#i don’t think i played through a big quest since fontaine

[the-travelling-witch]

Not Natlan Spoilers! But I will say from what I’ve seen it’s honestly such an amazing and refreshing world/story?

Fontaine had a good storyline and was pretty but Natlan really blows it out the park

#someonewhosneverplayedgenshinjustwatches #myphonestoragecouldnever:’)

jshsh the ever-present storage problem, i’m playing on desktop though, i could never play on my phone i think

i still haven’t done the bedtime story dain quest yet, so it’ll probably be a while before i even start natlan

though, personally, i quite enjoyed fontaine and furina’s story hit me so hard, it’s one of my favourite things in all of genshin, so there’s that

for now i rushed through natlan to the first big city to get the new craftable sword for albedo, picked up my first evolution of a dragon, named it fulenn bc i came unprepared that i had to name sth and logged off :]

[glazesunflower]

may i ask for some dating headcannons with focalors the hydro archon? :3

Dating Furina/Focalors Headcanons

Characters: Furina/Focalors x GN!Reader.

Warnings: None that apply!

Notes: I was waiting to play the first Fontaine Archon Quest to get a grasp of her character before writing this. I have to say, I absolutely love this gremlin and bratty Archon. I hope you have as much fun reading this as I had writing it. (The last ones are my favorite <3)

Furina is flamboyant, imprudent and she lives for the thrill of the drama and the validation of those around her, so you’ll have to be very understanding and patient with her and the fair amount of mishaps that she will surely cause. So be prepared!

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She doesn’t really voice it, she’s too proud for that, but she absolutely loves the way you’ve become her anchor, helping to balance out her impulsive nature with your calm and understanding demeanor. When she's on the brink of making a hasty decision, you're there to gently guide her, reminding her to consider all perspectives and consequences before acting. And she takes your advice to heart, be proud of that!

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She struggles internally a lot with the pressure of her public image. Of course, she doesn’t say this directly to you, but you can see how it affects her, and so you write for her heartfelt letters whenever she's facing a tough situation. She doesn’t really make much of a fuss about them, but internally your words of encouragement and reminders of her strengths become her source of comfort, and she rereads them many more times than she’s willing to admit. She even has a special box where she keeps them all. But don’t ask her about it!

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But it’s not all sappy stuff, your relationship with her is very adventurous and fun! Furina absolutely loves a good thrill and an outstanding performance in everything she does, so you’re of course expected to tag along in all of her endeavors. Whether it's exploring a new case that’s just taken place, trying out quirky local restaurants, or taking impromptu road trips through Fontaine, you both find joy in the thrill of the new things you try together!

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Furina absolutely thrives on positive attention and affirmation. She is always very touched by your heartfelt compliments and words of encouragement (she probably won’t say it, mind you, but she would engrave your words in her mind to always come back to them). Express your admiration for her skills, charisma, and unique qualities and Furina will glow, feeling appreciated and loved. Keep them coming, she can’t get enough!

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After some time of her being with you, Furina will slowly (and I mean, very slowly) feel comfortable enough with letting her guard down around you. And that is no easy feat! She’s constantly thinking that she will be judged by whatever she says wrong, so you should feel immensely lucky that she’s willing to trust you with her innermost turmoils! (Her words.) In time, you create a safe space where she can express her insecurities without fear of judgment, because you’re kind like that and you love her. You encourage Furina to have a ton of heartfelt conversations, and slowly you help her understand that she doesn't have to be perfect to be loved. It’s still a work in progress, but she’ll get there.

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Furina is a sucker for gifts. After all, what better way for others to express their admiration for her, right? But the ones she loves the most are yours, of course. The gifts and tokens of your affection hold special meanings, since you picked them out knowing she’d like them. Like a charm to remind her of her resilience or a piece of art that reflects her flamboyant personality and you thought, “Oh, this reminds me of her!”. Keep doing that. She can’t get enough of it.

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Knowing how much she loves and treasures positive attention, you organize surprise events or gatherings to celebrate Furina’s accomplishments, no matter how small they are. She doesn’t make a big deal out of it (She deserves all the praise and attention, after all!), but you see the brightest smile dancing on her lips the whole day, and that’s how you see how much she values these moments. These thoughtful gestures show Furina that you genuinely appreciate her efforts and want to support her in all aspects of her life. She will try even harder this time, if only for you to praise her more.

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Your relationship with her is also full of laughter. You tease each other constantly, at all times, sharing inside jokes, and find humor in the quirks of everyday life together. Furina knows you have an ability to make her smile even in challenging times and she silently appreciates you so much for her. Still, you tease her too much. And she is the embodiment of the divine, she can’t have you teasing her in public!

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With the passing of the time by your side (and I mean, at a very slow pace!), Furina starts to overcome her need for constant validation from others. She slowly becomes more confident in her abilities in the court and outside of it, and she learns to embrace her imperfections (her impulsivity, childlike temper, the constant bravado and drama, the list goes on!), understanding that you love her for who she truly is. Really, how could you not? She’s impressive and heavenly! It’s only natural you’re head over heels and completely in love with her! (She’s working on her arrogance, too).

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Furina loves the spotlight more than anything else in the world (well, she only likes you more, and that’s saying something!), so sometimes you plan extravagant date nights that cater to her love for the spotlight. Whether it's a private outdoor performance under the stars or a playful evening of reenacting dramatic scenes from her favorite plays, you keep the excitement alive for her. And she thrives in every minute of it.

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When it comes to physical touch, Furina is by far not used to it at the very beginning, so she’s fairly unsure when it comes to it. But she’s quick to realize that your gentle pats on her back, walking around with linked arms, or even a reassuring touch on her shoulder during moments of stress in the courtroom make her feel so much better instantly! Is this some kind of heavenly magic? 

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Furina quickly starts to associate your touch with positive emotions. Holding hands with you during a thrilling adventure or wrapping an arm around your waist while watching a dramatic play becomes something she really, really likes doing. 

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And when you introduce cuddling to her, Furina finds a whole new world to explore and enjoy. Whether it's lounging on your couch or stargazing, Furina wants to be in your arms at all times, if she has any say in the matter! Let her nuzzle into your neck and stay there for a while, she feels the safest she’s ever felt.

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Furina enjoys your touch very much. She does not enjoy, however, how you playfully tease her with light touches, tickles, and gentle bumps! She’s the embodiment of justice, you can’t just have her wiggling and choking on laughter beneath you, how unsightly! (She absolutely loves it).

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Furina has associated your touch with comfort and safety, so don’t be surprised when she comes to you after an especially hard day. Yes, she messed up in the courtroom today, but you’ll let her rest against you, won’t you? Your hugs and embraces become her safe haven. Sometimes she will open up and admit what happened that day. Others, she simply wants to enjoy your arms holding her tight in silence. In either case, she deeply appreciates you being there for her. She won’t voice it, of course, but you’ll know in the way she presses her forehead closer to you and the angle of your neck.

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She also finds that physical touch is very useful! She starts using her own touch on you as a way to express her emotions. A soft kiss on your cheek in the morning, a warm hug after a long day, or even a surprise tackle or an affectionate nudge as you tease each other becomes her way of saying "I care about you" without needing dramatic and flamboyant words. How practical! She will keep showering you with her divine affection for many more years to come!

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Having Furina as a significant other is no easy feat, it takes a lot of courage, determination, and most of all, a big amount of patience and understanding. Still, she is the most vibrant and colorful part of your life, so you wouldn’t have it any other way. With her, you become her partner in both the thrilling moments and the challenges of her life. Your love and support help her navigate her insecurities and embrace her true self, helping to nurture a romance that's passionate and tender and all the beautiful things in between.

If you enjoyed this, please consider liking or reblogging it <3!

You can check more of my writing on (this link!). Thank you!

[crownshattered-arch]

|| Here's the timeline of Kira’s travels and how they line up with the canon storyline!! This is all very general. I could easily have threads that diverge from this timeline. Maybe she arrives in a nation earlier than this timeline states!! Maybe she stays longer!! It all just depends on the thread~ This is organized in numerical order by the archon quest associated with the nation~

Kira obviously has lived in Mondstadt all of her life, and she was there during the Stormterror incident. She was there when Traveler arrived as well. Kira spent a LOT of time in Mondstadt afterwards too.

Kira has been to Liyue on numerous occasions for work-related things. She doesn’t actually go there while the Zhongli was playing dead. Kira doesn’t actually have an “arc” where she goes to Liyue. During that time, she is still in Mondstadt.

(This is where it starts to vary between threads…) Kira went to Inazuma after Traveler did their thing and the borders were open for people from other nations to visit. She spent a decent amount of time here, but it’s mainly just to get a taste of adventuring. She then goes back to Mondstadt before the traveler goes to Sumeru. The purpose of this "arc" is to introduce Kira to the idea of being an adventurer like Alice, so she starts to be more daring and separate herself from Mondstadt.

Kira goes to Sumeru a bit before the Traveler arrived. She has no idea what they’re doing since all of that is pretty discreet. Kira comes here to find info about her parents, so naturally, she stays for a while to get that information. I don't know how long getting that information will take, but given that Kira arrived with no leads, it will be a bit.

Once Kira learns about who her mom is and that she went to Snezhnaya, she starts to head that way. I don't know what will happen in the nations following Sumeru, so the stuff moving forward could easily change. Kira’s arrival in Fontaine could easily be before or after Traveler’s stuff. For Fontaine and Natlan, Kira is mostly passing through those nations so her time spent there is relatively short. She probably explores a bit, but she then moves on. Whether or not she gets there before or after the next archon quest just depends on the before and after of Fontaine and which Fontaine I want Kira to be in.

As stated before, Kira’s journeys through Fontaine and Natlan are very short. It doesn’t matter whether Kira gets to Fontaine before or after the events of the upcoming archon quest because she leaves relatively quickly and gets to Natlan before the Traveler. She also leaves Natlan before the Traveler arrives. This could change, of course, but this is what I’m thinking of XDD

After Natlan, Kira goes straight to Snezhnaya. What happens in Snezhnaya….is yet to be determined. I’m sure she meets her dad, and I’m sure she wants to close that Pandora’s Box after she opened it. I just don’t know the exact circumstances of her being there (might plot that with Mira…). After she learns the truth, she goes straight back to Mondstadt. She might leave before Traveler even gets there, or maybe she leaves right after Traveler does their thing. That’s TBD.

The last Archon quest will most likely be when shit REALLY hits the fan, and for that, Kira will be home—in Mondstadt. She’s been all over and has finally seen the world, just like she wanted, but the answers to her questions only darkened her mind. But it does make one thing clear—above all else, Mondstadt is her home. So if there IS a big fight, Kira has returned home and is ready to defend Mondstadt, even if it means fighting her biological father and the fallen nation who share her blood.

[crownshattered]

|| Here’s the timeline of Genshin Kira’s travels and how they line up with the canon storyline!! This is all very 'in general'. I could easily have threads that diverge from this timeline. Maybe she arrives in a nation earlier than this timeline states!! Maybe she stays longer!! It all just depends on the thread~ This is organized in numerical order by the archon quest associated with the nation!

Kira obviously has lived in Mondstadt all of her life, and she was there during the Stormterror incident. She was there when Traveler arrived as well. Kira spent a LOT of time in Mondstadt afterwards too.

Kira has been to Liyue on numerous occasions for work-related things. She doesn’t actually go there while the Zhongli is playing dead. Kira doesn’t actually have an “arc” where she goes to Liyue. During that time, she was still in Mondstadt.

(This is where it starts to vary between threads…) Kira went to Inazuma after Traveler did their thing and the borders were open for people from other nations to visit. She spent a decent amount of time here, but it’s mainly just to get a taste of adventuring. She then goes back to Mondstadt before the traveler goes to Sumeru. The purpose of this “arc” is to introduce Kira to the idea of being an adventurer like Alice, so she starts to be more daring and separate herself from Mondstadt.

Kira goes to Sumeru a bit before the Traveler arrived. She has no idea what they’re doing since all of that is pretty discreet (so unless someone involved in the Archon quest fills her in, she has no idea about that plotline and never will). Kira comes here to find info about her parents, so naturally, she stays for a while to get that information. I don’t know how long getting that information will take, but given that Kira arrived with no leads, it will be a bit.

Once Kira learns about who her mom is and that she went to Snezhnaya, she starts to head that way. Kaveh's mom (plotted with Mysty) was friends with Kira's mom, so on her way to Snezhnaya, Kira stopped in Fontaine to meet the woman and learn about who her mother was as a person. She arrives in Fontaine relatively the same time as Traveler (not on purpose). For Fontaine and Natlan, Kira is mostly passing through those nations so her time spent there is relatively short. She probably explores a bit, but she then moves on. HOWEVER, she is indeed there for the whole Archon Quest and is neck-deep in helping out with it. But once that situation calms down, she leaves relatively soon and continues on.

As stated before, Kira’s journeys through Fontaine and Natlan are fairly short. She leaves Fontaine relatively quickly and gets to Natlan before the Traveler. She also leaves Natlan before the Traveler arrives, or maybe just shortly after Traveler's conflict is solved there. This could change, of course, but this is what I’m thinking of XDD

After Natlan, Kira goes straight to Snezhnaya. What happens in Snezhnaya….is yet to be determined. I’m sure she meets her dad, and I’m sure she wants to close that Pandora’s Box after she opens it. I just don’t know the exact circumstances of her being there (might plot that with Mira…). After she learns the truth, she goes straight back to Mondstadt. She might leave before Traveler even gets there, or maybe she leaves right after Traveler does their thing. That’s TBD.

The last Archon quest (which is said to take place in Khaenri'ah/the Abyss) will most likely be when shit REALLY hits the fan, and for that, Kira will be home—in Mondstadt. She’s been all over and has finally seen the world, just like she wanted, but the answers to her questions only darkened her mind. But it does make one thing clear—above all else, Mondstadt is her home. So if there IS a big fight, Kira has returned home and is ready to defend Mondstadt, even if it means fighting her biological father and the fallen nation who share her blood. Even if Traveler offers for her to come with them and see the land of her ancestors, she doesn't want to.

[theconservativebrief]

Every week, we pick a new episode of the week. It could be good. It could be bad. It will always be interesting. You can read the archives here. The episode of the week for August 26 through September 1 is “Sunday,” the fourth episode of AMC’s Lodge 49.

In his classic 2000 sociology book Bowling Alone, Robert D. Putnam made an argument that at the time read like an epitaph, but now reads like a prophecy. Putnam was talking about the decline in civic engagement in America, which he first connected to voter turnout rates and the like. But then he broadened his argument to talk about something else entirely: a decline in community investment and involvement, based on the idea that people are no longer involved in communities larger than the ones behind their front doors.

To make his case, Putnam combed through countless numbers of membership records for bowling leagues and Masonic lodges, for church groups and social circles. What he found was that a whole way of American life was dying out, just like that. As the generation of Americans that lived through the Great Depression and World War II began to die, these organizations went with them. Now, if you have a bowling alley in your neighborhood, it’s almost certainly positioned itself as some extreme variation on the sport, or it’s an intentionally nostalgic throwback to an era increasingly few of us were actually alive for.

Putnam’s argument was more complicated than, say, “Television killed off social and civic organizations,” though that was one of its themes. His larger argument was that the death of these organizations presaged the death of Americans’ belief in their communities as communities.

If you wanted to trace the roots of the country’s shift from a kind of big-picture progressivism to more individualistic conservatism, well, you could do a lot worse than looking at the shift from neighborhood gathering place to individual home, from men play-acting at being members of a weird, mystical order in a local lodge to turning their houses into fortresses.

The little town I grew up in was just far enough out-of-step with the times to still have bowling leagues and Masons and Elks when I was growing up. But now, when I return, those buildings often sit empty, with no one to inhabit them. Change is inevitable, of course, and many of those organizations were rooted in racist and sexist attitudes, to be sure. But I still wonder what might have been lost in their passing.

And that might be why I like Lodge 49 so much.

The lodge members debate what to do with the “reliquum corpus.” Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

It’s not particularly easy to explain what Lodge 49 is about, because it’s not really like any other TV show I can think of. Its premise revolves around a Long Beach, California-based lodge maintained by a (fictional) fraternal order known as the Lynx. (Think the Masons or the Elks, but with a stronger record of gender and racial equality than those groups had.) The lodge is an all-purpose hangout for its members, but also seemingly a weirdo portal to some other, more purpose-driven life. It’s sort of, uh, Cheers meets Twin Peaks amid the ruins of late capitalism.

Lodge 49 uses this lodge as a window into the lives of its characters and the city of Long Beach, which is caught in transition between its working-class roots and its increasingly hipster-focused rebrand. (I used to live in Long Beach, which is perpetually in danger of becoming Los Angeles’s latest version of Brooklyn, though Silver Lake may have something to say about that.) But there’s also a lot of medieval symbolism and references to alchemy amid the tales of gentrifying neighborhoods.

Lodge 49’s protagonist, Shaun “Dud” Dudley (Wyatt Russell), finds a ring belonging to a deceased member of the order while beachcombing; later, he finds himself at the lodge itself after his car putters to a halt right in front of the building. (The show has a hefty dose of fate and/or destiny at its core.) He joins the lodge, where he becomes the “Squire” to longtime member Ernie Fontaine (Brent Jennings), who serves as his “Knight.” The two become friends, even though Ernie is initially wary of Dud, and … so far that’s about it.

It’s not clear what the larger point of the series is, or where all of its mystical portents and hints about some larger purpose for these characters are going. There’s a strong subplot about Dud’s twin sister, Liz (Sonya Cassidy), who’s working at a Hooters-ish sports bar named Shamroxx, because she’s so burdened down with debt passed down to her by her and Dud’s deceased father. There’s a dead body in a secret, hidden room in the lodge. There’s a loose seal wandering across the road.

All of this, I think, has led to people trying to guess what Lodge 49 means. It has some of the outward trappings of a mystery show like Lost or Twin Peaks, so it must play by the same rules as those shows, right? But the series’ fourth episode, “Sunday,” is as good an argument as anything that the series is less about trying to make sense of its many loose ends and more about realizing that you find life amid the loose ends.

The plot of the episode, such as it is, is simple. Dud and Ernie head out on a quest to find Larry, the strangely absent head of the lodge, while Liz spends her day off from work by going in to work to hang out. But the details are what make the show. There are parking lot shopping cart jousting matches, corporate stooges carrying gift baskets, a billboard reading “Is There Another Way to Live?,” news reporters who keep trying to call the corpse in the lodge a “mummy” (when it’s clearly a reliquum corpus, goodness!), and that seal blocking traffic.

The meat of the story is easy enough to explain, and, indeed, all of the characters find what they were looking for in the place they thought they left it. But it’s everything served to the side that makes the show so entertaining. Maybe the best way to describe this series is Don Quixote for scuzzballs.

Liz goes shopping cart jousting. Jackson Lee Davis/AMC

For me, Lodge 49 clicked into place around the midpoint of its first episode, when Dud, sitting alone in a donut shop, muses about the dark turns his life has taken since he was bitten by a snake, which ruined his surfing career and led to the cascade of events that included the death of his father and his sister having to take a job at Shamroxx. “Don’t have to live like this. Gotta be another way,” he says, and while he’s mostly talking about his present situation, there’s a layer of social commentary here too. There has to be a way to live where a snake bite doesn’t mean a family loses everything. There just has to.

There are things about Lodge 49 that don’t entirely work yet, to the degree that the show acknowledges it, right down to a scene where Liz and Dud admit they’re once again making her the responsible killjoy while he’s the loosey-goosey fun guy who joins lodges and goes on weird quests. But these nitpicks fall away when I think about the show’s overall vision, not just of itself but of life in general.

Both Dud and Liz are running away from death in some fashion, trying to live forever, both in the wake of Dud’s near-death snakebite experience and the loss of their father (a probable suicide). And the lodge itself, tied to a bygone era, is no longer the healthy organization it once was, to the degree that everybody assumes Dud is joking when he tries to join. Ernie even charges Dud way too much for his membership dues, presuming he’s a prankster.

What’s quietly beautiful about the show is how it positions the lodge — and by extension, a more community-based way of thinking about the universe — as the “other way to live” that Dud is looking for. It’s no good to live your best life if you don’t have others to live it with. Or, as Ernie puts it in “Sunday,” “What’s the use of living forever if you’re all alone on a Sunday?”

Lodge 49 feels a little like a show removed from its time, like it landed here direct from 2011. (It would be a perfect companion piece to the late, lamented FX detective show Terriers.) It shambles when other shows would sprint, and it never bothers signaling where it’s going, because it thinks maybe you’ll be interested enough to come along for the ride. It is not a show about a premise or plot, instead choosing to focus on characters and vibe. And that makes it a distinct anomaly in today’s TV landscape.

But that also means it’s a show capable of moments of almost tossed-off profundity, like finding something of immense value in a pawn shop. It is not a show about masculinity being used to break apart the world but, instead, about how masculinity can be used to heal it, to forge bonds between lonely men in desperate need of something larger than themselves. That shouldn’t feel as revolutionary as it does in 2018, but there’s some quiet comfort in the idea that neither Dud nor Ernie need to ever again go bowling alone.

Lodge 49 airs Mondays at 10 pm Eastern on AMC. Previous episodes are available on AMC’s website. If you are a subscriber to the channel’s AMC Premiere service, you can watch all 10 episodes of season one right now.

Original Source -> AMC’s Lodge 49 is an impossible TV show to describe. I love it.

via The Conservative Brief