#i don't know why despite this being a story with DRAGONS and MAGIC

[thecubspeaks]

penultimate chapter, and i've answered the people's cries. i know what you've all been wanting: a scene with withers.

[brucewaynehater101]

Hear me out for something. You love Tim Angst right? Hear me out for this.

Tim is not a human. Tim has never been a human. This is one of his most closely guarded secrets. He holds this closer to his soul than even the fact that he is Robin. Not even Bruce or Dick or Alfred know that Tim is not human. He dares not even consider dreaming of them knowing what he is. Only three people alive know exactly what Tim is, Tim himself, Billy Batson, and John Constantine. Only five others know that Tim is not human, Raven, Diana Prince, Zatanna Zatara, Klarion The Witch Boy and Doctor Fate. All of these people only know that Tim is not human due to an aura of magic that he can not fully hide. He masks it well, enough that those who don't know think he simply has a few drops of dragon or Fea blood in him, perhaps a grandparent or great grand parent? Just enough to ping on their magical radars as Not Human.

Billy knows exactly what Tim is because Solomon went "oh by the way you can naturally see through all Glamor spells, look there. That one has wings." while pointing at Tim. Constantine knows because he's the only magic person in the JL and/or Titans (and Klarion) who decided his curiosity over what Tim is and out weighs both his manners and sense of danger and dispelled the Glamor spell when they were alone. Tim very nearly tore his throat out with his razor sharp teeth before John swore on his life that he would never tell anyone what Tim is. All he extorted out of Tim was one feather nearly the length of his forearm, a couple of downy feathers, and vial of blood.

As for why Tim hides what he is well. He's something that can be considered very, very valuable to certain people. A source of parts that are so very, very hard to come by that the idea of having one is so very, very appealing. Appealing enough that many of the more corrupt magic users in the world would happily pay out millions of dollars to have Tim locked in a cage in their study, a constant source of so many things they need for spells and rituals.

Tim uses his glamor spell to hide what he is, both for his own safety and the safety of his family. He knows what happens to creatures like him, he's heard stories of what happens to them. He knows that his family would come looking for him and they would never stop and they would be hurt, or worse. He wishes he could use the curse of his species to protect them but giving each of them even one of his feathers and saying he "found" them would rat him out.

The only person who has one is Jason and Tim told him that it's just a contingency plan, not to look into it. Jason thinks Tim spent a fortune to buy him a single Phoenix Feather, a flight feather no less, and keeps it on him always. After all, while a downy feather can only heal a single fatal wound before turning to ash, if applied to the wound directly before death, a flight feather can resurrect the newly dead by simply placing it on their person, or them already having it in their pocket.

Hmm... I wonder how far this would go into the myths of Phoenixes. Does Tim also respond/come back to life? How much is well known about those myths (is it known that they can hide as humans)?

The pure angst from Jason being the only one to get a feather (Tim wants to make sure he never dies again because he can't handle that. His own emotions aside, he can't save Bruce again).

Does Tim die as Robin and come back because he's a Phoenix? Does he lose his spleen but gets it back when he dies again? Do his scars and callouses stay with him if he rises from the ashes again?

Anyways, I love angst where Tim hides information from the Bats for them despite how it hurts Tim.

I'd also be curious about Tim's heritage. Are the Drakes Phoenixes too? It'd be hilarious if some distant ancestor named themselves "dragons" to hide the fact that they are Phoenixes

[kiame-sama]

For those angry about Malleus' temper and behavior in my AU and are bombarding my ask box about it and even trying to threaten me that it is isn't cannon (except Malleus has a shit ton of canonical yandere tendencies and this is a fucking AU WHICH IS NOT CANON), read the below statements. For those that want the HAE AU intricacies slowly brought up in the story itself, don't read because it may spoil some things I haven't written yet.

Spoilers for chapter 8, 11, and others of the HAE AU

Okay, I'm going to say this as clearly as possible because either I haven't done well enough job hinting at the truth/ it is too early in the story to really get into the meat/ or people really just don't suspend their disbelief to look past surface level and deep-dive into text anymore;

HAE MALLEUS IS YANDERE AND ACTS LIKE IT. All Dragons have yandere tendencies and in my AU they are all canonical yanderes. They have Hoards for a reason and those in the Hoard don't fight for that same reason. Malleus' Hoard is beholden to Malleus because 'Survival of the Fittest' is the main ruler of the HAE AU. Malleus is barely into adulthood in terms of Dragons and is already leaps and bounds above the rest in terms of skill, strength, and ability. He IS the fittest as far as NRC and the Hoard are concerned, there is a reason only those stronger than him or those he values can direct him to do anything without direct retaliation. They all have their primary animalistic instincts despite claiming to be above them because they all evolved hand in hand with their instincts and magic.

Malleus is instinctually programed to be yandere and that includes being yandere over his Hoard as well. Silver, Sebek, and Lilia all know the rules of the Hoard because they have all been in Malleus' Hoard for an extended period of time, that is why they go straight to Malleus when they are presented with certain behavior from the Human.

The Human is new to the Hoard and knows next to none of the inherent rules that come with being in a Hoard to a Dragon like Malleus. This is why the Human won't go straight to Malleus if propositioned by any of the NRC guys because they have no idea that is a rule Hoard members need to follow. They are learning the rules slowly and beginning to realize the rules are for the Hoard's safety from the inherent yandere behavior as well as the Dragon's safety of staying sane. The Human is only JUST NOW realizing that these monster men are unhealthy in their growing obsessions and that there is a genuine obsessive drive to behave this way BECAUSE OF THE HUMAN. Now, this is by no fault of the Human- it is a result of their own natural ability among monsters- but their simple presence among these monster-men is making it worse.

Overblot is a result of magic waste and negative emotions, in my AU, the yandere emotions and tendencies they feel are a direct contributor to Overblotting.

Riddle- who was NOT yandere before meeting the Human- was quickly consumed by the yandere behavior because he was not used to the feeling of such poisonous possessiveness and it overtook him the moment he thought he was losing what was never his.

Malleus got closest to Overblotting when he thought Leona killed the Human. Grim interrupting and revealing the Human is still alive was enough to break through that rage and make Malleus take the reigns once more over his behavior. His yandere tendencies were reaching a fever pitch because he believed he lost what he sees as his most precious belonging; the Human. He is instinctually programed to view others as belongings, he is a Dragon, he has no choice. The only way Malleus can Overblot in this AU is the genuine belief his Human, Lilia, or the entirety of his Hoard is dead. His Hoard is who he has chosen to obsess over, because instinct dictates that he needs to obsess. The Hoard allows him to let these yandere tendencies breathe in a way that- isn't really healthy for anyone, but healthier for him- prevents a catastrophic meltdown response from Malleus. He could theoretically lose Silver or Sebek from the Hoard because his two crown jewels- The Human and Lilia- are still there. Sebek and Silver are Jewels, but not the Crown Jewels of the Hoard. Losing Lilia would be devastating to Malleus, but he could pull through without an Overblot so long as he has the Human and his two retainers to calm him and soothe that yandere ache. Losing the Human will invariably result in an Overblot even with Lilia, Sebek, and Silver still present because the Human is Malleus' chosen greatest treasure. The coup de grâce for his Hoard and his chosen Crown Jewel that embodies his Hoard is the Human. Lilia is a Jewel in the crown, but not the main Jewel.

Many of the NRC guys are not inherently yandere, they are becoming yandere. Through a mixture of scarcity (only one Human) and literal addiction (Humans are more addictive to the monster men than Meth), the NRC guys are unwillingly falling into yandere patterns without realizing it. Malleus was already Yandere before the addiction to the Human set in, he can parlay with his Yandere behavior better than the others because he is used to it. He is used to it becuase the yandere behavior is already a core part of his instincts.

Those who are not yandere and have no yandere tendencies are more susceptible to overblotting because of that yandere factor slowly consuming them. Riddle crashed out after a few days under the stress of his newly formed addiction. Kalim is in big trouble because he is a genuinely good guy and doesn't naturally have those yandere instincts. Those who are new to these yandere tendencies are doomed to be consumed by them if they aren't able to keep themselves above their own primal hunger and addiction.

Those who are turning yandere are doing so based on the time they spend with the Human. The more time spent, the further they fall. Those who were already yandere can play their yandere behavior because they are mostly used to it, but the more time they spend with the Human, the worse it gets.

Silver and Sebek were not yandere from the start, they are getting there and they understand now why Malleus is the way he is. Lilia already had those tendencies long before he even got to hold a baby Malleus on top of having already spent time among Humans, he is willingly sauntering downwards into his addiction and obsession. By staying with Malleus, Lilia knows he is more likely to get his hands on the Human Malleus has claimed as a Hoard member. Malleus won't fight sharing, but he refuses to be cut out entirely. Lilia is playing him for this reason and because he ultimately cares about Malleus.

[auraisereigh]

"A dive into the past"

chapter nine

Brennan Sorrengail x Riorson reader Blurb: Star explains a piece of her magic while passing time waiting for e certain someone. wc: 3.9k ☆ SPOILERS FOR THE EMPYREAN SERIES. Not much really. Star's thoughts get their own warning? Uses pronouns: she/her. i use Star as a nickname as y/n sounds weird, and i'm awful with names.

Masterlist ☆ Dragon guide ☆ Star's story ☆ Empyrean guide ☆ Support me

After a lot of back forth with House Lindell today would finally be the day I'd see my brother again. Almost two months after I came back home I finally get to bring him home.

I didn't sleep much, I kept tossing and turning, filled with nervous energy. Wondering what state he'd be in, we might have been separated for only two months but those two months have been long and difficult.

Since I couldn't sleep I spend the night cleaning Xaden's room, tidying it up, making sure everything he could possibly need would be there. I refreshed his sheets which gained me some glares from the early staff because of the noise. I also gave him new and extra pillows.

In the morning I almost bumped into Brennan. Despite that our... Issues had been resolved, I didn't necessarily go look for him to spend my time. He still leaves meals for me with notes and what I heard from Felix he still doesn't spend much time outside his room. I visited him in the beginning of the week with some books I thought he might like but he didn't look too happy about them.

It fueled me with insecurity for some reason. I wanted to do something nice but I'm not sure that that is how it came over to him. An insecurity I still feel right now, as he literally sits Infront of me in the mess hall.

It's mostly empty, lunch ended an hour ago. I've been restless for the whole day. Waiting for Xaden to arrive. Aethan promised he would come and get me when he arrived but that was hours ago.

Brennan looks up from the paper I slid under his nose. His brows furrowed in confusion. "Please, enlighten me, what am I looking at?" His sarcastic voice asks. He knows I'm nervous and restless, he handles it well compared to other people. "A paper?" I cringe at my own words. "Your serious." He deadpans. "What are the symbols?" He asks, his voice a little softer now.

"They're runes." I state matter of factly. "They're runes on a paper." He looks at me as if I just told him his dragon spits water instead of fire. "Runes?" He asks with raised brows "You don't know what runes are? Did precious mom keep that from you too?" I taunt slightly, which earns me a glare.

"No, I do know what they are but they are forbidden." He explains softly. "I know they are." I say a little bitter. From all the provinces, Tyrrendor suffered the most after unification. We lost our language and our culture.

"Then why write them down? You're not allowed to use them and you can't use them." There's is curiosity in his voice. "Not allowed and not being able to are two different things." I correct.

"Yes, I know that but you can't use it. You're not a dragon rider. You don't have magic." I scoff at that. Dad was right, riders are truly pricks. Their ego bigger than their dragon. "And you think you dragon riders are the only ones with magic?" I challenge with a raised brow. "Yes, there is no other way except channelling from the ground and you look pretty sane to me." For the love of the lord.

I let my eyes glow their soft red hue. It's always a thrill to show people who think they're the only ones in power that they're not. It's so much fun.

His eyes widen slightly and he opens his mouth to say something but he quickly closes it.

I blink and now eyes are back to normal. I give him a moment to process before I answer what seems to be everyone's first question. "I was born with it. No one knows where it came from as both my parents didn't carry magic nor did their ancestors." He nods slowly. "I thought you would have had at least an idea that I had something as I used it a few times when we were stuck in that cave, hiding from everyone." I continue on.

"I don't remember much for then seeing as I had come back from the dead." He says sarcastic. Fair enough. What do I know about coming back from the dead.

"What can you do with it?" He asks, motioning to my eyes that were glowing earlier. I tilt my head, it's a good question but I don't even know where to start. "It's...complicated. We never found the limits. My dad told me the first time it showed was when I was four, it was harmless. From there on it showed more and more. When I was seven colonel Mairi started teaching me runes, in the hopes that could control it somehow, she had put this rune on a necklace to keep my magic contained. When I was seventeen I lost it near the cliffs of Dralor." I start, giving him a piece of past behind it, by far not everything.

"When you're a teenager you get to that age where you just wanna discover yourself right?" He nods. "Well, I took the necklace off many times. I'd be in the woods or near the cliffs of Dralor, trying things out. I devoured the library for books that could help, I tried everything in my reach." I continue.

"And? What did you find?" He asks with a curious tone. "If I'm correct, which I'm not sure of I am. My magic comes from a source in nature or nature itself. The possibilities so far have been endless. Moving things, making shields like wards, enhanced senses. Those seem to be the most common. But with the right idea a lot more is possible. It's just...unknown. Which is scary." I finish. I left out the parts of being able to read minds. But for the sake of not freaking him out more that might be smart.

He nods again, his eyes focused on mine. He looks like he's prossessing the information. "And of course the red glowing eyes and the magic itself looks pretty amazing." I say trying to lighten the topic. He laughs softly, leaning back as he looks at me with those adoring eyes.

We stare at each other for a moment. He looks like he has a million questions, which, fair. He opens his mouth but quickly shuts it and tenses. I frown and look behind me to see Ulices walk over us.

He looks directly at me, basically ignoring Brennan's presence. My frown deepens. "Lieutenant colonel." He addresses me. Oh, that sounds weird. I shudder. I'm never gonna get used to that. "You're needed in the assembly." He says curtly. My mind instantly goes to the worst case scenarios. "Excuse me." I tell Brennan hazy. He give me a small smile but I can see the tenseness in it.

I stand up and follow Ulices. My mind spins. What if Xaden is not coming? What If House Lindell changed their mind last minute. What if they sold us out to Navarre? Will they hurt Xaden? Or worse?

My mind continues to spiral as I follow Ulices. We turn the hall to the assembly room where almost every member except for Aethan waits.

Huh?

I stop once I reach them. My brows furrow in confusion as I stare at them, waiting for an explanation. Trissa clears her throat. "Aethan is waiting for you inside." She says as she gestures to the closed door.

Nervousness and nausea coils deep in my stomach as I make my way to the door. I push on the large door handle, opening it so I fit through. I close it behind me.

Aethan leans against the table, the stress is visible on his face, which only worsens mine.

I swear I'm gonna throw up.

I open my mouth, wanting to ask him what's going on when another voice cuts me off before I can even say something.

"Hey, little sister." My heart stops and I freeze. I haven't heard that voice in more than two months.

I slowly turn around, my whole body trembling. My younger brother, leaning against our father's throne.

"Xaden." I breathe.

☆

Taglist: @honethatty12 @smashee0789 @awkardnerd @randomperson1234sblog @bangtanxberm @hyperactive-bookworm-0

[meimi-haneoka]

Clear Card Trivia 4 ~ The most ancient Magicians of Europe, the Magic Association and their role in Clear Card

Welcome back to my corner focused on eviscerating all the thematics, hidden messages, trivia, aspects of Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!!

We're at the 4th "episode" of this series (you can find the previous ones under the #clear card trivia hashtag) and this time around the tone of the thematic will change a little bit. We get into a darker corner. Yes, because when it was time to decide for the next thematic I would delve into, I felt it was finally time to address everything concerning The Magic Association and Akiho's clan, the so-called Most Ancient Magicians of Europe.

I've been feeling the need to delve into these two "entities" appearing in Clear Card for long time and for several reasons. One of those is that there are still so many people out there who tend to conflate the two and confuse "who did what". It's time we dot the i's and cross the t's on who's who. And rest assured I made sure to mention every single thing we know (and don't know) about them. For this reason, the post is a bit long, but I wanted to make it as comprehensive as possible.

Moreover, these two groups of people hide a very deep and important role inside Clear Card's story. Despite representing the darkest, most horrible part of this arc (I'd daresay if we have to find a villain in CCS at all costs, we have quite found them), I can see and appreciate a lot the social commentary CLAMP made through them.

If you're curious to know what this social commentary is and read in one place everything we know about these magicians, just follow me under the cut!

The Magic Association of England

Let's start with them. The first mention we have of the "Magic Association of England" (in Japanese イギリスの魔法協会 or they've been called 魔術師協会 - Magicians association - too ) is in volume 4, chapter 15, when Eriol over the phone reveals their existence to Syaoran, and even correctly speculates that Yuna D. Kaito might be one of their members.

Basically, the Magic Association of England is a congregation of powerful magicians (not necessarily related by blood) who associate together for their mutual personal benefit. Their headquarters are, of course, in England.

They are recognizable in the story by their long black robe with purple lining and a headpiece that covers their heads and faces entirely, shaped vaguely like the head of a dragon.

It seems like they are organized according to a hierarchy, for two reasons: some of them wear an additional layer of clothing on their shoulders, as a way to indicate a "higher rank" of magicians (they're probably the oldest ones, or the ones who run the entire thing), but they also assign "titles" to their magicians basing on their level of magic - Kaito is basically the strongest (while not being part of the higher hierarchy, because he doesn't wear the additional piece of clothing) and he's been assigned the title of "D". That's what the "D" in his (fake) name means, nothing else. We can assume there are magicians of rank C, B and A too, in this Association. They even seem to have a collective magic circle, as we can see in more than one scene, but more clearly in chapter 79:

As Eriol implies very early in chapter 15 (and as we will have plenty of opportunities to see with our own eyes), their activities are shady at best and criminal at worst (that's why Eriol replies to an unaware Syaoran "Your clan probably hasn't mentioned them to you yet, because of the plenty bad rumors about them").

It also seems like they constantly try to recruit new members and actively look for powerful magicians to add to their ranks. Like they did with little Kaito, reaching him at the unknown location he was living in (beware, this is often a point of confusion but the men with the caucasian-like headpieces we see in the flashback are not part of the Magic Association. It is just a "circle of people" where little Kaito lived for a period after being separated by his parents.)

Not only that, but in order to achieve their main goal, they also seem to form "alliances" with other influential parties. This is apparently done for the common goal of broadening the Association, their authority and influence in the magic world, as stated by little Kaito himself in volume 13, chapter 60. Although, little Kaito also says that they won't think twice in betraying those alliances as they see fit, and it seems to be customary because the boy says that it's guaranteed to happen.

And "alliance" is the type of relationship that connects them to the next subjects of this post.

The Most Ancient Magicians of Europe

The "Most Ancient Magicians of Europe" (in Japanese 欧州最古の魔術師達) get introduced for the first time in volume 6, chapter 25. Yet, the very first mention of a "clan" Akiho belonged to appears as early as volume 5, chapter 21, when Akiho explains to Kaito she recognized the robe passed down in her clan in the vision she had unwittingly shared with Sakura.

Their ceremonial outfit is composed by a white robe with a light blue cloak hemmed in yellow, just like the removable headpiece covering entirely one's face when pulled up. They also have a collective magic circle identifying the magicians part of the Clan:

As opposed to the Magic Association, this clan is a big family of magicians, all related by blood. They do not seem to have a common last name they go by, like the Li Clan does for example. This gives an inkling about their very broad reach. Although the ones closest to Akiho seem to have their headquarters in England just like the Association, the name suggests that their scope and/or presence might be spanning all over Europe. The family is so big that Lilie basically married one of her distant relatives, part of the same clan.

In this regard, I have to make a very important clarification about a translation mistake in the ENG localization that affects concretely the plot. This mistake made it to the printed volumes.

As you can see here, the ENG translation basically makes a Clan member state that they have the same blood as Clow Reed. We all know that Clow Reed was born from an English father and a Chinese mother and since in this scene the Clan is talking about their rivalry with the Li clan, it is almost automatic to assume that they are the Reed Family.

This is a very egregious translation mistake, as the correct translation is the version that the scanlation group RhapsodyInBlue uploaded back in the day:

A "They are of Clow Reed lineage" (as the Li's indeed are) turned into "For the blood of Clow Reed", giving birth to quite a big misunderstanding.

This clan has never been officially confirmed to have any blood ties with Clow Reed.

Any indication in that sense is pure speculation and fan theories. I know "it's the official English translation that says so!" but unfortunately this is not the first and definitely not even the last translation mistake that affects severely the understanding of the plot.

The only thing we know for certain about the Most Ancient Magicians in Europe (I'll call them "Squid Clan" going forward, cause this is a common nickname I've been using forever in fandom) is that they hold a grudge against Clow for unknown reasons (they wouldn't be the first ones) and consequently they are constantly competing with the Li Clan (blood relatives of Clow) for who is more powerful and influential between their Clans. Although we don't know if it's mutual, this rivalry is nothing recent, as it was already there when Akiho and Syaoran were born, and it's certainly part of the cause that pushed the Squid Clan to turn Akiho into an artifact (to compete with Syaoran of the Li Clan). Syaoran is very well aware of who they are, as he's the one recognizing the robe in Sakura's dream in volume 10, chapter 46.

Another thing that I wish to point out is that, although fandom spaces sometimes call this Clan as "Shinomoto Clan" or even arbitrarily call Lilie as "Lilie Shinomoto", none of this has been hinted at or even confirmed in canon. In fact, the sticker with a phrase from Lilie that is being given out at the CLAMP Exhibition held in this period in Tokyo, indicates her name as just "Lilie", not "Lilie Shinomoto", while all the other characters are fully featured with their first and last name. As it's been revealed in chapter 80, Akiho uses an alias in everyday's life, following a common practice in magic clans. So it's very likely that the entire name "Akiho Shinomoto" is an alias and "Shinomoto" got nothing to do with the Clan Akiho was born in at all.

When they were still alive, Akiho's mother and father were the most powerful magicians in that Clan, with dreamseer Lilie being the top magician. And as we can hear from her own words, the Squid Clan's collective goal is to put their hands on the magic of the entire world and on any means to operate it. That is particularly evident in the purpose for which they have turned Akiho into an artifact. It is also what seemingly steers their interest when it comes to marrying off their members: feelings and happiness of the parties concerned are of no importance, all that matters is how profitable that union will be for the Clan in terms of power. That's why they were thrilled to know Lilie and her husband decided to marry, but then considered it a failure and said they should've never let them meet when they lost their life in an accident and all they left to the Clan was a magicless little Akiho.

Kaito and the Magic Association

Next, let's review how both of these groups affected the other characters.

The Magic Association approached little Kaito in the community he was living in (unknown location) when he was very little, asking him "to help them out". They had certainly sensed his astounding powers for someone so young and saw an opportunity to make their Association grow. Little Kaito didn't particularly want to help them out (or do something for someone else, for that matter), but due to his already problematic growth process and emerging child depression (from what we can see in the flashback, he was seemingly feared and kept at arm's length by the people of that community, so he was already growing up in solitude - I wouldn't exclude they were the ones calling the Association to have him taken away), he didn't even feel strongly against the idea, so he just decided to accept.

What followed were years where Kaito kept growing up in solitude despite being surrounded by so many adults, fending for himself, feeding on anything that was edible enough (Lilie will find him eating a Calorie Mate for lunch), without a shred of love, care or emotional education, simply used as a tool and exploited for his strong magic powers. The boy had the opportunity to train and develop his powers even further, quickly becoming unrivalled in magic battles.

Along the story, Eriol (in a short chapter) came into possession of secret documents about Kaito's life in the Association (the sheets bring the Association mark) and he said that they included his "spectacular war records". What exactly he meant with that term isn't clear, but it's legit to assume that the Association might had young Kaito fight against other magicians (we don't know the extent of the violence of those fights).

Kaito's impressive performances in magic earned him the title of "D" in the Magic Association, the highest title that can be bestowed on a magician in their environment, and he was allowed to attend the Association's meetings with the higher members of the council. During a "character exposition" moment, Eriol reveals that the request that the Association made to Kaito the most was to use time magic for their benefit. This, well knowing the effects that time magic has on the caster. They had a young boy performing that dangerous magic, shaving off his own life span, while they continued undisturbed and unaffected.

Note that in all the flashbacks we saw of Kaito in the Association, we never saw him taking initiatives in their activities, but just merely following passively the orders he received. From his bored behavior we can see in volume 7 chapter 31, he wasn't particularly keen in attending their meetings either. Even the abomination the Association did on Akiho, he never took any part in it, he was merely informed at "fait accompli" (this might be harder to get for how they translated this in the ENG version, but in the flashback in Japanese the Association talks in past tense, as something that had already happened).

From all the hints and scenes we can see of young Kaito in the Association, up to the conversation he had with Lilie and the multiple warnings he gave her about their intentions, my idea is that Kaito wasn't aligning with their wicked morals and felt uncomfortable among them, that's why he strived to be left alone as much as possible, but as they were the only adults he could cling to, and with an already crippled self-esteem, he didn't even have enough willpower to leave that place forever.

Until Akiho came into the picture.

When both Kaito and Akiho were two little children, the Squid Clan requested to the Association to have their most powerful magician "checking up" on little Akiho at a distance for any trace of magic power in her body.

This is the incident that basically started everything: Kaito said with honesty that the girl had no powers, "just like a blank book", with the hope that her Clan would kick her out and let her live a normal life. Sadly, some years later, that same comment had been taken literally by Akiho's blood relatives and gave birth to a very sick plan for Akiho's purpose in the Clan.

Despite seeking his assistance due to his massive magic powers, the Association was at the same time very wary of Kaito. His unbothered and disinterested behavior might also be the reason why the Association and the Squid Clan didn't trust him and decided to engrave the "Seal of D" on him when he offered himself to escort Akiho in her travels around the world, unknowingly seeking for magic to write on her body (I'll talk about this whole matter in the next paragraph).

The "Seal of D" is a magic of "confinement" that works only on magicians with a title of "D". It's easy to imagine why this thing exists in the first place: magicians with such enormous magic powers are convenient but also pose a threat to the authority of the Association, especially considering how there's no sense of comradery and loyalty in this group of people, and they're ready to betray anyone at any moment. The "Seal of D" works as some kind of "trap" that is triggered by the undesired behavior of the magician (in this case, they had programmed it as "should the magician tamper with the magic artifact in any way, activate the Seal of D on him"). Young Kaito had no qualms about accepting to let them engrave it on himself, because at that point he already had a rampant self-loathing and probably the guilt of what he realized he had contributed to cause was already wrecking his mental state. They even had the nerve to ask him "Do you understand what it entails?", as if shaking the responsibility off themselves. Of course he didn't know. He didn't have a complete idea of what he would have to sacrifice, at that time.

Following Kaito's refusal to return Akiho to their abusers (roughly around 1 year prior the events of Clear Card), they excommunicated him officially from the Magic Association and started persecuting both of them. In volume 7, chapter 33, we saw one of those attempts at attacking them to take Akiho back, promptly repelled by Kaito in secret to not let Akiho notice anything. It is easy to guess there had been other attempts in the past. This is also very likely the reason why for Kaito it was absolutely vital to live in Eriol's ex-mansion once they arrived in Japan, as the house was naturally a perfect place to store and protect magic artifacts.

When Kaito exchanged the artifact implanted in Akiho's body with his own pocket watch, the Seal of D and everything that happened afterwards was triggered automatically, sealing Kaito away in a hidden dimension where time was destroyed, stripping him of his humanity and caging him in the form of a dragon, unable to talk, to move or use his magic. Any attempt to free him would trigger an endless stream of magic attacks, like Sakura and Syaoran had the displeasure to realize later.

One peculiar thing that I'd like to remark and that contributes to emphasize even more how despicable those magicians were, is that when Eriol started investigating to understand who Yuna D. Kaito was, with the help of the Li Clan he found out that the "official version" of why Kaito was excommunicated from the Association was that he had "lost" an important taboo artifact that shouldn't have been removed from its premises for no reason. Furthermore, rumors over rumors said he didn't "lose it", he actually ran away with it. All of this is of course a lie spread to make Kaito look like a delinquent who stole the magic artifact (Akiho), when in fact they were the ones willingly sending Akiho away. It is very likely they were the ones spreading this misinformation to both make Kaito look like a criminal but also to not lose face in front of the magic world.

Kaito's permanence in the Magic Association worsened exponentially an already precarious situation with his growth, exacerbating his low self-esteem, denying him a childhood where he could know the warmth and comfort of love, exploiting his magic powers at his own expense, while not meeting any resistance from him, reacting to this abuse with a concerning "apathy" as some sort of self-defense mechanism, for something he could not comprehend entirely yet, and so he could not effectively consent to it. It is a kind of "silent abuse", where they didn't use violence on him (at least not for what it was shown and not till he was still living with them), but still wrecked him on the inside in ways that are not visible to the eye, and it will probably take years and years to heal. Akiho alludes to those scars in volume 6, chapter 29, when she confides to Sakura her fear that Kaito might be suffering in silence from scars "invisible to the eye".

Because of this, his relationship with other people and the way he goes about pretty much anything might appear particularly troublesome and hard to understand. He definitely doesn't react to things as someone with a healthy upbringing. His abuse and exploitation has been explicitly mentioned by Mokona sensei in a Twitter Space, so even if it's pretty evident once you carefully read the chapters of his backstory, it's confirmed even on the author side.

Akiho and the Most Ancient Magicians of Europe

Cosmos, whom we've known as "Akiho Shinomoto" in the story, was born into the clan of the Most Ancient Magicians of Europe as a result of the love and union between Lilie and her husband, both part of the same clan and respectively first and second strongest magicians in that family. It is immediately horrifying the realization, along the story, that Akiho's abusers are people of her own family, tied to her by blood.

But let's proceed in order.

As soon as the accident that killed Lilie and her husband happened, the Clan took care of their only surviving daughter.

Ever since the first panels of Akiho's backstory, the Clan members are shown having great expectations about what kind of magic she would develop, as everyone else in that family had done till that moment. When they heard about Lilie and her beloved's engagement, they were already fantasizing about what incredible powers their offspring would have. That's all they ever cared about. At the "ripe old age" of about 1-2 years, the baby girl was expected to show some signs of magic as soon as she started walking, but she had none. It is roughly in this period that they had Yuna D. Kaito, from the Magic Association, evaluate her at a distance. Even though the boy declared she had no trace of powers, they seemingly decided to wait and see.

But by the time the girl turned 6/7, when she was old enough to read books, still no fragment of magic appeared in her. That was, for the clan, something unacceptable. And the beginning of Akiho's tribulations.

It was in this moment that they started to compare her to Syaoran, of the Li Clan in Hong Kong, and the concern with her non-existent powers began to look more and more like an obsession. They actually started seeing her as a stain on their Clan's pride. Suddenly, the focus was all on how they could surpass the other rival Clan, and Akiho was isolated, left in the grip of loneliness. A magicless member of the family was a member who didn't even deserve being talked to. An interrogatory, at most. They didn't really care if the little girl wanted to socialize, if she wanted to play, if she was the only young person in that Clan, missing her parents who died so early on. All the questions Akiho stubbornly made them about her parents were sistematically ignored, save for one little detail that she was able to snatch from them, probably out of exhaustion: that both her parents loved mint chocolate. It was an apparently insignificant detail, which for Akiho became everything she knew about her parents, and the only "proof" she had of her connection to them. She was also denied any picture of mom and dad, probably considering her unworthy of them.

In the short story n. 2, Akiho tells Kaito that her Clan denied her even plushies. Even if she asked for some, they would tell her "if you've got time to play, then you've got time to read". In this sense, it is a miracle that Momo managed to stay, via the guise of a plushie, by Akiho's side throughout her childhood.

The girl grew up, and the situation stayed the same, or rather, it worsened. The members of the Clan became more and more cruel, calling her “worthless”, “useless” right to her face, in one scene they even doubted she could really be the daughter of her powerful parents. They kept making all kinds of attempts and experiments to see if she would develop any powers. As Akiho herself told Kaito in volume 13, chapter 60, she remembered how they'd repeat countless times how unfortunate it was that Lilie, a dreamseer, wasn't able to foresee her own demise, and that if all they would leave behind was such a worthless, magicless child, then they should've never let the magician and her husband meet. Basically, declaring in front of Akiho that it would have been better if she had never been born at all.

This was the moment where they completely went out of their mind and remembered Kaito's comment on her: if she was "like a blank book", they would make sure to turn her into one.

With the collaboration of the Magic Association, they executed a magic ritual to turn a human being into a magic artifact, engraving a magic tool inside Akiho's body (the infamous book that we will see in its entirety in volume 16, chapter 79. Note, this is DIFFERENT from the white Book of Time guarded by Momo that Akiho carries with her everywhere). We never saw entirely the scene of the crime, but the few flashbacks CLAMP depicted are horrifying enough: Akiho floated over an altar, seemingly tied to it by a chain made of pearls around her ankle. She was completely surrounded by members of the Clan and the Association, and we could even spot both the Clan's and Association's magic circles hovering over and under her. In a particular scene, we saw Sakura in Akiho's place, and she seemed to be suffering. Probably what Akiho herself went through during the real thing. After the successful completion of the procedure, it seems the magicians burned the book they took this taboo ritual from, as a way to have the exclusitivity of the artifact for themselves.

The ritual didn't come without a price though, even for those who executed it. The magicians discussed the toll that such a taboo ritual would take on them, but since their greed was stronger than anything else, they still considered it worth the loss. When the Association's higher members informed Kaito of the successful experiment (and bragged about how magnificent it was), they also mentioned the price they had to pay: several members of both the Clan and the Association lost some magic spells and rituals forever.

It is to be noted that Akiho doesn't seem to have any recollection of this ritual and what happened during it, nor she's ever aware that she carries a magic artifact in herself, so it's pretty much legit to assume they've put her to sleep throughout it. Or....the trauma caused her some memory loss.

Either way, from that moment onwards, Akiho was just considered "an artifact" created and owned by both the Clan and the Magic Association, for their own consumption. The plan was to make little Akiho travel the world to hoard all the magic she could absorb from several grimoires, as that was less risky (in their sick mind) than bringing all the grimoires to her. And in chapter 80, we saw the amount of grimoires that Akiho had unwittingly engraved on herself along the years.

As if this wasn’t horrifying enough, the spell hoarding all the grimoires progressively tried to crush her soul and conscience, until it would get destroyed completely. So when the artifact would've reached its limit, it would've been the death of Akiho as a human being. Only a shell of her would remain. And judging by what was said by Kaito in volume 8, chapter 35, they actually hoped for her to lose her consciousness completely, so they could make use of her more easily.

As we all know, that's when Kaito decided to step up and change the course of his and Akiho's lives forever, offering himself to accompany her in the travel they planned for her.

Just like in Kaito's case, rehashing Akiho’s past in the Clan is important to understand her personality and behavior fully. CLAMP, in the Clear Card manga, have portrayed the story of her past in a very peculiar way: it starts as any other fairytale, with light tones and cute designs. But as the story progresses, and the horror ensues, the tone of the tale changes, and so the drawing style too. It becomes serious, darker and “realistic” (as opposed to the initial cutesy style). What started as a possible generic fairytale, turned into a real nightmare.

Mokona sensei described Akiho as having "nerves of steel" in a Clamp Space, and that certainly helped the girl surviving her childhood in her Clan. Yet, certain things will simply wreck you up inside, willing or not. And in the flashback of volume 6, chapter 25, we could see little Akiho struggling to comfort herself with the fantasy stories she would read to keep herself company. Despite wanting to enjoy them and smile, tears of loneliness still cut through her eyes. The mental abuse the Clan inflicted on Akiho showed its effects throughout the manga, with various moments where the girl's optimistic and cheerful nature would crack at the memory of what she had to endure while she lived with her relatives. Her apologetic behavior, constantly seeking for validation, is another symptom of that trauma. All of this, ignoring that her abuse didn't stop at mere verbal one. Because what they engraved into her with that ritual crosses any boundary and trespasses into physical abuse too. This is truly the most horrific part of Clear Card and it's no surprise that's been received by the fandom with criticism and concern while the serialization was going on.

Yet, I think the fact CLAMP wanted to introduce and depict the abuse these two magic groups perpetrated *in Cardcaptor Sakura*, of all stories, totally makes sense and in the next paragraph I will hopefully explain why.

How Sakura Was Affected By Them

Now that we have eviscerated both the Magic Association and the Squids Clan in every possible aspect, it's time to look at what CLAMP tried to depict through their presence in the story and what kind of role they have in the journey of self-understanding and growth for the main character Sakura Kinomoto. None of this is possible without taking in consideration all that I've explained above. ☝️

Truthfully, the Association + the Clan touched and affected (or we should say wrecked) Kaito and Akiho the most, directing their dangerous attentions towards Sakura only a couple of times. But they were very important for her growth too, since they represented the first "taste" of what awaits her as one of the most powerful magicians out there, and they led her to make the most important decision she's ever made till that moment.

After all, Eriol said it loud and clear. Powerful magicians are naturally drawn to Sakura, since she is a powerful magician herself. And Sakura was meant to meet all the magicians she encountered throughout her story.

The first point of "contact" with these two groups of criminals happened in volume 6, chapter 27, in the infamous scene of Fujitaka's library. The strong energy present in that place (capable to protect Clow Reed's book and the guardians) triggered the artifact inside Akiho, opening it (almost) completely. It was heartbreaking to watch Akiho push Sakura away with the last crumble of consciousness left in her, seemingly to protect her, before the Clan and the Association took control of her body through the artifact and started commenting on Sakura's powers. Several members of the two groups, both male and female voices, took turns in talking through Akiho, almost as if they possessed her. A scene that, if they'll decide to keep it in the anime adaptation, will be creepy at horror movie levels. Of course this is another one of those details that was completely lost in the English translation, as they didn't keep the difference in fonts that you can see in the Japanese one, hence you don't understand that it's not Akiho speaking, but most importantly there are several people speaking through her. I think what's most disturbing of this depiction is how it conveys perfectly how much they consider Akiho a property. A property they can exploit and literally manipulate and make use of as they please.

As soon as the Clan and the Association realized who Sakura was (till that moment she was very likely shielded by that protective spell that Eriol and Kaho applied on the girl, the same that Momo and Kaito had to see through to find her), they immediately tried to absorb her power into Akiho. That, as I've pointed out earlier on, would've instantly meant the death of Akiho's soul, as her "capacity" was almost full by the time she reached Tomoeda. This attempt will be foiled by Kaito through time rewind at his own expense, but the criminals will try again in volume 7, chapter 34, when Sakura used her magic in stopped time. This triggered Akiho's artifact again, and this time they successfully managed to trap Sakura into the big book that emerged beneath Akiho's feet (the same scene we saw afterwards in chapter 70, once the artifact passed to Kaito). Once she was inside the book implanted in Akiho, thanks to her intuitive powers Sakura was able to see a flashback of the moment when Akiho was turned into a magic artifact, living it (and suffering it) from Akiho's point of view. Even this attempt to absorb Sakura's power was foiled by Kaito once again, with a time rewind.

In chapter 46 Syaoran mentioned the existence of the Clan to Sakura after seeing their robe in her dream. Other than that, Sakura won't come in direct contact with them again till the end of the story (the attacks at the fake moon were triggered automatically and they didn't have a direct intervention from the Squids/Association), but I'm pretty sure that once she regained all the memories of the un-rewritten world (including the memories erased by the time-rewinds, as we can see in some scenes featured in the "film strips"), she had already pretty much connected all the dots, hence why she proposed to Kaito and Akiho to erase their existence from the memories "of those people".

At the moment of the climax in chapter 78/79, Sakura finds herself in a situation where she starts to grasp that behind Akiho, the real Akiho, and this guy she doesn't remember but who's Akiho's most important person, there are people who want to hurt those two. She doesn't know much, just what Akiho told her in bits and pieces throughout the story, but that's already enough for her to come to a very important conclusion (and decision).

The conclusion that in front of straight-up cruelty, she can't compromise, she can't keep being the good little girl who tries to be everybody's friend. Cruelty is inexcusable in Sakura's eyes, as it should be. All the more if the ones being hurt are those who are important to her.

Sakura finally learns with her very own eyes that in this world there isn't only the love, protection and comfort she grew up in, but there's wickedness and evil too. That such cruelty isn't a "far away thing" but it can actually hurt people very, very close to her. Of course, CLAMP calibrated on the target audience the depictions of such cruelty and Sakura's involvement with it, never crossing certain lines. The culmination of this realization is Sakura's decision to erase the existence of her friends from their abusers' memories, saying "What I'm about to do is probably not right, but I can't be on everyone's side". I thought that was one of the most powerful, most empowering messages that CLAMP hammered in our brains with Clear Card's finale. Our Sakura isn't a perfect, spotless angel. Within reason, she will stain her moral record a little bit, if it's necessary to protect the people important to her.

And here it's the right moment to introduce the symbology of the Magic Association and the Clan in this story. This is strictly connected to why Sakura made that decision, and why CLAMP decided to not have Sakura confronting the magicians directly.

A Message of Hope Through Social Commentary

Long time ago I had a very interesting discussion with a Japanese CCS fan on Twitter. This fan was wondering why the two groups seemed so important, like the source of all the problems behind this arc, yet they kept being depicted with their cloaks and headpieces pulled up, effectively hiding their identities from the readers' eyes. And the fan had found a very valid reason for it.

One of Ohkawa's private Twitter Spaces pretty much confirmed it for me, later on. Back then the topic was "prejudice" and chatting away, she ended up discussing a bit about CCS and particularly about Kaito's behavior in the chapters that were being serialized at the time. Her message between the lines was clearly "I know you think of him in a certain way right now, but don't let your better judgement be consumed by prejudice. When this story will be over, try to reconsider his behavior". The whole Space was centered on her effort in everyday's life to not let prejudice rule her decisions and assessment of situations.

With Clear Card's story over, I can finally attest that it truly was a story where CLAMP constantly tested our prejudices, time and time again. Not only with Kaito, but with Syaoran and other characters too. And the Japanese fan I was mentioning above explained that in their idea, the reason why CLAMP kept the Squids and Association's faces hidden the whole time was to prevent us from applying a prejudice over them too.

Their appearances don't matter. They can become distracting. This story isn't about them. It doesn't matter what skin color they have, if they're tall or short, if their hair is blonde or dark. We barely know they are located in England, we don't even have a name to call them with. Inside this story, all we need to know about them and focus on are their intentions and actions. Their actions are what define them and what we should be judging them for.

And that's when I realized the "no faces" approach also allowed for CLAMP to turn these two groups of people into a symbolic representation of abusive systems. Thanks to the fact that they're faceless, the readers can literally see in them whatever they can relate to basing on their own experiences: abusive families, exploitative working environments, but also modern society on a larger scale. Never doubt for one moment that CLAMP aren't still doing social commentary in their latest works, even after all these years.

Particularly, in this story Akiho's family is "just" a magic clan, but on a metaphorical level they are the representation of abusive families that burden children with expectations that destroy them psychologically. Think about how strong this metaphor is: "the spell that's been activated on Akiho by her clan will suffocate her soul until it gets destroyed completely, making her easier to manipulate" which is like saying "the family loads the children with lots of expectations, so much that they end up losing their identity, becoming 'puppets' of their family members". Some time ago I've read of a disabled Japanese fan who saw themselves in Akiho's character. Her lack of powers and the way she was treated by her family reminded the fan of their own disability, and what they had to endure everyday due to society's expectations and ableism. They were grateful to CLAMP for introducing a character like Akiho, with a story like hers, and for showing that Sakura and all the Tomoeda kids accepted her and loved her for who she was.

In this way, it becomes clear that the Squids and the Association are representative of systems and concepts that are just too big for a little child to fight against on their own. And that's indeed what happened in this story to Sakura (and Akiho) too. Those magicians are ruthless, organized in big groups and magically very strong. There's no way an eventual fight would've been on equal footing for her, no matter how strong she is. She's just a 13 years old girl, she shouldn't be taking on herself the burden to go against such an overwhelming danger.

Just like in real life, darkness will always accompany light and evil will always exist alongside good. It's unrealistic and unfair to expect that a child could be facing evil all on their own. Even if they are supported by other dear people, it's just impossible and utopian to hope to eliminate evil from existence like Sakura would've eliminated the Squids and the Association in an eventual magic fight. Sakura is the heroine of the story, yes, but she isn't magically nor mentally equipped for such a thing. CLAMP didn't want to lie to us and to their youngest readers. Some battles might be just too overwhelming to fight, and if there's ONE thing they hammered like crazy in this arc is that, no matter what you do, even if you're protecting someone you love, you always have to remember to keep yourself safe at the same time. Reckless heroism doesn't really benefit anyone. That was valid for Syaoran, for Kaito and for Sakura too, in the end.

That's why CLAMP, through Sakura's choice, decided to not let her have a direct confrontation with those two groups of criminals. Besides, let's be honest. There's no way she could've made them convincingly "change their mind" and pressured them to turn suddenly into good people with just a couple of idealistic phrases. It would've honestly looked like a joke and an insult to all the readers who had to endure abuse in their own lives. Oh, how nice, Sakura turned the Big Bad Evils into good people! ...Sure, but what about the pain, neglect and suffering that were inflicted on those who were just little children? Erased by wiping those people's slates clean?

Honestly, the only viable way that wouldn't have insulted the reader's intelligence would've been a straight-up violent fight, and that would've been not only jarring to see in CCS, where violence is certainly not how you solve problems, but also probably resulted in Sakura's death. Which of course, no one wanted to see.

So what do we do when we find ourselves in front of an evil too big to confront, too big to fight on our own? We just give up? We just succumb?

Nope. That's indeed why CLAMP have Sakura deciding to erase the memories as an ultimate, well calculated attempt to free Akiho and Kaito from the grasp of their abusers and at the same time stop the attacks that were threatening to kill all of them. Instead of focusing the resolution of the problem on the abusers, engaging in a fight with them that would've probably worsened the situation, she decided to prioritize the people she loves and ensure their safety first and foremost. I believe CLAMP never wanted to make it all about Sakura vs. Evil Magicians in the finale. That's not the kind of story they wanted to tell. I believe their constant focus and concern in the finale was the marginalized, abused party and how Sakura could help them out from her "privileged" position of a girl blessed with love and protection from all sides. How she could make use of her gifts (both her magic power but also her safety network of people she loves and who love her in return) to do good. Real, effective good.

So, summarizing all the above: by not showing any of the Squids/Association's faces or names, CLAMP successfully conveyed the idea that in the climax Sakura didn't judge and repelled individuals, but rather, the systems they were representing. Sakura didn't oppose "Mark, blue eyes and dark hair" "Elizabeth, green eyes and blonde hair" but actually their systems AND their actions, the atrocities they committed. And what I appreciated is that she didn't need for Akiho to tell her every single thing about her past in order to make her decision, because that's something for Akiho to disclose IF and WHEN she'll feel ready to. She just needed to hear and concretely see that her friends were being literally hunted, and let herself be guided by her affection for Akiho. Sakura did all of this prioritizing her abused friends, the oppressed minority (here it comes out again the topic of minorities so dear and precious to the CCS franchise) while ALSO protecting herself, by not engaging in any dangerous fight with those horrible people.

CLAMP's message for all those children (and even adults) who are suffering for situations that are just too big to defeat on their own, is to first and foremost figure out how to break away from the abusive environment. Run away (like Kaito did), cut ties (like Sakura helped to do), find help so that the poison can't reach you and bring you down again. You have to look for help first and foremost, but also find in yourself the will to be helped.

Akiho and Kaito received help from Sakura, but they also wanted to be helped by her (that's the part where Sakura asked them for their consent on the memory-erasing spell not one, but THREE times). And that's pivotal. The two things are interconnected and salvation isn't possible if you don't genuinely find in yourself the will to be saved.

Once you can break away from the source of abuse, you can start anew. You can take control of your life once again, lick your wounds, heal, move on and find happiness again. That's the concept of "we won't go back, we'll go on" that echoed loud and clear in Sakura's words during the finale.

I think the wish that inspired CLAMP while they were writing Clear Card's story is that any of their readers who are stuck in suffering can hopefully find their own support system.

Though the "Clans" or "Magic Associations" will keep existing out there, we don't have to face them alone. Our loved ones can help us getting out of that toxic environment and never look back.

[mllemaenad]

Taash has a nemesis now. Okay, sure, why not.

Here's the thing, though. I have leave now, for the Christmas holidays, and I caved in and bought Tevinter Nights to celebrate. So I have just read Three Trees to Midnight, and am now making distressed noises about the Qunari again.

For a start, I'm still not completely clear on why and how "the Antaam" have rebelled. I mean: I know why. I'm not claiming to not have read the Codex entries. But a bunch of it doesn't quite sit right with me. We know that the Dragon's Breath operation was led by a member of the Ben-Hassrath (Viddasala), and Rissan is apparently involved in the subsequent invasions – so it sounds like the Ariqun is up to their neck in this.

The Dragon's Breath operation was apparently also broadly popular in Par Vollen: you've got a whole population terrified of magic, and now there are holes in the sky and spirits and demons everywhere. So, sure, the general feeling among the Qunari was "that bullshit needs to stop right this instant".

I get that. There was discontent against the more open-minded Arishok, but the discontent is society-wide. I think it would have to be, in order to prompt a widespread rebellion.

We also know that not all of the Antaam did rebel. Most of them did, but some of them stuck with the old Arishok, and they've just now all rebranded as members of the Ben-Hassrath.

It feels like the rebellion should be more cross-sectional: Antaam heavy, because they're proposing a military operation, sure, but with some subset of the Ben-Hassrath, Tamassrans, and the craftsmen working under the Arigena also on board.

But then ... despite the fact that all of this sounds like a mass religious schism, which should result in two versions of the Qun operating simultaneously (and might make a fascinating parallel to the Orlesian and Tevene Chantries) they then turn around and go "Nah, the Antaam are just rioting across Thedas. Because they're bad people. The Qunari put all the bad people in the bad people army and now they're being bad on the grand scale".

There isn't a leader: no replacement Arishok to put up when they tore down the old one. There isn't a plan for Dragon's Breath v2. It's not even that those things existed but it all fell apart somehow. They're just bad people who do bad things. And despite the fact that achieving mastery is a core tenet of the Qun (and one that I suspect would be hard to throw off, even if one left), all of these people just being outrageously bad at their jobs all the time does not seem to bother them.

All of which is to say that I quite enjoyed Three Trees to Midnight. The escaped prisoners who are chained together and must learn to work as one thing is hardly a brand new concept – but I at least found myself looking at a version of the Qunari rebellion that I understood.

The story's villain, the Bas-taar, believes that he is following the Qun, and that he is in fact bringing the people of Tevinter to the Qun by conquering them. There's a subtext to his story that he feels like the rest of the Qun will turn up to help eventually, once they accept that the Antaam were right. He is also, as Strife frequently puns, kind of a bastard – he has difficulty thinking about bits of the Qun that don't directly apply to his role and falls back on brute force when out of his element.

And where, where, in Veilguard are these guys:

"I am Saarbrak, of the Ben-Hassrath," he said, and the other Qunari scrambled away, turning their backs on Myrion and Strife and the bear as though he were suddenly the greatest threat. "I heard rumours," he said, walking forward and looking to the Qunari in the clearing, "that the Antaam who took Ventus did not act in accordance with the Qun." He sounded disappointed. "Some of the bas now call us monsters." He gestured up at Myrion and the others on the hilltop. "And they are not wrong. This is what threatens the Qun." – Tevinter Nights: Three Trees to Midnight

I cannot tell you how much I want some tired Ben-Hassrath agents (possibly even the old Arishok's men) to turn up and sigh, and point out that they don't know what those idiots think they're doing but it ain't the Qun.

Were they going somewhere with all this at some point? Why aren't they anymore?

[cawslew]

Recently, I've been thinking about making a Yuu OC (not a Yuusona since I don't personally project myself onto the MC, haha). But I've started to think about what concept to use for it, and I came to the conclusion that the best one could actually be Beauty and the Beast.

I will be referring to the MC Yuu in this post with they/them pronouns, and this includes the loop theory somewhat.

The Core Concept: In Beauty and the Beast, the enchanted rose symbolizes a curse tied to time: the rose wilts as time runs out, representing a curse that can only be broken when someone learns to love and be loved in return. (This can be interpreted in TWST as Yuu and others dealing with the other characters' traumas.) The prince (and his kingdom) must endure the curse, with time running out, represented by the petals of the rose falling one by one. Similarly, Yuu��s curse could involve being part of the repeating time loop that seems to be happening, always experiencing resets and a slow, inevitable progression toward breaking the curse, but never fully remembering or understanding why they are trapped.

Yuu's significance in the story is essentially hidden from the viewers as well, not being the prince (or the hero, per se), but still very essential to breaking the curse altogether. Yuu would be constantly resetting time (or it being reset by someone else), playing a seemingly insignificant BUT essential role in the other characters' lives, (just like the rose is tied to the Beast’s fate), but unaware of how they’re part of the larger narrative.

Flower of Evil: In the Beauty and the Beast story, the rose isn't immediately understood to be the key to breaking the curse; it's, however, insignificant much later. Similarly, Yuu doesn't seem to be the focus in the story nearly at all, mostly being in the background and letting the other cast members shine. However, they are not insignificant, as their small actions, the pure fact that they're in the story, change the outcome.

Time Loop and Cyclical Fate: The key to the curse in Beauty and the Beast is time: the petals of the rose fall one by one, symbolizing how the curse will soon become irreversible unless the Beast learns to love. This is exactly what connects the time loop into the story: being stuck in an endless cycle with no clear way of getting out. Constantly trying to undo a tragedy or break the curse without knowing how.

Grim's Role: In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is cursed due to his arrogance and emotional distance from others. In Twisted Wonderland, Grim exhibits similar traits in his pride, independence, and reluctance to form deep bonds. From the beginning, Grim presents himself as someone who values self-sufficiency and is proud of his identity as a cat-like creature with a fiery, chaotic personality. He doesn't want to appear weak or dependent on others, which mirrors the Beast's own fears of vulnerability.

One key difference, though, is that in Twisted Wonderland, Grim doesn't start off arrogant in the same way as the Beast. Instead, his insecurities stem from his lack of magic (I say "lack of magic" as he seems to only be able to perform some form of fire-based magic) and his mysterious background. He’s often seen as an outsider because he doesn’t fit in with the rest of the students at Night Raven College. His lack of magic makes him feel inferior, much like how the Beast initially feels weak and powerless in his own kingdom. The way Grim compensates for this sense of inadequacy is through his chaotic behavior, boasting about his non-existent magical power and getting himself into trouble.

Struggle with Identity: Grim’s identity crisis is a key part of his character arc. In Twisted Wonderland, Grim doesn’t remember much of his past or how he came to be. He's somewhat isolated and disconnected from his history. Grim's struggle with not having magic is a constant source of self-doubt. Despite his fiery nature and potential (shown by his dragon-like features and the occasional display of destructive fire magic), he feels weaker than the other students who have proper magical abilities. This creates a divide between him and the rest of the students, much like the Beast’s own struggle with his appearance and cursed form.

Relationship with Yuu (The Beast Tamer and Its Beast): Grim's relationship with Yuu closely mirrors the Belle/Beast dynamic, but it plays out more gradually, reflecting Twisted Wonderland’s tone. Initially, Grim doesn’t respect Yuu much and sees them as someone to help him out of difficult situations (a henchman), like getting food or fulfilling tasks. His relationship with Yuu starts out as pragmatic, with Yuu merely being a means to an end.

However, as time passes, Grim begins to realize that Yuu’s presence is crucial to his growth, and above all, Grim begins to value Yuu’s presence as a friend. Grim’s usual chaotic behavior hides his insecurities, but Yuu, through their empathy and steadfastness, slowly builds a genuine bond with him. Grim’s reluctance to form a connection mirrors the Beast’s own struggle with opening up to Belle. While Grim’s pride initially prevents him from acknowledging the depth of this connection, it becomes evident over time that Yuu’s presence makes them a source of emotional support that Grim never knew he needed. This mirrors the Beast’s eventual realization that love and emotional connection are more powerful than pride or power.

The Inner Conflict and Fear of Abandonment: Grim’s behavior is often driven by an intense fear of abandonment and rejection. In Twisted Wonderland, Grim’s past is largely unknown, and it’s possible that he has experienced past traumas or abandonment, which drives his chaotic and self-sufficient behavior. This emotional vulnerability is something he hides behind his outward appearance of confidence and independence. Grim has a strong desire to be accepted, but his fear of rejection makes him push others away before they can hurt him.

Much like the Beast’s fear of being unloved, Grim’s reluctance to trust Yuu in the beginning stems from his insecurities. He fears that if he opens up, Yuu will realize that he’s not special or magical, and will eventually abandon him. This plays a significant role in his initial coldness toward Yuu and his chaotic behavior.

And as we see in the story, as it goes on, Grim learns to accept Yuu’s presence and care for them deeply. His emotional growth is slow, but the bond he forms with Yuu helps him out.

The Loyalty: Despite his pride and selfishness, Grim is fiercely loyal to Yuu, even when he doesn’t outwardly show it. He often complains about Yuu and is quick to criticize them, but his actions reveal his true feelings. Grim, however, consistently stays by Yuu’s side, assisting them in their trials, whether they’re fighting off enemies or navigating school events. Yuu is the one person Grim can count on, and while he tries to pretend otherwise, his loyalty deepens over time.

This mirrors the Beast’s loyalty to Belle, who helps him and his castle, even when he’s initially rude or ungrateful. Like the Beast, Grim’s emotional connection to Yuu grows because he learns to appreciate them for who they are, not for what they can do for him, but for the way they help him grow emotionally.

Grim as the Figure of "Beast": Grim fits into the role of the Beast in this concept in a way that Twisted Wonderland supports. He’s often seen as a chaotic troublemaker, misunderstood by the others and struggling with his emotional vulnerabilities. He’s also a creature that seems to have greater power than the story at the moment showcases or is able to reveal. His insecurities about his magic make him afraid to reveal his true self. His emotional volatility and fear of being abandoned lead him to push people away, making him initially similar to the Beast before his transformation.

[emblemxeno]

FE Support Conversation Rant, sorry this is really incoherent lol

How many issues that people have with Fire Emblem's support system can be solved by answering "Your own lack of willingness and imagination is not a writing issue."

Pre support era, characters had a purpose beyond being faceless pieces on a board. These guys are loyal squad mates to their leader cuz the leader saved them from hardship. These are royal knights on the verge of being executed. This closed off village has been hounded, and a girl has been kidnapped because the bad guys saw she had potent magic. This princess is being forced to fight against her will for a foreign nation because her nephew has been kidnapped.

Each character had purpose that works and is meaningful once you give it more thought. Even the near-blank slates in Thracia or Shadow Dragon, you can still discern who they are by when you recruit them, how you do it, what they were doing beforehand, etc. Further on, you can glean more info through the gameplay. This guy has poor strength, but great speed, yet he's not a myrm or a thief, he's an axe fighter! Must be a technical guy instead of a big swinger, the village said he used to do woodwork!

That's fun! That's cool! That's engaging in a story through gameplay despite limited dialogue.

Supports didn't ruin this aspect, because you can still ascribe reasons as to why characters do what they do, what cause they fight for, who they are as people, how they do things, etc.

Supports didn't take away simple nobody recruitments like Rebecca, lost royalty like Elffin or Joshua, or mercenaries like Ike's group. Lon'qu is a man of few words, his name doesn't match other Feroxi names, he cares only about swordsmanship; that's interesting! Nohr's retainers are almost all gutter trash or nobodies who worked to get to their positions, whereas Hoshido's retainers are nobles or respected lineages bred for their roles. These things aren't first seen in supports, they are just in the small info boxes when you click on their names. That's intriguing!

3H, for as much as I give it shit, does this well too! It front loads the cast, because they're all in the monastery for some reason, and the house leaders (as well as early game mandatory monastery wandering) give you enough to say "oh i'd like to know more" or "oh this makes my brain tingle, what's a person like that doing here."

Supports are nebulous, story-insignificant because they're supposed to be. They are rewards for using characters you care about more and more. They are "what if GI Joe and Malibu Barbie hung out" given form. IMO, they aren't meant to supplement the main story in a way that changes things unequivocally, they're meant as a way to peek in how characters just are, as people. Handling day to day tasks, what their routines are like, what trivial things they like and don't like, what they believe, what in their past may or may not influence their behavior.

They are puzzle pieces, that are just as beautiful individually as they are put together as the whole, the whole being the entire story/game.

Having every character be significantly important to the story is functionally impossible, especially given the costs that go into making these games now. The voice acting alone! Why even have it if you're not gonna have a guaranteed selection of conversations to lean on in order to not waste the talent's time or your money? In the current gaming climate, simply being "a chilavrous thief who steals from war profiting nobles who joins your side after some convincing", while more than serviceable and great, simply doesn't cut it anymore when it comes to cost benefits and losses. As sad as it is, people need more than a 1 chapter exclusively cool introductory scene and their own imagination to bother caring about your cast after they paid $60 for your game.

Even base conversations, for as well written they tend to be, are still dependent on you having access to the characters involved, and that can't always be the case due to perma-death being a staple-and removing that is something that I think would be an invariably bad choice, as it is a core part of FE's reputation and a significant part of how each person engage's with each game's gameplay cycle.

Nothing's perfect, and the support system is very flawed, but it's better to have them than nothing at all. Ideally, we'd have supports alongside base conversations, cool boss dialogues, interesting recruitment requirements, awesome non-main character story scenes. If we're being honest, all of that is possible, they just have to not front load character recruitment as much as they do in modern titles, with Awakening and ESPECIALLY Fates being the absolute worst at this (due to needing characters ASAP in order to make them breed with each other and still have maps to sic their demon spawns on).

Hell, that's why I found Engage's cast so refreshing, because you still are getting new blood well into the late teen chapters of a story that ends after chapter 26.

So uh... keep doing it like that IS, and add back some stuff that makes the side cast look cool. Everyone wins.

[lunnar-phantom2]

Ok so...I have four OCs (technically)

Karma,Mogu,Aqua and of course Lunnar

Their design is not 100% yet so they may undergo some changes in the future

And also, my English and my attention is shit, so if there is something weird, let me know and I will fix it

You are already used to Lunna and she needs no introduction

Your favorite ghost XD

Aqua (My little fishboy 🦈)

He would be something like Lunna's best (and probably the only from her perspective) friend and he may seem a bit serious but is a sweetheart

He likes ghost stories and supernatural things in general, he also likes places with lakes, rivers, etc...also he's almost like a cat lady lol

Fun fact:Aqua doesn't know yet, but he is one of several reincarnations of a dragon

Mogu (A Sakura spirit)

She's like a rescued pet for Lunna lol

Ok, ok, ok, jokes aside,in fact she was rescued by Lunna but,despite being close, I doubt that Lunna sees her as a friend

She is kind of uninterested in the world or just lazy but she can get quite excited when it comes to her tree, mushrooms or music(more like she sings)

She's probably the weakest in terms of power on the quartet due to an incident in the past,so when she leaves she's always accompanied (most by Karma)

She is an idol...or a singer...I don't know yet 🫠

Also,apirits are born from feelings, legends, abstract concepts that I don't know how to define 🫠...Anyway!And many of those who formed Mogu are related to beauty,admiration,attention...so she is a little humm...noting modest

Karma,Bad luck,Jinx (he doesn't have a name)

The bad luck spirit that is like Lunnar's big brother or uncle (Although she never agreed with tht definition)

For being a big Ner-I MEAN...A knowledge appreciator,he had a friendship with the moon (night, darkness, she doesn't have a name either) spirit who was Lunna's "stepmother" that's why the brother/uncle relationship

Most of the time he's a spirit without form, but it is more common see him as a cat or a mouse.He only started using a "human" appearance when Lunnar asked him to take care of Mogu and help her

Sometimes he seems to know more than he lets on about the moon spirit disappearance

Also, I like to say that there is something happening between Mogu And him, if you know what I mean ewe

I'm going to take this opportunity to drop a totally random fact about "Lunna's world" XD

So, I think you've probably noticed that in Halloween art, in the background, you can see the Earth, right?Well, that's because Lunna and her gang (except Aqua and sometimes Karma) actually lives on a "magical forest" on the moon 🙃

Yep,you heard right XD

Maybe I'll change this in the future (or not) but for now...It's a long story

So...who is your favorite character?🥹

[howlingday]

Jaune go's to a monster school au. He is a Human aloud to go because his family His ability and his abundance of Mana. He was never that how to use it the So, despite getting similar results to other students, he uses absurd amounts of manna on stuff that really should abuse that much. Weiss is a vampier, rwby werewolf, yang a dragon, penny a golem, Blake is a werecat, Ren a ghost, Nora a Valkyrie, pariah is a demigod daughter of Aries.

Jaune: Hi, I'm Jaune. Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, and rolls of the tongue. The ladies love it~.

Jaune: ...Okay, maybe they don't now, but they will! Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk about. See, I kind of need to vent, and this is the only way I really can.

Jaune: But what do I have to vent about? I have a great family, a lot of great friends, and a bright future ahead of me! I just... have to survive until I reach it.

Jaune: ...Let me start over. My name is Jaune Arc, the only son born to the Arc family, who are one of the few families on Remnant with access to mana, or magic. I'm not very good at it, but I'm good enough to not be allowed to go to normal, regular people school.

Jaune: So that's why I'm attending Beacon's Light Academy of Magic, which was explained to me at one of the four "Great Mage" academies in Remnant, along with Atlas's Might, Haven's Garden, and Vacuo's End. It's not so bad so far, since I'm learning a lot at Beacon with my best friend, Ruby Rose.

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Jaune: What's for lunch, Ruby?

Ruby: (Sniffs) Mm... Beef...

Jaune: What else?

Ruby: Uh... I don't know. Why? The only thing you need to eat is beef, pork, and chicken, right?

Jaune: Uh...

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Jaune: See, Ruby is a werewolf. Yeah. You heard me. Half-human, half-wolf. I don't really know what the story is, since I don't really pry into her business, but Ruby basically has what's called "primal mana," which is magic based on tapping into your most base instincts and emotions, like fear, anger, and hunger. She's usually cool, except on the days that have full moons later that night, then she gets super irritable. She can still go to day classes, but she has to go to the safety bunker before... Well, based on the claw marks I see getting fixed the next morning, it's something super bad. Like, so bad, Weiss can't go to her night classes.

Jaune: Oh, speaking of Weiss, she's also my friend, and I kinda have crush on her. ...Okay, she's not really my friend yet. More of a friend of a friend. But I'm getting there, I think. But it might be best for me to keep my distance from her because the reason I can only see her so few times is because...

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Jaune: Oh, uh, h-hey, Weiss!

Weiss: For the love of... Good morning, Jaune.

Jaune: So, uh, how... How were your classes?

Weiss: Fine, Jaune.

Jaune: Cool, cool... So, uh... Do you... wanna get some... blood?

Weiss: (Puts her book down)

Weiss: (Slowly turns to look at him, Bewildered)

Jaune: ...Is that a no?

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Jaune: Look, if someone as flat and uninteresting as romance novel teens can get vampires, why shouldn't I try my luck? You know, besides the fact that I'm Type-O and probably a better meal than a friend to her. Nevertheless, I will keep trying... until she tells me she wants nothing to do with me. Which she hasn't. Yet. But she won't! Maybe.

Jaune: Anyway, being a vampire is kind of a double-edged lottery sword. It's part of something called "genesis mana," or "Blood Magic". Only people of a certain bloodline can access this, but it also curses your family to become some kind of monster, like a vampire, a wendigo, or even a werewolf. And that's why the Schnee family is so picky about who hangs out with who. My dad used to tell me that some families turn away suitors because "certain blood dulls the mana". He also tells me it's stupid, but also stupid to try my luck. Thankfully, he's not here to judge me, and I have friends who're willing to support me, like Ruby and...

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Penny: Sal-u-tations~!

Jaune: Oh, hey, Penny. What's going on?

Penny: I have heard about your recent failures with friend Weiss and have been instructed by friend Ruby to cheer you up!

Ruby: W-What?! N-No, I didn't!

Jaune: ...

Jaune: (Writes on a napkin) Ruby, I have a command written on this napkin. The command is, "Show me every command Ruby gave." You either tell me the truth, or I ask Penny to eat this.

Ruby: She can say no, though, so there!

Jaune: Penny, would you like to eat this napkin with a command written on it?

Penny: Yes, I would!

Ruby: NOOOOOOO!

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Jaune: She's also a really great lie detector. I mean, except for when telling her own lies. That's just how golems are, I guess. Penny is kind of a... experiment Atlas is testing out at Beacon. She's going to be attending here as a way to test if golems are sentient and capable of safely interacting with other people. Why a school full of young adults would be considered safe, I have no idea, but I'm glad to have a friend like Penny around. And as far as I can tell, whether you were born or crafted together with "creati mana," you're still human to me!

Jaune: Uh, I mean people! You're still people to me! Hah... Sorry... Last time I said "human," I got on the bad side of...

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Blake: You were late to class.

Jaune: Sorry, sorry!

Blake: Being sorry doesn't excuse you showing up late.

Jaune: Right, sorry. I was up late last night, reading a really good issue of X-Ray and Vav.

Blake: ...You stayed up late. For a comic book.

Jaune: A really good one! You like reading, don't you?

Blake: ...

Blake: (Digs claws into the table)

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Jaune: Yeah, Ruby isn't the only one who can access "primal mana". In fact, it's a lot more common for faunus to access it than humans, for obvious reasons. But unlike Ruby, Blake seems irritated all the time when it comes to hanging out with me. Honestly, she feels more like a friend of a friend than Weiss does with me. Almost every word that I say seems to piss her off, and I don't know why.

Jaune: Hah... Guess I'm just unlucky with girls as friends, since I get along really well with...

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Jaune: Yo, Ren!

Ren: Good morning, Jaune.

Jaune: Any luck last night?

Ren: Not yet. But I did rearrange the recipe in the cafeteria for a healthier meal this afternoon.

Jaune: Oh... Uh...

Ruby: WHERE'S THE BEEF?!

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Jaune: Ren is a ghost, and he's been haunting this school for the past... I don't really know. But what I do know is how Ren got to where he is now. See, he was human, like me, and before he died in school, he cast a spell that bound his soul to the school.

Ren: Wrong.

Jaune: AGH!

Ren: I was attuned with "psyki mana" and could manifest my soul so I could find my best friend after I died. We were supposed to graduate, but when I finally came to life, she'd already left without me.

Jaune: Wait, you didn't cast a spell or anything?

Ren: In order for me to cast, I would require access to my aura, which was lost in my final moments. But my soul is still present, though it requires time and effort to manifest.

Jaune: ...

Ren: You can just say you don't know.

Jaune: I don't know. But, uh, were you able to get into the office?

Ren: No. Access to the office is protected from every mana variant known to Remnant. Nothing magical in nature, including a ghost, can enter.

Jaune: Geez, that's rough. You know who might be able to help?

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Nora: Alright, alright, what's going on now?

Jaune: Uh, well, I was just making my way to class when suddenly-

Nora: Were you attacking this poor girl?!

Jaune: What?! No! It's the other way around!

Nora: HA! Yeah, right! Look at you! You're twice her size and SHE attacked you?

Ruby: You stole my comic book!

Jaune: I did not!

Nora: Oh, really? Hand it over, kid.

Jaune: But-

Nora: HAND. IT. OVER.

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Jaune: ...On second thought, nevermind. Valkyries aren't really that helpful, are they?

Ren: It depends on what the situation is. If it's in response to a violent crime, they are merciless and will do whatever it takes to protect the innocent in the magic realm.

Jaune: But if it's a petty crime?

Ren: They... can be a bit biased in who they assist. Unless their opponent is a hostile monster with a weapon, they're not good with delegation and diplomacy. But they do care.

Jaune: Well, you could always ask one, right?

Ren: Unfortunately, no. Valkyries are protected by a specialized armor that prevents the effects of mana. A ghost like me can't even be seen by them, let alone get near one.

Jaune: Dang... Well, best of luck to you.

Ren: Thank you. Also, before I leave, I was asked to find you.

Jaune: Really? By who?

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Jaune: Uh, h-hi...

Pyrrha: H-Hi...

Jaune: ...

Pyrrha: ...

Jaune: So, uh-

Pyrrha: DADDY, NO!

Jaune: Wha-?

Jaune: (Sees giant boar barreling at him)

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Jaune: Ugh... Great... You ever heard of helicopter parents? Well, with someone like Pyrrha, her helicopter dad comes equipped with a rocket launcher and twin machine guns. And a hatred for any boy that gets close to his daughter. Kind of expected since her dad is the God of War. And when I say god, I mean ALL the gods of war to have ever existed. It's part of her "deity mana," where a very lucky few are literal descendants of the divine. And hers happens to be the embodiment of war, violence, and combat. So not only can her dad kick my ass, but SHE can kick my ass!

Jaune: I don't know how I'm going to survive this school, but hey, here's hoping I can at least make it to graduation!

Jaune: ...Er, no offense, Ren.

[stone-stars]

okay if anyone wants an insane amount of lore/conversations about melora, telaine, and aryox, i transcribed these for my own reference. i'm putting them under the cut because by god there's so much.

Mira, c3e53 The story of the Ice Knife is tied to the story of the Feywild. Thousands of years ago, after the Gods abandoned this world, the Material Plane was in somewhat of a magical dark age. But the Feywild flourised. They still had their gods living amongst them: the Archfey. Now, the Feywild (despite its name) had its own politics, and power grabs, and eventually there were Archfey who used their powers to open gates to the Material Plane. Some to seek refuge, some seeking to rule it. Now, there is some matter of debate over whether the rift in our sky is one of those original gates, but suffice it to say there were gates opened here in the Frigid North through which creatures of the fey entered Bahumia. Now, there were dragonkin and giantkin that existed on the Material Plane. But the Feywild brought even more of them. And unlike the Feywild, where magic and tricks rule the day, the Material plane has hard rules and can be won by strength and sword. So, the original smallfolk of this world were forced into hiding. Just mere witnesses to a great war between dragons and giants, who fought for the realm. The Material Plane was threatened with another apocalypse. So, an Eladrin Demigod named Aryox-- Aryox joined the war on the side of the giants. But while some giants believed he would lead them to conquer the realm, he was secretly working to restore balance. Once the dragons and giants were diminished enough that the smallfolk could build their cities, Aryox sealed the gate, stopping the Feywild from invading the Material Plane. And that is why the Ice Knife was made. So that someday, perhaps, we might open it back up. But originally it was used to lock the rift. [So it's a key?] Indeed. Now, this quote-on-quote betrayal came as a shock to many of the giants. Except for us. Our ancestors were trusted allies of Aryox. We saved the world from being conquered but at the cost of betraying our own brethren. The specifics of the conflict are largely forgotten and there have since been many wars amongst giants, but still it is said that the cavern where the Ice Knife lies is cursed. They say that a paladin of Gruumsh killed Aryox with the Ice Knife itself and cursed his resting place. Now, I don't know if all of that is true, but the cavern in which the Ice Knife supposedly lies is definitely haunted. I investigated as a brazen young ranger general. The ghosts warned me not to tarry there without purpose. [Do you believe it? Did you feel Aryox there?] I do believe it, yes. There are different stories I've been told. But I believe that Aryox came clean about the true intentions of his plan. He was confronted by another party with conflicting views and they… killed each other in that cavern. All I know is I went into the caves there, I followed where I knew the Ice Knife to supposedly be, and I was greeted by a strange specter, who advised me not to travel further. That it was not the time.

Telaine, c1e96 I was in an adventuring party with [Melora] and another eladrin named Aryox. Together, we defeated the goblin god Bargrivyek, and afterwards we were skeptical of creating another god, so we split his divine heart in three. Each of us swearing to protect the realm, without imposing our will on any of its creatures. But in the end, Melora was the only one responsible enough to keep her pact. But me? I fell in love with the beauty of dragons, and believed the world would be better if it was filled with them. And their numbers were being dwindled by evil giant hunting parties, what other choice did I have? I had to side with the dragons. I-- I sided with dragons in a war against giants, and while we were busy killing each other, humans built their empires and, in the end… defeated us both. And afterwards, Melora banished me here for breaking our pact. And years later, I hear Aryox broke our pact as well, but eventually gave his piece of the divine heart back to Melora.

Telaine, c1e96, confrontation It is just like the followers of Melora to bend over backwards for the plight of the smallfolk at the cost of everyone else. You come to my home, my prison, you attack my butler, and you want me to give you my heart? The thing that gave me the power to become a gold dragon? A dragon lost because the followers of Melora let the giants kill them off? If you want my heart, you can do what your goddess did and break it yourself.

Telaine, c1e96, defeat Telaine: You wish to- to borrow a divine heart? And what would all of you do when you had this power? Do you think you would stay friends? Do you think you— you wouldn’t change? That everything would stay the same. Moonshine: You can change for the better! Change is not inherently bad! In fact it’s inherently great! Telaine: I agree, and that is why I think Melora’s indifference is wrong. I saw the dragon’s plight and I took action. Moonshine: We are not necessarily going to do precisely what Melora did. We did not represent whatever she does. Or whatever she did to you in the past. We are going to make our own decisions and decide what to do with this. All we know right now is the only course of action is just getting rid of Thiala. Hardwon: We’ve got a lot in common with you. You saw the plight of the dragons and you made a choice to defend them. We see the plight of our people— us small folk— and we want to defend them. - “I am the one who changed. I changed. She stayed the same.”

Murph, c1e96 short rest [if you had failed a saving throw] You would’ve gone to the groups old hangout spot in the Feywild. It’s a little like— brook, and a little like picnic area, and she had like painted her and her friends and things like that.

Telaine and Melora, c1e97 “Why didn’t you do this when I was in trouble” “You mistake me not taking your side for neutrality. I am not neutral. I defend the material plane. I would not kill for the sake of the dragons, nor would i stop the smallfolk from building their empires, but this— what Thiala has done— is an attack on Bahumia itself. Here I must intervene.”

Armory, c3e27 Telaine was an eladrin. She was part of an adventuring party with two other eladrin. One became the goddess Melora, and the other was an eladrin named Aryox. We do have some recreations of spellbooks of druids of Melora here, but she herself didn’t have a heavy hand on the Material Plane so we don’t have much here that’s representative of her combat. - (Calder’s eyes are drawn to a giant gleaming bow with blue and white touches.) This is a replica of a bow that was wielded by Aryox, who was another Eladrin, who would actually eventually battle against Telaine. He sided with the giants in their wars. [Ultrus: “Yes. Smallfolk but giant heart.”] - (Callie looks for symbols on the bow.) You do see… this does seem to have been wielded by a winter eladrin. But it is very big. The attendant clarifies; “Aryox used his magical powers to grow to giant size, and would use his godly archer skills to shoot dragons out of the sky.” You look at this bow and you don’t see anything from Oberon, but you do see a symbol on it that is a snowflake, and the design of it reminds you of your mothers old family crest.

Book that Callie stole from Glenn, c3e30 Telaine ended up siding with the dragons during the dragon and giant conflicts that happened centuries ago— thousands of years ago, in fact. And Aryox fought against her. He had sided with the giants. And as you’re reading about this, you see that unlike Telaine, who seemed to actually love dragons and seemed to actually feel for their plight and want them to defeat the giants— everything you’re reading about Aryox here is… he was working with the giants as a means to an end. This is someone who saw the ‘smallfolk’ being wiped out by dragons and giants. So he sees this war between the giants and the dragons and he knows that the longer it goes on, the more the giants and the dragons wipe each other out and give the eladrin a fighting chance. So he was actually on the eladrin’s side the entire time even though he was fighting with the giants. And you do know that the end of this age of monsters where dragons rule the sky and giants rule the earth, that humanoids would build up their settlements and everything like that, and the eladrin would flourish in the feywild and humanoids would flourish in the main world. But as you’re reading this stuff about Aryox, it’s not really clear if he’s a good guy or a bad guy. He seems cold and calculating and you get hints of your mother in there.

Murph summary, c3e53 Short Rest Glen had sort of misread the story of Aryox. Because he knew about how Aryox was secretly helping the smallfolk by turning this big war into an opportunity for the smallfolk to establish themselves in their world. But this was your first time finding out that like, oh, there were a bunch giants that were in on that plan with him. And then a bunch of the giants are from the feywild. - So the lore that has been spread out over the two campaigns is that there were three adventures from the Feywild: Melora, Telaine, and Aryox. You found out very little about Aryox in the first campaign, but you found out a lot about him in the third campaign. Essentially what happened is the three of them, during their adventures, killed a goblin god that was trying to take over the Feywild, took his divine heart, spread it out amongst the three of them. They all made an agreement not to get involved in mortal affairs. Melora’s the only one who stuck to that. Telaine joined the dragons, Aryox joined the giants— and then this is the first time you found out that Aryox was killed by a giant. [Yeah, like he wasn’t on the giant’s side, he was looking for balance.] Yeah. [And a paladin of Gruumsh.] Oh yeah, and so Gruumsh is involved, because you also know that— as you guys learned in Molscuriel, Gruumsh and Kord, there are different people that think that he’s “the all-father,” like the one that the giants should follow.

[awesome-normal-heroes]

The Problems with how Lumity is handled...

Lumity isn't toxic, but it isn't the healthiest relationship either...

One of the problems with Lumity is that Luz and Amity started dating, when they were just starting to be friends and they kinda rushed into it.

The only thing they knew about each other at the time is that they both like the same fantasy stories, like Azura, and that Amity is a hard-worker coming from a messed-up family.

Which Luz and the show kinda use it as an excuse to sugarcoat Amity's meanness... including how Amity treated Willow.

Luz and the show kinda forget/ignore for a while that Amity was Willow's bully, while Luz was bonding with Amity.

How would you feel if your new friend tried to befriend your bully behind your back?

I know that Luz doesn't have the best social skills, but even she should know that befriending and dating your best friend's bully is NOT OKAY.

Willow and Gus might as well not exist, since the show focuses so much time on Luz and Amity.

Amity also stepped on King's cupcake, which was rude.

And after they became friends/girlfriends, Luz is secretly kinda afraid of Amity or at least afraid of disappointing her and I can't blame her.

Before they dated, Amity tried to have Luz dissected (were not sure if that knife was fake or not), tried to make her give up magic training and tried to beat Luz up with a giant abomination during their duel (while seeming to enjoy it).

She also gets angry at Luz a lot, even over things that aren't Luz's fault. And Luz almost always loses her backbone. Luz even cried once in Season 2, cause Amity made Luz feel guilty over Amity losing her library job.

Even during the episode where Luz confesses her feelings, Luz is scared Amity is gonna be mean to her again.

That's why Luz kept secrets from Amity, because Luz doesn't want Amity to blame her again and/or break up with her.

Again, I don't blame Luz, but trust is important for any relationship both platonic and romantic...and Luz cares about Amity but doesn't seem to trust her sometimes.

In fact, Luz is more willing to talk about her secrets with Hunter (who was also her enemy) more than Amity.

Meanwhile with Amity, after Amity dyes her hair purple (which is Luz's color, despite her claiming it to be abomination colored) and starts dating Luz, her personality changes almost completely. Now, Amity went from a cold and smug yet ambitious girl to simply 'Luz's love interest'. Amity almost never gets angry with Luz now and is kinda obsessed with her human girlfriend.

I think Amity is patient with Luz while dating her, cause when Amity saw Luz cry, she realizes how much she is hurting Luz with her words... which is nice but creates a different problem.

Amity doesn't know how to be her own person anymore. She went from being the person that her Mom wants her to be, to being the person she thinks Luz would want. Trying to be a better person is great, but changing who you are too much to please someone isn't healthy.

In my opinion, Amity should've taken a bit more time figuring out who she truly wants to be, before entering a romantic relationship with anyone.

How would I fix this?

Well for starters I would either have Luz bond with Amity after Amity apologized to Willow OR have Amity not be a bully, just a cold and serious girl that wished to join the Emperor's Coven.

And after Luz and Amity become friends/girlfriends, Amity is still a serious girl, but she's softer around Luz and Willow (similar to how Tigress is with Po in Kung Fu Panda 2, or how Astrid is with Hiccup in How To Train Your Dragon).

Amity also has a new dream as a teacher for kids, after she learns Emperor Belos is evil.

[dropintomanga]

Delicious in Dungeon - The Mental Effect of Desires

Once in a while, there comes a manga with a well-defined story with well-defined themes. And even better, a well-defined ending. I'm finally going to talk about such a manga in Ryoko Kui's Delicious in Dungeon. It's a fun and award-winning story about dungeon-crawling that slowly goes deeper into a part of human nature that can grind people's gears or makes people feel alive - the topic of desire.

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES INCOMING.

Delicious in Dungeon is about an adventurer named Laios, who is trying to rescue his sister, Falin, from a red dragon they ran into at a somewhat deep part of a dungeon. The red dragon ate Falin and seems ready to digest her. Accompanying Laios are Marcille, a female elf mage, and Chilchukk, a halfling locksmith/thief. As the party struggles to figure out how to progress through the dungeon, Laios suggests eating monsters to survive. Marcille and Chilchukk are dismayed by the suggestion, but the group meets a dwarf warrior and longtime resident of the dungeon named Senshi, who loves to cook monsters. Senshi joins the party and the 4 of them (a fifth member by the name of Izutsumi would join them around Volume 6) hunt monsters and cook recipes using them as base ingredients. The story gradually goes from their humorous cooking/hunting exploits to an explanation of the dungeon and the mystery on why it exists in the first place.

While the story doesn't fully explore the topic of desire until around Volume 9, Laios' party is driven by desire to a certain degree. Laios desires to save his sister no matter what, but also desires to eat monsters. Marcille desires to save Falin, but later develops a desire to save her fellow party members at all costs via whatever means necessary. Chilchukk desires to get away from the nonsense of his fellow party members despite putting up with it. Senshi desires to have the party members learn how to be nutritionally sufficient. Izutsumi, who is a cursed beast individual, desires to have freedom over what they want to do with their life.

Regarding desire, we often have a mixed view of it despite it being a part of life. Organized religion abhors certain kinds of desire. Philosophers say desire is a fundamental part of what makes human beings who they are. Where it gets problematic is that if one desire gets fulfilled, another one tends to emerge as the next desire to go after. A lot of suffering and anguish can come from chasing desires. In a world where we're taught to mindlessly consume and chase new things to keep up, you can see that desire causes a lot of mental health problems.

What's scary is that people don't know what they truly desire until they face a situation where they're forced to confront their fears and anxieties. Sometimes, that conflicts with an outside group that frowns on desires.

When Laios and his party do find the red dragon and defeat it, they find that Falin might be dead and fully eaten. However, with a stroke of luck, Laios decides to have Marcille revive Falin with forbidden magic. Falin is revived, but is later transformed in a dragon-type creature by the lord of the dungeon, Sissel. Events like this would later draw the ire of a group of elves, known as the Canaries, who are assigned to eliminate threats in the dungeon and destroy it once and for all. That would include Laios and company, since their desires can be considered against the norm of their world.

I feel that Delicious in Dungeon is about trying to distinguish between natural desires versus unnatural desires. Natural desires are basically easy to satisfy and they usually involve food or shelter. Unnatural desires are the desires for fame or power or a life they wish they had. Those desires usually hard to achieve.

Unnatural desires come into play when the plot introduces demons and how they play a role in the lord of the dungeon's duties. The leader of the Canaries, Mithrun, was once a lord of a dungeon who got everything they wanted from a demon. He wanted a life outside of the Canaries. The problem was everything was too good to be true. Cracks start to emerge and the peaceful life crumbled before Mithrun's eyes. What's worse was that a mentally-broken Mithrun had his desires eaten by the demon. Demons are the reason dungeons exist as they prey on the strong desires of individuals who enter them.

There's one desire that is perhaps the root cause of a lot of problems regarding the dungeon plot of Delicious in Dungeon - the desire for constant happiness, which can become unnatural in a hurry.

The Lunatic Magician and the lord of the dungeon at the beginning of the story, Sissel, is one example. He is loyal to a man named King Delgal and the country they both lived in. One day, the country was besieged by illness. Sissel traveled to a dungeon and found a demon in the form of a winged lion who granted him his wish - that his people would be peaceful forever and never suffer any calamities. In a sense, eternal happiness for his countrymen. However, this did not end well as the people Sissel wanted to protect were living in the dungeon when this happened and they voiced their frustrations at him for not being able to venture back into the outside world as time went on. Sissel would take their souls away to "protect" them and because of the demon's influence, he becomes delusional over making sure his kingdom is "safe" from intruders and dissenting opinions.

But Sissel would fall victim to the Winged Lion after a confrontation with Laios, who ate his desires. Next up was Marcille, who slowly realizes how important Laios and company are to her. She wanted to protect them badly to the point that she becomes the next lord of the dungeon. The Winged Lion, who toyed with Sissel, would take advantage of Marcille. Her wish was that all non-elf raves lived as long as she did as elves live up to 1,000 years. She was chasing constant happiness in her desire to protect people for her sake. This causes the worst thing possible - the Winged Lion emerging in the real world outside of the dungeon to cause chaos since Marcille believes anyone not on Laios' side will crush her dream.

The Winged Lion would later explain to Laios that its grand goal to create a world of eternal happiness. The highs will always stay high and never go low. Every human will never feel unsatisfied with anything ever again. The Winged Lion's origin story was basically it being born out of magical energy, discovering the problems of humanity, and trying its best to solve them. But as Laios points to a burnt-out Lord Marcille,

"I bet an ideal world with nothing unpleasant, inconvenient, or worrying wouldn't have any happiness in it either!"

The Winged Lion couldn't grasp that concept for a long time until his desire for people to be eternally happy ends up being ironically eaten by Laios, who decides to become the next lord of the dungeon and cleverly wishes to be a monster that can eat desires.

After reading all of the final battle arc, I can't help but think about a statement I once saw on a tote bag - "The pursuit of happiness is the source of all unhappiness." When you try to make everything positive, resentment slowly builds. Happiness comes and goes all the time. Plus, when trying to chase happiness, you start to become pressured to achieve goals as fast as possible. So why do people continue to say things like "I want you to live a life full of happiness"? Maybe because we're scared to admit that things do go wrong and we wouldn't know how to cope or move forward. Marcille was an example of this as she felt like a failure in not protecting the people she cared about.

Reading the manga makes me wonder whether people really know what they want or what makes them happy. Everyone's hungry for something. But Delicious in Dungeon reminds me that it takes a support system to help us understand that while it's okay to hunger for better things, we have to be wary of expectations that make them more than they are and tell us they will solve all our problems. No superfood or super-anything can cure every disease possible.

I believe Laios is a character worth looking up to because he's willing to face the uncertainty of life. His obsession with eating monsters may not be pleasant to everyone around him, but bonding over making difficult choices for survival and learning that unpleasant experiences can bring joy is what drives connection. Plus, Laios' happiness over monsters is driven from within in an almost-childlike manner. His sense of happiness isn't driven from pain avoidance. That's the happiness we can try to go for as an outcome.

But remember, happiness is always fleeting and life isn't a dungeon with infinite lives. Our lives are very interdependent on the lives of others, people and food. In the last volume, Marcille points out that the biggest lesson of the journey was that we have to accept death. So maybe the most important desire should be to appreciate life and the finality of it all. We eat and we're bound to be eaten up by something in the end, so let's spend that time consuming each other's experiences and perspectives for a well-nourished mind that can keep us satisfied through the worst and best of times.

Psst, get the Delicious in Dungeon complete manga box set, y'all.

[antispopausandstuff]

debated on talking about this, but i figured why not, so

.

it's been on the shelf for a while, but i have another SPOP universe titled "She-Ra: The New Era" that's set approximately 150 years in the future after the war, with a new She-Ra named Seren, Adora's granddaughter and 2nd descendant.

i will admit, "The New Era" follows the same basic plotline of the original story ( OG show and reboot ), where invaders take over Etheria and bring corruption and domination to the homeland, but i want to handle it and make it my own in execution.

as to who the invaders are, they don't have anything to do with the Horde and are instead of a species i made myself, but are currently unnamed ( i'm looking through demon lore and whatnot for inspiration on name and lore ), so they're simply called 'invaders' for right now.

the plotline . . .

"The New Era" follows Seren through the path of redefining She-Ra's legacy and making a name for herself, fighting evil, discovering secrets of the past, and mending bridges long broken.

inspired by ATLA and LOK, especially in their parallel theming, Arcane, The Dragon Prince, and several other media relating to war, coming of age, past vs. present, etc.

.

the main protagonists . . .

Serenity ( Seren ) - Adora's Granddaughter, 2nd Descendant, She-Ra, 18 years old ( beginning ), She // He ( Trans Bigender ).

she is very matter-of-fact, having a tendency to come off as blunt and brusque to strangers, often unintentionally. but when people come to understand her, Seren shows she is compassionate, friendly, and protective for the innocent.

raised in a community that trained and prepared her for any future hardships, Seren is a highly-skilled fighter, seen as a prodigy of her time for how quickly she adapted to and developed her abilities, and is knowledgeable in a variety of weapons and magic. a lot of people tend not to think about it, but she is, in fact, a bookworm.

Voice Claim - Nakia ( Black Panther )

Trivia . . .

Main Color - Blue

Best Friend - Valkya ( dragon )

Favorite Pastime - Art

Favorite Food - Sweet-Spicy Glazed Ribs ( inspired by soul food )

Quirk - Nail Biter ( usually when busy or nervous )

Has a stepdad ( relationship is awkward )

-

Amlok - Hordak's Son(?), King of the Light Zone, 19 years old ( beginning ), He // They ( Trans Non-Binary ).

forever haunted by the past, Amlok strives to be better than his predecessor and remain kind, even in the face of those who heavily mistreat and abuse him. because of this, he's considered foolish and pathetic by many, even his people.

he doesn't know how to fight, at all, typically relying on words, taking the hits, or running away when in confrontations, but Amlok is determined and hardly knows when to quit, which helped him with finding his own ways to apply spells ( due to being a Horde clone // experiment, he cannot naturally have magic ).

Voice Claim - Rin Okumura ( Blue Exorcist ) ( Japanese )

Trivia . . .

Main Color - Black

Best Friend - Khaspian ( Prince of Salineas )

Favorite Pastime - Harp Playing

Favorite Food - Homemade Fruit Bread ( inspired by soul food )

Quirk - Levitates 24/7 ( very rarely on feet )

Animals are his family ( Disney Princess type beat )

-

Khaspian - Mermista's Grandchild, Prince of Salineas, 18 years old, They // He // She ( Trans Genderqueer )

they're a handful, to put it bluntly. with only one friend ( Amlok ), Khaspian drives most people away due to their patronizing attitude and constant need to be the best. but, despite the rumors, they did not form a connection with Amlok out of pity or other ambiguous reasons.

beneath all of their bravado of superiority is someone who is aimless in life and doesn't know how to be more than their title. Khaspian has no hobbies ( that they know of ) and has their life entirely centered around being future King and trying to gain magical ability, which is a very sore spot for them. needless to say, they're not a people person.

Voice Claim - Amir ( The Two Princes )

Trivia . . .

Main Color - Gold

Best Friend - Amlok ( King of the Light Zone )

Favorite Pastime - Technological Science ( they have no idea )

Favorite Food - Suki ( inspired by Thai cuisine )

Quirk - Hair-Fidgeter ( dead giveaway to nerves )

Has a twin sister ( Cora ) ( they hate each other )

-

Lunar - Glimmer's Daughter, Princess of Brightmoon, 18 years old, She // They ( Non-Binary )

adventurous, bright-eyed, and keen, Lunar desires exploring Etheria and beyond over becoming Queen, which puts her at odds with her mother quite often. like Seren, she is a prodigy, particularly in magic, but this leads her to be impulsive, a little insensitive, and seeking independence above all else.

in spite of her confident, daredevil attitude, Lunar is easily spooked and can be seen napping and // or sleeping for hours after her anxieties finally crash down on her. she's rivals with Khaspian, partially because they love to scare her.

Voice Claim - Nobara ( Jujustu Kaisen ) ( Japanese ) ( i do not support JJK )

Trivia . . .

Main Color - Pink

Best Friend - Kowl ( owlcat-looking thing )

Favorite Pastime - Sports

Favorite Food - Ma's Glazed Dango ( inspired by Japanese cuisine )

Quirk - Hummer ( struggles with quiet )

Has a little brother ( Starlight ) ( the siblings ever )

-

the main antagonists are still going through conceptual writing progress ( so are the main protagonists, but less so ), and i'm working on the lore for the invader species, so this project will take time.

important to note! i referenced cultural irl foods, but i'm most confident in referencing African American dishes, as that is half of my ethnicity and soul food is very common. another part of the reason why this project may take a lot of time is because i want to figure out how to incorporate inspirations into my work without potentially offending others or generalizing too many details.

this is a high fantasy story at the end of the day, so i don't want to put too much pressure on myself to represent 100% accurately, but i want everything to feel authentic and inspired, not like throwing the diversity sticker on the cover for views.

unlike "To Be Loved", "The New Era" will take a much longer time to be produced and online, if it even gets to that point, but i will try my best to share the process, including concepts ( writing and art ), character designs, lore, etc.

thank you for reading and i hope you enjoy all future content of my kiddos and their journeys!

[volkoss]

Author Ask Tag

Tagged by @broodwolf221 thank you!

What is the main lesson of your story?

I'm going to answer these questions with my primary writing project Enduring Friendships in mind, which is also affectionately nicknamed the Johanna Hezenkoss Cinematic Universe (or JHCU).

For those who are unfamiliar, this phrase comes from the 'The Flame Eternal' short, which is set 30 years before the events of Veilguard. To summarise, Emmrich thanks Johanna for having his back while they deal with a haunting, Johanna deflects by saying that she only bothered helping to keep him alive, Emmrich persists and expresses his gratitude regarding enduring friendships. And well, at its most basic level... Enduring Friendships is, uh, a story about the power of friendship. How we're affected by the people around us. No (wo)man is an island, not even Johanna Hezenkoss (despite her best attempts). There's also some underlying themes about free-will and self-determination, but it's probably for the best that my ability to write these fics outpaces my ability to refresh my (rudimentary) philosophical knowledge because otherwise I will get lost in the sauce and never end up finishing anything at all. There's also a little bit of punny wordplay at hand, because of the dual definitions of 'endure'. You know, both 'lasting' but also 'suffering'. Given the ~80 years of friendship this series covers, there is a lot of suffering, lmfao. Putting the rest of this under a cut for length because I don't want to put 1,000 words of unedited Johanna ramblings on people's dashes unannounced.

What did you use as inspiration for your world building?

As I knew that a decent chunk of this series would consist of exploring Johanna's experience with lichdom and what it entailed for her, I am unsurprised to find myself once again obsessed with Dragon Age soul lore. For example, Emmrich and other Mourn Watchers will still use 'soul' and 'spirit' interchangeably in the colloquial sense, despite them obviously being separate concepts (Emmrich even has a whole codex entry where he explains the difference to Harding!) And the lichdom ritual is explicitly stated to keep the lich's soul bound to the body. Where else does the concept of the soul play a significant role? Why, the slaying of archdemons and the Old God Baby, of course! We learn in Origins that the reason only a Grey Warden can kill an archdemon is because the two souls cancel each other out (the Old God Soul is expecting to jump to a darkspawn, which don't have souls). But wait, there's more! Morrigan can also intervene with her ritual and... take the soul into her unborn child who has just been conceived and eventually have a child who just has these two souls, no biggie, makes some unsettling statements from time to time, but is otherwise unharmed when the soul he's been harbouring is removed from him. This got the cogs in my brain ticking in two different directions: a) that it must be possible through magic or machinations to harbour someone else's soul b) Flemeth's motivations for wanting the OG soul in the first place (keeping in mind also that she's soon murdered by Solas who yoinks her powers). Anyway, this is all very important worldbuilding for the final part of the JHCU. Another point of inspiration is the ending of The Good Place, which forever changed by brain chemistry. If you've seen it, you'll know what I'm talking about. This is all a very convoluted way to say that I'm committing to Emmrich redeeming Johanna but Johanna making him a bit worse in the process 🫡

What is your MC trying to achieve, and what are you, the writer, trying to achieve with them? Do you want to inspire others, teach forgiveness, or help them grow as a person?

Johanna really is just trying to survive or die trying! And it's only when she ends up functionally immortal but trapped in Emmrich's office that she slowly recovers from having the nervous system of a cornered animal whose primary threat response is fight. But then she also has to slowly contend with the fact that her best friend(?) who promised to never abandon her is going to die one day because he chose to save the life of some idiot wisp over the pact they once made as children, lol. For the better or the worse, because Emmrich just refuses to fucking die and even ends up outliving Rook, Johanna has a lot of time to come to terms with this. She would really prefer he just die, but. Alas! Anyway, long story short, Emmrich gives Johanna some Weird Fucking Bequests on his deathbed (at the ripe old age of 102) which allows for Johanna to make another attempt at lichdom. Manfred and the lich lords of the Necropolis finally bully her into admitting her paralysing fear of abandonment out loud 🤙🏽 Real character growth considering she tried to DIY it last time, lol.

How many chapter is your story going to have? As previously mentioned, it's primarily a series of one-shots. I have roughly another 6 one-shots planned for the series in various stages of development, probably all ~5k like the previous installments. Based on my current outline, I think the final multi-chap will be about 20-30k. But scope creep is a bitch.

Is it fanfiction or original content? Where do you plan to post it?

Fanfic primarily posted on AO3, but crossposted to Tumblr.

When did you start writing?

I vividly remember the first piece of writing I ever did being a story about a girl who was immortal and did NOT want to be immortal, which is VERY FUNNY given. All of the above. But I was about 8 or 9 at the time and had recently played Golden Sun which I think was the inspo for that one! And I had started reading fanfic around that time, too, so I think I wanted to give it a go myself. I've always loved stories, both reading and writing them. Even when I take breaks from writing on purpose these days, I don't quite feel like myself.

Do you have any words of encouragement for fellow writers of writeblr?

Write!!! Literally, just write. But also, build a sense of community around yourself that works for you. Writing can be an intensely lonely hobby at times, but it doesn't have to be. Tagging: @serbarris @nerdanel01 @jainydoe and anybody else who wants to share their thoughts! (and please tag me, I wanna read :>)

[birdhouseblogredux25]

Futari Wa/We Are Pretty Cure! Review Season 1 (Ep. 1-26)

Hi, my name is BJ short BluJay, and welcome to the Birdhouse blog where magical girls throwing hands is a typical Tuesday afternoon when you're facing up against the monster of the week and balancing midterms at the same time.

I'll be reviewing the first arc of Futari Wa precure, most commonly known as We Are Pretty Cure! For background, Futari Wa Pretty Cure is a magical girl series produced by Toei Animation in 2004, if you know Toei Animation, it is one of the biggest animation studios out there for hit anime such as Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, and of course the magical girl sensation that swept the globe Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon.

While all four anime series swept the world marking its spot of peak animation to this day, the Pretty Cure franchise was a phenomenon that grew on its own two feet to stand on its popularity.

As a little kid I've heard about the Pretty Cure series for a long time, but I never really got into it as I was into other magical girls shows. But now that I am older and flying back down into the rabbit hole that is my magical girl phase I decided to watch the 1st 26 episodes of the original Futari Wa Pretty Cure series, and I had a blast.

🖤The Story🤍

The show follows our two main protagonists Nagisa the pro athlete and Honoka the genius honor student, as they are both brought together by two marketable plushies named Mepple and Mipple to become the emissaries of light Cure Black (Nagisa) and Cure White (Honoka) to defend ancient crystals known as the prism stones from the clutches of the Dark Zone led by their ruler the Dark King.

Pros:

The story is very straight to the point as it's very consistent about events that happened in the show as Nagisa does recaps for each new episode. Each episode has a storyline, some filler episodes, and the other half of the episodes connect to collecting the prism stones as the main target for the 1st 26 episodes. But one of my favorite parts about this season is the themes of the human heart and how connection can bring people together despite how different they as our two protagonists try to understand one another, for better and for worse.

-Episode 8 is a great example of this as this was the first time Nagisa and Honoka fought, and while the circumstances are misunderstood for the most part, it genuinely feels like both of the characters truly don't know each other all that much. And that's not a bad thing because at the end of the episode they both understood each other while using the precure diaries that showed the true feelings of each other's hearts. They understood what they liked and disliked, but most importantly they understood each other on a deeper level.

Cons:

I do want to talk more about the themes of the human heart and the yin and Yang aspect of the Cures, but we'll save that for another blog post for another day. But like any good show, there's always going to be some cons within the story, such as Nagisa being the one to recap the episodes from her perspective, but we don't get the perspective of Honoka.

And I get why they tried doing it for Nagisa because she's the only one of the two who didn't want to be a Pretty Cure in the first place and had this responsibility thrust upon her when facing the agents of dark zone, but over time it gets repetitive. I want to see more of Honoka’s side of the story how her thought process feels about the situations from the past 26 episodes of being a precure and how it affects her daily life as well.

-Another part of the story is the goals of the villains the agents of the dark zone. While I understand they want to collect the prism stones to make the dark zone eternal and corrupt the world, they don't have much of an individual goal that sets them apart from pleasing the Dark King.

🖤Characters🤍

Pros:

-Honoka and Nagisa are the highlights of this season as they are in more ways than one amazing lead protagonist. As stated they are both very different from one another yet that's what makes their relationship all the more entertaining. Honoka is the genius honor student known for her title the Science Queen. She loves books and she will tear you up if you try messing with her friends and not afraid to call you out for it, showing her much braver attitude.

 -Nagisa is the star athlete of the academy lacrosse team with a tomboyish attitude and laid-back personality, yet she’s not always keen on attention and wants to one day have a boyfriend. Both of these girls balance each other out, understanding their conflicts and situations that can be difficult for a lot of people especially since they're both carrying the responsibility of protecting the prism stones from an otherworldly threat. But what makes them both resilient is that despite their differences they both have the heart to carry out their duties as a pretty cure not just out of obligation, but out of the love they have for their friends and family including mepple and mipple, protecting their home from Dark Zones advances.

-The supporting cast of characters a very interesting. You have Nagisa’s family that's always roundabout and rambunctious, and then you have Honoka’s family which consists of her grandmother and her pet dog. Honoka's mom and dad aren't home all the time, but that doesn't stop the parents from visiting their daughter showering her with gifts.

It just warms my heart when we see the Yukishiro family reunite in episode 10 conveying how much Honoka’s parents missed their daughter and hate working far away from their home. It's a purely wholesome episode heavily Honoka-focused. Another one of the supporting cast is Nagisa's school friends, but there isn’t much to talk about. But I will talk about one of them named Shiho who has this quirk to repeat the phrase of her sentencing three times expressing her excitement.

-The villains are a hit-and-miss. Poisonny and Kiriya are the only two agents of the dark zone I like because of their focus in the story. Poisoning is entertaining while also being very powerful, showing that she's quite manipulating but at the same time pinpoints the weaknesses in the pretty cure’s everyday lives, which is shocking considering she does a better job of exploiting their weaknesses than the last two dark zone agents that up and went boomed by marble screw Ex Machina.

Kiriya on the other hand while having one fight scene with the pretty cure is the most interesting of the dark agents as his character arc is mainly about understanding himself and the growing emotions that he's developed throughout his focused episodes.

He struggled with his loyalty to the dark zone wanting to understand himself through these newfound emotions that brought him a greater connection with Honoka. Episode 18 for example, is such a fantastic episode that demonstrates the anger and struggles Kiriya faces conveying emotions, but at the same time makes you understand why he acts this way when he can’t understand human emotions.

-And FYI it's also in the same episode having one of the best fight scenes in the first 26 episodes hands down. The Animators straight up went insane for how well the fighting choreography was animated.

Cons:

-The Dark King is okay for the most part. He's your typical evil shadowy monster figure who wants to take over the world through nihilism and depression which is something I already feel on a one-to-one basis but hey you are what you eat.

The rest of the dark zone agents or dark zone assassins are fine but like I stated before they lack some sort of individual goal besides the main goal of getting the prism stones to corrupt the realm of light and earth.

-Piscard is a hater who constantly fails to get the prism stones from the marketable plushies. Besides eternal power for his services under a dark king, there isn't much to him.

-That could be said for Genkidragon or as I like to call him Unga because that's what he says in every sentence. He’s painfully average and’s meant to be the big strong comedy relief of the group but kind of misses the mark. There isn't much to say about him other than just Unga.

-And finally, we have Iikubo or Garlic Junior as I like to call him. He's fine, probably the strongest out of the five dark assassins who want the dark king to succeed, posing as a threat to the pretty cures in terms of strength. Nevertheless, he's just okay as a threatening antagonist but as a character lacks interesting qualities.

-Fuji-P (I forgot his name) is Nagisa's crush/love interest for the show. He's just the nice dude who does nice things. Like that's it that's all I have for him he's just a love interest for Nagisa to go googly eyes for.

-The marketable plushies are a mess but they're a mess that I can easily ignore. Mipple is OK she just wants to protect the prism stones and return to the realm of light. Mepple on the other hand, is annoying as heck. He's just a jerk and not even a lovable jerk at that, he's just constantly always having a smart mouth that makes me roll my eyes because he doesn't have anything nice to say. Why mipple put up with him is BEYOUD ME.

🖤Animation🤍

Pros:

the animation has that early 2000s crisp animation, and the way the characters are animated in terms of exaggerated poses or walking in a specific direction gives the show a realistic value, not to mention it feels nostalgic for me when I watch early 2000s anime and cartoons such as Filmore, Digimon Adventures, and Code Lyoko.

-But the biggest highlight of the series is the hand-to-hand combat, a giant staple in the precure franchise. While the framing needs some work when it shows the scale of the larger enemies, the way they animated Nagisa and Honoka fighting is stellar. Honoka transforms into Cure White her fighting style is graceful more on the defensive, whereas Nagisa when transformed into Cure Black is all about throwing hands and getting on the offensive trying to disempower the monster of the week. It highlights how much attention to detail they have for both the cures and how both of them truly are the opposites not just in their quirks and personalities but in their fighting style as well.

Con: The only con that I have for the animation is mainly how in some cases when they're focusing on one scene in the combat sequence but then drastically shift out of order that feels very jarring and it's not just in one episode, you'll see it in a couple of episodes during the middle of the season.

🖤 Conclusion 🤍

Overall, my first time experiencing Futari Wa Pretty was a blast and I had such a great time watching this show! There's just so much to talk about from the soundtrack, the deeper meaning behind the connection of the heart, there’s just so much to explain but I'll leave most of my thoughts for my second review once I finish the show in its entirety.

Of all the magical girl shows I would be interested in this was the one that caught my attention every single time and it never fails to divert my expectations. It just makes me feel nostalgic for how I once watched magical girl shows as a kid, to where I am now as an adult woman currently graduated from college and entering the adult world. I'm glad I gave this show a chance and can't wait to venture more into the Pretty Cure franchise for future reviews and excitement for the days to come.