#i want dex to go in search of a personality

[bklynmusicnerd]

I wish they would let Spencer bring up the fact that he saw Dex grinding on his girl at the NB. That’s another reason he can bring up for not fucking with him.U know how disrespectful it is to see the guy u hate giving a lapdance to your girlfriend? At first I thought Spencer didn’t see it, but it turns out he did in the background.

I don't think that was a scripted moment, I think that was just the actor having fun so I don't know if I really expect it to come up again lol. I definitely thought it was weird in context because Trina and Dex are essentially strangers but it's the Nurse's Ball so whatever. I'm at a point where I don't want Spencer and Dex to interact until Cam is back. I just don't see a reason for them to interact with each other at all without Cam. I haven't enjoyed any of their scenes together.

[specialagentartemis]

ykw i am having so much fan watching you be a hater, that i’ve decided to ask for more. PLEASE give us a rant about a book you hated.

Haha aw I'm honored. And uh I hope you don't have any particular attachment to Becky Chambers. Sorry in advance.

But A Psalm for the Wild-Built won a Hugo and I do not get the love. Book 1 was nice enough, yeah. Book 2 had me tearing my hair out.

Sibling Dex is a restless Tea Monk who serves the God of Small comforts on the science-fantasy planet of Panga. I genuinely love the idea of a tea monk - part therapist, part confessor, travels around to the different towns, mixes tea blends for people, lets them talk about their worries and fears and stresses, and gives them, if not advice, then sympathy and a listening ear and some calming tea. This is meaningful work but they're unhappy. After doing this for a while they're still unsatisfied with their life, so they go into the woods searching for self-actualization, and meet a robot named Mosscap, a wild robot that lives in the woods. See, hundreds of years ago, all the robots "woke up" and became sentient one day, then they staged a quiet rebellion against humanity's greed and industrialization by walking into the woods and never coming back. Now, the continent is split in half: humans stay on the Human Side, and robots stay on the Robot Side. The Robot Side is kept wild and humans are discouraged from going in there because humans can't be trusted not to ruin Nature. The rpbots are welcome to come to the Human Side, they just never have. Dex is the first person in a While to venture into the woods of the Robot Side, and the first human since the great walkout to see a robot. Mosscap gives Dex a lot of philosophical pep talks about not pushing themself so hard, about allowing themself to just rest and appreciate the world without feeling like they need to be Providing A Service to justify their existence. It's a nice theme. Underbaked, imo, but nice. Relateable.

Book 2 was a goddamn mess.

Book 1 mostly takes place in the wilderness of the woods, so it's okay if the nice utopian human community Dex comes from was sketchily-built. It Just Works, and everyone Is Just Nice, this is a science-fantasy parable. There were some issues I had with it - like the strict ideological and physical divide between Nature and Humans, and the fact that Dex's religion seems to be the Only Religion In The World, and it's vaguely secular-humanist with the gods being not "really" gods but names given to primordial forces and philosophical concepts, and the religion not really making any demands of its adherents in any way except to become their best selves and devote themselves to what they like... it's potentially interesting, but overall kinda lazy. It felt like Becky Chambers was aware of the idea that having an enlightened-atheist sci-fi utopia is Problematic, so she made there be a central religion, but she also didn't want it to have any of the ~icky~ things religions have, like belief in anything supernatural, or dietary restrictions, or creeds, or codes of behavior, or expectations to make any kind of sacrifice in any way. All the gods "ask" is that humans observe and appreciate the world. But whatever.

In book 2, Dex and Mosscap return to Dex's society, and the book seems to want to explain how the world works, and oh my GOD is Chambers not prepared to do this.

"Observe and appreciate" is all anyone is asked to do. Book 2, A Prayer for the Crown-Shy, is an ode to ultimate virtue of Doing Nothing. There's this attitude I see in a LOT of utopian fiction, where the author is bluntly just not a good enough author to imagine a utopian society where people act like people, so in the world of Panga, utopian society is achieved through 1) homogeneity 2) no one giving a crap about anything.

As far as I can tell, there is the one religion. Most people are Fine with this. Most people are Fine with anything. There are no characters with distinct personalities. There's no money, except there is, except it's not real money and no one will deny you anything if your balance is in the red, even though your balance is available to be seen by anyone - this does not cause any kind of shame or pride or competition in any way, and Dex doesn't understand why it might. There are no hierarchies or governing bodies, people just volunteer to step up when things need doing (this is portrayed as great and not deeply concerning). There are different communities, but in them, everyone is uniformly nice, friendly, and helpful at all times. There are some parts of nature, like the seashore, where people are not allowed to go because they'll ruin the environment, and this is accepted as correct and necessary. Most people live in hippie, pro-recycling, high-tech, end-of-history green communities; there's one group they visit, however, that doesn't trust technology, and lives in a vaguely sci-fi-Amish way. You might think, Dex travelling around with a robot, this might cause conflict! It does not. The people from this community calmly explain their anti-technology position, Dex calmly explains their pro-technology position, and they politely respect each other. "Not bothered either way" is a phrase that turns up in various permutations a lot and is held up as the good, mature, responsible way to be.

There's a scene where they catch a fish for dinner, and instead of killing it, the scifi-Amish guy says "We let the air do that for us, and they let the fish slowly suffocate to death in the air while they all look on solemnly and sadly. This is portrayed as a deep, beautiful moment of them witnessing and honoring the final moments of a living being's life. And not. y'know. them torturing a living being to death so they can keep their own hands clean.

This is what I mean about the valorization of passivity: observing is all you are ever obligated to do. Letting a fish die in the air is better than killing it quickly and humanely, because doing things gets your hands dirty, while letting things simply happen is the Correct way to do it.

At the end, Mosscap and Dex blow off all their promises and appointments and just hang out at the beach chilling out instead, because do what you want forever, you don't have to do shit. This is the happy affirming ending. Mosscap you fucking said you'd meet with the city leaders as the robot ambassador to the humans, did you tell them you were blowing off this commitment because you didn't feel like doing that anymore??? Did you even let them know??????

It is SUCH a baffling book. The theme wants to be "you are more than your job, you deserve to just Be" and ends up feeling like "you don't have to do anything ever, and no one can make you do anything you don't want to do if you don't feel like it, and you don't owe anyone anything and searching for a purpose in your life is just making you stressed out so chill at the beach instead."

The thing that drives me crazy is like. Mosscap cheerfully tells Dex about robots that spend twenty years in a cave watching stalactites form because they think it's beautiful, and those robots are just as much a valued part of society as anyone else. Appreciating beauty and wonder is good enough, you don't need to be productive. And I'm just. fuckin. like. Humans are not robots! Robots don't need to eat or sleep! Humans need food, and clothes, and shelter, and medical care, and if we don't have SOMEONE working to provide that, we Die! Nice as it would be, we CAN'T just all do nothing forever until we feel like it! We can't do that!

And at the same time, the book bizarrely treats wanting a purpose in life as like... almost disordered. If you are seeking a purpose in life it's because you just haven't let go of your guilt and relaxed enough. It's bizarre. Valorization of passivity. Humans aren't meant to be in nature so we just Shouldn't. Doing nothing and having no strong opinions is the most self-affirmed you can possibly be. Letting a fish suffocate is more moral than quickly breaking its neck or spiking its brain. Someone else will do it. Who, if we're all supposed to be resting and only doing what we feel like? Don't worry about it.

"The heart of this book is comfort [...] There is nothing in it that can hurt you." YOU LIAR BECKY CHAMBERS THE FISH SCENE STILL DISTURBS AND UPSETS ME TO THIS DAY

[camelspit]

Roisin's Reading Rumble 2024

The RRR will officially be coming back!! Signups will most likely start on SEP 16.

If you want to be tagged in the official signup post, tell me either in the comments or tags on this post. IF YOU SEND ME AN ASK OR MESSAGE ME ABOUT IT, I WILL NOT REMEMBER TO TAG YOU!!!

This year, unfortunately, I don't have the time to grade a bunch of stuff so! It's going to be just one big project this year, with 1-2 months to complete! Im currently considering 2 options.

More info on each below the cut!

Note: For both of these, only one person can do each. So if someone were to take Tiergan or Sophie/Marella, that would be off the table (during the sign up period, you can do a top 5 characters/dynamics.)

Characters:

Main characters (Sophie, Fitz, Dex, Keefe, Biana, Linh, Tam, and Marella) would be off the table, just to sort of. diversify the characters picked and make people branch out more.

We did this last year!! It would most likely be pretty much the same thing. If you tag search Roisins Reading Rumble, you can probably find some pretty good examples!!

Dynamics:

These can be romantic/platonic/familial, etc. Anything you want!! It can be however many characters you want as well, but I don't recommend more than 3.

These relationships can either be textual (like sophie and keefe) or just something interesting that you'd like to see in the books (like wylie and keefe)!

Additional information about rules and submissions will be released after the poll is concluded.

[shadowuserannie]

KOTLC X MLB AU (Part 4)

Previous parts are linked in 3. No I'm not going to relink them.

So! First off before anything else;

I'M NOT WRITING IF PEOPLE DON'T READ.

Just a general "this is a discardable WIP to me" "I can easily drop if people do not want to interact" "I have more WIPs I'm actually attached to" "reblog this more if you want the person who does not HAVE to write it, to actually write it"

I apologize for sounding like this. I'm in a bad mood today.

Now onto the Miraculous in this AU!

-Ladybug and Black Cat

So go read the previous parts first. *waits* Done? Cool. So now you know Sophie is the LB and Fitz is the CN. The deal up with the Guardians that makes them go "hmm there is more to this"?

Plagg and Tikki did not know the other was activated, and Fitz and Sophie help different people.

As in, one of them helps an old man, the other helps an old woman. These two strangers look very different. That, plus Plagg and Tikki being completely separate and surprised at the activation of the other? Alarm bells are ringing!

(The ambiguity of who is who is because I haven't PICKED who is who. actually reblog with who you think the "Guardians" should be, valid reasoning, just ironic pick, etc etc)

It's why one mystery will be the searching of who gave out the magic jewellery?

-Chinese Miracle Box: Wuxing/Five Elements Set

So apparently the Fox, Turtle, Bee, Peacock and Butterfly are the Five Elements. Cool. Anyway, I have at present not decided on the wielders. Dex will maybe be the Fox wielder, but that's not solid at the moment. Solidly decided is Alden with the Butterfly and Della as an ex-Peacock. I do want to use this set ATP right now, though.

-Western Miracle Box: Western Zodiac

FINALLY THE POINT OF THIS POST. So! After staring at the Chinese Zodiac set way too fucking long I decided not to use it. Why? BECAUSE I CAN'T FIT THE CHARACTERS TO THEM. Using the Western Zodiac set, I'm basically making my own customizable to the characters. Yay! Besides, this *does* fit the context of this AU, as the Miraculous are scattered worldwide. The Western Zodiac set *may not* be full, though.

Currently decided/solid: go check the Tam post. Yes he's got Scorpio/Scorpion. Go reblog with whatever else you think everyone else should be.

That's all! I'm going to drink more coffee to get my anger-created headache worse now.

[crediblebombthreat]

I forgot how good of a bossfight Mohg is

Fought him last night on an under-leveled and under-geared dex character. So I actually had to pay close attention. I remember liking him, but I forgot why he's up there with Ludwig in my personal favorite Fromsoft bossfights.

He just has so much going for him as a secret boss. Every angle of the game, despite giving you an unhinged amount of freedom to go and do as you please, has some sort of Mohg residue on it. All paths lead to Mohg.

The first NPC you talk to -- Varre, the one that people who haven't even played Elden Ring know about -- is a devotee to Mohg. After you kill a Demigod, Varre moves to Liurnia, and sets up shop at this sick Blood Church. He tells you to invade people and ruin their evenings. He hypes up Mohg. After you do three invasions (even if you get your shit slapped) he gives you an item to teleport to Mohg's mausoleum...and it's this massive underground structure you saw like 15 hours ago in your playthru because you forgot about Varre until halfway through Leyndell. Mohg is there. He is everything you wanted.

Or you never talked to Varre or you killed him because he talked shit and called you a virgin. And instead you read about this secret child of Marika. And then you fight him and he's Morgott. THEN you read that he had a twin. And that twin is evil and rebelled against the Golden Order. But Gideon thinks he's a delusional freak. 10 hours later you get the Lord of Blood Exaltation talisman and upon reading the description you're like "who the fuck is this guy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and start ripping out your hair. And then you unlock a secret area: the special unrevealed part of the map in the Snowfield that leads to the Haligtree of Miquella -- another character that's dripping from the lore, and who is closely related to this mysterious Mohg "The Lord of Blood" fellow. And while exploring the area you stumble upon this blood-soaked teleporter and you're like "no." And it teleports you to this bloody swamp area in the undergound and you're like "no." And then he's there, and you fight him and he does a little countdown halfway through the fight and you can't avoid it and it kills you. What?? And then a couple of hours later when you're trying to make sure you got everything for the final boss, you see a square on your map that you now know signifies a church. And you see one in the Altus Platau! And a blood-themed NPC invades you and you're like "no." And you get this crystal tear. And its description is as follows: Can be mixed in the Flask of Wonderous Physick. The resulting concoction purifies the curse from Mohg, Lord of Blood's terrifying rite of blood. Tell me, would you lose your mind? Would you flip the fuck out?

Or maybe neither of these apply, and you've just read about him here and there. And you go through the Leyndell sewer in search of forbidden knowledge. And then who else is there but fucking Mohg! You've heard your friends talk about him, you've heard him hyped up, and he's here and it seems fake. Your friends said he was in an underground area, this is a sewer. That feels different. You whip his ass and you get towards the Frenzied Flame and you're like "ok. but this isn't blood...it's crazy. who was that blood guy? why was he here?" And then you go back and look for info on him and soon enough you've also caught the brainrot and you have to hunt this guy down and kill him or else you might go insane.

If these sound off-puttingly specific, it's because they're all different ways that my friends who played Elden Ring experienced the buildup to Mohg. It's inescapable. And his bossfight -- I haven't even mentioned his bossfight -- it's insane. The way he gently talks to Miquella and then his voice changes to a gravelly malice when speaking to the tarnished. The way he fucking counts down in latin to zero before doing his phase 2 animation. He grows wings. He's gay. His moveset is dramatic and theatrical -- he looks like he's enjoying putting on a show for a stranger. He puts a curse on you. He's so lonely. His boss weapon is fucking sick even after being nerfed a billion times. His theme is excellent. He's weak to bleed, but either him or you bleeding in his presence gives him 20% extra damage! That fight mechanic is so fucking sick, and it plays into his characterization so fucking well! He has absolutely everything!

I dunno. I've never played Kingdom Hearts, but Mohg gives me the same sort of shock and awe a 10-year-old in 2002 might've felt fighting Sephiroth. Like, if you're never gonna play Elden Ring take like 30 minutes to watch Jerma's video on Mohg. His childlike wonder wonderfully communicates the slow buildup of Mohg Madness you get over like 80-90 hours of gameplay.

[ohmotherwhereartthou-if]

Can an MC with antisocial personality disorder still show enough love for his Mother? I know people with this condition aren't what the media usually makes them out to be, but they're also no piece of cake, so I was curious. And Yes, I am super hopeful about the idea of an MC with this condition being loving towards his mother, with his mother being one of the few people who destabilizes him and makes him feel so much affection.

If the question isn't already too long, how will the trait interact with the Traumatized trait? Will there be any changes? For example, will he be much colder and perhaps cruel to men?

Okay so!

What I have planned for that trait is that, much unique dialogue will be added for it and some scenarios will play out differently for them. If MC has antisocial personality disorder (APD) and the traumatized trait they will pretty much be locked as 100% Hardened and Pessimistic; while being forced through options that reflect that the whole story.

I have done a bit of research on actual APD and I will base pretty much all of my writing about the topic on that around that.

I am keeping in mind if MC is not traumatized and want to chose the kind options, that they will be allowed to but it will be a result of June helping them at a young age to mimic empathy. Since people with APD physically cannot naturally feel empathy, it needs to be taught at a young age for them to mimic it in order to blend in.

As for how they view June will probably be as follows, when I searched how people with APD viewed their parents or family, I found an interesting line of thought that was stated about it. The reoccurring one was that family can be viewed as "Those people are mine", that and just straight up cutting family members out of their lives because they were deemed toxic.

So if a APD Orphan is very attached to their Mother or Mentor, then they would 'love' her in their own way; Viewing her as "Theirs" and more of a treasured possession rather than a loved one. It's the closest thing I could find to how they show love, so there will still be sweet scenes where MC can show affection towards June; it will just be with extra dialogue to reflect that MC cannot comprehend empathy and is doing what they think is 'the kind thing to do'. They love her in their own way, and show it however they can.

How they handle her disappearance... that is up to you!

---

As a side note, I recently watched the old Netflix Daredevil series and seeing how they characterized Bullseye really made me think of how I think I might handle APD (not to say you are automatically an inclined murderer when you have it, also I am aware what they were going for was borderline personality disorder w/psychotic tendencies not APD).

Like here: (Keep in mind, I am not referring to the murder part lol. Just the support and guidance part)

Dex could not feel empathy but mimicked it after his therapist taught him how when he was a child, when she died she told him find a good person to make your 'Northstar' and try to be like them. So he finds a really kind girl, Judy I think her name was? (Yup, googled it. I was correct.) And he tries his best to emulate her, otherwise keep a tidy living space, find a job that has firm structure, and live in a routine. Not perfect 1 to 1, but better than the basic psychopath trope usually shown.

This scene at the cafe is great with Julie when he is spiraling and she grounds him, definitely that idea of how MC's relationship with June would be:

But the whole, growing attached to a person and lashing out BAD when they perceive that that person is abandoning them resonated hard with how I feel a APD orphan would be for this story.

As seen here:

But alas, how your orphan turns out is up to you!

Also quick disclaimer, I am not any sort of studied person on mental disorders; I am just a girl with a laptop trying to do her due diligence. If I get anything wrong feel free to send me a message but please don't be mean cuz I am trying my best.

[thydungeongal]

A New Party Emerges

So, to pass the time I have been playing solo Old-School Essentials using a randomly generated sandbox generated via Hexroll and with a party of characters whose random stat rolls were outsourced to Tumblr.

To get up to speed on recent events.

Since my last attempt ended on a party wipe, I thus created a new party. This first post will simply be to introduce the new party.

Himbo Baggins Str 15 Int 6 Wis 9 Dex 13 Con 9 Cha 9 Halfling, Lawful 1 hp AC 6 Leather, crossbow + 20 bolts, silver dagger, sack (small), mirror (hand-sized, steel), backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 5 rations, 10 gp

Himbo is a simple little halfling from Heretoforeshire who got bored of the simple halfling life of vaping with his cousins Rippin "Fat Cotton" Took and Merry Randyfuck. He hopes to make a good fortune adventuring so that he may one day retire in a nice hole, but in the meantime he wants to meet new people, help them, and see the world!

Gorn Battleforge Str 16 Int 9 Wis 9 Dex 10 Con 15 Cha 11 Dwarf, Chaotic 2 hp AC 4 Chainmail + shield, spear, sling + 20 stones, sack (small), mirror (hand-sized, steel), backpack, tinder box, 6 torches, waterskin, 4 rations, 10 gp

Gorn is a dwarf, tentatively of the clan Battleforge but somewhat ostracized by the rest of his clan for his unorthodox ways and disrespect for tradition. Gorn wishes for nothing more than to gain money, glory, and power.

Lucy Str 9 Int 9 Wis 8 Dex 16 Con 12 Cha 10 Tiefling (alternate racial class found in Carcass Crawler #3), Neutral 5 hp AC 2 Black eyes, red skin, Fire resistance, cast mirror image once/day Chain mail + shield, silver dagger, sword, holy water, wolfsbane, backpack, tinder box, 1 torch, waterskin, 6 rations, 11 gp

Lucy (full name "Lucia") is a tiefling, a person with a touch of demonic influence. Despite her demonic origin, Lucy is actually a kind person, if a bit vain and mischievous. She is mostly in the life of adventure for the thrill of it.

Bernard Str 11 Int 8 Wis 14 Dex 13 Con 10 Cha 11 Cleric, Neutral 1 hp AC 1 Plate mail + shield, sling + 20 stones, mace, mirror (hand-sized, steel), holy water, backpack, tinder box, 6 torches, waterskin, 3 rations, 14 gp

Bernard is a priest of the church of Neutrality, wandering the world in search of adventure and preaching the value of moderation in all things and "it's impossible to say whether things are bad or good."

Jennifred Str 7 Int 10 Wis 11 Dex 7 Con 14 Cha 17 Magic-User, Neutral Detect magic 2 hp AC 9 Dagger, mirror (hand-sized, steel), pole (10' long, wooden), backpack, tinder box, 3 torches, waterskin, 4 rations, 6 gp

Jennifred is, by all accounts, a nice girl who just happens to be a magic-user. She's not particularly bright, she's clumsy, but she was still able to complete her apprenticeship through sheer positive attitude and lots of nights spent studying while burning the midnight oil.

Anyway, so that's our new party. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the free version of Hexroll doesn't save the state of solo sandboxes on its server, which I think is entirely fair because server storage isn't infinite and neither is maintaining such a service free. I am currently mulling through my options, including whether to become a supporter of Hexroll to be able to maintain continuity between my solo ventures, but for now this new party will have to go into an entirely new solo sandbox.

EDIT: In the meantime, if someone wishes to explore the previous sandbox, here it is!

[archiveofuniverses]

DnD WxS

Tsukasa’s character “Pegasus Northstar”

- STR +3 DEX +2 CON +2 INT +2 WIS +1 RIZZ - 2

(Nene allowed him to fuck up the rizz stat to watch him fail horrendously at casting spell and it is now part of his character)

- Lawful Good

- Human (he is being bullied for choosing that)

- Paladin (No rizz paladin, great combination)

Rui’s character “Ceres Honordew”

- STR -1 DEX +1 CON +0 INT +2 WIS +2 RIZZ +3 (will physically collapse build)

- Chaotic Neutral

- Tiefling

- Sorcerer

Emu’s character “Flutter Wildwind”

- STR +1 DEX +2 CON +2 INT +1 WIS +1 RIZZ +1

“Every stat is important!”

- Neutral good

- Air Genasi

- Cleric (she offered to play support)

Silly tidbits!!

Tsukasa has never played DnD before, Nene is rubbing her hands together (about to traumatize him / his character)

Rui quoted: lying, it’s the responsible thing to do. (Yes, that is a reference to something)

Flutter healed a goblin and now it’s following her around.

Flutter healed a giant crab and it is also following her around. (These two based off of the one time I did play dnd)

Pegasus dislikes Ceres, the feeling is mutual.

Ceres is to some degree manipulating Pegasus. (Flutter is oblivious to both of these, to some degree)

Ceres is very sweet towards Flutter and others.

Flutter is a massive sweetheart.

Pegasus, Ceres, Flutter’s backstories below the cut

Pegasus was born into a loving, rich family that always donated to charity hence his strong sense of justice and strict moral code. He had always dreamed of becoming a protector of the kingdom, wanting to become a paladin despite his lack of magical prowess. He was teased for his weak appearance as a child, prompting him to train extremely hard and become the best version of himself. He eventually became a knight, still not getting along well with his peers. He then realizes the government there was kinds corrupt and drops his knighthood in the pursuit of adventure and a place to belong.

Ceres, in contrast to Pegasus, was born in a low class household and struggled with money. His family received donations from charities though the money rarely reaches him, (the charity was totally keeping some of the money for their own gain) most of the donations come from house Northstar but he doesn’t know that. He’d try to adhere to the law but desperate times calls for desperate measures. He talks his way out things and manipulates people he deems “a bad person” to his own gain. He leaves his family in the quest of anarchy, though is quickly scooped up by Flutter before he could do anything bad.

Flutter is from a faraway kingdom, she used to go adventuring with her family until her grandfather was killed in front of her and her family’s eyes. Her family now strictly avoids adventuring and going out in fear of losing another family member, especially Emu. She longs for freedom from her cage, wanting to explore the world. She runs away from home in search of thrills and adventuring companions, scooping up Pegasus and Ceres along the way.

[obislittleone]

Ohh I love HOM so much. I‘be been wanting to ask this for a long time actually! Who knew of obi’s and little one’s relationship? And how did they find out?

The list of who actually knew about Obi and Little One goes as follows, chronologically.

Padme (she was the first person that Little One confided in about her feelings)

Ahsoka (she was accidentally revealed the truth on the ship for that one mission)

Anakin (ahsoka told him... honestly valid tho)

Mak Lotor (through his own speculation as well as personal interaction, he gathered the pieces together long before he even admitted to knowing anything... Little one just gaslit him so badly he was afraid to say something lmaoo)

Various other padawans (don't get me wrong, they were very secretive... but obi and little one still had a connection like no other padawan had with their master... so obviously rumors amongst younger generations of padawans and jedi started up, and since no one put then to rest, everyone just eventually assumed it was official. Though they would never say anything to the higher ups, as they didn't believe the same way older jedi did.)

Dex (yes, I included Dex. Whenever Obi-Wan needed information he knew he could go to Dex, and likewise, Whenever he wanted to talk to someone about something he couldn't confide with other Jedi, he went to Dex. That's why when Little One showed up in the diner, even though there was mass hysteria going on, Dex didn't hesitate to help her and Mak, because he knew what she meant to Obi-Wan, and wanted to help protect her.)

Rex (i think it was probably just accidental word of mouth from ahsoka and anakin, they honestly don't know how to keep a secret from him, even intentionally.)

The entire 212th (listen as soon as cody know something, they all know. Of course, good soldiers follow orders, and they were told to keep quiet about it from their commander, so obviously they ain't gonna spread it to anyone but each other lol)

Mace Windu (this kinda was hinted at with the plot starting in chapter 43. When they were trapped, i think Mace got a better understanding of why their connection was not only important to the Jedi, but also important as a symbol of the future generations. He too has probably loved many people but could never embrace them the way he wanted to because of the Jedi code. I think at first he was almost jealous of the way they behaved, even though under his watch it was mostly just as master and padawan, Otheriwse just as good friends... but after that situation, he felt hope for future generations to not have to be so tightly wound about the laws of attachment. That they could cling to those they love as long as it benefits the jedi order and makes them stronger. After they were rescued from being trapped, Mace saw the dedication Obi-Wan had to finding her. If one thing coukd be said, he was certain that this entire was was going to be won by Obi-Wan, if only to keep her safe, and i think that's when his approval settled in. Now, he by no means ever receivedactual confirmation, but let'sbe so for real, he absolutely knew about their relationship.)

Master Yoda (his feelings through meditation were always very in tune, but he never set his mind to try and confirm something like so many other did. His suspicion did not outweigh his need to just feel the force around him, therefore he never went searching for answers as he believed whatever was happening would reveal itself in time. I think that's why he was genuinely a bit in shock at the revelation of obi and little one, and when he dropped that baby bomb during order 66. Yoda has suspicion like all the other masters, and he'd also heard the rumors, but since he never went searching for answers, he never actually had any confirmation that the speculation was true. Until it was all dumped on him at once in a time of need. I think that's why his compassion for them was so strong. He wasn't angry or even disappointed, he just knew that the world around them was crashing down and he wanted to keep them both safe.)

Okay so like this is my list, i didn't give specific names to the other jedi/padawans that knew simply because there were probably a lot that didn't say anything based on what they witnessed. The one in the Kenobi series was definitely one of them, I think I signaled that pretty well tho lol

[elvenbeard]

2077, April

"You really think I can make it, survive this?"

"'Course you can. I mean, you did already die and come back once, didn't ya?"

The chance of a lifetime the Konpeki Plaza Heist should have been turned Vince's existence into a living nightmare. Going from "just living, day by day" to "sheer survival, at all costs" in the manner of moments and following a row of bad decisions made by everyone involved, this was now definitely his last chance to get his life back on the right track. A second chance, after so many other second chances he'd already botched... while the one who would've really deserved another shot was now gone from Vince's life forever.

Jackie, the one person he had never regretted to trust in, who had never let him down, helped him out of the greatest messes, wouldn't be at his side through his biggest challenge so far. Vince would often lie awake at night wondering "What if he'd just kept the damn biochip? Would he be here now, instead of me? Why am I still here when he'd deserved it so much more?"

But then again... Jackie wouldn't have deserved Johnny Silverhand, Vince's newly acquired brain parasite from days long gone, unwanted voice of unreason, and perpetual threat to his mere existence.

Vince was dying, losing himself, little by little, day by day, after it had taken him ten long years to get to a point of self-acceptance and recognizing his strengths, desires, what he truly wanted from life. It was the cruelest irony of fate imaginable.

Misty's words accompanied him through his darkest moments: as long as your heart's still beating, there is hope.

Vince never wanted to be a legend... but for Jackie's sake, he'd make sure everyone would remember their names. He'd survive this, get rid of the Relic, of the terrorist in his brain, and make it out alive. No matter the cost.

Vince through the years (7/9)

A handful of before and after screenshots this time:

Some slight colour adjustments, and a little Relic-like glitch effect like it happens to Johnny whenever he's visible!

Also these two didn't make it to the final set, but I still really love the flying sparks effect :O These are completely vanilla, done in vanilla Photomode without path tracing. There's a lot of particle effects going on at Afterlife that render very interestingly sometimes (I think only since the graphics update though, since pics in Photomode take a moment to render, creating this motion blur/ long exposure effect). Sometimes this a bit annoying when you want to go for a relatively clean shot, but these looked really kinda cool for once xD

I've also been playing around a lot with a free filter plugin (search for GMIC) for Photoshop that has some really nice glitch effects, chromatic abberation, amongst many many many others :o If you don't know it and use Photoshop (although I think there are versions for other programs available as well!), I can definitely recommend it!

Now, to what I wrote above the cut, briefly. This is a relatively short post compared to all others in the series cause it's obviously the one aligning with what canonically happens in game and there's no need to retell all that in great detail xD What I wanted to focus on though was Vince's shift of mind between pre-Heist and post-Heist.

Before the heist, when Dex asks him what he wants, a quiet life or a blaze of glory, Vince is internally leaning more to a quiet life. Assuming though that that's not what Dex would wanna hear, probably, he deflects, gives him no clear answer. But yes, after having to run away from home, struggling on the street, busting his ass for Arasaka and barely making it out of all of that alive, had it not been for Jackie, he has no intentions of just throwing all his growth and progress away by blowing himself up in some daredevil endeavour. He's reached a point where he genuinely likes himself, his body, his life, and while he's not perfect, still in recovery from his time at Arasaka, and has done messed up things to get here, he would've been content with just small-time, low-risk merc work for the years to come.

With Jackie gone though, who has been a constant guidance over the last 10 years, with everything that rains down on Vince during the post-Konpeki shitstorm, I think this would change. He's being told "you're gonna lose yourself, forget who you are", "the body you literally shaped after your own wishes will soon be Johnny's", whom he cannot stand, no one wants to work with him initially after such a legendary failure, he has "a few weeks, at most" left to live... fuck all that, so hard. He's gonna fight tooth and nail to make it out of it alive, forget the quiet life.

He's gonna make sure as hell that, if all ends up being in vain, people will remember him and that he didn't settle for the easy way out. If he has to die, he'll do so standing - maybe scared, but head held high. Cause everything else would be a disservice to how far both he and Jackie have come together, to who he is at his core: a rebellious kid who once rather would've taken on a whole Valentino gang on his own instead of calling his corpo mother for help, someone who quit his secure job because he refused to keep taking the abuse from his boss, who risked his life for his best friend despite sending himself down a spiral of despair in the aftermath. He's not scared of getting his hands dirty, of forging his own path (alone, if need be), and of taking risks if he thinks they're worth it for himself or the people he's loyal to.

[teacakesrule]

So, I feel like yapping about a kotlc oc. So that's what I'll do! After all, I graduated from Yapping University.

Hehe.

(Fyi, she was supposed to be the daughter oc Councilor Clarette and Derek but that's too complicated to explain...)

Naivara Kara

Naivara’s parents never meant to get together. They loved each other, but they didn’t want to bear the scorn of being a badmatch. So when her mother gave birth, that happened in a hidden place, which is unknown to anyone alive.

But nothing comes easily.

About an hour after Naivara’s birth, all three vanished. No record of their bodies was found. They just simply had disappeared.

With no evidence of them being alive, the Council declared them dead so the families and friends could grieve.

Now, while no one actually knows if Naivara’s parents were alive, one person did know their child was alive.

And that was Naivara herself.

A group of humans found her, but unfortunately for her, these were humans part of an illegal society that yearned to see how certain ‘things’ would change the human if injected into one. Naivara, no older than a day old (well, technically nine months) was taken into custody of vile hands.

They waited for two hours, fearing that the child’s vitals would collapse if they began experimenting too early. Four years later, though, as if things couldn’t get worse for Naivara, a few of these humans came across a bottle of quintense mixed with shadowflux. They didn’t know what this substance was, and they didn’t care. They just wanted to see how a human would be altered if injected into one.

To their disappointment, it did nothing noticeable. So they reverted back to their original methods of using things that they knew what they were and would probably kill Naivara (but they always stopped right when she was basically on the brink of death).

But it did alter her (like Keefe, spoiler alert to those who haven’t read book 9). She began to rapidly manifest abilities (makes no sense, I realize that), ending up with 26 (yes, that’s overpowered, but don’t worry, she’s a softie)

When Naivara was around eight, she escaped. Using her ability as a technopath, she created a powerful bomb, and used her ability as a psionipath to shield herself. The facility (yeah, she was in a facility) was completely obliterated, but luckily, not much beyond that was.

Now, Naivara might have been in human standards only an hour old before mysterious things happened. But she’s an elf, and they know how to speak and understand as soon as they pop into existence. So she knew that she wasn’t a human, and she also had an idea on how to get back to her home. Her parents had talked about ‘leaping’ back (according to her photographic memory) and her mother had asked her mother if he brought his pathfinder. And apparently her father had said he left it, but brought their home crystal. Naivara pieced that together and two seconds later, she was starting to search for a crystal that did weird things.

Coincidentally, the facility was near London. She went around looking at jewelry while trying to vanish. (It mostly worked, since she practiced a little when she was captive) Fortunately for her, no one paid any attention.

About two weeks later, she found the lantern with the crystal (don’t ask how she survived for two weeks). And since Naivara was an elf, she could read the rune. Being determined and all, she found a way to clamber up and grab it (does that work?) She held it up to the light of the lantern, formed a path, and leaped.

That went quite well.

Skip to when she wakes up (I don’t wanna write that stuff) at the Foxfire healing center. Alden decided to go back and check that place Sophie and Dex ended up in (that didn’t happen but who cares). Freaked - out - Alden hurried Naivara to Elwin and blah blah blah bunch of DNA testing stuff later, my poor oc was adopted by two elves with no children - Viola and Harrik Regeny.

No one knew about Naivara’s 26 abilities, though (I forgot to mention I made up four abilities (not including Keefe's m-blobs). They probably exist just Shannon hasn’t named them yet…), since she had some ‘trust’ issues. (You would to, trust me) But another good thing for her, the elemental abilities weren’t as strong as normal elemental abilities would be (I don’t know how that would work, but just to counteract her having too many abilities), so she wasn’t constantly setting things on fire, blinking in and out, flooding Atlantis, and nothing destructful.

Book 9 happens. She starts Foxfire, since she’s about 10 now.

That's all I got. And there is my yapping. You're welcome.

[specialagentartemis]

ah i see. so becky chambers has fallen into the “you don’t owe anyone anything = the bonds of community/the social construct are pointless oppressive structures” and “self care = doing whatever you feel like” traps huh.

also irt the person asking for antidotes to becky chambers: CANNOT recommend a memory called empire and a desolation called peace enough. The author is so so invested in exploring her alien cultures and iirc she has a linguistics/history/anthropology background so she can actually pull it off. And the main characters are all well developed and complex and deeply flawed while still being likeable! (Hopefully artemis you haven’t already read and hated these books lol)

Hah I simply haven't gotten around to reading those yet, no... they are On my List... 2 many books

“self care = doing whatever you feel like” is definitely there, but it's not even so much that the bonds of community are pointless, it's more... it's okay if you do nothing, because the Bonds of Community mean that other people will be okay with it and pick up your slack no matter what you do. Sort of? A Prayer for the Crown-Shy was so muddled in its themes that I wasn't fully sure what, exactly, she was going for by the end. Mosscap is on a quest to determine what humans need, and nobody can articulate anything in particular that they need or want, because they don’t know, because everything they need or want is provided by their perfect society. In this perfect society, nobody wants for anything, which means nobody wants anything. Except Dex. Who can't articulate what it is they want. And it almost seems like that's treated as a problem with Dex, something Dex needs to get over.

A surface motif of “I’m OK you’re OK we’re all OK and that’s OK” and “you deserve a chance to rest, you don’t need to know where you’re going in life, and that’s OK” is all well and good, I can support that, but the presentation was all over the place. At the end, she even seems to recognize it, and try to address it. Mosscap reveals that when it asked "what do humans need?" the most common answer it gets from people is "a feeling of purpose." But it just kind of makes everything more muddled. Do humans need a sense of purpose? Or is trying to find your Purpose just making you unhappy and you need to just, stop caring if you have a Purpose or not? Mosscap treats Dex's search for a Purpose In Life as almost disordered, like something they just need to reframe their worldview and then get over and be happy doing nothing and going with the flow. Dex's deep longing is almost addressed, but then just... not. Mosscap's position is that Dex should basically just get over it, embrace doing nothing, and hang out with it on the beach. And so they and Mosscap blow off their obligations to have fun on the beach.

[you-have-been-frizzled]

heyy- I'm curious abt which headcanons do you have abt what would happen if Juline got hurt very badly / died and how would the rest of characters react. (sorry if it sounds dark D:)

*deep inhale* oh anon i don’t think you realized what you just signed up for. also NOTHING is too dark for me when it comes to fic ideas

i have spent years thinking about what would happen if Juline was taken prisoner by the Neverseen, and when i remembered that the collective had that mind wipe poison i just made it angster.

Kesler would shut down when she was captured going completely on autopilot because that way he didn’t have to think to feel to process what had happened

that the person who was apart of his life since he was teen, his best friend was gone he would have a planting for her because that’s what he was told to do, he just told himself that she was dead because if he didn’t all he would think about is the ways they where torturing her.

that didn’t change the fact that he kept expecting to wake up and find Juline laying beside him, and he could hold her and know that she was safe but she was never there,

Dex would stay up day after day refusing to believe that she was gone, insisting that he could find her. he would stay so long that he would start to hallucinate.

because if he stopped working for even a moment his mind would run wild, thinking of every possible way the Neverseen was hurting her. and he couldn’t take it,

Lovise would have to force him to go bed and even Tinker would send him home when they where searching for her and he was falling asleep at his desk. Tinker eventually just made him a spot in the corner of her workspace so she could put him there to sleep when he would black out.

he wouldn’t be focusing at school or at team valiant meetings, he would be angry and sassing everyone if they tried to speak to him. he blamed himself for what happened to his mom weather he was there or not

and more importantly that was his mom, and weather they where fighting or not, and he didn’t know how to live without her

and the triplets Lex wouldn’t fully understand she was gone, he would be checking at the widows, mistaking Edaline for Juline everytime she comes over before becoming crushed and looking out the window for Juline again,

Dex came back why wouldn’t she?

Bex doesn’t speak she barely makes a noise and just follows Dex around like a shadow, “helping” him with his search for their mom,

Rex wouldn’t leave his dad side because what if he goes missing too, what if he losing another parent,

they had already lost their brother once and got him back and now they lost their mom, and they don’t know if she’s going to come back

Edaline would lock herself away at first crying so hard she couldn’t breathe, or completely catatonic, she wouldn’t want to speak to anyone other than Grady because her little sister is gone,

she’s lost her daughter, almost lost her second daughter and now lost her sister,

one of the days Dex comes over with Sophie rambling in techospeak, about how he’s going to find Juline, Edaline comes downstairs to watch them work not wanting to be in bed any longer

Dex when he sees her and freezes for a moment, almost like he thinks that Edaline is his mom just for a moment,

she runs over and hugs him and they are both crying and Edaline decides right then and there that they she’s going to go over to Rimeshire and be with her sister’s kids

because that’s what Juline would have wanted, Edaline helps run slurps and burps as often as she can, so Kesler doesn’t have to deal with the cruel whispers 

Grady would be angry, at everything, not understanding why his family can’t catch a break? why must they lose everything? why are they not allowed to be happy?

he goes over to Rimeshire to be with Kesler, not wanting him to suffer alone, he lets Dex yell about the Neverseen and how they can’t leave their family alone, he makes sure the triplets are ok while their father is on autopilot.

he would be the one to go with Sophie to check on the councils search and the black swans, because he’s been through it before twice, and he’s going to be the strong one and he’s not going to cry

[duckbang]

OwO what’s this about Alain having an Abra?

Can't sleep so might as well.

There's some au stuff involved, but I'll keep that explanation quick. Basically, I have this au called the ness and tal au, where Alain has Xerneas(Ness) and yveltal (Tal) as siblings (more info here but you don'treally need to know all that to understand this). They're extremely chaotic and i love them

So Alain starts travelling, right. And at some point very early into their journey they run into an abra. Ness and Tal help catch the abra because abras can teleport and that's convenient. The abra is named Ara.

And Ara is a complete theatre kid. His personality can be summed up as "nothing is worth doing if you can't show off while doing it". He wants the glory. He's gonna go the whole nine yards even to do something mundane.

He also has a mega alakazamite. Just, on him. The trio is excited about that, obviously. Its a mega stone! That's what they set out to search for!

Escept the abra isn't letting them take it so- whoops, gonna deal with that later i guess

Ara loves battling. Ara wants to evolve to be stronger, too. But he doesn't want to just evolve. Because simply evolving isn't good enough. Not for him. Its got to be in style.

Alright then.

They battle train him on and off - tms and stuff, charmander evolves into charmeleon, canon, tsme, yada yada yada you know the general stuff. At some point Ara has to switch the mega stone for an everstone so he doesn't accidentally evolve (we're going to run on the assumption that lysandre doesnt know/care about the alakazamite because its more convenient that way)(same goes for the legendaries or you can assume they start keeping their distance or w/e)

So... yeah. Canon's happening. We make it to the league. The lumiose conference! A competition among the strongest trainers in the region!

You know what's a glorious thing to do?

Win the league

You know what's an even more glorious thing to do?

Evolve while winning the league.

And so. SO. THE PLAN BEGINS

Most of the league goes the same way. Alain just sweeps with charizard or metagross. Until the finals. The finals. The biggest battle of them all.

Ash sends out pikachu.

Alain sends out an abra.

Now, of course, this has to be a joke, right. An abra. In league finals.

Okay whatever we can win this but the abra lands a few psychics and its evolving?? Oh shit- and you know what! Kadabra's dex entry says that its psychic powers can give those around it headaches and a headache is definitely not good for battles so now obviously ashs team gets the headaches

I'm not entirely too sure how the battle itself goes. Either we have a lot of switching or a complete arasweep so by the end of it ara is an alakazam (this is the ONLY reason why its the ness and tal au. Ness messed around a little and gave him a little energy boost so he'd be able to evolve without trade)(sidenote, if we do switching, there is 100% going to be a scene where charizard is absolutely gettin beat down but alain doesnt mega evolve her and she FAINTS AND WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON-)

In any case. The final matchup is Ara the newly evolved alakazam vs ash's super cool greninja! And considering the only moves ara has used so far are psychic and protect, and is extremely weak because of the damage he has taken, it should b an easy win for greninja.

Right?

But Ara isn't done yet. He's going to go the whole ten yards. He has his megastone.

Alain whips out his keystone and its mega evolution time baby

(This also checks out. All lysandre wants is the meg evolution energy. The source doesn't matter)

So now its Ara the mega alakazam vs ash's super cool ash-greninja

:3

And you know how ara has used only two moves so far and is extremely low on health

:33

He knows reversal (they can get it in gen6 by transfer from another gen which, by anime logic, is completely fair game)

And this is the only part of the battle for which I've actually run a damage calc, and yes, at low enough health its a guaranteed ohko

So

Arasweep!

He's very silly, you know?

EDIT i forgot to add. Yes the general public is very confused because alakazam are a trade evo. Yes alain is asked abouf that. No he only evil grins and ignores the question. Yes diantha and sycamore figure it out and find it funny. Yes ash is EXTREMELY confused and may end up having a self doubt arc akin to snowbelle city- but we're not dealing with THAT today

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Pokémon Reborn Screenshot Let's Play: Chapter 14

Oooh it’s a great day today, folks! Have you noticed this latest part hasn’t taken a century to be released? That’s because the new way of taking screenshots has worked…relatively well! 

After doing some searching around, I was made aware of the program PicPick, which (among other features) acts as a way to take screenshots, either of your whole screen or of a specific active window or what-have-you. Heck, you can even assign certain hotkeys to those functions so you can take screenshots without needing the program open! 

It…wasn’t entirely a smooth setup, admittedly. While I was trying to set up the hotkeys the way I wanted (by default, it’s Alt + PrintScreen, which won’t work for me because Alt in Reborn is the speed-up key), I kept getting a specific error that seemed to imply the issue was OneDrive or Dropbox (the former for me, since I don’t have Dropbox) hijacking the PrintScreen key, which seemed to be confirmed by several Google searches. However, after nearly two hours of various fixes, I was at my wit’s end and just hopped on a Discord call with some friends so I had people to actually talk to.

And it was at that point that one such friend saw the error and pointed out an alternative that I hadn’t considered. See, I had unassigned keys to all but the “screenshot active window” function because I was like “well I’m not gonna use those so…” However, he suggested that all the functions needed to be assigned hotkeys in order for things to work. So I went back and fixed that, and lo and behold…yeah, that was the problem, OneDrive had nothing to do with it. 

I had planned to start the play session at 1 PM that day. I actually started at about 3 PM. All of this because I wanted to release these chapters faster and take better screenshots. Be grateful for…at least five seconds.

Now, with that story out of the way, onto the actual content. And that starts with a recap of the events of the last chapter!

Xera continues battling her way through the Onyx Trainers’ School on her way to Florinia and the Gym, as well as answering quiz questions, which is another requirement for anyone looking to challenge Florinia.

In front of the door to the Gym, Xera encounters Fern once again. He insists that she’s only gotten this far because of “luck and pity,” then gives her one last chance to give up and go home. She refuses, and the two engage in a battle.

Xera is able to defeat Fern, to the latter’s frustration. Fern concludes Xera having a Badge is the difference between them, and decides to take on the Reborn League himself in order to surpass her.

After Fern departs, Xera is finally able to enter the Gym, where she goes on to challenge Head Instructor Florinia and her desert-themed Grass team at last.

After a battle of wits and Field Effects, Xera emerges victorious, earning her second Gym Badge: the Canopy Badge.

Soon after the battle, Amaria enters the arena with a report for Florinia. Apparently, Borealis was recently seen around the Beryl Ward; as such, it’s highly likely that is where Victoria is being held captive.

According to Florinia, both the Jasper and Beryl Wards are also experiencing rampaging plants like what happened in Obsidia Ward, except on a more widespread and severe scale. 

Because Xera is the only one who has both taken down a PULSE machine and seen Borealis, Florinia enlists her as the person to investigate these incidents. To help with this, Florinia installs a new app onto Xera’s PokéGear: the PULSE Dex, which acts as a PokéDex for PULSE-modified Pokémon.

While the OTS students take notice of Amaria’s arrival and begin growing eager for a battle or demonstration from a celebrity Gym Leader, Florinia urges Xera to get going as she prepares to make arrangements for Xera’s entry into Jasper Ward, through which she can then reach Beryl.

So that’s what the next plot hook is- traveling into the Jasper and Beryl Wards, with three main objectives: take out the PULSEs, track down Borealis, and rescue Victoria. Xera’s got two Gym Badges by now, so- what could go wrong? Nothing? Everything? With my luck, it could go either way, but we won’t find out just staying on the intro post, so- here we go!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

Part 16

[amelikos]

Some character and episode notes from HZ004, writing them down for future reference!

- Liko being happy to be given something to do on the ship is neat, she really seems like she wants to learn to do things by herself, help out and not just be protected etc. She did say in the first episode that she wanted to learn about things she doesn’t know and she is doing just that, at her own pace. I am hoping Friede will teach her other things in the future. I also like that Liko is still keeping up her Nyahoja Observation Diary as she really wants to get to know her partner Pokemon better.

- Little scenes showing off the Pokemon’s personalities are always fun to see (and something I really enjoy about the anime in general), so Hogator playing with Lizardon was cute. The reveal that Hogator looks up to Lizardon was also nice, and I like how Liko remembered a scene from HZ002, with Hogator running up to Lizardon and being happy to see it when it came back on the ship. We also got Hogator mimicking Lizardon and trying to produce fire in HZ002, so it’s nice that there was buildup for this Pokemon dynamics. I do wonder if this will also parallel Friede and Roy’s relationship once Roy joins the crew, as Roy seemed impressed by Friede’s skills and mentioned that he looks up to Trainers.

- I like how Liko deals with the search for Hogator. First asking Murdock, then asking the Rotom Dex, and then asking the rest of the crew before following Nyahoja. Methodical and I like how we get insights about Hogator each time (that it was trying to sneak food, that it looks up to Lizardon, and that it enjoys singing). 

- Roy seems to be taking online classes as well. I like that so far, the series brings up the school aspect and that these kids go to school and learn, actually. He seems to have classmates from different regions, which is nice, the world feels more connected. He mentioned that he watched some videos about other places but he’s never left his island. That’s a similarity he shares with Liko, as she didn’t leave Paldea before going to school in Kanto. 

- There are two things which stood out to me about Roy: he uses boku to refer to himself, and he doesn’t seem to talk about dreams. The boku thing was a bit surprising for me since I kind of expected him to be the type to use ore (adventurous and seemingly an extravert type of character, etc). For example, Amethio could have been the type to use boku since he seems more put together and has a professional facade but he uses ore. I feel like Roy using boku already says something about his character (usually in Pokemon, male protagonists use ore). Moreover, when his classmates ask him what he wants to do, Roy says that he doesn’t know (similarly to Liko who doesn’t exactly know what she wants to do and doesn’t have a precise dream but knows she wants to learn many things). Then, Roy adds that he has a “plan”. Not a dream, but a plan. And it is a pattern since he repeats that word several times in the episode, saying he needs a partner Pokemon to pull off that plan and later in the episode, mentioning to Hogator that he has a plan. I wonder if he’ll eventually mention the word “dream”? It feels very intentional that he doesn’t use that word. Perhaps a lack of confidence? Roy mentions that his grandfather and others say that “everywhere is the same” (perhaps implying that there is no need to go on a grand adventure or that his grandfather doesn’t want him to put himself at risk?), so perhaps he doesn’t talk about his plan to others? He built a secret base for himself too, so maybe he doesn’t want to talk openly about his aspirations to his grandfather? I guess we’ll learn soon. 

- Roy only seems to have his grandfather as relative so far. I wonder if something happened to his parents? He only mentioned “living here with Gramps” and didn’t mention anyone else. I also like the hints being set up for a potential Friede backstory as he seems to know Roy’s grandfather. At least this way, when Roy eventually joins the Rising Volt Tacklers, it’ll be easier for his grandfather to entrust his safety to someone he actually knows rather than to someone he doesn’t. Roy and his grandfather seem to have a good relationship from the bits we’ve seen (Roy cheerfully greeting him good morning in HZ003 when he left the house, and seemingly being able to play around in the island). His grandfather seems to have a bit of a strict side as seen with Friede, and also seems to be respected on the island as he is called “Elder” by someone and is asked about the Pokemon going on a rampage. So it seems people go to him for guidance? Either way, I think that if Roy mentions wanting to go on a trip, his grandfather will refuse at first and will eventually have to be convinced, as we’ve seen something potentially hinting at that in the preview for HZ005. 

- The dynamics between Roy and Hogator was nice, and I enjoyed the buildup. Roy trying to encourage it to sing and helping with his confidence was good (and I wonder if Roy will eventually have to be helped to be more confident as well?). They seem to work well together and Roy seems to have quick thinking too. He also recognized Strike’s cry directly after hearing it (which implies that he has a good memory and seems to be knowledgeable about the little quirks of the Pokemon living on his island). 

- Liko and Roy seem to have an interesting dynamics so far too and the connection between the pendant and the ancient Pokeball is an intriguing one. I do like the parallels between them (Liko receiving her pendant from her grandmother, Roy receiving his Pokeball from his grandfather). I look forward to them both growing together as Trainers. It was also really cute how they both had the same thought at the end, which was to gather food for the Pokemon to properly make up for Hogator eating all of it. They’re really thoughtful! 

- I also liked the way Friede dealt with the agitated Pokemon. He doesn’t engage in battle and tells Lizardon that his fire would make things worse so he is thinking about the Pokemon’s safety. And he finds a way to calm them down and then properly feeds them. Since he was investigating the problem, it seemed he guessed that the Pokemon on a rampage needed food and brought berries with him. He really is a professor~ And he thanks Roy for helping Liko and the Pokemon. Liko calls him “Friede-san” too!

- Soulblades casually being out of its Pokeball at the end with Amethio is cool to see. I like seeing trainers with their partner Pokemon, and they do seem close. I hope we’ll see more of their bond (like how they met, or something). I also wonder who Amethio was talking to (he didn’t say his name), but it seems to be someone who can report to a superior. At least we got another name, “Gibeon”, and given the way the butler (?) calls him with the -sama suffix, it looks like it’s the boss (and the one who wants the pendant anyway). Amethio not wanting to report anything right away was curious, I wonder if he only wants to report once he’s got actual results to show. Seeing how Liko and Roy seem to have important bonds with relatives (grandmother and grandfather respectively), I wonder if Amethio will have some kind of family bond too.