#i'm finally on break so now to post the backlog for the past few days

[genshin-impact-updates]

Version 4.5 "Genius Invokation TCG" Update Details

Hello Traveler! After the Version 4.5 update, Charlotte, Neuvillette, Kirara, and Fatui Electro Cicin Mage Character Cards, their corresponding Talent Cards as well as six Action Cards will be added to Genius Invokation TCG. Some card balance adjustments have also been added. Let's check them out!

After the Version 4.5 update, visit The Cat's Tail to invite the characters for a duel. Complete the specific challenge objectives to obtain the Character Cards and corresponding Talent Cards. New Action Cards "Tome of the Eternal Flow," "Golden Troupe's Reward," "Fortress of Meropide," "Lumenstone Adjuvant," "Controlled Directional Blast," and "Day of Resistance: Moment of Shattered Dreams" can be purchased from the Card Shop.

[For information on the new Action Cards and balance adjustments, check the original article here.]

[novasillies]

Wip Whenever

this WAS meant to be a WIP Wednesday posted on an actual Wednesday but the tumblr gods didn't let me save the damn post. so here I am like two weeks later finally posting it

thank you SO much for the tag @patolemus <333 I'm pretty sure I've got a few tags backlogged from people since I haven't been writing as much lately so consider this a late response to any and all tags I've ever received at all

Here's a snippet from chapter 16 of Third Time's the Charm: 'La Iglesia' :)))))))

He couldn’t do it. The Jeep had only been parked at their apartment complex for maybe two and a half of the ten months they’d lived there so far because Stiles hadn’t been able to even go back to the school in fear of seeing it, let alone driving it. Now, in the backseat, exactly as it had been ten months ago, the grimoire sat abandoned. Untouched. Unmoved. It was the one thing Stiles could admit was not fine. What had happened to his mom. How he was handling it. How it had happened. None of it was fine. And guilt was far from unfamiliar to him, but it was so smothering and loud whenever he looked at that book, that car, anything to do with her at all, that he couldn’t hear himself think. All he could do was mourn her voice in his head, and her cruelty, and love.

That grimoire was not something he could touch. Not yet. 

So, they called Scott.

Such a sweet thing was Scott. A brilliant reminder of the past. Fluffy-haired and pink-cheeked, somehow still starry-eyed after everything and so full of magic. It shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was. Stiles hadn’t thought Scott had any sort of spark but, then again, he was a True Alpha somewhere else. That was more magic than Stiles was capable of. It was good magic. Stiles’ power, his very heart, was born from chaos, wasn’t it? Scott’s was born from goodness. He’d followed Stiles into the woods out of goodness, he’d never taken a life out of goodness, he’d grown his power out of goodness. And, here, he was a vision of what that Scott could’ve been if Stiles hadn’t brought his chaos into his life. He was still joyful, and youthful, and living as loudly and happily as he possibly could. Like he was still a child. And he was. Allison may have just turned eighteen, but she was a year older. Scott was only barely seventeen. He was a child. Stiles had taken that from the both of them, a long time ago. But not here.

Here, Stiles had done good. 

Here, Scott and Allison were still alive and disgustingly in love with the Nogitsune swimming around the Bermuda Triangle or the wreck of the Titanic. Now, he got to stand back one more time to let Scott save the day, and save her. 

It had been far more than ten months of pretending Derek’s face didn’t trip him up with just as much nostalgia as the rest of them. It was still different. But it still happened. And, now, with the Deadpool and Liam Dunbar creeping back up on him like a mouthless bounty hunter with an axe, stood in those woods, looking right at Derek, he could remember him so clearly. He could remember what the Deadpool had ultimately meant for him. Peter, and Kate, and La Iglesia, and Braeden, and control, and evolution, and walking away. 

A knot formed in his throat. He swallowed it down. And, as Derek turned his head to give him a small smile, Stiles had to look away, back at Allison and Scott holding hands across the Nemeton.

He wasn’t sure when it happened – a bad, terrible, horrible thing – but he had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with Derek’s hand finding its way to his shoulder and squeezing. That weight. The memories of resting his own hand on that Derek’s shoulder, of squeezing his arm tight as Liam almost killed them both in the back of the prison van Braeden was driving, of holding his face in his hands as Kate’s wolfsbane bullet almost killed him, of teasing, joking, flirting—

A damned hand on his shoulder was enough to break the universe. 

Well over a year ago, Stiles was still violet. He was lavender. Periwinkle. Orchid. Amethyst. He’d ran through the rain for miles, racing through the preserve on aching feet and shaking with rage, fear, hatred, determination. He’d slammed the grimoire down on the Nemeton the second he saw it, flipped through soaked pages until he found the one He had pressed against his chest. Derek had shown up just as he finished the incantation, caught up in some insane love-blind moment of psychopathy. At least it’d seemed like it at the time; maybe he had a little bit of sense, but he still left his entire life behind to follow Stiles to the lowest point of said life. Dumb. Stupid. A tear falling to the Nemeton had been the final piece of connection it had needed to do its job. All the violet and lavender and periwinkle and orchid and amethyst had been so blinding, Stiles almost hadn’t noticed Derek throwing himself into it. Then Kate had been there. And it had all gone horribly, horribly wrong. 

It looked similar when it went wrong this time. Though wrong in a different way. Not too different. Scott leant back, still holding Allison’s hands, twisting his face up in confusion and turning to Stiles as the place was swallowed up by a bright red light. Flickers – shimmers, almost – of sharp violet bursting through like sunlight through frosted glass, reaching out, consuming.

Stiles had yet to learn to think before throwing himself into potentially life-threatening situations. In his defence, Derek did it, too.

oouuugh this chapter is very precious to me.

thank you again for the tag - I can't remember who the hell I normally tag on these so no pressure tags @dontcallpanic and (sending it back) @patolemus and as usual anyone who wants to share <3333333

and as usual TTTC is on ao3 right over here if anyone would like to read my baby

[cadrenebula]

Video Game Ask Answers

Decided to answer these like @mist-touchedxiv chose to here. My answers are below the cut cause it's a little lengthy with 31 questions. Reblogging with my answers would have really made it lengthy. XD So I did my own post for them.

Last game you finished -It's been a while since I played a game with an end. Persona 5

Game(s) you’re currently playing -FFXIV, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

1-3 games you’ve played in the past 12 months that you really enjoyed -FFXIV, Disney Dreamlight Valley, Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

Do you like to get 100% achievements/trophies? -Nah. I like getting trophies but I long ago gave up on 100% in any game since some of the trophies are brutal for me to get. I game for fun not frustration.

Game(s) coming out that you’re looking forward to -Assassin's Creed Shadows

A series you’ve enjoyed since your early days of gaming and still enjoy to this day whether it still has games coming out or is one you return to -Wild Arms

A series you’ve lost interest in -Soul Calibur

A series you haven’t played but are interested in trying -Legacy of Kain

A game you played completely blind with no prior knowledge of and enjoyed/loved -Devil May Cry

A console and/or handheld you’ve never played but would like to try -Sega Saturn

Do you prefer ‘blank slate’ main characters you make yourself or otherwise project onto, or characters with a set personality and backstory? -I am good with either choice really. Depends on the story.

A character you particularly like in the game you’re currently playing -Koana from FFXIV (I picked a character from the current expansion to fit the question better)

Quick, name the first song from a game that comes to mind -Song of Storms from LoZ Ocarina of Time

A song that’s sure to hit your nostalgia buttons -If You Still Believe from Legend of Dragoon

Do you have a backlog and do you keep track of it? If so, how? -I very much do have a backlog. XD An it would be easier to keep track of games I've finished than which I haven't.

A game you’d like to replay that you haven’t -Legend of Dragoon

A game you didn’t finish but would like to get back to or restart someday -Tales of Vesperia. Lost interest towards the end when I needed to do some level grinding. I hate level grinding.

A game location you really like -Empyreal Paradox in FFXI and the battlefield inside

A game you started up for the first time and you knew from the start it was going to be great -Legend of Dragoon

A boss you think is really cool -Lady Harken from Wild Arms

A boss that was disappointing -Airy from Bravely Default

A game ending that’s really stuck with you -Devil May Cry 5

A “Wow” moment of awe -The final fight for Chains of Promathia in FFXI. I literally gawked at the battlefield until the NPCs forced me into the fight.

A game with a cool art style -The Persona game series

A game’s art style that had to grow on you -LoZ Wind Waker

Realism or stylized? -I'm not sure I lean towards one more than the other. Because art style can make or break the choice of if I want to play a game but I'm not that huge on the realism since most of those are game types I'm not big into anyways.

A game you love the atmosphere of -Kingdom Hearts

Pick a series you like. What was the first game you played for it? Was it a good starting point? Would it still be a good starting point now? -Wild Arms. It was the first RPG I really got into. And I think it's still a good starting point now. Even if you played the remake rather than the original. None of the Wild Arms games require you to play the others to understand them.

On average do you have one game or multiple games going? -I tend to have a few going in recent years. But usually only 1 that I'm not waiting on more story to release. I usually have 1 solo RPG going, XIV, and Disney Dreamlight. DDV doesn't have a big story and is a bit more like Animal Crossing in I can do what I want and how much I want at a time. XIV of course I have to wait between updates for more story and I can only do so much content grinding before I need a break again. My current RPG to take a break is LoZ Echoes of Wisdom.

Game you think you’ll finish next? -No idea. I am really good at getting distracted by a XIV patch or something new just as I get near the end of a game. That is what happened to my Baldur's Gate playthrough... XD

Someone has never played a video game before but is open to trying any genre. What game would you recommend as their first? -Hmm… If they want something with a story, I'd go with the original Wild Arms. It's not difficult to play and it's what got me into gaming. If they want something relaxing I'd say Animal Crossing New Horizons. If they want something less turn based and more actionish I'd say a game from the Ys series or LoZ series since most of their stories are pretty standalone.