#here have some. ancient trio vibes?

[snow-system-wol]

Hythlodaeus is more than content with his current lot in life (<1k)

Ao3

You love seeing the two of them interact – both in public and behind closed doors. It us quite different and yet the same.

Hades’s soul betrays him every time, to your eyes at the least. Mayhap it is subtle to others, even invisible, but not to you.

You see it whenever Azem returns to Amaurot later than expected. He pretends to be frustrated, and begins to lecture them on how they are too carefree and unpredictable. And yet, you and perhaps you alone can see the flare of relief and affection in him.

(Azem surely knows, even if they may not see.)

You see it when Azem pushes at the boundaries of Amaurotine respectability. You've never been overly concerned with perfect adherence to norms, not like Hades could be, but Azem is entirely operating on their own rule set – they all but dared the Convocation to take it up with them, knowing that nothing was unacceptable about their behavior.

Still, to see Azem training in their new combat style, dressed in casual and well-fitted clothing – unembarrassed to be doing such a thing in relative public… It clearly bothered Hades.

He'd insist that it's about public decorum, that seeing someone else go out of bounds stresses him, but you suspect there's something additional. Mayhap some small jealousy that Azem does not do as most Amaurotines do, showing their face and individuality freely only to loved ones.

(He complains, yes, but he never tries to control Azem. Some other members of the Convocation worry about the length of their leash, but you suspect Hades tells them they're being ridiculous if it is ever formally discussed.)

You think it's a bit silly, if it is jealousy. There is much that Azem shares with only you two – and you are certain that Hades has noticed. Azem only truly relaxes when behind closed doors, alone with both of you. They act so unburdened, ‘tis true, but a fraction of it oft rings… hollow.

Yet here, occupying Hades’s apartment, it is different. (And it's always his apartment – the honorable Emet-Selch has more than adequate lodgings to put up with Azem and you showing up, as far as you're concerned.)

It is different – easy, even. 

Dinner is Azem’s work tonight. They could simply use creation magic, yes, but they take a certain delight in doing things the hard way. They bring back mysterious ingredients and recipes from their travels, and Hades has long since stopped worrying about their food causing harm.

(For all the fuss he puts up at times, in his own home it is all much more... quiet.)

He tidies the kitchen, waving away the mess of cooking with nary a word of complaint. Neither does he startle when Azem wraps their arms around his waist and tells him that the kitchen is perfectly clean now, he should rejoin you on the couch.

You know, should Azem ever do such a thing around others, that Hades would be mortified and likely truly angry. 

You also know that Azem would never push that hard. They like seeing the small ways their behavior flusters him, but they have always respected his boundaries even if they eschew general social ones.

You would love to explain that he is far too concerned about these things for his own good, if not for the fact that he is not wrong. Off the top of your head, you could easily list a dozen people in the city who would be easily offended, and half of them are Hades’s co-workers.

It matters little – the apartment is a sacred space, existing not within Amaurot but without. Here, when Azem cuddles into your side, the only cause of strife you see in his soul is that there is no easy spot to join. Here, when you reposition so that he may sit in the narrow space between the two of you, there is no reason for him to refuse the indulgence.

You lean heavily against his side, reaching back to start undoing your braid. Hades stops you with a gentle hand, asking whether he might do so instead. It is a relaxing feeling, the intimacy of having someone's hands carefully comb out your hair. You nearly wish Azem had braided theirs today, to afford them the same comfort. 

If it is comfort they want, though, they are not shy about seeking affection. When Hades drops his hands from the ends of your undone hair, you needn't even look to know that Azem is kissing him. 

(And even then, the way it makes his soul shine brighter is easily visible even from the corner of your eyes.)

They then lean over Hades and grab at your shirt instead, tugging you closer. Your lips meet, a motion made so natural by literal centuries of practice. You reach for Hades’s hand – the reminder to him that he has not been forgotten and to you that you remain so lucky as to have them both. 

Azem kisses you, and they taste of spices from faraway lands you shall never see.

(Why would you ever need to see them, when Azem comes home to you and describes it all so vividly, cooking and planting odd little things? Your world, right now, is this apartment – and while Azem is home, it does not feel limited in the slightest.)

[0pooleart]

I've been churning through so many Sonic character redesigns, here are some of the sketches. I post these and more on my Discord server as I make them, these are just the ones I probably won't bother turning into full drawings. Here's the thoughts on each:

The Freedom Fighters, but I specifically imagined these being their outfits during Sonic Forces since Forces' story could be so similar to SatAM's. Sally and Bunnie have stories and trios before this (Sally with Mighty and Ray, being smol woodland creatures, and Bunnie being with Fang and Trip, being western outlaws hired by Eggman)

Nicole the Holo-lynx. Now looks more holo and more like a lynx. May or may not make an even fleshier version on top of these

Sage, also made to look more digital, but honestly I don't care enough about her character to really consider including her anywhere. Who knows tho

Jewel, made to look like an actual insect. I got the insect Mobian idea first with Charmy of course but I'll probably draw the Chaotix in full later

Jet, honestly one of my favorite redesigns so far. It just ended so perfect, even making his shoes more like bird claws.

Big, basically the same just made more frazzled and wild-looking

Lanolin, made to look like that other kind of sheep and also made chubbier cuz sheep have a chubby aura

Bokkun, now is himself the exploding message. I wanted him to look like Eggman just randomly strapped a rocket to his back, instead of being a normal jetpack. He loves exploding and being rebuilt.

One of the Ancients, now given clothes that match the vibe of some of their creations. I also thought it would be cooler if the Koco were their actual brains/bodies, and the gel exterior is another part of their technology to make them stronger and more versatile.

[coyotelip]

hello darling i want some poly hcs!!! give me a poly ship uve been thinking about and tell me some things about them <3

hello ♡

speaking of poly, I'm into poly ships all the time. I find it relaxing to be open for experiments and dynamics like that instead of bickering which pairing is better.

but my favorite is jegulily (nobody surprised) because I love their dynamics in every way. I love jegulus and jily dearly, but recently, more and more thinking about that beautiful regulily relationship (both, platonic or romantic in that poly trio). you can fight me, but they're perfectly working for me ♡ (also, if you're interested in some jegulily pwp, I have some 🤭 f/f/f here and m/m/f here!)

also I can see barty and evan in some poly relationships, but still didn't dig deep enough to figure out with whom! if you have some opinion, please share (regulus is obvious one, but let's give a chance to others).

and if we speak about girls, I still thinking about mari's idea with bellatrix/pandora/sybill... damn, they're vibing so much with some squade of witches to do ancient rituals in the forest being naked.

[tricerotopicpt2]

Alright guys the fable smp pokemon au brainrot is back and full swing because ocie was posting about it so here's a couple of thoughts based on that (warning this post is a bit long 😅)

Ok ok, so it terms of what pokemon people would have and how they got them, here's the thoughts

I think icarus' partner pokemon would be an archeops they got from their dad. Something about the overworld foundation doing some kind of research with ancient pokemon and fable giving his kid one seems right. They'd also probably have a pom-pom style oricorio and a decidueye (something about a ghost type archer pokemon that bird shaped feels right). They'd absolutely have almost exclusively flying types. Charles is just a really high level torchic they got from and trade and cant use.

Rae would probably have an Espeon. It's just feels right for him between it being a psychic type and evolving through high friendship. Going with the idea of him studying psychic and dark types, an inkay could be good for that, but idk if it fits his vibe. I also think that a pa'u style oricorio could be fun because he could totally study its dancing and how that connect with its "psychic energy". Also it could be matching with icarus which is fun. While it's not dark or psychic, a lucario or riolu could also be fun because they literally sense auras. Like. It's their whole thing. A lucario evolves with high friendship, but it also might be a bit to strong for rae to own. Maybe a riolu that evoles later on.

Athena just gets all the fire types. And maybe some fairy and dark types. Their partner pokemon is absolutely a torracat. They deserve all the fire types. Athena could also have a baile style oricorio so all of prince trio can have matching bird guys (maybe I just like oricorio alot. But it's a fire type and it fits and its fun). Just give this guy fire pokemon. And also maybe an alcremie because baking.

On that same note, give Jamie a dachsbun. And some bear shaped pokemon.

Arisanna gets fairy pokemon, specifically I think her partner pokemon is a togekiss because I think the allays being togepi is really fun. Im not entirely sure about what other pokemon she would have tho. Maybe an azumaril because blue. I dont know how vexing would translate over to pokemon au, but vexed ari would absolutely have a tinkaton.

I think magearna comes into play somehow here, maybe Caspian would have it and fix it up. Idk I think magearna is a fun pokemon and could be a fun stand in for Raza. Similar thing with type null.

I think the first pokemon that ven would end of catching is an alolan vulpix. You cant tell me I'm wrong. Its literally a little white fox guy. It's probably the only pokemon he'll have for a while and probably won't evolve. Maybe he gets a ghost type pokemon later.

I'm starting to realize how much alolan pokemon I've given these guys. But to be fair, alola has fun pokemon and I watched the anime for it a lot after they took xy and xyz off Netflix.

I think the world sisters would probably just be besties with some legendaries/mythical. They probably wouldn't catch them, but momboo just hangs out with shaymin sometimes and ocie is homies with phione and manaphy. Or if we wanna stick with the alolan theme, tapu bulu and tapu fini.

I absolutely have way more thoughts, but this is what I'll say for now since I dont want this to be too long 😅. I want to hear more people thoughts on fable smp pokemon au's tho

[lunawho47]

My Watcher Top 5 List

Happy 5 Years, Watcher Entertainment, and thank you for all the hard work you've done entertaining us all these years! Here's to MANY more!

5. Top 5 Beatdown

I am a HUGE list maker. You name the topic and I can guarantee you I have a list of preferences on it. (And will probably discover some way to work a DW reference into it.) This show was practically made for people like me because not only do I always make lists, but I'm always arguing with people about them. And I expect people to have serious, hardcore reasons for their preference. I am in NO WAY a "no thoughts, just vibes" kinda person and that reasoning will never hold any water for me.

4. Weird and/or Wonderful World

I love to travel and I love to go to out of the way places with my friends and family. This show, to me, is the personification of a good besties day out. Let's go see something neither of us has bothered to view before and weird people out with how weird we are together! Can you think of a better way to spend time with your best friend? Cos I can't.

3. Travel Season

This show is so beautifully put together. I was a big fan of Worth It (although I have a hard time rewatching it cos it always makes me hungry), so having Steven, Andrew, and Adam back together again was a dream come true for me. I had been hoping for it since Watcher Entertainment was announced. And then not only do I get the trio back together again with this, but I get an entirely new idea that isn't just Worth It Repackaged. It still is about food, but it's more about exploring a new culture together and seeing how the entire world's love and dependency on food shapes relationships and communities. I studied to be a missionary and one of the things we always focus on when we're meeting people and finding out ways to partner with communities of believers in separate countries is FELLOWSHIP. Aka eating together and discussing what matters. That is this show in a nutshell. It is a comfort show for me and one I constantly have on in the background.

2. Mystery Files

Don't get me wrong. I love my Ghost Files content, but there's a reason why this is on my list and Ghost Files isn't. I enjoy a good ghost hunt, but intellectually I am more stimulated trying to research and come to a conclusion about an unsolved mystery. I actually had not heard of a good number of these random mysteries. I do wish they would do more true crime like they did in their Buzzfeed days, but I also understand completely the toll that kind of research can take on your mental health. And they also probably got tired of trying to discuss that kind of thing while being a COMEDY show. True Crime and comedy don't always mesh very well so as I said, I get it. And obviously, with it being my number 2, I do enjoy it regardless of the change. My love of this show is based entirely on the fact that both Ryan and Shane get to host episodes and they can talk and joke about really weird, unexplained events in the world's history. What's not to love?

Puppet History

I was a history major back in undergrad, so this should surprise absolutely no one. (And in grad school, I studied church history and the history of the middle east and ancient languages, so there was still a lot of history involved in my master's degree.) I DO want to give credit where it's due. I've seen a lot of praise of Shane's work on this show in the Top 5 lists on here. And he does work hard on this! But shout out to all the other hard workers on this project! To the researchers (Kari Koeppel in particular, who seems to be the head researcher on 80% of these videos), to the puppet makers (Shane only made the original Professor. The others have been made by professionals), to the writer Garrett Werner, and the other voices for puppets that have joined the show in the years since the first season. Shane does deserve a lot of credit -- this is his brain child and season 1 was mainly his work when it came to designing the puppet theater and everything. Other people have always written the scripts though. But yeah. If you love history, I can't recommend this show enough. I won't lie -- some of their facts are a bit squiffy, but nothing TOO egregious, and usually the Professor (aka Shane) will admit in character that he doesn't know the answer to a question and Ryan will tell the Professor he should do more research, lol. I would say that this show is a great comedic introduction to these historical topics but just don't take any episode as the supreme historical authority on ANY of these topics. (My official TM piece of advice on any piece of edutainment.)

[autism-alley]

ok full immediate finale thoughts!!! spoilers for everything below!!

LUKE NARRATION???? SAYING PERCY’S FIRST LINE??? YES HELL YES THE PARALLEL

FINALLY PERCY VS LUKE SWORD FIGHT TRAINING BETTER LATE THAN NEVER I GUESS

ok??? liking it so far

nvm not liking the kronos part and how he just Knows so earlyyyy

walker’s angry face is GOOD

god blood is gold!! glad they included that

ok dialogue feeling a little clunky again

why is hades’ helm bronze i thought it would be stygian iron like nico’s sword (edit: it’s not i looked it up)

don’t like that we’re just back at montauk and the police/press don’t show up which is like. what’s the point of making him a suspected domestic terrorist and national fugitive if it’s not relevant to this fight?? and it doesn’t play a role in how the trio gets home by percy making sad puppy eyes on national television as a way for the story to show percy’s cunning and grudge against gabe, and by cutting the flight back to new york there’s no sense of dread as percy takes the journey to olympus. i get they couldn’t have him fly if they changed the deadline being passed but like… maybe!! they shouldn’t have changed it. in the books it’s clear percy will be SMITED if the deadline passes and the bolt isn’t returned. IMMEDIATELY. he should already be dead. instead of in the books being shown zeus’ barely contained wrath, yet we. nothing. zeus’ first action is promised to be smiting percy and then nature will go to war with itself and i’m Not Getting The Impression At All that is happening. the radio says the weather is extreme and earthquakes are being used to break up storms but we aren’t seeing any of that. the sky is only partly cloudy here, you would think if nature is tearing itself apart it would be everywhere and very extreme. the book tells us it would be the apocalypse

lmao mrs dodds reappearance let’s see where this goes

they made her way nicer here lmao but i don’t hate it

yes!!! annabeth giving him her necklace for luck i love

those r pretty weak storm clouds like we’re finally getting some clouds and they’re just weak as hell. what happened to the sky being black. they’re so light and sparse. i had to rewind to see the lightning they so don’t look like storm clouds. and i know if they completely covered everything we wouldn’t see the establishing shot of the empire state building but maybe pick a different one. instead of a top down, we look up, feeling small in the shadow of the gods, as storm clouds swirl around the empire state building, obscuring the top, storms obscuring olympus itself as it is plunged into war

“i don’t have an appointment” lmao

“annabeth is afraid of spiders” just stated. once again telling not showing. but i LOVE the analogy about big things squishing small, scary things. i love it a lot that was rly good

hilarious that percy’s necklace’s cord is so thick compared to luke and annabeth’s like it highlights how empty it is

idk how i feel abt olympus. it’s grand, as it should be, and i presume empty bc of the war (but like. Everyone is gone? nobody… stays to fight? or people who don’t fight but olymous is their home? they all leave? they all leave their home? would all the demigods leave chb? no?? the books literally show the demigods prepare for war towards the end of the series?), it feels ancient as it should, but idk if it feels… godly? divine? like it should be radiating. i’m not getting paradise vibes but i can try to justify it to myself with the war

OF COURSE HE IS?????? (reading this back idk what this references lmao?)

zeus does not feel asshole enough. i love lance reddick. rly i do. i am heartbroken he is gone. i would never have cast him as zeus.

still hate the kronos thing

“i surrender” regardless of my feelings abt the show or this scene or the implications this has this does still make me emotional

bitch he’s one 2 talk lmaooo LMAO AND POSEIDON SAID AS SUCH

enjoying the greek idk how accurate it is will have 2 ask bestie but we love seeing the greek gods speak greek of course

“obedience doesn’t come naturally to you” “no. sir” LMAOO IDK IF I WROTE THAT DOWN RIGHT BUT THAT WAS KINDA FUNNY

“the sea does not like to be restrained” YES!!

…sally taught him ancient greek? hm. idk. they’re erasing the way percy knew so little abt the mythical, percy and annabeth’s dynamic in the book is he’s out of his element in the mythical world and she’s out of her element in the mortal world. they need each other. this annabeth is very clueless abt the mortal world’s culture, but this percy just knows so much abt the mythical world, i am not getting the impression they need each other

“do you ever dream about mom?” killed me. im dead. im six feet deep im gone. the rest of these notes will be written from the great beyond

oh ok i guess the pearl works for that too?

thalia tree looking kinda wimpy ngl. why is it so. skinny and like skinny all of a sudden in its trunk and its branches so thin. they should be full and lush THIS is the magical tree protecting camp’s borders? created by zeus to preserve his daughter??

stoll brothers?? maybe? idk? two kids of a similar age who could be brothers, mistaken for twins, even, seen for like half a second?? i’m leaping already

THE HUG

oh so excited for this scene let’s gooo luke and percy yes yes yes my excitement for this was so much my mom got annoyed lmaooo

ARE THOSE TEARS IN LUKES EYES

RECRUIT??? OKAYYY THIS IS INTERESTING!!! IT GOES BAD SO HE PULLS OUT THE SCORPION??

also you’re trying to recruit him after you tried to kill him by sending him into tartarus?? lmao?

BACKBITER??? IS IT HALF AND HALF?? IDK I CANT TELL?? BACKBITER??

ok yea backbiter. miss luke’s introduction of it in the book tho. how its deadly to the moral and the mythical

loving the ambiance of the fireworks through the trees omg

“i met your dad” being the thing that sets luke over the edge yes yes yes this fight isn’t Incredible but the fight scenes in this episode are LEAGUES BETTER THAN THE PREVIOUS EPISODES

mixed feelings abt annabeth being there. i like that she got to hear luke’s betrayal first hand and obviously i like her defending percy but her being so hesitant abt luke is so important to the series. she had no hesitation at all. :/

also miss the scorpion. i do miss the premeditated attempted murder

we’re skipping all of percy’s stay at chb? :(( makes me so sad. but peep the new bead. wish we got more focus on that instead of it just being there we just breezed past percy’s summer at camp :(

“you are a leader in the eyes of your follow half bloods” no. No. NO. not until after the titan’s curse does percy step into the leader’s role STOP RUSHING THINGS, DAM(N).

OH WE JUST SKIPPED OVER ANNABETH DECIDING TO GO HOME?? WHAT ABT HER AND PERCY TALKING ABT IT?? WHAT HE SAYS IS WHAT MAKES HER SERIOUSLY CONSIDER IT RIGHT?? i can’t remember if the train scene was supposed to be that scene but what the hell

ALSO ANNABETHS HAIR YESSS I LOVE HER TO DEATH THATS MY GIRL!!!!! SHE LOOKS SO GOOD

GROVERS SEARCHERS LICENSE

SEARCHING THE SEAS YES THAT MAKES SENSE FOR THE CHARACTERS AND THE SEA OF MONSTERS SET UP OK

okayyyy trio being cute

theeee beach looks exactly the same? and the owners don’t lock the door? i get before maybe it was magically unlocked but the owners didn’t stop by? is it just magically unlocked again? (i guess. was it a dream?)

JACKSON REUNION STILL GETS ME

OH???????

lmao percy being sassy. well. ok no. he’s a little too confident. book percy even when he said bold things in the face of gods was usually a little scared still on some level especially in the first book we should be seeing some of that and why tf kronos just telling him his plans also idk if i rly like the grim reaper vibes he got going on

wait what

we’re skipping over their real reunion?? or was that real? what happened?

enjoying percy’s room tho it’s pretty close to how i imagined

they never explained the blue food as sally’s sign to percy she still has her sense of self, as her sign of rebellion against abuse. it’s just there. it feels like when the blue food became a fandom meme and it seemed to lose its meaning as a mother’s reassurance to her child that she was ok, she was herself, despite all the hell they’ve endured. now it’s just here. checked off on a list. tossed half-heartedly to book fans and horribly unexplained to new fans. ://///

SALLY DOESNT KILL GABE???????? SALLY DOESNT KILL GABE!!!!!! RICHARD RUSSELL RIORDAN JUNIOR. YOU FUCKER. YOU ABSOLUTE FUCKER. IM COMING FOR UR ASS, BOY. RICK??? DISNEY??? WHAT THE FUCK. THIS IS SOME FUCKING NERVE.

i. wh. this episode was pretty solid until this. i am devastated. how could they do this to sally. how could they do this to the story. just. how could they do this?? and for what? a joke? even in the movie where percy kills gabe it’s funny but it’s still INTENTIONAL what the fuck i don’t even. i don’t even know how to process this. i cant even say the wind has been taken out of my sails. my sails caught on fire and disintegrated. i am stranded in the middle of the sea with no sails at all.

[thetriforcetriohouse]

The Self Inserts

For those of you who don't know me, I'm an avid selfshipper. As such, I've carefully inserted all of my Zelda self inserts into this AU, too. Gaze upon them and know despair.

Lyric

Early thirties.

Owns the house directly across from the Triforce Trio.

She and Ganondorf met one day while Lyric was singing in her garden, and they struck up a rapport.

Lyric doesn't know what it is, but somehow...being here, with him...it just feels right!

The two are in a healthy relationship. She is aware that Ganondorf has two sugar babies and is totally fine with that.

A big fan of the band Ghost. Has avid lore and stories she's written about them.

Aria

Early thirties.

Brings a sickly, victorian waif who may or may not be a ghost vibe to the function.

Lost her memory after a bad blow to the head, and Ghirahim found her wandering around his neighborhood.

Perhaps he took pity, perhaps he just wanted a new toy to play with. He took her in, gave her food and clothes, and set about giving her a makeover. He even gave her a name!

That's right--Aria isn't her original name.

But even after she recovered her memories, she decided to keep it.

After a few months, Aria regained enough of herself to move out and live with Lyric.

Aria and Ghirahim are constantly sexting and erotic roleplaying. He gives her an allowance sometimes.

Her browsing history is rotted. Please don't look at it.

Melody

Mid twenties.

Avid horse girl and adventurer extraordinaire!

She met Link through the local Equestrian Center when she moved to town, and the two immediately got along.

They are Tulio and Miguel, except that most of the time they're both Miguel.

Was inducted into Link's Secret Polycule by Ilya and gets along well with all the other members.

Has a massive Clydesdale stallion named Bing Bong. He's kind of an idiot.

Thinks life is just wonderful and treasures her freedom above all else.

Sonata

Early thirties.

Shy and bookish.

She and Shad are childhood friends, currently sharing a townhouse crammed full of ancient artifacts and tomes.

Her special interest is the Twili, and the medallion around her neck is one of their symbols.

Caught the attention of Zant one day while he was out stalking Ganondorf and he took a hard fall. Sonata was the one to help him up, making sure he was alright before leaving with a smile.

Ever since then, Zant won't leave her alone.

He has her computer bugged, he is the reason she no longer owns a working webcam, and she's terrified she'll look out the window at night and see him outside.

She just wants to live her life...why won't this weirdo go away...?

Dirge

Mid Thirties.

Rarely speaks.

Skilled outdoorswoman. She lives in a tent in the forest.

Fully believes animals are better than people.

Her 'home base' is pitched next to some old ruins, which drew in Shad like a moth to fire. Those old ruins are cursed and trapped to Hell and back, and Shad would have died if Dirge hadn't yanked him back at the last second. She scoffed at him, calling him an idiot and not to do that again.

He's followed her around ever since.

Usually he's pestering her to help him navigate the forest and the different ruins there. He pays well enough, so she begrudgingly obliges, but lately...

Who knows? Maybe the little weirdo finally grew on her.

He reminds her of a lost puppy. A little annoying, sure, but cute is cute.

Shad is the closest thing Dirge has to a friend, and he considers her a friend, too.

After Shad voiced his displeasure that Sonata was being stalked, she went and threatened Zant. What are you going to do, dox her? She doesn't have a computer, dude!

Cadence

Early Thirties.

The Hot One.

Knows she's attractive and isn't afraid to show it off.

Proud of her body--actively goes to the gym to work out.

That's where she met Groose! The two hit it off immediately and began a passionate relationship.

Her favorite activity there is Groose doing pushups while she sits on his back, cheering him on.

Prima

Thirty.

Dreamy and refined.

The heiress to a wealthy company, she likes to LARP as a princess 24/7.

She's caught the eye of the local artist, Yuga. Such grace...such beauty! A muse for the ages!

She must be his.

I don't actually have a lot for them yet since I'm still fleshing out their actual in-game story, but I figured I'd put the broad strokes here, lol.

[claire-starsword]

Shining Force Pre Release Coverage

yes i have made a post about this before but i was a baby with one magazine. Now i’m a big 90s kid who has gone through the entirety of the Beep Megadrive archives from 1991-1994, as one does. Get ready for what might be my biggest post ever, I don’t wanna break it into parts for the timeline vibe.

To contextualize the following dates: the game came out in Japan on March 1992.

October 1991

More cool sword animations for Max. Also it took me way too long to realize this background is also not anywhere in the final game, though the final Gate of the Ancients bg does take a lot from it. Apparently it was once meant to be an indoor location with torches.

Here are screenshots of the map itself. Icons were completely different, and Gort and Mae are there. Obviously this could be just the use of debug features to test the characters, but I suspect their story roles were actually changed and they were meant to be starting characters. More on that later.

there’s also a screenshot of Guardiana with a slightly different layout. There are centaur NPCs in town as opposed to only in the castle, the old man sprite is different, and the little girls are normal as opposed to dragging cats around. In the final version, this little girl sprite is only for Karin, Krin and Koron, the important little girl trio. The bed sprites are also different and kinda failing at perspective.

Besides screenshots, we also get a synopsis.

Centuries before Mephisto’s uprising in Shining in the Darkness... In the continent of Rune, far to the east of Thornwood, many countries big and small lived in endless days of peace. However, the great nation of Rune Faust, wanting to take over all of Rune, plotted to get its hands on the “Legacy of the Gods” inherited by the country of Guardiana since ancient times.

The Legacy of the Gods is said to be both a superweapon and a frightening beast. Whoever attains it can become a god or a devil... But even though the Rune Faust army has invaded Guardiana and ravaged the country for its plans of domination, it hasn’t succeed in finding the legacy...

Meanwhile, the soldiers of Guardiana, forced into a life of wandering after the fall of their country, have risen to the task of defeating Rune Faust. And as they resist against the unknown evil power controlling Rune Faust, people have come to call them “the forces of light”, Shining Force...

The grassy plains of Guardiana, mountains full of precipices, jungles, deadly deserts, rivers where piranhas live, those and other stages await our heroes.

After all, who is the one controlling the powers of darkness? And what is the truth behind the Legacy of the Gods? Hiding many mysteries, a new legend begins now!!

Very basic stuff, but while it might just the drama vibes, it does feel that Guardiana was supposed to get more wrecked, or get wrecked earlier, which would explain Mae and Gort joining earlier as well. Simone narrating the king’s last wishes right in the intro supports that idea as well.

Lastly, we get some character art and info:

(i know it’s hard to see the og text with this resize but hey, that’s why I linked the magazine collection before)

These are the forces of light, “Shining Force”!

“I’m the swordsman protagonist, Max!”

The protagonist of this story, Max. He’s human, but is an expert with the sword and can also use magic. He roams across the continent, leading the Shining Force in its way to defeat Runefaust.

One more for the “Max was meant to have magic” pile.

Archer - Hans

An elf who used to work at Guardiana’s palace. His skill with the bow is first-class.

Very nitpicky detail: Hans’ class is written with kanji here, when it’s written in katakana in the final version.

Knight - Mae

A young centaur warrior. Daughter of the late Knight Captain.

Priest - Lowe

A dwarf who’s a great friend of Max. Currently training at magic.

Shining in the Darkness already had a hobbit priest so i wonder if there’s some miscommunication here. The hobbit discourse is even older than I’d imagined.

Warrior - Gort

A hotblooded dwarf old man and Mae’s servant.

Told you there were changes on these two. There’s no indication of any connection between the two in the final version, especially since centaurs tend to be arrogant towards other races, a fact that does not come up here at all, nor does Mae’s tough personality. Even more evidence will come up later that those things were added late in development.

Knight - Ken

A centaur in knight who admires Max.

The enemies don’t get descriptions and all have their final names except the Rune Knight, who is only Centaur Knight at this point.

November 1991

This is a big one. The beta title screen is the least interesting thing about it.

We see more of Guardiana, and the centaur NPC was actually Varios all along, meaning the intro was really different.

Max and Mae get to smile! Given the story is kinda obvious why this was changed, but I always did find it weird that their artwork had different expressions to begin with.

Plenty of screenshots of a field battle with completely different graphics. More on this later.

Also a different and apparently pretty big shop.

But now for the part that really rocked my socks, a whole beta map:

Here’s the final map so you can compare the geography yourself. This map doesn’t label pretty much any town and instead brings up a bunch of new names for the natural areas.

The Gate of the Ancients, or what I suppose is it, it’s not labelled, sits atop the Mountain of Guidance, which seems to be a single mountain as opposed to the big mass that stretches up to Rindo in the final version. The gate also seems drawn like a little castle, which would explain the indoor bgs shown so far.

Alterone is to the northwest of Guardiana as opposed to the northeast. It is also right next to the Beagle Mountain Mass, which, makes A Lot More Sense with how much we hear it is a mining town. I’ve been wondering where their mines were in the final map. They must have mined too much though, because in the final version this mountain mass is largely gone.

Further to the north is Rindo Harbor, and you, english speaker, might think, “oh yes Rindo that’s the final name” but nope, in the JP version the town’s name is Rindorindo, for some reason, so that’s a difference. A difference that matters to no one.

There’s no river near Rindo, and Manarina and Shade are not labelled, though its concepts seem to be around. Manarina also seems to be surrounded by a lot more forest than in the final version, which might explain its guide book entry.

The forest near Manarina has a name that deserves its own post, Kaien, in katakana so that it is harder to discerning its meaning of course (and intentionally allow double meanings). Possible interpretations are the start of a performance (開演), the opening of a park or garden or banquet (開園 and 開宴), a superb performance (快演), or an eerie yet fascinating performance (怪演). I’d say the last one is the most fitting for Manarina, but localizing it is still a pain in the ass, the english staff dodged a bullet here. Right now most I can think of is Enthralling Forest, but you still miss some charm.

I also have to wonder if Mishaela was conceived as a boss for this place. Puppet performance and all that. She also ends up having a forest stage in Shining Soul.

All the white mass on the north is Pao Plains, no sign of the bridge or the forests of Bustoke, although there is a town in the mountains. Was this a Shining Force without Zylo? Inconceivable. But might confirm something I’ve been suspecting due to my debug mode escapades. In the battle test mode, egress usually takes you to the last church you’re supposed to access in that chapter. Yet for chapter 2 battles, it takes you to Bustoke, which is on Chapter 3. The editor also shows Bustoke as one of the first map in the data, between Rindo and Shade. It is likely that Bustoke was meant for Chapter 2.

In fact the reasoning for going to Shade Abbey is very shaky, you can see in the final map that there’s a lot more mountains between Shade and Bustoke than from Manarina. I guess the point is that guides work there, but in that ase they should work somewhere else. I’m not complaining though since Shade Abbey is one of the most iconic parts of the game.

The Pao Plains are surrounded by the Boho Mountain Range. Boho is short for bohemian, the romanticized view of nomadic/alternative lifestyles, so it’s very fitting for Pao.

Waral was a single island instead of an archipelago, and the ocean between the two sides of Rune is Cypro Ocean, a name that eventually made its way to the guide book. The region in the center of East Rune is Conga Basin, which we’ve also seen in another book, and Dragonia is to the north already. Finally, the Crescent Mountain Range is the bunch of mountains to the east of Runefaust.

Note also the big isolated structure south of Runefaust. Perhaps the Castle of the Ancients has not always been under the ocean. I also see no sign of Prompt, while all other towns are in (except Waral but Waral isn’t even in the final map, it’s tiny). This might explain why Chapter 7 is cursed on debug mode, frequently failing to load an egress point.

All this rambling was just for the map itself. There’s more written about it, I’ll just translate things directly because I’m a bit tired of taking screenshots.

This is the Rune Continent where Shining Force will take place

There’s no comparison between the world of Shining Force with that of Shining in the Darkness, it is far larger. There are mountain ranges, towns, large coasts, and even islands as well. The adventure starts at Guardiana to the south of West Rune, and the you’ll move clockwise to north, and then to the eastern part of continent, shrouded in mystery. That region to the south of East Rune, could it be Runefaust...?

East Rune and West Rune

The two continents and the Cypro Ocean between them are all referred to as the Rune continent, and are far to the east of the land where one day Thornwood, the kingdom where SitD takes place, will be built.

Guardiana, where the journey begins, is on West Rune. West Rune, compared to the eastern side, is more developed, with many countries living in peace and abundance.

In the eastern side, it is said an ancient civilization once lived there, but currently there are no countries other than Runefaust, and a wide spread of steep mountains and eerie forests.

Because of that and Runefaust itself, the people of West Rune regard the east as a dark land full of mystery.

They’ve thankfully chilled a bit on the “light side versus dark side” in the final game, possibly because they needed churches/HQs/shops to welcome the heroes gameplay-wise. I do see something drawn in the map here where Rudo should be, so perhaps other settlements in the east were already in the cards, just not very developed.

The country of Alterone

A neighboring country of Guardiana. It was originally a mining town built to extract rare and magical minerals from the Beagle Mountain Range around it, and then developed into a country. With the minerals excavated, Alterone amassed a lot of money, which was used for its own development. The common citizens began to live in luxury, and even despite other countries. Of course the royal family too has filled the castle with loads of luxury items and art, and the army is small and lacks zeal despite its extravagant equipment. The cultural level of these people with not much history, is not very great. A rising rich country. One could argue it’s a bit like today’s Japan with its excessive liquidity, or maybe not?

oh i am unequipped in so many ways to understand that jab

The country of Guardiana

A country that prides itself in having the deepest history in all of West Rune. It is said this country was built by people who inherited the duty of protecting the “Legacy of the Gods”. Because of that they’ve grow a tradition of respect for the military arts, and the royal family believes in maintaining a humble lifestyle, so the castle has no ornaments or luxurious items. However the long time of peace has weakened these traditions and the people, and they could not defend themselves from Runefaust’s ambitions, being destroyed...

Being a small country, it has little stock of weapons and such, but it is blessed with fertile land and the agricultural production is plentiful. The story of the Shining Force will somehow begin around this country.

Nothing I hadn’t seen in guide books already, but I’m somewhat surprised the worldbuilding was all already there and not refined for the guide books only. I guess it just didn’t find its place in game.

Speaking of that, here’s a long interview with the devs and I don’t have the energy to translate it all. Here’s the summary:

Unsurprisingly, the game’s biggest challenge was data size. Without compression it was around 30MB, around 15x the size of its final ROM, and definitely not fitting a Mega Drive cartridge. The interview only talks about compression but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had to cut things as well.

It’s brought up that they could have solved that problem by making a CD game instead, but they wanted to reach a wider audience.

Lots of comparisons with SitD, how the game was bigger and more complex, requiring more work and graphics and maps and everything basically. Again it is said that the story happen centuries before SitD.

When asked if there's a connection with the SitD, Masaki Wachi (writer for SF and the GBA remake) enthusiastically replies “Yes! Oops, I said it (laughs)”. He then elaborates that there were big clues about it, but that he wouldn’t comment on the connection with Mephisto and the ending of SitD.

Kenji Orimo (director and writer) does add though that if it was meant to be a direct sequel, it would just be called Darkness II. He also mentions seeing more potential in expanding the Shining World from Force than from Darkness.

Yoshitaka Tamaki (character designer, art director) mentions SitD characters having more of a fairy tale vibe, while SF characters were more grounded, with some pretty scary enemies in the late game, with more of a “war spectacle” vibe.

Lots of hyping up the battle animations.

Also hyping up the unique spin on tactical games, where characters and enemies all have their own agility instead of just alternating between an ally and an enemy phase. I don’t know anything about tactical games to comment on this.

December 1991

We get a better scan of Mae’s old portrait :)

Max on the other hand has already changed to his final one. Character description are largely the same as October with a few more tidbits on personalities such as Ken being a super honest boy. Gort is still referred to as Mae’s old servant, Lowe is still listed as dwarf, and no mention of Mae’s tough personality yet. Max’s class is also listed as warrior, but he was mentioned as swordsman on October so I assume it’s just a mistake.

We do get more characters this time though.

Tao Class: Mage Species: Forest Elf

A mage in training, but her talent is huge. Has a close relationship with Anri, the princess of Guardiana.

The forest elf thing is very curious since Hans and Diane are not listed as such. I have seen the term float around for Nigel of Landstalker, but I didn’t play that yet so no comment.

Diane Class: Archer Species: Elf

A wild girl who lives in Bustoke. Being raised in the mountains, she’s vigorous in battle. Scary.

Zylo Class: Werewolf Species: Beastman

Leader of Bustoke, the mountain nation. Focused in hand-to-hand combat, he does not equip weapons, and instead fights with his sharp claws.

Guntz Class: Steam Knight Species: Beastman

A knight of heavy power who wears an armor powered by a steam engine. Well known through the world as a mercenary specialized in castle assaults.

Well, that’s not my chill guy. Seems his personality wasn’t nailed down yet, which surprises me as his artwork very much implies the gentle guy we know now. Worth mentioning though, Guntz does join the team right as you’re going to assault the fort, and the GBA version even elaborates a bit on that invasion by requiring you pick a bomb from Crock, though Guntz isn’t involved in any of that. Perhaps this sequence was intended to be a bit more elaborate from the start.

Khris Class: Priest Species: Cantaul

A priest who used to work in Alterone. Despite being both priests, she’s stronger than Lowe in battle. Let’s see who is the best at magic.

Kokichi Class: Wing Knight Species: Human

An old gramps from a noble lineage of knights. Entranced by the dream of flying, he spent fifty years researching flying machines.

We then get a bunch of monster art i won’t even try to fit in a screenshot, and more description than they ever got in guide books as far as I’ve seen.

Dwarves

Skilled at close combat due to their strong body, but has low defense. Their lethal axes are menacing.

Dark Priests

Runefaust priests, wearing white masks as per the army’s regulations. Working on an attack with focused magic.

rip dark priests you did not learn blast in time if that’s what they’re implying here

Also, they’re called Dark Priests here, Priests in the final game, and Dark Priests in the english localization. I don’t know why I bother paying attention to that.

Snipers

With superior footwork, they attack from a long range with bows. The double team kind, working as pairs with the Rune Knights.

Puppets

Evil marionettes, it’s unknown if they have consciousness. Part of the Monster Corps, they attack swinging swords.

Except they don’t in the final game. They don’t even have swords in the art either, so I’m unsure if that’s a change or an idea that never made it in.

Hell Pierrot

It seems they are not really pierrot, just disguise as such. Those who are fooled and approach them carelessly end up hurt.

That’s the final JP name for the Dire Clown as well.

Gargoyles

They are statues, but had temporary life breathed into them by magic. Seems not all of them turned into flesh, some parts remain stone.

Cerberos

Guard dogs of hell into a deep sleep in the caves under Alterone. Trained by the Runefaust army.

Worms

Giant mutant earthworms dozens of meters long. Don’t have any senses other than touch.

Dullahans

Headless ghost knights who used to be Rune Knights. No comparison between their power though.

And now a special boy that does get to be screenshotted:

Mimics

Transform immediately as you open them thinking it’s a chest. Their lids grow sharp fangs, and they sprout legs to move.

It’s worth noting that while these guys didn’t make it to any classic game, SF2 does have a mechanic of monsters spawning from chests, we just don’t get to see because the search in battle option was removed in the english version.

To finish the parade of weird creatures, Yogurt is here.

What is this Yogurt creature, after all?

Yogurt, a mysterious characters that shows up around Guardiana and toys with the enemies. No clue if he’s an enemy or an ally, but he certainly has a likeable vibe, you could even call him cute. He’s not docile enough to be raised as a pet, and seems prone to quick mood swings. Does a lot of weird things as he pops up in the adventure. You could say he’s kind of a versatile performer.

Yogurt’s Data

He’s 80 cm tall, weights 10 kg, walks on two feet, while the front paws have atrophied and become small. His main food seems to be berries, but he’s omnivorous. From what’s been observed, he can swim, is fast and has strong jumps. It’s unknown when he started wearing the helmet on his head. No one has seen him take it off either.

Insides:

Tail - Uses it to balance while walking in two feet.

Feet - Way better for jumping than for walking.

Head - On par with humans. Seems to be very intelligent.

Hands - Cannot use tools

Belly - Quite fat but he’s still agile.

There are also doodles of his secret appearances which I’m not gonna translate now. They’re very much just describing his antics.

January 1992

Pink haired Simone appears. Sadly there’s no dialogue screenshots.

Guardiana is already pretty much the final version, only the entrance still seems unfinished, some NPCs are different.

Remember that field battle with different graphics? There’s more of it here, including the map.

It’s horrifyingly large.

Finally, there’s some talk of critical hits being capable of special effects like one-hit KO, but it’s very vague so it might be the magazine staff not knowing this was attached to a specific weapon.

February 1992

Pink Simone is still around, and so are unfinished weapon animations and the old knight battle sprites. Max still shows up with zero MP. Guardiana and the starting maps seems mostly finished with a couple odd spots.

Guardiana castle is full of chickens, and has a gate.

The king’s room has a couple more flags in it.

The Gate of the Ancients now looks like the final version, though battle screenshots still show the indoor background. The starting team is also the final one, with Mae and Gort no longer there.

The Alterone battle shows enemies inside the shops.

The article ends with a recipe for yogurt.

March 1992

The game is released, and I too am released from this long ass post. From here on, every article, ad and official material I’ve seen uses only screenshots from the final version of the game. If that sounds obvious to you, wait for the SF2 post.

Update: ??? 1992 

Joke’s on me, I was not free from the post. I found some old footage, sadly i don’t know which date it is from, but it shouldn’t be too early in production. Simone already has brown hair, the Gate of the Ancients is already outdoors. 

There are still things to note though. Simone still talks of the king of Guardiana in her intro as opposed to the final one. The intro to Chapter 1 is a placeholder text.

Anri’s dad does not have a unique portrait and uses the default king one. Also, the castle still do not have centaur knights, even though their sprite already exists. In the place are not chickens though, and instead some weird placeholders you can see at the top right corner here.

Unlike every other battle scene in this post, the final sword sprites are in, but their animation for Max is still unfinished. Also, having footage we can hear some audio, and while Simone’s theme and the field map theme are in, the town and battle scenes use placeholders from SitD

More importantly,

cat.

Their sprite isn’t exactly the same as the unused ones in the ROM though, as those have the tail up like a properly happy cat. This means these sprites still got further polish before being ultimately scrapped anyway :(

[asweetlovesong]

Decided to give myself a little art challenge and thats to take a group of three emojis and turn them into original characters!

I don't know if I'll use them for anything important but I love them already!!

So without further ado...

I will probably make more of them! They just fit on one sheet for the time being!

In the image it shows the emojis used to create them! And under the image I'd give a little talk as to how I came up with their design!

Jun Kang

Jun Kang was made using ♠🔥🐉, spades have meanings like intellect, death, military etc and I focused on the military aspect! The fire and dragon reminded me of Liu Kang (and even though both King Lao and Liu Kang are related to the great Kung Lao, this is probably only from Liu Kangs side) And maybe he was one of the earlier earthrealmers if Liu Kangs family to use fire powers.

He definitely has a different personality and everything other than some physical similarities to Liu Kang, like same length of hair and the same eyes. Sorta like two sides of a coin, Liu Kang is a monk meanwhile his ancestor Jun Kang is part of ancient China military (war and peace).

♠🔥🐉

Kamille Belanger

Kamille Belanger was made using 💋🔫✨, the gun reminded me of the Special Forces but not wanting to make a Cassie Cage 2.0, I decided to make her a member of the Black Dragons instead since they also use weapons. I was going for a femme fatale kinda vibe, complete baddie.

She might go heavy with the lip stick and mascara but you won't see if stain her skin as she beats up good guys and finish whatever job the Black Dragons gave her. I decided to make her Canadian and found a list of 100 top names in Quebec in the 90s, found Camille so I just change it to a K (because misspelling is kool beanz) and Belanger sounded cool next to Kamille. Also I gave her sparkle shape earrings! Because of the sparkle emoji!

Seriema

Seriema was made using 🎶💀🫁, it was a bit challenging thinking of a way to show lungs on the design as lung related stuff came to mind like asthma and lung cancer don't have much of a lookable effect so I decided to make her my first Chaosrealmer and make her have semi translusive semi mutilated skin above the chest up till her nose. Which shows part of her skeletal jaw, teeth, and bone, which helps with the second emoji which is skull.

For music I have her a lyre, it was the first handheld instrument I thought of, but I don't think she knows how to actually play it. Because "that would be a form of control over the instrument and we hate control here in Chaosrealm!" Or something like that. So just random string playing.

Saturn (aka Aragon)

Saturn was made using 🪐🎶🍇, when it came to him I knew I wanted to implement rings into their design so they were lots of jewelry. I decided to make him sorta a noble of high status in Edenia but is definitely not near prince level of highness, but he sure acts like it. A man that loves to drink wine, party, have luxurious things, and more. He knows he got a pretty face, but that's probably where the admiration for him ends, unless you admire his parties. He is definitely similar to Narcissus but not too into himself that he doesn't feel love for anyone, he'll definitely fall for someone for sure but so far every character I made is single and not too important in the world of Mortal Kombat.

And that's all of them!

I will probably do more, I just ran out of space on this single piece of paper. Suggestions are always welcomed!! If you want a trio of emojis (ex. 🔶🍫❤, ☕⬜🥀, 🤡🎉💥, etc) turned into a Mortal Kombat OC let me know! And if you want to try out this challenge go ahead! Just @ me so I can see your awesome creation!

Have a lovely day! ~💗

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[feisaru]

Do you have any other IE ships besides FeiSaru? And do you have any sexuality/Neurodivergence Headcanons for anyone in IE?

I do. But tbf, tbf I've drifted away from the other ships ever since I played CS and these two entered my life. You could say they're the only ones I have really hard feelings on. Other than that, I pretty much just vibe with what the people I follow throw on my dash (there are a few ships that trigger me, but luckily nobody here has subjected me to them yet and I've filtered their tags)

Nevertheless, here's some other stuff I enjoy:

Enhiro!!! My babies. I love them. A lot. I wrote crap analysis on them at 3 am after I watched S3. I've heard the Japanese side of the fandom does them pretty dirty though. Glad I didn't have to witness any of that yet lmao

Arugan (Alpha and Gamma from CS) (@amalg4me's fault. These two are so friggin cute)

Rococo and Fideo

Garsha and Vanfeny (recently decided to call them Garvan)

Meia and Giris

Hakushuu

Kyouten

Somefubu

Midori and Nishiki

Anything within the Break Trio (yes, as polycule also)

Very fine with Kdfd and Kisaku

Haruna and Kogure

Tourika

Ennatsu

Most of the typical Galaxy pairings, I think? Like Minamana, Mataten, Munetaku, Konoha and Kusaka... I kinda forgot what I shipped there because in the end I found Ozrock as an antagonist really enthralling and thus focused on him mostly. Gotta touch up on that someday.

(There's also a special ship my friend made up that I'm not listing here...) (and Aoi is a firm sapphic imo, make of that what you will)

It all comes down to I don't seek out ships, if they come to me they do, if they don't, they don't. There are various things I like seeing people get worked up over but can't say I actively ship (e.g. Takuran, Ranmasa, Nosaichi (bc I have not seen Areori)). Suma sumarum you could say I'm pretty chill over almost everything mainly bc I'm so insane over Fei and Saru that there's no room for much of anything else *fingerguns*

Now to the sexuality hcs: I have a lot of those. If you want my thoughts on any specifically, u can send 'em my way bc I wouldn't even know where to start. They come flying to me like the word of God to an ancient monarch.

And neurodivergence! Honestly, there are quite some characters in the entirety of IE that exhibit signs of being nd. Lots of them hyperfixate on soccer, use it as a coping mechanism, or both. But once again, my brain doesn't mull over the entirety of this franchise. So, (who would have thougt?) I definitely have pretty firm thoughts concerning Saru's mental problems (Fei's too but Saru's are overall easier to figure out for me)

(Bonus little thing which I think is a pretty popular fan interpretation: Endou has ADHD and Kidou's definitely autistic)

[doomedandstoned]

France’s ENDLESS FLOODS Return For Mesmerizing  Doomer ‘Rites Futurs’

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

Today, we hail a powerful new atmospheric gem from Bordeaux three-piece ENDLESS FLOODS. I'm not sure if the band's name is drawn from the Song of Solomon or not ("many waters cannot quench love") or whether it is in reference to something more grim, such as the soul-weathering nature of our era. All that's important is we have a fourth album from the band, which we brought to your attention way back in 2016 when they released their self-titled debut.

Now we ready for a fourth album Rites Futurs, this one featuring a seamless melding of talent from Louise Dehaye (vocals), Stéphane Miollan (guitar, bass, vox), and Benjamin Sablon (drums, synth, vox). Thibault Laisney (who provides some additional guitar) a fantastic job of recording and mixing the record at a/b box studio, the sound is clear, full, and roomy.

The songs certainly give you a lot to think about -- less narrative and more contemplative. Sung entirely in the French tongue, the words in English are no less compelling:

"Planet-piercing silver spear Incandescent like immense flames Chariots arrive slowly The chariots and the burning wind"

"L'Eclair" comes out with bristling guitar and wailing dissonance as the moon makes its appearance in the night sky. The amazing three-person choir is immediately arresting, containing elements classic and modern that flow from beautiful to mysterious to unsettling within a single progression. The jaded crooning at 2:05 rivals those of Undersmile. There are exaltant moments in this song (around 4 minutes in) that tap into a similar vein as Green Lung. Endless Floods are masters at transporting us through moods as naturally as the flow of disruptive waters. This is about light, balance, and contrast.

"Décennie" seems to be about time and how events repeat themselves endlessly in cycles, leading to a passionate climax of cymbals, screeching dissonance, and wailing voices.

Relancer chaque jour l'effet et dans l'echo tout noyer

Lyrics are similarly grim on "Muraille," which might be contemplating the ashen remains of Vesuvius (Nuage de lave mêlé au cristal des murs de flammes). There's something quite ancient about the way the song starts, drawing upon early contrapuntal style. There are doomy elements in play, such as the funeral-esque guitar lead that follows. This is counterbalanced by glistening post-metal ambience and a haunting entanglement of voices that eventually take soaring into the aerosphere. There's something at once meditative and bittersweet about the chorus that concludes the song ("Stone after stone, let's climb airless enclaves").

Louise Dehaye's singing is reassuring and enchanting in the serene unfolding of title track "Rites Futures". As the song developed, there are standout moments you'll not hear anywhere else, such as the distant, riotous warbling of carolers set against a slow, fuzzy, bad-ass headbanger riff with garage vibes that goes shoegazey then has an out-and-out meltdown of black metal tremeloes, finally taking us to record center in a blaze of hypnotic glory as singers coalesce Gregorian chant style. The closing moments settle us into calm, reassurance that after all is said and done, we are always in the ever-present NOW.

Look for Endless Flood's Rites Futurs on Friday, July 12th, with a limited run of cassettes issued by Breath Plastic Records (get it here or here). For many it will prompt you to get into their back catalogue, and summer is the perfect time to do it, especially at sunrise.

Give ear...

Endless Floods · RITES FUTURS (2024)

SOME BUZZ

After a five-year absence, Endless Floods are reunited around vocalist Louise Dehaye, Stéphane Miollan (guitar, bass, vocals) and Benjamin Sablon (drums, synths, vocals). Spanning through the crepuscular and droney doom landscapes of their first three records, they reveal in a prodigious blaze of post-metal, doom and shoegaze driven by the trio’s aerial choirs.

Bordeaux, France's doom metal experimentalists Endless Floods formed in 2015 in Bordeaux around Stéphane Miollan (ex-Monarch, Bombardement, Faucheuse), Benjamin Sablon (ex-Monarch, Bombardement, Shock, Mégot) et Simon Bédy. With “no boundaries in heaviness” as a motto, they raise a prodigiously dense wall of sound by blending drone and doom metal aesthetics with mind-expanding ambient structures, like a sorrowful procession arising from the limbo...

The trio released their self-titled debut in 2015, quickly followed by their sophomore album “II” in the winter of 2017. This drone-sounding assault saw the band sinking deeper into bleakness and minimalism, immersing the listener in a monolithic and feedback-laden sonic experience described by the press as “a vast, never-ending room of heavy” (Cvlt Nation), “a juggernaut of sonic grandeur” (Metal Nexus) or simply “sublime” by Pure Grain Audio. Their third album "Circle The Gold” epitomized a fresh start in their creative process: between chaos and light, the Bordeaux trio transcended genre boundaries while unveiling a more melodic and cathartic aspect of their music.

RITES FUTURS by Endless Floods

After a five-year hiatus, ENDLESS FLOODS now returns with a new lineup and their fourth record "Rites Futurs", to be released in July 2024. About the album, the band comments: "On Rites Futurs, we built a mythology around the idea of the rite of passage. The five tracks symbolize this tipping point into the unknown by evoking ancient traditions where fires extinguished everything in their path."

It was recorded and mixed by Thibault Laisney at a/b box studio (Lestiac, France) and mastered by Ben Jones. Cover art and graphic design by Louise Dehaye.

Constantly maintaining the subtle balance between light and melancholy, soaring atmospherics and granite riffs, Endless Floods deliver their sonic rebirth in forty minutes of a grippingly emotional experience.

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[crystalelemental]

Alright, I'm in the vibe for some of this month's pairs, so let's give one more Gauntlet Sweep with Akari.

Vs. Tapu Bulu I just realized these are organized from most recent to most ancient game release. Wild. Anyway. Tapu Bulu started what you may notice is the combo. BP Olivia actually works really well with Akari, buffing both defenses and supplying the recovery from gradual healing. Her pop healing is good enough that Akari won't be distracted by Potion use too much, keeping her Buddy move's damage at its maximum. My Olivia is sadly not EX, so I couldn't go full crazy on Akari, but it's sufficient. I would also point out here, yes my Akari is 5/5. I got really lucky on the scouts.

Vs. Tornadus Lana's not a bad pick either. Unlike Roxanne, Akari doesn't have perfect gauge management, but 2-gauge spam and the TM giving +4 speed isn't atrocious. It's not great, either. But it can work out okay. Lana's the kind of defensive pick that can make use of Akari's Potion in a pinch.

Vs. Terrakion I had to do at least one with Dawn. Terrakion is a good one, because Dawn cuts off its physical attack boosting while Akari just beats it down. Her damage field counts for its Clear Advantage, so she's just a pure beatdown.

Vs. Cobalion I went back to Lana to avoid Dawn being the easy answer. Unfortunately, you need paralysis, so I brought Norman. It's fine.

Vs. Azelf This is where BP Olivia took off. She has access to Stalwart/Unbending, which is ideal to counterpick Azelf. In truth? This feels like her niche over Morty and Clemont. She's incredibly sturdy, even against Azelf. And the 5/5 really worked out here; debuffing defenses per hit let Akari keep wailing on it even with its damage reduction.

Vs. Uxie Uxie's also pretty easily handled by Olivia, we just need BP Erika for Trap/Toxic combo, otherwise we're hard walled. I went with Erika over Lucy, because Olivia already supplies Gradual Healing, which is redundant with Lucy.

Vs. Latios Easy enough, Akari just beats the shit out of them. Again, Olivia's Stalwart/Unbending combo is nice here, completely blocking Latios' bullshit.

Vs. Latias Okay, this one was a challenge. Latias could beat us, if Olivia missed. The main benefit of Akari is that her buddy move can't miss. But her main move can. So you really want to end bar 1 with regular Ceaseless Edge, to set up a long duration for Buddy move. But as you may guess, Olivia needs to hit like every attack, in order to avoid the mid-bar +6 from annihilating all hope. Fluid Fortification gets nasty. It's frankly riskier than it's entirely worth. But they can do it as a duo.

Vs. Registeel This is approximately what I did for Gauntlet. Akari at 5/5 absolutely annihilates this idiot. Without 5/5, Akari offers basically nothing in this fight, you'd need a trio to manage defense. But with 5/5, it's the hardest dunk on this list.

Vs. Regirock Regirock is much tougher. You need the flinch, or Akari just takes too much and it gets out of hand. That said, we missed flinch on the Iron Defense, so it got to block a ton of crits. Akari still pushed through. Her DPS is ridiculous.

Vs. Entei Getting a bit redundant, but Olivia also has Quick Cure, so she beats Entei's Fire Spin. By the time you get to the last bar, Akari's able to pop trainer move and blow it away in like two moves, even through burn. BP Morty is another option to flinch them.

Vs. Raikou Akari can't quite OHKO the sides pre-sync, but she comes close. She's strong enough to handle a lot of this. Also if you have Strike role, she'd probably one-shot on sync. Akari's a bit ridiculous.

Final Thoughts Akari's draw is her absurd DPS. Her Buddy move is absurdly overpowered, and if you have 5/5, it's completely over. I think lower move levels would have a much worse time with all of this. You're dealing with a lot less damage because you don't have any defense debuffs. But also, eggmons exist, and most of these are duos. Sincerely, you can just slap like Lickitung or Parasect on these fights, and cover most gimmicks and still have your debuffs. It's not a huge ask.

The oddity of Akari is that her sync kinda sucks, but she's still great at Gauntlet. Figure that out. I think it speaks well to the power of her Buddy move that she's a poor sync nuker who still pushes through. The lack of conditions like Emma and SS Lysandre, where stages can just deny the entire gimmick, makes her relatively hard to stop as well. In most situations, the DPS of pairs like this get stops cold by stages that counteract you, but nothing really blocks Akari's damage field. It's funny, really, seeing Damage Field contribute. I know it's mostly in how it unlocks better damage for her moves, but I think that's a sane approach. The damage fields can't be stopped, nor as far as I'm aware, overwritten by one another. It's an incredibly free condition to apply, so as far as multipliers go, it's about as safe as Restrain. Big fan of the design of this kit.

[iphigeniainaulis]

That’s why Mrs. O reviews are so good. They are detailed but never overdecorated with words. While the former should give enough food for thought, the latter may leave readers with a feeling that there’s nothing more to expect from the story. 

If I may add, Galileo’s preview is indeed a pleasant surprise as it raises hopes of Ikevamp’s writing Renaissance. The symbolism behind the choice of flowers is so poetic and clever if we dig a little deeper into the meaning of helichrysum.

In ancient Greece there were numerous legends about strawflowers. They were woven into crowns of Apollo and Athena statues to represent their immortality. Nausikaa used helichrysum essence to remain eternally beautiful. The myths, however, called helichrysum the ‘sun flower’, for it was ‘as powerful as the Sun and as valuable as gold’. And this is such a brilliant reference to Galileo who spent his life defending Copernican heliocentrism and solar rotation. E pur si muove. And yet it moves. The Sun was Galileo’s life, and it was his death as well. 

Another interesting thing to mention, in my country we call this flower ‘bessmertnik’, the rough translation of which would be eternal flower. And the first thing that comes to my mind is how Vlad and Comte view themselves and other vampires as flowers that never wilt. Interpreting Helichrysum as the allegory of the vampire world can be further proved by Galileo himself, when he says that 

These white ones came as a fluke from a university cultivation program, not the color they wanted at all. 

Probably, it’s me overthinking things, but I get strong ‘vampire symbolism’ vibes from this sentence. As it’s heavily implied in the game lore, vampirism is not something all the residents are proud of. Most of them, if not all, view their revival as a sacrifice and a sin rather than a happy coincidence. This is something they didn’t want to become but had no choice to avoid because of destiny and an unfinished goal everyone of them had to accomplish. In some way, lesser vampires are indeed an unnatural mutation that was never meant to occur if not for *cough* a squabble between two old friends. 

The question is why Galileo identifies himself with this flower? 

To begin with, we aren’t even sure whether Galileo is a vampire or not. Of course, there are some posters where he is depicted with blood covering the corners of his mouth, but I wouldn’t base my opinion solely on those images. After all, Sebastian route contained the same image of him acting as a vampire although it..let’s say, it was a little bit different for the butler.

But since we see Galileo emphasising with the vampire flower, it’s not unreasonable to assume that he does have something in common with them. 

As of now, we haven’t really learned a lot about misalliances among the purebloods. Even if one of Galileo’s parents was a pureblood and the other one - mortal, I doubt that it could lead to numerous variations in terms of vampire genetics. 

Pureblood blood is extremely powerful. Therefore, it can possibly overshadow human one, thus leading to a child being born as a pureblood vampire. Another option - he becomes a dhampir but with a much longer lifespan than lesser vampires have. And here I use the dhampir term in its original way of describing a baby of a vampire and a human. Why? Because Ikevamp messes with terms a lot, therefore dhampires in the game are actually way weaker than lesser vampires (beginning of Napoleon's route). They are more ‘human’ in terms of their habits and basic needs (especially food), their life span is shorter, but they can go through transition into lessers if they drink enough blood. 

The most intriguing part here is Galileo assumingly serving as a vampire hunter (kudos to game designers who firstly blew my mind with the moon symbolism of the evil trio and now do this with Galileo and Drake costume design).

Why would he do that, if he is a vampire himself?

To my knowledge, there aren’t any tales about pureblood vampires becoming a vampire hunter, and there're very few of them featuring ex-humans who got turned and became hunters. Zero Kiryu, I’m looking right at you

However, I think I’ve seen enough previous of the new characters to feel that Galileo somehow distances himself from vampires  through the paradigm ‘me - you’. He pities them but in a very squeamish manner, mentioning how their (not ‘our’) existence contributes to various anomalies and turbulences in the world. 

Therefore, it seems logical to assume that Galileo may be a dhampir who objects his origins and relates mostly to his ‘human’ side. When Mitsuki has a dream (?) about meeting a stranger and seeing his past, she hears him being called out as a ‘sinful monster’ in prison. My guess is that Ikevamp writers will turn the Galileo affair from ‘heretic against Church’ to ‘heretic vampire against church’. Therefore, him saying that he was imprisoned because of the blood can explain why he hates the idea of lessers being turned after their death. Because he hates that other part of him he didn’t choose to obtain. It also makes his preview dialogue with Napoleon way more deeper, considering that Leon is a dhampir himself and doesn’t know anything about how it happened. 

Anyway, I’m so excited for the new routes to come. Thank you, Mrs. O, for making my mind boil 🌙

Galileo Galilei - White Day

"These are for you."

MC is startled when out of nowhere Galileo offers her a bouquet of white flowers, wrapped in paper. (I see that wrapping job there sir, nice attempt at casual) They're very beautiful, she can't help thinking, but she's a bit baffled by the gesture - especially given his usual, standoffish demeanor.

She asks why he's giving these to her, and Galileo reminds her how she gave him chocolates last month, right?

He's merely returning the favor. She hadn't had any expectations that he might, but she's happy regardless.

Aloud, she laughs a little. "You're a conscientious person too," she tells him. (Echoing the way he'd called her that for gifting him Valentine's chocolate as an apology for using his telescope without permission in their very first story)

"I just don't want to be in anyone's debt," he replies.

She gladly accepts the flowers and remarks on how beautiful they are, but she's not familiar with what kind they are. He tells her he's not sure of all the specifics but they're a type of helichrysum - although usually those come in bright colors. These white ones came as a fluke from a university cultivation program, not the color they wanted at all. (AM I THE ONLY ONE READING SOME HEAVY SYMBOLISM HERE?)

He says when he heard they were just going to be tossed, her words came to mind. (How she'd mentioned, when they first met, that she felt like even chance encounters can have meaning) And with her having said something like that, he thought she would treasure these new flowers.

She's kind of silently stunned he remembered her words like that.

"You can throw them away if you have no need of them. Do as you please," Galileo tells her offhandedly.

"No!" she gasps. "I'll take good care of them!"

Galileo just does an about face at that and walks off without another word...but as he goes, the last glimpse she catches of his expression seems softer.

Back at the mansion on the balcony, she's looking at the flowers again and musing how they look like she's holding shooting stars in her hand. Maybe the same thing had occurred to Galileo, which is why he wanted to save the flowers? Because he seems to love the stars so much.

She stares up at the night sky, thinking about his still unseen heart.

~~~~~~~~~~

MRS. O'S TINFOIL HAT RAMBLINGS:

I already blathered a bit in tags o a different post about the flower symbolism, but let me do it again. These are white strawflowers, which are also known as helichrysum, fyi.

Very lovely, and they dry and remain almost perfectly preserved, hence some of their other names: Everlasting, or Immortelle. They symbolize eternal life or immortality - but also something 'always remembered' and some take it a step further and go with 'eternal love'. Usually they come in many different colors of pinks and reds, or white with bright yellow centers.

This has me side-eyeing things so hard though because the very first story we ever got of his involves MC wandering the Timey-Wimey Hallway, being called and cajoled by a sexy voice she later figures out is Galileo's, and she gets to witness a bit of his past and his imprisonment. Drake's story definitely was just a normal, meet-cute on the street style, nothing as mystical as timewalking. I have a feeling this is going to feature prominently in his stories, along with the heavy emphasis that there is no such thing as a random meaningless encounter.

BUT ALSO, here's heavy tinfoil time! Maybe I'm looking too hard but the symbolism doesn't escape me here of him identifying with and feeling empathy towards these white flowers that symbolize eternity (all pale colored, much like our hero, no??) that are an unwanted accident. A misfire of genetics that's only good to be tossed away and culled. I STAND BY MY DHAMPIR/ HALF-PUREBLOOD THEORY.

[aerinamis]

wondering which oc i should give a missile launcher as a weapon

i feel like it should either be someone from dirulaka's world or vira/irisu's. the three candidates i could think of were dirulaka himself, muni, and sorin. now the reasoning for each:

dirulaka - a researcher his world and others, specializing in necromancy. out of the three i proposed, he's the least fitting for the missile launcher. he probably already has a book he can do necromancy with, but i think it'd be funny for him to blow up his enemies only to revive them with necromancy. however, he's already a dragon/goose hybrid AND a scientist, so if he just wants the fire and explosions, he can do that himself. (ok i know that not all scientists work with fire and explosions but i bet he has connections. he has connections to erx actually. erx is an arsonist. i always forget that). i think the reason i wanted to give him a missile launcher is because he'd look cool next to korin, who uses a flamethrower for a weapon

muni - strategist for the chronos containment center. muni's the newest oc atm so i haven't developed them that much yet, other than they have the most compositionally fucked up outfits ever. as a result, they're friends with kanami and i think they've modeled some pieces for her a few times. i don't know how the modelling business works. muni's from vira's world and i was gonna say that he's one of the magicless but no. i forgot i made him specialize in archaic/ancient magic. maybe it can be some dramatic scenario where he discovers he can use magic and then leaves the world out of fear for what might happen if he found out. ohhhhhhh muni and sorin angst woowowowooooo wowoaoowawww. muni could pull off a missile launcher style-wise but a) he has no reason to be fighting as a strategist. maybe for emergencies or him just pulling out the missile launcher for funsies and b) explosions and fire just doesn't fit with their vibe. a splatoon weapon would work much better for them

sorin - ahhh my 6th? 7th? rabbit oc. uh. it went cysai -> koei -> cbgc/tsunoka -> mafumi -> zoiwa -> cobweb -> sorin. also here's like two screenshots from when i was trying to figure out if i made koei or cbgc first

(about koei)

idk how tall sorin would be. i think they'd be average height, near mafumi/zoiwa's range. for reference cobweb is 200 cm tall (willow is 180 cm, third tallest oc after korin who's 194 cm. aeris can be 176 cm and onami/storyteller 174 cm, idk how tall cysai is. 170 cm sounds like a good height). i also forgot cobweb existed for a while. cobweb reminds me a lot of wataru appearance-wise, but i made them a month before i relearnt? remembered? his existence? i probably saw him before back when i had tori as my fave. and that was 2 years ago. oh god oh fuck maybe wataru did visit me in my dreams

ok sorry i need to get back on track. so sorin, my favorite paranoid magicless rabbit. and that's exactly why they should have a missile launcher. i think it'd be a mana-modified weapon so they'd be able to use it as their primary weapon without having to worry about... reloading missiles or anything like that. sorin and cysai look really similar actually. sorin's appearance definitely wasn't based off an old picrew i had of cysai. haha. but speaking of cysai, i had considered giving them explosion magic a while back if they ever had to fight. it'd be funny. but it didn't make sense for them to fight, so i just let them have... multitasking magic. and due to their similarity in appearance i think it'd be a fun callback (for me at least) to burst dps cysai or whatever the heck people call people that use explosion magic. well. sorin becomes part of the dirulaka/korin group eventually (for reasons i will figure out later) and giving sorin the missile launcher allows them to match their vibes while avoiding dirulaka looking dumb since he most likely breathe fire already. they are the arsonist trio that erx wants.

this concludes my essay.

also i just realized that sorin and korin basically have the same name. god damn it. korin needs to be renamed now /j

[brella-boi]

Residents of Insecta Terra

No I don’t have a better name for the world yet

Part 1 of the current characters in my insect world and probably the most important ones for now. Oberon, Atlas and Beetle are the main trio that the story revolves around, with Cynthia and Corwin being main support characters.

Some info on them all below cut!

OberonA giant flower beetle. He is a half-blood blessed by Cynthia, though he considers it more a curse. All he wanted was a normal life when he moved into the city, and have fun with his friends, but now he has a heavy job placed on his shoulders he never asked for. He’s tasked with closing tears in reality between the God realm and their own, fight the Titans that escape, and remain hidden from the other half-blood and Gods who suddenly seem to be everywhere ever since he has become this. Afraid of himself and his untamed powers, plagued by immortality, he sometimes feels like he’s losing his mind… But he can’t refuse, as much as it hurts him. He’s just so happy to have his friends by his side still.

AtlasA giant prickly stickbug. Atlas is trans and vibing with it. Though he wishes he could have flight wings too. He’s an energetic bunch, and Oberon’s best friend. Somehow he always manages to cheer the beetle up, and even make his other gothic friend smile a little. Definitely the life and support of the group of friends, he’s always there to help out emotionally.

LilithOrchid mantis. As pink as she is, she is one hell of a goth and revels with it. She studies the magics, mostly the forgotten ones, and rolls her eyes when called a witch. In reality she quite dislikes the half-bloods who roam the city and take over the front pages of magazines and newspapers. But when she find out Oberon has become one, she was immediately at his side and helping as best as she could with old knowledge of the Ancients. She’s the one to consult with Cynthia, Oberon’s Patron, and does her best to build trust and make a plan to return her power and strength through faith of the people before the world falls into collapse.

CynthiaThe Goddess and Guardian of the Gates. She was once powerful and revered by many, but now the civilization that has worshipped her religiously is extinct, and she is slowly fading into obscurity. With her power dwindling, her hold on the Gates is too. The Gates are directly interconnected between three planes of reality, the overworld, underworld and aether. Tears in reality occur more and more often, letting Titans through to return causing chaos in the balance between realms. In a moment of weakness she appoints Oberon as her heir, and now tries to teach him on how to deal with the tears while simultaneously learning what it truly means to be alive instead of an all powerful God.

CorwinCockroach. Corwin is a half-blood that no one quite knows. No one is entirely sure where he came from, or why he is here. He sort of appears and disappears. Meddling with the living, half-bloods, and gods alike. He always seems to know what’s going on, but doesn’t let up on letting his past slip through either. Some would call him a conman, some a showman, some just say he’s batshit crazy. Though, in his eyes a random new half-blood in the neighbourhood seems like a new interesting thing to observe, and maybe even help out. They are, afterall, sort of similar.

[seafoam-taide]

sometimes I think about them... the wave 3 star allies trio. And by sometimes I mean a lot of times. Often. Often enough that I’m gonna put a lot of rambles under the cut.

before I start doing this fair warning for a lot of possibly incorrect or uninformed takes and unorganized rambling. im just gonna put down thoughts as they happen + also i dont know all the lore im just. i am trying. oh also warning for sooo much projection you guys its unreal down here

so obviously theres the taranza and susie connection with them both dealing with the loss of someone really close and at their own hands to some degree no less and i think this is the first reason they even start like. hanging out or whatever. that mutual understanding. although i also think that isnt an immediate thing? i feel like susie is sort of the type to maybe... underplay her grief. and there is a LOT of grief surrounding her father- losing him the first time at a young age, coming back and then having to deal with the realization that he doesn’t remember her, then losing him, again, FOR REAL, and with absolutely no support that whole time... you bet she’s got that shit on lockdown. so i think honestly the first thing she thinks/does in relation to taranza is see him and go “well good thing im not like THAT” because taranza is very open about his grief. susie probably compared herself to him often, especially if she learned more about him- they both lost someone close, they both were like a second in command to that person, they both caused the death to some extent, both were treated poorly by that someone close... she’d see it as a point of pride that she wasn’t a mess like that other guy. but i also think, quietly, underneath, she’d wonder why she wasn’t like that, why she couldn’t just be sad. and i think that these two getting close would help her actually express that loss with someone who really really gets it. and so they become something of a safe place for each other.

skipping somewhat wildly off track here: magolor vs susie and taranza. i keep circling back to how susie and taranza were secondary to the big bag in their game, but magolor was the big bad. and im thinking. magolor wasnt sorry he did it, necessarily. he was sorry and upset that he lost control, maybe even a little sorry that he betrayed kirby and friends, but he wasnt quite regretful of the actions leading up to it, nor his plan to take the master crown. not that he’d do it again- at the very least, staying as a friend to kirby is important to him. but not a lot else.

but I think being around these two who suffered at the hands of a big bad like he was and who have lost someone because of it kind of. gets to him. sort of like a mini wake up call. the consequences of magolor obtaining the master crown are relatively small- other than the effects it had on him, theres not a lot that came of it. kirby and co accepted him easily enough. nothing was really lost. its hard to feel remorseful about something like that. but hearing about the other two’s stories is different. a little more real. im not quite sure how hed internalize that but i feel like he might start to consider his attitude towards his endeavors and he might even get it in his head that what he did was really truly wrong, or at least an idea of that. taranza and susie have a lot of parallels that magolor does not. those parallels nag at him.

less serious line of thinking: theyre all kind of really judgey lol??? at least thats the vibe i get from them. i feel like they gossip a lot. theyre all a little entitled and a little mean and maybe for different reasons but. yeah.

ALSO taranza is a very touchy sort of person! casual contact and hugs and things. he has many hands to do many things. susie and magolor are. decidedly not this. susie especially. i imagine when theyre all closer theyre more comfortable with taranza doing so but rarely instigate it themselves. 

so i personally like the headcanon of magolor being interested in the ancients and the having both magical and technical knowledge and i especially like it because if you take susie and you take taranza then you put magolor in the middle its a lovely little sliding scale of tech to magic. magolor pulls them into a lot of his research on ancients and such and they often all three work on concepts for things that use both magic and technology.

hm. susie and magolor i think have both lead very isolated lives with little to no support and are Pretty Bad at like. navigating relationships with people. i think susie overthinks everything and has a hard time reciprocating in situations where it should be easy and it frustrates her to no end but shes very used to repressing this sort of stuff so she just comes off as cold and unconnected. working under haltmann after coming back from AD has led her to embrace this perception. i think magolor tries very hard to keep up with people and to match what he thinks relationships should look like but often either falls short of a ‘genuine’ response or fumbles it somewhat and people find it strange or even off-putting. this coupled with his known past as a liar and conman leads to a lot of people assuming he’s trying to trick them and often leaves him at a loss and looking for a reason why the interaction went so poorly. he keeps getting shut down on genuine attempts to reach out and it makes him more sensitive to any negative reaction or perceived rejection.

actually also. i think taranza’s only friend for quite a long time was sectonia which was almost okay until well. you know. and as a result of the years he spent losing her to the mirror he tends to both overcompensate when trying to interact with someone and also defaults on the assumption that people are less likely to care. he self isolates while yearning for connection but is too afraid to instigate one and the second someone shows interest he throws himself into doing his best to keep their favor. yeah.

what does all this analysis mean for them as a trio? uh. well it means something i promise i just dunno how to write it out.

okay this is really long so im gonna stop myself here for now but as you can see your honor i love them. none of this is very consistent or means very much but ive been thinkign about them all day and i just wanted to write it down. hope you enjoyed lol