#i see divine being and I see a man that I want to find gotta combine them ig

[hanakihan]

『Absolute Being』

This painting was found in studio after painter Sung Jin-Woo disappeared. No date of creation was found, but due to rough and unclear style similar to that of ‘Ashborn’ piece, it’s considered a part of early Sung Jin-Woo. No title was found either, but due to words written on back of canvas, this piece got its name:

‘You, an Absolute Being, who is lovingly admiring. I wonder if you’ll reach the one you love?’

[ancientgoddessofegypt]

Saturn's Rewards. Time, Commitment, & Learning How To Be A Boss.

Saturn rewards you based off your commitment, discipline, and the amount of effort you put in to obtain the material reality you want.What beliefs, morals, and ideals do you keep in mind to ground yourself? Are you willing to face challenges and adversity? Do you remember to say thank you to the divine even when everything seems down bad?

Looking to where the planet is in your chart will speak volumes on this.

Saturn in the first house has to look forward and see things from their first mind. The second comes after. Just because there is nothing but dirt doesn't mean it cant be made into something special. I heard they sell dirt nowadays, making money off hard shit and making it a gold mine. Thats alchemy.

Commit to yourself and not what others see or think of you. The grass is always greener when its in your own yard.

Saturn in the second needs to learn their values & freedom will apply itself in the future. Financial freedom that is. The cold lessons gotta kick in before you can spend that gold from that treasure you just found! What good is it for a man to have the whole world but with the loss of his soul?

If you want to expand on your fortune, you must first appreciate the things you had before it all started piling in. Remembering your values is how you sustain your possessions and whats worth keeping. You dont need anything thats for shits n giggles all the time. You need things that will show growth in the future, not stagnancy. What are you willing to do to get the things you want? Your soul wants more but commit to having VALUES in place to receive the ideal manifestations of your worldly reality.

Saturn in the third, speak loud or forever hold your peace. These mountains need an echo from the village, and your words hold the key to salvation. You mirror societies dark picture, and theyll paint you into a villian if they can. But not without a fight first. Dont hold your tongue, as the truth will set you and others free.

Speak with authority as the teacher in you propels others to think for themselves and appreciate the power of their minds. You just gotta give it to em a little harder, but they'll think you later ;)

Saturn in the fourth house, the golden child. Yes i said it. They learn the way of their ancestors at a young age. Hell, they might even be the ancestor reincarnated. Jus gotta show everyone a thing or too before you hit it off to the next dimension ;)

These big brains know a lot and carry wisdom like no other. Its a shame that others force themselves (yes, force) to misunderstand them when their young and will convince themselves once more when their old. They can't handle the youngin holding them at a standard they themselves never gave em. Only saturn ;)

Saturn in the 5th. Play play play baby, we only got one life to live and we need yall to live it. They take things to new heights when you give em a lift. Their sturdy on the ground but they dont mind being picked up. They love to be head over heels for someone, they just wont break their standards for you so... they'll typically have to deal with bargainers from time to time. Lucky for them they never budge, which is why they stay single for a while until they find that one. They adore a love affair like in the 90s romance films, but only if it last forever. Their not too into fairytales.

Can be the life of the party but theirs limits to it. Their not your flat out drunk type, but they will be the social drinker.

Again, these babes have a standard and they hold a really good reputation for themselves & they will not do anything stupid for the sake of others enjoyment. More mature settings are best for them, no matter the age.

Saturn in the 6th house, Work work work work work! This is the house they strive in. A beneficial place for saturn before saturn is all about commitment, working hard and putting in the effort even if it makes them sick. Because thats what its like working with the 6th house (or being a virgo) and they can handle it.

Some of the hardest workers and are usually respected and valued by their co-workers and bosses due to them understanding the rules and working with them. Won't talk back unless necessary and pretty much will finish their duties without rebeling against authority. The thing is, they are naturals when it comes to management or being at the head of something so they understand what to do and what not to do. Also prone to take their time no matter how long it takes.

Saturn in the 7th, lonely lovers.. lol jk. these people are really romantic when they want to be, its hard for them to pick the right partners at time due to an influx of standards that are impossible for others to truly meet. Their a rare breed looking for another rare gem to live happily forever with. As that is not a problem, they must face themselves through the art of others showing up for them in a way they wouldn't have noticed was in them all along. Who ever they date is mirroring the inner turmoil they face on a daily, the partner is just turning up the charm on this one.

These radiators are turbulent in mass destruction when their needs aren't met in partnerships. They'll become the storm and turn everything upside down when their not facing the moments that are there to teach em a lesson. Helping them understand the dialects they have between them and other much deeper. It is for their personal growth. Believe in yourself and a better love will come.

Saturn in the 8th, testy testy. Your heart belongs to the world, your blessed to see the unknown from a consciousness thats presented with a crock of bullshit since the time you were born... not kidding. You may see things from more complexed lens from your peers but how you talk they would never know.

You have insights on how the world really works, and for better for worse you can transform things to something beneficial.

the darkside has its perks, you just have to appreciate the light a little better and everything will come together.

9th house saturns just know it all, a cosmic gift. They've learned a lot through past lives and bring it all back to us so we can appreciate the inner knowings of their minds. Their thoughts hold philosophical treasures that help us stick to a certain belief instead of always changing them. Its okay for our thoughts to evolve, but when their constantly changing with no background check it becomes a problem. 9th house saturns believe in committing to a ideal to get the better contract. Otherwise, we'll always be following someone else's tricks to believing in something that doesnt work for society as a whole but just for that person. These individuals train their minds to think bigger and expand on certain details before just sitting with a belief, its just better that way. They need to learn more so they can appreciate the wheel turning to different tides.

Saturn in the 10th, think big, dream big, be BIG. In its rightful house, these potential bosses will rule their world and leave a mark. They know what they want for themselves and they must commit to the details before that plan can get in order.

They must learn themselves in a way that others would not see coming. No such thing as potential when they already are the thing they want to embody, yall just havent seen it yet. They collect enough data before they take the world by storm with their mission and things begin to take shape for them to create space for their higher self. The kings and queens of manifesting their reality, they usually carry a lot of faith with them as they work hard to be where they want to be.

Saturn in the 11th, work hard. play hard. dont forget to thank the community, they did a lot just so they could see you win! Dont run away from help, thats your lesson here. The way you commit to yourself is the fastest way to get others to see your dreams and help you, too. This one is way shorter, i had to get straight to the point <3

Saturn in the 12th, you helpless helpers, lol jk. Seriously though, you guys need to see yourself in a better light. All that guilt shame and fear isnt doing anything but stopping you from achieving what you want. You know, calling yourself that bad word doesnt mean thats what you are... so why keep tricking your mind like that? its only going by what you say it. You're consciousness is smarter than you think. Once you learn the mind you can challenge the mind to benefit you. Commit to changing your way of thinking and watch how reality shape shifts into the world you want to be in.

hope that helps. enjoy everybody!

[karmawonders]

Zhongli brainrot incoming my lovely little ducklings

Notes: imma call god!reader also known as Creator as Divinity cuz it sounds cute aight? Aight. And it makes sense cuz we are the most divine thing, so like? It works. U can argue with me but I enjoy the name, and as a SAGAU x cult au consumer, that name would just FUEL my God complex.

🌸Also this is probably non comprehensive my adhd n more went nyooom with this one, so you have been warned🌸

Warnings: sagau. Religious themes. Reader is God/ above God. Yandere worshippers. Slight zhongli x childe Lemme know if I should add anything.

Aight bitches we know the drill

Zhongli? The loyalist of our devotees. Also the oldest of all the motherfuckers

My dude got arthritis or smth idk I like to think he goes over to baizhus pharmacy for painkillers occasionally since he is just an old old frail wee peepaw. (Jokes ofc)

Now listen. My man's Morax was an Archon. He may of left that title but the dude is still very much a God. Not like, as high of God as the creator is, but a God nevertheless.

Dude gots a whole ass teapot/ pocket dimension solely for a temple to Divinity.

It continuously is expanding as he finds more books that could be about Divinity / theories about Divinity, etc.

Rip to the poor adeptus who is managing it.

Sure he usually has Childe pay for his shit, but it's not cuz he is broke! He is farr from it

Dude just has

Idk

Tendencies to hoard

Curse his dragon nature ig man

All the Mora? Safely in a separate teapot outside of his temple one. You can swim in it scrooge Mcduck style. He probably does take naps in it sometimes in his dragon form ig.

So he has Childe buy a ton of things that He thinks Divinity may even possibly like or acknowledge

It is dangerous when he walks amongst the harbor shops.

Not for the shopkeepers, they quickly learned to put their finest goods out in front when the see the funeral consultant nearing.

Mostly for whoever is gonna be paying for it. Which is usually Childe.

Oh shit man you see that fancy ass tea set that dude is polishing? We gotta look at it.

"Don't drag your feet Childe, we must secure this purchase for Divinity."

Childe can't argue if he knows it's going to Divinity, to you. He's one of your worshippers to ya know, he owes you his life.

He just wishes

Ya know

Zhongli would haggle a little before immediately purchasing whatever it is

He still shudders at the time he spent that much mora for something known as a "Primogem". A solid 5 million.

Just to ya know

Learn that a certain blonde haired traveller basically gets them for free just for being their first vessel / connected to Divinity.

That one hurt a Lil ngl

I mean Learning that Divinity would find a single primogem absolutely useless if not insulting on its own.

Listen man's Divinity is still interacting through Teyvat through a screen at this time, you ain't nowhere near to actually being there physically atm.

Which gives Zhongli a good amount of time to figure out wtf to do with this questionable purchase

Now it's true that Zhongli is a vivid spender

But he knows when something is the real deal, and he won't just let that slip away.

If it happens that his walking wallet at the time doesn't have the cash for whatever item

He will very upsetti spahgetti

Yes he buys tons of things for himself

But when it was something he wanted to get as an offering g for you? Dudes gonna be very upset.

He will begrudgingly procure mora from his more teapot after asking the items owner to have it on hold for a bit, and buy it.

The next few days he works extra hard to replace the mora in his hoard

But on the bright side your temple is just looking so wonderful with that new vase!

He likes decorating a lot. From his own abode, to organizing the mora and gems in his "den", to making sure your personal temple / shrine is absolutely perfect

He really do be like one of those Sim youtubers who spent 30 hours just on the house

If he is to one day show you this, in person, he has to make sure it's absolutely perfect! Everything needs to be the finest of fine!

He sees the rug he bought 20 or so years ago slightly aging?

Bye bitch

Like imma just pawn this off since it's a great rug and I want my money's worth but it's not worth a God possibly walking upon it anymore.

In all his free time dude is in his personal temple to Divinity

Admiring the things he got for you, remembering their history should you ever ask,,, and uh

Dusting

So much dusting

Like this temple gots TON of shit in it

I mean it's bound to when he has worshipped you for so long

Probably goes on for miles

Might as well make it a public museum at this point

If there isn't like, special anti dust adeptus magic or smthing that is

Oh I just had the funniest fucking idea

You know how in other games (worlds?) Dragons live like hundreds of thousands of years before dying of old age or shit

Zhonglis like 7 thousand I think

Aka he is a baby compared to otherworld dragons

(Yes I know he is technically not a dragon dragon but shhhhhh)

So he goes on about how Erosion will sooner then later do him in and everyone's like

Noo Rex lapis perfect geo Archon nooooo fight the erosion oawr nawr

And he like ofc full heartedly believes that this is the case

Until ofc Divinity gets down there, aka you.

And your just like

"Ya old fart

when was the last time you got proper exercise

Hrm?

500 years ago?

No wonder you feel like shit bro- go hit the gym smh"

If he didn't do regular spars with Childe or any other acolytes before, he definitely does so now.

And then he feels better cuz he wasn't getting enough exercise outside of the vessel commission's he went on. Dude just wasn't getting enough dopamine in his head and fr thought it was erosion like smh

Zhongli built up Liyue for you, ya know. To Be like your favorite nation etc etc.

So I think he would be supppppeer interested in the world you were in previously

Like

Wtf is a car and a highway and wdym they are super dangerous but people are on em regularly all the time? Tf?

What the heck is air condition Divintiy you are making up words I think aksksjrdqsdfhjk

...sun...screen? Never heard of this?

Teyvat not knowing basic medical stuff would be hilarious to me

Like imagine someone is coughing on something

Let's say Itto cuz I feel like he would do that

And you just

Get behind him and heimlech him

And everyone's like

????wtf he was good as dead???

And zhonglis sitting their having war flash backs to all the people he could of saved if he JUST GAVE THEM A BIG OLD HUG FROM BEHIND?

/yes I know that's not how it works but shush aight/

Zhongli wants to know absolutely anything and EVERYTHING about Divinity

You say an off comment about liking a certain smell and dude gots like

Notebooks and sticky notes written down the very second after

And then you go back to your abode or to the shrine he has and it smells overwhelmingly like that

Like

Imagine saying you like the smell of freshly cut grass and he just goes

??? How tf do I get that smell?"

I just realized these brainrots are very fun to write and non stressful you can expect more

Anyways I love my man's Zhongli and I will die for him without hesitiation

🌸Abrupt ending queen right here, do not be surprised akkajsks🌸 and if you are shook it ended, boo!

I think this is getting a bit long and I don't wanna like have a post that makes my thumbs scroll miles before finishing it ifykyk

Anyways hope that was somewhat readable akksksksks

🌸Consider checking out my masterlist?🌸

[dgrailwar]

....No time to deliberate or hee and haw then?

Gotcha. So how will we do this, free for all round two? I am sure some people are just attached to their servants and don't want to see them perish.

Round 13, Day 4 - At The Grail

' This Grail only exists for a limited time, and we're quickly exceeding it's limit. Meaning that I have not much longer to wait for your deliberations. A wish must be made. I will make another offer… I will allow a Servant of your choosing to be reborn alongside my monsters to serve as their emissary. Even a Servant that has already perished. '

"Echidna…"

' I want to live. I want my children to live. The children of man and the children of monsters, in a brand new world. I may not be able to make many more 'Heroic Spirits', but I can at least attempt that much as a concession. '

-

"...Right. Let's do this."

"Well, we don't need to go through this again. Let's stay our weapons this time. Our stances are known. The Age of Gods is long over… and this new age will be far from peaceful."

"Right. For once, this truly falls to the wills of our Masters. As dangerous as this new world may be, there is plenty of possibility."

"I'm sure you'll make the right choice. And, well, even if it turns out being the wrong choice, I'm sure at least my Masters will find a way to get a kick out of it. Plus, you've got the Mother of Monsters handing out bribes out of desperation- if that doesn't give you a rush, I don't know what would."

"God, I really don't wanna beat a dead horse, but you've gotta trust me when I say- pure godly wisdom- we've gotta leave the beasties where they belong- the legends."

"I say just go with your gut. That's the most interesting way, right? Forget the pressure, people live and die by their hearts. You've been called by a divine being to make a wholly unreasonable decision- if there was ever a time to check in with your heart and run with it, it's now."

[udretlnea]

The Divine City, Interlude Quest: Dormiens Factorem. Part 2

Previous page \ Next page \ Prologue

(Words: 1.3k)

(Disclaimer: This work is non-canon to the plotline of the Divine City by yuriisclumsy)

There was only a few hours before the morning rush and Lyla was already entertaining ideas of murdering the first person to bump into her. One part of herself chastised her for being melodramatic, but the other didn’t care because she was just hungry.

Damn you Cecilia for making me skip breakfast! She thought, only to backpedal almost immediately. Okay, actually scratch that. Cecilia didn’t make me read light novels past midnight. That one’s on me.

(Lyla recalled practically jumping out of bed and throwing the barest minimum of “adventuring clothes” on her before fast-walking out of the dorm. Her stomach started panging in protest when she was halfway through one of the commerce districts.)

She bit her lip in consternation. Suddenly the idea of fainting while walking seemed like a tangible thing. Lyla scoffed when she saw a cafe some meters in front of her.

Hm. A quick stop for a muffin wouldn’t hurt. It shouldn’t take long. She thought to herself. Convinced, Lyla stepped inside where she exited three minutes later biting a cranberry muffin. 

The rest of the walk was a blur to her, but she could confidently say that that was the best muffin she ever had.

Finally she arrived at the cafe by Timeless Treasures, and to her surprise Cecilia was standing there holding two muffins. She was wearing a brown cloak with the hood on, but some of her hair was hanging out. The blonde was staring to her left, as if she could see something Lyla couldn’t.

Aw man, I get to eat two muffins? Thank you Ceci for being so generous! “Good morning!” Lyla grinned happily.

Cecilia’s head snapped to her direction almost as fast as a whip. Was she that hyperfixated? “Ah! Good - good morning! This one’s for you.”

Lyla swiped the muffin out of Cecilia’s left hand and bit into it. Hm. Blueberry. And it’s still warm, nice!

The pair enjoyed their muffins in silence. After swallowing the last bites, Cecilia cleared her throat. “Okay. Down to business. I promised to explain and that’s what I’ll do right now.”

“Yesterday when I went here to pick up a gift, I saw a commoner walk out of Timeless Treasures and walk-” Cecilia jabbed a thumb to her left. “All the way to the defunct service tunnel. What I WANT to know is why? Why risk being caught by the Upholders and being thrown in jail for a gift? Why do all of that for a gift?”

Lyla listened with rapt attention. I suppose that does warrant some curiosity, but aren't you overthinking it?

“Anyway, I followed him back to a defunct service tunnel and that’s where the story ends. WHat I want to use your favor for, is for you to accompany me as I go outside so that we can find him. Together. And then I’ll ask him all my questions like ‘why was he here,’ and such.”

Wait, what. Did I hear that right? Lyla shook her head and finally spoke up. “Hold. You want…me to join you, to go out of the city, find this one particular commoner out of the dozens in the farmlands, just so you can sate your curiosity?”

Cecilia’s eyes darted everywhere before she gazed into Lyla’s eyes. “Yes.”

“I - okay, uh, could I ask why specifically you want to do this? It just sounds strange coming from you. And you don’t gotta share it if you’re not comfortable!”

Cecilia bit her lip, now looking almost…contrite? “Yesterday while I was doing errands in the commerce district I overheard a shout. When I went to investigate I saw someone getting bullied.”

Ugh. Classism. “Dastards,” muttered Lyla.

“I…I wanted to help them badly. So I went, but then I - I stopped.” Lyla grit her teeth. “I walked away like a coward. I didn’t stop until I ended up here and - and when I saw that commoner boy I thought how dangerous it was for him to sneak here. Then I told myself I couldn’t let this one go and then I followed him back to that tunnel. And that’s all she wrote.”

Lyla swallowed. A part of her felt disappointed at Cecilia, but she couldn’t blame her. The bluenette wasn’t exactly a paragon of justice herself. Still, what Cecilia told her…she concluded it was a selfish thing (there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with that).

“You just want to make yourself feel better.” Lyla said flatly. 

Cecilia cringed, but didn’t answer. Lyla hummed, pretending to think when she opened her mouth again.

 “Alright. I’ll join ya-” Cecilia brightened up. “-But if we don’t find him when the clock strikes 6 I’m calling it a day, with or without you. Got it?”

The blonde nodded. “Mhmm!”

“Alright, you lead the way.”

They got there in under five minutes; it was exactly as Cecilia found it. Lyla peeked inside and observed how old it looked.

“So once we DO find him, what then?” Lyla asked.

“I already told you: Ask him why and get him to stop sneaking in here for his own safety.”

“Uh-huh. Just out of curiosity, what’s our plan in case we get mugged?”

“Since we can’t use our magic without revealing ourselves, I bought this the other day.” Cecilia reached into her coat and pulled out a knife. 

Lyla’s jaw dropped. “Huh!? What - when did you get that?”

“Some time before I went to you yesterday afternoon. I got it cheap too!” Cecilia sounded almost proud at that.

“Do you even know how to wield a knife?”

To Lyla’s surprise and horror, Cecilia nodded. “Emery taught me a few tricks last night.”

Emery? “Who’s that?”

“My head maid. She’s cool like that.”

Lyla wasn’t sure what Cecilia meant by that, but she felt anxious about Cecilia’s amateur knife skills. “So…just so we’re on the same page: In case we get mugged by Treasure Hoarders, our only defense will be a knife?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Ceci, this is a terrible plan.”

“Nu-uh!”

“Yu-hu – no, you know what? I’m not wasting any more time with this. The sooner we’re done, the better,” spoke Lyla. She flourished her hands toward the tunnel. “After you, my dear~ Ladies first!”

Cecilia snorted, but strode forward into the darkened tunnel with Lyla following suit.

The tunnel was cold and only somewhat dark thanks to the light at both ends. Except when they got to the end of it, they found it covered by loose boards (clearly someone did that on purpose). 

When they remove all five of them, Lyla looks forward and finds her breath immediately stolen.

In front of them is a giant wooden bridge connecting the island city to the coast, and beyond that are acres of green and light brown. The sky was clear which allowed them to just observe how vast the other part of the city was. It was a fact that the farmers were responsible for a percentage of the city’s food, but it didn’t occur to Lyla how much they had to grow until now.

She looked to her left to tell Cecilia, only for something else to catch her eye. 

It was a ship of Liyuean design sailing just underneath one of the bridges. Its sails fluttered majestically in the wind and it may have been a trick of the light, but Lyla swore it was glowing in the morning sun.

All of this was…beautiful.

Two kids from the city, getting a taste of the outside world…on any other occasion I’d say this is romantic, Lyla thought pensively. She shook herself out of this brief moment of clarity and opened her mouth. “So…where do we go from here? Did you happen to see where he went?”

“...Nope,” came Cecilia’s reply.

“Eh?” Lyla looked to the blonde to remark, but her friend already began to move toward the bridge. She grunted and muttered sarcastically about going into a new place with no guide was totally not dangerous at all, before jogging to catch up.

///////////////////

Taglist: @yuriisclumsy

Map of the Divine City's outer section, photo used from source:

(art by yuriisclumsy)

A/n: This chapter was planned to be longer but it had to get cut in half due to time. 

So: they're classmates. Yes, we know that, but how CLOSE are they as friends? I had to show that in their dialogue and Lyla’s thoughts. I hope I executed that just right.

Additionally, those banners foreshadow that they're stepping outside the city's comforts into a more natural, less-known area for their little adventure. Man vs. Nature...mm. (On that note, a comparison to Fontaine and the Divine City can be made there in terms of architecture: both are cities constructed on an elevated source of land, generally use boats to travel to other nations, and...something about Celestia I'm not sure yet. Oh well.)

Up next: Hey, what's this odd black little cube and why’s there this purple mist around?

Please leave any comments, questions, or critiques. Anything! I can take it! Also, if ya find any mistakes, please let me know. <3

[nohr-and-thirst]

infodump more about welt suffering and welt in general. please?

I've played quite a bit of HI3 and have been playing HSR, which made me finally interested in welt. the gravitas of his eng VA's voice his chef's kiss - I think he's one of the few characters who doesn't sound like "I'm reading this from a paper in a studio" in english - and I dig his design and powers. but what side material do I actually read to get welt lore? there's so much manga and I've only seen screenshots

ASK ABOUT WELT AND YOU SHALL RECEIVE!

Quick side topic about his English VA. I love how it fits Welt so well, in my opinion. I play Impact 3rd with CN dub, but for Star Rail he doesn’t have the same CN voice actor so it threw me off at first, but I gotten use to it after I tried to stop associating with another Impact 3rd VA.

I am putting this here already, this is gonna be very short explanation. Is this post short? No absolutely not, but I’m trying to cut details to try and make it short as I can and have it make sense.

Let us start off with some basic information about Welt Yang and now he inherited the name plus the Herrscher of Reason core.

Before there was Welt Yang, there was Welt Joyce, the first Herrscher of Reason. Sadly Impact 3rd does not explore much of Joyce, and most of the information on him, Otto, Anti-Entropy, and even about Tesla and Einstein is all a Visual Novel that never got a true English translation. However, it did get fan translations and oh goodness it’s a lot there. We will speak only of the information we got about Welt Yang from this Visual Novel.

Around the time this VN takes place Welt Yang is 8 years old since it’s 1955. He is the kiddo in the middle, and man oh man he went through a lot!!!

Welt’s dad, Elias Nokianvirtanen, really did care for Welt. He would often travel with his dad who was working for Schicksal.

There is important information to note, and if I don’t explain it I feel like so much will be lost and the reason all of this is important. There are two major groups at the time (1955). Schicksal and Anti-Entropy (AE). At first AE was just the Northern American branch, and there was a lot of tension between the two. After a bit of… fighting, they did manage to make Anti-Entropy.

The reason they were with the AE, was because Elias was forced to sabotage AE because Otto was threatening Welt’s life.

Than there is Welt Joyce. Welt Joyce is one of my personal favorite underrated characters, and the way Joyce really wanted to protect humanity tells you everything.

Now what does these gentlemen have in common-? Their deaths are connected to Otto. Otto killed Elias due to the reason he was there slipped, and Joyce risked his life to protect New York from being nuked by Otto.

At this time as Welt was trying to help Joyce, Joyce asked him what he thought of the name Welt. Welt mentions he likes it, and Joyce not only passed on the name Welt, but also the Herrchser core.

If you are curious, and wish to read the VN here is the link! https://zklm.github.io/honkai-vn-antientropy/ as a reminder, this is a fan translation, since we never got an official English translation!

Now, here is where we get to the fun bits. Fun fact: in the manga Second Eruption, Otto was legit like flabbergasted. Cause you know, THE FACT HE KILLED IS SUPPOSEDLY ALIVE. Only than to see it wasn’t Welt Joyce, but someone else and this manga just really shows you how strong Welt can be.

Now in Second Eruption, their goal at the start was just “hey we need to find this new herrchser.” So guess what? They gotta work together a bit. There was a small comment that I feel gets over looked and that is, Otto never really taught Siegfried or Theresa how to use their divine keys, and Welt made a small jab at this. I don’t hear people really mention this, and I don’t know why it is such a small fact I love to bring up.

There is a really important fight scene that happens among these pages/chapters between Welt and Sirin. Here we get to see more of what Welt can do as the HOR, which is once he learns the structure of a human creation, he can make a cope with honkai energy. Now I don’t wanna go to much detail into this fight cause how I’m typing won’t do it justice, but we get a tiny new conflict pop up! What is this conflict? A clown, more specifically, Otto. That’s Otto Apocalypse himself.

When I saw Otto has basically made it his personal goal to take down Welt, it being Joyce or Yang, to take down AE, and just do his plans, I mean it. This man goes so far, and I can do a whole essay about Otto, because he is an extremely well written antagonist. However, that will be for later in case anyone wants that just tell me. But Otto could have done more to Welt here, however Siegfried was there! Since Siegfried is key to Otto’s plan he just leaves and they both luckily make it back to safety with VERY bad injuries.

I do not want to go into all the details in the manga, as this manga is my favorite and everyday I hope that HoYoverse will animate it, so https://manga.honkaiimpact3.com/book/1005 here is the link! PLEASE IF YOU CAN READ IT! It’s 65 chapters long, it’s amazing, well written and oh my goodness I could do a whole video essay on it.

Now I am gonna throw some fun facts because this post is getting long and I’ll share some links too!

So here is a great video from HoYoverse about Joyce, Welt Yang, and Bronya and the legacy of the Herrchser of Reason! https://youtu.be/eSOYUfnUGZk

Now here I’m gonna send two playlist of A Post Honkai Odyssey. Why? Because Welt is in it, and also one of my all time favorite character is in it too, Void Archives. (This is me hinting that I wanna info dump about him too.)

Here is a playlist of gameplay of APHO on YT: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLt0MO_4lG2SEyuMmOywSW02-soMN0PA45

Here is a playlist for APHO 2: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIL1w10vWxxolgZxP1Q7KlTPyq2B8JCt3

Also APHO has a certain scene that could be similar to some Star Rail players 👀

Here some random fun facts about Welt Yang that I recall on top of my head cause he gives the brain serotonin!

Welt Yang for the first bit having the core couldn’t sleep tho to the fact that the core houses over 300k people, and he never really complained of any struggles it gave to him, but we learn during the HoD arc when he speaks with Bronya he is concerned about her and ask her all the things she is experiencing.

It’s mention in Second Eruption that Welt would try and ask Einstein to play the piano, also he mentions around that same chapter I believe that if he didn’t inherit the HoR core he thinks/wonders if he would have become a teacher or linguistic like his father.

Facts relating to Arahato is that one his company had a whole copyright issue with Otto’s game company, the Arahato is heavily based of Joyce, and the line “Witness the stars shatter before you!” Comes from Joyce, but Herrchser of Truth Bronya (HI3RD) and Welt (HSR) say this line! Also around the Thus Spoke Apocalypse arc, it is mentioned by Einstein that one morning Welt made breakfast for the crew but it wasn’t much since he made it but implies he knows how to cook!

This is more from Star Rail, but is Serval is in your express she actual mentions Welt cause he asked some questions, but here is the tumblr link for that!

I don’t want to make a too long post that no one possible reads, BUT PLEASE ASK ME ANYTHING! IT CAN BE SILLY OR SERIOUS ABOUT WELT OR ANY OF THE HONKAI IMPACT 3RD GROUP OR STAR RAIL GROUP AS WELL!!! I read the manga’s and I have read the VN and I have spent hours rereading and replaying and explaining to people that ask and I love to do so QVQ

[dangermousie]

By now this drama has departed so wildly from the novel that I’d call it at most inspired by the source material. Because of that, it has narratively started becoming rather a mess (and that is why ultimately, I don’t cry into my pillow over not ever getting to see HYX btw. I love 2ha and they’d have to pretzel it to make it into a drama and that would drive me nuts.) 

BUT! Despite the mess (and I find it’s a rare cdrama that does not get messy near the end tbh), it has two awesome things going for it: (1) LYX’s exquisite portrayal of suffering and (2) it is SUCH an interesting premise, if wildly different from the novel - demon god not only built himself a meat suit per specs, he has also predestined said meat suit’s whole life, down to all the betrayals and suffering - and specific, not general “his life will suck.” Thus any seeking of happiness, any defiance on part of TTJ becomes an act of determined insanity of the best sort - despite literal Divine (demonic) telling him this is how his life is and how it controls that life (and with evidence for the same) and despite making any person feel helpless and meaningless to know all his emotions and actions were predetermined and written out to tenderize the meat for best consumption, so to speak, that he is a puppet, a marionette, that his volition is illusory and free will nonexistent - Tantai Jin looks at all of this and goes NO. I have agency. I will do what I want even if all that happened before was a play for my benefit with my strings being yanked. Even if there is no reward, because free will is its own reward. His life prepared him for hopeless fights (And in a way, the cultivators and the world are so awful ironically demon god being worse to TTJ is the best thing in their favor - to give in to demon god would be agreeing to the wishes of your greatest torturer, the conductor of your misery.) 

With demon god as the writer and TTJ the character whose strings he yanks and whose wings he pulls off, and TTJ’s utter refusal to give in, despite the absolute ruler of his life saying he should, this reminds me of Extraordinary You, my favorite drama of all time, very different in plot and setting, but with that same idea - creations refusing their creator and establishing free will on the margins, whatever the cost. 

God, the way his life is ashes in front of him and he still fights.

I honestly think the only way he doesn’t break under this ocean of horror is because his life has been so awful he’s built up a tolerance. (The concept of universe out to get you reminds me of Mistakenly Saving the Villain and the divinity being either absent or uncaring horror and the world cannibalizing itself but the main choosing to go “I will still choose good” despite the futility or the horrors thrown at him, makes me think of Wu Chang Jie. Both are huge faves.)

Fuck you, demon god!

Of course not. Gotta give him some happiness to not make him permanently numb because those permanently numb cannot emotionally be flayed.

Honestly, how does he not break?

The poor man. All I want is therapy for him and some cookies.

But honestly, give LYX all the awards, he is SO good!

[ff7-has-taken-me-over]

Look I’m soft and I cannot handle angst with my boys 😭

So I’m changing the subject with a prompt I had soap being short and the struggles that come with it

I can imagine soap having to ask to get something off like the top self since he can’t reach (neither can I lol) and when he needs something from like a high self he’ll go on someone shoulders. Ghost (obviously) is like the first person he goes to because as much as he tease him he’ll help him with no problem ( ghost just likes soap thighs around his neck) but there are other that will help him (König , Alejandro, Rudy, etc they too like soap thighs around their neck) ghost doesn’t like that so he’ll always offer to carry soap anytime even when it’s not needed (soap thinks it’s cute) sometimes soap show that he can still get stuff with or without help (ghost finds his smile adorable after he gets what he reach for.)

Price actually is the one who puts stuff down where soap can reach so he doesn’t hear about all the nosebleeds, passed out men, or red, flustered faces soap cause just because he accidentally tightened his thighs against their neck

I love putting them through pain sometimes. It’s so much fun. But this was both hilarious and too cute and I got very carried away with it 😅

I can literally see Soap climbing the cabinets and shit to get things up high because he doesn’t wanna bother anyone and it’s too much effort to grab a seat and use that. Nobody knows he does this though since he does it when nobody else is around because he knows they’ll all make fun of him for being short.

So the first time Ghost walks in and sees Soap, half up a cabinet, precariously balancing on the open door and bench while reaching for a container, he just about shits a brick 😂 he full on, freaks tf out and speed walks over only to lift the man from the cabinets and put him back on the floor.

Soap’s upset and embarrassed and Ghost is wildly exasperated but he’s also so soft for those sad eyes and pout that he just offers to boost the man up on his shoulders. Johnny still looks reluctant but ends up accepting, embarrassment quickly dying and being replaced with excitement at being so tall.

And if Ghost finds that he loves having the man’s thighs around his head and is totally unbothered when Johnny asks if he can stay up there a little longer? Well that’s his business.

The next time Soap needs help Ghost isn’t around but König is, and the sergeant would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious about how it would feel to be even taller than what he was on Ghost’s shoulders.

The Austrian has no issue helping the man out, letting him up and smiling under the mask when he’s met with an excited little laugh and the man’s thighs squeezing a little tighter around his head. He can see why so many people would gush about wanting their heads to be crushed by big thighs.

Rudy ends up doing it because: 1) Gaz refused to do it and 2) Soap nearly cracked his head open when his foot slipped off the shelf. And he’s gotta say, he would happily die there, between those glorious thighs, with a half hearted apology to Alejandro for leaving him behind.

Of course Alejandro had to do it because Rudy kept ranting about how divine it was and how they should try and introduce Soap into their dynamic in some way. So of course he had to see what all the fuss is about. But when Soap needs help reaching something Ghost is there and won’t let anyone else help the man, even though there are some very enthusiastic volunteers for the job.

In the end Alejandro decides to just pick the man up of his own accord, completely ignoring the glare Ghost sends him in favour of relishing in the way Soap’s thighs squeeze tight in his panic to stay upright. Yes, him and Rudy would have to figure out a way to bring Soap into their dynamic. Ghost and his jealousy be damned.

Price has seen pretty much all of these instances and he’s so over all these men fawning over his pseudo son’s thighs. If he had it his way, everything would be stored down low so all those tall bastards would have to bend down to get things. But then that might cause a whole new problem since Soap didn’t crouch when he needed things from down low.

[fritextramole]

moments i play in the dark

part 3 of a Serena van der Woodsen playlist - best heard in order

tracklist and quotes under the cut

Writer In The Dark ~ Lorde

I still feel you, now and then Slow like pseudo-ephedrine When you see me, will you say I've changed?

Dancing With Tears In My Eyes ~ Kesha

It's all my fault I'm dancing with tears in my eyes Just fighting to get through the night I'm losing it With every move I die

Wildest Dreams ~ Taylor Swift

Say you'll remember me Standing in a nice dress Staring at the sunset, babe Red lips and rosy cheeks Say you'll see me again Even if it's just in your wildest dreams

Tomb ~ Angelo De Augustine

I walked into your life at the wrong time Never quite been perceptive of real life It was not your fault or a fault of mine But it's hard to let you go this time

Lookalike ~ Conan Gray

Don't you know we're done? And I'll admit that I sometimes, maybe, might Think about you at night, well, almost every night No matter how I try to hide And erase you from my mind I'm dying To find a lookalike

Supercut ~ Lorde

Cause in my head (In my head, I do everything right) When you call (When you call, I'll forgive and not fight)

Better in My Memory ~ Rebecca Black

Cause I've had way too much I'm gonna turn it off, turn it off Reprogramming our history so it's perfect in my mind Changing the way it ended so you never see me cry

Other Lives ~ Hazel English

I'm going under Get out of my head I'm running away From things that don't make sense

Golden Touch ~ Razorlight

That kind of girl, yes, she's never alone You leave a thousand messages on her phone But you know you never get through And you could have it all if you wanted, girl You could have it all if it matters to you

Alphabet Boy ~ Melanie Martinez

You think you're smarter than me with all your bad poetry Fuck all your ABC's, alphabet boy

Tears Dry On Their Own ~ Amy Winehouse

Even if I stop wanting you A perspective pushes through I'll be some next man's other woman soon I cannot play myself again I should just be my own best friend Not fuck myself in the head with stupid men

Heart Of Glass ~ Blondie

Once I had a love and it was divine Soon found out I was losing my mind It seemed like the real thing, but I was so blind Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

Funplex ~ The B-52’s

Faster pussycat, thrill, thrill I'm at the mall on a diet pill Oh, broke my heart at the Funplex Yes you did, yes you did

Circus ~ Britney Spears

Don't like the back seat, gotta be first I'm like the ring leader, I call the shots I'm like a firecracker, I make it hot

Pretty ~ Coco & Clair Clair

Yeah, I'm sitting pretty but I'll leave you scarred 'Bout to pop some bottles on the fuckin' boulevard

So Good ~ Klischée

Lost inside the hype, I can taste it as I move You want to join the ride, don’t be scared to break the rules Roller coastin’ flippin’ minds around Tell me why it’s wrong if it feels so good Can’t help being bad, I got no excuse

Bubblegum Bitch ~ MARINA

Don't care if you think I'm dumb, I don't care at all Candy bear, sweetie pie, wanna be adored I'm the girl you'd die for I'll chew you up and I'll spit you out 'Cause that's what young love is all about

Liquid Smooth ~ Mitski

I'm pulsing, my blood is red and unafraid of living Beginning to end I'm liquid smooth, come touch me, too And feel my skin is plump and full of life I'm in my prime

Get This (Bang Bang) ~ Klischée

It gets me high, sweet sugar bang bang Won’t let me down, gold trigger bang bang Living life in luxury Want it all right now Think you can keep up with me? You should try and chase me down

Actors, Rappers & Wrestlers ~ Kari Faux

Only sip tequila, thirsty for the limelight Claim he wanna settle down but only when the time's right But he can’t pin me down, cause I'm not the wife type I might just spend the night or shit I might just catch a flight

Show & Tell ~ Melanie Martinez

I'm just like you, you're like me Imperfect and human, are we? Show and tell I'm on display for all you fuckers to see

The Family Jewels ~ MARINA

Family said that I decided to live a loveless life Is it my fault we stay divided? 'Cause I got too much pride Pass the parcel, wrap, unwrap, and open up the locks Out come flying all the secrets of Pandora's box

3am ~ Halsey

My insecurities are hurting me Someone, please come and flirt with me I really need a mirror that'll come along and tell me that I'm fine I do it every time I keep on hanging on the line Ignoring every warning sign Come on and make me feel alright again

Bang Bang Bang Bang ~ Sohodolls

So we put on our eyeliner And a bit of glitter dust Life at night is always finer Neon streets are full of lust

Sea Hearts ~ Honeyblood

Creatures that live just for the night I can stay out as long as I like 'Cause no one's calling me to come back inside So what we put off the rest They're so awkward in our presence We don't give a fuck, they're not our friends

The Passenger ~ Siouxsie and the Banshees

I am the passenger I stay under glass I look through my window so bright I see the stars come out tonight I see the bright and hollow sky Over the city's ripped backsides

[jasper-pagan-witch]

As a practitioner do you also struggle with being content? Especially within your practice? How do you find ways to feel happy and thriving within your craft when you feel like all of the inspiration and love for the world has been sucked out of you with everything you see in the media? I think I’m slowly feeling free again but I wanted to hear others perspectives. If others are struggling I want you to know you aren’t alone and it’s okay. You’ll get there, we all will

Oh man, I get that anon. There's a reason I will disappear from this account for literal months at a time. Sometimes everything is way too much, and you gotta step back.

Personally, my craft is something that I can put down and pick back up without much trouble. So when I'm overwhelmed, I can put it aside and focus on the things I can't put aside.

As for actual advice that isn't just "put it aside", another thing I do is re-familiarize myself with my comfort zone. I have a bunch of things that I am very, very good at (mostly cursing a bitch) and I will occasionally re-tread topics to see more nuance that I missed the first time.

For instance, today I did a bunch of divination to "check in" on a bunch of things in my magical and religious practices along with my more creative pursuits (my fanfiction stuff can be found on my main blog of @jasper-the-menace and my original stuff can be found on @owl-writing) and just assess where I am. Sometimes the comfort zone is the comfort zone on purpose, and when everything is too much all the time, it's not bad to stay in there.

Ultimately, your craft is what you make it and what you pursue is (usually) up to you. There's nothing wrong with taking a break, or going back to things that are old hat to you.

I want to repeat anon's sentiments - if you're struggling, you're not alone and we're in this together. Take both mundane and magical measures to make sure you're safe.

~Jasper

[vivisviolets]

HIIIIII!!! omg I hope I’m not too late but I would really like to participate in your game if you’ll allow me😭 thank you in advance if you choose to respond to my ask, have a nice rest of your day <33

-m.a.🪲 (she/her)

sexuality: heterosexual; attracted to males

3 of my fav things: dancing, going to the movies, chipotle :)

MA🧀⭐️🍥

☆ The Emperor, The Hanged Man, Ten of Swords, Ten of Cups (bottom of deck) ☆ 20 (age/significant date), 2020, 666, Aries/Leo/Sagittarius placements (Sun, Venus, degrees, etc), Taurus/Gemini placements (Moon, rising, 4th/7th house, etc), channeled song I Gotta Feeling - Black Eyed Peas

☆ you're all good my dear!!!! so funny bc i was just wishing to see a film, we're def synced rn lolz. the first image I got is brown hair- something about this person's appearance is very attractive to you,- obviously, circumstances can change so I don't typically give specific physical details, but yea- there will be something about this person's coloring or something about their face that will make you go a little goo-goo eyed I'm ngl BAHAH (I'm also getting birthmarks/moles, and hazel/green eyes)- it's giving first love/crush with the boy-next-door type of energy, because he'll have an average appearance, but there will be some sort of sparkle in him that will trigger this "love at first sight".

the movie theater is coming through heavily- I think this will actually be significant, either you will meet this person during a visit there and you'll randomly strike up a conversation with him and swap contact info- or this will be a date you two will go on- either way, you will meet via you going out somewhere (maybe you've already met them!), and putting yourself out there w/out expectation but just for the thrill of the ride of socializing!- some details regarding this person's personality are that they are cool with talking with anyone (fire sun sign energy), he's considered extroverted, driven- but he may be a little "loose" when it comes to his goals, or his ability to empathize and think of others might be a bit flawed I'm ngl (he's maybe an ESTP/ENTP if either of you are interested in mbti types). I'm hearing people describe him as being a "player" and "difficult to read"- but those opinions are coming from intensely emotional people who burned themselves- maybe by trying to "fix" this person into being who they wanted- instead of seeing him as he is and letting him be him… and I think what will be different with you is that while you have feelings for him and interest, you're also wanting to get to know him, and just be around him- he finds you so cozy to be with~

he is the type to be "guarded" but also makes connections wherever he goes, "he's just chill like that"- because he likes a good time (like that Owl City song- but I also got that I Gotta Feeling song from 2009 lol- you guys might bond over early 2010s music because of how youthful this connection feels)- which is why some may have the impression/judgment that he doesn't have any commitment/substance to him- and to be very honest, they have a point… those two versions of self are not a good path to be on, and he needs to feel a re-connection to his emotions/emotional development.. and that's where you come in- DO NOT get the impression that you are here to "fix" this guy because that is not the intention- you are here to give this person the choice to become better. and I mean choice- because Spirit is telling me you are good at communicating in relationships, in fact this may be a divine test to help you to grow your strength in relationship communication!! I'm hearing this will become a "functional relationship", as in you both will gain help from the other mutually (with all the added bonuses of being in a cute relationship 🎀✨)

there will come a time when you will face this person and go "Look, this is what I am looking for and what I am interested in." and you'll leave it at that, and from then on, this person will be the one to initiate dates, "how was your day" texts, etc- this will be a test for him! but I believe he will choose you over and lean away from his habits. (btw Spirit is just reminding you to not hold your breath for anyone btw, all choices you make are the right ones regarding this situation~!). because you are giving him a door, an entrance into something that he's never had before. it's peaceful, not manipulative or emotional- it's a choice he has to make. it will trigger his inner desire to stick to something, instead of spreading himself thin/everywhere. he's gonna love you, truly, funny enough I think the same things you find physically attractive about him- he'll find the same things attractive on you- he loves your hair (regardless of what it looks like he finds it so "shiny" like a little fairy- and how it seems to absorb all the colors in the light on the edges of each strand),- he also loves the way your eyes look when you smile, your forehead, your cheeks- he loves your face a lot- I kept spelling "look" lol- but what he'll ADORE most is how you carry yourself, how capable and stable you are towards yourself and others- even when you're going through hard things ❤️⭐️. he values the friendship he has with you above so much, he you to say what you want to say, and will do what he needs to do to build stability with you ♡. *i hope this was helpful my darling ♡~ consider leaving a tip on my Patreon if you enjoyed, or follow and become a violet~ doesnt matter to me tho :>~ sending you on your wayyyy, bye bye!!*

[qm-vox]

An Absence of Absence

There's a Hole in the world.

It's not a big Hole, as Holes go, not if you look at it right. Oh, sure, in space it's huge, stretching all across a mountain range and its many valleys, crumbling borders yawning into the Mythic World, it's quite vast if you want to look at it. But really, honestly, the Hole is quite small. It's only about four years wide, maybe ten deep. A blink, honestly.

In this Hole lives a man who is much larger than the Hole is. He is a rotting man, a corpse-man, who wears overalls far too nice for him to be bleeding on them the way he does, and a straw hat. He has a new shepherd's crook, far larger than one might use for sheep, which he uses to herd the bears that live in the Hole. Every now and again he wanders over to one of the edges of the place, a few years that-a-way, and pushes a large number of bear-based products through a crack in the Hole for someone to find. Once he got a bomb back, which was one of the nicest things a stranger had ever given him. To his disappointment, but not his surprise, the bomb failed to kill him.

At this point you may well be wondering how it is that the rotting man is bigger than the Hole. How does he fit? It's a matter of perspective, you see. In time, the bear-herder is indeed far vaster than the Hole; hundreds, thousands of people are within him, and of him, and from him. Many of these people are divine, which makes them quite big indeed. One might think the rotting man would burst at the seams with their multitudes, but he does not. Still, all of those lifetimes are far, far bigger than a Hole only four years 'round and maybe ten deep, and that's just time. The space of them all! Why, the mountain should be positively flooded with the bear-herder, nevermind the valleys and the roads and the rivers!

But it's a matter of perspective. He looks at himself and sees one man, who is dead, and Creation - busy, distracted, flawed Creation, harrying about the very important business of being really real - never really thinks to look twice. The rotting man does not have to see himself as a dead man, but he prefers to. It is the closest he can come to the thing he wants most.

Or is that wanted? The man pauses in his observation of the bears, and frowns in thought. Then he shakes his head; he still does not have an answer. He is neither surprised not disappointed; this question is what he is in the Hole to consider, after all. He decides that tomorrow he will take the bears down into the valley, where they will chase gophers to their hearts' content, and be terribly silly the entire time.

Some time later, a Serpent visited the Hole. The Serpent had every right to be there; all Holes were of the Serpent's power, and yet it still felt like an imposition. This was not the Serpent's place; the Hole belonged to the rotting man.

"It's filling, you know," the Serpent said eventually, after entirely too much time spent praising the rotting man's various wounds and putrescences. "The Hole. It can't last forever."

The rotting man pondered this. "I do not see why it shouldn't," he answered. "An absence surely can last forever."

And the Serpent, laughing, asked: "Then where'd all this stuff come from?"

In the fullness of time the rotting man had paced the limits of the Hole, which was only four years 'round and maybe ten deep, and returned to its first day. As he did on each first day, he cleaned the blood from the empty altar, and he waited for his friend. She, like the Serpent, was of Holes. She had dug this Hole herself, in fact, and cunningly trapped her enemies and creators within it.

She said to the rotting man: "I could widen the Hole, you know. Give you more time with the bears. It's been decades, you've gotta be getting bored."

"Must I?" the man wondered. "I do not believe I have grown bored yet. But I appreciate your consideration."

They made soup and bread together, as they often did, and the bear-herder told her many tales of his herd. She, in her turn, told him of the great war outside of the Hole, and of her new family, and her new friends.

"There's been changes in the Court," she mused. "Makes no difference to me, yet, but it's...nice, to have the option."

The man pondered this for many days thereafter, while he carved a too-large shepherd's crook, and gathered his bears, that they might be taught how to be herded.

He could not get the Serpent's words from his mind. He counted his paces through the Hole and found, to his displeasure, that it was indeed getting smaller; already it was a mere three years, eleven months, and twenty-eight days 'round. At this rate he would be forced out entirely. This kindled a great rage in the bear-herder, and he lost an entire trip around the Hole to it, failing to herd his bears entirely while he smashed mountains to rubble and turned the rivers to blood.

His friend, on her next visit, said: "You seem upset."

And the rotting man said nothing.

The Hole dwindled, and shrunk, and his awareness of it made the rotting man irritated, at first, and then despairing. He had not answered his question, and time, time...

With the Hole diminished to a paltry three years and eight months 'round, and maybe a bit less then a decade deep, the rotting man broke down before his bears, and he cried black blood and vile poison into his hands, and his weeping could be heard through the mountains, down the valleys, and into the Mythic World. One of his bears, a brown-furred runt, sat down before him and regarded the rotting man, and she placed her heavy paw on his shoulder.

"For untold ages I have wanted only one thing," the rotting man whispers. "To fulfill my destiny; to once more be a dead thing, as I was meant to be, and know this world of sorrow no longer. Creation has tempted me with another gift, but soon I will be gone from this Hole, and I do not know if I wish to accept it."

And the bear said: "What is this gift, wise one?"

"To live, to be a part of this Creation and dwell in it, to laugh and love, to hate and to suffer. But it will cost me my great need, and without it...without it I do not know who I am."

The bear pondered this, and she said: "I do not understand, wise one. For if you cannot be yourself without your need, surely turning from it is death?"

And the rotting man said nothing.

There was a hole in the world, here, not long ago. It was a few years 'round, and maybe a few more deep. Now this is a soft place, a lacuna, where Creation is at its least creat'd. People come here by mistake, sometimes, and they rarely leave, for the soft places are like the dream of quicksand, and few know how to dream their way back out.

Inside is a man, of sorts. He is not rotting, and he is not whole. He is neither dead, nor alive. Perhaps, when he is done, he will not even be he, but for now the title will suffice.

He is shoveling the softness of this place into a Hole inside him, a Hole as wide as worlds and as deep as time, and the rest of the man around this Hole pushes, and pulls, and shapes at it.

He wonders what it will become, but he has no expectations, or surprises. It is known to him that a creat'd thing does not have the lion's share of the say in what it begins life as.

As for what it becomes...

[ninjagirlstar5]

Protag Teruya AU - Akane Taira Design

Hello, Akane. I heard you were suppose to be dead.

Since Teruya being the Protag would change certain aspects of the plot, even without the Wheel of Fate playing a factor in who lives and who dies when, I had to figure out how certain plot elements of SDRA2 canon would find it’s way into the AU’s plot. Namely, who joins Rei in trying to stop the killing game from happening in the prologue and how the Divine Luck gets involved. And my brain supplied with, “Hey, since Akane has Divine Luck, just make her survive thanks to that and not be brain dead, and have her help the Kisaragi Foundation on this one mission to save Yuki and Teruya.” And I went, “Fantastic idea, can’t wait for the angst.”

As you can see by looking at Akane’s eyes, she is...NOT doing well mentally. The girl has bags under her eyes and is missing her pupils because she’s very much dead inside. After all, she did sacrifice all of her friends for the sake of her Master Utsuro in the hopes of making him happy, even going as far as to join the Ultimate Despair even though she really didn’t like them. And as she starts to die from her wounds, Utsuro gives her Divine Luck before the island sinks underwater, which allows her to survive from drowning and ends up washing onto shore. She’s eventually found and treated at a hospital, but she’s in complete despair at the realization that she outlived her own master. I won’t go into full details but she eventually leaves the hospital, wanders around for a bit and ends up in the care of a middle-aged man named Kanato Chikafuji, an OC of mine who runs an orphanage and is very kind to both the kids and Akane. He pretty much helped her get her back on her feet while providing a safe place she can always return to.

Which is also why Akane looks pretty clean compared to Utsuro. Kanato encourages her to take better care of herself, even if she “doesn’t have to,” and she at least feels a little better whenever she does. Akane ends up taking a maid-like appearance once more, if only because she’s trying to put distance between herself and Kanato due to the guilt she has for what she’s done up to this point. But Kanato isn’t having any of the “master” BS and keeps asking her to at least use “-san” instead of “-sama” if she’s going to keep being formal with him. Even when she finally allows herself to grow closer to him and the orphans, she still keeps up this appearance as she helps with the cleaning and cooking due to Kanato’s bad leg and some of the older kids struggling to help due to past injuries from an incident. Akane isn’t always around as she wanders around Japan to use the Divine Luck to help undo the damage the Despairs caused, to try and redeem herself from everything she’s done. But she always comes back to the orphanage if she ever feels like she wants to rest. The raincoat is based off of Yuki’s coat a little bit but I made the design different to differentiate her from Yuki. It’s also a gift from Kanato and the kids from the orphanage and she treasures it very much.

As for how Akane manages to get her way onto the mission to rescue Teruya and Yuki...let’s just say a certain journalist managed to get his hands on some information he shouldn’t have and posted it everywhere he could. Which is how she found out about Teruya’s missing status and realized, “Oh shit, he’s in danger. I gotta help him!” Akane never met up with the others as she understood that they would NOT be happy to see her. But after hearing the news, she decides that if she wanted to make things right, she had to at least help them get Teruya back into safe hands, even if they would rather execute her on the spot. It’s not like they could as the Divine Luck user anyways. And upon realizing that she DOES have the Divine Luck, both Rei and Kinjo would be pissed but the latter is much more willing to use her as a tool to make sure Teruya comes back safely. As for Yuki, Akane did try to look for him to wake him up from the coma she and Utsuro put him in, but he was already gone by the time she went back to the hideout they hid him in. She had hoped someone had brought him to a hospital to take care of him, but alas, that wasn’t the case as the group quickly finds out that Yuki Maeda was going to be involved in a Killing Game. The same one that Teruya will be put into. So once they get the location from Setsuka, who unfortunately gets caught after managing to give them the information and is also dragged into the Killing Game, the group goes in to rescue them and stop the Killing Game from starting in the first place.

Unfortunately for them, things quickly go awry because Kokoro had made a failsafe that prevented her from getting killed on the spot and she summons a mech in the fountain. An explosion ends up launching Akane through the air, leaving Rei unprotected and she ends up crashing into the ocean. And while Akane still remembers the Proto-Killing Game, she’s...understandable unwilling to talk about it due to the fact that she helped mastermind it in the first place. It wouldn’t exactly help her credibility if everyone found out about it. And unfortunately, she’s not used to using the Divine Luck and often has to physically be there to prevent certain tragedies from happening or keeping things from going from bad to worse. Because if I don’t put a damn limit on this deus ex machina power, the plot would’ve been over at the Prologue.

The Protag Teruya AU was inspired by @/anotherprofessional’s post! Beware of Void spoilers though!

[super-predictable98]

The Galaxies of Gallifrey

Chapter 2: This is Ace

Word Count: 1,8 k

Warning: SPOILERS FOR THE GIGGLE

2023: Guarujá, Brazil 

"Not bad, huh?" The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS and then held his wife's hand as she followed. "Seems like a nice place. Perfect for our very very very belated honeymoon. Do you like it?"

"I love it, Doc," Gallifrey wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him lovingly. "I can't believe we are finally getting some peace and quiet... it's like a dream." 

"We just gotta keep the TARDIS nearby to translate for us, Portuguese is not one of the languages I speak."

"But I do," she nudged his arm. "My father was Brazilian. I've been here before, that's why I suggested it." 

"You have? What other secrets have you been keeping from me?" The Doctor stared at her in disbelief. 

"Guess you'll have to find out... if I remember correctly, there was a pizza place with the best pizza in the world, we can order that later. And I need to find the Cafe I used to go to, they have the most divine cake, just a ferry ride away. Oh, look! The bakery and the newsstand are still here, it's been ages!" 

"Alright then, for once you're the one leading the expedition," he chuckled as he looked around, taking in the scenery and the delicious smell of the sea.

"How about we have a walk on the beach then? I miss it so much." 

"Sounds good, but we need to be careful. I don't want sand in the TARDIS."

"We don't need to go back to the TARDIS so fast... My grandma has a flat right there, we can stay for as long as we want."

"Gal! What else don't I know about my wife? A whole flat? We'll need to bring Mel, Donna, and the family sometime."

The couple held hands and made their way to the seashore. For the first time in their lives, they felt normal, a normal couple enjoying their time together without worries. 

"Are you going mad already? Regretting your decision?" Gallifrey asked before picking up a shell off the sand hoping to find a hermit crab inside.

"Not one bit, this is our new adventure. Living one day after the other, having our family, finding jobs, buying a house, having your mother over for dinner, visiting Donna... I never thought that's what I wanted, but I've been fighting all those battles and now I know what for. I've never been so happy in my life," the Doctor smiled, genuinely satisfied with the feeling that he was exactly where he was meant to be.

"Speaking of my mother, we should probably call her soon, she's been worried. I can't imagine her as some fearless, rebel adventurer."

"Your mother was insane, she wasn't scared of anything! Well, almost anything. I often had to tell her to back down, or she would've exploded the universe already."

"That doesn't sound like her at all! I need to see this side of her... I admit I'll miss adventuring, we had some awful times but some really good times as well. We can never forget it, never let these memories die." 

"Don't worry about that, I have an exceptional memory, I remember every second with you," he wrapped his arm around her. 

"Every second?" 

"Every second." 

*

Late 2006: London 

Gallifrey Gale McShane woke up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, her Charitable Earth shirt was soaked and she cried. She sobbed uncontrollably, enough for her head to hurt.

"Mama!" 

"Gallifrey!" Dorothy barged into the room and took her daughter in her arms. "Gallifrey, what's wrong? Are you hurt?" 

"It hurts, Mum! It hurts my heart! My chest feels like it's on fire." 

"Did you have a nightmare, sweetie?" 

"Not really..." she took a deep breath and coughed before being able to talk. "There was a beach in Norway, the Bad Wolf Bay, there was a blonde girl, she was crying. There was the man in a suit, he disappeared. I don't know what I was looking at, but I know it hurt. It was forever." 

"Forever? What was forever?" 

"Their goodbye." 

"Aw, Galli... it was just a dream. You're always dreaming of the man in the suit, he can't hurt you."

"I don't think the man will hurt me, Mama, he wouldn't. But I can't reach him, he's in my dreams and I can't reach him. I feel like I'm meant to be there, I'm not meant to be here!" 

"You're meant to be in your dream with the man?" Dorothy chuckled. 

"Yeah! He's... he's the answer." 

Gallifrey was a very sensitive girl, she had just turned 20 and had plans to start university pretty soon. She wanted to study history and maybe teach or... or end up working in her mother's charity as Dorothy always had planned, no pressure of course. 

"Sweetheart, you're half asleep, you're not thinking straight. Just let me get you a new shirt, and you can get some sleep. The man in the suit won't come back." 

"That's what I'm scared of. He needs to come back. He can't leave me here." 

"Mummy's here, love," Dorothy kissed her forehead. "Now let's get some rest, big day at the charity tomorrow." 

Gallifrey switched her shirt and fell back against her pillow. It had been over a year since she started having those dreams. Dreams of other worlds, time travel, aliens... and love.

The next morning Gallifrey was feeling very tired, she wasn't able to rest at all. Not after that dream. She just cried and cried for hours until she practically passed out. 

"How are you feeling, Galli?" Dorothy asked. 

"Like hell." 

"I'm sorry, do you wanna skip the event today? Get some sleep." 

"I can't sleep right now. I wanna go, it'll keep me distracted. Just give me ten minutes and I'll be ready." 

Gallifrey fixed her hair in a ponytail, she put some makeup on and a dress. It was December so her mother warned her to get a coat. 

"Can I borrow that blue one you have?" She asked. "It's the only one that matches this dress."

"Of course, it's in the wardrobe," Dorothy mindlessly said.

The wardrobe looked the same, it had the same clothes as always, but this time... this time Gallifrey's hand didn't find the blue coat, instead it was instantly attracted to the very back where she found a black jacket covered in patches and pins.

"This is so cool," she breathed before putting it on. "Wow, who knew Mum could be cool?" 

Having that jacket on felt different, it felt electric. So much energy surging through her and she had no idea why... couldn't possibly be the jacket. Right?

*

Early 2006: London

"Jesus Christ you scared me!" The Doctor jumped when he entered the TARDIS and saw her standing there. "Wait... where's Rose?" 

"Rose? I... I don't know. Where the hell am I? What happened?" 

The Doctor analyzed her carefully and suddenly his face lit up.

"I know that jacket... you know Ace!"

"Who?"

"Ace McShane of course."

"I don't know who that is. This is my mother's jacket, you must be mistaken."

"Your mother?"

"My mother, Dorothy McShane from Charitable Earth, you might've heard of her."

"Ooooh yeah, I get it," the Doctor nodded, remembering what happened and how Ace's memory was wiped before she was returned to Earth. "What's your name?" 

"I'm Gallifrey," she mumbled. "Wait a second... You're the man in the suit!" 

"I suppose I am. Gallifrey?" He chuckled, a big goofy grin on his face. "Guess she didn't completely forget me after all." 

"What am I doing here? What is this place?" She started freaking out a bit. "I was just in my mum's bedroom, I blinked and I was here. How did that happen?" 

"You're in the TARDIS, time and relative dimension in space. It's my ship, it travels anywhere and to any time you want. Usually I have a companion, but she seems to be lost right now..." 

"Is your companion the blonde girl?" 

The Doctor nodded, hating the way her voice trembled. The idea that something might've happened to Rose broke his hearts.

"Have you seen her?" 

"Yes... in my dream. I- I'm sorry, she's gone. To another world." 

"What? When?"

"Last night, December 20th." 

"Gallifrey, today is February 5th." 

"2006?" 

"Yeah, you saw my future and somehow changed my present, but how?"

The Doctor thought for a moment. If there was a way to get Rose back, he would take it, but if their future was a bitter goodbye in which she was forced into another world... did he even want that? Wouldn't it be better to save them the heartache? 

"Rose went to another universe? So it's possible her existence was completely erased from this one. Her time with me... it's all a memory."

"Maybe we can find her!" Gallifrey suggested. 

"We can try, but the timeline is already fixing itself. It required someone to fill her place and you were just soaked with time travel radiation because of the jacket. So it sent me you, the TARDIS knows you." 

"Radiation? Is that dangerous?" Gallifrey looked down at herself terrified. 

"No, it's completely harmless. It's just the sort of radiation that accumulates as a result of one traveling in time. Your mother had lots of it and she must've passed it onto you too."

"My mother? She traveled in time?" She laughed, it was such a ridiculous notion. Her mother, the biggest homebody she knew, the most cautious person ever!

"Oh yeah," the Doctor grinned. "With me, when she was younger and went by Ace. We were best friends!"

"Yeah right..." 

"Why else would you have the name you have? Do you know what your name means?" 

"No, always thought she got it from a fantasy book or something."

"Gallifrey is the name of my home planet, I'm a Time Lord. Unfortunately, I can't show you since I'm all that's left of that planet, but she knew about it. Her memory was wiped but in the back of her brain she remembered." 

For some reason, she wanted to believe him. She did believe him. It was like somehow she knew him of old, like they were connected by this invisible string. The man in the suit wouldn't lie to her, she was sure of that just as she was sure he wouldn't hurt her.

"So what now?" Gallifrey asked.

"Now we look for Rose like you said, it's worth a try... I'm the Doctor by the way." 

"Doctor, Doctor who?" 

"Just Doctor." 

"Alright then, Doctor. Let's find Rose!"

"You seem excited already," he teased. 

"Well, I finally found the man in the suit I've been looking for in my dreams for a year. This is ace! Let's go, Professor."

"What did you just call me?" His eyes widened.

"Um, I don't know..." her brows furrowed, but she shrugged with a smile. "Wicked."

Tag list: @jozstankovich

[atefirom]

"Panette, you did wonderful!" The Divine One chirped behind the Solmic, the empty space ahead of the ginger is filled soon after as she walked around her. As blue and red met golden divine fingers reached for a pair of hands that had worn gauntlets before. "It's a shame you lost but i'm proud of you, i'm sure next time it will be your chance to shine."

Her first attempt to hit on Brodia's king with an axe had been a failed one but Panette had managed to land her gauntlets on Alear's classmate, Panette who had shared the art of the fisticuffs with her... Divinity was proud. And despite not participating it made her want to see them first hand not as rival houses trying to raise victors but two friends in a friendly competition.

"We should try training together at some point, surely that will be of help for the next time." She spoke lifting letting one hand free raising a fist up in excitement. Back in the Somniel there were many chances to train with her friends, here at the academy there were the same possibilities no matter if they shared house or not as their bonds went beyond one being a Lion and the other a Deer.

"We could put our fists to practice, but i'm happy to fight using axes and swords if you'd prefer. Anything is fine as long as i get to spend some time with a friend."

The first round and she had been knocked down so easy. What if that had been a real fight or what if her liege had been there? The redhead rubs the back of her neck, finding it hard not to relive the events of what just happened on the field.

“Oh man… That STUNK... Worse than wolfdung. Phew… come on Panette, you’ve gotta be better than that, you’ve got to give them a little bit of this! HA—

Ah?!"

"Divine One… I… didn’t even detect your presence. I must say, you are getting much better at stealth, your enemies won’t know what hit ‘em I dare say!” She slices air with the side of her palm. 

“Anyhow, yes it is… clear that my skills are in dire need of sharpening up I’m afraid,” she grimaces thinking back to her own performance that the divinity herself has now witnessed. 

She would never pass up an opportunity to spar with whatever she could get her hands on—people or weapons—she is almost hesitant to challenge the Divine One. Eyes flicker to their joined hands. Or perhaps it is that she calls her a friend that she feels uncertain about the offer. 

On the other hand, if they could be considered casual enough to be friends, then who is she to turn it down? 

“Yes, I would enjoy that. Since you are offering, you shall pick our weapon of choice for the first go, but being friends does not guarantee I will go easy on you. Training should be beneficial for us both.”

[crystalelemental]

I have finished all of the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters. That was pretty fun! Honest to god my initial reaction is to replay some of them immediately but I should probably put some distance on that. No promises. The last time I played most of these was...the GBA/DS remakes. So a while ago. Thoughts on each below.

Final Fantasy 1 Easily my favorite iteration of the game. I'm going to be honest with you, FF1 doesn't have a ton in its favor, but the game is simplified enough that, with the new mechanics, I can turn off all encounters, hit 4x EXP, just do boss fights, trapped chests, and forced encounters, and be done with the game in like 3 hours. If I'm ever just craving a quick thing, this is as quick as it gets, with none of the frustration.

Yeah, I'm gonna be honest, this is a common theme so to avoid repeating myself I'll say it once here: random encounters suck. It's why FF12 has been my favorite since it came out; I can just see where enemies are and explore how I wish, without getting bombarded by bullshit and back attacks and whatever else is going on. Turning those off as needed is divine. The tradeoff is that for some games, you then lose sense of progression and what level you are "supposed" to be at for what you're doing, and in those situations the 4x EXP is nice for quick grinding to catch you up. I will admit, however, that this can completely break the flow of the game, so I did try to keep encounters on at all times for most games, but I am more than satisfied going "fuck I'm lost again" and just turning off encounters for a minute while I get my bearings. This game just doesn't broadly appeal beyond its quick nature, so I'm more than satisfied just doing the boss run.

Final Fantasy 2 To avoid talking about the random chance level ups, I'm instead going to talk about two other things that make this my least favorite in the set: dungeon layout, and why you can't let me have things.

Dungeon layout is the fair criticism. Dungeons are overly complex and a pain in my ass to navigate. This is another I eventually broke and just turned off encounters while exploring, just because it was too many of them. Get the fuck out of my face, man, I'm trying to backtrack seven different staircases. Also the rooms. Almost all of them are empty, but you gotta check in case there's treasure, but if it is empty enjoy higher encounter rates for no real reason other than punishing your curiosity, you fool. It's just an overall frustrating experience with the randomness of stat boosts, and the pitifully slow grind of leveling spells.

The other is my own fault. Yeah, if there's one thing I remembered about this game from the Dawn of Souls era, it was the post-game heaven dungeon where you start as Minwu, and really want to be prepared. Early Mysidia felt like a must, and I decided fuck it, I remember how to do this, and prepared myself accordingly. Long story short, don't do this. You'll set yourself up for a position of being wildly overpowered the entire game, especially if you're an idiot, break after directions were given, forget where you're going and wind up going north to another high level area that gets you even more powerful, and now the whole thing is shot to shit. I like sequence breaking games, but I feel like this one is way more severe with any understanding of what you can get away with. And I will always optimize the fun out of my experience. Never let me do things.

Final Fantasy 3 This was my favorite experience. I played damn near the entire game without even touching the toggle for encounters. FF3 is a ton of fun. I enjoy getting to mess with customization options like the classes, and the lack of JP (ABP, whatever) makes it a lot more fluid. Sure, there's job level, but job level amounts to nothing. It's minor increases for the longer you work as that class, and it's nice but insubstantial. Which means it's fluid and engaging, because I can fun around and never find out anything too bad. Which is what I want; free flowing experimentation. I understand the original had some kind of penalty for job switching too often? Glad they got rid of that garbage.

If there's any strikes against it, it's class balance and the final dungeon. Crystal Tower into World of Darkness is like a 2+ hour affair, without save points, and Autosave doesn't carry over if you turn the game off. Do not do as I did and go in like an hour and a half before your usual winding down before bed time. You will not make it. Class balance is a bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, compared to 5, 3's classes tend to overlap a lot. The Earth Crystal is literally nothing but pure upgrades on early classes. Black/White Mage become Wizards gaining better offensive stats and more spell slots for higher tier spells, while Summoner is just Evoker with competence. Knight is just Fighter but better. Black Belt is just Monk but better. As a result, it distills into only a handful of meaningful distinctions anyway, with a couple offshoot classes that...suck. They suck. Ranger has no good weapons for late-game, Geomancer is a great mage alternative until endgame when everything's single-target, I have no idea what the point of Scholar is but I don't agree with it. I don't consider this a truly hideous detriment, but it lacks the same level of shenanigans 5 gets up to.

Final Fantasy 4 Fun fact: before 12 came out, this was my favorite, because I found it easy enough to be engaging, including the GBA superdungeon which was the only one I could beat, and Rydia was my baby child favorite. That last part is still true. The thing I didn't seem to remember is how...weird the story actually was. Like it's not particularly great. I don't think it's terrible, but it's not great. Mostly Kain's whole deal irritates me now.

But it is still fun! I think it's a much different experience. The moon still took forever to explore, but thanks to save points actually existing, you can break between things. Boss fights feel appropriately more difficult than most random encounters, with a decent number of gimmick bosses that require a bit more know-how to handle, and a few dungeons you can do out of sequence in the underground if you're ambitious. I think it's a very simple game to understand, with a pretty clear-cut approach to success. That said, there's like no customization. Characters are as they are, there's really nothing to consider aside from level. And your party is set, so there's no variation on what you can do.

Final Fantasy 5 5 was another really fun experience, though I cushion that with a major caveat. 5 was fun because of the toggle for 4x ABP, which made leveling jobs to find out what they did actually tolerable. Without this, job levels are unbearably hard to level up, with no indication of what you actually learn per level, that you may as well be shooting in the dark.

See, the fun of 5 is that you have your class, and you have one extra ability slot, taken from other class skills unlocked by leveling them up. For magic classes, that's "Magic Type Lv X," up to 6, where you can cast everything in that category. For physical classes, this is usually some form of "Equip my weapon type," alongside generalist skills. Some are better than others, and some are action commands that are much, much stronger, and are the basis for making really strong outcomes.

This is why I don't love the system as much as 3. To find out what you even have access to, you're made to slog through the physical classes to find out what other skills they're offering. Which takes somewhere around literally forever. Bosses will hand you like 5BP, for classes that need like 700 to max. If you don't know in advance where the good stuff is, there's a chance you've walked into options you don't need.

Granted, 5 is lax enough broadly that you can still make use of classes. Unlike 3's direct upgrades over time, 5 gives you almost all classes early, and all of them have interesting options for utility. So you can make use of anything. I think for my completionist ass, I'm looking at Omega and Shinryu and going fuck dude, how are you supposed to beat that without foreknowledge of some of the skills available? Wildly over-leveling? In a game with fairly poor EXP yields where I think I ended at around level 40? Not happening. Otherwise, the class imbalance isn't too bad, and is in some cases hysterical. You know there's a setting to toggle 4x gil received? Zeninagi on Samurai was already an instant-kill button half the time, and now you've made it a free action. Meanwhile summon magic late game feels kinda garbage. Flare and Holy outdamaged Bahamut no problem. It is really funny to see this reversal from 4. From Rydia's summons being bad all game because they're just overpriced spells on your Black Mage but endgame Bahamut being defining, to excellent low-cost AoE spells with good damage early and mid-game into kinda useless by endgame. It's just funny to see systems like these change over time, and how they try to adjust for balance.

I do think this was a surprisingly strong story and cast, too. I only remembered it being kinda goofy compared to the others as a kid, but having re-visited, I think it's a lot more earnest and impactful than I gave it credit for.

Final Fantasy 6 I'll be honest, it's very good, but depending on my mood, I'd say I like 3 and 5 better. I like being able to customize, and I think I actually like FF5's cast and story better than 6.

6 succeeds on being competent at everything, even if it's not the strongest in everything. Its story is well told and it sticks to its general themes of love and loss, and finding meaning in a bleak world. But I also think 5 did the "Defeat Nihilism through the Power of Connection" thing with a more diverse cast and emphasis on friendships and general human spirit, while 6 seems to focus more on romance and family in a way that makes a lot of character histories sound very same-y, in that a big chunk is "and then they died." There's a bit of customization, as far as selecting which members to bring along and how you distribute magicite for learning magic, but nowhere near the level of complexity you can find in 5. I'd also say the AP system in 6 is wildly slow, but at least there it's more concentrated to "just learn the spells you need" and you actually know exactly what you're signing up for. Though I personally don't care for making decisions between good spells or good stats early on, my min-maxing ass is bad with these kinds of things. I know it's a problem.

I do think it has an inverse problem to 5, where the random encounters feel devastating in several locations, but only one boss ever gave me any difficulty, and it was because I was suffering from success (It was the tunnel digger in Locke's route early game; turns out if you have the Hermes Sandals on him or Celes the Runic timing gets thrown off and it cooks you, but without that it's super easily won; my bad but for stupid reasons, I feel). Almost every game over was due to back attacks, which are damn near constant in this game. Some areas I counted and literally had more sneak attacks on me than regular encounters. Meanwhile, bosses go down like sacks of shit, because magic is hysterically overpowered. Yeah yeah, Kefka's god now or whatever, but can he survive Relm Dualcasting Flare for max damage twice per round? No, he's just going to eat shit from this level 40 ten-year-old? Radical. This may be personal preference, but if FF1's blurb wasn't an indication, I much prefer "easy encounters, difficult bosses." Ideally, no encounters. Just ping-pong me from boss to boss. I feel like I could actually do that in 6 if it wasn't for AP needed to learn spells.

Future Plans I'm thinking of getting 7 and 9 if they ever go on sale again. I really don't want to play 8. I remember playing 8, my wife had commented on it being a formative game for her so I played it long, long ago before we were even dating, but it was so bad I can't do it again. 10 I'm on the fence about, because I do like the gameplay for 10, but we tried watching a playthrough of 10 and she couldn't stand it so maybe not. My laptop is dying, and so is my wife's, so we've tossed around finally getting a proper PC that can like...play games and shit. So who knows, maybe I'll finally play past 12 in this series. Miracles do happen.