#finally a space elf with an attitude

[bloody-wonder]

10 people I'd like to know better

thank you @jealousofthetea for tagging me!💜

last song: lol again i don't have a normal answer to this bc i don't listen to music. BUT i was at a monster chetwynd exhibition the other day and part of the installation was a video of a performance done to a catchy folk song that got stuck in my head altho i didn't understand any of the lyrics. this tag gave me an opportunity to research what it was and turns out it's the maypole song (in the woods there grew a tree). nice to know, now i can sing along to the tune in my head😅

last book: omg it's even the wingless by mca hogarth. this woman has the Range! i'm so glad i happened to read the series in her peltedverse from the least to the most depraved lol i am Beyond Obsessed. it's a very niche sci fi court intrigue monsterfucking story that caters to what i personally want from fictional romance (backhanded banter, mind games, intricate rituals, blond man getting whumped etc). it's enemies to lovers, it's "i can fix him" - but it's also "he will make me worse and we'll meet somewhere in the middle". it's "what if there was a darkness inside me and i was required to unleash it and had to confront that it's a part of me - and both of us found it hot". and since the story follows an ambassador doubling as a spy it has all that delicious putting on a persona that you then struggle to take off shenanigans. i hesitate to rec it bc of all the noncon, however i do think it fits into the depraved fantasy booklr themes and kinks. so if you were entertained by lymond's bedchamber spy tactics in queens' play and were not put off by the sexual violence in captive prince book one and doctrine of labyrinths ig you can try it. but also you did not hear this from me lol

last movie: nosferatu. it was fine. when will we get a gay dracula adaptation tho

last tv show: still haven't watched anything since wwdits s6. arcane is top priority, as soon as i find the time🥲

last thing i googled: probably a synonym or correct spelling of some english word

favorite color: idk i like bright colors. something that my clothes reflect not at all😬

sweet/savoury/spicy: savoury

relationship status: singlé

looking forward to: when i complete this pesky work task and can devote myself to the noble passtime of reading monsterfucker sci fi

current obsession: see above lol ig i also read queer by william burroughs and am obsessed with that book too. so ironic that i've been trying to read mediocre gay romance all this time whereas the real stuff was in obscure problematic selfpub books and the beats gen novels that had been kept under the floorboards for 30+ years bc they were too much for their time (and are probably too much for our time too)

i don't remember when we last did this thing so feel free to ignore me but i tag @oliviermiraarmstrongs @figuringthengsout @fugitoidkry @pinkasrenzo @fandomreferencepending @doh-rae-me @counterwiddershins @magpiefngrl @cassandrva

[illarian-rambling]

As requested...

Wip Intro:

The Final Voyage of the R.S. Starbreaker

✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️🛥✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️✨️

Illaros, a world of magic and monsters, stands upon the cusp of space travel. Unlike our world, this one, with its runic technology and arcane traditions, takes its rudimentary steps into space quite differently. The goal put forth by the Kesh-Abas Department of Exploration is to map the outer planets, as well as passing beyond the odd starry curtain they've observed at the edge of their solar wheel. However, space suits are a bit beyond their technology. Instead, they've asked a priest to call upon the gods in request of a crew of willing souls to complete this mission. After all, what's already dead cannot die to the vacuum of space.

The gods of Illaros are willing, as they have an alternate motive for seeing this mission succeed. For eons, they have battled their sworn enemy, End, the primordial incarnation of destruction. Yet, after so long spent fighting, the gods are tired and flagging. They hope that if this crew can pass beyond what the humans call the 'starry curtain,' aka End's body, they can perhaps find allies to aid this eternal fight. It's a dangerous gamble, but a small crew will be harder for the ancient terror to notice.

Five souls are chosen - not the greatest, but perhaps the most desperate for success. Their number includes a voidskiff captain who lost everything to vice, a long-dead astronomer from a famed warrior lineage, a selkie scholar dedicated to mapping the world and now the cosmos, a fae musician learning to understand empathy, and, perhaps the most important piece, an ancient and cursed soul who might be the only person in the world who understands the threat End poses.

But let's take a closer look at this pack of freaks!

Captain Faalgun Falani 🐉

Description: A Flying City native of mixed Hal'lan, Daramakti, and Illari blood, he stands at about 3'5" and generally appears as a bipedal, draconic-looking fellow. His scales are a light blue and a ruff of white fur cascades down his back and into a tuft at the end of his tail. His horns are crystalline. He wears a ragged, torn uniform, looking exactly as it did at his moment of death. As such, his neck is also clearly broken.

Personality: Faalgun is everything one would expect from a Flying City captain. He's professional, honorable, a bit strict, but ultimately looking out for his crew. Outside of work, he's more of an introvert and is slow to make close bonds. However, the closer you look, discrepancies start to pop up. Faalgun is always the last to leave a brawl, and only in the most dangerous of moments does a look of true joy find his face. He's cagey about his past and, despite his obvious experience, refuses to be officially named captain.

Fun facts:

Faalgun is aroace

He was raised in an orphanage, though he was well-loved there and saw it as a great place to grow up

He has a wonderful tenor singing voice and often sings when no one else is on-deck

Nyda Burningrock 🔭

Description: Nyda is an elf of Nabafyrian descent. She has coppery brown skin and green hair shaved into a (rather disheveled) mohawk. Her pointy face and ears are covered in piercings, with the most notable being a chain running from her nose to her ear. Some faded tattoos of thorny patterns cover her arms along with some old scars. She wears a cropped vest and baggy shorts. Under the vest can be seen the spear wound that killed her.

Personality: Your typical punk, Nyda hates authority and being told what to do. She's loud, brash, crude, and easily amused. This devil-may-care attitude somewhat hides her true brilliance as an astronomer. Though, it's not like she does really care about that. Nabafyrians are a renowned warrior culture and Nyda is... not that. She tends to invalidate her own efforts through lack of care - not taking notes or recording methods and the like. It almost seems like she wants to be anyone else than who she is.

Fun facts:

Nyda is a transwoman and a flaming butch lesbian

She can play the accordion

She is incapable of getting through a whole sentence without swearing

Kaulakri Ondohuroata 🗺

Description: Kaulakri is one of the halawemavish, or ocean selkies. In her land form, she is a plump woman with lightly furred, spotted gray skin, sleek dark gray hair, liquid dark eyes. Her ears are a triangular shape and she wears practical traveling gear. Her sclera are bloodshot and her face clammy even in death, hinting at the disease that took her life. She wears a sealskin cloak as well, which allows her to shift into the form of a leopard seal-like mermaid.

Personality: Highly meticulous and spatially minded, Kaulakri is a peerless cartographer. She has the determination and love of her (oft thought of as boring) job to leave no stone unturned and no island or planet unmapped. Mapping the Janazi Isles used to be her life's work - now mapping the planets is her death's work and she couldn't be happier. Indeed, she's far better with maps than people. Kaulakri can often come off as blunt or stuffy, or occasionally irrational when she lets her temper boil over (usually when Nyda is involved). Deep down, though, she has the greatest appreciation for the massive scientific leap this mission really is and will do anything to keep it going swimmingly.

Fun facts:

Kaulakri is a demiromantic lesbian

She's also autistic and likes to stim by nodding her head (historical maps are her special interest currently)

She grew up in a tiny selkie enclave and was the first of her people to attend a college, and attain a PhD. no less

Pashananath 🪕

Description: At first appearing to be a teenager, his smokey voice brings doubt as to how old the fae man actually is. Pash is from the Exumbra Hive. He was created with music as his Contribution, so he was quite literally built by the Gloaming Queen to be good at that. His fingers are dexterous and his voice is heavenly. Standing at about 6'2", Pash is a lanky fellow with a thick head of black hair that grows into fur on his elbows, pointy ears, and the tuft of his tail. His skin is pale, and both his pupilless eyes and pointed teeth are solid red. A gash can be seen across his throat.

Personality: Pash exudes laid-back energy. He's generally relaxed with whatever path the group takes and is a great listener when it comes to conversation. However, his fae upbringing has instilled him with some... odd values. Pash believes that pleasure is the ultimate pursuit, and that you should do anything to achieve it. He himself was murdered for singing an unpopular song, and he really does believe this was fully justified. His only regret was not being fast enough to kill the other guy first. Because of this, he can be exceedingly selfish, however, this only makes his moments of kindness shine all the brighter.

Fun facts:

No one really knows how old he is or how long ago he died

Despite his music being the literal reason he was created, Pash has a passion for travel

His favorite instrument is the erhu

Anarac Fifth-Blood 🌠

Description: Anarac is a man in his early thirties, with berry-red skin, shoulder-length blonde hair, and deep-set brown eyes with heavy dark circles. His ears are slightly pointed. He stands at about 6'0", though he usually keeps his head bowed. He wears a homespun tunic and light armor of an ancient make. His expression is usually quite vacant. A cut circles his entire throat, implying he died by decapitation.

Personality: Maybe once Anarac was outgoing or witty, but after spending seven thousand years as a part of End, much of that has been scraped away. He's a shell of a man, terrified of the stars, other people, and anything that might remind him of his past. All he seeks is a chance to make an apology, and to do so, he must find the lost afterlife of his extinct people. Despite how deeply traumatized he is, Anarac is highly observant and frequently curious about the world. He wants to keep his companions safe and happy. That's just a little difficult when he dissociates at the mere glimpse of starlight.

Fun facts:

He used to be a chef, and his secondary quest is to find out if he can still eat food as a ghost

In life, he was a divorced teen dad

He's fully aware that he comes across as a crazy guy hiding in the corner, but his dignity is too long gone to care

Here's a group portrait :)

Please let me know if you have any questions and I hope you enjoy!

@amandacanwrite @elsie-writes @riveriafalll @kosmic-kore @kaylinalexanderbooks

@bard-coded @carrotsinnovember @patternwelded-quill @somethingclevermahogony @whatwewrotepodcast

@the-angriest-author @mk-writes-stuff @frostedlemonwriter @vyuntspakhkite-l-darling @watermeezer

@leahnardo-da-veggie @mr-orion @televisionjester @ray-writes-n-shit @evilgabe29

@trippingpossum @tragedycoded @halfbakedspuds @ominous-feychild @cain-e-brookman

@wyked-ao3 @thecomfywriter @mysticstarlightduck @rumeysawrites @sableglass

@cowboybrunch

[loosesodamarble]

Before the final battles really begin

I want to share my thoughts and hopes regarding the final fights that will be going down eventually.

I won't call these predictions because I honestly don't have any confidence in predicting how Tabata will write the final arc. These are just my personal wishes for what I would want to happen.

I'll just be discussing possible Magic Knight vs. Paladin match ups and the team-ups on the heroes' side of things. Thoughts below the cut.

.....

Nacht vs. Morgen

Let's start with the obvious one. Nacht will be fighting Paladin Morgen. No questions asked. Tabata may not do everything the way I'd want it to go but he'd be a fool to not go through with this match up.

I'll take a guess that Yami will join this specific fight. Yami and Morgen were BFFs and it would essentially be a combination of Yami's initial fight against Patry (Dark vs. Light Magic) and the YamiNacht team-up against Lucifero. But on steroids. But like... that's not the only way it could happen...

What I want to see happen: -Nacht use all of the powers of his devils at once. Let's see him with eight freaking horns on his head! Let's see him become a monstrous devil to fight the "angelic" form of Paladin Morgen. -Finral and Langris join the fight. There are parallels and contrasts between the Fausts and the Space Bros that I want to see worked with. Finral and Nacht are both older brothers who were looked down upon by those around him (for Finral it was his parents and for Nacht it was most of the public). Langris and Morgen were powerful Magic Knights admired over their elder brothers (again, parents for Langris and society at large for Morgen). Finral and Nacht both want to help/protect their younger brother but bungle it up along the way; Finral withdraws from House Vaude due to failing to live up to expectations which left Langris all alone while Nacht avoided Morgen to keep from hurting him which only worsened the rift between them. Both sets of brothers have one person between them that complicates their relationship further. For the twins, Nacht and Morgen both saw Yami as the better partner for their brother. For the Space Bros, it still hasn't been determined who will marry Finesse. Contrasts include: —the Fausts being identical twins (most genetically similar siblings) while Space Bros are half brothers (only one parent connecting them genetically) —the kinder brother being the older one with the Space Bros and then being the younger one for the Fausts —Space Bros having two different flavors of the same magic attribute while the Fausts have opposite but connected attributes I also think Finral would sympathize with Nacht's situation. He'd remember how Langris had been possessed by an elf and how much he wanted to save Langris. Thus, it would make so much sense for Finral to help Nacht save his own younger brother. Langris being present would give him a chance to essentially see what he did to Finral during the Royal Knights Exam (possessed younger brother trying to kill older brother who really doesn't want to fight). When it comes to how the fight happens, Langris' aggressive magic would be a good tool against how aggressive the Paladins are shown to be and Finral's teleportation might be able to keep up with Morgen's speedy attacks. -Gauche joins the fight. Nacht and Gauche are both older brothers who think the world of their younger siblings. Nacht kept his distance from Morgen while Gauche smothers Marie with adoration. Also, Gauche could totally reflect Morgen's Light Magic the way he did with Patry's. -Ichika joins the fight (and Yami doesn't appear whatsoever). She contrasts with Morgen by magic attribute the same way Yami does. But she also has the opposite attitude towards her older sibling. Nacht was Morgen's favorite person while Ichika hated Yami for years (because of mistaken memories but still). The "devil pills" from Ichika's flashback would also be worth bringing up considering the Fausts and their devil connections. Also, I'm pushing for Nachika content. -Patry joins the fight. I want to see the elves again. Light vs. Light would be cool. That's all really. (Also, yes I'm definitely playing favorites with who I want to fight alongside Nacht. How could you tell?/lh+j)

I'm honestly torn on how I want the fight to end. Do I want a maximum tragedy end where Morgen and Nacht kill each other but also get proper reconciliation for what happened before? Do I want Nacht to successfully kill Morgen and live with the guilt of having actually taken Morgen's life, even if it's for the greater good? Or do I want Morgen to be freed of Lucius' influence and also somehow stay alive so the bros can be Magic Knights together, as was Morgen's dream? Genuinely, I want to see all three happen.

(Tabata, I'm on my hands and knees. Let me be part of your staff so I can give you the bestest freaking ideas for the Nacht vs. Morgen fight. I'm begging.)

Silva Siblings vs. Acier

It's another obvious one. Noelle is going to arrive to fight her mom and the four siblings will fight together.

An online friend of mine - half-jokingly but half-serious - brought up that there's a chance that Acier's motherly love will break her brainwashing. And I really hope that's not the case. Acier should be mercy killed.

And I hope the high heavens that it's not Noelle alone who gets the final blow. Noelle is my baby girl but it would make literally zero sense for Noelle to be the one to finish Acier off. Literally, the Megicula fight ended with Nozel musing that he and Noelle should've been getting stronger together from the very beginning. To follow through with that conclusion, it has to be a simultaneous attack from Nozel, Nebra, Solid, and Noelle that defeats Acier. The Silva children have to finally come together as a united family to defeat Acier and finally put her rest (seriously, the woman's soul got held captive by Megicula for roughly 16 years [remember, Acier died when Noelle was around 1 and Megicula was only defeated when Noelle was 17] and then Lucius yoinks her for Paladin-ification. Tabata, give Acier a break!).

While it's likely that the fight will remain between the Silva family, a few other people who I would like to join the fray are: -Mereoleona: Acier was Mereo's mentor and the one person she could never beat. It would be appropriate for Mereo to show her teacher how she's grown. Unlikely though. -Vanessa: it's the mommy issues, I'm sorry. The parallel of Vanessa's strained relationship with the Witch Queen against the Silvas' utter adoration of Acier fills me with satisfaction. Vanessa would be excellent support (emotionally and with the Red String of Fate). She could give the siblings a pep talk about how fighting one's parent may not be pleasant or easy but sometimes, they're just plain in the wrong and you have to set them straight. Plus, Vanessa is one of the Bulls Noelle is closest too next to Asta, Nero, and Finral. She ought to be there for Noelle. -Nero: another one of Noelle's closest friends in the Bulls. I think Nero should get another chance to support Noelle against a very emotionally testing opponent after they were unable to beat Megicula back in Heart. -Yosuga: for one, his iron would be a hard-hitting element that the Silvas might need. Not to say the Silvas are weak. I just mean that mist and water are "softer" seeming elements so a strong metal magic to pair with Nozel's mercury might be nice to see.

Vermillions vs. Morris

Recent chapter only showed Fuegoleon and Mereoleona squaring up. But uh, where's Leopold? If the Silva siblings are gonna fight together, perhaps all the Vermillion siblings should too. It would be an amazing way for Tabata to show Leopold finally standing as an equal with his siblings (maybe still a little weaker because of the 15+ year difference between them but you get my point).

Also Fuegoleon should totally have Saint Stage for the fight. Tabata, come freaking on! He's had Salamander for nearly two years at this point. If Noelle could unlock it within 2 days, surely Fuegoleon would've figured it out by now.

I might also want to see Mimosa and Kirsch show up, just for a whole Vermillion family reunion of sorts. Plus, I think it'd be a neat parallel if her introduction pitted her against a victim of Diamond's magic experiments (Mars) and then this final battle pitted her against the evil mastermind behind them (Morris).

The Black Bulls vs. Damnatio

This one is a stretch and really is just based on the fact that it'd be hilarious if Damnatio passing judgment on others (first time was Asta and this time it's the whole world) got interrupted by the Black Bulls AGAIN!

YOU CAN'T TELL ME THAT WOULDN'T BE A HILARIOUS COINCIDENCE BECAUSE IT IS!

Zora vs. Zara

Look... Zara coming back as a Paladin would be so right. Julius knew Zara and really admired him as an ideal Magic Knight. Lucius would then also know of Zara and think he'd be a wonderful addition to the Paladins. They are meant to bring happiness and Zara was all about serving the people.

And hoo boy would Zora be traumatized to the sun and back to see his dad corrupted this way!

I mainly imagine Magna joining this fight because 1) they're peasant buddies, and 2) Zora (emotionally) backed up Magna in the Dante fight and now it's time for Magna to back up Zora in the fight against Zara. Luck is another option, mostly to pair with Magna since the boys have been apart too long. They need to team up to fight a baddie again, just like with Vetto. Also, I think Luck's unhealthy relationship with his mom set beside Zora's sweet admiration towards his dad is interesting; something could be done with it.

Asta, Yuno, Yami, and William vs. Lucius

Y'all, if I don't see both the main boys who are fighting to be Wizard King as well as Julius' two successors all fighting Lucius as a team, I'm going to question what Tabata is doing with his work.

Asta is the protagonist and Lucius' biggest threat so that's a duh. Yuno is Asta's rival and another potential threat, as Lucius has openly admitted. Then Yami and William are the people who Julius has helped the most. So those two should definitely fight Lucius who has taken away their mentor.

Not only that, but Asta has fought alongside his captain so many times now. And Yuno hasn't. Yuno should get a chance to fight alongside William the way Asta has with Yami. Especially against Lucius because fighting him has meaning to all four of them.

Other thoughts/potential team ups

Ryuuya and Yami (and Nacht): These old buddies gotta reunite and wreck something. And Ryuuya, the og childhood friend, meeting Nacht, the other childhood friend is sure to be interesting.

Charlotte and Ichika: Please. Please let the woman crushing on Yami and Yami's little sister meet on the battlefield. They're going to mad respect each other only to find out each other's connection to the man and it'll be so awkward.

Jack and Gin'no: Jack's not dead. He's not dying. We're ignoring that hole in his stomach. He's going to live. And he's going to meet Gin'no and they're going to fight with all their feral might together.

Komari and Luck: genki lightning users would be fun together, that's it.

Any of the Ryuzen seven with Charmy: She is their sacred ochaami incarnate! It'd be awesome for them to meet a deity and fight alongside her!

[claire-starsword]

Authentic Story of the Shining Force - Saint Fencer Max - Chapter 2

Translation notes:

The map in the first page is not the one seen in the final game, but the early version released during development. More info on my pre-release page as usual.

The enemies in that page are also enemies announced early before release: Rune Knights, Dark Priests, Dark Dwarves, Goblins, and the scrapped Mimic of course! That's fun to see.

Save for Lowe's odd age here, the training with Varios is very similar with how it goes in the actual game, with Lowe singing praises of how Max is on par with the knight captain. If none of that sounded familiar to you, you are welcome to hate the localization as much as I do.

Like, you think we're done with this? No way baby, Max's speech on memories is also a reference to a NPC in the start of the game! I legit got angry while doing the comparison on that one, it's a very iconic line that matches both Max's amnesia plot and the series' whole theme of forgotten evils resurfacing, it did not deserve to be replaced by generic slop. I'm glad I get to bring it back here and that it gets space in the manga as well.

Nova seems to have ears instead of horns in his brief cameo during the castle audience scene. Could be an old design, or the manga artist taking liberties or misunderstanding things. I find it curious though, because in the final version he's classified as dragonewt, however the GBA version will notoriously declare Elliot the last dragonewt on earth instead. This would make sense if Nova was intended to be something else at some point, and the GBA version tried to restore that, though it was nonetheless very badly explained.

Let's talk a bit about Max's speech patterns. In the original game, he obviously doesn't speak much, but the ending still shows him using the formal pronoun "watashi" for himself, and speaking casually to Adam, while more politely to the stranger they meet there. This continues in Final Conflict, where he's pretty casual to the team but sticks using watashi at the same time. This changed in the GBA version, where he switches between the more casual and masculine pronouns "boku" (softer) and "ore" (rougher) depending on who he's speaking to. I'm not knowledgeable enough to discuss this in depth but I do get the feeling that the choice of "watashi" for him in the original was a bit unusual. In any case, this manga just makes him use "ore" constantly. At the same time, he's pretty much always polite, even to his teammates. So he definitely doesn't come off as rough.

As example of this politeness, Max here also uses the usual "-san" honorific for basically everyone except Lowe, a literal child. I usually ignore those since they don't flow very naturally in english (at least for dialogue between friends/close teammates), but I did keep a couple instances when he has barely met Tao and Hans, because it felt fitting for a first meeting, especially with him being so notably polite in this version.

Let's talk about the rest of the team now! I've translated their in-game introductions in case you're not aware of how their personalities differs from the english version.

Hans was announced since the early coverage of the game, so every design difference you see here is the artist's choice. At no point was his personality touched upon however. So could it be that we were meant to have edgy rival Hans at some point? I find it unlikely given Hans' cute face, but my theory is that Hans had zero official personality at this point, so the manga artist just threw some elf stereotypes in and tweaked the design to fit that. It's hard to not associate Hans' attitude here with Mae's in the final game though. There's a lot of evidence in the pre-release page I keep linking to for Mae and the other centaurs' prejudice against Max to have been added late in development. So could it be that at some point elves were supposed to be the arrogant ones? Maybe! Could it be that the artist just shoved Mae's personality on Hans instead to erase her instead? Also possible! It should be clear already that the guy is not decent about female characters, and mild spoilers but, Mae is simply not gonna be around for this one save for small background cameos, which is mind boggling when she was clearly the main female character at this point in development. But could it be this has nothing to do with Hans and it's just a coincidence that his personality matches hers here? Also maybe! If it's not obvious I'm just rambling ideas at this point. To close the topic on Hans, he would eventually be confirmed as a noble in Shining Force Gaiden, as his son is mentioned to come from a noble family in the manuals. Though this is just the standard background for most characters in this game.

Tao is a curious case. She is seen in screenshots since the game's announcement, but it took longer until her art and profile were revealed. Said profile also says nothing on her personality, so my take on her here is the same as Hans. I doubt she was meant as the spunky girl we see here, but it's possible that the artist isn't warping her final personality, and she was just a blank state at this point. But it's hard to tell for certain.

Ken, on the other hand, was announced from day one to admire Max, which is probably why he's very much the same as his game version here.

Luke is the only one of the starting team to not be seen in early screenshots, and there's some evidence that Gort was meant to be the first warrior of the team instead. So the manga here gives us a better idea of when Luke was worked on during development.

The fighting tournament Ken mentions is brought up in the ASCII guide book as a tradition of Guardiana. Always fun to see little worldbuilding tidbits like this were planned from the start. And while nowhere else mentions this as the place where Ken first saw Max, it makes a lot of sense.

Finally, the battle at the Gate taking place on the inside, so dark it needs to be illuminated by torches? That's how the place looked in early builds as well.

[spinningbuster98]

Mega Man Zero 3 Ending: I am Zero

So one thing I forgot to talk about until now is Cyber Space: there are Cyber Space doors in each level that allow you to enter Cyber Space versions of the levels. All of your Cyber Elves are activated at once without them dying and enemies always drop health. It’s basically God Mode though you are penalized by 5 points at the end of the mission.

I only enter it in the second to last level because you can actually fight a secret boss this way: the deceased Phantom from Zero 1, establishing that upon dying a reploid’s programming goes to Cyber Space thus functioning as a form of afterlife for them.

Though this raises the question: did the same apply to Robot Masters? Or are Mega Man and the gang completely....you know....

Anyway by beating him you get the Ultima Chip which allows you to have all leg chip abilities on at once

Zero also basically kills two babies! And I find it hilarious how neither him nor especially Ciel have any reaction about it!

So the scene where Weil mind controls every Reploid on Earth is awesome and all but it’s always bugged me how they never explain why Zero and X are not affected, simply noticing that they’re not

If I had to give my own explanation well the Dark Elf can control Reploids and, at this point, neither X nor Zero are technically Reploids

X is a Cyber Elf, one powerful enough to negate the Dark Elf’s powers within an area

And Zero was technically never a Reploid to begin with as reploids are made from X’s technology while Zero is 100% Wily’s creation. Granted Zero’s current body is a replica made presumably using standard reploid tech but his programming is still Wily’s original

But then we see that even the Guardians seem to be unaffected. The only explanation I can come up with is that, since they were made by specifically using X’s very DNA, thus making them far closer to X than your average reploid (remember: in the X series X was so advanced that Dr.Cain couldn’t fully understand what made him tick and thus created the reploids based on said faulty understanding), and so also immune to the Dark Elf’s control

The final battle against Omega unfortunately suffers greatly from this late game balancing issue regarding difficulty: he’s just not nearly hard enough given all the hype around him. Yeah you could limit yourself by not using Cyber Elves, but it’s not like I used them super liberally either and I still barely had to spend a Sub Tank across 3 phases.

Speaking of which, some fans take issue with how Zero barely reacts to the revelation that he’s living in a copy body and that he now has to destroy his original. In general some people criticize Zero era Zero for being an emotionless drone

I’ve....never had such issues. With Zero 1 and to a lesser extent Zero 2? Yeah he barely speaks there. But here and especially in the next one?

Yeah Zero is generally more taciturn and stoic here than in most X games, whether due to the writers giving a different take or due to his amnesia and current circumstances just not giving him many chances to be very cheery

But once you peel back the surface this is still very much the same Zero as always

Zero was introduced in X1 as a no-nonsense kind of guy who takes shit very seriously, has a sense of justice and will support his friends (X specifically) by encouraging them when they’re doubting themselves, being very blunt in how he conveied said support and not very mushy, his no nonsense attitude showing even here: he flat out tells X that he has no chance in beating Vile as he is now but will grow capable of it and of beating Sigma and caps it all off by saying “X, I know you can do it!”

And that’s exactly how Zero acts here with Ciel: always giving her moral support whenever she’s feeling down and unsure about what to do next, ensuring her that she’s doing the right thing and that he has faith in her. He’s not all hugs and kisses, he just tells her straight up what he thinks very bluntly but also weirdly gently too

Zero also never once gave Sigma the time of day whenever he tried to toy with him with his unknown dark origins: in X2, when Sigma tells him that he was “destined to join him” Zero tells him that he’s not interested.

In X4 when Sigma toys with him by reminding him that he used to be a Maverick Zero literally tells him “Yeah and?”

In X5, when faced with the blatant truth that he was built for an evil purpose, Zero STILL tells Sigma to shut up and fight

Zero doesn’t bend easily, he mostly tries not to let his doubts about his past meddle with his present. He has his moments of doubt, like when he kept wondering about his dreams of Wily at the start of X4 or in that conversation with Dr.Light in X5, or how in the latter game he’s visibly afraid of the effect that the Virus is having on him. But he never breaks, he never keels over and cries. The only time that he does is when he kills Iris but that was an extreme situation even for him

Throughout this game Zero is indeed shown to be somewhat pensive about all the times a character makes cryptic comments about “his body” or about why would the Dark Elf know his name (although X could’ve really cleared the latter up for him huh). In the ending when Ciel reassures him that he is still Zero in her eyes he quietly says her name and then thanks her genuinely, implying that he was harboring inner doubts, but was bottling them up because he had bigger fish to fry

The way he reacts to Weil’s big revelation about Omega is perfectly in-character, just pointing out the logical hole in the idea of the legendary hero being a puppet for a madman for no reason

(Fun fact: the design of Omega’s outer armor is actually based on Zero’s X era design, which can be seen by the shape of the ponytail, the shape of the helmet, the sword on his back and the somewhat squared shoulder pads. I only noticed in recent years when someone pointed it out)

I mean just saying: a character reacting to a startling revelation about themselves with lots of angst isn’t always required, especially if it would be out of character for them. Sometimes a character not bending to whatever happens to them can be good: not all characters are meant to be relatable and vulnerable, some are written to be inspiring, to be looked up to as anchors. Zero mostly falls into the latter category. He’s not X

Oh also X is pretty much dead now. I would normally be angry about such a long running character getting such a quick send off but X has technically been dead since before the series started, only appearing as a ghost to help out whenever possible. Now he’s just completely passing on. Given that the X series is not over I think it should be up to it to depict X’s final living moments, even if we already know roghly how they will play out.

[autopotion]

Inconsequential things that frustrate me: I really cannot stand it when fans of something can't or won't acknowledge a perspective of the thing they like that is not wholly, effusively positive. Of course people can be rude or unfair if the critic is annoyed by the thing, but I'm also talking about the situation where, like, two people both generally had a positive experience with the thing, but Person A goes "but x thing didn't work for me" and Person B reacts condescendingly or with extreme offense or upset.

Like in this case I'm specifically thinking of Outer Wilds, which is a reddit darling, so you see it recommended all the time (regardless of, like... relevance). I love Outer Wilds! It was a cool game and it's in my top 50! But the way people talk about it, they act like it's the only mystery game with a heartfelt story ever made, and if you indicate that some things didn't work for you, they will mock you for not appreciating "games as art." This coming from a demographic that typically dismisses visual novels outright... Okay lmao.

It's just really annoying. Anyone who's followed me for more than a couple weeks knows I have no problem airing out my complaints about things I love. It's a critical part of engaging with media, to me. Not as like a "virtue signaling" thing, but like, if I want to make anything ever I want to get pretty good at picking apart what works for me and what doesn't! I love Dragon Age and despise the obnoxious elf racism worldbuilding. Final Fantasy has a pretty serious misogyny & transmisogyny problem; if we're talking about pettier quibbles, I deeply disliked the defanging of AVALANCHE in FFVIIR (a game I have also praised extensively for its characterization of Aerith), and I'm repeatedly frustrated by the many damsel plots & hanging plot threads re: relationships between women in FFT (my favorite game of all time!!). Transistor is gorgeous, and really fun, and uncomfortably homophobic. And even OUTSIDE of racism, misogyny, and homophobia, sometimes game mechanics don't work, and sometimes storytelling decisions fall flat, and I want to work out why they didn't work for me! I don't know!!!

It's just like... put yourself, briefly, in the shoes of someone who didn't care for some decisions in the thing you like, instead of, idk, mocking them? "I couldn't handle the flight controls in Outer Wilds" totally fair, they're an acquired taste, they were designed intentionally which I appreciate but it's not going to be for everyone; "I liked Outer Wilds but I don't think it's the most groundbreaking game ever made" LITERALLY NOT EVEN A NEGATIVE OPINION??? And that's the one that is CONSTANTLY derided and mocked on Reddit. "You don't get games as art, you pleb." I'm starting to think one of us doesn't, because a robust critic scene is part of what makes something art, and video games don't have that, much to their detriment, so the world of games journalism and even "sharing opinions online" is a shambles! IDK!!!

All I am saying is allow some space in your head for the acknowledgement of something you like not working for someone else. And it's not the end of the world. It's not even a value judgement. I've softened my hater attitude over the years but some knee-jerk defensiveness and cries of "well you must not really get it then" really make me want to pull my hair out.

[unlikelyandco]

@fireteam-silent from here

Drifter isn't really surprised with Khalom being so angry. He knew it's in her somewhere, this fire. It just needed a good reason to show, even if he doesn't agree with it being so agreviating. He doesn't approve of what that Guardian did but that's how things are.

Maybe it's the baggage of years that makes him look at it differently, or maybe it's a growing resignation that things can change - Eliksni and Humans will always somehow be at each other's throats, no matter all the good gestures. There will always be someone with a grudge, someone who carries the same belief further than the Rouge would.

He finally stops the Awoken, hoping that despite his attitude he can offer some comfort. Even if it's in his usual style. "Take a breath, 'kay? You're all read in the face. Weird for a space elf." He smiles, though without the usual sharpness - it's a gentle smile, and he strokes Kahlom's cheek a bit.

"You helped them, they're fine, all is well. Yeah?" He moves his hand away and tucks both in his pockets, this time the smile growing into a smirk. "If ya want, we can track that guy down, play cat and mouse with him."

[starzfield]

Much to her joy and surprise, the mare appeared to agree to accompagny her on her way outside the forest. She had no illusions, their journey together would probably come to an end way too fast : as soon as leaving the trees, or until Fi had to enter a village, maybe.

But for now, she'd enjoy it, not minding so much the forest around them. As weird as it was for an elf, she didn't enjoy forests so much. A part of her liked it, recognizing it at her natural home, but mostly it was part of the prison of her youth, trees like a cage when she had always yearned for big, empty space to roam free in.

Which meant, forests always left a kind of bitter taste on her tongue, normal or not.

At least she wasn't alone. As soon as it was sure the mare was tagging along, Fi started to talk her ear off about this or that, her mouth running and jumping form topic to topic like a hopping rabbit.

Still, she knew where she was going, despite her visible careless attitude. Fi also managed to not fall, or trip on anything, when watchin gher one could think she was so distracted she would do so the next second.

And yet. There was no falling elf, and instead there was, after a while of walking and talking, the trees becoming less numerous, the soil and flora of the forest leaving space to more light hungry species.

A bit more, and the two were out. Fi immediately stretched with a happy groan. "Finally !! Seriously, do all forests need so many trees ?! I couldn't see the end of it."

She faced her new companion, surprinsingly able to express both happiness and sadness at the same time. "What do you want to do now, pretty horse ? I'm sure you can find a nice meadow around here. But I must keep walking to go to the village, I don't think you'll enjoy that much, though..."

A little sad at the idea to separate way with her new friend, she was petting her again, smiling but with a little sorrow.

The young white mare eagerly accepted the apple, her hunger evident as she savored the treat. It was a remarkable sight to witness an elf in this desolate place. As she munched on the fruit, she felt the elf draw near, their gentle touch gliding along her face, through her flowing mane, and down her graceful neck. The soft caress was soothing, a calming balm that eased the remnants of fear that had once gripped her heart.

They listened intently to the elf's words, their ears twitching at the sounds around them. She was right; neither of them belonged here. This cursed land was a wretched prison, and they both yearned to escape its grasp.

The desire to flee this dreadful place pulsed within them.

For now, the mare remained still, allowing the elf to linger, their hands continuing to stroke her. It was a comforting sensation, and with each passing moment, her heart softened. Here was another soul, equally lost and trapped, yet determined to break free from the forest's hold. As her eyes fluttered shut, the elf playfully nudged their foreheads together, a moment of lightness before they began to pull away.

The elf was preparing to leave, having arrived only to find that her time here was fleeting. She sensed the urgency in the air, a silent understanding that the sooner she departed, the better it would be. As she listened to the elf, a part of her longed to stay, to spend endless hours in this moment, gently stroking her companion. Yet, the weight of time pressed heavily, reminding her that this was not a place for either of them—nor for anyone, really. She yearned to escape, to put as much distance as possible between herself and this dreary location.

When the elf extended an invitation to either remain or accompany her, taking a few steps toward the exit, she paused to consider her options. Should she risk being lost forever in this desolate place, or seize this rare opportunity that lay before her? The choice was clear as she noticed the elf’s outstretched hand, a gesture of hope and possibility.

With a nod, she made her decision. Trapped in this place, she had no desire to linger. If the elf was leaving and knew the way out, she would join her. As she stepped forward, her hand brushed against the elf’s, and together they began to walk side by side, ready to follow her guide into the unknown.

[sataniquepanique]

Painkiller - Part 2: Lady Evil

A Note: Thanks for liking the first part! I have about 4 parts written so far. If you like it, let me know!

~~~

Summary: Eddie tries to convince you to join Hellfire Club, and you reluctantly agree.

Genre: slow burn, angst, fluff

Warnings: mild language, angst, Eddie being a cute boy.

Word Count: 1k

Part One: Cherry Bomb

Part Two: Lady Evil

Your first day at Hawkins High overall, not awful. Besides that incident with Jason in the lunchroom, anyway. The bell rang at the end of your final period, and you strode to your locker eager to get home. It took 3 tries to get your locker open, on account of you completely blanking on the combination, and you are trying to remember what books you’ll need for your homework tonight. Right as you are shoving your algebra book into your backpack, your locker door slams shut. It’s Eddie. With a huge shit-eating grin on his face. “Have you thought about my proposal?” He says, with his hand still stuck to your locker. “The answer is yes, Eddie, I will marry you.” You joke dryly, making direct eye contact with him for the first time. For a second your heart skips, and you can feel goosebumps on your arms start to form as you see his huge dark, doe eyes for the first time up close. Eddie seems slightly flustered by your response, “I’m being serious, princess. You coming or what?”. “Don’t do that…” you say shaking your head as you push past him. “Do what?” He laughs as you spin around to face him. 

“I’m not your fucking princess, and you’re not making a convincing argument as to why I should come to your Hell Riders —“ 

“Hell FIRE!” He interjects. 

“—whatever. Hellfire club.” You roll your eyes. “Can I level with you?” His eyes narrow. “We need you more than you need us. I like your attitude, and I think you’d do very well in the club. Also…you’re not too bad to look at.” He smirks and looks you up and down. You scoff and hit him in the arm. “What? It’s a club full of dudes, we need a girl to even things up.” He shrugs. “C’mon, I’ll walk you there” he offers you his arm, and after pausing for a minute and giving him another eye roll, you take it. 

Hellfire Club is held on the auditorium stage, behind the curtain. The drama club is currently working on their rendition of Romeo and Juliet so there is a bunch of props and set pieces lying around. The space is moody, with the overhead stage lights creating a mystical vibe. You walk in to find the same weird group of misfits you saw during lunch, seated at a long table strewn with DnD books, game pieces, and other random items. The entire group stares at you in shock mixed with confusion when you walk in on Eddie’s arm. Why were you still holding his arm, by the way? You quickly realize you had been holding onto him the entire walk there and a wave of embarrassment washes over you as you sneak your arm out of the crook of his elbow. Eddie clears his throat awkwardly. “Gentlemen!” He proclaims. “Here she is, in the flesh, our newest addition to Hellfire.” He gestures his arms at you, presenting you to the group like a trophy. You wave sheepishly at the faces staring back at you in disbelief. “Does she even play DnD?” Mike snarks. “I actually don’t think I ever asked.” Eddie says as he walks over to the large throne at the end of the table. “Enlighten us.” He says as he lowers himself onto his seat, putting his feet up on the table. You look around the room, feeling everyone’s eyes burning into you. “Well…uh…I’ve only played a few times so I’m probably not that good. I’m a chaotic good, level 14 high-elf blood hunter and I wield a double-bladed scimitar that I will not hesitate to slice anyone with.” You lock eyes with Eddie and he smirks, impressed. He leans over his dungeon master screen with a devilish grin, never breaking eye contact with you. He growls, almost to the point of a whisper, “…welcome to Hellfire.” 

You’re not great at DnD. You know this. But you seem to always get lucky. Except for, it seems, this particular time. Your team is up against a horrific, relentless monster and you don’t have much stamina left. It’s up to you, on the final dice roll. A 20 will defeat it, anything else is certain death. Your hands shake and you fiddle with the dice in your hand. Why are you so nervous, it’s just a game. Why are you so determined to impress Eddie, you don’t even know him. You shake these thoughts off, and you finally roll. Time seems to slow. The room is silent. All you can hear is the clattering of the dice. No one breathes for what seems like an eternity. You’re too scared to look at the outcome, frozen in place. Eddie leans over to see what the damage is, and looks directly at you and starts to slowly clap. Dustin runs over and yells “holy shit she did it!” And the rest of the groups begins to cheer, as Eddie bows to you and smiles. Why are you blushing you idiot? You think as you give him a slight smile, and you break your gaze to congratulate the rest of your team on a job well done. 

The rest of the guys leave a short while later, still high from their conquest, but you felt bad leaving Eddie alone to clean everything up. You stand at the end of the table picking up game pieces and dice, while Eddie sits on his throne organizing papers and books. As you pick up one of the pieces nearest him, he grabs your hand and flips it over looking at your rings. “Big Elvis fan?” He asks, as he stares at your signet ring with the letters TCB engraved on the top. “Oh that…” you smile “…that was my dad’s. He loves Elvis. He gave it to me for my 18th birthday this year.” Eddie lets go of your hand and starts to play with the many rings on his fingers. He takes one off of his middle finger, a silver skull, and slides it onto yours. “Here’s another to add to the collection,” he says, “for the demon slayer herself.” You both smile and blush. “Need a ride home?” He asks, breaking the silent romantic tension. “Uh, sure why not.” You shrug, eager to spend more time with this strange boy that has so quickly captured your every intrusive thought.

[ikeromantic]

First Day pt. 2

This is an Ikemen Sengoku coffee shop AU. Approx 1400 words. Nobunaga, the owner of Azuchi Cafe, hires a girl to work in his coffee shop alongside his other oddball employees.

Pastry Chef and little rain cloud: Ieyasu Tokugawa

Head Chef and irredeemable flirt: Masamune Date

Dining Room Manager and rule-master: Hideyoshi Toyotomi

Barista and most popular kid in your class: Ranmaru Mori

Barista and coffee disaster: Mitsunari Ishida

Accountant and walking bad-boy vibe: Mitsuhide Akechi

Grouchy customer with sexy-rich-class attitude: Kenshin Uesugi

Walking nerd-encyclopedia and corporate flunkie: Sasuke Sarutobi

I have never written a coffee shop AU and I have no idea what I'm doing. Yet I keep doing it. Seriously. I can't get this out of my brain right now.

First Day pt. 1

Nobunaga found it hard to concentrate with the girl there. His eyes kept seeking her out. His thoughts drifting to her when he was supposed to be focused on re-orders, contracts, budgeting . . . He glanced up from his laptop to see Ranmaru standing entirely too close to her. The barista was showing her how to operate the espresso machine, his chin resting lightly on her shoulder.

He might have said something, but the door swung open just then and in walked their most troublesome customer. Useugi.

Kenshin took in the cafe with a displeased glare. His good looks were offset by the miasma of violence and suppressed emotion that hung in the air everywhere he went. Despite his angelic features, heterochromatic eyes, and gorgeous platinum locks, he intimidated nearly everyone in his path. Everyone but Nobunaga and his cafe crew, which was why he kept returning to this insignificant coffee shop when he could have gone anywhere.

His personal assistant hurried in after him and quickly moved to one of the tables, pulling out a chair for his boss. “Sir?”

Uesugi sat with a slight grimace. “That took you .5 seconds longer than last time. Perhaps I should replace you, Sarutobi.”

“Of course sir.” Sasuke Sarutobi’s expression of mild amusement didn’t shift in the slightest. He gave his boss a slight bow and headed for the counter. “One half-caf medium with exactly one pump raspberry and one pump chocolate, oat milk, extra foam, caramel drizzle and curls. And a shot of espresso on the side.”

Mitsunari doesn’t even blink. “Is that all, sir?”

Kenshin doesn’t turn, but a slight smirk turns his lips up at the corners. “Order for the entire office, Sarutobi. My treat.”

It takes several minutes to deliver the complex coffee orders. Everyone’s favorite everything, to exacting specifications. A light sweat breaks out of Mitsunari’s forehead, but he keeps smiling.

Ranmaru isn’t so sanguine. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Two and three-quarters pumps of peppermint? Half white chocolate drizzle and what?”

The girl laughs. “I didn’t know you could put so much in your coffee.” She begins to prep the first order, moving a little slowly as she tries to remember where each product is and how to work the machines.

Nobunaga tenses, ready for Kenshin’s inevitable outburst. Any delay would send him into a violent rant with threats of lawsuits and putting you out of business and blah blah blah.

Uesugi turns around with clear intent but when his eyes fall on the girl, they widen. “You . . . hired a woman? In a coffee shop?”

The girl gives him an over-the-shoulder smile. “Sorry about the wait for your drink, sir. I hope I got it right.” She puts the finishing touches on top of the foam and walks the cup over to Kenshin’s table.

His eyes get wider the closer she comes. “You -” He seems to be at a complete loss for words.

Sarutobi looks concerned. His gaze floats between the girl and his boss for a moment, unsure if he should intervene.

“Get out of my sight,” Kenshin mutters, but the demand is half-hearted. “Women are such a distraction. Completely unnecessary in business.” He throws an irritated glance at Nobunaga. “Did my competition tell you to bring this - this girl here today?”

Sasuke slips around to the girl’s side and pulls her out of the danger zone. “Sorry about the boss. He’s a little unstable. Stress. Childhood trauma. The usual.” He blinks awkwardly as if both eyes were trying to wink at the same time.

“Of course not,” Nobunaga grins. Something about Kenshin’s intensity always made him want to needle the man. “But then, if they had, why would I tell you?” His carnelian eyes narrowed. “Maybe I’m your competition.”

“I could put your little coffee shop out of business,” Kenshin growled.

“Try it and see what happens.” Nobunaga was standing now, his voice low and menacing.

Ieyasu poked his head out of the kitchen and frowned. “Is Nobunaga fighting with customers again?”

“Yep.” Ranmaru grinned.

Masamune peered out, grinning widely. “Somebody get the lass a mop. This is going to get ugly.”

The girl pulled away from Sasuke and pushed between the two angry businessmen. “Excuse me, but could you both sit down? I’m very sorry if I caused you any discomfort, sir.” She looked at Kenshin, met his cold stare head on. “You might think a woman doesn’t belong in business, but flats don’t pay for themselves.”

“Great. Will someone grab the first aid kit,” Ieyasu muttered.

Masamune chuckled. “The lass has got balls of steel.”

Mitsunari was poking around for a first aid kit for Ieyasu, but he looked up at Masamune’s comment. “Does she? I didn’t see her carrying any kind of ball.”

Ranmaru giggled. “Should I explain it to you?”

“Don’t you dare.” Ieyasu cut the pink haired barista off.

Kenshin sat heavily, the tension suddenly emptying from him. “Your boss needs to teach you how to speak politely to customers.” Then he turned away from her and began to drink his coffee.

Sarutobi sagged for a moment in relief. “You must be a half-elf paladin,” he told the girl as she stepped past him.

“I don’t know what that is.” She shrugged and gave him a lopsided grin. “I’m actually putting myself through school to be a fashion designer.”

“Ah, creative, beautiful, and brave.” Sasuke blushed, realizing he’d said that aloud.

“Hey, don’t flirt with her, you corporate flunky. She’s our new hire.” Ranmaru grabbed her arm and pulled her back behind the counter.

“That’s right lad. Take your to-go order and go.” Masamune frowned.

Ieyasu elbowed him. “Not that I care, but if she’d been assigned to help me with the pastries, she wouldn’t be out here where nerdy customers could attempt awkward pick-up lines.”

“I apologize,” Sasuke said stiffly.

The girl smiled. “Don’t worry about it! You’ll have to come back sometime and tell me what a half-elf paladin is.”

Her inviting expression only made the glowers of her co-workers more obvious.

Sarutobi made a dignified exit, leaving with the drink orders for his office.

Hideyoshi took the opportunity to take the girl aside. “I appreciate what you did there, but you shouldn’t be throwing yourself into danger. Are you ok? Do you need a break? How about you sit down and we’ll get you a tea.”

“I’m really alright,” she told him. “I mean, it was a little scary but he wouldn’t have actually hit me.” Her eyes widened. “Right?”

“You are clearly new to this city if you haven’t heard the Kenshin horror stories.” Hideyoshi sighed. “Just, from now on let one of us handle it. It’s barely your first day so stick to the easy stuff.” He led her to the breakroom and sat her down on a tatty old sofa.

The break room was a sacred space for the cafe employees. A spot to grab a drink or a bite to eat out of the customer’s prying eyes. Nobunaga kept it comfortable, with an old couch and a couple of overstuffed chairs. A set of shelves held antique tea sets and some paperback books. There was a tv on the opposite wall and some potted plants in the windowsill on the far wall.

Ieyasu brought her tea and a strawberry pastry. He sat down, wearing an expression of pure annoyance. “So what. Are you suicidal?”

“What? No!” The girl looked at the tea and then back up at the annoyed blonde. “I just don’t like it when people fight. Someone might get hurt. And it would be especially bad if I caused it.”

“So just an idiot then.” Ieyasu sighed. “I don’t know what I expected. Nobunaga doesn’t hire normal people.”

“You realize that includes you, right?” She giggled.

Ieyasu looked away. “Whatever.”

The girl quietly sipped her tea. That lasted until she took a bite of the sweet, crumbly strawberry pastry. “Oh . . . this is . . . this is really good!”

“You don’t have to sound surprised,” Ieyasu huffed. Despite his tone, he wore a slight smile. He turned his head a fraction to look at her.

“It’s just, strawberries are my absolute favorite and this is - you blended the flavors perfectly. Not too sweet, and the fruit is the first and last thing on my tongue.” She finished eating it with a happy sigh. “I feel like I could eat a whole pan of these.”

Ieyasu busied himself with picking up the tray. “Then you’d get a tummy ache and I’d have to waste my time making you ginger tea.”

She laughed. “You know, I think under all that grouchiness you must be a really nice guy. I can tell by how you bake. You couldn’t make such sweet things if you were really that sour.”

For a heartbeat, Ieyasu was struck speechless. His mouth opened and closed as crimson crept across his cheeks. “You just proved you're an idiot,” he finally managed, sounding more breathless than annoyed. He hurried out of the room.

[oatmilkslytherin]

not-so-opposites attract (n.longbottom)

description: a very unlikely friendship forms when slytherin!fem!reader is caught helping the hogwarts house elves in the kitchen. when you mix a kind, confident slytherin and a shy gryffindor with a heart of gold, what will be brewed? request idea by @ausblack​ thank you dear<33

pairing: neville longbottom x slytherin!fem!reader

warnings: none i think

requested: yes / no

taglist: @jud3cardan​ @dray-cookies​

a/n: love this idea and lil neville warms my heart !!! also this is so long MY GOODNESS 

perhaps it was her kind heart, perhaps it was her even kinder smile. whatever it was about y/n, it caused nearly her entire house to turn against her, but it also bloomed the most beautiful friendships with others. 

y/n couldn’t lie; being called a ‘blood-traitor’ along with a variety of harsh names by her housemates was definitely not the most pleasant experience in the world. she wanted nothing more than to spread a little bit of light and love with everyone at hogwarts, but kindness only caused her fellow slytherins to shun her. people often questioned why she was sorted into slytherin in the first place; y/n questioned it herself. 

however, after a few years of berating comments and a few paper airplanes to the back of her head, she decided it was only worth it to be her true authentic self. perhaps that’s why the majority of her nights she spent with the house elves in the kitchen when she wasn’t sneaking into her friends’ common rooms. 

on this particular night when y/n found herself mindlessly wandering towards the kitchens, she couldn’t help but feel as if she was being followed by something, or someone. her head darted around her in search of any trailing professors or watchful prefects, but none came to sight. y/n shrugged the feeling off, writing it off as her own paranoia. she took one final look around the corridor before disappearing through the kitchen doors. 

the kitchen was bustling with an immense amount of house elves, all chatting amongst themselves as they began preparations for tomorrow’s breakfast. their heads all snapped towards the door as y/n entered, smiles stringing along their little faces as she entered. she couldn’t help but smile back as she made her way over to them.

“oh, miss y/l/n! how lovely it is for you to be here,” one elf, winky, spoke, her smile wide as y/n walked over to her. y/n couldn’t help but smile softly but sympathetically at the house elves beaming up at her.

“please, i insist you call me y/n. miss y/l/n is much too formal,” y/n spoke. the house elves all looked at her as if she was mad, their eyes darting from her to each other.

“professor dumbledore insists we call masters as miss or mister, miss,” dobby piped up hesitantly. y/n smiled fondly at the little house elf; she always had a soft spot for dobby, he was always much too kind and wise for his own good.

“and professor dumbledore may be right, but i am not your master. i am your friend.” her words caused dobby to smile widely, his eyes near to tears as he let out some sound of excitement. y/n could only smile at them, their dispositions utterly heart-warming to the young girl. although their company was quite different from her interactions with her friends, she couldn’t help but be drawn to the house elves who only ever treated her with kindness even since her first year.

y/n followed the house elves around the kitchen as they spoke brightly about their breakfast plans for the following morning. their spirits seemed to peak with the young girl in the room. as the only company they ever had was each other and the occasional professor, they all took a liking to one of the only students who managed to learn all of their names and treat them with nothing but kindness.

as y/n listened intently as one of the house elves taught her how they make the morning bread, a small voice spoke up from behind her.

“quite nice, aren’t they?” the voice piped, making y/n spin around. her eyes met those of neville longbottom, someone who she had only had a few interactions with in their past few years at hogwarts. neville looked as sheepish as ever as he stood behind her, a small grin peaking from the corners of his lips as house elves greeted him softly. 

y/n couldn’t help but smile at neville. she had always taken a liking to his kind hearted disposition, even if he was incredibly shy. neville, much like her, felt as if he was sorted into the wrong house, never feeling as if he displayed the qualities of a typical gryffindor. unlike y/n, however, neville didn’t have to deal with the cold remarks of his demeanor from his fellow housemates. still, y/n couldn’t help but feel drawn to the young boy, and found his bashfulness quite cute.

“they are. i thought i was the only one who came down here,” y/n spoke truthfully. 

“i come down here when i can. i like their company,” neville stated, his cheeks growing a slight shade of pink. y/n smiled brightly at the boy who appeared to have the same interests as her. she turned back towards the house elf, asking if she could continue to show her and neville how the bread was made. neville hesitantly stepped next to y/n, his shoulders slightly tense from nervousness, but he was still as happy as ever.

after that night in the kitchens, neville and y/n spent much of their time with one another. they attempted to make their trips to the kitchen twice a week to talk to the house elves, but outside of the basement, y/n and neville were often found in the greenhouse or the library.

as their friendship grew, y/n couldn’t help but notice more things about neville that she found absolutely captivating. most times when they were in the greenhouse, y/n would let neville talk for hours about the history of herbology and the properties of every plant he laid his eyes on. other nights, neville would watch in awe as y/n rambled about a variety of magical creatures that she took care of beside hagrid. 

neville couldn’t lie; the more time he spent with y/n, the more enamored he became by her. he loved the way she actually sat and listened to his rambling, and even encouraged him to tell her more when he apologized for talking for so long. he was absolutely infatuated with her kindness and intellect, and even grew the courage to ask her for help in his classes. not that he didn’t excel in his classes, but neville really looked for any reason to spend more time with her.

in the same way, y/n found neville absolutely captivating. the more he opened up to her, the more she took a liking to him. he was quite funny when he was comfortable with someone, feeling as if he could actually joke around and even throw slightly sarcastic comments towards y/n. many things about neville took y/n by surprise, and the more she learned of his quirks and habits, the more her feelings developed.

she couldn’t bring herself to tell him that, however. although she wasn’t of the same mindset and attitude as other slytherins, she still knew that she was sorted amongst them. despite how close her and neville became, she couldn’t help but doubt the idea of their friendship turning into anything more. y/n figured that neville wouldn’t want to romantically pursue anything with a slytherin, after all. 

or, so she thought.

y/n wandered around the corridors during her free period, her destination intent on being the library. as she turned the corner, her body collided suddenly with another, causing y/n to drop the books in her arms and let out an audible grunt as she smacked into the opposing body. 

y/n bent down to pick up her books, her mouth already spilling profuse apologies as she kept her eyes trained on the books spread across her feet. 

“watch where you’re going blood traitor,” the voice spat down at y/n, causing her to tense up immediately. of course, the one person she had to run into was someone from her own house. just my luck, she thought.

y/n scrambled to gather the remainder of her books, her eyes still trained on the space between them as a hue of embarrassment spread across her features.

“sorry, marcus,” y/n mumbled, ready to rush past him and towards the library before he scoffed audibly, gripping onto y/n’s passing arm and spinning her to face him. y/n grimaced at the feeling of his hand on her arm, attempting to pry herself out of his grip, but he was persistent.

“where do you think you’re going, y/l/n? off to see your boyfriend, longbottom?” marcus asked, his smirk dark and taunting. y/n gulped in nervousness, finally ripping her arm out of his tight grasp.

“he’s not my boyfriend, flint. besides, what’s it to you?” y/n asked, growing incredibly angered at flint’s taunting. she wasn’t a stranger to the loathsome things the slytherins said about neville; she found it absolutely repulsive, really. while no one had ever said anything to her about her friendship with neville, the word around the castle made her stomach twist in frustration. 

“just thought you couldn’t stoop any lower. guess i was wrong,” marcus egged her on, his wicked smirk still splaying across his face. y/n’s brows furrowed towards him, her grip around the binding of her books tightening intensely as marcus spoke.

“enough, flint. fix your teeth before you try speaking badly upon others.” y/n didn’t know where this sudden burst of confidence came from to speak out against her housemates, but the bottled-up anger became too much for her to suppress. while she could normally handle the harsh commentary about her own disposition, she wasn’t one to let others speak badly upon her friends’ names. 

marcus, however, was not a fan of her words. the smirk dropped from his face, anger washing over his features as he took a step closer to y/n.

“watch your mouth, y/l/n. don’t forget i know where you sleep at night,” flint threatened. normally, y/n would immediately cower away, making him believe he won. but right now, years of suppressed anger was threatening to bubble from her lips; she wasn’t going to back down now.

“you’re pathetic to sit here and berate a girl who has been nothing but kind to you for the past five years. maybe if you put the same passion for me into your team, you guys could actually win a match,” y/n retorted, a fake pout stringing across her face to mock him. marcus seemed to boil at this comment, his fists tightening at his sides. y/n swore that she could nearly see the steam coming out of his ears.

“i’ll make you regret those words, blood-traitor. how about you go run off to your pathetic excuse of a boyfriend? salazar knows what you see in him; he resembles the toad he lost first ye-” 

marcus’ words were caught off abruptly by y/n’s hand sharply connecting with his cheek, the palm of her hand leaving a stinging red mark on his skin. y/n’s eyes widened suddenly when the pulsing redness settled into her hand and she stared at marcus who was doubled-over slightly to the side, caressing his cheek in his hand.

“you aren’t a quarter of the man neville is. any girl would be lucky to be with him. now piss off, flint,” y/n spat viciously.

she expected the worst. she expected a ferocious stinging slap of her own to reside on her cheek, any long-term hex settling into her skin, or merlin forbid, even an unforgivable curse to be thrown haphazardly at her. she winced slightly, tensing her shoulders to prepare for marcus’ next move.

instead, though, he stalked off. turning on his heel abruptly, he strode tensely down the corridor, muttering something unintelligible as he rounded the corner. y/n let out a shaky breath as he disappeared from her line of sight, her shoulders relaxing into her stance.

“y/n!” y/n spun around suddenly, her eyes immediately meeting neville’s who was rounding the nearest corner. she looked rather sheepish as she stood in front of him, her palm still tender and her face still slightly flushed from the argument that ensued not even five minutes prior.

before y/n could even properly greet him, he spoke again. “i heard what you said... to marcus, i mean.”

her eyes widened at his words, an even deeper shade of red settling into her skin. she opened her mouth to speak, stumbling over how to start her sentence as thoughts filled her mind.

“i-i mean it’s true. i meant every... every single word,” y/n finally tut out, a small smile spreading across her cheeks. she couldn’t deny any longer that she fancied neville; perhaps it was her ambition that finally pushed her to act on her feelings.

a wide smile spread across neville’s face as his eyes darted around y/n’s frame, becoming increasingly more flustered from her kind words and even kinder smile. 

“neville, i fancy you. and if you don’t feel the same way, that’s okay but i needed to-”

y/n was suddenly engulfed in neville’s embrace, his warmth enveloping her in his arms as he wrapped himself entirely around her. y/n was slightly caught off-guard, but quickly softened at his touch, melting in his embrace and wrapping her arms around his torso.

“of course i fancy you too, y/n. i’d be crazy not to,” neville spoke, laughing lightly in between a few of his words. y/n smiled widely with her face buried in his chest, her heart fluttering with excitement at his words. 

she looked up at neville as their arms were still wrapped around each other. smiles tugged at the corners of their lips, hearts beating rapidly out of their chests as they stared at each other in awe. 

“can i kiss you?” neville asked timidly, making y/n smile even wider at his constant need to be a gentleman. it was just one of the many things she absolutely adored about him.

“i’d thought you’d never ask.”

[askgogglessteve]

Elf Dwight and Goggles Steve Scenes

A Vignette that I did for @ask-the-dweets

They wanted some scenes of angst with Goggles Steve and Elf Dwight so these are situations from their early realationship with Elf Dwight being insecure about their relationship. ------------------- "Your boyfriend? Really?" Yun-Jin looked at her nails seemingly disinterested in the conversation with Elf Dwight. " Yeah Steve is my... " Elf said to her harshly. What is it with this woman why is she such a jerk? "Steve... and you.." She shakes her head. "You really believe that... I know guys like Steve. ""What is that supposed to mean." Elf snapped back. "He can have anybody he wants.. He's a pretty boy, do you think he really loves you? You are just the flavor of the week" She harshly picks Elf apart.  "You! Are just a pedestrian nerd wearing a hideous christmas costume. You’re just an easy conquest to make him feel good."

"That's bullshit! ... "Elf hesitates tries to sound certain but... Yun-jin was hitting him right in his insecurities. "Is it really? When he has so many options? David, Laurie, Quentin, Leon, Kate, Felix, honestly he could have the entire campfire if he wanted, probably half the killers too.... I'd almost be tempted if I hadn't dated so many guys like him."  she really dug into Elf. Elf wasn't saying anything, it hurt that she knew how he was thinking."Think about it Dwight, you know I'm right." ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "Don't touch me!" Dwight violently stood up as he shook Steve's hands off his shoulders. Steve looked confused "But I thought you liked when I rubbed your shoulders." Dwight immediately felt bad, yeah it always felt nice when Steve rubbed his back but... What Yun-jin had said. He's just using you stop letting him manipulate you. "Well I don't... you're too touchy feely, stop being in my space all the damn time." he snapped. A dissapointed look flashed across Steve's face. "If ... If that's what you want." It almost felt as if he had kicked a puppy. No... Yun-jin was right.. no bullshit... Elf pulled at his harshest impulses and was as cold as possible. "Yeah that's what I want." 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Elf wasn't expecting Nancy to pin him to a wall but strangely it was happening. She looked angry, and he didn't know what he had done to offend her.

"I'm sorry but I don't..." Elf was trying to circle around her but she wasn't budging, he doesn't think he had ever seen her look so mad.

"Steve is an incredible dumb ass, but he's my dumb ass and for some stupid reason he's fallen head over heels for you." Nancy poked Elf's chest hard.

"I think.." Dwight started.

"Clearly you are not thinking! I don't know what burr has gotten up your butt lately, but Steve likes you... Like a lot... I personally think it's a bad idea... cause clearly you have a bad attitude... for a Dwight anyways."  She fumed.

"I... I ... I.."

" I'm not finished! He's spent the last few days worrying that you are going to dump him. And that's made him very distracted in trials it's fucked me over more than a couple times."

"I don't know what the issue is but if you don't want to be with him... stop jerking him around... and if you do... get your shit together!" she said with a tone of finality.

-------------------------------------------------------------------- "I'm not talking to you." Steve had a very sour look on his face, which was pretty unusual for him. Dwight didn't really blame him though. "Steve...." Elf started. "No... I'm not in the mood to hear you complain or get angry or go off the handle again go do it somewhere else... Leave me alone." Steve turned from Dwight Shit he had really screwed things up."Steve hold on." "Why should I? You've made it pretty clear lately that you think i'm a idiotic waste of space."  Steve looked really hurt, like wow... Dwight was so used to Steve being happy go lucky nothing phased him he just blindly was happy all the time. Did... did he have tears in his eyes? "I get it... I don't listen, I don't think ahead... I make stupid mistakes all the time...I'm stupid so why the hell would you want to be with me."  Steve looked defeated. "Whoa whoa." Elf's hands waved trying to diffuse the situation.. Shit, he had dug himself in pretty deep. "I know that I could have gotten Fancy, but we really needed to finish the gen." Steve looked miserable. Dwight shook his head, yeah he had been annoyed about that but... Steve wasn't really wrong about the gen either, it was really just a hard decision that he had to make and it wasn't fair for Dwight to be mad about that. "I'm not here to yell. I wanted... I wanted to say i'm sorry." Dwight started attempting to get in a word edgewise. "You... what?" Steve looked confused. 

"I... let my fear of what me and you were becoming... " he searched for the words.. "I didn't want to believe that you liked me."  "What?" Steve furrowed his brow harder. "I have been acting like an idiot lately cause I was scared.”

"What?" he's a sweet guy but sometimes.

"How about this... could you give me a backrub, they feel really nice and I miss you doing that." Dwight sat down in front of him. "But I thought.." Steve was confused. "Please?" Dwight coaxed his boy "If you are sure." Steve was hesitant. "Yeah.. I really want you to." Steve's hands touched his back and Elf melted... He's so good at this.. "You... you really like me... don't you Steve?" Dwight asked between groans. "Of course I do you dork." Steve kissed the top of Elf's head.

[jacqcrisis]

omg second surprise dnd mutual this week 👀👀 tell me about ur characters plssss

Okay, so I have several I've played and I like a lot so I'm gunna put this under a read more

my first dnd character was for 3.5e, and his name was Deklan and he was a half-elf ranger who honestly did not want to be an adventurer, but who dreamed of being a carpenter. He was very good at shoot and talk, and had a very tired, over-all-of-this personality when not rolling charisma and spent a lot of time carving ducks. 

Next was was Mehlz, a bronze Dragonborn cleric for 5e. She was neutral good, believed in helping and healing those in need, was naive and kind of gullible as she was raised in a Temple of Bahamut as an orphan and oh God I have so much character work for her and so much worldbuilding for the insular Dragonborn nation she came from that I actually am going to re-use it somehow. Anyways, she was very good at hit thing with hammer and shoot lightning and the only character figurine i ever made off roll20 like 6 years ago

i love her so much. My favorite thing about her gamewise is that she had the Tavern Brawler feat and used that liberally to proficiently throw her best friend and fellow party member as an improvised weapon. Said bff was a sentient red panda who was also a monk.

There was Virga for a modified Curse of Strahd campaign that took place in the real world so we were forced to be human. He was a terrible French Catholic priest who was extra as hell, a warlock for the Raven Queen, sarcastic and mean, and his preferred mode of fighting was smacking people with his silver tipped cane. He became a wereraven, had a Charisma score 22, and was the cause of one party member dying due to a critical failure which I felt SO BAD FOR. I genuinely liked playing as the Bird Man and his bitchy attitude and his ending was finally getting a date with the other wereraven dude he got cockblocked from flirting with twice previously.

Right now, we have Isaria, another half-elf and they are a circle of spores druid. They are very quiet, shy, have rather poor people skills (which is a first for me to make Charisma a dumb stat), and are often very blunt when talking to someone and in their actions. Their goal is to find a way to prolong life using necromancy after the traumatic death of most of their home village due to a famine and often slips away from the party to experiment with various poisons and potions and undead. They are honestly a druid for all the wrong reasons and I'm digging them so far. They are also the shortest character I’ve ever made.

Special mention to my Star Wars ttrpg character who was my all time favorite and a character I want to reuse elsewhere. Dekle' was a cyborg Zabrak space pirate with a Southern accent, a giant metal phrik-coated arm, and a penchant for robots and punching things really really good. In session three, she took a grenade to the face from a guy running into her on a speeder, in which her response was to punch the guy off the speeder, eat the explosion like a champ, and then steal the vehicle. She was a brick shithouse who dished out bullshit damage because it turns out the Star Wars ttrpg just has a lot of perks specifically for hand to hand combat and why the fuck would I be a jedi when I could be a walking tank? Her and her ward (a fellow party member and a force sensitive Twi'lek teenager who used force lightning and a wrist rocket) were the cause of many DM headaches for the dumb shit we did, up to and including jumping onto a TIE-fighter and punching in the windshield to pull the pilot out, nuking a room of stormtroopers, and beating in Darth Vader's face.

My favorite exchange EVER was when the game was starting out, and the jedi who joined up with Dekle' and her ward Ro'ena had noticed that Ro was force sensitive and used force lightning untrained. So she pulls Dekle' aside and asks point blank if Dekle' had ever notice anything off about Ro in the seven or so years she's been raising the Twi'lek. To which Dekle' responded 'who? the living taser?' before looking over at Ro for a second or two and then shrugging and continuing 'no, I ain't noticed nothing weird about her. why?' Just a defining moment for one dumbass butch space pirate.

And also special mention to a character I only played in three sessions of a Fallout game a friend was testing out. His name was Anders, he was a ghoul, and he was a lucky charismatic crackshot who broke the game so bad, I was jokingly banned from further playtests after he oneshot a dude in power armor with his shitty revolver. He's an OC I still think about because he's a trashfire, just an absolute garbage boy, no redeeming qualities, would sell you for one corn chip, 10/10 I love him very much.

[writtenjewels]

Switch

Dorian walked down the stairs and began clearing space on the table. Solas glanced up from his reading and frowned slightly. He said nothing, however, merely watching the Tevinter. Likely he had grown accustomed to interruptions by now. An attitude Dorian had hoped for in coming down her. Dorian lay a book open on the table and ran his finger along some text, mouthing words to himself.

“May I ask what you're doing?” Solas finally spoke up.

“I found this book in the library,” Dorian told him. “I'm trying to make sense of the language.”

“And... is there some reason why you had to come down here in order to do so?”

“The bit I made out already said something about a 'wide open space'. I thought to take that literally and move away from all the bookshelves.” The elf said nothing more, and Dorian had to admire his restraint. He was clearly annoyed but was not trying to chase the Tevinter out. He went back to studying the text.

It sometimes read a bit like ancient Tevinter, but some of the letters looked almost elven. Dorian had an excellent education but even he was having trouble figuring it out. The phrase he interpreted as “wide open space” had the Tevene word for “air” and “room” but the elven letters made it all more vague, as elven words tended to do.

“ 'Share... to understand... the heart'?” Dorian guessed. “ 'What is mine, is yours'.”

“Wait,” Solas interrupted. “Perhaps you shouldn't speak the words out loud.”

“Why?” Dorian raised an eyebrow. “You think it's some sort of spell?”

“I'm uncertain,” the elf admitted. He looked wary and was keeping his distance from the table. Dorian frowned and consulted the page again. He didn't feel any hint that magic was at work. Usually working spells sent energy through his body as he tapped into the Fade. Dorian felt none of that this time.

Perhaps because the spell is incomplete? If it was a spell, he knew he really shouldn't do it without knowing what would happen. But the researcher in him was pushing him on to discover more. After looking over the words for a few more silent minutes he closed the book.

“You're right. I should just take this back upstairs.” He turned and did just that. However, on his way up he began speaking the words softly to himself. “What is mine, is yours. What is yours, is mine. Move through this open space to share and understand the heart.” It sounded lovely, almost poetic. And nothing happened, so Solas's worries were all for nothing.

A little while later Dorian was taking his afternoon meal in Herald's Rest. He took a sip of tea, listening contently to the music and conversation. He'd grown to like the rustic charm of this place in his time at the Inquisition. The contentment was interrupted by what felt like something sharp squeezing his brain. Dorian gasped and nearly dropped his tea from the pain. What was pleasant conversation now sounded like invasive noise. Gritting his teeth, Dorian rose and exited the tavern with his food half-eaten.

Being outside was slightly better but not by much. Dorian rubbed his forehead and tried to breathe. What in the world just happened? He was no stranger to headaches but this one had come on so suddenly and was more painful than usual.

“Pardon me, ser mage.” One of the tavern workers had followed him.

“Oh, go away,” Dorian snapped. “Can't you see I don't wish to be disturbed?” His words came out harsh and the worker's eyes went wide, taking a cautious step back. Oh, wonderful, now he was scaring the locals. “I apologize. I'm not... feeling well.” He walked a few paces away, pressing his fingers against his temples this time. Healing spells were not his specialty but he could conjure a simple one that should ease his headache.

But nothing happened. No tingling in his fingers as the magic flowed through him, no soothing ease of pain. Dorian took a breath and tried it again and again nothing happened. Even weak from lost mana and wounded in battle, he could usually call up some small spell. He held out a hand to conjure a fireball, a spell he could practically do in his sleep. Once again nothing happened.

This was starting to get very, very troubling. The only way a mage lost their power was by being made Tranquil, and his whirring emotions were enough to prove that had not happened. So why couldn't he cast any spells? What was happening? If only his damn head didn't hurt, it would be easier to think!

Dorian clasped his hands together to keep them from shaking. Fine, he would see a healer first to get rid of this headache, and then he would figure out what was happening.

[liketheinferno2]

Like any other series in the world, FFXIV does have it's ups and downs. No matter what though, I think you'll find things to love and enjoy in Stormblood and i'm personally quite excited to hear your thoughts as you go through it.

Truly the WORST I've ever seen FFXIV get was still really good for an MMO. I feel like fandom types tend to get skewed certain ways depending on stuff they've been into before but after digging in the ground for cohesive characters and story in shit like Borderlands and Far Cry for years of my life I'm like hey it seems like Final Fantasy is actually a big budget popular video game series that is good. Who'd have thought THAT possible.

Nier was similar for me, just, holy shit this game is narratively complete. I don't have to feel like a suckered-in narratively-cucked idiot for expecting it to satiate my artistic mind. For so long I was the Genuinely Expects Queer Rep In The MCU Guy of gamers and now I'm playing stuff where it's like the writing was taken seriously as a piece of art, god fucking forbid, y'know?

Excuse me hijacking this sweet ask to rant about vidya gaem fanwank but I just... I enjoy Final Fantasy very very much. Generally I prefer to play stuff that HAS that wealth of content and fidelity that you can only get from a big studio but I feel like that usually comes at a cost to tight writing and emotional impact. It'd be like, common practice to discuss what parts of the story we'd "fix" or delete entirely, to go over and over what parts we hate about the thing we're ostensibly enjoying, but I'm no longer someone who's like "fuck canon I rewrite my own better version" BECAUSE THE GAME IS ALREADY GOOD. THE GAME IS GOOD!!! GOT DAMN!!!!!!!!

Like fuck me I'm thinking about Estinien a lot right now as you can probably tell but it's because I've never had a game crack into that feeling this hard before in my life. We've all met this guy. Angry difficult traumatised person who you know is in a bad situation and maybe they could get better if you could just help them out, but they don't want to leave. In real life you probably cannot save this guy, but this is Final Fantasy!

And even then they don't make it easy, the consequences for people giving up on Estinien are fucking DIRE, but it's the way this story takes you as low as you can go before letting you crawl out of there together. The process of getting you to think of a certain person as a partner or best friend or like-family to your protagonist and then taking them out in a way that makes you understand for a moment why Estinien and Nidhogg have fallen so far in grief and anger themselves. ..

And what I really love about FFXIV is it gives you a space for recovery and reflection, it's not throwing tragedy at you just for spectacle or shock. When someone dies, you mourn. When you retrieve Estinien from what was essentially a kidnapping, he's in the hospital for a while. Shit like Aymeric reaching out almost desperately for companionship after the events of Heavensward and the way they build such a protective relationship between the player and Alphinaud is like there's so much CARE in this, they take feelings so completely seriously and really that's what you need to do in a game like this. When the literal situations are all JRPG levels of absurd nonsense it's like you either go hard on the feelings or you've lost me.

There's been a big push in recent years that art has to SAY SOMETHING or TACKLE THINGS but that attitude can often be antithetical to stories that are effective and cathartic and that feel genuine. The other thing I like about FFXIV is it's weird and atypical fantasy in a lot of places but it doesn't do any of this in service of defying or subverting the tropes to make a statement or whatever the fuck. You can just have weird stuff like the GO LITTLE BETA BOY GO thing with the Tias, or that their elf-equivalent is the racial majority instead of humans, or the massive height differences any time you interact with anybody, or that the Lalafell are the little gnome wombat ruling capitalist class, without knowing that it's only weird because it's trying so hard to not be normal.

I gotta stop before I carry on forever but there's so many little good things in FFXIV that (along with the overwhelmingly caring tone of the entire game) make it a very special experience; ESPECIALLY in comparison to the stuff I used to play, so I'm pretty much enjoying everything it throws at me. :D

[random-imagines-blog]

Seeing Stars (Thranduil x Reader Oneshot)

Requested by: Anonymous Wordcount: 2189 Summary: A snowy walk with Thranduil goes slightly awry.

You’ve never breathed in air that felt so crisp and clean before. The cold was so much that you could barely feel it as you walked among the trees, bare during the winter. Your breath was coming out in a misty vapor, nearly freezing the tip of your nose, but once more, you could not feel it. The snow had paused for the moment, which was why you had decided to take this walk, and to your surprise, the grand King Thranduil of Mirkwood had decided to join you, leaving his covered throne room to walk outside. The stars were beautiful tonight, though the King was a distraction from the sights around you. And the sounds, since you could hear the animals in the forest scurrying around, getting the last of the food before hiding away for hibernation. There was no such thing as perfect in the world, but if there was - this was the closest that you believed anyone or anything could come to it.

“Is it hard to live in the forest during the winter?” You found yourself asking, then realized with horror that you had not addressed Thranduil in the way that he liked. “Your majesty,” You quickly added on. He, being taller than you, flicked his eyes downwards with amusement at how you hastened to add on the title.

“It  has flaws, though they are few, of course. We elves have learned to deal with things like ... temperature.” You could feel the ego in his voice. The ‘better than thou’ attitude that you had gotten used to from him, but you never spoke aloud about. Because you also knew that it was all just on the surface. If he truly thought he was better than humans, he never would have kept you around, surely.

“With your very long lives, you might have learned some manners?” You said, more as a suggestion. You really were overstepping your boundaries, you knew, but you were of the human reason, which automatically meant a stubborn streak. He raised an eyebrow at you, very much like the Drama King that he is.

“Manners?” He pondered, looking straight ahead of him. He’ll rise to the bait, he supposed, if only to prove you wrong. “Will you accompany me out of the forest tonight?”

“Why, what’s out there?” You asked, a shiver going up your spine. There may be peace in middle earth now, with Aragorn as King, but there were still dangers lurking about, like wild animals and bandits.

“Less trees, I imagine,” Thranduil said. He offered you his arm, and you took it. This was very rare indeed, since it’s not as if you were of elven nobility. You were just a messenger that Legolas had sent from Minis Tirith, a human that he trusted to get the message across. You had expected to return right after getting an answer, but Thranduil had invited you to stay and curiosity got the better of you. It wasn’t everyday that you were invited to stay in a beautiful Elven city.

“I almost think you’re up to something, your majesty,” You added his title on quicker this time. He seemed to like that since his hand patted your own which was against his arm. His footing was sure, quick and light, while you felt like an Oliphaunt next to you. While he didn’t make a sound against the ground, managing somehow to avoid any fallen brush and branch, you sounded like you were trampling through a forest thicket.

“At least any animal would be scared away by your noise,” He retorted. You curled your nose at his direction but didn’t give him the satisfaction of an answer. He hummed, amused by that, as you walked out of the borders of the forest, and into wide open space. It was almost scary how far you could see. How far, perhaps, someone could see you. The thought made you hold onto him a little tighter. “It’s not as lonely if you look up.”

So look up you did.

There were so many stars that at first, you thought that you had walked out to see a swarm of fireflies. But it was the wrong season for those, and once it reached your mind that it was indeed the sky, and that the cold of the night whisked away the clouds so you could see them properly, and the moon was barely a sliver so it’s light was not a distraction, your breath caught in your throat. Your neck started to hurt from bending it upwards at the angle, but that didn’t matter.

Thranduil stood beside you, not looking up, but looking at your profile. His eyes were narrowed at your reaction, a curiosity with a touch of confusion. He’d seen the stars many times, but did not pay them attention the way you did.

“I’ve heard that humans have stories for the stars. Tell me,” He commanded gently. He stood with his hands clasped in front of him, waiting somewhat patiently. He didn’t like to not be the center of attention for the moment. He wanted you to look at him, or at the very least to speak.

“Stories?” You asked, finally giving your neck a break, and turned to face him. “Oh, I guess that there are a few. Don’t the elves have special meanings behind the stars?”

“Yes.” He said, but gave no other answer. He was still waiting for you to do as you commanded. There was an expectant look in his eye that drew you in, which made your mouth start to form the words.

“I guess the big one is shooting stars,” You started. “When you see one fly across the sky, you’re supposed to make a wish. It’ll make it come true. Though I haven’t tried that since I was young. My wishes never came true. I decided it was a waste of time and-”

“What did you wish for?” Thranduil cut in.

“Adventure,” You said with a laugh. You looked back upwards for a second. “I guess that it did come true, though it took some time.”

“Patience is a virtue,” He said, rather hypocritically, but you weren’t about to point that out. “Let’s begin the walk back.”

“Alright,” You said, falling back in line with him, but a step behind. “We also use constellations to find our way.”

“So humans do have some sense after all,” He said, the corner of his mouth going up in a rare smile. You laughed a little at that, smiling down at the ground.

“That’s almost a compliment, King Thranduil. Are you feeling alright?”

“Perfect,” He responded. “Does everyone wish for adventure on these shooting stars?”

“No, I imagine not. People want a wide variety of things. Love, maybe. Money, definitely. Gold. Power. The list could go on and on.” You two walked in silence for a moment, before a thought came to you. “What would you wish for?”

He turned to you, his perfect white hair hardly moving as he did so. There was not even a trace of a wind here amongst the trees.

“I am King of these woods. What makes you think that I have want for anything?” He questioned you. It wasn’t as severe as the words would have made you think. He was softer at that moment, like he had thought of something. It seemed more that he knew something was missing, and he was asking you to tell him what it was. You crossed your arms in front of you to keep in the shivers, as the still air still had a chill to it. You could smell snow in the air.

“A wish could be outlandish if you wanted it to be. The only limits are your imagination.” You let yours spread as you looked at the canopy that blotted out the stars above. “I would wish, right now, for my mother’s cooking. The way that she made bread, oh and the wine, and the cakes that were always moist! If I think about it anymore, I’ll be beside myself with hunger.”

“You’ve never tried elven cakes,” Thranduil said, as close to snorting as a distinguished elf could be. “They’d put your mothers to shame.”

“I ought to slap you for even making that comment. You’re lucky that you are a King, your Majesty. Such a thing is almost treason back home.” Your cheeks were starting to get red, as well as your ears. Those very words were fighting ones. Were you not getting closer to the company of guards, you would have yelled at him.

“And then I would have to imprison you for laying hands on the King. I’d end up having to keep you here forever. Perhaps that would be my wish,” He said, with a smirk that made orcs seem tame. Your human temper was flaring up now.

“That would be a cruel use of a wish. If I were you, I would use it on something more important, like a personality to go with those looks,” You shot back, your irritation was definitely clouding your judgment. “If you haven’t noticed, I’m the only person who spends time with you who isn’t a part of your guard. Maybe that should tell you something.”

“That I should attempt to swat the gnat that flits around my face?” He asked, clearly enjoying himself while your mood went darker and darker.

“You’re cruel,” You said with narrowed eyes, stopping your walk by going in front of him and standing. You were not the tallest human by any standards, not even as tall as Thranduil, but you knew some tricks to make you seem big. Puffed out chest, head held high. “And you’re arrogant, and you’re-”

As you leaned in to try to seem more threatening, your mind gave you a bunch of warning signs. A guard could come along and shove a sword through you at any moment for threatening the King. Thranduil himself could knock you away from him in a blink of an eye. He was a skilled warrior, after all. You froze, only a few hair widths away from the face of the King, who looked as if he were made of stone. He wasn’t moving. You weren’t moving.

But then thinking about all that he had just said, the fire returned. How dare he? Just because he was an elf, he thought that he was better than you. He thought that he could just imprison you.

You wanted to scream into his face, but that would just make things worse for you. An elf would come along and take your arm with ease and lead you to the dungeons. The tale of Bilbo and the Dwarves had reached your ears some time ago, but you would not have the same luck escaping, you knew that much. So you did something else. Something that Thranduil’s all-seeing eyes would not have been able to see coming.

Your soft lips touched his own cold ones, right at the corner where they went into a dimple, leaving just a trace of a kiss there. There was a thin line between love and hate, between lust and anger. Let him stew over this reaction for a while.

You blinked and settled back onto the soles of your feet, having somehow managed to go on your tip toes without realizing it. Thranduil stared at you still, not having blinked once during the encounter.

“I should keep you here,” He said, his voice low.

Well, that wasn’t the reaction that you wanted, or were expecting. And now you became nervous, almost terrified at the prospect of him locking you up because you went with a smug impulse. You weren’t so smug now, that’s for sure.

“That is my wish. There is a shooting star somewhere. I’ll wish on that right this moment. I wish for you...” You closed your eyes like a coward, expecting the worst. “- to stay here in Mirkwood with me for the rest of your natural life.”

“I don’t know if your son would like it that his friend,” You emphasized the word, though you were more of a messenger than a friend to the elf, “-is being kept a prisoner by his father.”

Thranduil laughed. Oh, he laughed, which would be damn adorable if it didn’t seem so threatening given the circumstances.

“Perhaps prisoner is a strong word,” He said, a rosy glow on his cheeks, which you noticed when you slowly opened your eyes once more. “I’d like you to continue to stay as my guest.”

“As your guest?” You questioned. “Even though I just kissed you?”

“It was certainly unexpected,” He said, offering you his arm to continue the stroll despite being near his palace once more. “I’m curious as to what you would do if I gave you compliments rather than teasings.”