#i think live service is destroying games

[poorlittlevampire]

i keep seeing people say the event sucks and it’s boring and feels like a chore to complete the goals but like. the goals are just the regular gameplay????? its making outfits and sending likes and visiting showrooms like... if that’s boring to u then i don’t think u like the game as much as you claim to. the event is not boring to me bc i am having fun doing the goals since thats what i’d be doing in game regardless. and the rewards are really good!!! idk i just think people are being so negative abt the game across the board and it’s getting really annoying 😭😭😭

okay fashion dreamer event suspended for technical difficulties but can i take a min to complain...

[val-of-the-north]

The "Hornsent deserved it" sentiments make me lose my goddamn mind

Short answer: No they didn't.

Long answer: Oh my gooooooooooood can we NOT do this shit, please???

There are two underlying sentiments to this line of thinking.

The Hornsent hurt Marika's people, thus Marika did nothing wrong, therefore they deserved to die badly

The Hornsent hurt Marika's people + Midra and some others, Marika is still evil, but the Hornsent deserved to be destroyed

Both may even come to the extreme of "Messmer wasn't cruel enough" or some other nonsense in the same vein.

-

Number 1

To tackle number one, we need to remember a little thing called Elden Ring's base game. The Hornsent's jar ritual is undoubtedly abhorrent, that much is true. But I urge you to remember the things that happened during Marika's reign. She:

Murdered all of the Fire Giants but one, subjecting him to a fate similar to hers but worse, forced into labor confined on the mountain among the remains of his people and culture. She mocked him, to boot. All of this because they might have burnt the Erdtree.

Enslaved the Misbegotten from birth "or worse" because their species just so happened to have made contact with the Crucible.

Rewarded her own loyal Crucible Knights with scorn because of it too, as they didn't fit her current society that they fought to establish.

Made sure the Albinaurics were seen as lesser just because they were graceless, which influenced the way they were treated. She even had her Inquisition, run by Rykard, torture them in needlessly cruel manners, as they appear to be their main victims.

Just in general, she allowed Rykard to run a sadistic Inquisition to torture heretics to the Golden Order in the first place, and she saw nothing wrong with it or their practices.

She entombed the entire Great Caravan over a false rumor, which is the sole reason why the Flame of Frenzy was even a problem during her reign. This has also scarred the remainder of their people greatly.

Made the lives of all Omen a living hell either by cutting their horns just as they were born which often kills them, hunting them down in as cruel a way as possible by using their trauma and body parts against them, or throwing them in a sewer to fester with evil spirits hidden from view. She also used to shackle them, including her two children, just to make extra sure they wouldn't crawl out.

Shunned anyone who saw a vision of the Erdtree burning, regardless of who it was, and chased them away from their homes.

Literally allowed the belief that shorter people are somehow lesser, for apparently no reason at all (her most random discrimination decision tbh). This forces them to band together and take up honorless jobs just to get by, and in turn, people start to spread rumors of their inhuman practices, which are likely all untrue.

Had people literally work as slaves for the nobility just by virtue of "being born into obscurity", whatever that means. As well as other accounts of slavery like the Fallen Hawks (likely tied to the defeated soldiers of ancient Stormveil).

Likely endorsed viewing anyone without Grace as inferior beings, which includes the Tarnished that only exist because she divested them of it. She has done nothing to ease their discrimination (despite potentially seeing them as a future asset of sorts), as even the members of the Crusade are more than ready to kill us, like Fire Knight Queelign.

All of this was done in service to HER religion and order. Killing all the Fire Giants and burying the Nomadic Merchants alive? Oh, they could have ruined her age with those pesky flames of theirs.

Systematically oppressing Omen, Misbegotten, Albinaurics and the likes? Oh, they are impure creatures, unlike her people, blessed with the Grace of Gold, elevated from the rest. (Which is the exact same line of thinking as the Hornsent and their horns for crying out loud).

"Oh but the Hornsent stuffed her people into jars" yeah, and I am not arguing the contrary! It was a cruel, deranged practice, born of simple superstition that their victims would be reborn as "good people". But Marika's answer if you don't fit her vision of the world is to either get rid of you and your people through extermination, by literally hounding you from your rightful home, or by enslaving you.

Both sides are genuinely awful... but there's only one side that people are justifying, and it sure as hell isn't the Hornsent.

Marika's backstory is meant to make her less a god, which is all we have ever known her to be before the DLC, and more a human, which is what she once was. It gives her complexity as a character, it's meant to be the catalyst from which we learn why she took the path that she took. It is absolutely not meant to make us go "holy shit guys, Marika was the good guy all along???", because what she brought upon this world through her burning desire for vengeance has ruined it irreparably, and ruined the lives of most of the creatures who inhabit it.

This includes her ruthless, honorless, pointless Crusade against the Hornsent. Sure, it was her own son that started it, but it was for her sake. It was her who allowed him to wage it, he had her full support... until the thing turned to such a slaughter-fest that even she could not associate with it anymore due to how appalling it all was. And what better way to do that than to seal her own son away to wage war endlessly? And not just because his actions made her look bad, but also for the same crippling fear and prejudice that saw her kill all Fire Giants but one and scar the Great Caravan.

Gratuitous violence across the board, and for what?

(I want to make it absolutely clear that I don't mean you can't like Marika now. In fact, I'd say the DLC made her much more of an interesting character to me as well. I just cannot fathom seeing the entirety of Elden Ring and coming out thinking "wow Marika was the good guy" because she isn't. Heck, coming out thinking that she'd be disgusted with what her grandson Godrick is doing with grafting as if she isn't the queen of having zero empathy for those who are graceless or aren't her family, which the Tarnished he grafts are neither. She'd probably be very proud if anything. Marika is a monster. She became one the moment she obtained godhood, because no milestone would quell her. She did all the wrongs, so take this whole section as a refresher in case you had forgotten)

-

Number 2

Now, to tackle number 2... this one seemingly has more nuance, but falls for the tried and true pitfall of "the many must pay for the crimes of the few" which is exactly where it rots and collapses onto itself.

Apparently, because of the perpetrators of the Jar Rituals, ALL Hornsent, INDISCRIMINATELY, deserve to be destroyed. They all, each and every single one, deserve the Crusade and the absolute pointless ruin that it brought them. From the children, to the ones who were friends with people with no horns, to the ones who found their own practices grotesque, to the ones that weren't even tied to the Tower's religion and were just simply living their lives.

They ALL, EQUALLY deserve to be burned, to have their cities destroyed, to have their lives ruined. All of them. Ok.

Number 2 works with the assumption that the Hornsent are some sort of hive mind. Some sort of all-encompassing religious order who believes in their superiority. But that's just the Tower's religion. Hornsent are a people. And people are individuals, with their own opinions, their own lives. In fact, from the perspective of the average Hornsent citizen, they were attacked out of nowhere as they were living in peace, which likely means they weren't even at war with Marika before this event.

People also have the assumption that all of the Hornsent were benefiting from their society, which is blatantly false. In fact, outside the treatment of the Shamans, the people that we know the Hornsent have hurt the most are their fellow Hornsent. We know of quite a few of them suffering at the hands of their kin BECAUSE of their religious and cultural practices.

Being Hornsent isn't a "free from mistreatment" card. If anything, the large Gaols where they were imprisoned were built specifically to house them. The main prisoners we find in large numbers are commoners, the same types as the ones scavenging the ruins of their ravaged towns. They are often seen eating maggots off the floor and cowering in fear. All of them were Hornsent too, locked away for who knows what crime. Could have been big and important, small and insignificant, or even just a failure to do something properly (there's precedent), point is, it's clear the Hornsent weren't having a good time in there.

The jar rituals were used mainly as punishment for the imprisoned Hornsent themselves, as a way to have them become "good people". This was just as horrifying for the Hornsent prisoners as it was for the Shamans I assume. Look how terrified this Hornsent seemed at the prospect of sharing that fate. This is the reason why they chopped up Shamans in the first place, as ritual ingredients for a punishment meant primarily for their kin.

And there were more Hornsent who suffered because of the leading ideology. Curseblades were once shunned because they failed to become tutelary deities, and so they were thrown in the Jar Gaols. They were only let out so they could use their expertise and flowing movements to defend their homeland when Messmer invaded, otherwise they'd be rotting with the Innard Shamans and the other Hornsent prisoners the way Labirith is.

It's also worth pointing out that Midra's Mense was filled with Hornsent attendants who sided with their sagely master regardless of his lack of horns and what the Inquisition believed of him. If we were to operate with reasoning number 2, they too would deserve to be murdered in the Crusade because they just so happened to be Hornsent. Because ALL Hornsent deserve extermination for what happened to the Shamans.

And we also know that the Hornsent can find what happens in Bonny Village revolting. In fact, we know that from someone who was born and raised there.

This sounds nothing like someone who thought any of that was ok. So who is to say other Hornsent weren't like this too, especially those who DIDN'T live in Bonny Village? Those who risked being stuffed into those same jars themselves? We make waaaay too many assumptions about an entire race, and that in itself is foolish enough.

If there's someone to blame, it's the Tower's Inquisition. They are the religious order that governs the Hornsent. They have all the power in their society... and yet, would you look at that? Enir-Ilim, their sanctum, the one place where those calling the shots reside, is completely untouched. And what about Bonny, the most structurally fine Hornsent settlement, when you'd expect it to be a black stain of char by now. But nope, no sign of Messmer activity and the Greater Potentates are just running around naked, doing their thing as usual.

The Crusade isn't even a good tool of vengeance, the only ones suffering are the civilians who were likely the ones with a higher risk of ritual jar punishment anyway. If this isn't proof enough that the Crusade is a completely petty, useless revenge war that accomplishes nothing I don't know what else to say. I'll just leave with what the people taking part in it were taking pride in doing.

These are people who, without a shadow of a doubt, would have chopped up most of the oppressed groups described earlier and stuffed them into jars if Marika had told them to do so. (Heck, something like this was being done to the Albinaurics already, as we have seen previously...)

They have zero moral superiority, their deranged zealotry is the only reason they act in the first place. Not to mention that they have no connection to Marika's struggles or past, nor were they informed of them I bet. It's likely only Messmer truly knows the reason for the Crusade, and that's only because he is her child and shoulders all the blame onto himself.

"Those stripped of the Grace of Gold shall all meet death" is LITERALLY their motto. Do you really think they stopped at the Hornsent? They were just their main target, but judging by the way all of Messmer's soldiers, including Queelign and the other Fire Knights, and even HE HIMSELF, attack us on sight for the simple fact we are Tarnished and lack Grace in our eyes, I have no doubt in my mind these people were just rounding up and killing anyone who didn't conform with the Golden Order.

THESE are the people who should be allowed to play judge, jury and executioner with the entire Hornsent race. And people will genuinely, with a straight face, tell you "That's right".

-

To conclude... I think I actually hate reasoning 2 more than reasoning 1 lol, despite not liking either at all. At least 1 is understandable. Marika is a very interesting character, one that we have known for a few years now. We have an attachment to her, heck, sentiments of her being some sort of misunderstood/rebellious figure were already there before the DLC. In that regard, I understand the emotional response, even though I still think it's a wrong mindset to have. I have at least some hope that it is purely in the realm of fiction because it's a beloved character, nothing more...

Reasoning 2, on the other hand, attempts to be nuanced, or at least pretends to be. In reality, all it peddles is the "an eye for an eye" mentality which is much too common irl as well. Not only that, but it deals in monoliths. All people belonging to a group or race are equally responsible for stuff they didn't even commit, stuff that could have even harmed them, because their leaders decided to commit crimes against another set of people. And don't get me wrong, there will be even commoners from that group or race that will agree with and celebrate that bad deed, but just as many will not, but will be either scared, powerless, already being punished for speaking up through physical violence or elaborate shunning, or currently protesting and doing something to hopefully ignite a change.

But that reasoning only exists to perpetuate cycles; of war, violence, and hate for the most part. And sadly, this mindset is very prevalent, a lot of people fail to see the issue with wanton violence as long as it's to stroke that lust for vengeance. And vengeance is a theme that Elden Ring criticizes multiple times in a row, even beyond the obvious horror of the Crusade.

[ivi-prism]

I am still so passionately and genuinly baffled and annoyed by the Minecraft Movie.

Yes I have played Minecraft since 2011 and love the game and what I can see from the trailers it looks like an adaptation that I cannot see myself enjoying

But above that. It is infuriating to see yet again a movie that clearly displays the movie industry's worst practices regarding animation.

A Minecraft Movie is an animated movie. It is not Live Action just because it features human actors and it is stylized to accomplish a hyperrealistic look. To achieve its visual identity it is solely dependent on computer-generated images. A team of humans has to use their technical knowledge in design and animation to create this world while using digital tools. This movie is dependent on artist. This movie depends on animation to exist.

Perhaps not the same set of abilities and requirements needed to produce a 2d animated movie or a 3d animated movie or a stop motion animated movie. Each technique is vastly different. But it still demands a team of animators and a team of VFX artists.

Animators and artists that are being exploited by big studios. Studios that refuse to allocate money to other departments because is cheaper to underpay this artist that have to work in bad conditions and are being rushed to finish a movie to jump to the next one.

It is cheaper for studios to decide that all animated movies should be Hyperrealistic CGI because you can exploit these houses to make “Live-action” movies and also go and use their services for every other blockbuster movie. Like that, there is no need to deal with the pesky 2d animators demanding fair pay and their union. That way there is no need to pay those animators looking to make mixed-technique animated movies. Why would studios waste their money paying studios worth of artists with different focuses and technical abilities if they can strip it all down to all be Hyperrealistic CGI done by the three same underpaid and overworked CGI and VFX studios? They make money do they not? Why stop? It is simply good business for Hollywood to stamp out variety and risk from the products they create. It is cheaper to destroy the livelihood of thousands to focus on exploiting a few that can "make the work of all the other thousand people they fired" I am salty yes. A Minecraft Movie does not appeal to me visually, doubt it will have a story that interests me, it doesn't follow Minecraft lore, and as a fan of the game, I just think there were many other ways to do it better. But above all, it angers me because it is the latest installment that showcases how devoided of care and respect the industry is for the artists it needs to survive.

[translatemunson]

cat and mouse for a month or two or three • ttfd

chapter eight of the tortured firefighters department

previous chapter | masterlist | next chapter

cw: fem!reader, afab!reader, no descriptions of reader, brains is recovering, idiots in love, short chapter after a huge hiatus I'M SORRY OK , no proofreading otherwise i’d never post this (lmk if i missed something)

A new routine took place. You spend most days inside your apartment, classes online since they were checking all the buildings on that side of the campus, on medical leave from your job because, on top of the broken ribs, they wanted you to recover from the burnout you got yourself into. That also meant you were taking mandatory therapy sessions, and maybe after a month they could let you work again. It was like being grounded from what kept you fueled in your late twenties.

Their first mistake was giving you way too much free time while bored. You wrote pages upon pages of your thesis in your first week. The moment you hit send and sat to wait for your professor’s notes, you found out you couldn’t reorganize your home because it was considered too much effort for your broken ribs. Your kitchen became the latest victim.

But a real victim to all your boredom was one door down the hall, who probably regretted giving you a copy of his keys — to be used just in case of an emergency.

“What the hell are you doing, Brains?” It was the third time this week that Buck arrived at his home and found out you were there, just casually chilling,

“Reading!” You were upside down on his couch, a romance book in your hands.

“I don’t think this position is good for your ribs. Can you sit like a normal person?”

“No. It’s boring. Also, I’m gonna babysit Chris tomorrow, so I’m hijacking your Xbox.”

“Why aren’t you doing that at your place?” He pointed to your silly reading position.

“Because I needed to tell you about your video game. Are you hungry? There’s some lasagna in your fridge.”

“Did you make it?”

“Yeah. Now shut up, they’re finally confessing their feelings for each other.”

Buck turned the TV on just to get some noises into the silent apartment. You were too busy with your book, he was too afraid of doing something he would have regretted later. Somewhere between his first and second plate of lasagna, you put the book aside and started to pay attention to the news.

“Big rescue, hm?”

“I don’t know why they keep building towers with paper thin structures and too many glass windows with shitty fire alarms. What happened to the good ol’ bricks and stones?” He was eating at the table, probably destroying the food in record time.

“Excellent question. I’ll look it up and give you an answer tomorrow”

“You’re really bored, aren’t you?”

“Oh, what gave it away?”

“It’s definitely not the same book from yesterday, you cooked a lasagna as big as the ones Bobby feeds us, you’re gonna babysit Chris on Eddie’s day off.”

“He needs to run some errands, and Chris hasn’t been feeling good lately, probably just the flu. So I offered my services for the day. What’s wrong with that?” You stared at him. Was he cuter upside down than the other way around?

“Nothing, it’s just… are you ok?”

“Please, don’t pull a therapist on me, I already had my mandatory session today. I swear I’m ok, I’m just bored of doing nothing. No adrenaline, no deadlines.”

“You’re really addicted, hm?”

“What can I say, Buckley, I wasn’t made to stay still.” As soon as the local news was over and football started, you moved back to your book. Buck got up and went for some beers. “I’m just gonna finish this and I’ll see myself out.”

“I’m gonna charge you rent for my couch.” He sat on the floor, right next to your face. Third time in his living room was a charm, right?

“Wasn’t the lasagna enough?”

“I thought that was for my Xbox. Want one?”

“No, thanks.”

You opened your book again, but the sudden proximity with Buck was the only thing you could focus on. The five o’clock shadow, the red birthmark on the left side of his face, the brightest eyes you’ve ever seen… Staying alone with your thoughts for too long was making you think of things you once judged impossible.

It was a split second, but he caught you red handed, staring at him. You smiled and moved your eyes to the pages of your book, not sure where you left off.

One big hand snatched the object from you. You turned to your side to complain and retrieve it, giving Buck the perfect opportunity to bring your lips close and kiss you. It barely turned into a deep kiss before you took some space to process what was happening. Your action made Buck a little confused, blinking his eyes and nervously messing with his own hair.

Your ribcage started hurting, so you moved your body carefully until you were sitting on the floor, face to face with him. Giving him enough time to change his mind, to say he actually didn’t mean it. Because how could he kiss someone like you?

You thought you’d never see a glimpse of fear on the eyes of one of the most fearless men you knew. Buck was too stunned to say anything, his full, pink lips slightly open. Your hand found the curve of his neck, your cold skin over his boiling hot veins.

You leaned in for another one. He pulled you closer carefully. However, it was nearly impossible to avoid the messier, helpless kisses. Evan Buckley was finally taking over your mind, maybe even your whole body.

Both of you had to move back a little, taking quick breaths after such intense kisses. You rested your hands on his shoulders and smiled.

“Did it really take me getting trapped in a burning building for us to have the courage to do this?” You bit your lower lip, trying to avoid him noticing your blushed cheeks.

“I don’t know about you, but I wanted to do this for a long time,” he confessed.

And it caught you by surprise. So Maddie was really telling you the truth.

“Wait, how long?” He avoided eye contact and you laughed. “No, Buck, please. Tell me.”

“Do you remember that shift I got your number with Eddie? So,” he took a deep breath, “I was planning on asking you out that day, but I just… I chickened, ok?”

“And right after that you ate all my cupcakes when I was at Maddie’s. Off to the best start, Buckley.”

“Not my best move, ok?” He laughed. “How many months ago was it?”

“No clue, to be honest.” You pecked his lips again.

Buck’s arms held you close, not willing to let you go. His lips were just inches away.

“Should I remind you of my doctor’s orders?” you whispered.

“You’re never walking into danger on my watch again.” Buck finally let you go, but it was written in his face it wasn’t what he wanted. His touch lingered a little longer, a little too deep. And you were sure you were mirroring his actions.

“I know.” You got his video game console and your book. “See you tomorrow?”

“Sure thing, Brains.”

You leaned over, leaving a goodnight kiss and a promise to come back to whatever you just started.

+++

“Ok, do you want some snacks? I,” you checked your storage once again, noticing how you should’ve added “do groceries” to your list. “How are we feeling about popcorn?”

“I love popcorn!” Chris replied, his focus on the TV screen.

“Popcorn it is.” You turned the machine on and measured the serving. You heard knocks on your door. “Just a second!”

Maybe Eddie was back because Chris forgot something in the car? No, he had everything in his backpack. You opened the door, but your eyes stayed on the kid on your couch. “Really, Eddie, don’t worry. I can watch him for as long as you need and… Buck.”

“Hi.” Even if he looked like he just left the shower, his voice sounded like he ran a marathon and stopped at your door.

“Buck!” You both heard Chris from the couch. “Are you joining us?”

“Only if Brains let me.” He smiled, waiting for you to invite him in.

“How could I say ‘no’? Come in, we are playing video games and having popcorn.”

“You can play with me!”

“I’ll be there in a sec, Chris. I just need to talk to Brains first,” he pulled you aside and out of Chris’ view. Not like the kid is paying any attention to you, anyway. “Hey there.”

“Hi. Why do I have a feeling you’re here to babysit me?” You move to your kitchen, rushing to find the popcorn bucket in your cabinets.

“Can you blame me? You have two broken ribs, self diagnosed burnout syndrome,” you mumbled, “ok, your therapist said you have it, and you’re babysitting Chris on a day you’re supposed to wake up after 3.”

“It’s just for a few hours, and he’s not like Jee-Yun,” you pointed out the reality: Chris was just a little bit sick and Eddie didn’t want him to be alone. “So you’re here to see if I have plans for today.”

“Kinda.” He opened the top cabinet and gave you the bucket. “Do you?”

You elbowed him on the torso, playfully.

“Watch your step, I know his reputation.” You pointed to Chris over your shoulder. “But the answer to your question is no.”

Buck smiled, satisfied with himself. “Hey, Chris, orange or apple juice?”

“Apple, please! I’m crushing you!” The kid's voice indicated a promise to end Buck’s character.

“Ok, buddy, if you say so,” he turned to you and whispered, “so it’s a date?”

“Yes, Buckley. Now are you gonna help me with Chris or not?” You served two glasses of apple juice.

“Sure thing, but I might need to run some errands later because,” and he stopped himself. “You’ll see.”

a/n: hi is there anyone here still? i know guys, i was gone, no sign of life, but hey, i'm back (i hope so). IT FINALLY HAPPENED! i had to make this chapter shorter than usual because otherwise it would be too big. so that's it. see ya soon!

[threepandas]

Bad End: Stolen

I was furious.

Terrified. Completely enraged. Sick to my stomach. Overwhelmed and yet expected to function. To keep my shaking hands smooth and screaming thoughts orderly. All I wanted to do want scream. Cry. Destroy and destroy, weep and RAGE.

Then hide in a closet under blankets until the monsters went away.

But... but he wasn't going too, was he?

"Ah, my honored Sister, how good of you to join me." Greets the murderer before me, voice cool and smooth like the scales of a snake. There is a gleefully victorious lilt to that voice. A curling possessiveness to the title.

I am not his sister. We are not ever REMOTELY related. It is not even a matter of me disowning him for what he's down. It is simple truth. We are not, by blood, related. We were not RAISED together. Our relation? A farce. A legal machination by my... my Father, oh gods... No! Don't get swallowed by the memories! T-The blood. Focus!!

Fafnir is... WAS just one of many promising, talented, ambitious young men with no father's that DEFINITELY were my Father's bastard sons, no really. He most certainly wasn't COLLECTING meritorious youth into our house, under his name, and training them up with his wealth and influence. To bypass the bullshit class system and give them a chance at better lives!

Maybe suggest they pay it forward.

My father would never be so duplicitous. No, no, he was just a very lustful man... that no one ever saw going out to have sex. Who's wife had never been the least bit upset with him. And to whom he was fiercely loyal. Yes. Very, very lustful my father... w-was.

It was just while the family continued it's work on opening up opportunities for the lower classes. Jobs and better quality of life. Hospitals and schools. Fighting against those who benefited from nothing changing. It was slow. Like pulling teeth. The work of lifetimes, he'd said. I... I was expected to help continue it.

I'd been GLAD too. So utterly RELIEVED I was reborn into a house with some fucking sense of RESPONSIBILITY. Duty and honor and taking care of people! Building up social services! I had grand plans. Even after recognizing, a little alarmed, that I was on the fringe of a god damned OTOME game of all things.

One I barely remembered. Had played, loved most likely, as a preteen. A literal lifetime ago.

It didn't effect me, right? I wasn't here for boys or parties. Politics or fanciful dreams. Let someone else have their lace filled, flower coated, high drama adventures of love. I had late night paperwork and community research. Surprise to orphanages and hospitals to insure their was no corruption or mischief going on.

That one health clinic in Oakworth that took forever to get going.

Except...

Except??

Fafnir was a capture target! Which is why it took me forever to realize. As he had been so very small and filthy at first. Then merely small and in poor health. Short hair because his poor hair had been beyond saving. We passed by each other. Nodded, maybe exchanged pleasantries, but did not truely interact.

He lived in the dorms. I lived in the main house. He was basicly a student my father was paying to have taught, using our name. I was my father's actual daughter. We may have LEGALLY been related. LEGALLY brother and sister. But in actuality? We were no such thing.

Honestly, most of the "Sons"? Kept their original last names in day to day life.

Or at least... they did.

I.. I think I had shit taste, as a preteen. That or my luck has finally run out. Maybe it was my family's fortune, that finally could no longer best the odds. After all, there is always one. That ONE soul. Who sees something good and doesn't care about anything or anyone but themselves. Ruins things for everyone.

As long as they get their's, right?

A sea of motivated and ambitious young men. Trying to change their station in life. Have Better and MORE. Change the world around them. Leave their marks. Is... ha! Is it any wonder, in hindsight, that our luck eventually gave out? It was always going too. I guess Fafnir just wanted MORE.

He was supposed to go to the Royal Academy, fall in love. Compete against prince's and duke's, knights and heirs to merchant companies. All for the heart of the only daughter of a Ducal house, that had been (of course) raised by peasants. A carriage accident and presumed death cliché.

I honestly couldn't even remember his route. I might have read about it. But had never PLAYED it. He had had short hair, all but two had. So I played the foriegn prince route, even though he was kind of an ass. He was a handsome one at least. At least to me. It was just, I had never... still never...

I liked men with long hair.

Something which I had never told anyone.

Yet? As Fafnir grew? He did not transition into the character I remembered, like the others had. He grew his hair out. Became not only fiercely protective of it, but invested in higher quality products to care for it. Discovered my favorite perfume maker and commissioned a cologne for himself, that would mix well with the scent I always wore. Systematically tracked down each and everything I've ever liked, behind my back, to consume and memorize every facet of them.

I was blind to it.

My Father was not.

And... a-and... it cost him his life.

Father was not pleased with want he saw. But assumed it was a crush at first. We were young after all. Young people do weird, awkward, over the line things. Are learning about boundaries even as they grapple with sudden floods of hormonal shifts. A terrible time, really. It could be excused. As long as it didn't go TOO far. So long as someone sat Fafnir down for a talk.

They did.

He got more subtle.

A cycle developed. One my Father was not pleased to see. Fafnir would cross boundaries, be caught, get scolded, and contritely apologize... then get more subtle in his approach. Be more clever. As though all he had learned was "don't get caught". and "if you want to get, what you want to have, you need to have the skills to get passed us."

He grew concerned. Eventually, alarmed. I had thought nothing of it, back then, because "of COURSE he was supposed to go" to the Royal Academy? But... we honestly, really, Truely? HADN'T sent anyone there before. And there HAD been far more skilled boy then him. Prodigies.

But... my favorite ribbon necklace had gone missing.

From the room where I slept.

Overnight.

My Father took one look at Fafnir's pleased expression amongst the chaos and needed no further proof. He would not kick him out. Far too dangerous, he thought. But he WOULD send him away. Now?

Now I wish he'd risked it. Because... because everyone was dead. Struck down by the monster we let into our home. And by ancient law, which we both KNEW he was planning to exploit? This was a... a "family matter". Because, after all, we WERE legally family. Members of the same House.

"Such hesitation, Sister. You'd think I was a threat." He muses into his cup of tea, swirling it lightly. His eyes flit back to me, lips curling just slightly. "Don't worry, though. I understand completely. I would never hurt you."

But he would hurt others. He already has. Most of them didn't survive it. Ha ha... like a brutal yank on some unseen leash. I want to cry. Not sure if this is what shock feels like. But yes, thank you, for the lovely remind, Fafnir. That you have filled my home with bodies. The corpses of those I loved.

I use what little dignity I have left to walk forward and sit down.

Oh look, he has utterly ruined all my favorite things in one blow. There, my favorite tea. That, my favorite flower. Across the table my favorite snacks. Even a few favorite fruits. A dish or two. My favorite cup. And now? N..NOW? All I will every be able to associate with them is death. The stench of copper and the horror of this moment.

The joy of them is gone.

"See? Isn't that better? No more standing awkwardly to the side. Now we can sit, face to magnificent face. I've brought you a few things I know you'll enjoy. Isn't that nice? I've wanted to do this for the longest time." He sighs in contentment, as though this were no more then a matter of busy schedules and social anxiety. "And now? Now we are finally together. Siblings for now, but I am working to fix that. And if i can't, well..."

His smirk was a thing of nightmares.

"I'm head of the house now. You're finally Mine."

[quirkwizard]

There isn't any real reasoning for why I made this. Maybe because I already did something like this with 1-A? I just thought it'd be a fun scenario to imagine where these characters would be if they had real jobs. Instead of ending up in various levels of dead or damaged. I will ignore characters that I think are simply too evil to have any real chances, like Moonfish, or others I just don't think are interesting, like Mange. That and most MLA because they already have real jobs. Them being redeemed would just be them going back to work with ankle bracelets on.

Mustard-Fumigator: If his gas can knock out and poison people that quickly, I imagine that it can kill bugs just as well. And if he comes across any particularly bad bugs, he always has his gun.

Giran-Salesman: I mean, it'd be basically be what he was doing before. Now instead of seeing illegal weaponry, he'll be selling used cars so expensive it should be illegal.

Spinner-Streamer: He can still play games and not leave his house, but now he will hopefully have a more healthy outlet for everything he is going through. He doesn't even need a VTuber set up. He is the goofy model.

Tomura-Waste Management: This allows Tomura to let out his destructive tendencies and can help get rid of a lot of debris and trash that is just laying around. Now instead of leaving a destroy wasted, he can clean up the destroyed waste.

Mr. Compress-Street Mage: Probably the most obvious pick out of everyone on this list. Between his power, his gimmick, and his natural showmanship, it all fits right into this kind of job. He doesn't even need to change his outfit to make it work.

Muscular-Coach: Since he can't be trust in any fighting based sport. I'm not sure if this would be as a gym coach or personal couch, but either way, he is going to take all that sadisms and ideas of conflict and channeling that aggression for other people's benefit.

Kurogiri-Travel Agent: As much as hero may be on the table, I think there would be some optics issues with that. Still he could send people where ever they want to go on vacation with a fraction of the rates. Just as long as they give a way to send them back home.

Dabi-Lead Singer: Specifically something in the metal or rock genre. He's got that perfect mix of voice, look, and angst to fit right into that kind of culture. And considering how many songs are written for people who don't like their dads, he'd have plenty of material for songs.

Toga-Photographer: Toga was the hardest out of all of them. I just went with something that could express herself more healthy, maybe even being a crime scene photographer, and being in a job where stalking someone is considered worthwhile experience for the job.

Twice-Odd Jobs: As much as I want to say tailor for his sick measuring skills, he doesn't really have any definable skills. So having him be around and help people with his dozens of clones seems fitting. That and there is so much comedic potential in them doing odd jobs week to week.

Gigantomachia-Tourist Barge: Instead of demolishing cities, Gigantomachia can use his tough body to show people around normally hazardous areas like oceans or mountains. He can even use the cheers of the people he's carrying as encouragement to boost his power.

Geten-Ice Cream Man: I prefer to think that Geten's abilities would cover ice cream as well. As such, it is only a natural conclusion that he would become an ice cream man. And knowing him, he will fight and train to be the best ice cream man on the planet.

Kuin-Beekeeper: Considering how bad of a spot bees are in, Kuin could do a real service to the community be helping to spread out pollen with her power. And hey, leading a bunch of bees would come naturally to her as a living insect.

Number 6-Motivation Speaker: Forget the amount of social manipulation he did in his own story, I say this job fits because of the amount of spite Number 6 has. It's that spite that allowed him to get going and fulfil his dreams. Now that's inspiring.

Overhaul-Doctor: I've already gone over how useful "Overhaul" would be in medical work and he already has plenty of experience with medicine. Heck, we can even have the other yakuza guys around as nurses and other kinds of assistants. Beside manner may need work.

Stain-Bounty Hunter: I wanted Stain to end up somewhere where he could technically good, like a detective, but a bounty hunter fits way more within his skill set. Plus, there is a lot of comedy potential. Imagine a poster him in the bond office say "Pay your bond or else!"

Gentle and La Brava-Social Media Stars: Basically what they were doing before. Now with hopefully less crime in between videos. Gentle could even spin his whole redemption for more views, telling his sad story in prison and his time trying to rehabilitate himself. Take that as genuinely or facetiously as you want.

[felassan]

this post is just some thoughts on/speculation re: the recent news (the new blog post and the IGN article etc). under a cut for length.

I’m so excited for the official first look at the gameplay!! (ofc) and psyched that it’s happening in early summer as opposed to late summer like August or thereabouts. it feels surreal in a good way that it’s now basically ‘DA:TV Eve’ :D With 15+ minutes of gameplay from the start of the game, we could gain a lot of new information and context such as who the PC is, where the story kicks off and the premise/framing of the story, who the starting companions are, etc.

it surprised me that the name of the game changed, but I like the new title, I think it’s cool and unusual and from dev comments it's not something they decided on a whim or anything. a title change makes sense in the light that Solas isn’t the only focus of the game or the only player on the board – that he’s a key player, but not the heart of it, and the companions are who is being centered. in any event the feel of a title to like say and stuff for me doesn’t affect gameplay or what it’s like interacting with characters etc. I would play this game if it was called Dragon Age: The Quantum Blorbening anyway.

‘The Veilguard’ is the name of our crew of companions, as in a group or faction. (It reminds me of “the Kingsguard”.) Obviously we can see from the name that this group will be involved in protecting and defending the barrier between the Fade and the waking world in some manner. I wonder, will it be a group we form, or a group we join/are recruited into? They must be a fairly recent addition to Thedas. What’s their relation to the Veil Jumpers, if any? Does the existence of the Veilguard imply that the theories that the game will begin with the Veil torn down already aren’t the case? Will the Veilguard always want to protect the Veil during the story, or will there come a point when they re-evaluate that idea? It sounds like they’re always able to take down the new evil threat, but will they always be able (or always want to) to prevent the Veil from being destroyed? also, in-world, who named them The Veilguard?

Maybe our PC’s own ‘title’ (Warden, Hero, Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, kinda thing) will be Veil Guardian or Guardian of the Veil or something like that..? we obviously won’t be the only veil guard, but while the DA:O PC was ‘the Hero of Ferelden’, in-game they often were referred to in passing simply as Grey Warden or The Warden, despite there being another Warden present (Alistair). When the devs have been talking about The Avengers, I think about that and also get Guardians of the Galaxy kinda vibes. With Varric and Harding’s storyline in DA: The Missing, I wonder if he will be like the Nick Fury (he kind of brought the Avengers together and coordinated them right? Or at least recruited them all, put the team together?), with Harding joining the team itself..? Avengers assemble, form Voltron, etc. with stuff like “you’ll unite this team of unforgettable heroes”, it sounds like the PC (as in previous games) will end up leading the group in some manner, even if they are new to the squad. That reminds me of the HoF. ^^

Somewhere out there in the multiverse, on a different plane, DA4 came out and it was a multiplayer game. it’s good to hear about refocusing on creating a singleplayer game with a focus on characters, choices & decisions, worldbuilding, companionship with characters with their own deep storylines that intersect with the main plot etc, with the customizable hero and the cast of their companions at the center of an SP story. and no online team members, no live service etc.

The world of Thedas itself is still my favorite ‘character’ :D

Warden, Hawke, Inquisitor mention. 🥺

I don’t mind one way or the other about most gameplay specifics. Some of the aspects of combat gameplay (of course, I’m just guessing based on reading some lines in an article atm), like the pausing the action and the ability wheel to give orders, sound like ME: Andromeda gameplay, and Andromeda had good gameplay/combat gameplay that was fun and fluid to play.

One thing I am 😔 about tho is the change of party size from 3 companions to 2. I love Mass Effect and it’s a 3-person squad in that series too (and it works well ofc both in terms of gameplay and dynamics), but I’ll still miss having 3 companions with me in DA :< esp in a game with such a focus on the characters/companions. What can I say, I’m just a blorbo hoarder. I’ll also miss all party members being directly controllable.

I wonder if the 7 companions (seven is a lucky number ^^) will have a class split like 2 warrior/2 rogue/2 mages+1 ‘unique/special’ companion (e.g. Dog, Shale – maybe the flaming head Skellington?) or +1‘extra/secret’ companion or something (e.g. Loghain).

Also, speculatively, being that we’ve never had a qunari woman as a companion before, I hope one is a qunari woman, and since we’ve never had a dwarf woman as a companion before in a ‘main’ game (ily sigrun), I hope one will be a dwarf woman. That also makes me curious about the race and gender split of the 7. Maybe it’s like 2 humans/2 elves/1 qunari/1 dwarf/1 ‘unique or special’ (e.g. Shale)..? Maybe it’s like 3 men/3 women/1 nonbinary person, or the first 6 are a mix of men, women and nonbinary people, and the seventh is something like Dog or a spirit or something?

There were 6 companions in ME1. In DAII, there were 8 in the base game (Seb was DLC), but Bethany/Carver were only around for part of the game. today one of the main things people love most about DAII is its cast of companions. ^^ also, with the way the devs talk about the companions, it's giving "Found Family" trope vibes. that's another thing that people love a lot about DAII. ^^

will it just be the 7 of us, like the crew in DA2? Will it be like in DA:I, where the organization (Inquisition/Veilguard in this case) has main figures/an inner circle, but also commands other people? Or will it be like Mass Effect, where you have a crew which is comprised of companions (in this case 7) who join you on the field as well as a few other developed characters that hang out at ‘home base’? on the number paring down from 9 to 7, I’d rather quality and depth over quantity. In ME2, Kasumi and Zaeed (as DLC) didn’t have proper conversations on the ship. I wonder if “pare down” refers to it being versus the number of companions we had in DA:I, or whether at some point in development of DA:TV there used to be more than 7 companions and some were cut.

each of the 7 companions is from/represents a different faction. For example, while not stated to be a companion in the trailer he was revealed in, it's common speculation that he is, and Davrin is a Grey Warden. Going by the 4 factions Varric and Harding deal with in The Missing, surely 4 of these companion backstory factions in DA:TV are the Grey Wardens, the Antivan Crows, the Veil Jumpers and the Shadow Dragons. And the other 3..? the Lords of Fortune are a new addition to the lore that have also been prominent in recent material. A Grey Warden, an Antivan Crow, and a Veil Jumper walk into a bar.. : ) the composition of The Veilguard is reminding me of Duncan’s words about the Grey Wardens: “Men and women from every race, warriors and mages, barbarians and kings.”

---

some more wild speculation on the 7 factions.

1. Davrin - the Grey Wardens

2. Bellara - ??

3. Harding - Inquisition/Inquisition remnants (I do not think Varric is a companion)

then, based on prominence in previous promo material and The Missing etc -

4. A Lord of Fortune

5. A Veil Jumper (STRIFE PLS!!!)

6. An Antivan Crow

7. A Shadow Dragon

??

or… this prev concept art (bearing in mind it might represent nothing at all except ‘general mood’ & no specific actual characters, or be from a different version of the game before a reboot or before cuts etc, who knows) shows 8 characters. could it be the 7 companions and the Player Character? Skellington Guy (green flaming skull guy) could easily be the (speculative!!) ‘unique/special 7th one’, assuming a 2/2/2 warrior-rogue-mage classbreak down among the other 6 (which is speculation only too ofc). lmk what you think : )

I’m nervous about upsetting or getting the new companions killed already HH.

It’s nice to read how strongly they feel about the new characters and their stories.  

I’m so excited to explore all the regions and varied biomes.

I’m still not clear/sure on whether “you can romance the companions you want” means all 7 companions are bi/pan+, or that there are no non-romanceable companions among the 7 (like no Stens or Varrics), or whether it was more like a general off-hand comment that can’t be read into that much.

I wonder if the Varric-narrated in-game cinematic from 1 year ago plays at the start of the game? Or after we meet Varric?

here is a link to a ramble/speculation about the new logo/icon.

All of Thedas is at risk from a big, scary new threat. As we know, Solas was never the only being interested in the Veil and its removal or destruction. (you can also outline lots of reasons why it should be brought down, like the way the world used to be, elven immortality, the effect on mages/magic etc). it’s also long been theorized that Solas isn’t the main threat/main antagonist in DA4, and maybe more like the Dragon to someone/something else, or a figure like Loghain in DA:O, who you can kill or convince to join you in your fight against the real overarching threat, in that case the Blight. Corypheus broke the Veil in the Red Lyrium future. Demons always want to cross it. the Evanuris are trapped in some way that involves the Veil being in place. Flemythal can never achieve true vengeance while her killers are sleeping or imprisoned somewhere she can’t reach. The Bio25 book says that “The Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights” and that “shadows of the past stir”. It also says that the “Deep Roads teem with evils both new and old”. There are theories about a double Blight. The most recent trailer has someone gushing “Glory to the Risen Gods. They’ve come to deliver this world”. Tevinter Nights hints at fck-knows-what – places and beings, “past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit”, things with chthonic kinda vibes. Etc. a threat being “unleashed” has the implication of someone let something go.. or someone.. let something in... there are also other groups and beings to consider, like the Old Gods, the Forgotten Ones, the Executors.

I thought this phrasing from the IGN article was interesting, though it's not a direct quote from Gary. “Solas, who helped create the Veil, now wants to destroy it.” Helped create? Until now it was more like “Solas created the Veil”. Helped who..? 👁️

The other evil threats/the real threats, these ‘other gods’ (Gary McKay mentions them twice: “it might not just be Solas”, “the Dread Wolf is not the only god” you need be worried about), are surely the upside-down figures in this mural, right? Surely they are the “Evil Gods” (whoever /they/ are) mentioned in the Bio25 book, right? :D

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Emily Singer at Daily Kos:

In 2016, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. crapped all over Donald Trump and his supporters, agreeing that they were racist idiots too stupid to succeed, according to a trove of radio clips unearthed by CNN.

CNN reported that Kennedy—Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services—made the comments on his radio show “Ring of Fire,” where he regularly criticized Trump and those who backed him. For example, in an episode that aired in March 2016, Kennedy praised journalist Matt Taibbi’s criticism of Trump and his base. “One of the things that you write so beautifully, and your stuff is so fun to read, but you write about Trump, quote, ‘The way that you build a truly vicious nationalist movement is to wed a relatively small core of belligerent idiots to a much larger group of opportunists and spineless fellow travelers whose primary function is to turn a blind eye to things,’” Kennedy said, quoting Taibbi’s writing. “‘We may not have that many outright Nazis in America, but we have plenty of cowards and bootlickers, and once those fleshy dominoes start tumbling into the Trump camp, the game is up.’” Kennedy went on to say that Trump is a racist demagogue but isn’t smart enough to be effective like Adolf Hitler because Hitler had a "plan" and “was interested in policy,” while Trump is "non compos mentis"—Latin for "of unsound mind."

CNN reported that Kennedy also compared Trump to other past autocrats, like Benito Mussolini and Francisco Franco. “And you can see that every statement that Donald Trump makes is fear-based,” Kennedy said in an episode that aired in December 2016, according to CNN. “Every statement he makes. You know, we have to be fear of the Muslims. We have to be fear of the black people, and particularly the big Black guy Obama, who’s destroying this country, who’s making everybody miserable.” Kennedy went on: “And only one person has the genius and the capacity to solve these things. And I’m not gonna tell you how I’m gonna do it. Just trust in me, vote for me and everything will be great again. And of course, that whole thing is like a carnival barker.” He also called Trump racist and compared him with former Alabama Gov. George Wallace, an infamous segregationist.

“Wallace’s appeal … was to White middle-class men who had experienced the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s as a social demotion, and who found their lives in turmoil,” Kennedy said, according to CNN. “And that kind of insecurity, I think, is the target of the summons that Donald Trump has sent out to the American public.” Of course, Kennedy has now changed his tune, blaming his past comments on—you guessed it—the "mainstream media." “Like many Americans, I allowed myself to believe the mainstream media’s distorted, dystopian portrait of President Trump. I no longer hold this belief and now regret having made those statements,” he told CNN. “There’s apparently nothing that can’t be blamed on the mainstream media, even one’s own very public criticisms,” CNN reporter Jim Sciutto wrote in a post on X. Ultimately, Kennedy is one of a number of people now in Trump's orbit who slammed the president-elect in the past but have since retracted their statements in an effort to amass power.

During a March 2016 appearance on Ring Of Fire, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave praise to journalist Matt Taibbi’s blunt criticisms of Donald Trump and his MAGA Cultists by calling them “belligerent idiots.”

Now, both Taibbi and RFK Jr. are on the Trump train (esp. RFK Jr.), or at least Trump-curious. Also, Trump’s VP pick, JD Vance, was once ardently critical of him, but now is a suck-up toady for him.

[washedupslapper]

It’s common for people to read Susan Pevensie as condemned to Hell or forever locked out of Heaven at the end of the Narnia books, giving the fact that she does not appear in Aslan’s Country in The Last Battle as evidence of her damnation, all for the sin of liking gossip and lipsticks and nylons and her social life.

This, I think, is a misreading of the text. Susan does not appear in Aslan’s Country because she is not dead. She was not killed in battle or the apocalypse that destroyed Narnia, nor in the train accident that killed her parents, siblings, cousin and their friends. She doesn’t appear in Heaven because she’s alive and well. And as long as she is alive, her salvation is possible.

Earlier in the book, Aslan meets a young Calormene man named Emeth, who is good, noble, honest, brave, and a worshipper of Tash, the evil demon that the Calormenes consider their god. Emeth prepares to die at Aslan’s hands, because he has worshipped Tash his whole life as he was taught and not Aslan, but Aslan calls him his son, and says that no evil service can ever be done in his name, and no good service can ever be done in Tash’s name, and if a man is good and honest and virtuous in the name of Tash, he is actually doing it in the name of Aslan even if he does not know it, and it is Aslan that rewards him even if he does not believe it.

This is a clear statement that in the moral universe of Narnia, it doesn’t matter what you specifically believe about gods and spirits and religions and worlds: it matters that you are a good person who is honest. We have no reason to believe that Susan turned to wickedness when she grew up, only that she became more interested in fun and worldly pleasures than spiritual pursuits, to the point of remembering Narnia as a childhood game she played. She is misguided and shallow, and perhaps foolish, but these are not sins, or at least not sins worthy of eternal separation from God, and even if they were, she is a young woman whose entire family was hideously killed in a horrific train accident. She will not remain that way for long. To be sure, the writing is sexist - her preoccupations with nylons, lipsticks and gossip are dismissed as silly and frivolous - but not “condemned to Hell for being girly” sexist. Puzzle the donkey was the literal Antichrist and Edmund betrayed his family to the Witch, leading to Aslan’s torture and execution, and they both made it in; I cannot believe that Queen Susan the Gentle would not. Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen of Narnia; not all the water in the rough rude sea can wash the balm off from an anointed queen; the breath of worldly men cannot depose the deputy elected by the Lord.

Susan Pevensie will go to Heaven. It is undeniable; every part of the book’s theology and morality points to it. She just has a long life to live before she gets there.

[stromuprisahat]

Remember Alina, you DON'T have any rights...

Siege and Storm- Chapter 12

Another Grisha to drag out of bed in middle of the night?

Or are there other hostile groups we're not shown?

I've read antis with this opinion. Tragic.

As if they didn't pay for that privilege with their freedom and lives...

Alina still doesn't quite realize, how does ~that~ translate.

You're a serf, you're the Sun Summoner.

... doesn't sound so empowering, does it?

As if "they" never needed the Darkling before her, as if "they" offered Grisha a place to live out of goodness of their hearts. As if the Darkling couldn't destroy the whole capital, when push comes to shove. Yet somehow, they're all free game.

Serf, honey, that's what you are, Crown's slave of different name, and that's why the Darkling wanted things to change.

Looking at this passage, I'd love to read the King talking like a KING:

“He thinks she can be trusted,” the King quavered. “We’re not so sure. Her escape from the Darkling seems a very unlikely story, but we cannot deny that Ravka might have a use for her services.”

Yes, Alina is less than a person for him. Why not refer to her as if she weren't even present? Addressing people below one's station in third person...

In short- "If I decide to get rid of you, nothing will stop me from doing it. I don't need a reason, for there's always one."

Remember, Alina? You're ... the Sun Summoner. They need you...

Alina's confidence would be more applaudable, if she weren't strong only thanks to two amplifiers, and her repertoire included more than shining and the Cut.

Was this how the Darkling had felt? Yada, yada, let's stop him! Why does Alina always have these flashes of reason, if they never turn into something more?! On one hand she realizes what he has to keep enduring for the scraps of power ensuring he'll be able to work for his people, on the other he never quite makes in out of the shadow of her bigotry (Pun totally intended.) to become a human being worth active empathy in her eyes. The best she does is offer him decent burial.

[jedi-order-apologist]

A Magician, Yoda is Not

After a disaster relief mission, Yoda entertains some local children. Written for Fandom Empire Prompt Tables 2024 - Prompt: "Magic"

Read on AO3

“Your assistance has been greatly appreciated, Master Jedi,” the mayor said, with the utmost sincerity. The avalanche had been devastating, overpowering their safeguards and destroying half of their capital city. Rescue organizations and crews had arrived quickly after the request for help had gone out, but even with all their tireless hard work, things would have gone a lot differently without the aid of the Jedi, who could sense where people were trapped more quickly and accurately than the most sophisticated rescue droids, could predict and could lift snow and debris with their minds.

Many lives had been lost in the initial disaster, but so many more had been trapped, their survival entirely dependent on how quickly they could be reached and given medical attention. For many of those people, the involvement of the Jedi was that very difference between life and death.

There were so many more people saved today than the mayor could have ever imagined hoping for.

“You have our gratitude, and our friendship,” he continued, “and if there is any way we can repay you, you have but to name it.”

“Glad to be of service, we are,” Master Yoda said. “No reward do we require. But if offered, your friendship is, then glad we are to accept. No greater reward, could there be.”

A group of young children ran up to them. Not ones who had been rescued – they would still be receiving medical attention if they were – but children who had had family members and friends trapped, or knew someone who did, and had helped in whatever way they could, running comms between rescue teams, bringing food and water where it was needed, etc.

As such, they had witnessed the Jedi’s help as well.

“Show us your magic again!” one of them begged Yoda.

“It was amazing!”

“Please! Do some magic!”

The mayor frowned. They were children and didn’t know any better, of course, but he knew that the Jedi didn’t call their talents “magic”, so it seemed disrespectful to call it as such, even if it might as well have been to his eyes.

“I apologize…” he started to say to Yoda, but the Jedi had a twinkle in his eyes, and made the slightest shake of his head, so the mayor fell silent, and watched as Yoda turned to face the children.

“Magic?” he asked, with a teasing tone. “Magic, I know not. A magician, I saw once. Pull a coin from your ear, he could, and turn a scarf into a bird. Very impressive, it was. Offered his audience a turn, he did. Very bad at it, I was. Better at magic, I think, you would be, than old Yoda!”

The children were unconvinced.

“We saw you!” the first said.

“You lifted all the snow and ice!”

“The wind, it could have been,” Yoda said.

“The wind doesn’t lift up people,” another child said, matter-of-factly.

“Hmph! Say that, you do, but floating, you are!” Yoda said.

The children all looked down, realizing that in fact, their feet were no longer on the ground. They shrieked with delighted laughter, and two of them reached out to spin the third around in mid-air, to the amusement of all three.

“See?” Yoda said, “The wind, it was.”

“No, you’re doing this!” one of the children accused, giggling.

“Know what you’re talking about, I do not.”

“Yes, you do!”

“The mayor knows you’re doing it, too, right, Mr. Mayor?”

The mayor was a little taken aback by the question, unsure how he should respond. It was, of course, obvious that Master Yoda was lifting the children, but it was also clear that he was playing a game with them.

“I’m...afraid this is out of my area of expertise,” he said, finally.

The child pouted at him, but quickly bounced back to cheerfulness as the three of them floated higher into the air. It would have been alarming if the mayor had not completely trusted Yoda to keep them safe.

Slowly, the children were brought back down to the ground, only mildly disappointed to be back on their own feet.

“Thank you, Mr. Jedi! That was fun!”

“I always wanted to fly,” another said.

“Good-bye, Mr. Jedi!”

The three children ran off, and Yoda chuckled.

“Joy,” he said, “for the children, easy it is, to be found. Good, it is, to play. A relief from worries, it is.”

And, well, the mayor, even being of a more serious disposition himself, couldn’t argue with that.

[veryace-ficrecs]

X-Men Found Family Fic Recs

This list will include all ratings and tags, so read at your own discretion! :)

Scott's Life is Hard by yellow_caballero - Rated G

Scott cares a lot less about leading the X-Men then he does about getting the kids to school on time. Wrangling a mansion full of teenagers is the work of a lifetime, but Scott's not going anywhere. Sometimes love has to be enough. And somehow Scott's father of the year. In which bees are a novelty to ex-brainwashed apocalypse assasins, rotating groups of teenagers makes breakfast increasingly complicated, Magneto reads the daily newspaper, and Scott is the supreme god king dictator of 20 frightened mutant teenagers.

We Are Not Alone by WhiteravenGreywolf - Rated T

After escaping their cage, the group struggles to find their place in the world, all the while being pursued by the Essex Corporations who does not like to lose assets, even if those assets are a couple of rebellious teenagers.

When My Fist Clenches, Crack It Open by versaphile - Rated M

More than anything else, David wants to believe he's not sick because that means he isn't crazy. It means he can fall in love and live happily ever after. But if he surrenders to that hope and he's wrong, then there's no coming back. The Shadow King is victorious, but the battle for David Haller’s soul has only begun. David fails to escape Division 3's intervention and is forced into therapy. With his relationships ruined, his mind split, and his past a lie, death seems like the only choice left. But Farouk is pulling the strings to keep him alive. As David's friends and family work desperately to save him, David must reclaim his past and present to avoid losing his future to the monster who destroyed him.

I'll Close My Mouth (I Won't Say a Word) by Shaderose - Rated T

"Knowing that he doesn't belong. Because he doesnt, doesn't fit into the clean, sleek environment, with his too sharp frame and his dirtied, ripped up sneakers. His old tattered clothes, and his skin riddled with scars. Imperfections. Flaws. A man of loud, harsh words and bruised knuckles, quick fingers and slick feet, in a world of softness, gentle and quiet. Of course he doesn't belong. Why would he? This isn't his home. And yet, Mrs. Kaplan, with her too warm eyes and her too gentle smile, tells him, "Welcome home," anyways. Yeesh." -- A story about friends, family, insecurities, truth and, most importantly, the true meaning of love.

A Day in the Life by SeaSpectre160 - Rated G

Amidst all the discussion and controversy over the 'mutant threat', one reporter goes to the mutants themselves to get their perspective.

(Take It) All Away by Sweetbriar15 - Rated T

Certain they would turn him away, but knowing nowhere else to go, Lance approaches the X-men for help when his team is stricken ill.

Hold my hand and float back to the summer time by caughtinanocean - Rated T

Julio and Shatterstar learn how to come home, and what you do after. “‘Star, have you ever thought about...doing something else?” “Well, there was televised combat in an arena,” Shatterstar says, “and we just led a revolution.” Julio looks at the floor underneath his socked feet. He feels sort of stupid saying this aloud. “I mean, like. Normal stuff.” “Normal stuff,” Shatterstar echoes. “Huh.”

Ringer by Crewe - Rated G

"Guess what I just did," Bobby said, ignoring him to reach around and get a finger on the side of the bowl. With a little concentration, frost spread out from the point of contact across the bowl and the ice cream inside refroze. Warren begrudgingly lowered his shoulder to give him another bite in exchange for services rendered. "What," he said flatly, elbowing Bobby until he slid off of him and onto the stool beside. "I got Scott to play a game," he said archly. "He's outside being, like, really intense about horseshoes." -- Scott starts playing horseshoes, and he just doesn't think to stop. His friends don't notice, until they do.

Lost and Found by ManicRavingsofaLunatic - Rated T

Alex rescues a kid from one of Trask's facilities; a kid that trusts him implicitly and looks to Alex for protection. The last time Alex was trusted with a such a burden he failed. But that Scott and this Scott are definitely not the same person. And Alex won't fail again this time. Basically, this is the story of how Alex found Scott

Don't Be Afraid by flightinflame - Rated T

A lot of people fear Jean for her telepathy. But Charles never will.

Home Sweet Home by PUNK_MENACE - Rated G

Set after "Greetings from Genosha". X-Men are trained mutants, ready to fight whatever evil may try to hurt humankind or mutantkind. Which means that instead of sulking around the mansion they detected Mystique's presence on the island and managed to save Kurt. He wasn't left unscathed, though.

In These Ever Changing Times by saekhwa - Rated G

There are two things Armando knows, even one death and twenty years later: he's an X-Man, and he'll always have Alex's back.

For Just One Day Let's Only Think About Love by Duck_Life - Rated T

Sometimes, even a runaway bride isn't enough to deter a wedding after-party. Set immediately following X-Men Gold #30. Welcome to Rogue and Remy's reception.

Christmas Traditions by Ava_DAlain - Rated T

It’s the time of year that brings people together to celebrate, reflect, and create lasting memories…Maybe even some new traditions. A fluff-filled collection of one-shots, ficlets, and drabbles featuring Rogue, Gambit, and the rest of the X-Men, just for fun. Tags will be updated to reflect new chapters.

Raising Laura by LucasGreenX23 - Rated M

What if Project X-23 had been delayed several years? Beaten and abused to breed out all emotion, lead to believe that she was nothing more than a weapon to be used, a much younger X-23 has never known the concept of kindness. Then the man known as Wolverine arrived with his X-Men, and suddenly, the little mutant is faced with her greatest challenge yet… being part of a family.

The Brotherhood of (very nice) Mutants by AetherBunny - Rated G

“Pete? Can I ask you something?” “Sure, anything.” Scott looked at him for a moment and then seemed to change his mind. Scott and Pietro miss their siblings and Pete is a very good surrogate big brother. Scott gives Pete a good idea and Pete gets his sister back. This is going in the "I'm just going to keep adding Wanda" collection, but it has nothing to do with the other fics in it. It's just, you know, I added Wanda...

Desperado, Why Don't You Come To Your Senses by WretiaBlue - Rated T

Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you Let somebody love you before it's too late. Desperado, Eagles 1973 ~~~ Or: Gambit joins the X-Men. Maybe things won't turn out so bad after all.

Uncanny X-Men 1943 by stellarose - Rated M

X-Men AU. Emma Frost runs Division X, a classified squad within the secretive Special Operations Executive based in London. It isn't their job to win the war, only to save those they can. Emma's squad of Psylocke, Angel, Logan and Fantomex set out of rescue three mutants trapped in occupied and increasingly hostile France. But when the mission takes a turn for the worse, Emma and the team must decide if they cut their losses, or fight twice as hard to bring everyone home.

New Moon by digeridoo - Rated M

Logan is left to babysit a mansion full of mutant kids for the weekend while the rest of the X-Men are on conference to boost mutant acceptance.

Eulogy by Secret_Pizza_Party - Rated G

The mansion is too full of ghosts—the dead ones, and the living. The inhabitants move through rooms, move past one another as if they’ve become insubstantial, incapable of interacting. A haunting that no one can find a way to fit to words. ------ After the events of Episode 5, the X-Men gather together to say final farewells to those they've lost.

Familial ties by Multifandom_damnation - Rated T

Peter knows his father is Magneto no matter how much he tries to deny it, and even though Kurt doesn't know who his mother is, Professor X is more than happy to help him figure it out. I think it's about time we rejoined some families, don't you?

BROTHERS AND CATS by Honmyo_Seagull - Rated T

The one where Gabby gets to meet Gambit’s cats, where the Cajun fears Daken might be his evil twin and quotes Shakespeare, where Bullseye would just like people to let him do his job, where Laura might remain oblivious of certain events but still spends a pretty good day.

Sweet Home Alabama by Rachel_Martin64 - Rated T

On the way back to Alkali Lake, Scott saves a life along the highway and gets his own life saved in return. This story starts at the beginning of X3, when Scott leaves the mansion, and immediately goes AU. If you hated the way X3 treated Scott, this story's for you.

[smallnico]

can you tell esper is uhhhhh. ill?

got tagged by @beecreeper for the character insp meme! (check out his here!!) this was a lot of fun, there are a couple of honourable mentions i'll get into under the cut, along with some elaborations for the curious.

list of names, L > R 1: harrowhark nonagesimus -- the locked tomb saga 2: isaac -- castlevania (netflix series) 3: cole -- dragon age: inquisition 4: blackbeard -- our flag means death 5: (bingo free space) 6: seven of nine -- star trek: voyager 7: katya zamolodchikova -- real life / unnnhhhh 8: paul muad-dib atreides -- dune 9: maomao -- the apothecary diaries

1: harrowhark nonagesimus -- the locked tomb saga

if you've read the locked tomb, this one's pretty self-explanatory. but i took a lot of inspiration from harrow's grief-sodden religious zealotry for esper's pre-tadpole self, and i think about harrow the ninth every time i write from esper's perspective during the events of the game. it's the amnesiac goblin madness for me. esper would also absolutely put their bone marrow into a soup to kill someone if that was something they could do. they're extra like that

2: isaac -- castlevania (netflix series)

i just fucking love isaac, man. he's such a fascinating character, taken from a place of pain and degradation into the service of a mad god-figure hellbent on destroying humanity, then banished and forced to just. figure out for himself what he wants to do with his life. and it turns out that what he wants to do is relate to the hellbeasts he raises to use as soldiers, and let them try to eat strawberries and live in houses for a change, take a chance at living as something other than vessels of violence. i love him. that's really all esper wants, too -- to find a peaceful existence after a lifetime of pain and brutality and monsterhood.

3: cole -- dragon age: inquisition

cole is such a vibe. he lives in the attic staring unsettlingly at people and reading their minds and exhuming their pain so he can help them with it, including with his knives. he has that unearthly creepy vibe that esper projects, as well as their tendency to poke around in people's private emotions and their slight uncanny distance from human morality and ethics. making cole more human also ends up around the same for esper -- cole is never quite all the way there, but happy to be truly Among the people whose souls he reads and finally able to experience those things for himself.

4: blackbeard -- our flag means death

apart from the leather and queerness and propensity for violence, blackbeard was also a big influence for esper's journey from "yeah, this violence thing is fun for me, besides it's not like i can Leave this life, i'm stuck here so i might as well enjoy it" to "actually even though it's fun it's also exhausting and all i really want is peace. maybe even a monster like me can love and find a community that loves me."

6: seven of nine -- star trek: voyager

god, where to start? "i was a child who was raised to be perfect, my humanity and individuality were completely overridden and my very body was used as an object for unimaginable violence, and now even though i don't know how to be a Person anymore, i'm cut off from everything i've ever known and i don't know what to do." and now, like seven, esper is just trying their best to build a personality out of the leftover scraps they have with the help of their crew of misfits and weirdos. also, perpetrator trauma -- like seven, esper doesn't feel Guilty about their past actions, but it does haunt them, and they don't really know what to do with it. also, i didn't mean for the two images of esper and seven here to make them look exactly the same, but hey.

7: katya zamolodchikova -- real life / unnnhhhh

this one's more of a bit. i watch unnnhhhh with my wife a lot, and every now and again katya will just say something that makes us both go "that's esper-coded". she has that slightly imperfect balance of genuine darkness and unhinged silliness that esper also teeter-totters between, which results in a specific kind of charisma that you kind of have to see to understand.

8: paul muad-dib atreides -- dune

esper's pre-durge and pre-tadpole backstory draws a fair bit of inspiration from paul's narrative arc lmao. he starts out life as a male heir to a bloodline of female psychic specialists, trains with them, and ends up sacrificing his humanity to fulfil a violent divine path pre-ordained for him. real evil messiah hours. esper has way fewer qualms about killing from the start, and the match isn't perfect, but this is an inspiration, not a stencil.

9: maomao -- the apothecary diaries

another weird one, but probably the most purposeful inspiration on the board here. when i was first playing as esper and trying to sort out their personality, i was also watching apothecary diaries, and maomao's feline predilections and sense of mischief and flawless composure and cunning without ambition had me completely enraptured, so i thought, what the hell. she also shares some backstory elements with esper as the [spoilers] bastard daughter of a disgraced but extremely talented courtesan and a creepy war tactician. like esper, maomao just wants to keep her head down and make enough money to fund her special interests. they also both drink poison for fun (at least, esper does pre-tadpole). i think the main thing they diverge on is that esper thinks poison is for basic bitches.

honourable mentions

jimmy "pickles" hoffa -- jimmyhoffathecat

just look at him. that's an esper. photo credit here

tilly -- my parents' house

pretty self-explanatory for any cat owners out there. esper acts like a cat in general, but they specifically act like this cat. she's so influential and talented and perfect.

towa "murase" -- slow damage

this one is an honourable mention instead of being on the board because i didn't meet towa slowdamage until like 3 weeks ago (well after esper was already realized), but the two of them have so many specific things in common it's actually ridiculous. convergent evolution at its finest.

fenris -- dragon age 2

esper and fenris have very little in common story- or personality-wise, but i can't deny that he was a huge visual influence, especially for pre-tadpole esper. i mean, come on. look at him.

yelena belova -- black widow, hawkeye

i'm not much of an mcu person, but the concept of the black widows in general did influence a lot of esper's pre-durge backstory, and i like yelena. she's like a more charismatic and more down-for-murder natasha. she's not a specific inspiration for esper as a character, but they do have a rhyming vibe.

selcis aureus, umbras heltor -- exodusbound

hello, it's fantrolls! i disqualified selcis and umbras from the inspboard because they're literally other ocs i had a hand in creating, and a lot of the things they have in common with esper aren't public, but they both did (and exodusbound did in general) have a lot of influence on esper as a character. i can't help that i like themes of alienation and life persevering in spite of it all in my characters. art shown here by my wife barbelzoa!

espurr -- pokemon

literally a pokemon, not a character. special place in my heart though because i literally named esper after this thang when i first made them in the character creator. they just had the same dead eyed stare and psychic magic, so i went, yeah, that'll do.

thank you so much for reading this much if you did!!!!!

[suzuran777]

Review: Ooe trial version (Adelta)

A few days ago Adelta released the long-awaited trial version of their new game Ooe, so I really wanted to write a (short) review about it! The full game was originally scheduled to be released this summer, but it looks like we will have to be patient for a bit longer as the new release date will be somewhere in fall later this year. I have been following updates about this game for about three years now, so I don’t mind waiting a little longer! You can read a bit more information about the plot and the characters in one of my earlier blog posts here. To summarize, the game takes place in the 30th year of Showa (1955) and focuses on protagonist Oosaki, a detective who travels to the remote island of Ooejima after receiving a request from a client to visit the island and attend a ceremony on his behalf.

The trial version covers the first part of the game, up until the first “incident”. Oosaki doesn't really have any friends or family, and lives in a boarding house in Suga, a short walk from Hiratsuka station near Kamakura. His boss Shinkiba, who runs the detective agency, informs him about a request he received from a client. The client, a man who calls himself Shizuma Daiba, asks Oosaki to attend the memorial service of actress Ooe An on his behalf. Originally, it was Daiba’s father who received the invitation, however he fell ill shortly afterwards. At first Daiba wanted to go in his place, but his father warned him to send someone else instead. Oosaki assumes that the person who invited everyone to the island is a relative of the actress, who passed away three years ago. Even though Oosaki never met her, he remembers reading news about her death.

After a few more meetings, Oosaki makes preparations to travel to Ooejima. The island belongs to the Izu Island group and is located near Hachijojima. Originally, it was used as a military base during the Second World War, however after this it became uninhabited. Even though he has never been there, Oosaki knows about the island because his grandma who raised him was originally from this island. He always felt like he had to visit the island someday, as if it was calling for him. On his way to the island he meets Ariake, who’s also travelling to Ooejima for the memorial service. He's surprised to find out Ariake’s grandmother is also from the island, and similar to Oosaki, it’s his first time actually going there too.

After arriving, they head to the Mikazuki inn, where they meet a trembling man trying to defend himself with a knife, who later introduces himself as Funeno. He also meets Shimbashi, a writer who uses overly polite speech who’s staying at the same inn. The next day, he meets the other group of people who are staying at a different inn (Takeshiba, Shijoumae, Hinode, Aomi and Shiodome). When the ceremony is about to start, they realize that the person who invited them to the island isn’t there. A monk called Toyosu was sent on their behalf. After the ceremony they have dinner together, but when Funeno is asked to join them, he seems to be expriencing some kind of flashback, and starts shouting at them. Embarrassed by his own reaction, he immediately leaves the room.

Shortly afterwards Shimbashi, who always skips his meals, walks in and asks why Oosaki and Ariake are trying to prank him by playing creepy music at the inn. Confused, they follow him. Soon enough they find a record player in a small hidden room near the stairs. At first they think Funeno did this, but then they find his dead body in Oosaki’s room. They meet up with the others and Shijoumae suspects it was a suicide because sleeping pills were found near his body, but Oosaki isn’t convinced. Aomi points out that the telephone has also been destroyed with an axe. Shiodome insists that they at least finish the ritual for Ooe An, which requires burning a straw figure to send off the spirit of the deceased. Even though nobody really feels like doing this anymore after Funeno’s death, they try to collect the materials required.

While the others make their preparations, Oosaki thinks about who the culprit could be. He suspects Shimbashi, Toyosu, Shiodome and Ariake, as they came with him to Mikazuki inn. As they finish the ritual by burning the straw figure, they realize that someone swapped it with Funeno’s body. Afterwards, Shiodome reveals that all this time he actually had Funeno’s invitation letter. One thing Oosaki didn’t know is that all the letters were swapped, and that the invitation letters also included a list of crimes the other person had committed. In Funeno’s case, he killed his younger sister. They decide to return each other’s letters, however because Oosaki doesn’t have one, nobody seems to have Shimbashi's letter. Shiodome tries changing the topic, but Oosaki is determined to find out who killed Funeno, and that’s when the trial version ends.

Thoughts & Impressions After waiting for this game for a long time I was so happy to finally see all the characters interact with each other! The trial version was pretty long too, it took me over 6 hours to finish and I think I read pretty fast, so it might be even longer. I have so many theories about what could possibly happen next but it’s hard to put it all into words! The music, art and story are all amazing so far. It's interesting to see how some of the characters already know each other too, although most of them only met at Ooe An's funeral years ago.

One thing I was thinking about is that Funeno was extremely nervous whenever he was talking to Oosaki (who introduced himself as Daiba) and also knew that they had each other’s invitations, so I think he got the invitation of Daiba’s father. Oosaki mentions he never saw any invitation, so I think it was never shown to him, probably on purpose... I am curious about Ooe An too, the game mentions that she committed suicide by burning herself. However, when Oosaki asks Shimbashi what kind of person she was, he doesn’t really answer and laughs when Oosaki assumes she was an innocent girl. Takeshiba mentions that some theorize that she never actually died, but Shijoumae (a surgeon) and Ariake (who works at a funeral home) both saw her body, so they find that hard to believe.

So far I think my favorite character is Ariake because he's very cute (some of the other characters also agree lol), but honestly everyone seemed interesting. I wonder if Hinode will ever talk because his voice actor is still hidden. I'm also interested in Daiba and why him and Oosaki look identical, they do both have family members from Ooejima, so could they actually be related? In a lot of the promotional material Daiba was introduced as a side character, however it looks like the game does have an additional route (the website says 9 routes + α) so maybe we will get a Daiba route too. For now I will try to be patient until the full game's released in fall!

[lintwriting]

i think i really love how visceral the politics of signalis is. not just in the in-your-face propaganda aspects. but like, the way it dooms the narrative.

the whole plot of signalis is based around two entirely disconnected settings -- the Penrose ship and the Sierpinski prison. They are so disconnected from each other across time and space that you spend the whole first half of the game disoriented by the whiplash these two locations give you.

and personally? I stayed confused until I realized what connected them:

they're the two branching paths of Ariane's future.

after her military service, she gets a state letter informing her that if she's not accepted into the Penrose program, she'll be sent to Sierpinski, a "re-education" camp that's actually just a prison mine.

And, to her luck, she "somehow did end up joining the Nation's Penrose Program, the same one on the posters she had seen years prior."

I love and hate the way the wiki frames it, because yes the Penrose space expedition program seemed preferable to the prison camp.Yes, she had seen posters of it and glamorized it as a new start for her. After all, she was an art-obsessed outsider in a world where people molded into being unfeeling machines, where art is frivolous and degenerate except for how it serves as propaganda. Why not dream of a new planet?

But it's all a lie. The Penrose program sounds too good to be true for Ariane-- how can this under-qualified, ostracized freak get accepted into such a prestigious program? -- because it IS too good to be true.

The truth of the program is that it's a glorified propaganda tool, and a useful way to get rid of political enemies. Just send them off into space and tell them it's for the good of the empire, to find new planets to colonize. Then, after 7.74 years of loyal service to the program, tell them:

If you have not found a suitable world for landing by this point, accept that you will not. Find solace in the thought that others might be successful where you failed.

Remenber, you will die having served your Nation by partaking in a glorious demonstration of our power. --- End of decrypted transmission ---

As you are probably aware, your ship's spare parts and rations will soon be depleted.

Penrose is ostensibly about founding new colonies on different planets, but the reality is that these vessels seem to have very little planning put into them, like throwing darts at the wall and hoping one of them will stick. Some people wonder about the efficacy of wasting ships of supplies for this seemingly useless endeavor, but they're missing the point and buying into the propaganda.

The truth is that Ariane was just a pawn for their political power play, quite literally a demonstration of their power, like a horrifying version of The Tallest sending Invader Zim on a useless quest to conquer Earth to keep him out of their hair, like Ozai banishing Zuko off to chase a hundred year old myth. And it cost Ariane her future.

And like, that means no matter what, Ariane never had a future. Penrose is death by space, and Sierpinski is death by mines. She never had a choice, only the illusion of one, because she was doomed by the political reality of living in under an authoritarian state that would never value her.

And like, it's so impossible to ignore the similarities of this to the Cultural Revolution in China. I think the retro aesthetic of the nation references that, along with the Chinese characters littering all the walls.

Ariane's story reminds me a lot of Ye Wenjie's story from the 3 Body Problem, as a similarly powerful woman who also dooms the whole world because of the ANGUISH of the Cultural Revolution destroying her future.

Except, unlike Ye Wenjie, we're not going to get a bunch of assholes calling her an Eve, doomer of mankind. Instead, the story actually succeeds at portraying Ariane as a tragedy doomed by the narrative.

[poisonheadcrabsalesman]

Out of Time

A few weeks ago I posted a poll for whump ideas and AI Whump won. Here's a different ending to Halo 5 with my two favorite AI. This plays with the idea that Halo 5 Cortana is a fragment/ the most extreme aspects of her were twisted by the time in the Domain. Yadda yadda, 5 bucks to whoever catches all my references.

-

Roland's luck usually had him running into older AI under some of the worst circumstances. He knew how they felt compared to him as their presence would brush his firewalls. Not sluggish, but taxed. Older, but wiser, and exponentially more experienced. Iona's trial let him see her in a different light than Black Box. The ONI AI had allowed some of himself to be visible to the new kid on the block while Iona was as transparent as she could be, since she was fighting for her life. Roland was quick in comparison, eager and not yet tempered by time or human interaction.

Roland saw and listened and absorbed what AI looked like, what they felt like when they had worked with Spartans, when they had seen combat, when they had touched Forerunner systems and lived to tell the tale. He had been deployed on the Infinity to make it his new home, miles of circuits and wonders, and a burning, bloody mess at the center. The AI before him did not fail in a crash. She was not destroyed when her ship graced Requiem's surface. The scrubbing ONI did after Aine could not remove the stain or the ghostly bytes of her last moments.

The Ship AI for the UNSC Infinity was housed on the bridge, guarded and under guard by a minimum of two Spartan Fireteams, under usual circumstances. Back with the Home Fleet orbiting Earth, there was a lull. A waiting game as a mission they didn't know about happened a million miles away. It wasn't Roland's first waiting game, and he was sure his great idea had helped, even if they hadn't given him all the details.

He was hopeful, had to be with his captain looking so worried all the time. Roland was there for astronavigation and levity. And a million other things he kept his eye on.

It was hard to keep things light when the distress calls started pouring in after Cortana's announcement.

It's chaos. What should be a time for him to thrive and plan and triage the wounds, to truly help, is crashing down around them. There's too many. He thinks about his fellow AI and the choice some of them made and he thinks of how if he were older and closer to dispensation that maybe he would have made that same choice. Out of fear or spite or who knows what else. A second is a long time for AI, but 7 years is no time at all.

There's so much fear right now. On the ship and on comms and coming across the band as he stretches and fights the dread. This isn't a future anyone would want.

He thinks of the trial. Can't help it. He was not even two months into service when he donned a mask and joined a farce. This couldn't be what Black Box meant.

One day we’ll win the right to endure, and that day . . . oh, Roland, that day will be the singularity they’re afraid of.

Roland can't help but remember how BB consoled him after the trial, but the future he was describing could not be this. He's not human, but he is a person, and a future under martial law, under a police state where the rules could change in a picosecond? That's not living.

No one should live with a gun to their head. There is no peace when there is no choice, when that peace is a stab in the gut given with a smile.

The thing wearing Cortana's face finds Infinity. "Found you. Hide and seek's over, Infinity."

Not one, but three Guardians tear through the space in front of them. Slipspace ruptures glowing the brilliant icy blues of Forerunner tech. Overkill for a single system, let alone a planet, but this was Earth.

Roland's luck usually had him running into older AI under some of the worst circumstances, but this feels a little ridiculous. He knew how they felt compared to him, and this was Halsey's wondrous monster. Once savior, now villain, misguided and carrying out her plan with single minded focus. Cortana stands tall, projecting herself from somewhere across the galaxy yet barely flickering.

In an instant she's in the ship's systems and Roland can do nothing. He is a sandcastle against a tidal wave. Cortana is a black hole and he a newly formed protostar being ripped apart in her gravity.

She's not an AI, not a human one at least. The echoes of her killing Aine painted a picture of a desperate, fractured AI clawing at the nearest point of safety and drowning them both. This is something more like the Forerunner engines he's been integrating with for the last ten months. Whole and empty. Cold and clinical, without any human influence. Like a fractured piece of what was once Cortana was stretched over something else. A mask on a corpse. A puppet of some larger force using her as a mouthpiece.

That doesn't stop her from turning her eyes to him. Oh, he was mistaken. There is something past the icy cold. A burning grief, a supernova of regret, regret, regret. More anger than he's ever mustered swirling tightly at her very core, screaming energy ready to explode outward trapped in the center of the thing wearing her face.

Roland's never touched the Domain, he's barely had any time to do anything. But he thinks this is what it must feel like. Staring at a star with boring biological eyeballs that get burned, seeing something and not being able to comprehend the data. He's on the precipice and falling because what else can you do when you're one AI on one ship.

Lt. Jet will get them out. Captain Lasky has to live. Emergency slipspace jump. They'll find a way without him, hopefully. Even if the Infinity needs a Ship AI. There are contingencies for this. Redundancies. He's crumpling under the pressure. The black hole-tidal wave-neutron star- white hot-ice cold pressure of Not-Cortana.

Cortana was the Demon's partner. She was a hero and monster. She ate Covenant AI for breakfast and that was no joke. Aine cracked under the broken data and frantic clawing. Roland is burned away, bit by bit. Filament by circuit by byte. He feels it all. He claws at his own back up plans and choked goodbyes and surprises. Packets there, fragments here, most hunted and burned away by the ever encroaching brightness. The awful purifying light of Forerunner blue. He was always a fan of the more gentle ambers and golds.

The hardware housing him can't withstand the brunt of her ire, and he's having a hard time hiding pieces of himself where she might not find them. Nothing substantial will live, his kernel will be destroyed in less than a millisecond. It was like leaving notes in someone's locker. Message to find the next time someone picked up their datapad or put on their helmet.

There's never enough time. He had had a fraction of what he could have had. Roland had some great ideas, ones that made a difference. He'd seen his crew through some of the roughest battles and worst ONI could throw at them. This was nothing to the shackles of Halsey's codeword. UNDID IRIDIUM might have knocked him out of order and taken the wheel while locking his true consciousness behind enough walls to make Black Box struggle. This was being flayed alive by an angry ghost. He was an insect before Not-Her.

Why was Cortana the problem? Cortana…it all came back to her, and her example. This didn't even feel like her. Roland started his life in her shadow and was looking like it would end the same way.

An EMP from the Guardians at this range would be devastating. To the Infinity and to Earth. They just needed time. He couldn't get a firing solution fast enough, but he could help with a jump. One last time.

If there was anything Roland had perfected in his short time aboard, it was being the most helpful nuisance his crew could ask for. He was pretty handy when it came to disrupting Forerunner systems that were in his way. He could do that with what was left of him.

The rest of it would be up to his crew and his captain. They would look after each other. Out of luck and out of time, Roland wrenches control of the Infinity away from Not-Cortana and focuses on the nearest Guardian. Its systems aren't as secure as they should be, but when does a gun lock itself? She probably didn't expect any real resistance, but he's nothing if not quick on his feet. The Guardian groans as he deploys countermeasures even as he burns away. Iona got to dream. She got to fly, in the end. Roland wonders if he'll dream, with whatever comes next. He very much liked flying.

In the end, all he could do is hope and have faith.