something-we-create

Who You Are:

P.K. Finn || He/they

I'm a queer, neurodivergent creative that's been elbow-deep in art of all kinds since I first started having control of my hands!

What You Write:

What genres do you write in? What age ranges do you write for?

Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi. New Adult and Adult

What genre would you write in for the rest of your life, if you could? What about that genre appeals to you?

I could write the blurred line between Sci-Fi and Fantasy until the heat death of the universe, honestly! The absolute freedom to change reality and stretch the boundaries of what my mind can come up with when making new worlds is one of the most fun and interesting things I've ever done, and once I started on the path of world building, I realized I couldn't stop. Even just world building, without a story attached, is one of my favorite pastimes.

What genre/s will you not write unless you HAVE to? What about that genre turns you off?

I personally don't enjoy writing anything set in the real world - whether historical or contemporary - if it doesn't have at least a bit of magic or speculative science attached. While I like reading realistic fiction on occasion, I've always found myself drawn more to what could be than what is on the creation side of things.

Who is your target audience? Do you think anyone outside of that would get anything out of your works?

It depends on the story! My blanket target audience is the same kind of reader I am: those who like to pick apart stories and draw plot threads and foreshadowing to their potential conclusions as they unfold, and can't help but analyze it every step of the way. Rereading to find all of the places where hints were laid, to see what about the story changes once you know the end - are there lines I glossed over the first time that, with the new context, have taken a whole new meaning or emotional toll? How often was a reveal teased or cloaked in metaphor before I was given the information I needed to actually see it? Where is the plot mirrored in little ways, where are we told blatantly what will happen in a way we don't notice at first? Those kinds of readers are who I write for, as a whole. But I also know that those won't be all of my readers, and that each story will attract a different group that needs it, so I try to tailor those accordingly if I can.

What kind of themes do you tend to focus on? What kinds of tropes? What about them appeals to you?

One thing I've found to be a recurring theme in everything I create (not just novels and other stories; it's leaked into the D&D campaign I'm running for friends, too) is the idea of Godhood/Idolization/Ultimate Power and Responsibility being unfathomably isolating and traumatic. With that also comes the idea that even deities are still people, capable of just as much emotion, mistaken belief, and regret as the rest of us, and often with far less control and power than worshipers might think. Hand-in-hand with that, I tend to end up with narratives where the antagonist(s) are a mirror or exaggeration of the protagonist(s), because I love making my protags question whether they're the ones in the right, when they may agree on many or all points of the antags opinions, just not on their methods or the lengths to which they'll go. And I also love to make the protags understand and sympathize with their antags - and by extension, try and get the reader to do the same - because one of my favorite things to explore is the common root of all good AND evil being one and the same, and those concepts at all being subjective and fluctuating.

What themes or tropes can you not stand? What about them turn you off?

I've never understood stories that place certain characters/concepts/actions on pedestals or trash heaps without ever stopping to explore anything beyond the shallowest why, if that. I want to question which side is in the wrong, or whether wrong and right exist at all in this story. I want the characters and/or the story itself to examine what they're doing, why, and what the lasting consequences will be - because there will be lasting consequences for everything they do. If the enemy army is shown as irredeemable and inhuman (derogatory), show me a deserter with friends still on the front lines. If the Good King goes unquestioned in his altruism by those around him, show me what machinations he hides behind locked doors to silence the dissenters.

What are you currently working on? How long have you been working on it?

I'm currently drafting two different stories set in the same world: The Millennium Saga is a high fantasy epic that's going to be between 5 and 7 books long, and I'm in the midst of drafting book three; Whispers is a tragic dark fantasy noir set 10-12 years after the start of TMS, planned to be a standalone that doesn't need, but is enriched by, the world context that TMS brings. I've been drafting it since mid-December 2022 as a bit of a break from TMS, which has gone through 10+ years of plot marinating and 2 years of frantic drafting now that my ADHD brain finally has the tools to sit down and do it.

Why do you write? What keeps you writing?

I write so that I can get the stories that play on loop in my brain out and inflicted on others. :)

How long have you been writing? What do you think first drew you to it?

The first thing I remember writing for fun was a short story about dragons that I wrote in third grade for school. I fell in love with the idea of being able to write my own books not too long after, because I realized that it let me decide what a dragon could and could not be, what an elf looked like and what powers they wielded, and what I thought a Loch Ness Monster Animorph would be based solely on the covers of books I never read.

Where do you get your inspiration from? Is that how you got your inspiration for your current project? If not, where did the inspiration come from?

My inspiration comes mostly from interacting with other peoples creations! I often get into an art or writing mood after watching drawing videos on YouTube or listening to the playlist I've Pavloved myself with, and often those initial sparks inspire what I do with them that day, whether it's practicing drawing architecture because of a speedpaint or writing a fight scene because I listened to a particularly energetic song. I don't usually get inspired for entire stories from those things, though; I couldn't tell you where the inspiration for my current works came from, because the ideas first came to me years and years ago, and have just morphed over time as I've grown.

What work of yours are you most proud of? Why?

The Millennium Saga! That story in particular has been occupying my brain for more than a decade, and while the current form of it is unrecognizable from the original version I wrote on the bus on the way to school, it is by far one of my favorite things I've ever done, if only for the amount of time and brainspace I've dedicated to it. It's how I figured out my current writing style, and it's a story I know I'll hold close to my heart long after it's done. And this isn't to say I'm not proud of my other projects, especially Whispers! They all hold equal weight in my mind, I've simply had more time to put the puzzle of TMS together than anything else, and I'm most proud of pushing through the blocks I hit along the way.

Have you published anything? Do you want to?

I have not, but I really want to! I started looking into the tradpub querying process in December with publishing TMS in mind, but since I put it on hold for Whispers for the moment, I've put that by the wayside as well. Ideally, I'll go the traditional route with maybe a webcomic and webnovel somewhere between official releases, but I'd be more than willing to figure out how marketing works for self publishing if that doesn't pan out.

What part of the publishing process most appeals to you? What part least appeals to you?

Traditional publishing is appealing for me because I (theoretically; I know the industry is in a bit of a hellscape right now) wouldn't have to be in charge of anything more than writing the books. But, like I said, that's in a bit of a weird limbo state right now, especially in regard to authors self-marketing, and that is, I think, the most intimidating and unsavory part of the process for me. Self publishing appeals because I would have a bit more control over what the book looked like overall, but again, marketing is not my strong suit. I'd much rather just be able to sit back and write and let someone else do the talking for me.

What part of the writing process most appeals to you? What part is least appealing?

My favorite part of the writing process is those moments where things start to fit together into a complete picture! I tend to avoid outlining ahead of time because it dampens my enthusiasm and always tricks my brain into thinking its a set of hard-and-fast rules rather than gentle guidelines, so when the threads I've laid out start to weave themselves into a tapestry through both editing and latter-half drafting, it makes every stumble before then worth it. The least appealing/fun part of the process is less about the actual writing for me, and more about the struggles getting past the blocks imposed by my brain chemistry. Executive dysfunction makes sitting down to write at all a chore, no matter how much I love it once I've gotten into the zone.

Do you have a writing process? Do you have an ideal setup? Do you write in pure chaos? Talk about your process a bit.

My process depends on the story! For Millennium Saga in particular, I've found I have to "script" chapters before I draft them, with a special emphasis on the dialogue and vague choreography, or else I get stuck super easy on the transition sentences between beats. But with Whispers, I've scripted only one or two conversations over the entire 40k words written so far, and haven't gotten stuck once. As for setup, mine is pretty particular in some ways, and wildly varied in others. I write in FocusWriter so that I don't get distracted with formatting, and can have a background/theme that's easy on the eyes and fitting for the scene I'm working on - but that theme changes on a regular basis, along with the music I play in the background and, often, where I take my laptop to write in the first place. I'm also a fan of doing writing sprints to get my brain moving, sometimes with friends on Discord, sometimes on my own, and at this point I do more writing without sprints at all. Sometimes I need the clutter of my desk to kickstart my brain; sometimes I need to be curled up in an armchair with no other distractions in order to focus. It really depends on the day.

Your Thoughts on Writeblr:

How long have you been a writeblr? What inspired you to join the community?

I joined Writeblr officially in March of 2020! While COVID might seem like the obvious culprit, it really wasn't at the time; it was really because I'd graduated the year before, and while my friends went off to college, I decided to double down on my dream of writing and drawing for a living, and realized that I wanted to have more people to share my ideas and stories with in the interim to help motivate myself to work on them. From there, it was just a matter of making the side blog, and the rest is history!

Shout out some of your favorite writeblrs. How did you find them and what made you want to follow them?

@/aritany was one of a bunch of others who joined writeblr around the same time as I did, and one of the first whose writing style really spoke to me and inspired a bit of my own! That, combined with their rather unique ability to get me invested in contemporary and semi-realistic fiction drew me in and kept me on board throughout the whirlwind we've both been through over the last few years. @writeblrfantasy is an absolutely delightful human being who I met one fateful world-building wednesday when she unlocked my rambling by asking about Goblins in the Ehlverse and received a full-blown illustration reference in answer. She's also one of a limited few who writes the kind of romance that gets me invested, and she has an absolutely godly drive to write an ungodly amount day in and day out that inspires me to no end! <3 @lanawritesalittle is someone I don't remember meeting, but whose stories and style I adore to no end. They're, like, top-of-my-list of those who haven't published yet, but who I will be frothing at the mouth for a copy when they do. They have a 100% hit rate of making incredibly compelling characters that I can't help but love no matter what atrocities they get up to. @ashen-crest first crossed my dash when she joined, and I remember reading one (1) excerpt of The Stray Spirit before falling absolutely head-over-heels in love with her style of cozy fantasy. Everything she does just feels so warm and full of love, it's like home, and it all only gets better with time. @zonnemaagd caught my eye first from her poetry blog, and then from her writeblr, and her descriptions and narrative voice are so incredibly unique and gorgeous that I literally cannot think of a single published author that compares. Gust, in particular, is a writeblr wip that will always live in my head rent-free, and someday I hope to be able to read it all and bask in the world the way it deserves. And, of course, @authoralexharvey (don't you dare think you can get out of being complimented in your own interview). Their worlds are so lovingly built and their voice is so compelling, and I don't think I'll ever be able to get Nadia and Simone of ASMLP out of my brain. Their stories are just so amazing all the way through, even at the drafting stage, and I love every single one that I've gotten to sink my teeth into.

What is your favorite part about writeblr?

The connection and sense of community! At least from the angle I've seen it, it's a truly wonderful space of encouragement and inspiration that I wouldn't let go of for the world.

What do you think writeblr could improve on? How do you think we can go about doing so?

I think one thing that a lot of us agree on is how it can sometimes feel like we're pouring our writing hearts out into the void without a response, so one of the things I've been trying to improve myself (and that I think a lot of us would benefit from practicing), is voicing the things we love about what we read on here where others can see it, unabashedly. Finding something to love in even the smallest excerpts from last line tags, whether it be a particular word choice or a mood that seeps through the page, and pointing it out in the tags or body of a reblog. And, when someone does that for us, thanking them without self-deprecation - because the more we foster that kind energy and enthusiasm for each other, the more we're able to remember that when there's something lovable in every piece of writing, our own writing is included in that, too.

How do you contribute to the writeblr community? Do you think you could be doing more?

I do my best to reblog and comment in the tags on everything that I read - and while that tends to mostly be things I'm on the taglist on, I also try to take advantage of the days where I have the spoons to read more of what I scroll through and add it to the queue no matter who it's from. Something I could absolutely do more of is consistent participation in ask and tag games; I know the kind of fire that gets lit when I get a particularly interesting WBW ask or when someone sends me a tag game that I'm excited to play, and I really want to pass that on more often.

What kinds of posts do you most like to interact with?

Excerpts, intros, and updates!

What kind of posts do you most like to make?

Excerpts and updates!

Finally, anywhere else online we may be able to find you?

I do writing and art streams on twitch.tv/alittlewarlord (ALEX: Watch and interact with Pax, he's so lovely!!), and VODs are posted on my YouTube channel of the same name. I'm also on Ko-Fi as alittlewarlord, and Patreon as P. K. Finn, both of which feature a bonus weekly write-in on top of the other streams.

[hausofmamadas]

MURDER HUSBANDS | Wind them up and watch them go (love letter to NBC’s Hannibal)

♫ To the tune of Climbing Up the Walls by Radiohead (with overture by Bruno Battisti D’Amario) ♫

✧

Wow

So I feel like I say this every time. But Mary mother of god, this was a behemoth. By a mile the hardest vid I’ve ever made joke’s on me bc I’m the fucking crackerjack who decided to tack on an whole ass other song as an overture bc why in the name of all cocks would I decide to make anything easy like it’s funny bc I always have an impression of how easy a vid is going to come together when I get the idea, right. And this duo with this song just pbj. So ngl I thought the shit was gonna edit itself. But guess what yall? Radiohead like … makes some intricate, complex-sounding shit stunning revelation, almost as if that’s what they’re fuckinfjsbs known for

HOWMEVER, the day has come, it’s arrived and I’ve looked at this thing for so long now, I sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, cannot tell if it’s good anymore. My last vid, I took a long break so by the end, I had enough time away from it to remember it was at least good. This? This could be visual gobbledygook, mush for your eyes, the equivalent of that shit brown shade you get when you mix too many water colors together.

But likehopefully it’s not and you can pls enjoy this love letter to one of the greatestqueer romances in modern media, which is a bold statement whatever fight me but I can’t think of a queer ship before this in tv/movies where the romance unfolds like any other hetero relationship and queer identity isn’t the focus, which even though I think is important, lbr there’s more to gays than being gay. Like it’s kinda visionary, despite the fact that neither character is explicitly queer, when it becomes clear that they’re in love with each other, no one, in-universe, is pearl-clutching all: EGAD! But Will’s never been with 😱a man😱 before?? How in THE DICKENS could he be in love with Hannibal when I don’t have definitive proof he’s even touched tips with another man let alone been balls deep!!!!!!!! How dare he not have this big, gay awakening for us all to gawk at applaud for!!!!” ?

No, literally every character: Jack, Alana, Bedelia, Margot, Mason, even Will’s wife god bless I cannot remember her name but she deserved better *shakes fist at Will* etc., all acknowledge the transcendent romantic bond btwn them and no one questions it. Well, no one questions it thru the lens of performed queerness. Tbf ppl had a lotta questions about the like probable impending multiple murders which validsisjwh

These are just 2 ppl who’re in love with each other to the point of being uncontrollably homicidal Which like … goals? Like I’ve really wracked my brain and can’t think of another queership that unfolds like every other hetero ass love story. That is to say, where fluidity is more the default, at least to the extent that no one talks about the orientation of either players within the show’s universe. Regardless of whether Bryan Fuller intended that from the start which tbh I don’t think he did but I also don’t think it’s fair to call it queerbaiting. I think he let the story unfold and realized kinda with the rest of us that this was a magical!realism romance and not a crime procedural and by S3 leaned tf into it doesn’t really matter bc the universe in which these two exist to truss each other up like Christmas turkeys aka foreplay symbolizes so much more to me than whatever it was initially invented to be. And if it’s not art, folks, idk what is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ofc I mean the show is art, not the vid. Vid=potential gobbledygook

✧

✧

taglist: @tofuwildcard @narcolini @ashlingnarcos @drabbles-mc

[vomittedsoap]

i saw on your instagram that you also like annette/hubert..... any thoughts on their dynamic? think this is the first time i've seen anyone else who likes them out in the wild hahah.

omg i'm so glad you asked.. I think that they would be a great pair since Annette has a hidden darker side (mostly just prevalent in her Crimson Flower dialogues with enemies) and Hubert has a less-emphasized brighter side (shown in his dialogue when chosen to be the dancer, as well as meal conversation with Edelgard).

I feel like they would bond over being mages on opposite sides of the spectrum (I feel like wind and dark magic are almost opposites) as well as both being super dedicated to studying. Annette is super smart but acts happy-go-lucky, and Hubert is super smart but acts in the opposite way. They also both have father issues, but in a unique way that both of them are still close to/rely upon their fathers and possibly search for their approval(until Hubert kills his, or Annette kills hers in Crimson Flower).

Annette is prone to staying up extremely late in the library, and I feel like they would run into eachother in there or Annette would accidentally get roped into one of Hubert's covert operations. As well as Annette is afraid of ghosts, but I feel like she would also have a fascination with them like Mercedes does, and maybe while searching for ghosts she could stumble across Hubert. Annette is smart enough for Hubert to think he's gaming her but actually she is using HIM to her advantage.

Also just Annette is very clumsy and funny, and I think Hubert would find it endearing and possibly show his own clumsy or funny side (which he has imo... deep down he's a dumb loser). I think they could have so much fun together, especially since Annette is the kind of gal who doesn't judge people for their appearance and is very inclusive. Hubert's demeanor wouldn't bother her.

Also it's worth mentioning that from the sheer number of drawings I've done of Hubert, I think i've done a drawing of almost every possible m/f Hubert ship lol. And Annette is one of my favorite characters, so badabingbadaboom, it's a match! It's a similar situation with Hubert/Ingrid, but it's way harder to shoehorn them together because I'll be the first to admit they genuinely have NO chemistry.

An honorable mention is Hilda/Hubert, I think they have tons of potential too (and they even spoke directly to eachother in FEWarriors:Three Hopes!)

[reallyghostlypost]

Camilla might be a dark witch - not evil, just dark...

We don't know much about Camilla yet. She's the strongest known magic user alive (maybe even strongest ever), she basically rules Castle Village, she's part of the Ministry of Magic's ruling Council and she has a very irresponsible personality. Anything else we'll discover in the 2.0 update. But there are already some interesting hints about her in the game and in the sneak peeks FlashShifter shared with the community.

(This post will have spoilers both from the late game content and from the extra info FlashShifter posted on reddit, twitter and his patreon. I'm not subscribed to the patreon, so I don't have access to any extra information that's not already public, but if anyone wants to avoid spoilers then it's better to ignore this post)

I always felt like there's something off about Camilla. The way she teleports around the player feels almost… predatory. Sure, she's playful, but in the same way a cat likes to play with her food. Every time we meet her she doesn't take anything seriously, she says nothing about what she thinks or feels, she comes out as almost cold, impersonal, like her playful personality is just a mask.

But the thing that I found the weirdest about Camilla is the way Morgan describes her: "There's a witch that visits us. She doesn't really talk to me. Her name is Camilla. She gives me the creeps." Again, she comes off as cold and dismissive here, like she doesn't care about Morgan's existence, potentially since they're not useful to her. But the last part is the interesting one. Morgan finds her creepy, not odd, not intimidating, creepy. For a good witch it's a very odd description. A kid could easily be intimidated by Camilla's personality and Morgan already finds lots of things in their new home weird, so this line might just be here to emphasize their childlike innocence. But in media kids are often used to tell important information about other characters with the idea that they're still too simpleminded to be tricked by illusions or someone pretending. So this line might actually be significant.

And Morgan is not be the only one who thinks that. Throughout the few dialogues that mentions her it seems the common sentiment is that the other adventurers find Camilla to be pretty intimidating too, even if they agree that she's impressively powerful. Magnus, her friend, describes her in a very odd fashion: "Galdora has many marvels and horrors within its borders. Camilla is just one of them". Both Lance and Edmund imply that no one even questions her, they all just accept her decisions even if they might disagree with her.

And sure, she has huge responsibilities on her shoulders, so her being slightly impersonal makes sense, and her unusually powerful magic could be intimidating to other mages even if she isn't trying to be. And what's the harm in having some fun in the few moments she has some spare time, even if others find it unsettling? Her cheerful personality could just mask how much stress she has to deal with daily. Camilla seems to be the good creepy witch archetype.

But there are hints that there might be more to it. FlashShifter shared a sneak peek with her tower on his reddit and twitter accounts, and it's a really interesting building. There are skulls on the bricks and one tower looks more like a jail, with bars on the windows and door. And while the taller tower is fully lit with furniture and decorations visible through the windows, the 'prison' one is barebones and shrouded in darkness, with deep gashes in the stone walls. What is that exactly? A prison? A place to store monsters? None of the options have good connotations. From the few info you get from FlashShifter's patreon without subscribing, Camilla also has a goblin servant, a thing witches, specifically evil ones, have. She gives off a very weird vibe at this point.

But I discovered the last bit of evidence for my theory only recently. A while ago Flash posted this on reddit. Basically a fun post where he decided to show Camilla as a pokemon trainer. Aside from her creepy sprite her pokemon team is made almost exclusively out of dark and ghosts pokemon with the single exception of Cloyster, which Flash admitted that he picked due to it's unusually strong battling ability and it's creepy sprite. So Camilla would basically be a Dark trainer, and the closest thing to dark pokemon in SVE would be dark magic.

Her odd personality and her creepy tendencies would make a lot more sense if Camilla would actually use dark magic, instead of just researching it. And it would also explain why her colleagues are vaguely scared of her.

Looking back, Camilla's personality is mainly defined in opposition with Magnus's one, a fellow Council member who is very serious about his responsibilities and studies, unlike the fun-loving Camilla who doesn't take anything seriously. The cutscene she had with him shows how different their personalities are, and even the cutscene where she meets the farmer on Sheerwater Bridge contrasts with the way Magnus behaves when the farmer discovers the Void Shard. She doesn't care what the Ministry thinks and will leave in the middle of a meeting while Magnus does everything in his power to act according to what he thinks the Ministry might want him to do. The way he adopts Morgan just because the Ministry ordered him to is further proof of that.

But Camilla might also be defined in opposition to Mr Qi. She tries to protect the town Qi seems intent to destroy and she tries to clear the corruption Qi spreads (maybe?). It's also implied that they are evenly matched power wise. And as another similarity, Qi's personality is also defined through his opposition to Camilla and Magnus, the latter who specializes in plants and forest magic while Qi prefers to use dark/void magic.

Speaking of the Void, one of Qi's defining moments in SVE is when he kidnaps the farmer and places the Seal of Silence on them. Qi teleports the farmer in a pitch black area that is called 'void' in the files. But when the farmer dies in the Badlands and Camilla rescues them she also teleports the farmer to a borderless dark area eerily similar to the void. Between this and her potential dark magic, she's weirdly similar to Qi.

As a final point, if Qi is contrasted by Magnus through a life-death opposition, then it's possible that Camilla contrasts him through a dark-dark similarity. They might both use dark magic, they might both stand out due to their power and magical abilities, and they both have a guarded and mysterious personality. But while Camilla uses her magic to protect thousands of people Qi seems willing to sacrifice them all to further his goals (or for funsies I guess). While Qi works alone in the shadows, Camilla cooperates with the magical community. Even the way they interact with the farmer in their 'void' events shows that - Camilla teleports him there in order to save him while Qi teleports him there to threaten him.

[madame-cookie]

janthir wilds thoughts

im having a lot of fun. i dont really have a lot of nice things to say about it except the maps are fun to play in and the housing is cool. but that being the case i dont want to come across as coming away from the expansion feeling negatively. bc despite not liking a lot of details about the expansion, it was still as fun as others. i think i maybe even liked it more than some of the larger living world plots and its just started.

mostly, im just not interested in many family-based narratives. i dont have a family so it just usually takes a more... impactful relationship to make me interested in the dynamics. it being a whole cast of new characters and a new fantasy group of people made me even less inclined to invest myself in their issues bc i was still trying to figure out the context for these characters and this place.

it did explain why caithe went with us though. i thought that was so random but then it went on to be the unresolved mommy issues chapter and she is like the grand champion of mommy issues bc she just made them all up in her head. like... i always thought it was SO WEIRD how caithe treats aurene so much like a mother to child. like except for weird dragon bond magic i dont really understand how or why her character has gone from being calculated and cunning to just like, doting and brooding over a child that was really the player characters' if anyones. she says like "our daughter"or some shit to you at the end of this one and i was like ooooooooo ehhhhhhhh about that. i love u caithe... and i think u rule.... but you are my least favorite member if every group we are in together so its a little weird for you to talk about the baby u have with me sorry.

malice it was like. cool to remember she exists. she is still just an extension of other characters and not really speaking for herself in a way that matters. just too shy about her position to do much. dont know where thats going but it could be cool to see her become important as a character for how important she was in specifc parts of the story. shes neat! i wanna be excited to see her but rn for her and caithe i was just like. oh :/ was literally everyone else busy? lol

poky is weirdly just like braham. i kinda wish braham just came bc i think its crazy we just sort of touched base and that was it. like dude whats up!!?

omg real quick. Stoic Alder. i am so sorry. you talk WAY. TOO. SLOW. i cant stand it. i never do this but his was the first time playing in 12 years that i actively sought to miss a character's dialogue. i was getting drinks etc every other time he talked bc it was largely summative in nature and soo. slowwwww. all the lowland koda sort of talked that way but his was so hard for me. do they pick leaders based on who talks slowest? lol. the council was dope i like them. but especially when it was all about his estranged relationship with his son bc of his dead wife or whatever. like thats sad bear stuff i guess but it happens bro lol. i dont think the first 5minutes of Up is said either bc like they lived a happy life together ppl die and thats normal.

but thats beside the point. i guess it just felt a little like we were mostly dealing with slice of life issues while what could very well be a devastating threat was brewing just north all the while.

i didnt think titans were ever coming back tbh. sort of a deep cut while being relevant no matter what bc of lore reasons. its kind of cool bc pretty much everyone has a potential stake in it. if their people werent directly affected by the titans of the past, the actions of the peoples they manipulated were pretty much felt by everybody.

im not happy about having to wait to unlock the rest of the core crafting disciplines for my housing since im fairly certain there will be many future ways to craft expanding on that. diverting the access to the last (better, likely) half of recipes is kind of frustrating. i missed when they manipulated our gameplay in more subtle ways. there are a lot of things about this and the last expansion that really make it seem like theyre trying to negotiate with your willingness to waste your time. and i dont appreciate it lol. but its not a big deal. im mostly excited about future expansions.

like i loved in the prologue how they walked us around the room to tell us more or less the next things the alliance would be dealing with. v excited to go back to elona in the future. and the tengu... how long must i bang my fists against the walls of the dominion of winds before they let us innnnn. in my truest fantasy its bc theyre going to let us make tengu characters. but i know its delusional dont worry. the hope keeps me young.

overall i LOVE the spear skills. huge spear fan here. i really wish they hadnt just stopped making underwater skins for black lion weapon lines bc a lot of them would probably have nice spears we could be using. its... a little silly of them when you think about it. im starving for a better variety of spears! and i did sort of expect more than like 4 when the expansion came out. the spear expansion with a spear on the cover.

whispering sorrow is a very complicated character that i still feel as if i have learned the most about from lore documents despite having met her. i want to like her, and i think she's really cool because of what she can do. but i want to like her because of why she does things too, and im just sort of waiting to see why that could be. or at least to hear it from her mouth.

also just bc i remembered it. i hope poky joins our little guild. i want to like him bc i like braham and theyre so much alike. i wanna see how theyre different too. but i feel he hasnt had as much time yet to banter with us bc we have been mostly dealing with his personal issues. and rightly so! but we got to play w braham a lot before his life fell apart so idk i just think it would be cool if in like a year i was drawing poky and braham doing karaoke together or something lol

[lilareviewsbooks]

Dallergut Dream Department Store: 2.5/5

2.5/5 stars 243 pages contains: cozy vibes and dream magic!!

As some of you may know, I make the São Paulo – Boston trip quite frequently! I'm a college student in the US but live in Brazil, and so that makes for very long plane rides. We're talking 14 hours here. So, to keep sane, I usually download a couple books into my Kindle, pray they're interesting enough to keep me interested, buckle down, and read. 

I've just made the trek once more to spend the summer holidays at home, and I decided to download some books I'm reading for r/Fantasy's Bingo Challenge. One of them was The Dallergut Dream Department Store, by Lee Mi-ye, which clears my "alliterative title" square! Of course, because I can't make anything easy on myself, I read this Korean book in its French translation. Because of this, I feel like it's fully possible I didn't grasp the story in all of its complexity. I'm kind of bad at French. And I might have also been high on sleeping pills for half the book. So, take this review with a grain of salt.

In general, I thought this was a 2.5 star read. For me, that means it's decent. Like getting a C in school — you passed, but your work is far from stellar. What I did enjoy was the concept: the story follows Penny as she begins to work at a magical store people visit in their sleep, and where they "buy" their dreams for the night. And for the most part, the book is a world-building exercise in the concept of the store. It researches how every situation would work, from nightmares to people who day-dream, to animal dreams. Personally, I love a good deep dive into a world, so I was having fun, especially during the first half.

But after a while, it gets repetitive. The chapters are mostly loose stories that don't circle back to a particular theme or event. Penny is almost always there, though, I guess, but I'll get to my problems with Penny later. Although the stories are well-written, very easy to read and can sometimes be quite compelling, they don't make a novel when they're put together. They make up a collection of episodes with the same vague amalgamation of characters. The gimmick gets old pretty fast, and I was quickly looking for some emotional stakes, an overarching plot, anything. And although I am a fan of a good plotless, vibes-only fantasy, the lack of connection I felt with our main character and the fact that she and her friends do not change at all throughout the stories made it a very stale reading experience.

And Penny? Oh, Penny. My question became, quite simply, why are we following her? She's not a particularly interesting character, with no defining traits, nothing she needs or wants (besides working at the store, which she achieves in chapter 1)... Meanwhile, other characters in the novel have more personality, more interesting backgrounds, and they barely get to shine. They're buried behind an overabundance of Penny doing not much of anything, and being a self-insert/audience for Mr. Dallagoot's sermons. I kept wondering if it wouldn't be more interesting to follow any one of them. 

And I think Ms. Lee wondered this too, since she includes two epilogues which are, in my opinion, completely unnecessary, and are told entirely from the perspectives of two other characters. They just prove to the audience that Penny is a dreadful character by abandoning her at the end, leaving two random anecdotes about side-characters, which could've been anywhere in the book, to finish the novel off.

Although the vibes are good, the world is interesting and the book reads very cozy, there's a lot that you're left wanting, here. I think what this book needed was an editor, or a workshop session. It has so much potential, and if some crucial changes had been made, then I think Ms. Lee would have a wonderful final product on her hands.

[acerikus]

Kairi

Send Me a Character

And I will tell you my:

First impression

Oh she's so adorable and cool, I like her :]

Impression now

Honey what did they do to you

Favorite moment

Probably the scene where she shields heartless sora in kh1, that was so sweet 😭

Idea for a story

For a while I've kinda wanted to write a kairi centric au (canon divergence starting from the end of kh3) kinda based on wandavision? Mostly revolving around her grief due to losing sora, never really getting to have the relationship and wanted w him and piles of survivor's guilt, that also plays around w the idea of how much power she could hold as a princess of heart and MoM taking interest in that. Probably won't find the time to actually write that though lol

Unpopular opinion

DON'T SHOOT ME BUT LIKE. I actually really loved the ending of khmom. Like, a lot. I'm not including the dumbass decision to turn her into sora for the xehanort fight in that bc I wanted her to at least get to take him on again properly in her own goddamn mind but like. Her deciding to stay and train and let riku go to quadratum alone was good.

Maybe in another universe where she was handled better from the start it'd make more sense for her to go, but they've underutilized kairi for so long in a way that would make her going to quadratum and being good at it feel... Painfully fanservicey and insincere as it is. At most I'd expect her to fight a couple neoshadows before getting kidnapped by like aced or something silly like that, unfortunately.

We've already seen that despite the amount of time she had to train, she didn't have the resources or environment needed for that training to be GOOD, and she's not magically gonna become an ultimate badass all of a sudden (without it feeling terrible at least). Aqua is an amazing wielder and looking to her for training could be fantastic for them both, as well as giving potential for her to learn and grow in a less high stakes scenario, which I think she needs. She trusts Riku to be able to do this, and she wants to fight at both their sides when she's ready - if we get to see some of her learning PROPERLY unlike her training with lea in kh3, this good be good, and could set up for a genuinely good destiny trio party fight in a future game, or even the end of kh4. They fucked up w her in the past, and to fix that they need to do it carefully and meaningfully.

(also like, the whole girlbossification mom-friend-who-holds-the-brain-cell of every female character is unnecessary and getting tiring, and her coming to the conclusion that she doesn't care for fighting but wants to help in another way could be equally satisfying lmao)

Favorite relationship

The one that gets me most is probably her connection to naminé, tbh. Really hope we get more of them in the future, her little speech to lea in kh3 about wanting to save naminé was my favourite scene of hers in the game.

Favorite headcanon

I like to hc that the paopu genuinely did create some kinda deep rooted heart connection between her and sora - it may not have linked then quite in the way that she was going for but it makes them like... A lot more attuned to what the other is feeling even when they're not around each other???? I don't mean in like a shippy way (I don't even ship them lol), but they're able to see what the other feels and help them out when they need it. This also applies to thoughts occasionally and they use it to fuck w each other once things calm down like, waking each other at 3am from completely different places bc kairi got a really annoying song stuck in her head and now she's gotta plague sora with it too, stuff like that lol

[choccy-zefirka]

For some reason, maybe because I’ve been listening to far too many booktube videos to drown out my dad’s TV and fall asleep, and a lot of those videos were about romance books involving fae dicks, I had a dream about a presumably dick-owning fae man.

Except, me being me, the fae man’s true form was pretty monstrous, all sharp teeth and spikes along limbs and pitch-black eyes, and when in human form, he masqueraded as a middle-aged grouch. He worked as a resident mage at a human king’s court, and resented every second of it, because the king had bound him into servitude by learning his true name. Well, technically, the fae had given his name willingly, because the king was going to kill his young daughter, a creepy-cute baby fae that was incredibly curious but also had very little control over her magic, and had allegedly burned down a village in the king’s domain while venturing outside of the fae forest to play (allegedly because the king had set the whole thing up by burning the homes and fields of his own subjects and blaming it on the baby fae in order to trick her father).

So while he was languishing in the king’s castle and doing his bidding, the fae made two new friends: the castle gardener, a fat person of ambiguous gender, who helped him find reprieve whenever he missed his forest home, and a mysterious woman that the king’s son was betrothed to. She had just shown up one day on the beach beside the castle, which might have made her a dubious candidate for a marriage, but she had three qualities that both the king and the prince found incredibly valuable: she was very beautiful, carried a whole dowry of pearls and other treasures in a slightly waterlogged chest, and never spoke a single word.

While is was obvious that the silent woman adored the prince, he treated her as pretty arm candy and repeatedly emphasized how great it was that she never argued, never complained, and just smiled at him. Meanwhile, the gardener and the fae grew closer to her in the hours when she was not entertaining the prince. The gardener, whose little brother was deaf, tried communicating with her in sign language, but it soon became apparent that she knew none, because her condition had been caused very recently, by magic. She had once been a mermaid, and spent a long time pining for the prince from afar, before finally making a deal with a sea witch: her voice in exchange for a pair of human legs. But her magical legs also caused her great pain, every step feeling like walking on glass. So the fae cast spells on her to make the pain subside, and together with the gardener, fashioned a wheelchair for her, which the prince forbid her to use in the royal chambers because it was hideous and ruined her image as the perfect bride. She could only find reprieve from her pain in the company of her friends: the humble gardener who listened to what she had to say, especially once she’s mastered the signs, and the fae mage who related to her homesickness, for his forest was just as vast and dark and deep as her sea, and his heart ached to return to it.

My dream did not play out their whole story, but the idea was that they would become an OT3 and overthrow the king and prince together. And potentially help prevent a coup in the mermaid’s kingdom, where the sea witch was wreaking havoc by wielding her stolen voice to manipulate her royal family. Also, even though I started with the fae, I think the POV character here would be the gardener, a down-to-earth human audience insert (and my self-insert, in terms of body size and gender goals), who gets double the love from a brooding fae and an ethereal mermaid princess.

[smokestarrules]

Hunter & Vee

(Because, apparently, Hunter doesn’t have enough character parallels already.)

Quite a few people have already said that something interesting about Hunter being in the Human Realm is the sheer amount of connections he’ll find there. To the potential Philip and Caleb’s backstories, their statues, the Golden Guards’ emblem being the Gravesfield crest, there’s a lot there for him to discover about  his predecessor’s life.  

But also there’s Vee. And I’ve just realized that she’s got a lot in common with Hunter when you really think about it. 

Firstly, they’re both Grimwalkers, aren’t they?

Basilisks were extinct, but Philip brought them back, likely in the same way he made Hunter and the rest of the Golden Guards. All you need are a few magical ingredients, a bone of the original species, and then you have a number of basilisks for whatever purpose arises. Interestingly enough, the books Hunter’s looking at in Labyrinth Runners seem to imply that Grimwalkers themselves used to be known as an extinct species, so I can’t help but wonder if Philip himself banned their creation in order to keep everyone off the scent of his own ones. 

Adding onto that last point, the entire reason that Hunter and Vee exist is to be to Philip’s advantage one way or another. Hunter is a Grimwalker of Caleb, of the man Philip feels betrayed him. Philip wants him back, but only on his terms, and so Hunter is the forever-occurring test. Hell, it’s unlikely that Philip’ll ever achieve that goal of creating a perfect brother for himself, but I doubt he’ll ever understand that, either. 

As for Vee and the rest of the basilisks, their purpose is to give Philip more information about the Day of Unity and how the Draining Spell would work. The Collector is the one who initially gave Philip the Draining Spell, but basilisks drain magic as a part of their biology, so using them as research could only assist Philip as he slowly neared the day of the eclipse. 

Even their NAMES prove how much Philip really values other people - anyone other than humans, that is. Vee is Vee, or the roman numeral for Number Five, and Hunter, not even a person in Philip’s eyes, is given Philip’s own title for a name. Philip can't waste time naming them all, after all; that’d be using far too much brainpower and emotional attachment that he simply does not have, and so Hunter it is. 

They’re also both powerless to a point, though both of them now have ways to overcome that obstacle. Basilisks do not have magic inherently, but they are capable of taking it from other things and then using it themselves, though they’ll run out eventually. Hunter, on the other hand, has found himself a palisman - Flapjack - whose inherent magic has bonded deep with Hunter’s own style as they fight together. 

Then there's the Philip Trauma(tm). 

When they are discovered in their hiding places, their reactions are about the same. Luz finds Vee and Vee panics; declares that she’s never going back to the Demon Realm because Philip is there, and immediately jumps straight to the worst conclusion: that she’s going to have to go on the run from him again. 

Hunter is the same. When the Coven Scouts recognize him and tell him that Philip is looking for him, he needs Gus’ help to calm him down from an anxiety attack. 

Even the 'prophecy’ given to Vee by her camp friend in Yesterday’s Lie fits both Vee and Hunter pretty damn well. Guilt and fear.... a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

Guilt and fear makes Vee rebel against draining the rats, gets her punished, most likely. Guilt and fear makes every last Golden Guard betray Philip, because in the end, they realize that he’s not someone anyone can trust. Hunter is a good kid. Vee is a good kid. Therefore, they are destined to always oppose Philip, no matter what he wants. Hunter is a self-fulfilling prophecy; the Golden Guards always betray Philip. Vee is always going to disagree with Philip. 

...

I just think that Hunter and Vee could be a very formidable duo against Philip, should he regenerate in the Human Realm and begin to cause trouble again. God knows they deserve maybe more than anyone to put him in his place. I hope that their similarities can be explored somewhat in s3, and I also believe they could be rather healing for each other. They both need friends. 

Also, as a sidetone; I suppose that at the end of the day, all we can hope is that the parallels between Hunter and Vee stay true to this scene as well (and I know they will).

Camila’s going to love Hunter, too.