#i guess when that happens they actually still have like 1 hp left

[sudoscience]

Getting really tired of Tera Pokémon being able to attack two or three times in a row. If they were going to bring back Strong and Agile styles, it would have been nice if the players got it too.

(To be clear, I'm not talking about when it removes your buffs, removes its debuffs, and steals your Tera Orb charge all on a single turn, although that's annoying too. I mean when it attacks you and then attacks again, knocking you out before you even get to have your turn. Or when it does something like use Swords Dance followed by immediately attacking.)

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

#1 Day of asking random shit to blogs I follow because I can and I want to + boredom

Do you have any Undertale OCs and/or your own Undertale AU? If you do, can you explain the lore? :]

I'm more of an AU rewriter actually. I'm taking popular AUs and try to make them more realistic and mature (and more political, I love the Underground politics, that's like my favorite subject).

So far, I'm working on Horrortale with my fanfiction Horrortale : Rotten Apple, which is actually more of a pre-Horrortale fanfiction, since I'm working on the events between when Frisk left the Underground and the famine. So far, it's like 20 chapters and Undyne is still not queen. I want her coup d'état to be violent and the result of months and months of bad decisions, not only her bad decisions, but also Toriel's ones as a ruler. Toriel is not a bad ruler at all, but she is impopular because of her exil in the Ruins and the fact that despite Asgore's death, who was loved by the Underground, she did nothing to prevent something like that to happen again. Undyne being the one Asgore's trained, monsters will slowly turn their back to Toriel, which will have consequences on other characters like Sans, Papyrus, Flowey or Grillby. Frisk is not the one responsible for all this either, as they are trying to save monsterkind in a world where adults don't believe them at all. That's a really difficult story to write, but I'm having so much fun with it.

The second one is Underfell, with my fanfiction No Weakness. It's a Papyrus centric fanfiction that takes place after a pacifist route. Since there's no reason for Asgore to let Frisk live, Frisk is actually still Underground, living the best life with Toriel, and protected by a pact formed by Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton and Alphys. The kid must stay a secret. But after some months, Papyrus is doubting the plan, as not only they could all be executed if something goes wrong, but there's also the problem of Frisk becoming more independant and asking more and more questions, and worse, taking Papyrus as an exemple, which he absolutely doesn't want because he is ashame of what he has to do every day to survive. No Weakness is also about Undyne, who suddenly starts to act strange, which worried Papyrus, until one day, she left the guard. Papyrus is quite distressed and doesn't understand until Asgore announces his soon to come wedding with her on live TV. The only problem being that Papyrus knows Undyne hates him with all of her soul, and that she is not there willingly. But Papyrus is also the general of the royal guard now, and as a general, you shut up and close your eyes on a lot of things. But Papyrus is really not sure he can do that.

The last one is the most close from an AU I guess, it's What is best for humankind. It's a war AU, focusing on Sans and Papyrus childhood. It's an AU because they are a lot younger in the games, so they couldn't live through the war, but I tried to make it coherent. Sans and Papyrus are forced to run away from their village one night, as humans are attacking. Gaster, their dad, being forced to fight, left them escape alone. Sans will have to protect his brother, and soon, a very small Undyne and a human through the devastated lands leading to Mount Ebott. It's both a survival story and a dramatic story as Sans will have to do and witness things he never should have, and face the betrayal of the only person who is supposed to keep him safe, his own father. Because this AU main story is about what being a judge means. In this world, the royal judge is not a job, it's a very rare class of monsters like boss monsters are. Judge monsters are very low HP monsters that can use karma magic, which is the same magic Sans use in his genocide battle in the game. During the war, the Judges, mainly pacifist, all died during the talks for a peace treaty, as the humans saw an opportunity to get rid of them all at once. The only problem being the magic the Judge develop can only activate if the Judge is traumatised and presents a abnormal level of determination. Sans is the only one left, he is not activated, and Gaster wants him to basically explodes in rage in the human castle to kill the Emperor. For this, he knows there's one solution that will sure piss him off enough: killing Papyrus. But Gaster is also the only one who is sure this plan will work, as both Toriel and Asgore are horrified by the idea. To stop the war, how far all of them are willing to go? That's the main story!

My last AU is a more classic one, it's a Sans x Reader fanfiction in a post-pacifist universe, Remember the good days. However, Sans is not exactly himself as he suffers terrible memory loss after a tragic attack during one of Frisk's speech. It's getting worse and worse as Sans is not enough stimulated with Papyrus in college. But Papyrus has a plan. He wants you to stimulate Sans, and he is even willing to pay for that. Surely he told Sans everything before hand and Sans won't hate you at all for this. ... Right?

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Chapter 9- Part 14

I do apologize for this being a less-than-ideal first impression for Popplio, but Xera’s got pride to uphold, especially against a rival. 

Let’s start by putting the Nidorino to sleep with Sing. Luckily, Sing hits, but Nidorino gets a lucky crit with Poison Tail beforehand in return.

But now that it’s asleep, we can start Zen Headbutting! We get one, and- what do you mean it woke up this time?? And what do you mean Zen Headbutt missed?????

Well, this isn’t good at all! But it’s not impossible to get out of this- first, we heal Whiskers with a Potion-

And then we attempt to put it to sleep again with Sing! Whiskers will live Poison Tail as long as it doesn’t crit again- we just need Sing to land…

And it does! But…we’ve run into a different problem now. Whiskers could go back to spamming Zen Headbutt, but if Nidorino wakes up early again…well, that’d be really bad. No- the safer play is to switch in to someone else. 

It’s your turn, Prong!

You guys know what time it is, right? Start with Charge…

And with the power of Charge and STAB…FIRE THAT LASER, GIRL!! FINISH THE-

…You all can see that, right?

(Future edit: I don't know if I should "thank" Tumblr or YouTube for the random age-restriction and messing up this video addition, but whatever, go off I guess, heavens forbid we have swears on this website-)

I think I’m losing it, I think I am actually starting to go insane- how does this keep happening!? How, seriously!? It can’t be because I keep getting unlucky with damage rolls, right? Once or twice maybe, but- look at how many times this has happened throughout this playthrough so far! In this chapter! In this battle alone! Are you serious!? 

Never in all the years I’ve been playing Pokémon has something like this happened, where enemy Pokémon survive on actual slivers of HP without Endure, Sturdy, Focus Bands/Sashes, or the like. Just…in general, and in multiple different battles in the same game! Not in the mainline games, not the spinoffs, not even when I played Insurgence, I don’t even think this has happened as often when I play on Showdown! So what’s happening here?? Why now, when I’m playing through Reborn, is this happening so often?

It can’t just be luck with the damage rolls and ranges, even I wouldn’t get that unlucky this often! Is it my Pokémon’s EVs and IVs? The enemy Pokémon’s EVs and IVs? Is the RNG programmed to be biased towards the player’s lower-damage rolls no matter what? That third one is a bit conspiratorial (though not unfounded- look up how the fifth Fire Emblem game, Thracia 776, handles the survival of one of its vital characters, Eyvel, it’s very interesting), but at this point I don’t have many ideas for what it could be!

Oh and of course, Nidorino wakes up on the next turn and hits Prong with Poison Tail- it’s not a crit or anything, but it’s still adding insult to injury!

THAT’S IT, FIRE THAT LASER AGAIN!!

Was using a +2 and STAB boosted Charge Beam a bit overkill here, considering Nidorino was probably at 1 HP? Yeah, probably. Would Mud-Slap or Bug Bite have finished the job just as easily? Certainly. Do I care at this point? No, not really- besides, Cain could have used, like, a Super Potion or something, and at that point the Charge Beam would have been even more justified!

Hah- he says that and he doesn’t even know about Xera’s vigilante arc or the stuff with Team Meteor…

…That stuff with enemy Pokémon surviving on slivers of health is going to cost me a battle one day, I’m calling it right now. One day, during a tough/tense battle, an opposing Pokémon is going to survive an otherwise lethal attack with one or two pixels of health left, and it’s going to ultimately lead to Xera losing the battle and forcing me to reset.

That’s…certainly one way to describe the battle that just happened, and Xera herself.

The Wasteland? Why would he have business there? What, is he from there or something? From what that old man said, it doesn’t sound like the kind of place anyone would live in or want to live in…

Well, the horrors of numbers aside, I am glad we got to see and battle Cain again- which is something I did not think I would be saying several chapters ago.

Yeah, the lake looked pretty big on the map, so the fact that it’s all polluted and grimy…yeesh.

Oh, right- the sidequest from Florinia that we went through all of this for! The TMX! If we don’t get that Cut thing as soon as possible after all of this, I will actually lose it-

Previous

Next

[crystalelemental]

Unit Teambuilding - Roark

Common Grid War Act 15 is underway, and this is the last full act, unless they bring back Jesse and James.  Which...we'll see.  I do feel kinda bad, though.  I'm still under the belief that MU Torchic likely won't even get a grid, which means if those two don't come back, the literal only common left without a grid is Lorelei. And man, I like Lorelei, I feel like she's fairly underappreciated despite being Kantonian.  But, we get what we get.  And what we get right now is Roark, one of the longest anticipated grids out there.  Head Smash memes have been a joke since forever, but now the joke finally comes to an end as we see if Roark gets to be good.  Survey says!

General Overview It's good!  It's...actually kinda really good.  Huh.  Guess Rock-types can be good, if you just avoid giving them Rock Tomb.

Let's start with the big question: No, I don't think Head Smash is saved.   Standfast 7 + 5 is what Darach has, and full disclosure, he cannot spam it without dying.  His DPS results in too much recoil to make it work.   I'd argue that even with another Standfast 3 stack, it won't really save Roark from a similar fate.  But.  If you can believe it.   Roark's...better off about it.  Hit and Heal on trainer move means gradual healing, which is percentage-based on your HP. Roark has over 1000 HP at 5*.  That's a great amount of passive healing.  Add in First Aid 4, and frankly Roark is doing some pretty respectable numbers, with a lot of recovery to fall back on.  The tragedy of this build is really that he can't also afford the accuracy tiles in addition to the healing, and is effectively guaranteed to need full offensive support.  Which includes accuracy.  Aaron is back on the menu, boys!

But hey, you know, a 3-bar spam on a guy with sub-300 speed?  That's a lot to ask.  And Aaron can't carry that particular weight.  So that's pretty limiting. Kinda rough, huh?

Except he doesn't need it.  Even without Head Smash, Roark is probably the best F2P Rock-type, because he is not burdened by Original Sin.  No Rock Tomb, remember?  He got Haymaker.  He got Haymaker and Double Down 5. This dude has an attack stat on par with Kahili, and an extra 50% multiplier on sync above what she has.  Roark is a legitimate sync nuke, the kind that makes you wish he had EX to just delete stages.  And if you ignore Head Smash in favor of getting to sync?  Well great news, Trainer Move Follow-Through means guaranteed crit, easing his support demands.  Now you just need the attack. Roark actually eatin gourmet.

Team 1: Roark, Aaron, Masked Royal I'd consider this a fairly optimal Head Smash team.  Aaron provides not just the Attack/Crit bonuses, but at 3/5 has Precision Pals to give Roark the much-needed accuracy for Head Smash.  Masked Royal then provides speed for the team to facilitate gauges, and can debuff defense of foes.   There's very little this team should need.

Team 2: Roark, Hilbert, SS Diantha I am willing to make the estimated bet that this team could clear a CS stage with the -2 sync cooldown parameter.  SS Diantha's more than capable of blasting center apart with sync nuke, and if she can't, Roark's got the Head Smash under Zone.  A 3/5 Diantha is going to wildly outperform him, but I imagine a 1/5 still works well thanks to Roark's high DPS.  You just want to make sure he doesn't die.

Team 3: Roark, Halloween Caitlin, Kukui Remember Follow-Through?  Remember what happens when you need attack but not crit?  That’s right, it’s H!Caitlin stonks!  And guess what!  Even more optimal, because her trainer move buffs accuracy!  She’s practically ideal for the sync nuke build, even offering speed and accuracy for Head Smash.  Kukui can spam Leer for defense drops, and can flinch foes with Accelerock.  Kukui also gets those Rock-type theme skills going.

Team 4: Roark, Shauna, Acerola I'd be willing to bet good money this team could work as anti-Moltres.  Shauna can provide Roark with the needed offensive potential, Acerola provides Sandstorm for the weather and flinch rate to keep the bird from acting.  The critical component of this is that Roark needs to avoid Head Smash.  Too much passive damage going on.  But his sync nuke, being fantastic damage, should be able to handle it.

Final Thoughts I'm pretty happy with this.  Sinnoh remains winning.  There are still some issues, but by and large, I like it a hell of a lot better than SS Brock and Grant, who exist mostly as flinch bots.  Roark feels like he's actually trying to hurt something. And I'd be willing to bet he'd succeed.

[rangedreign]

ohhh my favourite part of ask games, (harmless) petty fandom drama. i know these are a lot so ofc feel free to pick and choose but im nosy and love gossip so if you feel like it *eyes emoji*:

1 2 (just for the drama lol) 6 (feel free to ignore i understand u completely but i live for drama lol) 7 (MORE) 8 12 (<3) 16 (*eyes emoji*) 21 22 (for some final positivity)

1 - the character everyone gets wrong cedric the sorcerer. he deserves respect as a person, and the royal family was wrong to deny him that, but he does little to earn respect as royal sorcerer. 'oh he has such a good and relatable arc' whup tee doo his grand finale was... *checks notes* doing his job correctly. the one he's been training for his whole life. color me unimpressed by a character that should have either left that job YEARS ago or put a little effort into anticipating what he'd be asked to do and practicing instead of trying to prove his worth through stunts and domination.

2 - a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom can't do it lol, everyone's a verse in my mind

6 - which ship fans are the most annoying? shoutout to the time i went through the snape/lily tag and couldn't scroll 3 posts without a james/lily shipper trying to pull moral rank. however i think 75% of the hp fandom has ship rabies.

7 - what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them? eh, none, i don't let fandom influence my interpretations of characters that way. cedric is closest but the fandom misinterpretation is just an additional annoyance, rather than a driving force

8 - common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about 'cedric and sofia have a good relationship'. shipping or not, they're completely one-sided. what does cedric provide sofia with? he doesn't even listen to her particularly well.

12 - the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them to no one's surprise, my first pick here is wormwood from sofia the first. he was created as a joke, ha ha the pet is smarter than the human master, but then the show makes you judge him by human moral standards as the foil to cedric's 'deserving of second chances'. the show itself asks you to view a character that cannot leave servitude as human, and wants you to believe that his station is right. it's so deeply unfair. i care him. i respect him. i want to see him take the power of humanity for himself, abuse it, naturally, because that's all humans have ever done to him, then grow into a complete person when he realizes he cares despite it all. knowing that, i feel like mentioning areelu should come as no surprise. doing great evil in response to evil that was done to you? that's so up my alley. up my pussy even. making her bond with daeran of all people is such a great idea, someone who cannot forgive her, but must move on and work with her regardless. it seems like most people write her off as too evil to live, but she's still a super genius. there's a lot to be gained by befriending her. the gold dragon ""redemption"" happens so absurdly fast though. 'oh shit guess this is pretty fucked up, so glad you're a piss-colored lizard bc that's the only way i'd ever listen to you' wrath's writing in general has a bit of a quantity over quality issue. a lacking-logic issue. no way my azata would sacrifice herself just cuz without knowing what areelu will do once she's gone.

16 - you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc) - hero-type main characters in general. idk exactly what it is but i find most of them very dull, and often irritating. a lack of desires beyond duty? can't often be described as freaks? they just never have any footholds for interesting ideas to me. - gold aasimar cum. if you want something golden to come out of daeran's dick, you can just make him piss XD also does that imply his hair is naturally white? - daeran x chill/lawful/'boring' kcs - i can tell that on some level he wants the stability from people like that, but i can't see him actually bonding with them. esp not towards the start of the game. - truly, utterly pathetic meow meows. like, listen, i love shoving a character into a Situation and watching them flounder around, but they've gotta be proficient at something!

21 - part of canon you think is overhyped for just about everything: the worldbuilding. i think people get impressed by the mere existence of worldbuilding, rather than the quality of it. pf surprised me when i looked deeper into stuff and found it gave me the same 'this is a hot mess and i have to make shit up for it to make sense' feeling as stf. i expected better from a massive ttrpg but ok. for wrath, also the characters and the music. the characters rely on one-note personalities with maybe a ~hint~ of spice, with one extremely notable exception of daeran. the degree to which he beats out every other character in complexity is stunning, really. the music is... just fine? it's not amazing, it does exactly what you'd expect a track for that purpose to do. I think most of the tracks have muddy orchestration, too much focus on harmony/vibes and not enough on rhythm and melody. the one track i really love is 'a drink before the battle', it has a great flow and dynamics and i wish it played more often.

22 - your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores the villains/antagonists, best part of literally any media ever

[boutny]

Lazy motoring & motivated reasoning

A simple lesson, this one.

Here is a view of Boutny’s 2 motors. (In the foreground is her innovative anchor-chain box - more about that in another post). It’s a great bit of Wharram inventiveness: the sleds rotate downwards, the outboards tilt into the water, and the two 8 HP Yamaha motors can comfortably propel Boutny at 3.5kts, and if pushed, can get her to 6kts. What is more, the 2 motors, independently controlled, can allow Boutny to manoeuvre nicely in tight corners, like trying to get into a berth in a crowded marina - you can have one motor in forward motion and one in reverse, and Boutny more or less rotates on the spot around the motors.

Up on deck, each motor has its own hatches that allow you to do the whole thing of lowering the sleds and tilting the motors. The port motor has an electric start - great for emergency use, and the starboard motor has a manual crank start, which I guess is good for an emergency in which you have no power. Each motor has its own petrol bladder, and when we left Ribeira, we were carrying about 80l of petrol, knowing that we might end up motoring around Cape Finisterre (the Roman name - one they kept re-using on the Atlantic seaboard - “the end of the earth”) and, not knowing what the currents and sea-state might be, you want to be prepared to pile on the power and certainly not worrying about running out of fuel.

A couple of hours after the storm cell passed, the wind dropped, the drizzle came and night started to fall. Definitely the time to put plan-motor into action. We’d somewhat improved the 2-person watch system, with Richard doing 10-2 and me doing 2-7, my extra hour compensating for the fact that Richard wouldn’t actually get much total sleep over the day, because once the sun is up and stuff is going on, it is hard to get real sleep. 

We were aiming to do 3 to 3.5kts, and I roughly reckon that at that speed, each motor consumes 1l/hr. Each bladder holds 12l, so the full bladders should easily see us through the night.

A motoring watch is definitely less enjoyable than a sailing watch. The noise at 3-3.5kts is fine - a murmur, really - but there is none of the mystery and magic of slipping into the darkness. Mostly, I sat on the mid-deck reading, with Fletch (John insisted we name the autopilot early in the journey, and it turns out to be an excellent thing to do; Fletch has stuck) comfortably adjusting course despite the middling swell, which was reasonable well organised.

About 30 minutes before waking Richard, I started thinking about how to get things ready for him. There was still hot water in the thermos, so no need to boil a kettle. Maybe I should check the bladder levels, in case my calculation of consumption rate was off for some reason. I opened the port hatch and lifted the bladder. We’d been going 7 hours, so I expected to find about 1/3 of the bladder full. But on lifting, I found it was more like 2/3 full. 

At that point, I thought to myself: “What a very efficient boat Boutny is ... and maybe we had a favourable current that allowed us to make the 3-3.5kts using less fuel ... and I know I was approximate in my calculation of our consumption rate and that I made conservative assumptions at every turn, so they do add up to a big error in the end ... and wasn’t I clever to always err on the side of conservatism in the estimation ... and so on and so forth”. 

In other words, the discovery of having consumed less fuel was a good one and I could pat myself and Boutny on our backs in all sorts of ways. It also meant that I did not need to fill the bladder for Richard.

I waited out my last  minutes looking at the emerging dawn and the great plunging cliffs of the cape. I took out the navigation tablet and set a waypoint navigating to which would last Richard another 3 hours or so ... I was just waiting for the moment to wake Richard, really.

And then the starboard engine sputtered and cut out. 

Immediately, I knew for almost sure what had happened. The real explanation for my discovery of low consumption on the port motor was that it had been working less hard than the starboard motor. It was so obvious as an explanation that it immediately presented itself as the explanation for a whole host of small observations that before then I had not connected - the positions of the levers on the motor control, the loud-ish sound in my cabin (the staboard cabin) compared to the sounds on deck; and, of course, the surprisingly full bladder on the port side.

So rather than wake Richard, I hauled out the 20l jerrycan and filled the bladder - a slightly spilly operation with such a large jerrycan and rolly seas - and went to start the manual crank of the starboard engine. I cranked and cranked, and it would not take. And more. And more. It was 15 minutes into Richard’s watch when I gave up, woke him up, explained the problem, and went to sleep.

We spent a good part of the next morning trying to start the engine. Internet forum posts, messages to Olivier, the lot ... Obviously, running the engine dry had put a gremlin in the system. Perhaps there had been grit in the bottom of the bladder, and somewhere between tank and cylinder, there was now a blockage. The summer before, in Sete, I had watched Ismael, the outboard virtuoso, service the motors thoroughly, and had wondered at his ability to put his hands in just the right place to take this piece or that apart - and back together again - and to know how it all worked and to inspect if this was operating as it should ... And I also knew that there was no way I could do this myself.

No matter, I thought. We can get into A Coruna on one motor, and fishing ports always have people like Ismael who really know these workhorses inside-out.

A fresh breeze picked up, the pillar of Hercules - the longest, continually operated lighthouse in the world, apparently, having been a navigation aid at the time when the Romans named the cape the end of the Earth - came into sight, and we started a very agreeable sail into A Coruna. I had spoken to the marinero on the phone - who oddly spoke English with a heavy French accent, which would become a fascinating subject of our first conversation - who had already allotted us an end of pontoon place, and the marina looked very protected from the Northerly that was now well-established. I had no real worries about doing this with one motor.

I had early on in the voyage told the story recounted in Selina’s last book about the plague in 14th Century Damascus - how the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious authorities decided that since they did not know who had offended God, they had better all pray together to ask forgiveness and that it stop. This was in very sharp contrast to so many instances in Europe of the plague becoming a trigger for pogroms and accusations of blood libel. This story quickly became a lighthearted leitmotif of the trip that, for any mishap, we would pretend to find the fault in what one of the crew-members had done to insult some deity or other.

Richard and I bantered about the difficulty of the mechanical, about the Gods we had angered such that the motor would not start, about whose fault this was. Was it Thor - for the explosive internal combustion engine - or Loki (Richard’s choice), for the intricate mechanism - or Ahura Mazda (Ricahrd is from a Farsi family, and we had had lots of chats about Zaroastran beliefs during the trip)?

Nevertheless, I gave the motor a crank. It sputtered into life. We rejoiced. Then it died again, and no cranking of mine would revive it. The deities were teasing me, playing with hope and despair, we joked. 

But we had life from it. We had existence proof that nothing fundamental had gone wrong. That was real hope. Half an hour later, Richard tried again. It started! And this time, we kept the revs up for a long time. We turned them down with extreme caution. We had a working motor. 

I snapped the anti-tilt mechanism and put in the wooden chocks to stop the sleds tilting up in case of reverse - this is all very important in order to benefit from the manoeuvrability of the design - and took the sails down. We let a huge cruise ship come out of the channel before heading into the marina, where Jose was waiting for us at the place he’d indicated. 

Richard was at the helm - as a canal-barge dweller, forced, to move by the Canals and Rivers Trust every 2 weeks into to benefit from the (cheap) cruiser’s license, Richard has moored more boats in his 7 years’ living on the canal than I have in many more years of sailing, so I was always happy to leave marina manoeuvres to him. 

The marina was much smaller than I had imagined from the Google Earth satellite picture. What’s more, the headland that ought to have protected us from the North wind, it turned out, actually channelled wind straight onto us. Richard expertly turned Boutny in a very tight corner using forward and backward throttles simultaneously, and he berthed her beautifully.

It would have been a nightmare on only one motor. Whoever it was, Thor, Loki or anyone else - perhaps Richard, deciding to try it one last time - Thank You!

[But now the lesson, the oh-so-obvious-lesson. When I found the 2/3 full tank at 6.30am at the end of my shift, I suffered a severe episode of optimism bias and motivated thinking. I was surprised, as well I might have been. And surprise, with its micro dose of adrenaline, ought to be a call to action. And yet the only action I got was a whole lot of mental work whose effect and purpose was to stop me doing the very small piece of physical work involved in checking the second bladder. WTF. Be super-vigilant of such motivated reasoning, especially when tired - my mind is very often not my long term friend in such situations. It is terrible at the long term trade-off. It fails the Marshmallow test.]

[retphienix]

This little quest, like many, is more or less just filler while we wait on various background events to happen.

We help a bard, he doesn't know anything about our dream cave, now we know the artificer or whomever has finished analyzing the mcguffin we left back there, so we have a direction to go (or will) so this was basically just "Go do a side quest (90% of the game's content) to recruit a bard :)" and that's fine.

Speaking of: Bard!

The Bard in FFT is, well, pretty shit. BUT, I have nostalgic admiration to that iteration of the class. It's a favorite :)

It's one of the most difficult classes to unlock in that game (not saying much but still relevant!) requiring you to level magic themed classes (Summoner and Mediator) with a male whom in Tactics are statistically inclined towards physical jobs (quick way to gauge that being that at level 1 most males have 4 strength and 3 magic attack, and females have the inverse).

So already, it's "hard" to get and has a uniquely counter-intuitive acquisition method (train the traditionally fighter characters to be mages) which makes it neat, but also it has an entirely unique playstyle where Bards in FFT are channeling classes who target the entire map.

They can begin singing anywhere on the map and every time they finish an entire verse the song effect will play out, targeting everyone.

I just find that really cool because it's so unique in the game, only a few classes target (or can target) "everyone", one of the others being Dancers, the female counterpart whom fulfill all the same requirements but inversed (magic leaning character levels physical classes instead).

Anyways, Bards in FFT are underwhelming without abusing the 900 different ways you can break a character to FORCE them to be good. By default Bards are a support class that buffs or heals ally units (everywhere on the map) but for VERY small amounts and VERY slowly (often taking many turns to channel their song and complete a verse all to heal for like 10 hp).

I love em! I love em when they are bad, I love when you break the game and make them good, great and interesting class!

I'm stoked to see how they actually work here.

At a glance, it turns out Bard didn't exist in FFTA?

MOST of the classes in FFTA2 are just copy pasted from FFTA-

(For better- interesting archer classes,

and worse- so many underwhelming classes in my opinion lol)

-but as it turns out, Bard didn't exist in TA, and is a unique job in TA2 that apparently only this guy has, that's kinda neat, making Bard into a signature class :D

Reading the wiki it seems like they really did lean in on the same ideas as other bards in the series, namely "support magic" and the like. I'm actually interested in using this guy though, if only to see just how it works. Because it SOUNDS (heh) like his songs affect everyone within 4 tiles of him, basically being a magic bomb wherever he's standing.

That's, actually kinda cool, if that's accurate.

I hope that's the case and it's not just "You can target someone within 4 tiles" but I guess we'll see. That will kill my interest entirely.

Regardless, glancing at his skills, yep, that's a bard. I like that.

Geez, I kinda hope he's underwhelming though because I REALLY like my team right now.

Double mage, double melee, double range feels great with this lineup.

Both Paladin and Defender work fantastically for tanking through everything head on.

Redmage/summoner and my eclectic Nu Mou who keeps changing jobs have successfully covered the healing and "pelt them with spells" end of things.

And MY LORD is my hume hunter putting in work consistently- and my Clockwork spamming gun moogle might not be damaging things but the status buffs and debuffs are sensational (note, I'm cheating and save scum every time lmao- definitely a class I would HATE without cheating but I'm shameless and it's fun :P)

I'd really like to slip a bard in if it turns out he IS a magic bomb and doesn't target 1 unit at a time, but I'm genuinely not sure who I'd move out.

Maybe the red mage... but, while her tools are kinda just "magic lite" like elementalist who is just a simplified (and less prone to proccing status in my experience) geomancer from FFT, or red mage who is just black and white mage with extra steps, or summoner- who in this game certainly FEELS like black mage with extra steps since the damage is so mediocre- these are still useful tools to bring to the squad.

It's just a shame that she has so many options for magic but because they are all options conceived of in FFTA originally, they are all basically just "Cast a spell on 1 guy for a little damage" or "Cast the same spell a black mage does". Bleh.

I'm starting to think Viera just have shit options all around in terms of appeasing my tastes and that them, along with how I tried to master all the skills and found so much overlap in classes, tainted my entire FFTA run.

It's either "Magic lite" or "Normal attacks that sometimes proc status" or "Cast death (but with a bow)", all 3 aren't interesting enough.

*sigh* doesn't help that a lot of FFTA design, including here, is "Make it interesting by adding a debuff chance!" and that's it. Between Fencer, Elementalist, Assassin, Juggler, Ninja, Base Archer in a sense, Sniper, JEEZ- a lot of classes in FFTA mistake "add a status proc" to "Make this class interesting without making it play any differently".

There are winners though, like re-imagining tank classes to have more options to actually tank, or giving Hunters an identity by making their skills more effective against monsters, or, indeed, being a bit silly with some ideas like Morphers or Clockwork.

I just wish so many abilities weren't just "Hit for a little damage and sometimes proc a debuff" or "Hit HARD but inaccurately / Hit SOFT but accurately" but in the grand scheme of things that's not every option or even most- when so many weird options like morph exist etc.

[freyayuki]

Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia Rem Tokimiya Banner

The Starting Out (Intersecting Wills) event just started in the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game. This event came with 1 banner.

Starting Out (Intersecting Wills) Banner

The Starting Out (Intersecting Wills) banner features the following chars and their weapons:

Ceodore Harvey from Final Fantasy IV - Burst or BT only

Rem Tokimiya from Final Fantasy Type-0 - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII - 15cp, 35cp, Ex, and LD

Seven from Final Fantasy Type-0 - 15cp, 35cp, and Ex

Have everything on this banner except for Ceodore’s BT, Rem’s LD, Seifer’s Ex, and Seifer’s LD.

Rem Tokimiya from Final Fantasy Type-0

Rem Tokimiya from Final Fantasy Type-0 (#ad) is a support with pretty good buffs and auras. She can battery. She can heal. 

With her LD, Rem does a follow-up attack every time she moves. One of the things that really sets her apart from other supports is her ability to swap her turns with another one of her allies. 

This form of turn manipulation is especially useful for slower chars. For example, Rem has very good synergy with Machina Kunagiri from Final Fantasy Type-0. 

Whenever Machina uses his special HP attack that he gets after using his BT+ finisher, he will delay himself. Rem can swap their turns so Machina can move more often.

Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII

Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII is a debuffer and delayer who can also deal decent enough damage. He’s pretty good but I don’t really need him. I already have built chars who can debuff and delay.

Thoughts about Rem Tokimiya and Seifer Almasy

Seifer is the returning or old LD on this banner. I’ve been able to get by just fine without him so I’m certain I can continue getting by without him although it would be nice if I could get his Ex and LD. His Ex is actually one of the few that I’m still missing.

Rem would be nice to have too. Don’t really need her either though even if I do have a fully built and maxed Machina. I’ve been using Machina ever since I got his Burst to BT+ 3/3 so pretty sure I could make do without Rem.

Starting Out (Intersecting Wills) Banner Tickets Pulls Results

Didn’t want to use gems on this banner but since I was pretty interested in Seifer and Rem, and since I was missing a few things on this banner, decided to try my luck with tickets. Currently only have 403 tickets on hand.

Got the usual bronze and silver trash as well as some gold dupes. When I was down to 383 tickets, Rem’s LD showed up.

It came from a gold orb. Also got a dupe of Seven’s 35cp on this pull.

Was really pleased to see Rem’s LD, of course. In retrospect, should have stopped throwing tickets on this banner after getting Rem’s LD. Should have just walked away now while I still had 300+ tickets. 

But I was still missing Seifer’s Ex and LD, and since I still had tickets, decided to keep going for a bit longer.

Didn’t think this banner was gonna troll me so much though. Because guess what? 

I proceeded to get multiple dupes of Rem’s Ex and Seven’s Ex and yet I couldn’t get even a single copy of Seifer’s Ex.

Heck, it even felt like I hardly got dupes of his 15cp and 35cp. I don’t need them but it was frustrating how it seemed like all I kept getting were weapons for Seven and Rem with barely anything for Seifer. 

Sometimes, I’d even get draws with 0 golds which was also really frustrating and upsetting, especially as my ticket count started dwindling.

Then, a bit later on, I got a gold orb which turned into an LD. Unfortunately, it was the wrong LD. 

Yeah, that’s right. Just got a dupe of Rem’s LD as well as a dupe of Seifer’s 35cp.

Argh! How utterly frustrating. Why couldn’t that LD have been Seifer’s instead? Still had 276 tickets left when this happened. Should have stopped pulling already but couldn’t seem to help myself.

Kept pulling but all I kept getting were dupes and bronze and silver trash. Then, to my surprise, I got a 10-draw that gave me a whopping 6 golds. Too bad they were all dupes.

The third time I got an LD, it was from a gold orb and it was yet another dupe of Rem’s LD. Even got a dupe of Seven’s Ex to go with it.

Ugh! So freaking frustrating. Was down to 140 tickets when this happened. Really annoyed that I ended up spending so many tickets on this banner. If only Seifer’s Ex and LD had the decency to show up.

Really should have stopped pulling as soon as I got my first copy of Rem’s LD. She was the prize on this banner anyway. 

And I’d already established that I don’t need Seifer and could get by just fine without him. Sigh. I really regret this now. 

At least I was finally able to stop wasting more tickets on this banner. Really need to recover my ticket stash now.

Conclusion

So, what about you? Did you pull on the Starting Out (Intersecting Wills) banner? What do you think about Rem, Seifer, and all the other chars featured on this banner? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account

[whitenoisewrites]

Howdy, folks! Time for True Pacifist part 4. Sorry for the big delay. Uni is back on, and I've got some other personal projects I'm juggling too. So updates are almost certainly going to continue being significantly slower from now on.

Bear in mind also that I'm very much writing by the seat of my pants here, so there is a very real chance that something I make up for this might contradict what might later appear in @karmaspidr's Guidebook or miscellaneous dialogues or what have you, especially as time goes on and they fill in more blanks. As time goes on, it's entirely possible that the original Desert Sanctuary and this take will end up diverging quite a bit. So if it turns out this isn't actually how DS!Clover would react in this situation... well, I apologise, but also this part took forever to write and I'm not redoing it lol. If that happens, I guess this will just have to be an AU of the AU lmao.

Also, this is a long one. I didn't want to leave you guys hanging again, so I tried to squeeze in as much as I could. Just a heads up.

Anyway, when we last left off, we were trying to sneak out of Sanctuary to get back to Hotland, the Lab, and the road to ASGORE. Clover wants us to turn back, but of course, we can't, or there's no more game.

Clover decides that we have to be stopped, even if it takes drastic measures...

-------

On all routes, the Clover fight activates Serious Mode.

The battle is affected heavily by your LV, and by whether or not any of your kills were rebels.

-If you have killed any rebels, Clover will always kill you. You cannot flee. You also gain the Taunt ACT, which reduces their DF but increases their AT.

-If you have not killed any rebels, but your LV is over 5, Clover will still kill you. But if you flee, they will let you go, allowing you to return to Sanctuary to heal, buy items, or adjust your equipment.

-If you killed no rebels and your LV is 5 or less, Clover will not kill you. Taking "lethal" damage will leave you at 1HP, and you will wake up back in Clover's room at the Mayoral Estate. They will also let you flee.

-If you're still at 0 EXP, you can flee, Clover will not kill you, and you gain access to a unique ACT which reduces their AT. This is what we're dealing with right now.

Clover's stats are also complicated. They have a base AT of 14 (starting AT of 10, +4 from being LV3) and a base DF of 18 (starting DF of 10, no LV bonus, +8 from Fancy Holster). However:

-They will use stronger ammo based on your LV. This gives them a max AT of 24 (14 base, +10 from Nails), exclusively in the Geno route. Here in True Pacifist, they use the Rubber Ammo, giving them no AT bonus.

-If they use an ammo type that has bonus effects in UTY, they do not receive that extra benefit, only the AT boost. For example, Glass Ammo will give them +5 AT, but will not heal them if they hit you.

-Their internal DF is much higher than Checking says it is. As discussed in Geno, this is to reflect the fact that, as a human, they are much more durable than monsters. In True Pacifist, attacking them is almost useless. Without AT boosts from levelling up, you'd basically be guaranteed to only do 1 damage. And since they have around 40 HP, that's 40 turns you have to survive. Even with the ability to reduce their AT, that's a tall order, for no real gain (other than satisfying one's sick curiosity of course).

Most of Clover's attacks utilise their revolver. Since they fight physically rather than using magic projectile patterns like monsters, their attacks are relatively simplistic, but are faster than average to compensate. A few examples of attacks they might have:

-A revolver appears outside the bullet board and fires in at you. Only one can appear at a time, since Clover only has one gun, and can't create more with magic like Starlo.

-A crosshair appears in the bullet board. Shortly after, Clover fires at that spot. They would start firing multiple times in a row as the battle progresses, up to a maximum of 6.

-A warning box appears across the bottom of the bullet board. A cowboy boot would sweep across the bottom of the board, representing Clover kicking up dust. For the next couple of turns, small dust clouds would float in front of the bullet board, obscuring your view.

-Clover holsters their revolver for a moment. Six crosshairs appear on the board in rapid succession. After all six appear, Clover's eye would flash from under their hat. They draw their revolver and rapidly shoot all six spots.

-Clover would only use their SOUL shots in Genocide. Even then, they can only use the normal shots and the Pacifist charged shot, not the Geno route beam.

(From this point on, the dialogue and battle actions will be based solely on the True Pacifist version of the fight.)

ACT options:

-Check:

*CLOVER 14 AT 18 DF

*The true rebel leader. Seeks justice for their friends, and for the fallen.

-Talk:

*You try to talk Clover down.

*They refuse to hear it.

"There'll be plenty of time to talk once you're home safe. Now git!"

-Talk (second time or more):

*You try to talk to Clover.

*They ignore you.

-Join:

*You offer to help the resistance.

*Clover turns you down.

"Not a chance. Even a cold war is still no place for a child. Trust me, I know..."

-Join (if you befriended Undyne):

*You offer your services as a double agent.

*Clover laughs incredulously.

"Sure, 'cause Cap'n Fish-face would definitely let a human into her precious Guard. How stupid do you think I am?"

-Join (multiple times):

*You say you still want to help.

*Clover rejects you again.

"I said no, kid. Try again when you're grown. If we're even still needed by then, that is."

-Shrink:

*You flinch at Clover's movements.

*They look at you with a strange expression.

*Clover's AT dropped.

"..."

-Shrink (second time):

*You take a hunched posture.

*Clover's breath seems to hitch for a moment.

*Clover's AT dropped further.

"..."

-Shrink (third time):

*You hold your arms up defensively.

*Clover can't seem to look you in the eye...

*Clover's AT plummeted.

"..."

-Shrink (4th time or more):

*You shy away from Clover.

*Clover's AT won't go any lower.

"..."

General flavour text:

*Clover twirls their revolver.

*Clover takes aim.

*Clover checks the cylinder of their gun.

*Clover breathes deeply.

*Smells like corn and cordite.

*Smells like feathers and cherry trees.

*Smells like dust and flowers.

The general structure of the fight would be similar to most UTY bosses, that is, you need to Spare Clover until you find an opening to use the correct ACT that will end the fight. As the battle progresses, Clover will continually try to convince you to turn back, frequently being torn between anger at you for being reckless and foolish, and disgust at themselves for attacking you, no matter how justified they think they are. Which folds over into anger at you for "making" them do this, which feeds into more disgust with themselves for feeling that way when they know in truth it isn't your fault... Clover is really just not in a good place during this fight.

Some excerpts from their dialogue:

"So. You're not gonna FIGHT me... but you ain't gonna back down either..."

"But why? Why would you wanna go back to the rest of the Underground? Back to fighting for your life, back to being hunted like an animal?!"

"Don't you get it? This is as good as it gets down here! Kind friends, no deadly puzzle-traps, and there's been no successful anti-human infiltrators for over a year now."

"We busted our butts for years turnin' this desert into the perfect home for humans. My friends risked their freedom and their lives for you. And you're just gonna throw it all away?!"

"Is it me? Am I the problem? What am I saying, of course I am! Get a grip, Clover, you're beating up a child to get your own way, of course they hate you!"

"But the city's big enough now that you'll never have to see me again if you don't want. We can find you someone else to stay with. My friends all adore you, they'd be happy to help!"

"Say you get by me. What then? On to Hotland, and the lab? Even if we can keep Alphys off your back, there's no shot Mettaton's gonna let you slip by."

"He'll find you. He'll kill you. And even if you somehow survive... next up is the King."

"You can't beat him. He's too strong. Stronger than all of us put together. What chance do you have? Especially alone."

"You can't talk him down. We've been trying for years. If he won't listen to his own people, why would he listen to you?"

"You'll die. He'll have his sixth SOUL. And then he'll come for me. For all of us. It'll be war. A real war. One we’re still not ready for, despite how hard we’ve worked."

"My friends will die. I'll die. And with my SOUL... ASGORE will break the Barrier, and destroy humanity. The world as we know it will end. I bet stayin' here with us doesn't sound too bad now, does it?"

"So why? Why do you still want to leave? Tell me.”

“TELL ME! WHY DO YOU WANT TO KEEP GOING SO BADLY?!”

“WHY ARE YOU SO OBSESSED WITH TAKING ON THE KING?!”

“WHAT ARE YOU REALLY AFTER?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ALL THIS FOR?! TELL ME!”

“WHY DO YOU KEEP FIGHTING EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE TOO WEAK TO CHANGE ANYTHING?!”

*ACT- Talk*

*You tell Clover they aren’t weak.

*Clover appears stunned.

"..."

*ACT- Talk*

*You ask Clover why they would think that.

*Clover bows their head.

"..."

*ACT- Talk*

*You tell Clover they've accomplished something amazing with Sanctuary.

*But you have friends that need your help. Just like their fellow rebels need theirs.

*That's why you have to go.

"...but why? Why does it have to be you? This isn't something a child should have to face. It's not fair..."

*ACT- Talk*

*You thank Clover for trying to help you. You tell them you want to help them too.

"...even after all this? You still..."

"..."

*Clover holsters their revolver.

*MERCY- Spare*

*You won! You got 0 EXP and 0 gold.

Clover: "...listen kid. I ain't gonna waste your time tryin' to apologise. 'Sorry' never fixed anythin' anyway. Besides... I got a horrible feelin' you'd actually forgive me. But what I done to you ain't forgivable, so..."

...

Clover: "Just north of here is Sunnyside Farms. Keep following the main road, and you'll see a big metal door. You can't miss it."

Clover: "That's the entrance to the Steamworks. It's a bit of a maze in there, so you might not wanna go wanderin' in unless you got business there. But, y'know, it ain't like I'm the boss of you. You sure proved that, if nothin' else."

...

Clover: "But don't worry about it. I'll have Martlet meet you outside. She can fly you back up to Hotland. And back again, if you want, but... I wouldn't blame you if you just wanted to put all this behind you."

...

Clover: "And don't you worry about Alphys, neither. We'll remind her not to try anything stupid. Just steer clear of Mettaton and those damn mercs of his, and you'll be fine."

Clover: "So... guess this is goodbye. Just... don't let the king get ahold of you. No matter what."

...

Clover: "So long, partner."

Clover returns to Sanctuary. If you follow them back, Martlet is missing, and NPCs who are outdoors have lines about seeing Clover come through in a sorry state.

At the Mayoral Estate, Ceroba's office and Clover's room are both locked. If you knock on Ceroba's door, she will tell you she's on the phone. If you try to knock again:

*You don't want to interrupt the mayor's phonecall.

If you knock on Clover's door:

"Busy."

Knocking again:

"Can't right now."

Third time:

"Look. Whichever one of you it is, I appreciate you checkin' up, but... I need to think. Please."

Knocking more will simply have them ignore you.

Going up through the (much larger) Sunnyside Farms, you come to the entrance of the Steamworks. Martlet will be there waiting for you, regardless of whether you doubled back to town or not.

Martlet: "Oh! Hi... guess you're ready to go then?"

...

Martlet: "Clover told me what happened. About how you wanted to leave. About how they tried to stop you. I... I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I'm the one that just whisked you away without even asking, and now... you got hurt. And my best friend thinks they're some kind of..."

...

Martlet: "If... if you'd rather not be around me. You can make your own way back up to Hotland through the Steamworks. But before you go. Clover wanted you to have this."

*You got the Strange Package.

(If your inventory is full, Martlet will hide the package in a small patch of weeds near the door. "There. Now you can just come grab it when you have a space for it.")

Martlet: "So. What do you want to do?"

-Fly with Martlet:

Martlet: "Alright. Hop on, then."

Martlet takes you to the main Lab entrance.

Martlet: "Here we are. The Hotland Lab. Hey... if you like, I could give you my phone number? Then you can call me for a ride back to Sanctuary if you need one."

*You got Martlet's number.

Martlet: "Well... good luck. I'll keep the guards in this area off your back for as long as I can, but... be careful, okay?"

Martlet flies away, and you can now enter the Lab as normal. If you choose this option, you will need to return to the Steamworks another time to complete your spy mission for Undyne. You can do this by calling Martlet to give you a ride back to Sanctuary. Though this won't work until you at least meet Alphys for the first time. Alternatively, reaching the R3 lift for the first time will unlock the option to use any Hotland lift to go to the Steamworks lift terminal.

-Go through Steamworks:

Martlet: "...I understand. Okay, listen closely. First, you'll want to follow the signs to the Furnace. That's where the Hotland exit is. At the end of the path, there's an elevator. Don't get in right away. Instead, call me first. Here's my number."

*You got Martlet's number.

Martlet: "There's almost always a Guard patrol or two watching the elevators. But if I pretend I spotted you somewhere else nearby, I can lure them away for a while, buying you a safe window to use the elevator. Once you've called me, get in the lift and go to 'Left Floor 1.' That'll get you back to the Lab entrance. Don't try any of the other floors. I can't guarantee they'll be safe, especially the higher floors."

Martlet: "Oh, and... if you ever decide you wanna come visit Sanctuary again. You can call me, and I'll come give you a ride. But for now... good luck. And be careful, okay?"

Martlet flies away, and you are free to enter the Steamworks. The overall layout is much the same as in UTY, but the renovations mean no more rubble or broken walkways, and the steam vent hazards are off by default (Axis will activate them in Geno). There are also signs dotted along the path that will point the way to the Furnace, the Sunnyside exit, and other points of interest (most of which aren't accessible).

On entering the Steamworks for the first time (from either end), one of Axis' camera drones (see Ch4 of the Guidebook) will briefly stop you.

"HALT. VISUAL RECOGNITION FAILED. STAND BY FOR AUXILIARY SCAN..."

"SCAN COMPLETE. HUMAN DETECTED. CONTACTING HQ..."

"...HQ INPUT CONFIRMED. NEW DATABASE ENTITY 'NEW HUMAN' CREATED. ADDED 'NEW HUMAN' TO 'AUTHORISED' LIST."

"ACCESS GRANTED. WELCOME TO THE STEAMWORKS. WHERE TOMORROW MEANS PEACE."

Axis' main body is present in the Furnace room, where he fought Clover in UTY.

Axis: "GREETINGS, 'NEW HUMAN'. I AM AXIS MODEL 014 REVISION 2, CHIEF OF SECURITY HERE AT THE STEAMWORKS. I HOPE OUR EFFORTS BOTH HERE AND IN SANCTUARY PROPER HAVE BEEN TO YOUR LIKING."

From here, you can ask him about a few things.

-Steamworks:

"THIS FACILITY IS CRUCIAL TO SANCTUARY'S PROSPERITY. IT HOUSES OUR MAIN POWER SOURCE, OUR WATER PURIFICATION FACILITY, OUR RECYCLING CENTRE AND MORE. IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST DIRECT ROUTES BETWEEN SANCTUARY AND THE GREATER UNDERGROUND. FOR BOTH OF THESE REASONS, IT IS A TEMPTING TARGET FOR ENEMY INFILTRATION OR ASSAULT. THAT IS WHY I AM HERE."

-Superweapon (only appears if you have befriended Undyne):

"OH, STOP IT. YOU WILL MAKE ME BLUSH. YES, MY REINFORCED ARMOUR RENDERS ME HIGHLY RESISTANT TO PHYSICAL ATTACK. AND YES, MY HOVER-HANDS CAN CARRY SEVERAL TIMES MY OWN WEIGHT, ALLOWING ME TO EJECT EVEN EXTREMELY HEAVY [troublemakers]. AND YES, MY SWARM OF CAMERA DRONES GIVE ME AN UNMATCHABLE STRATEGIC AND TACTICAL ADVANTAGE. BUT ON THE OTHER HAND, I ALSO HAVE EXTREMELY POWERFUL ENERGY BLASTERS THAT CAN DISRUPT ENEMY DEFENSES."

"...WHERE WAS I GOING WITH THIS AGAIN?"

-Revision 2:

"THE PROCESS OF REFURBISHING THE ABANDONED STEAMWORKS ALSO INCLUDED REFURBISHING ME. MY ORIGINAL DESIGN SPECIFICATIONS, RETROACTIVELY DESIGNATED 'REVISION 0', WERE FOUND TO BE INSUFFICIENT FOR MY NEW DUTIES. 'REVISION 1' INTRODUCED MY REINFORCED ARMOUR AND ENHANCED BLASTERS, AS WELL AS A GYRO-STABILISER TO PREVENT ME FROM BEING TRIPPED DURING COMBAT OR A PURSUIT."

"HOWEVER, ONE UNIT, NO MATTER HOW POWERFUL, CANNOT BE EVERYWHERE AT ONCE. CAMERA DRONES WERE CONSTRUCTED TO AID ME, AND 'REVISION 2' INVOLVED UPGRADING MY PROCESSORS AND FIRMWARE SO THAT I COULD INTERFACE WITH THEM MYSELF RATHER THAN RELYING ON A SPOTTER. NO ENEMY INFILTRATOR HAS REACHED ANY RESTRICTED AREA EVER SINCE."

-Clover:

"AH YES, YOU HAVE MET 'HATTED HUMAN'. THEY AND 'TALL LADY' WERE THE VERY FIRST ENTRIES ON MY 'FRIENDS' LIST. I OWE THE TWO OF THEM A GREAT DEAL. THEY AND THEIR ALLIES WORKED HARD TO RESTORE THE STEAMWORKS TO THEIR FORMER GLORY. THEY WERE THE ONES WHO ARRANGED FOR MY UPGRADES. AND ABOVE ALL ELSE, THEY INTRODUCED ME TO MY LOVELY SPOUSE DAISY. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TALK TO THEM? HOLD ON, I WILL SEND A CAMERA DRONE OVER TO THEM..."

...

"THEY SAY HI. ALSO THAT THEY LOVE ME VERY MUCH. I LOVE YOU TOO, DARLING."

Asking "Superweapon" or "Revision 2" gives you enough information to complete Undyne's mission. You don't have to ask both, just one is enough.

After leaving the Steamworks, call Martlet.

Martlet: "You're out of the Steamworks? Okay, I'll distract the guards. Hop in the elevator and come on up."

Attempting to use the elevator without calling her first will have Frisk call her automatically (*This must be the elevator to Hotland. You take out your cell phone and call Martlet.)

After leaving the elevator, you can proceed to the Lab as normal. You are also able to return to the Steamworks via the lifts immediately after meeting Alphys for the first time, rather than needing to reach R3 first.

Before we leave off, about the Strange Package. The Strange Package contains 3 items, meaning you need 2 extra empty slots in order to open it. If you don't have enough:

*You try to open the package...

*Seems like there's a lot in there. You might need more space in your inventory.

Opening it:

*You opened the Strange Package. It contained a Ragged Hat, an Old Toy Gun, and a Yellowed Letter.

Ragged Hat- INFO:

*"Ragged Hat" - Armor DF 11

*An old, child-sized cowboy hat. It's clearly been well-loved.

Old Toy Gun- INFO:

*"Old Toy Gun" - Weapon AT 9

*The spring feels completely worn out. Someone really loved this thing.

Yellowed Letter- INFO:

*A letter written on old-timey yellow parchment.

Yellowed Letter- USE:

*You read the letter. It's from Clover.

*Kid,

*I'm no good with writing letters, so I'll keep it short. I want you to have these. They helped me through some tough times. I hope they can do the same for you.

*No matter what happens next, don't give up. And if you ever need a break, you'll always be welcome here in Sanctuary.

*Take care of yourself.

*-Clover

-------

Okay. That finally wraps up Sanctuary. At least for now. We will be checking up on them again later on, but for now I want to move things along. Next time: The elusive Dr. Alphys and the mysterious and menacing Mettaton make their debut.

Desert Sanctuary AU

Post Undertale Yellow True Pacifist. Clover decides to NOT sacrifice himself. Doing so would risk bringing humanity a set closer to extinction and there is also no real guarantee it would help anyone. And Asgore still needs to pay for his crimes.

He and the others return to the Wild East. After some discussion, the Wild East declares independence from the rest of the Underground and announces that any human within their borders is under their protection.

Roles

Clover: Unofficial Leader and Human Ambassador

He's at the head of all diplomatic meetings between the Wild East and the Larger Underground. Wants both peace and justice. Is trying to prove humanity isn't bad but is constantly battling his own anger. Still plans to free the five souls. LV 3, 0 EXP

Ceroba: Official Leader

After the Wild East declared its independence, it was made into a Democracy. Ceroba is the current Mayor of the town. Had the Steamworks repurposed to help the residents of the Wild East. Still wants answers about Kanakoe.

Starlo: Head of Law Enforcement and Defence.

Takes his new role very seriously but still goes by North Star. Human-hating extremists from the Larger Underground have sneaked into the Wild East to either sabotage them or steal Clover's soul. Caught the first unlucky bastard trying to kill Clover in his sleep. Doesn't want to risk that happening again.

Martlet: Scout and Mole.

Not an official resident of the Wild East. Still works for the Royal Guard but only to gather intel and have the best possible chance to find a human before someone else and bring them to the Wild East. Unsure if this is the best course of action.

[grailfinders]

Fate and Phantasms #192

Today on Fate and Phantasms we're building the enchanting Caster of Okeanos, which despite her name doesn't actually show up in Okeanos, but rather the fourth pseudosingularity, Salem. She's also one of the last servants in the game (so far) to have her true name hidden, so pretty soon I can stop pointing out how her character build below the cut has true name spoilers. Specifically, this build also includes spoilers for the Salem pseudosingularity, so read at your own peril.

If you'd rather just check out her character sheet, you can find that over here.

Next up: The equal to the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, so just, equal to heaven, I guess.

Circe is a Transmutation Wizard, because she is a witch, and Transmutation is where they stuck polymorph.

Race and Background

Like her protege, Circe is an Elf, but if we want kindasorta falcon wings, that might be tricky. Just kidding, for some reason WotC thought winged elves were a priority, so we got Avariel Elves from an unearthed arcana. This means you only get +2 to a single stat, but we can make that Intelligence thanks to Tasha's for a brain blast. Your subrace gives you 30' of flying speed as long as you don't wear medium or heavy armor (not an issue), as well as the standard elf kit: Darkvision, Fey Ancestry to protect against charms, Trances instead of sleep, and proficiency in Perception thanks to your Keen Senses.

Circe lives on her island alone (if you don't count pigs) so that makes her a Hermit, privy to the secrets of the universe as well as Medicine and replacing the other proficiency (which we'll get back as a class proficiency) with Deception. Tricking men into turning into pigs is kind of a hobby for you.

Ability Scores

Your strongest score should go into Intelligence, that's how you cast spells, and also you're clearly more intelligent than the men who show up on your island. Speaking of, Charisma is next- you're a witch in the middle of a witch hunt that somehow never got caught, and there's also that whole Pig Island thing. Your Dexterity is also pretty good, it's hard enough to cast spells while walking, let alone flying. Also those heels, oh my fucking god how have you not broken an ankle yet. Your Constitution is above average mostly because I'd feel bad putting it any lower. That means your Wisdom is pretty low. You publicly introduce yourself as a witch in the middle of the Salem Witch Trials, and you're pretty flighty in general. Finally, dump Strength. You're a wizard, and you're clearly not that buff.

Class Levels

Circe is a wizard, meaning she starts off with proficiency in Intelligence and Wisdom saves, as well as Arcana and Religion. When you worship the goddess of magic, there isn't much of a difference, tbh. Speaking of magic, you can cast and prepare Spells using your Intelligence. Your spell slots normally only recharge on long rests, but once per long rest you can get a couple slots back on a short rest thanks to your Arcane Recovery, giving you back slots of a total level equal to half your wizard level rounded up. So when you hit level three, you can get back one 2nd level slot, or two 1st level slots. The thing about wizard is, they get a lot of spells. Six now, and two each level, plus whatever they can scavenge from other wizards. Since Circe's whole power set is "good at magic", there really isn't a set of spells that fit- any spell you could cast would be applicable. So rather than try to boil it down myself, we're just giving a rough guide here. There's a whole ass list on the character sheet, and we'll bring up the super important ones here, but really there's three qualifications: if a spell fits into one of these categories, Circe would probably have it. 1. Is it useful? The most open-ended, but just fill in spaces left by the other 2 with spells you want. I'm not a goddamn baby sitter, pick spells you like. 2. Can it turn one thing into another? Men to pigs, You into Medea, whatever kykeon is made out of into kykeon, this one's pretty easy to spot. 3. Can it help someone sail a ship? A bit specific, but helping the sailors she doesn't turn into pigs is also Circe's thing. Skill empowerment, weather control, that kind of thing. With all that out of the way, the big spells you'll probably want at first level are Mage Armor for not dying, Magic Missile for caster balls, and Sleep to knock out the sailors while you go around turning them to pigs. True Polymorph takes an hour per sailor and you need to recharge with a long rest, so this’ll take a while.

At second level, you become a Transmutation Savant, giving you all sorts of bonuses, like how copying transmutation spells into your book is cheaper and faster now. You can also make Minor Alchemy, turning 1 cubic foot of wood, stone, iron, copper, or silver, into another material on that list over the course of 10 minutes. You're not strong enough to shatter wooden chains either, but hopefully someone on your team is. This transformation lasts up to an hour or until you lose concentration, then it turns back to its regular form.

Third level wizards get Cantrip Formulas, letting you swap out one cantrip you know with a cantrip you don't know at the end of a long rest. You also get second level spells, like Alter Self to turn into Medea (among other benefits), and Gust of Wind to help out with sailing.

Use your first Ability Score Improvement to get a Keen Mind- always knowing which way you're facing and the angle the sun should be at are both really useful on the open sea. It also rounds up your Intelligence for stronger spells, and you can make your DM's life hell by remembering things up to a month after they happened.

Fifth level wizards get third level spells. Feign Death will help fake Mata Hari’s hanging later on, and Bestow Curse is super useful, since it can give a creature disadvantage on one kind of save. Like, say, wisdom saves. I wonder if there's a spell you like that requires a wisdom save coming up?

Sixth level transmutation wizards can create a Transmuter's Stone, a tiny object that gives its holder one of several benefits. When you make the stone, and if you're holding it while casting a transmutation spell, you can choose its beneft from the following: Darkvision, increased speed, proficiency in constitution saves, or resistance to one of acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder. You can only make one at a time after 8 hours of work, so don't try to stack them.

Seventh level wizards get fourth level spells, and you could get polymorph now if you really want, but you can also get that spell later for free, so if you're patient, you can get another spell now. If you do go for polymorph, it forces a wisdom save on a creature, and if they fail the save or they're willing, you can turn one creature into a beast with a CR equal to or less than the target's CR or level. All of the creature's stats are replaced by the new creature's, outside of alignment and personality. If it drops to 0 HP in this form, and hour passes, or you drop concentration, they turn back to normal. You can also cast other fourth level spells, like Control Water for sailing, Fabricate to turn... barley, just looked it up, into kykeon. Or any raw materials into a finished product that is Large or smaller.

At eighth level, you get another ASI that'll let you max out your Intelligence for super strong spells. That, plus your curses, will make your polymorph super hard to resist. When you get it.

Ninth level wizards get fifth level spells, like Control Winds and Skill Empowerment, as well as Scrying.

A tenth level transmuter is a Shapechanger, giving you the polymorph spell for free. You can also cast it on yourself once per short rest for free, but only if you turn into something CR 1 or lower. Sadly Medea isn't a beast or CR 1, but it doesn't hurt to practice. Also, yeah! You can now turn pretty much anyone into a Pig (CR 0, so there’s no excuse) or if you want to weaponize it, a Giant Boar (CR 2). Just promise to turn them back if they do your bidding. Still only lasts an hour, but they don’t have to know that.

Eleventh level wizards get sixth level spells. There really isn’t anything specifically Circe-like I want at this level, so just grab whatever your heart wants. There will be time for specifics later.

At twelfth level you get another ASI, and since your intelligence is maxed out we can diversify. Grab the War Caster feat for advantage on concentration saves (very good for pigmaking), the ability to cast spells with your hands full (not applicable), and best of all, you can cast spells as opportunity attacks if that spell as an action casting time and targets a creature. Oh hey, guess what spell fits that description?

Thirteenth level casters get seventh level spells! Again, not necessarily anything you need from here, but Plane Shift is always cool. Maybe you can stumble onto the pig dimension or something.

Your last goody from the transmutation specialty is to become a Master Transmuter, burning your transmuter stone in one go for a burst of magical power. Afterwards, you can’t make a new one until you take a long rest. You can use this for a Major Transformation, permanently changing a medium or smaller nonmagical object into another of similar size & mass (you also can’t cheese value out of this) over the course of 10 minutes. Alternatively, you make a Panacea, removing all curses, diseases, and poisons from a single creature, while also healing it back to full health. That’s some good eating. Going even further, you can Restore Life to cast Raise Dead without a spell slot. Death is a pretty hard line in the Nasuverse, but if anyone could do it it’d probably be Circe. Finally, you can Restore Youth to reduce a creature’s age by 3d10 years without extending their lifespan. You’ve clearly used that on yourself a couple times, but I can’t blame you.

Fifteenth level wizards get eighth level spells, and for once there is something I want to get. You might not use Scylla in-game, but hey, giant sea monsters are cool, so use either Summon Greater Demon, Dominate Monster, or Illusory Dragon to get one, depending on your preferred method.

You get yet another ASI, so bump up your Constitution for better concentration and more health- remember, health gets added retroactively, so that’s 16 extra this level, not one.

At seventeenth level you finally get ninth level spells, giving you access to Mass Polymorph for a proper pig banquet. This one is limited to only half the targets’ levels, but a pig is still CR 0, so it shouldn’t be a big issue. However, if you’re feeling really cruel, you can use True Polymorph for a more... permanent solution. If you keep concentration up for a full hour, the change lasts until it is dispelled. You can also turn objects into creatures, or creatures into objects, but none of those are particularly in character.

Eighteenth level wizards get Spell Mastery, giving you a 1st & 2nd level spell that you can cast for absolutely free, no restrictions. You can always change it later, but I highly suggest Magic Missile so you always have some damage on standby, and Alter Self for the versatility of it.

Your penultimate level grants you your ultimate ASI, so bump up your Charisma for an easier time tricking sailors. It doesn’t do much for the build, but at this point it doesn’t need to.

Your final level of the build gives you two Signature Spells, 3rd level spells that you can cast once per short rest without spending a spell slot. Sadly polymorph is a fourth level spell so it isn’t in the running, but Bestow Curse and Tidal Wave are good runners up. I never said you had to be nice to sailors, just help them out occasionally.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Polymorph is one of the easiest ways to utterly shut down an enemy if it hits, at the very least buying you an hour to run away and regroup. It’s also very funny.

The Transmuter’s Stone is a very powerful support tool, protecting you and giving you healing options wizards don’t normally get. You also come loaded with tools like Skill Empowerment, which is just flexible enough to be useful even when you’re not on a ship.

You get concentration free flight, which is incredibly useful for a spellcaster. Being able to completely avoid an enemy’s front line and turn their back line into pigs is very useful.

Cons

The reason your flight being concentration free is such a big deal is because a lot of your spells use concentration. Honestly, your saves aren’t that bad (esp. with war caster) but it still limits your options, especially when your signature move requires concentration.

While your stone is powerful, it has a huge recharge time to contend with, requiring a long rest followed by an extra 8 hours of work, and the entire time between now and then you might as well not have a subclass. It’s a pretty harsh penalty for actually using your class feature.

It takes a while for this build to go from level one to casting polymorph, so if you want a build you can jump right into and feel like the character, this build definitely isn’t what you’re looking for.

[izumi-fanclub]

A3! Translation: Tsuzuru SSR Card “Everyone From the Minagi Family” [ Midnight cramming ]

Real wholesome brotherly love from all sides.

Izumi

Umm, tomorrow’s schedule...

…... Hm? Did something fall?

(Is this... a family photo of the Minagis? Tsuzuru must’ve lost it here)

(Tszuru-kun, let’s see if you’re in your room right now...... huh?)

Tsuzuru

…....

Izumi

(Looks like he’s working on something. He’s really concentrated... I wonder if it’s okay to call out to him right now.)

(But then again, I’m just gonna give him his photo back.)

Tsuzuru-kun.

Tsuzuru

Director, is something up?

Izumi

Sorry for the interruption.

But Tsuzuru-kun, this photo is yours, isn’t it?

Tsuzuru

Hm? …...Ah, it is!

Izumi

It fell back over there.

Tsuzuru

Ugh, I’m sorry. I had no idea when I dropped it.

Thank you so much.

Izumi

It’s a nice photo.

Tsuzuru

Kaoru came to my part-time job today. That’s when he handed it over to me.

He also wanted me to tell you he said hello.

Izumi

I’m glad that Kaoru-kun seems to be doing well.

Come to think of it, how are Tadoru-san and Meguru-san?

Tsuzuru

My brother’s coming back from overseas at the end of this month, and I’m planing to stop by my parents’ house by then.

Well, I’m really not sure if I’ll be able to go, though......

Izumi

Why not?

Tsuzuru

Actually...

*flashback*

Tsuzuru

Thanks, Kaoru.

Kaoru

Yeah, sorry for dropping by out of the blue.

Tsuzuru

Well, I didn’t expect you to go all the way to my part-time job, Kaoru.

Kaoru

I just happened to pass by and I wanted to see my big brother working.

Tell your director I said hi.

Tsuzuru

Sure thing.

Kaoru

Oh yeah that’s right, I was gonna give you this.

Tsuzuru

?

Part 2

Kaoru

It’s the picture I took of you back at our parents’ house, I went ahead and printed it out.

Tsuzuru

Heh... these days I just take pics with my phone and leave them as it is, but it’s nice to have printed pictures like this.

Kaoru

Right?

I think the next time big brother’s coming back home is by the end of this month.

Tsuzuru

Aah... I was just about to ask about that.

Kaoru

Big bro said he’s coming to visit our parents’ home by then.

Tsuzuru

The end of this month... the deadlines of my university assignments and part-time job overlap......

Kaoru

Sounds rough.

Don’t push yourself if you’re that busy.

Tsuzuru

Yeah. But I’ll try to go home as soon as I can. I wanna see you guys too.

Kaoru

The last photo didn’t have Tadoru-niichan and Meguru-niichan in it, so I hope we can all take a pic together.

Tsuzuru

I know that’s right.

*end of flashback*

Tsuzuru

…... So that’s why,

I don’t think I might be able to go head to my parents’ house......

But I still want to show up as soon as I can, so I’m working on this as early as now.

Izumi

I see.

[ Option 1: Don’t push yourself too hard or you’ll collapse ]

Izumi

Don’t force yourself to the point of collapsing like you do with the scripts.

Tuzuru-kun when you concentrate, you get so absorbed in your work that you forget to eat or sleep.

Tsuzuru

… I’ll be fine.

Nothing to worry about if I do collapse.

Besides, reports aside, writing is something I like to do.

[ Option 2: Tsuzuru-kun sure is a family man ]

Izumi

Tsuzuru-kun you’re quite the family man.

Tsuzuru

Sometimes when I’m at home, there were times when I had thoughts of wanting to be alone......

Living apart from them like this, it gets you missing their faces.

Izumi

Tsuzuru-kun's home sounds like it’s very lively.

Tsuzuru

Well, MANKAI dorms isn’t too different. Both are very important places for me.

Tsuzuru

I want to continue writing more good stories as the playwright for MANKAI Company.

Izumi

Fufuu, I’m looking forward to it.

Izumi

It’s Massaman curry for tonight!

Chikage

I’m liking the scent of cardamom and coriander.

Izumi

I had good spices on hand, so I made it.

Citron

I can smell the oriental scent in the air~. It stimulates my appetite!

Masumi

The curry you make is the best in the world...

Sakuya

What kind of curry is Massaman curry?

Izumi

It’s curry made with chicken, potatoes, onions, peanuts, and other ingredients simmered in coconut milk with spices.

Sakuya

It’s so unique to have peanuts in it! I can’t wait to see what it tastes like.

Izumi

There’s a lot of it, so have another one!

Masumi

I’ll eat the whole pot......

Izumi

Don’t eat the pot, it’s okay.

Chikage

There’s a lot of spices that work well together, and the ingredients are simmered tenderly.

Itaru

Senpai, you’re like a nagging food critic.

Chikage

The “nagging” part was unnecessary.

Sakuya

Director, it’s really delicious!

Citron

I feel like I have travelled to another country~!

Izumi

Fufuu, I’m glad you’re happy.

Tsuzuru

Yawn.......

Citron

It is the great yawn~!

Izumi

Tsuzuru-kun, are you sleep-deprived?

Itaru

Maybe Tsuzuru’s pulling all-nighter event rounds?

Tsuzuru

Itaru-san please don’t go lumping me in with you.

I’m working on the report I told you about.

Chikage

University assignments?

Tsuzuru Yeah. I have a lot of research to do and it’s not looking good for me right now......

Masumi

You stayed up late yesterday.

Izumi

Really?

Sakuya

Tsuzuru-kun, are you okay?

Tsuzuru

Hmm, I have a lot of part-time jobs to do, so my progress isn’t that good......

It looks like I’m gonna have to concentrate on finishing this soon, or I won’t be able to go to my parents’ house...... I’ll do the best I can somehow.

Thanks for the meal.

I’ll be heading to my room, then.

Izumi

Tsuzuru-kun, I hope he doesn’t overexert himself......

Sakuya

He had such a tired look on his face.

Chikage

He’s the type of guy who’ll soldier on through his fatigue.

Citron

If he collapses, he will be given kancho! *

Izumi

Given care.

Itaru

If you did that to Tsuzuru your HP would be KO’d straight to 0 on the spot.

Sakuya

I hope his assignments go well.

Izumi

Same here...

Masumi

…...

Part 3

Masumi

Zzz, zzz.......

Tsuzuru

Yawn......

…... It’s not done yet.

(My shoulders feel stiff and my eyes hurt...)

I’m tired...

I-it's already this late?

Yawn......

(…... I should nap for a bit.)

….......... *snore*.

Masumi

…...

Tsuzuru

Hnn...

(Oh man, I think I overslept...)

Hm? A blanket?

(And even jelly drinks......)

(I knew it, someone wouldn’t come into my room at this time of the night.)

(So that leaves......)

Masumi

Zzz, zzz......

Tsuzuru

…... Thanks, Masumi.

‘kay, I’ll do my best in the spur of the moment then.

Izumi

Oh, morning Tsuzuru-kun.

Tsuzuru

Good morning.

Izumi

Do you think you can handle your assignments?

Tsuzuru

I think I can make it.

Izumi

I see. I guess you can go back to your parents’ house then.

Tsuzuru

I’m glad that I can just adjust my part-time job shifts.

Other than, there’s also this...... I got support from Masumi.

Izumi

Jelly drinks...? A gift from Masumi-kun?

Tsuzuru

I guess so.

It was on my desk while I was taking a nap.

Izumi

It’s so like Masumi-kun to not hand it face to face.

Tsuzuru

Right?

And to think that the same Masumi who went through all that when he first came to the troupe would show his support like this.

Izumi

…... That’s right.

I think you two get a long really well.

Tsuzuru

Well, he’s like a cute little brother now, just like Sakuya.

Masumi

…... Tsuzuru, you’re too close to director.

Tsuzuru

Ah, Masumi.

Izumi

Masumi-kun, morning.

Masumi

Morning. Director, you look really cute this morning.

Izumi

Hahaha... Masumi-kun you look good too.

Tsuzuru

Oh right, Masumi.

Masumi

…... What.

Tsuzuru

You left this there for me, didn’t you?

Thanks to you, I’ll be able to finish my assignment.

Masumi

…... Director was worried.

Tsuzuru

Thanks.

Masumi

…... Annoying. If I’m gonna have someone stroke my head, I’d rather it be director.

Tsuzuru

Yeah, yeah.

Masumi

…... I already told you to stop. I’m not some dog.

Tsuzuru

It’s fine.

Masumi

It’s not.

Izumi

(Those two really smile like two brothers.)

Story Clear! 

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

Kancho in Japan is basically where you form a handgun with your two hands and stick your fingers up someone’s ass to shock them as a prank

[siswritesyanderes]

This is a series of asks bc, while I do LIKE all the charas of Fantastic Beasts individually, much of the romantic pairings dont sit well with me. By that mean the messy love polygon w Newt & I think I finally figured out why & I'd like another's opinion on it. For starters, Newt's attraction with Tina is too fast for me considering he was friends w Leta, got expelled out of Hogwarts for Leta, carried Leta's photo in his case, & basically loved her for YEARS. But this is all undone by a [1]

jaunt in NY having met a woman, who he admittedly went on a huge adventure w, over the course of maybe a few weeks. He's so taken w her she replaces Leta's photo w her own &, after refusing to go to Paris for Dumbledore, leaves immediately once he finds out she's there. I just find this unbelievable. I can rationalize it from Newt's perspective where Tina is a fresh breeze sweeping into his life on (percieved) unrequited pining, but this is my conjecture based on my understanding of Newt. [2]

The audience shouldnt be left to rationalize endgame couple of the mc on their own. & the whole thing w Leta is so messily handled I dont think they can save it even if they bring her back in FB3. How she feels for Newt vs Theseus & unresolved lingering affection, etc. She & Newt were SO important to each other & we SEE that & they dont HAVE to get together, but they need proper resolution bc they have actual history between them. God Leta in general deserved so much better. [3]

But my main gripe is that this love polygon serves no purpose to what I believe is the main selling point of FB: the world. HP having love stories makes sense bc we're following the story of a boy as he goes through adolescence & his journey through that via school is part of that, which is why the romance feels fitting. It's a very personal story. FB on the otherhand is the best peak we have at the wider wizarding world beyond school. HP introduces the world of magic, but FB rlly expands it [4]

To that end Jakob & Queenie's relationship is the only one I find myself liking, bc it's deeply tied to the world setting, the series' biggest selling point (in my opinion, should have said this earlier). It underscores the attitudes of the period & the conflict they face feels suitably substantial & not like filler. There's a moral question between them of are they worth it? And how far should they go to be together?

Imma be real hear & say FB2 was rlly Queenie's movie & they should have been ballsy & just make Queenie the mc for FB2, bc her story was actually considerably more important to the overall development of the story than Newt's, which mostly came off as a rushed & a tad clichè soap drama. & making it about Queenie I think builds more room for good conflict & independent narrative for Tina that would serve her chara better. [5? 6?]

If I bad to be REAL ballsy, I'd say my big issue w/ the relationships in the FB series & how it enhances or impedes the main story & what I believe to be it's biggest attracter (the setting) could have been solved if they made Newt's romantic interest a muggle. It attaches a deeper meaning & relevance to them & the story so it felt more deeply that they truly moved WITH the narrative rather than beside it but I guess Im just picky. Thx for putting up w this! [Final]

(My response below the cut.)

Yeah, pretty much all of this is right.

Regarding the Tina thing, it was definitely rushed, especially since there was literally nothing romantic between them in the whole first movie, except maybe the end part where they're stumbling over their words. Despite knowing how movies work and knowing that they were the male and female lead, I still found that completely out of left field, because they don't really share any interests and I didn't feel like they felt anything in particular for each other before that. She really wants to be an auror and feels really intensely about it; he just wants to travel the world and write about magical creatures and take care of them. I don't see a lot of compatibility there, and the movie didn't really do anything to reconcile that gap.

Jacob and Queenie made sense, because they actually sowed some seeds for it. It's not even about the fact that they both like to cook; they showed an interest in each other throughout. They noticeably like each other. Newt and Tina never really had that, to me, so it was bizarre for her to become his primary motivation in the second movie.

Queenie's trajectory in movie 2 overall bothers me, so while I agree it would have been better if they'd centered it more around her, I definitely think they needed to drastically rewrite pretty much everything she did. Enchanting Jacob at the beginning never sat well with me; I usually only have to say this in the Descendants fandom, but if one half of the ship is magical and the other half isn't, we can't have the magical one enchanting the non-magical one for romantic reasons without addressing what a violation of trust that is. Like, Jacob would be justified for never trusting her again, over that. Also, the fact that she apparently holds it against people if they think bad things about her is not something I would expect from someone who has been a Legilimens as long as she has, and not a detail I like, at all. Especially since it was used to give her justification to be mad at Jacob after she enchanted him in the first place. I find it sad, because Queenie was definitely my favorite character in the first movie. (Also, joining Grindelwald was a nonsensical thing to do. I can only assume she's there to spy on him or something, because it makes literally no sense.)

As for Leta, I really don't like how that was approached. First of all, I don't like how their mention of her in the first movie was "She was a taker; you need a giver," because once we actually met the character, that only made me resent Queenie for representing her that way. Leta deserved better in pretty much every way, and they definitely shouldn't have killed her off like that. I find the whole situation really iffy from a racial standpoint. The first black character to be written three-dimensionally in all of HP lore, and they make sure to preemptively tell the audience that she's a "taker", kill her in the same movie we meet her, and manage to trivialize her death by turning it into a little "Who was she saying 'I love you' to?" mystery. I like her relationship with Newt and Theseus, and I'd definitely want to see more of it.

Yes, it definitely would have been better, thematically, if they'd made the love interest a Muggle. (I'd honestly say they should've paired Newt with Jacob, but I know they're unwilling to do that. That would be kind of cool, though, to see the movie shaping up with two male characters and two female characters and have the men end up with each other and the women just live their lives as humans.)

With the story they ended up telling, though, I don't think that is needed; since Queenie is already dealing with the wizard/Muggle storyline, Newt could have a different conflict. Maybe his love interest should be a werewolf or something, to tie in the wizarding world's unresolved dislike for "half-breeds". And if he were in a relationship with someone already regarded as a creature, the wider wizarding world might take a different view to his studies and look down on him a lot more. Idk, a thought.

And then, with Leta/Theseus and Grindelwald/Dumbledore (if they were willing to actually deal with that), they'd pretty much hit every controversial beat they've got: wizard/Muggle, wizard/"half-breed", interracial, homosexual. Credence and Nagini are both creatures, kind of, but I still like them together, so their relationship doesn't have to tie into any theme; it just has to be developed way more.

On the whole, Crimes of Grindelwald felt like they skipped a movie. It feels like they needed a middle installment to make these relationships happen, instead of jumping from "Do Newt and Tina maybe have feelings for each other?" to "Newt loves Tina and Tina is possessive enough of Newt to be outwardly upset with him when she thinks he's engaged to someone else," and creating a whole relationship between Credence and Nagini that we see none of.

The fact that Queenie and Jacob were done well in the first movie gives me a fair amount of goodwill for them, but that goodwill only offers enough cushioning from the botching that movie 2 did that I'm near-indifferent to the ship, now, instead of actively opposed. I'd like to see things improved, but as it currently stands, I'd be just as happy seeing them end up not together as together. The fact that Leta's relationships with Newt and Theseus were more interesting than any of the aforementioned makes it that much more ridiculous that they killed her. What ship am I supposed to care about how? If I can't go into the next movie delusionally hoping Newt and Leta will get some moments, or enjoying the Theseus and Leta content, then I'll just be sitting there waiting for Credence and Nagini to share a screen, and who knows when that'll happen?

[plussizeappreciationfics]

*rolls up to ask box* Lemmee get a Yoongi with plus size black reader where she's a teacher who moved to Korea teaching English at a university. She's grading papers at a 24 hr coffee shop with her 4c hair in puffs & glasses on. He's out getting his beloved iced Americano and he sees her. He's watches her for a bit until she overhears him talking about her fine ass in korean thinking she can't understand him but she snaps her head up and speaks perfect korean to the waitress? Sorry it's so long

I changed it a little bit but here you go wifey! 

First encounter

“God, this is so good…” you sighed in happiness once the delicate taste of your sweet cappuccino hit your tastebuds. This was exactly that you needed after a long day at school: a nice coffee and a new book to enjoy reading at your favourite café.

After clocking out, you had gone home to change into something comfortable and decided to let your hair rest in cute little buns and your glasses just complimented the whole outfit. Thank God it was Friday because you were so ready to just unwind and spend some quality time alone. You had some plans to go and have some fun in Seoul but those weren’t fully convinced of the plans just yet. Teaching had been very exhausted, but you loved your job, nonetheless.

You were about to dive back into your book when you noticed a very handsome guy sitting just two tables away from you. He had his laptop out, with something that looked like a small portable piano keyboard. He was bobbing his head along to whatever tunes were blasting through his headphones. You couldn’t help when he suddenly broke out grinning, showing off his gummy smile and it instantly made your heart swell with happiness.

The handsome stranger continued to grin while tapping away at his laptop, making you lose yourself in his little bubble, you were growing curious to what he was creating while wondering whether you’d ever be lucky enough to listen to it.

“Shit!” you hissed to yourself when the handsome stranger noticed your gaze on him and snapped his head in your direction, the two of you making instant eye contact. In that moment you released two things:

1. You had been staring at Min Yoongi aka, BTS’s Suga 

2. Min smiled when your eyes locked, and he gave you a gentle head nod

To say that you were panicking a little was an understatement. That man wasn’t just a celebrity but also had acknowledged your existence. A boost of self-confidence rushed through your body while you looked down at your book and mentally counted to ten in order to get your shit together. This wasn’t happening.

It took you more than ten seconds to calm down before clearing your throat and trying to focus on the phrases of your book. Your tensed shoulders slowly relaxed again, and a small smile crept onto your face, you had never guessed this would happen in a million years.

Five minutes into your book, you randomly glanced up again and noticed that Min was still staring at you. You gave him a small smile and raised your cup of coffee, not knowing that your beauty was putting the musician in complete awe. He hadn’t been able to keep his eyes off you as he instantly was interested in you.

Sure, Min had seen and met many beautiful people in his life but something about your smooth brown skin, the clothes that were hugging it perfectly and your simple behaviour was doing something to him. You didn’t know that he had paused his music and made it his personal mission to try and get close to you. Min was happy that today was the day he had decided to leave the house in order to find some inspiration for BTS’s upcoming song, because you were now the newly discovered inspiration.

The group had decided to write another beautiful love song, this time not just only expressing hopes of finding that intense and addicting love but to actually write about experiencing it. Not many knew that Min Yoongi had experienced that kind of love, it hadn’t lasted for a very long time but his heart had once belonged to someone special. The breakup nearly killed him though, the pain was unbearable and the musician had ever since been afraid to even approach someone.

Seeing you there, he felt his stomach flip in anxiety but also excitement because he felt determined to get to know you. Your eyes locked for a few more minutes before you felt like a creep and decided to get back to reading.

Taking another sip of your cup, you noticed your palms starting to sweat as Min’s handsomeness was simply too overwhelming for you. “Such a beauty”, whispered the singer in Korean before shaking his head in amazement.

I BEG YOUR PARDON?!

You screamed in your head, your eyes almost popping out of its sockets. Min didn’t know that you were fluent in Korean as it was a necessity in order to teach in the country and probably didn’t expect you to understand him, so he felt more than free to voice his opinion on you.

You took a big sip from your coffee and decided to take your interaction a step further. You took a few deep breaths before standing up, collecting your book, hot drink and phone before walking over to him and joining him at this table.

Min let out a surprised gasp when you looked at him and replied in Korean “Thanks for the compliment”. Then you started the conversation, saying that you had been fluent in the language for a few years now and that you were a fan of BTS. The way he snapped his laptop shut had you giggling while leaning back against your seat and smiling happily.

Min instantly felt shy and apologised for his comment, expressing how it wasn’t gentleman like and that he just felt so amazed by your beauty. You excitedly let him know that you also found him very beautiful and then you loved his musical talent. The rapper then asked you about your life, you liked your job and how you liked living in Seoul, he patiently listened to you while making mental notes how you beautiful your voice sounded. It was like sweet honey to his craving ears.

You told him a few funny stories that happened while teaching and the way he threw his head back and laughed loudly had you instantly catching feelings. His gummy smile just looked breathtaking, he didn’t give a single fuck about the fact that his loud laughter was booming through the whole café, he just was in his happy moment.

Min then told you different stories of his life as a worldwide known musician, the ups and downs of dealing with fame and even his hopes for the future. It was so easy to read right through him like an open book: that man found happiness in the simplest things of life but was very lonely. He didn’t have many friends and barely had the time to spend some quality time with them, but just from the way he was looking while talking about them, you knew that he loved them dearly. 

Yoongi continued talking about the group’s members, what he had learned from them and how much he loved them despite being very bad at showing his appreciation. You clung onto every word that left his soft and plump lips and imagined what it would be like to feel them gently pressed against yours.

“Hey…Can I take you out sometime? There’s many amazing places I can show you if you want”, Min asked with the most adorable yet shy expression on his face. You were melting away while he was trying his best to not show how much he wanted to hold your hand, listen to you talk for hours and be lucky enough to kiss your plump lips that were calling onto his.

Your numbers already had been exchanged a few minutes into the first conversation so all you could hope for was to get a text from the musician.

“I would love that!” you grinned and couldn’t help but reach out for his hand and give it a quick squeeze. His palms were sweating, and his nostrils immediately appreciated your delicate scent when you leaned in. That man was falling quick and hard for you. You didn’t mind his sweaty hand, actually loved the feeling of his soft skin.

Your heart skipped a beat, but you didn’t dare show it. This felt amazing. You wished it never end, but that wasn’t an option, for now. With one final smile you wished Yoongi a nice day before standing up and gathering your things, your cup of coffee already having been consumed. After leaving a few bills and a nice tip on your table, you made your way out of the café without glancing back, knowing damn well that Min was staring at you and your luscious curves.

Tag list: @jamesbarnesappreciationclubub  l @pleasantdreamqueen l @disneymarina l l @harleycativy  l @sparklemichele l @melaninmarvel l @amethyst09 l @the-force-of-imagines l @bossyboyd03 l @pebblesz892 l @stars8melanin l @brittyevans l @toc1985 l @janeyboo l @badassbaker l @winters-beauty l @cannonindeez  l @ilovefanfic86  l @adorablespecialsnowflakes l @brittanyovens l @kanupps06 l @jazmynejack l @thebookwormslytherin l @theunsweetenedtruth l @talannalew l @littlexmissxfandomxlover l @amethyst-dreams-and-candy-canes l @crimsonash330 l @booklover2929 l @aranelgrey l @panda-duuu l @thisismysecrethappyplace  l @titty-teetee l @honey-anon l @princess-evans-addict l @hp-hogwartsexpress l @malindacath  l @letsdisneythings l l @shado-raven l @alisoncdariel l @plutoneu l  @queenoftheworldisdead l @briannab1234l @miyaeadys-blog l l @hihellogoodbyebruh l @nackrosor l @nerdgurl1985 l @2darkskinbeauty l @bugngiz l @african-melanin-goddess l @barnes-wilson-love l @ktiz90 l @let-the-love-in  l @robinredboob l @hopefuloperaangelnerd l @kola95 l @partypoison00 l @alwaysadreamingoptimist l @reniescarlett l @g0thicdream l @mayasopinions l @captaintightpants58 l @leillee

-Emmanuelle 💋❤️

[yakuzadumpingground]

Well since I'm feeling contrarian I'm gonna rank all of the yakuza games I've played (which is everything except the original 1 and 2, Dead Souls, and the Japan only games) which is guaranteed to piss someone off. Starting with the best-

1. Yakuza 0

Ok, not a controversial choice. I'm sorry. But the general consensus is correct. On top of having one of the best stories in the series, a really fun combat system (albeit not very challenging, but it's not like i play yakuza for challenge), and some of the most memorable sidestories, the setting really gives this game a certain style that nothing else in the series has. Also, one of the few yakuza games that's decently paced. Honestly, most of my complaints about this game are nitpicks (such as how grindy maxing out your character is) it's just a kind of boringly perfect game, really.

2. Yakuza: Like a Dragon

"BuT iT's TuRn-BaSeD" ok cool guess you're just gonna miss out on a fantastic fucking game. I gotta say, it was a real hard choice between "I wanna see the side stories" and "I GOTTA know what happens next in the story" sometimes. I don't know else I can say about this game: great story, great characters, just a great time. Admittedly, as an RPG it.... needs work. The encounter rate is WAAAY too high and the job class system is pretty busted. Even still, the genre change is a breath of fresh air and honestly pretty charming at times. Play this, goddamn

3. Yakuza Kiwami 2

It was a real toss up between Kiwami 2 and the game in the 4th slot, but in the end, Kiwami 2 wins by being more consistently enjoyable. Unlike the first two games on this list I can't say Kiwami 2 had a good story exactly, but I can say it's an entertaining one. I was rarely bored playing this, and in terms of sheer fun, Kiwami 2 wins that crown. I was *howling* at the ending, my God.

4. Yakuza 5

I'm of two minds when it comes to this game. On the one hand, some of my favorite stuff is in this game. The intro is very unusual but hit me in a weird way that really stuck with me. It finally made Saejima likable. Playable Haruka. Shinada, my beloved. On the other hand, while Yakuza games having pacing problems is pretty much the norm, whoo boy does yakuza 5 test your patience. Sloths move at the speed of fleas on meth compared to this game. Also, the actual overarching story is pretty weak and uninteresting. It's really best viewed as a collection of loosely connected stories. This game definitely has it's flaws, but the high points more than make up for them

5. Yakuza 6

Someone's gonna get mad that this game isn't lower, I'm sure. Yeah, it's flawed. It's not best send off for Kiryu. It's lacking in content. The ending is fucking terrible. But there's still plenty here to love. I love Onomichi, it's honestly one of my favorite locations in this series, even if there's nothing to do in it. It's just wonderful to look at and walk around in. I like the Onomichi cast. Beat Takeshi is there. Having Kiryu's saga cap off with a game about family is a great idea, and until this game's awful fucking ending it's a touching exploration of that theme. But fuck this game's ending. Seriously.

6. Yakuza 3

This is... a weird one. I can both see why the fanbase rejected it at the time and why fan appraisal has gotten so much kinder to this game. Like y6 (honestly y6 is really an unofficial remake of this game) it's a game about family. That being said, I rank it lower than 6 because of the relatively lower stakes and weak plot. It takes a long time for the main plot to actually start, and honestly it can take it's dear sweet time. Whenever I was going main story quests all I can think was about how much I'd rather be dinking around doing mundane shit for the kids. But I can't say this game isn't charming as hell. It's really one of the few times you really see Kiryu as just a... guy. Raising his kids, just living his life. For a series all about high octane melodrama, slice of life is a welcome change of pace

7. Judgment

Ooh, HERE'S the controversial take! Yeah, I didn't really care for Judgment. Judgment is the opposite of y3, where instead the main plot is actually very interesting but we spend. So. Much. Time. On. Bullshit. It's not a short game either. I spent so much of this game wondering when we're getting to the goddamn fireworks factory. Putting the pacing problems aside, the characters are fun but apart from Yagami and arguably Sugiura they don't get much in the way of meaningful development (it feels like Higashi's character arc is almost entirely off screen). The "detective" gameplay is meaningless fluff and adds nothing (note to game developers: tailing missions always suck. They sucked in Assassin's Creed and they suck here) and the attempt to bring back style changing is half-baked. I didn't hate my time with this game, but it left me underwhelmed

8. Yakuza Kiwami

This was actually my first yakuza game. And thank goodness Kiryu is hot because this game is... rough. First off, the story is just not very good. It spends a lot of time with tedious red herrings and extraneous shit with characters we don't care about. I honest to God had a hard time following the plot on my first playthrough because the cast is like 90% unmemorable middle aged Japanese men that show up like once in the first hour and then once in the last (but you're expected to remember them). It doesn't fare any better gameplay wise. It does make one good decision, bringing back style changing, but then for some reason they decided to make every boss fight an awful chore by having them regenerate their hp several times a fight (unless you happen to have the heat to do a heat action, and even then they regen hp so fast it may not help that much). What. The fuck. This snowballs into the Majima Everywhere which... look. I know. Goromi. But this system is still one where you have to fight a boss over and over and over again (in a game where fighting bosses is a chore). I've seen people slide off the series after going from 0 to kiwami, and that sucks. Maybe it was best i started here; if I liked this game, I'll probably like the rest

But there's one game I'd say that'd worse

9. Yakuza 4

When I played Yakuza 4 the first time, it was the ps3 version and I hadn't played 3 yet (it was more expensive.) So when I replayed 4 it was after playing 3, and honestly I was appreciating the game a lot more. After the slog of 3 it was nice to have a game with a snappier pace. And Akiyama was a fun change of pace. Him and Hana have a fun dynamic. I remembered not liking this game; was I too harsh? Could I have appreciated 4 more if I could see the improvements from 3? Then I got to Saejima's section then I remembered why I don't like this game. Honestly, I could go ON about how much Saejima's part sucks, it is easily the worst time I've had playing a yakuza game. I'll spare you that novel for now tho. And from here, the game never really recovers. We move on to Tanimura, the worst yakuza protagonist by the sheer virtue of how boring he is. By the time Kiryu shows up again I was so damned thrilled to see him. But he doesn't really save this game. Yakuza plots are usually convoluted and sometimes hard to follow, but 4's just gets exhausting to keep up with. By the time you get to your 28th betrayal you just can't care anymore. And it all caps off with a lazy fucking ending and the absolute worst final boss fight in the series. Oh Curryman. You deserve a better game.

[ravenclaw-headcanons]

moving forward and propositions

tldr; although this blog has been p much abandoned I still think we could have some fun here with a bit of reformatting and fresh ideas. any thoughts on things you’ve enjoyed from this blog or things you’d like to see in the future? or do you think there’s nothing wrong with the format and I should just go back to posting headcanons like normal?

hey

long time no see.

it's been, what 18 months since I was properly active on this blog? actually I just checked and the last headcanon was posted in Jan 2019. mad

when I sent out the word that I wouldn't be keeping up with this blog anymore I cited graduating and starting a full time job as the primary causes. essentially that I just didn't have the time to dedicate to this blog anymore. which was and still is true tbf

but I also (semi) abandoned this blog for the less admirable fact that my heart just wasn't in it. I guess you could probably tell that considering the headcanons kept getting scarcer and scarcer. I guess it's just, I've always loved having this community y'know. we've had great discussions on here and held events and forged friendships and that was really cool to have

but in terms of what this blog actually is

I don't know. I mean I can't say I have my finger on the pulse of fandom culture the way I did back in 2015, but when I started this blog it really felt like we'd found this untapped thing that people could be passionate about and engage with in a new way

I'm not going to sit here and pretend I'm some sort of innovator. in fact I stole the premise of this blog from mugglebornheadcanon. but there was still something new and exciting about it

I had loads of ideas and people had tons of their own headcanons they wanted to share and idk I guess it was just nice to have a creative space for people who were all passionate about the same thing

whereas now we're 1000 headcanons deep, I have nothing left to give, and there are tons of other blogs out there who can do this way better than I can. I'm not saying that in a self pitying way. it's just to have a blog like this that feeds off ideas and creativity you kind of need some passion, or at least inspiration

anyway this is all a very convoluted way of asking for a community brainstorm

because I still think this blog is great, and has the capacity to be the community driven creativity vortex that it was, I just don't think this is the way to go

hey, maybe you'll all reply and say 'no we've still got hundreds of headcanon ideas please let us post them!!' but my intuition is saying it might be time to move onto other content? it just feels a bit like the well has run dry on this kind of content, but wouldn’t it be awesome if we could find something new that relit that old spark?

so I guess this is a general call for ideas? a heads up to the muse of inspiration that now might be a good time to strike

if anyone has any thoughts or ideas on a way we could direct this blog to actually being, well something then please drop me a message!!

general musings so far on my part are that by far my favourite parts of running this blog were the various community events. ravenclaw pride day, the advent calendar, secret santa, harry potter playlists, and primarily the rereads we did

if you missed them, on this blog we hosted rereads for the 20th anniversaries of PS, CoS, and PoA where everyone would read one or two chapters a day. people would post their thoughts on the chapters, artwork, their progress on reading in another language, jokes, I posted discussion questions every day, it was pretty much a free for all

I don't know, maybe there's not a way of turning that into its own project. I mean theoretically I could set up a blog dedicated to hosting those kind of events. obviously having breaks in the middle, but it could be kind of fun. percy jackson would be a great one to do, or maybe the hunger games, narnia, asoue, his dark materials, twilight, spiderwick, inkheart etc

idk the issue is theoretically it could be great fun. we could have community votes on what people would like to reread, we could reread books slowly so it's not really a commitment, and revisit some books we've all loved or maybe even some newer books

but I guess it’s more of a question of whether that could ever work in practice. like again theoretically I’d love to tie each event in to raising money for a charity (again by public vote). I mean wouldn't it be great to have a reread of GoF where people were encouraged to donate £1 to a charity to support trans people? or maybe raising money to help kids with ADHD when reading PJO?

I think I’m getting too ambitious haha

tbh the real thing that was great about this blog is the community feel it had. a group of people who all love hp and learning and creativity and expressing themselves and so really what I’d like to do is find some way to recapture that, however you guys see fit

I am obviously have no illusions about the fact that this blog is not active, and its followers are (mostly) not active so I know any projects would likely be on a smaller scale. but hey, I started this blog with a following of about 1k on my multi fandom blog so anything can happen when you hit on a good idea

and I think there’s still a great idea lurking here somewhere, I just need a bit of help from you guys to find it

so let me know what you think and I guess I’ll see where the wind takes us

[heeytwelve]

A mundanity that creeps into your very soul

Insidious Humdrum is he most intriguing and controversial character in Simon Snow books. It also one of the main characters of “Carry On” book, and, (as unpopular opinion) - he is still appears in “Wayward Son” - he mentioned by Simon, Agatha, Penny, Baz multiple times as nightmarish memories. 

I believe Humdrum will make his appearance in third book and I want to dig on why he is so important in “Carry On” set and why Simon might be not quite done with him.

Humdrum is “official” antagonist of the first book, the prophesy which gave Simon “The Chosen One” title also implies that his only mission in life is to banish the Greatest Threat of World of Mages.

It’s important to notice that Simon himself is not really invested in fighting Humdrum, he strangely detached from his life mission:

“When the Humdrum comes after me, I fight him. When he sends dragons, I kill them. When you trick me into meeting a chimera, I go off. I don’t get to choose or plan. I just take it as it comes. And someday, something will catch me unawares or be too big to fight, but I’ll fight anyway. I’ll fight until I can’t anymore—what is there to think about?”

Excerpt From: Rainbow Rowell. “Carry On.”  Think about it - he never create strategies, he never tries to understands what is it he tries to fight with, he never initiate the battle, he accepts battles, when he can’t avoid them.  You’d think that he just escalate this part of job to The Mage, but then, (say to compare with HP) he doesn’t exactly bothers The Mage with questions or he doesn’t try to find out what Humdrum behaves like this and what is he plotting. 

Oh, yes, plotting. See, we could say  - you know, Simon is just like this, he’s quite passive, he hates to think or take action, but it’s untrue. Simon, in fact, has 3 antagonists: first one is Humdrum, which was given to him, second one is Mage (which as Voldemort in HP both created him and destroyed) and third is the only one antagonist he actually chose - Baz, the handsome vampire. Because Simon chose him (and Baz accepted). it is this antagonist he is really fighting and very passionate about: he thinks about his plotting every day, he cracks his secret/superpower, he finds his weakness and “defeats” him. Simon is capable of active fighting, thinking and strategising.  

WHY Simon is so NOT invested in fighting Humdrum?

Let’s take a look at Humdrum and Simon, using Penny’s method, aka - what do we know, here I gathered a small table of data for these two:

So clearly, you can see that Humdrum is very unusual antagonist. Yes we can see that like in many pairs protagonist-antagonist there are a few opposite qualities of them, and it’s normal, it is trigger to fight dynamics. But at the same they are sort fig leaf to hide from Simon (or reader) who Humdrum really is.  Humdrum - is Simon’s doppelgänger. And that is VERY important, let’s look at this from writer point of view, it is not your usual antagonist-just-a-person-who-have-opposite-beliefs-or-hates-you-for-some-reason. This antagonist is VERY attached to protagonist, he is in fact his continuation. 

WHY would you want to write exactly this type of antagonist, what do you want to say?

I have multiple answers to go through.

1) To show Simon’s complexity. To show _protagonist_ complexity and somehow preserve the certain image of him. In “Carry On” Simon (at least for me as a reader) associated purely with soft and positive features, he is the definition of the good and kind hero. Yes, he’s impatient and short tempered, but he is empathic, he is thoughtful, he cares about most of the people around (he protect and shield his _chosen_ enemy, Baz. He won’t end him without second thought when he finally has opportunity - the scene in catacombs), he doesn’t hold grudges or avenge betrayal, he always tries to think above the things, see the whole picture, kinda look past himself. It is very high EQ and it is my dream character. But realistically for kid who had no one to raise him to love and understand people; with tough childhood - it is impossible to have no dark sides. Again, remember how annoyingly for reader neurotic HP would be in books? Well, guess what, his dark side is still in a book, it’s just detached from him, to not spoil his image for reader. Perhaps, because at this point (introducing the character) his dark sides are not allowed to make impression and they are not important YET. 2) To allow protagonist to do things he want to do, but can’t. This is “Jekyll and Hide” type of protagonist and yes, this is fair for Humdrum too. He destroys things and doesn’t feel bad about it. He “mundane” and again, he doesn’t feel bad about it. He doesn’t have to go to magic school and still - he is known, strong, dangerous. But most importantly - he can express his negative feelings. He is unhappy to be forgotten - he attracts attention (quite brutally); he is unhappy to be the only one who left to deal with trauma - he reminds about it - he summons Simon exactly at the place where bad things were happening (Lancashire) and he takes the form Simon probably tries to push away from his mind; he dislikes Mage - he talks to the Mage harsh and dismissively and laughing at him; the only people which Humdrum snatches/damages away from Simon are Agatha and Baz - it might be some sort of jealousy expression, and surely he express his jealousy about Simon’s skill and development. And IF he really hates the magic - he sure express his hatred good too, by literally destroying and he allows himself to feel pleasure from act of destruction (the face expression Simon never saw on his own face). And often, this reasoning for introducing doppelgänger goes with implying that protagonist has hidden desires to not be as good as he currently is. What doppelgänger does, it is what protagonist secretly desires to do.

To sum this these 2 points  - they _usually_ lead us to the point that protagonist is not as good he thinks he is. And while it is partly true - I believe, it is NOT Humdrum purpose. 

3) While Humdrum is surely threat to magic, is he Simon’s antagonist, really? Does he hates Simon? Do his actions have purpose to destroy what Simon have/created? It is a big no, to all these questions. 

Humdrum is metaphor for Simon’s trauma, he tries to shove away from himself.

Many people talk about Humdrum in the book, but most informative are - Penny, Mage and Baz, Simon and Humdrum himself.

Penny, I believe, is an author’s reflection in the book, so her words are clues), and she tell us - that Humdrum face is his real face (he is Simon), he’s childish and Simon’s dealing with negative emotions frustration/fear/annoyance/going off brings him joy (genuine childish laugh). She also tell Simon, the reason why he have to fight Humdrum - cause he the only one who can (and have to) do it.  Which is true. Mage - who is the real Simon’s antagonist and evil in the book - is the one who setups the reality “Humdrum is evil, you have to fight it”. Which can be easily translated to “Your feelings/experiences are not valid, you have to get rid of them”. He also setups example of not being important as a person, but being important as a weapon, to sharp your blade constantly if you wish. 

“Look at me, Simon. Have you ever known me to indulge myself with a normal life? Where is my wife? My children? Where’s my house in the country with my cosy chair and a fat cocker spaniel to bring me my slippers? When do I go on holiday? When do I take a break? When do I do anything other than prepare for the battle ahead? 

Excerpt From: Rainbow Rowell. “Carry On.”

Again - it translates to these old methods of dealing with trauma: fight it, ignore it, experience more trauma to make yourself numb. It doesn’t work. Mage doesn’t care about Simon. But in a way, Simon follows his instructions.

Baz - he is the symbol of healing love Simon needs (one of his defining quotes is “I chose you” - returning Simon everything what was taken away by Mage at that point)  he have experienced Humdrum only one time, but it’s enough for him to figure it out precisely. He understands that Humdrum is Simon (or his part) and he does not hesitate to confront Simon with it, because it is important. And he the one who tell Simon the aftermath of ignoring Humdrum. Baz is the one who - finally - triggers Simon to act. He also the first character who sees Simon (and Humdrum) and accepts them as whole. And still loves him.  Simon - he doesn’t talk about nature of Humdrum a lot. He hardly bothers to describe fighting scenes in a past. But he clearly indicates how he avoids Humdrum, thinking about Humdrum, thinking about time he will need to deal with it. He doesn’t want to have any touch points with it, even when he’s confronted about it. He shouts at Humdrum when he sees his own face on him, but he never thinks that Humdrum is him. Because it’s all painful. Humdrum - is pain he released and locked himself out of it. That is why he reluctant to deal with Humdrum, though it his life mission. He only do it if he have HAVE TO. And then - he will take the pain/fear/negatives and lock it in Humdrum again (make magic holes bigger) and leave. So he can stop thinking about him again. And finally, Humdrum. He thinks a lot, he has time for it. And he know exactly who he is. And when Simon is ready, when Simon’s is finally ready to face him by his own will, he tells him who he is:

“It’s the Humdrum,” I say. “It’s you on the day I found you.” His eyes are wide and soft. “My boy—” “I’m not him,” the Humdrum says. “I’m not anybody’s boy.” “You’re my shadow,” I say to the Humdrum. I’m not afraid of him now. “More like an exit wound,” he says. “Or an exhaust trail—I’ve had loads of time to think about it.” “The Insidious Humdrum,” the Mage whispers. “It’s a crap name,” the Humdrum says, bouncing his ball. “Did you come up with it?”

Excerpt From: Rainbow Rowell. “Carry On.” 

He is willing to talk about himself and all this scene he is strongly communicating on Simon’s side, but not on Mage’s. He behaves like he is Simon’s ally and they have the same goal. He’s open about his wishes (to evolve, to be like Simon, to be the one with Simon), he is open about what happens if Simon’s continued to follow the Mage’s instructions ( “He’s right. End everything. All of the magic.”). 

The scene of dealing with Humdrum doesn’t feel like Humdrum eliminating, but more like becoming one with him, finally accepting what was shoved away, belated debts payment. It is very sad but beautiful scene.

“I’m sorry that all the good stuff happened after I left you.”

“The Humdrum puts his hands over mine and gives me a small nod. His jaw is set, and his eyes are flinty. He looks like a little thug, even now. I nod back. I give it all to him. I let it all go.”

At the end - Humdrum and Simon became one, like it was before Simon first went off and got his magic at 11 year. Now he back to the same state and next book he is dealing with trauma (not the way he should, unfortunately). 

Maybe the key of getting powers back is to learn how to live with Humdrum and not ignore him. To accept yourself, to find yourself. Maybe use Humdrum powers too. “Someday dragon. Someday ferocious.”

p.s. The negative power of sucking off magic reminded me about Dementors in HP a bit, in a way, that’s what made me think about Humdrum as trauma or depression. At the same time, sometimes, Humdrum would show us, that he is still a doppelgänger of Simon’s and have the same thoughts  - like his phrase about “it’s it better than fighting” about Baz is quite the same as Simon’s.