#if you want a name from twilight there are so so many options

[general-sleepy]

I really don't want to say this in a mean way, because she was a really sweet girl and I don't like to rag on people's names, but I had kid in my class today named Renesmee.

[luimagines]

Super excited you opened requests! If possible could you do one where the chain (individual or together dealers choice) ends up in the readers time after the adventure ends and thinking they wouldn't see each other again? (Maybe a sprinkle of confessions that they didn't get the chance to say before)

Secret conclusion to Leaving before he confesses? o.o Yes, no? Maybe so? Doesn't have to be. Take it as you will. :D

Masterlist

Part one will include Time, Twilight and Warriors!

Content under the cut!

Time

Time was about to lose his mind. Wasn't he suppose to be done with this whole adventuring thing? He's getting too old for this.

Why doesn't he know where he is? Why is he so far from home? He doesn't even remember walking through a portal this time. All he knows is that he was walking home after his shift on Lon Lon Ranch, then the world melted and he was in the middle of a forest.

This is getting obnoxious. He doesn't even have any of his weaponry nor does he have his armor. If he were to be attacked at this very moment, he would have to get creative. It's unfortunate that he's not as young as he used to be.

There's a trail he can follow at least. Maybe it can lead him to civilization and he can get some answers and start to figure out what he's supposed to do now.

Thankfully, he finds a town. It's small and quaint but it would suffice. Time isn't particularly picky about his options right now.

He walks into the town, glad that he's arrived before sunset when he spot a familiar face walking into a nearby house. He calls out your name in the hope that he's not fully lost his mind.

He sees you freeze before shaking your head and turning the doorknob to your house.

Time takes off running, calling your name again. This time you turn around and you drop the items in your hands. You scream but also star running toward him.

He can't help it. When you collide, he lifts you into the air and spins. It gets the stares of many people around and he can already hear the whispers but he finds that he couldn't care less.

He can smell your hair and whatever perfume you have on. It's nice.

You start crying.

Concerned, Time leads you back to the house you were about to enter, guiding you inside and picking up the items you've dropped in the process.

You don't seem to want to let him go. He feels the same, but he doesn't need to make a public spectacle of you. Although it takes a hot second, you both enter the house. You latch onto him again and this time he holds you firmly and tightly against his chest.

"I thought I would never see you again." You say with a broken voice.

"You and me both." Time admit with a sigh. He kiss the tears from your eyes and runs his hands over your face and hair and shoulders- trying to memorize and refamiliarize himself with your shape, your feel- your presence. "I've missed you."

You nod and nearly break down into sobs again.

He shush you gently and holds you close. He can't find it in himself to speak any more- less he start crying as well.

"I loved you." You blurt. "I still love you. I haven't stopped. I don't care if you don't feel the same- but I can't keep this inside me. I need to you know-"

Time kisses you.

He's been meaning to say the same but he finds this gets the message across quicker.

Twilight

Twilight felt like he had taken this one a little better than he did the previous one. Once again someone he had felt like he loved left without much of a goodbye. Things were left unsaid, things he wanted the other party to know- with the idea that there was no way for them to see each other again.

It hurt, but it wasn't like he hadn't gone through this before.

That being said, he kept to himself nowadays. With the children growing older, they were being put to use as extra hands around the village. They were starting their apprenticeships and were learning the tricks and trades of the generation before them. Ergo, they didn't need someone like him to watch after them as often anymore.

Which wasn't so bad. It was quieter around his place, sure. But it gave him time to think. Time to heal. time he didn't know he needed.

He still misses you though.

The idea of what could have been still sits in his mind. He sighs and cleans his house for the first time in weeks. You always seems to be cleaning something when you traveled together. Whether it be their clothes, their weapons, their equipment- it just became your job whether they acknowledged it or not.

He can already hear you yelling at him in the back of his mind for letting his home fall to the state it has.

He personally doesn't care all that much- but a clean house is still nice to have.

Suddenly the reflection in his mirror changes. He's no longer looking at himself- but at the inside of another house entirely. He stares at it for a good moment before putting his hand to the glass.

It goes through. It's as if there wasn't any glass to begin with.

Ever curious, he climbs onto the table and through the mirror. He looks through the other, still not wanting to step all the way through just in case.

"Weird." He mutters to himself. "Well this has never happened before."

Someone screams.

Twilight jumps and hits his head on the railing before ducking back into his house for safety.

"Wait, wait, wait!" You scream before he can retreat and haul him through the mirror completely. "Is it really-? Tell me it's truly you! Link! It's me! How did you get here?"

Twilight rubs his head and looks in you in quiet awe. "...The mirror shifted..."

You sniffle, almost instantly bursting into tears and hug him around the neck. "Oh my goodness! I thought I would have lost you forever!"

Twilight hugs you slowly. His limbs don't seem to keep in pace with his mind. Can it be-? It is really-?

Twilight says your name slowly and lifts your head up to look him in the eye. You smile, tearful but beaming. You put your hand over his and lean into his touch. "I have no idea how you got your mirror to connect to my house, but I'm not complaining."

"It wasn't in my plans." Twilight feels like laughing. It is! It is you!

He picks you up and spins you around. "It's you!"

"It's me." You laugh.

Twilight puts you down gently and cups your cheeks. "I think I'm in love with you."

You blush fiercely but snort. "I've been in love with you, Link. I'm glad you caught up finally."

Warrior

Warrior didn't to let himself get too lost in his heart ache. If you didn't know how uselessly in love her was with you, then you didn't know. You weren't worse off because of it. If anything, you were blissfully unaware of his emotional turmoil and therefore, living happily without a single thought of him in your head.

Maybe this was a blessing in disguise. Although more so for you than for him.

And maybe he could take solace in that. You were living your life as you did before, so why can't he? It's not like anything will come from it now.

He sighs and puts the outgoing documents into the bin. He has a head ache now too. Not only can he not stop thinking about you, but the issues with the castle staff and the monster beyond their borders have been keeping his candle burning at both ends.

He needs a break.

Warrior stands up and walks out of his office, rubbing his temple as he goes.

He misses you. It's the only thing he can think about. Even if it's selfish at this point. He wishes he could have told you how he felt. Granted, he wasn't sure if that's knowledge that he should drop on you, and realistically he's glad that he didn't but the issue remains. He would feel better if you knew.

You might feel worse though.

What a pickle.

He walks through the castle with no destination in mind until he trips and falls down the stairs. He's already cursing himself in his head- hoping that there's no one around to witness this.

He hits the bottom and almost considers laying there to further the embarrassment.

He hears something shatter and he looks up in shock.

The first things he notices is that he's no longer in the castle. If anything, he looks like he's in a small house. He's still at the bottom of the stairs though. He pushes himself up, half in a daze and half aware that something having to do with more magical shenanigans has just happened.

"...Link?"

His blood goes cold. Oh how he's longed to hear that voice again- to hear you say his name. But this could be a trap.

He turns towards the sound cautiously. You're standing there, shattered plate by your feet with your hands over your mouth.

Warrior can feel himself tense up. You're stunning. Even now- "You look just as beautiful as the day you left."

You scramble over to him and hoist him onto his feet, breaking down into sobs before kissing him.

His eyes go wide as his hand land on your hips.

Well, this is certainly unexpected. But he's not complaining.

It takes him a moment to regain the use of his brain but he slowly kisses you back.

You pull away before he can get into it, wiping your face and running your hands over his upper body, taking him in. "...I missed you."

Warrior has to laugh. "Clearly... But it's ok." Warrior takes a chance kissing you once more. "I missed you too."

You bite your lip and blush a beautiful shade of red. You cough and play with the lapels of his uniform. You both stand there in silence, taking each other in.

Suddenly, as if the bubble pops, you both look each other in the eye a quiet breath passes between you both as you both speak in unison.

"I love you."

Part 2

[catgirlforeskin]

Since Wizards of the Coast is torpedoing all the good-will they have with DnD to wring more money out of it, I want to make a guide for people who recognize they should jump ship, but don’t know alternatives.

If you’re deeply invested in DnD and want something as similar as possible, Pathfinder 2 is what you want. It’s the next biggest game in the tabletop scene (in the US), you can find physical copies in stores easily, and Paizo allows free resources online to exist without constant threat of being taken down like WotC does. It will remain free to play on any VTT while DnD will require you to subscribe to their proprietary one.

Most importantly, though, it improves on almost every aspect of DnD. Combat and class balance is extremely well thought out and makes all combats engaging and difficult in a fun way, requiring teamwork and clever thinking. Roleplay is integrated into character creation and play better, and you no longer have to choose between being good in combat or exploration or roleplay, you get to play and feel useful during all aspects of the game. It’s hard to emphasize how much better it is without just playing, if you still want something like DnD, play Pathfinder 2.

If you like high fantasy adventuring but are willing to get more out there, Fellowship and Dungeon World are good options. Fellowship is a more free-form adventure game focused on creating a cinematic experience over getting bogged-down in rules-heavy play. If you want to play a Lord of the Rings style campaign and have it feel like the movies, Fellowship is the way to go.

Dungeon World is called “Powered by the Apocalypse” which means it was inspired by Apocalypse World, an amazing ttrpg that revolutionized the scene and became the gold standard for interweaving roleplay and gameplay. Dungeon World is meant to be a bridge between DnD and indie rpgs, and it’s good for that, though there are better PbtA games. It’s a good introduction to principles like failing forward and playing to find out what happens (and hell, a good introduction to games having principles lol). There’s also an Avatar the Last Airbender licensed PbtA game that’s very good, if that’s your thing!

Speaking of licensed games, Free League Publishing sets the benchmark for rpgs built for existing intellectual properties, and while I haven’t played all of their games, I’m a big fan of what I have played. They also have independent settings, like Twilight 2000, a really good apocalypse survival game set in a collapsing warfront between an alternate-history NATO and Soviet Union as the two dying empires bring all of society down in their death spiral. I’m using it as the base for my Halo rpg, it’s very good.

Blades in the Dark is another big name in the indie scene, and for good reason. It’s a heist game that has been adapted to lots of other settings (games that say they’re “Forged in the Dark” take inspiration here) and it’s clear to see why so many have used it as a foundation once you’ve played, it’s an exciting crime procedural where you play a group of scoundrels punching above your weight and facing the consequences

There’s a million other amazing rpgs I could mention here, and I’m sure people will talk about plenty of lovely ones I’ve missed in the notes, but I think the most important thing I want to convey with this is that there’s a whole world of diverse and interesting rpgs at all levels of production, from big corporate teams to one girl with a laptop who barely knows how to make a pdf, and there’s no better time to start exploring them.

A common refrain is that DnD can be modified to do anything, but once you’ve played other rpgs you’ll see why that’s not true, and why those creative efforts would be better spent in other systems. Hacking rpgs is as old a tradition as rpgs themselves, but if the only tools you know are DnD, you’re being limited with what you can create more than you could possibly know. There’s no better time to leave this Plato’s Cave and see the beauty and wonder of the whole ttrpg scene

[typecastwritesssss]

okay but like the wind waker man. that intro. so many questions. we all know ocarina is dark but man wind waker just straight up said "and then they all drowned and the gods never came to help" hello??? how many years. how many decades. how much time did the adult hero of time buy for them? which child of zelda’s was daphnes? her son? grandchild? great-grandchild? when he stared at the rising waters and realized nothing was going to save them, his kingdom, did he think it was retribution for all the war? 

has it really been all that long? yes and also no. the lines are so blurred. the zora are birds and the kokiri are koroks and they had time to Get That Way but everywhere you look the old Hyrule, the Hero of Time himself, they're both all over the place. the deku tree is implied to be the sprout from the adult timeline but honestly who knows. the golden goddesses are statues on islands somewhere and there was a tower built to test who came after but…who and how and why? what was the tower of the gods even for? how did they know they’d need it? at what point did they accept the hero of time was never coming back so they’d probably need to train a new one? 

and oh my god, that outset island tradition. “dress your kids in green and give ‘em a sword and pray to the gods they’ll have the courage to cast down evil.” link rolls his eyes at it but he wears them to appease grandma. the revered clothes of the hero have had time to pass into “stupid traditional getup” territory. how many “failed Links” were there before Aryll’s brother? what evil could those children have possibly stricken down? the monsters in the woods?

“what became of that kingdom? none remain who know” like goddamn. say what you want about the hero’s shade in twilight princess. but at least the traumatized ghost got to meet one of his descendants and pass on his songs and his knowledge, even if that knowledge was only of war and death and combat. in the wind waker he’s a statue. an element of a legend mentioned once or twice by the last remaining holdouts of the past—holdouts who so badly want him to return, view him as the solution over all else, that they never pause to consider any other option. there are stained glass windows of the seven sages in the master sword’s chamber that are never mentioned. there is so much that is never mentioned.

nobody knows what the fuck anybody is talking about. link doesn’t know old hylian. tetra is running around the high seas (as a pirate. she and her retainers are now pirates. how did things get that way) with a piece of the damn triforce around her neck and she doesn’t know who ‘princess zelda’ even is. the juxtaposition between ganondorf, older and tired and wiser but still hell-bent on ruling hyrule even if it is a dead land full of nothing and no one, and tetra, a zelda that knows nothing, asking why he’s laughing and calling him insane. because hyrule’s dead. she has no frame of reference for his longing, or what he found so great about this sunken kingdom.

and this is framed as a good thing. the king of red lions thinks it’s better not to let either of the kids in on the loop until tetra nearly dies for lack of knowledge. daphnes nolhansen hyrule brought “the hero” back just to end ganon, and hyrule with him. was the plan always to let the sea fall in on him? maybe. i don’t know. but he rejects zelda’s plea with him to take him with them to the land that will be the new hyrule, because “it will not be hyrule. it will be your land” and that still gets me. he thinks the best thing to do with his kingdom, Hyrule, the kingdom of a whole hell of a lot of irl people’s childhoods, is for it to wash away. he wants the kids to live for the future and they do and they will and they name it hyrule anyway in his honor but he never gets to see it.

anyways i’m still mad everybody got butthurt over “trains in a zelda game” like come on now

[skyward-floored]

Regarding LU, what enemies do you hope they'll encounter in this dungeon?

I want them to run into some of Hyrule’s monsters 👀

Partially because I would love a moment where they’re all fighting them and having a rough time and realize holy cow Hyrule deals with these guys all the time?? And partially because I would loveeeeee to see how Jojo would style some of those older bad guys. Her designs are always so good. I bet she could make a daira downright terrifying.

But honestly I would just like to see some of the more “obscure” bad guys out there. So far the only enemy we’ve seen is a bubble, and while in the scheme of things they’re not really all that obscure, a lot of people still don’t know about them. I’d like to see more enemies like that, just stuff that’s a little more out of the ordinary, and not just lizalfos and bokoblins (as cool as those are to fight haha). Pengators? Pol’s voice? Those ice soldier things in tp I forget the names of? All of those would be so interesting to see.

Ooh also monsters with a lot of variation between kinds, like tektites! Time and Twilight’s alone are VERY different, how would they all handle strategy facing enemies that are technically the same, but different from what they’re used to? Warriors is only used to huge dodongos, would seeing smaller ones throw him off? And what about freezards? Twilight’s are huge and can spin around, while Legend’s pretty much stay in one spot and are a fair bit smaller.

How would they adjust? How would they react? Would they argue about the best way to defeat them? Would someone get hurt because they tried to fight an enemy the way you would with their version, but this version has something different about it? There’s just so many options :D

I’ll be happy with whatever happens (I’m especially looking forward to an eventual boss!!), but that’s what I’m hoping for :)

[writingquestionsanswered]

I'm a newbie writer and something I struggle with is that my ideas are too big and I feel overwhelmed, and I never really had a short story idea that I liked. I'm already trying to consume short stories (written works and video fiction), so I wanted to know if you have other tips to develop small ideas, ideas better suited to short stories.

Newbie Writer Struggling to Write Short Fiction

Short fiction is a great way to practice writing, but if you struggle to come up with ideas, that doesn't help much. One thing that can help is to remember that short stories don't work like longer stories/novels. You're not developing a whole cast and world around a big conflict. Short stories are pictures within pictures.

If The Hunger Games was a short story, it would probably be Katniss waking up, walking through her district, hunting with Gale, and then Prim getting chosen in the Reaping. That would be the whole story. She was so fixated on the fear of herself or Gale getting chosen--which there was such high odds of happening because she'd put her name in so many times in exchange for food stamps--the last thing she ever expected was her sister being chosen. That's the twist... that's the point of the whole short story. If Twilight were a short story, it would probably start with Bella's first day at Forks High School, would follow her introduction to the Cullens, the weirdness with Edward as her crush slowly developed, and would probably end with her finding out he's a vampire. It could even go a little further to where they date, then Edward's brother almost kills her, and he breaks up with her in the middle of the woods--gone from her life as quickly as he got there.

If you're struggling to find short story ideas that you like, try looking for writing prompts. They're all over tumblr, you can find books filled with them, there are lists of them all over the web. Writing prompts can fire up your imagination without you having to pluck an entire idea out of the air. Another option is to do memoir-style short stories. Instead of trying to write something more elaborate, just take a notable experience you've had in life and... if you want, you can fictionalize it. For example, maybe you have a funny memory rooted in a friend's birthday party. Write about that. If you want to, you can even fictionalize it... what if it happened to someone else? What if the funny thing that happened was something different? What if the outcome was different?

The thing to remember is this: when you're writing short stories for writing practice, they don't have to be perfect or even good. You're not writing these for publication or sharing. You're writing these to learn how to craft sentences, write description, develop characters, and flesh out setting. The first time you take a lump of clay and try to make a bowl, it's not going to be amazing. Neither will the second, third, or fourth one. But as you master the basics, learn new methods, get better with tools and find new ones, your bowls will get better and better until they're something you can share. You have to let yourself make some misshapen and unappealing bowls if you want to learn to make nice ones. Writing works the same way. :)

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I’ve been writing seriously for over 30 years and love to share what I’ve learned. Have a writing question? My inbox is always open!

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[summertimemusician]

Linktober Shadow Day 8

Majora('s Mask)

*throws bouquet of roses* For the Time lovers.

Also my bias is probably coming through really strongly right now, but I'm not well rested enough to care plus I've been playing Majora's Mask a lot again this month, it's as important to me as Twilight Princess so this is kind of my love letter to it and Time and my excuse to explore the concept of Majora and the Fierce Deity and divinity in LoZ, though that's an essay for another day lol (/j)

As always can be read as romantic or platonic depending on your preferences, Reader is gender neutral and this is definitely self indulgent so it can be read in or outside of an LU context, most of the references to the LU names are for simplicity and to give a rough idea of why Reader has some stuff they do. Makes it easier to clarify lol, though as I've been hit by yet another storm the Linktober prompt will be for tomorrow, I'm basically picking a god and praying this actually posts X_X

TW(?):

Don't think there's any warnings besides MJM's typical body horror really, and very graphic descriptions and Majora in general.

Even after so, so long, so much so it feels like a lifetime ago, Termina still stuck with you and Time.

The thing about being in a timeloop that went on for who knows how long and whose failure to reset it would be total destruction to so many good different people, is that you quickly learn some habits to try and maximize as many successes as possible, how Time (Mask, then, after the living nightmare of Termina, during the War of Ages, still Link though) quickly learned the location of each enemy he could, how you learned to call out the best way to quickly assess and take down an enemy as quickly as possible, how you both learned to watch each other’s backs and to care for the people and Termina to the point Link went from just a warrior to a healer, granted the trust of holding the crystalization of the hopes and dreams of the people of Termina that, even if they couldn’t remember it, wanted the cycle to end, wanted to hunt the threat to reality itself and purge it from the world. To bite down onto it’s neck and feel the thrill and glee and cutting down such an opponent.

Most importantly, after bleeding, crying, sweating and toiling against the unrelenting flow of time and insanity all brought upon by a lonely child being left alone and manipulated to commit heinous acts as ‘pranks’. It taught you and Time the importance of contingency plans, and about always, always being prepared for any and all situations, unlikely as they could be. Of taking through note of even the smallest detail that caught your eyes at a glance.

‘To defeat an abomination, you need one of two things: A deity, or a monster.’, you think cynically to yourself, stepping over Time’s fallen form as Warriors bolted over with blizzard forged fury in his cold, calculated movements to defend him in your stead as you called Hyrule over, the young man quickly starting to heal your Hero as you glare down at the disgusting stain on reality engaging Twilight and Wild all at once, gleeful at having watched the person you adored the most fall, bringing out the ultimate contingency from your cloak, you hadn’t even told him about it, because you prayed you’d never need to resort to this, ‘… Forgive me, Link. The first option isn’t doable here.’

Time was your everything, you knew how his story ended, with so much grief until he finally met Twilight again. You tried, you really did, to not allow yourself to love him but it was impossible because he was Link, the man who longed for adventure ever since he was young, embodying the freedom of the forest of life and death that made up the whole of Faron Woods and the Lost Woods and as steady as it’s moors, voice quiet and calm like a stream in the woods and with and with a smile to rival the warm sun and so, so heartbreakingly kind. Who protected and saved and healed people while slowly healing his own soul and who attempted to soothe his descendant’s pain the second he could even from beyond the grave.

And you’d be darned if you allowed anything to take him from you or the boys before his time without a fight. You couldn’t care less if he would eventually die as he was destined to in every timeline, it didn’t matter if it was futile, because he mattered, you loved him, and you’d keep him safe and happy for as long as you could.

It didn’t matter if one day tragedy will catch up to him, it mattered that he was loved while alive.

Even if you had to step on fire to make sure of it.

“Twilight, Wild. Step away.”, the edges of the spikes of the purple and crimson mask that haunted your nightmares as much as it did Time’s, it leered at you with it’s arsenic and pus eyes, picking apart at your weaknesses as it’s spikes dug into your hand as you tightened your grip to keep if from shaking. Tone falsely confident as you called to the Hero of Twilight and Wild to retreat.

(‘To defeat an abomination, you need a deity or a monster.’

The definition is awfully interchangeable, if you look at it.

You had found it, abandoned and in a dungeon Wind’s Era, not quite awake, but not asleep either. The eldritch hunger almost chocking you with it’s voracity, the darkness assessing, stalking, prowling and starving, it prodded at you but didn’t dig yet. It knew how to play the long game in it’s quest to stop feeling empty.

Funny thing is, so did you. You were a lot harder to break than the Skull Kid, would not break.

Majora wanted to cease, like how it had ceased before the Terminan Tribe ripped it from it’s slumber, taught it hunger, taught it cruelty, taught it how to manipulate and take amusement in consuming the wishes of mortals and their very souls only to never be satisfied. Had fueled it with wrath from being ripped from a lovely, endless dream of beautiful songs and a kind soul. To be torn from it’s fantasy and then left to rot.

You offered to grant it a proper rest. And so a deal was struck. Your one contingency if the situation was truly dire, in case you couldn’t get the Fierce Deity Mask instead -because you knew how Link was, he’d burn himself out until there was naught but ash. You refused to let it ever come to that, after his excruciating screams of pain had clawed an aching, hurtful place into your very soul-, and Majora was starving and desperate, a dangerous combination for any being but something you could use.

So be it, if to protect divinity you needed to become a monstrosity, a monster was what you’d be.

You’d keep him safe. And you knew that if the Fierce Deity put him down once, he could do it again in case you slipped. Between him and Sky you weren’t afraid at all of the risk.

Even if Time never forgave you for taking it.)

You smile bitterly, tearing up in spite of yourself as you see the second Time spots you and the cursed artifact in hand, eye wide, voice ripping from his throat in desperation, “I’m quite selfish, I’m sorry.”

His haunted expression cuts you deeper than any knife, as you knew it was an image that featured in many of your nightmares and his own. But you’re insatiable for his happiness, so you take the plunge.

“NO NO NO NO DON’T-“

You put on the mask, and you scream.

It’s like stepping on fire, a twisted, desperate tune, a note of discord, a belt of harmony and fury and most importantly, the mighty need to consume the one who had tried to take the one you loved away from you.

Defy death, defy entropy, defy chaos, defy flame and voracity.

You cling to your self control with a snarl, howling in defiance. Sinking your nails into the abyss’ throat and biting, tearing, holding, tasting rot and withered flowers and the writhing of shadows and the blood of distorted gluttonousdivinity on your tongue with savagery equal to the way the demon sinks it's spikes onto you. Chew on it’s tender, rotting flesh, quaff down the lukewarm pus of it’s heart and the rust of blood as it bites off your skin, stripping your mind into chunks as it nests into your ribs like the spikes of wild, dead roses when it finds your mind tougher to break and you BURN YOU ARE LIFE YOU ARE CHAOS AND YOU ARE DROWNING AND YOU ARE FLAME-

You move, and Majora’s laugh sounds like a scream and a song as reality howls.

Your bones, sinew, muscles, nerves, veins and teeth are reformed, the being pounces, dancing, swerving, whipping, cleaving, ripping and feeding into the monsters with putrid, revolting gusto. Whenever it’s attention even tries to waver towards the Heroes you sink your hold in harder, stubborn, you’re sure there’s blood dripping from your mouth beneath the mask, your eyes, your ears, as it reaches a crescendo of glee and pain. A human body isn’t meant to hold so much divinity at once, much less as wretched and horrific as Majora’s, but you don’t care, can’t care, when you’re holding onto yourself like a vice, refusing to give it even a single inch.

It doesn’t kill Dark Link, the bastard (the one who’d hurt Time, the one who would have finished him off if not for you and Warriors). But the screech the Shadow releases as it gets ripped to shreds and the ripple of it’s retreating form is enough to make you partially agree with Majora’s vicious, amused glee that it was satisfying. Even if the feeling of you allowing it to utilize your skin temporarily felt revolting and disgusting in a way it made you wish you were actually on fire, not just in so much pain in a metaphysical level that it sure rivaled being set on fire, frost burned and lightning struck all in one go.

All is still now, all is silent.

Now comes the difficult part.

'Are you quite sure?', whispers Majora, crooning like nails on chalkboards, and it’s spikes sink into you tighter when you grip the sides of it, teeth gritted as you start prying it out of your face, amused by your defiance, but no longer as hungry. You did allow it quite the meal, you bet nothing like fellow divinity tastes better to the being, like the taste of a forbidden fruit you were going to be unfortunately acquainted given you’re sure Dark Link’s blood is on your teeth.

'Yes.' comes your faint response, as your sanity frays in fragile threads, you think someone calls your name, but you are drowning, you are burning, and you know that if you don’t focus it will break you. And you’d be fully dead before you let that happen. If you’re going to die you’re going to die as a human.

'Tou are so, so cold… So cruel.' It drawls, the demon’s voice like the gnawing of rats, like maggots under you skin, you convulse, falling to your knees with a wounded keen and pull harder, you barely noticed someone falling by your side, frantically calling your name, but the mask’s eyes dim to an outsider’s perspective, resigned as it hums dreamily, 'I suppose that’s why The Divine Hunter cares for you so, why it’s vessel’s claim is so strong.'

Good, you were banking on it being sleepy, after gorging yourself on the enemy of your boys, Hylia’s gash and Din’s assets your mouth is going to taste putrid for months isn’t it?

Majora hisses, growls, howls and screeches, a brush against your essence as it retreats. Unwinding from every single cell of your body, distorting your atoms back to their proper shape. It still hurts, buy it’s more bearable, although you quickly notice you’re chocking on a different form of Divinity, more possessive, more wild but just as old and ferocious as it snaps at the retreating heels of the twisted, chaotic thorns. Making reality remember your own shape quicker at the cost of filling every crack consumed by the demon.

You swear that thing is smiling smugly at something else, teeth bared and very entertained, taking the suffering of the people of Termina and the cold revulsion in your veins with it as it retreats with it's cacaphony of voices to the shade, 'A shame. Feasting more would be delightful, but very well. We trust that though you hurt today, tomorrow you’ll make sure we head on our way.'

You don’t have the mind or heart to say anything else to it, for it grows silent as the spikes rip from the sides of your face, you bite of a tortured yell as the spikes rip off chunks of skin and flesh, clawing at the ground with, thankfully, soothing, perfectly regular fingers and nails, albeit cracked, you feel someone take their hand in yours, and you crack open an eye, carefully aware of the blood dripping down your face from the half removal of the heart shaped mask and the thrum of thunder replacing the cold in your veins with boiling, protective warmth.

Time.

“You shouldn’t be up already.”, you rasp, looking over his wounded form, healed by Hyrule, you shakily take your left hand to keep prying at the Majora’s Mask, only for him to take it gently in yours, you taste blood, the petrichor of the Lost Woods mist and pine on the back of your mouth, chasing the rot of Majora away.

“It’s nothing, we both know I’ve had worse.” He says, firmly shaking his head. His scarred eye is open, ivory like bone, the markings more vibrant and prominent with the ferocity of a god, he looks tired, and you attempt to speak, to apologize, to voice your worry because you knew channeling the deity without a conduit was a bad idea, before coughing, shaking from the aftermath of your reckless, reckless plan.

(You unfortunately can’t say you regret it much, though, when you silently bear the combined brunt of Time and Fierce Deity’s care once you reach camp and the protective way they act towards you. Even though Majora is long gone much to your resigned exasperation, and the rest of your boys amusement, but that is for much, much later.)

Time gently hums, it rings through you like thunder as he holds you close, tapping your neck in a rhythm you could recognize in your sleep for when he was about to pull arrows, blades or shrapnel from your skin, or was ready to have it done to himself, you immediately loosen yourself as much as possible, gripping his hand tightly as he rips the rest of the Majora’s Mask off, inert and lifeless as when you’ve both woke up from a new day, he holds you close as you try to breathe, reassuring himself you’re still here, “Don’t you ever scare me like that again. Please.” He pleads, begs, prays. He can't lose you too.

And you can’t help it, you smile as you cry crimson and russet tones from your eyes, holding him back as close as you dare to. He doesn’t hate you, you’re sure you’re going to soon participate in the argument of a lifetime. But Link doesn’t hate you, doesn’t see you as a monster any more than you could ever see him as anything but the kind companion you always knew.

So you let yourself nod, helpless to say no to him for anything really. And allow yourself to breathe, you’re both going to be alright.

[lovelaetter]

Which female celebrities do you find attractive? Also who was your gay awakening?

okay, first, the gay awakening thing. it’s funny because i don’t remember ever having one? like, i do remember that i had an unhealthy obsession with nikki reed as rosalie during all twilight saga movies AND anne hathaway as the white queen in alice in wonderland, so maybe that was it? i’m still kinda obsessed until today tbh like save me women save me, but for so many years i just thought of it as being normal because i had no idea of things and lived in a heteronormative world… you know, looking back it’s so sad because i do remember forcing myself to have a crush on boys in my class just to have one to mention if a friend asked me if i had a crush on someone and jesus, i was so young :( i had zero feelings, nothing for those boys but i would choose one the less worse and be like “yeah, that one” and that followed for years because then i convinced myself that i was bisexual like those who had been here before know it i labeled myself as bi and very, very recently came to the terms that i’m a lesbian and i still doubt myself from time to time because what if…? your girl has been living in comphet for her whole fucking life !! anyways, sorry for all that, i know that’s not what you wanted to hear but yeah, maybe nikki reed as rosalie and anne hathaway as the white queen… love my wives forever <3

for my celeb crushes, beside kpop ones that are quite obvious who my girls are, if you know you know, i have a thing for blondes so think of a blonde actress, singer, whatever and there’s a 80% chance i have a thing for them. but also, i apparently seem to have a thing for older women and it’s not even funny anymore, i don’t play about older women, i hope i get married to one in the future or at least get to be a lover or something, you know, i would gladly be the second option of a beautiful, hot older woman whose husband doesn’t satisfy anymore. an example, i recently watched the substance (loved it, watch it if you can) and i genuinely had to pause the movie one moment and go text my friend like “not really paying attention when demi moore is on screen” and she was like “OF COURSE you’re not paying attention” like im sorry???? it’s NOT my fault.

i can’t mention names like the top of my head because i genuinely think so many women are attractive 😭 i could say cate blanchett because duh, but then there’s anya taylor joy that if you mention in my presence you will see a crazy woman, then mikey madison im on a mikey madison thing lately, and ayo edebiri, saw a picture of her earlier and almost cried like okay angel face… i just love women too much :( it’s easier to ask me “to you find [name] attractive?�� directly, im the first person in the world with no type, just a preference for blondes BUT that’s a detail

[willowmosby]

So I decided to watch the new abc Doctor Odyssey, because God forbid I finish one of the multiple other shows I'm working my way through. My thoughts are below the gif (that i did not make in case that wasn't obvious)

Please please let me know if you have thoughts id love to know how others are vibing with this show!

So my thoughts. Is this a theme heavy pick apart the screen for details hold be accountable for their options show. No and honestly I'm kinda glad. Like I love me some Buffy or Black sails, of interview with a vampire. But honestly right now I'm super excited for super sexy boat time so whenever I use the world silly in this review please know I mean it in the best way possible.

The only weird thing is that I felt super weird the covid is now old enough to be a tragic backstory. I mean covid is absolutely tragic backstory material but like I thought we would give it a few more years.

Unless it ends up in some twilight zone shit it will be a little murder she wrote in the sense that like there's no way that a small town has that many murders and people still want to live there. There is no way they have even 3 emergencies a week that are as serious as this weeks on a cruise ship of that size. - but hey I'm not mad cause " work like a captain party like a pirate" is so silly but also so sexy and the ship is show shiny and pretty and the homoerotic tension is so there.

Like Tristan and Max had way more chemistry than either of them had with Avery. I could see an Ot3 cropping up but I don't think ABC is going to be able to actually do that - like it's still a stretch for me to think they'll go through gay route- but I think that could be fun.

The bit where Max decided not to sleep with Avery did feel very much like he's gay and just not out about it and got caught up in the homoerotic fight but somehow ended up with the girl? (Like you know that scene from how I met your mother where it's not Ted fighting someone for a girl or the girl and someone fighting for ted? )but if it's not that's fine too we love a man who realizes there is a power imbalance.

I just think it's a weird way to set up a straight will they won't they. You know cause most times in a will they won't they It takes them a while to get to the first time. Like if they were setting up a romantic trope they did it better with enemies to friends to lovers ( please please let this be the case) with Tristan and Max.

Anyway Sorry sorry for the ship discourse it's too early in the show to really tell maybe next week the cast will have settled in and the chemistry between Max and Avery will be off the charts.

For some ship discourse I do really like the set like it is so clean and sparkly and like it just feels like a glamorous, sexy, and fun time. Like nothing too serious or gritty can happen here no sir. Which isn't always my cup of tea but this time I think it could be fun.

I like the captain as a character cause he goes so far in being serious that it comes back to silly. I do think that if the show wants to last a long time it needs a few more regulars. I don't need a full ensemble ensemble but like 4 characters that we know by name is not enough. Give me a reoccurring lifeguard or bartender or something

Anyway just thought I get some thoughts out there while it's relevant, who knows if I will actually continue to watch ( just so many shows so little time) but I will try my best.

I'm super excited to see other people's thoughts and feelings!

[sanchoyo]

just finished echoes of wisdom!! (MAJOR) spoilers under the cut for my initial, very fresh thoughts. Lots of them

the outfits were so so cute. kitty outfit was a big hit for obvious reasons but I also loved Silk PJs and OG princess fits (dress and traveling one... <3) theres apparently a blue version of the dress and black cat outfit you get from amibos but I wasnt 100%ing and im not buying amibos just for that (even tho I would really like 2 have it akdsfk) a+ accessory designs too!!

great character designs, insanely varied for the gerudo and goron designs between every npc!! (probably the best gerudo designs to date IMO)

fav echoes were Hoard of Crows (me siccing like 6 crows on enemies) gold wind up bird u get from dampe (btw fun new role for him!!) bc I Liked Fast Money, lv 3 lizalfos (BLUE BIG BODYGUARD FOR ME) and lv 3 darknut. also obviously teddy bear. was throwing it at NPCs i liked all game

really enjoyed how many enemies returned from previous games!!! and diving!!! diving finally came back!! (LOVED the zora area, had a lot of fun with the pirate ship area over there too)

what was up with that one optional boss that was like a sentient fart. that was weird and I suspect he was supposed to come back and then I missed him on the second go around LMAO

the hebra mountain storyline had me in TEARS i was spawning teddy bears at that dude to try to make him feel better rapid fire (this did not help. sad) i was hoping i could find his brother and make him go back ;_; (cant recall the dudes name but that was the same species as the ones from twilight princess, right?)

the way i leveled up my swordfighter form SO much expecting to use it in the final boss fight and then had to give link his shit back and was unable to use it in the final fight?? INFURIATING. docking points on the rating for this game just for that shit. why give me the option to level up my sword and energy if not let me use it again null??? AUGH!!! I WANTED TO FIGHT TOO!!! NOT JUST USE ECHOES!!!

link and zelda both having to fight evil versions of each other at some point was kind of slay tho (also us having to come rescue him from the crystal? also slay) fanfic writers please have them jumping at mirrors and also seeing each other for a while tho, great concept

the final boss had me really surprised, i was 100% expecting ganon to show up or be the final boss (HE WAS ON THE POSTER...AND COVER ART...) but he was just another echo?? so where did null get that echo, exactly? was the ganon at the start that kidnapped zelda the real one, then link killed him and null echoed him from there?? unclear

null was a great final boss conceptually tho and i 100% hope they use them for future games. eldritch horror wasnt what i expected but thats AMAZING (putting their disappointing, sort of chaotic, but not hard final boss fight aside). very scary. very cool. walking around in their insides(??) to get to them (??) was awesome. love when cute games get a lil dark. adds flavor. cool new lore!!! cant wait for the lore implication theory videos to come out (do we think null is stronger than demise?? I decided I Do think so, demise is a Demon and null is some huge cosmic horror, feels like the scales tip to null being stronger...)

why was everyone at the end so shocked at what link said. whatd he say that had them shook i need to know (was it that he could talk again?? wasnt that a temporary problem from being in the void lol??)

need more games to play as zelda now. loved it. best loz game to come out since botw, maybe actually ranks higher in my mind?? (could be recency bias ofc, but it checked so many boxes for me) really fresh concept, my only real gripes are how the final boss fight played out (GIVE ME MY SWORDFIGHTER FORM BACK!!! LET ME SLICE!!) and the dang echo menu being 234234 miles long...the sorting features were nice, but still, needed a better menu for that in general. i scrolled 30 miles in the snow uphill etc.

also barely any of the ost was super stand-out to me, which (like. it was FINE but given how good the music in cadence of hyrule was they shouldve brought those guys back to do this music tbh. that game had me spoiled on good loz remixes. I stand by the fact it has probably the best ost in ALL of the zelda games.)

i LOVED the puzzles and dungeons. missed them soo much in recent loz games. i LOVE PUZZLE!!!!!!!!! none of them were too hard and it also wasnt too hand-holdy. perfect level of makes me think but not Steam my Brain type stuff.

smoothies were cute and really fun to play with. the deku scrubs were SO cute (they all used they/them too i think. based) all the CATS!! WERE SO CUTE!! just really appreciate how cute everything in the game was in general. the fact i could chuck teddy bears at enemies. best game actually

cant say i was crazy about any of the mini games but none were super hard once you had the froggy item. it felt like cheating a lil bit to use it but that was one of the items I wore until the end (along with my cute heart bow of COURSE. cant be saving hyrule if you aint cute)

fav NPCS were hebra mountain guy (conte??) the gerudo chief's daughter (she really felt like zelda's sidon, but not annoying <3) and general wright surprisingly (I really enjoyed how loudly supportive of zelda he was!! he was like YEAH OUR PRINCESS IS SO STRONG SHE CAN FIX IT AND BEAT THOSE MONSTERS!!! LETS GOO i loved that energy for us)

saying goodbye to tri destroyed me. I was crying real ugly tears. (I started thinking about my dog and saying goodbye to him last month and how much tri's speech reminded me of what I told him AUGH. its still fresh and hurts but this was somehow really healing to play. like this came at the perfect time I think)

thoughts subject to change once I watch other people's playthrus and listen to theory videos and think on it for a while but rn? solid 8/10 game (and I only docked points for the dang end boss fight really, REALLY good game up until then)

[murfpersonalblog]

The Babygirlification of the Modern Vampire - marinashutup

The first half is mostly just her love of Baldur’s Gate 3′s Astarion, and Twilight’s Edward Cullen; but she actually starts cooking in the last ~15 minutes, about major themes about vampires & vampirism in general; and why audiences relate to monsters so much:

Toxic cycles of abuse & vampire guilt (30:58 - 32:56)

Considering the vampire cycle of abuse, is it really any wonder that so many vampires are angsty brooding and hate themselves? 

“This is the skin of a killer, Bella!” (Edward Cullen)

The overwhelming desire to drain innocent victims -like Elon Musk drains Diet Coke cans and Twitter's net worth aside--vampires are basically groomed into believing they need to be sadistic, unempathetic, tyrannical monsters. Sure, monsters don't have a lot of say in their nature, but the culture of  enslaving, torturing, and brainwashing certainly doesn't help.

This is also making me think a lot about the way that artificial family dynamics are replicated within vampire lore.

Cazador is described as the patriarch of his coven, and he repeatedly calls his Spawn his children. He uses infantilizing language, referring to Astarion--a 239 year-old man--as “boy” and “child.” The Zar family is also a literal family lineage of vampires, and there's a whole side story where you learn that Cazador turned his own niece at the age of 13 without her consent. Incidentally, she was kind of a bada** because she rejected the whole creepy family cult thing, changed her name, and refused to ever leave her room. Honestly, Queen Sh*t. 

In real life toxic family dynamics, abusive parental figures often think of their abuse as serving a greater good. In the minds of many abusers, corporal punishment functions as a way to correct perceived mistakes and reinforce desired behavior in victims. The schemas passed down from vampire Masters to their spawn are inherently rooted in a cycle of abuse. 

In vampire mythology, including Dracula, Interview with the Vampire, and Buffy, vampire lineage often requires that all vampires are both victim and predator. The original trauma of being preyed upon by a monster who has power over them, viciously attacked and turned against their will, is part of a cycle of violence that gets repeated every time a vampire feeds or creates another vampire. In many of these narratives, the dichotomy of vampire-versus-prey / Master-versus-Spawn mirrors the abuser-victim dynamic.

The Role of Choice (35:43 - 38:17)

The role of choice is the primary theme running throughout Baldurs Gate 3, but it's also a major recurring concept within vampire narratives. 

In Twilight, Bella spends three and a half long-winded books begging Edward to turn her, to allow her to exercise her choice, and become a vampire--and he just keeps edging her. There's a lot to be said about Bella's motivations for this, and whether or not her desire is valid or rooted in a teen girl's struggle with identity. The books don't really grapple with the weight of that choice in a satisfying or intellectually curious way, but it's undeniably a substantial part of the text. 

In Interview with the Vampire [the 1994 movie], after mortally wounding Louis, Lestat presents him with the choice he never had--

“I'm going to give you the choice...I never had.” (Lestat, IWTV 1994)

But the so-called “choice” that Lestat offers his targets isn't really a choice at all. Mortally wounding someone, and then offering them the option to become a vampire or die is a false dichotomy of choice, that Lestat manufactured to suit his own needs: 

"If I leave you here...you die.” (Lestat, IWTV 1994)

Like, sir!? Have you ever considered the third option of NOT bringing your targets right up to the point of death, and instead simply letting them go?! 

He targets Louis because he knows he's emotionally vulnerable. Louis’ grieving the loss of his wife and daughter, behaves recklessly because he actively wants to unalive himself. He begs for death, but when the moment comes, he hesitates.

"Have you tasted it enough?” (Lestat, IWTV 1994)

Lestat promises that the gift of Darkness will rid him of pain and grief, and Louis agrees, but only reluctantly.

When Astarion first meets Cazador, his experience mirrors Louis. He's similarly bleeding to death when he's given the option to die or become a vampire; a choice he references with a degree of sarcasm:

"Eternal life, or bleed to death on the street!” (Astarion, BG3)

Cazador also leaves out some pretty major details about the consequences of being a vampire spawn, and it's doubtful Astarion would have actually consented to being turned had he been informed of them. I think it's also pretty clear in the way that Astarion talks about his experience that the process of being turned was a major source of trauma for him, and not something that he would choose a second time.

"I don't want to turn into anything else.” (Astarion, BG3)

I think it's also clear in the language he uses to describe his experience that he does not enjoy being a vampire. He pathologizes vampirism with medical euphemisms, describing it as a “condition,” “complication,” and “affliction.” 

Even Cazador himself seems to struggle with the monster he eventually became. If you use Detect Thoughts while Cazador is asleep in his coffin, his thoughts betray an eerie internal monologue.

Abuse Survivors vs Abuse Perpetuators (42:19 - end)

Some survivors of parental abuse unconsciously replicate the same behaviors and ideals from their own abusers. That's why you sometimes see generational trauma pass down within families, from abusive parents to their children, to their children's children.

Astarion's romantic relationship with the player also morphs into this weird power dynamic thing--and, like, I get it, I get it! You can actually have him turn Tav into a vampire spawn. But it's pretty clear that he will then start thinking of you [Tav] as a subordinate.... 

But mirroring his transformation from human to spawn, Astarion's Ascension fundamentally changes who he is as a person--

"Something tells me he's not the same person we knew.” (Karlach, BG3) 

And what I think is so interesting about Baldur’s Gate 3 is that it presents players with the complicated choice between persuading Astarion from making a decision that would clearly damage his progress healing from abuse, and letting him make his own quote unquote choice to Ascend. 

To me, persuading Astarion NOT to go through with the ritual and save the imprisoned Spawn is an essential step in the character's healing journey. Instead of rooting his aspirations in the twisted ideals that Cazador and the vampires before him glorified, this decision shifts how Astarion views himself, and who he identifies with. Truly seeing and valuing the Spawn’s humanity is Astarion choosing to identify with Cazador's other victims and honor the humanity within himself by aligning himself with the Spawn. It means he too is a survivor worth saving. It means choosing to be better than Cazador-- choosing to form his own identity, and choosing to break the centuries-long vampire cycle of abuse. And that's really powerful. 

But of course, you can also choose to let your pansexual elf boyfriend double down on becoming a toxic Alpha Vampire Who Wants to Rule the World. Some players actually prefer letting Astarion Ascend, and live out his fantasy as a kinky vampire Top, creating a polycule of Spawn Submissives.

In Baldur’s Gate 3, you can make whatever choice you want. That's kind of the whole point.

“There are a lot of thirsty people around here.” (Halsin, BG3)

[cresneta]

Chapter 85

Now that I'm not mentally hungover from watching a certain 3 hour movie that released recently directly after reading the chapter, here's a longer post on chapter 85.

Just to preface this - this is just my theory, and there are some pretty big ifs here, so I could big wrong about this. Also I put forth some negative opinions for Nightfall towards the end, so hardcore fans of her may want to skip this post.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I think Nightfall is going to be out of the picture for a while after this arc. However, I think the are a few more reasons why this makes sense for the narrative than just her injuries.

Endo just introduced a new named female character: Chloe ( I'll admit this is possibly my weakest point on this)

By ushering out Nightfall for a bit, Endo frees up some space explore her character and her relationship with Yuri. While he could have done this with Nightfall around, people do tend to get annoyed if too many chapters go by between major arcs and Nightfall leaving for a bit will allow Chloe to take the chapter slots that Nightfall normally would have taken while Endo establishes Chloe's character.

Endo has also been showing interest in progressing Yuri's character arc of late and one way or another Chloe could end up helping him with that. Part of that arc will likely include Yuri getting over being a siscon. While I think there's a decent chance that Chloe will become a love interest for Yuri, I could also see her just being the sort of friend to him who is willing smack him up the side of the head with the cold hard truth and everyone needs a friend like that, IMO. She doesn't mince words and got away with referring to Yor as his 'damn sister.' Yuri getting over being a siscon could also set him to contrast with Nightfall and how she deals with her unrequited love for Twilight - which brings me to my next point:

If Twilight was awake enough here to hear what Nightfall said then there's a good chance he's going to tell her that he's not interested in her like that and she's going to have to cope with that rejection

A reasonable person after such a rejection will try to get over their feelings for the other person. I've seen at least one dating coach recommend that going no contact for a while with the person who doesn't love you back can be a good way to get over your feelings for them. Nightfall gong away for a while to recover from her injuries will also give her the chance to get over her feelings for Twilight. Who knows if she'll actually take that opportunity though? Reasonable and good people dealing with unrequited feelings DO NOT try to break up the relationships of the subject of their affections just so they have a shot at getting with them after all.

If Nightfall does the reasonable thing this could set her to finally be ready to get into a relationship with someone else. Possibly an existing character like Franky or Yuri if Chloe ends up just being the friend who gives him the tough love he needs to get past being a siscon. Possibly an existing character most people aren't considering could be an option - like Chloe, the WISE rookie, or any number of other characters or even a brand new one.

If she DOESN'T do the reasonable thing, especially if Yuri gets over being a siscon as this will contrast with him, then she could end up doubling down on trying to win Twilight's affections when she gets back. She could end up picking a physical fight with Yor or any other desperate attempts to get her away from Twilight for good. If Yuri has left the SSS by this point, Nightfall could even try reporting her to them even though that will put Twilight at some risk as well. If she goes this route, I think a nasty suspicion that I posted about her before is more likely to be true - that she may have done horrible things in the past to get rid of her rivals for Twilight's affections.

Anyways, that's just some more of my thoughts on the matter. As always, I could be very wrong about any and all of this

[klxudykai]

all 26 of my drs

soo as my bio says I have 26 drs!! and today I will be talking about each of them

in all honesty I thought it was a bit of a stretch to shift to that many, but who cares? the universe is unlimited so if I wanna shift to 3, 26, or even 100 I should be allowed to (and so should you!!)

anywaysss lets get into it

Anime drs

MHA - this is literally my MAIN DR. its the first ever dr I thought of shifting to and one of my favorites. I can't wait to shift there omg

MHA (fantasy au) - this isn't one of my top favs but it is def a cool one that I would enjoy fs

AOT (modern college au) - this dr is gonna be so fun I just know it

Haikyuu - volleyball is one of my FAVORITE sports so I already know this is gonna be exciting (I also had a haikyuu obsession ever since 2019 quarantine-)

★ ★ ★

Fame drs

singer - I always wanted to be a famous singer so this made inner 9 year old me SCREAM. I live and breathe music. all kinds of it, too. my playlist will go from SZA to Bone Thugs n Harmony to Billie Ellish and then to Deftones real quick

youtuber - this is another career that 9 year old me wanted. I've always looked up to YouTubers so I knew I would have a trip shifting to where I was one too

street racer - okay Im gonna be so honest and tell y'all rn I don't know jack shit abt cars- all I know is that I wanna have a hot pink car and blast flo milli while dusting a bunch of men in races (hot girl shit I fear-)

90s r&b singer - I love the 90s. the music, the fashion, all of it. absolutely amazing. that's it

band dr - I would love to be the lead singer of a famous ass band. I haven't decided if I was gonna join an existing one or make my own yet but one of the options will be happening

★ ★ ★

TV shows/Movies

hogwarts - when I first got into shifting a LOT of people were shifting to Hogwarts and honestly I understand why. it looks so fun there man

alice in wonderland - this is one of my FAVORITE movies. I love the weirdness of it all and its just so creative and calming for me. (I intend on scripting I live in a cute little cottage on a hill with my two headed cow because I have a major obsession with cows)

diary of a wimpy kid - I got one name for you. and that name is rodrick mf heffley. judge me I do not care but that man is FINE (he probably smells tho but I intend on scripting he isn't cause who tf wants a smelly man??). i also like the idea of being in loded diper

twilight - I've had an obsession with vampires and werewolves (ESPECIALLY werewolves) since I was in 4th grade so this move series and dr is right up my alley (I'm team Jacob btw even tho he's hella childish)

the breakfast club - the first time I watched this movie I was like "I'm officially shifting there". I love coming of age movies especially older ones like this so I didn't hesitate to add it to my list

riverdale - this series was kinda interesting tbh. I heard it got really wacky after the 3rd season though but I guess I'll find that out when I rewatch it (or when I shift idk). SPEAKING OF RIVERDALE- I had two dreams about shifting there and it was so crazy. like the first one was when I was in the diner with the characters and I was looking for my s/o, but I woke up before I could find him. and then the second dream I don't remember but I had the sensation I kissed someone???? so I'm pretty sure I found him LMFAO-

spiderman (itsv-atsv) - absolutely NO words for this one. I've had an obsession with this one ever since it came out. and I almost screamed in the movie theater when the producers hit us with that "to be continued" bs. also hobie brown <33

descendents - I was into every single original Disney channel movie that was released and this was one of them. AND I could be the daughter of Tiana like??? sign me up fr

monster high - these are literally THE monster it girls. it would be a crime to not shift there

total drama - this was the first reality tv show I ever watched and I was so here for it. they got real creative with the drama too

victorious - I LOVE arts. acting, painting, music, dance, you name it. if I could go to a school like this in my cr I would've already been there (oh wait I technically can)

power rangers - SPECIFICALLY the 2017 film. I don't feel like we got a backstory on half of the characters and its so disappointing but oh MAN when my boy DACRE got on that screen I almost hollered. this movie served so hard and it deserved a sequel badly.

stranger things - this was another obsession of mine and I couldn't have it any other way. its gonna be terrifying but badass (like nancy wheeler when she had that damn shotgun)

mid90s - this was a decision I made last week because I had JUST watched the movie and it was my obsession for a little bit too. I experienced a little home sickness (more like a lot of homesickness because I was SAD SAD)

★ ★ ★

other drs I thought of shifting to

demon slayer - this seemed pretty fun, but I heard that later down the plot it got boring and sucked pretty bad so I wasn't sure

kpop - I'm not 100% a kpop fan but I LOVE krnb so I was just thinking of making music like that but its still in the works a bit

avatar - I thought it would be cool, but I wasn't in love with the idea like I thought id be. maybe if I shifted to the first avatar I'd like it but idk yet

farm life - like I mentioned earlier I really love cows and thought a farm would be cool, but I kinda fell out of love with the idea so this most likely won't go all the way through

anastasia - this is one of the drs I most likely will still be shifting to because I just love classic Disney movies (and Dimitri was fine..)

ready player one - in all honesty, I completely forgot I intended on shifting there but its a fun ass concept

pitch perfect - okay but this movie was funny as hell plus singing so why not?

tinkerbell - this entire series was my Roman empire. they were my FAV when I was little and still are

10 things I hate about you - early 2000 movies are my favorite so when I watched this, I wanted to shift there asap

★ ★ ★

okay and I think those are all my drs!! this might be a little over 26 too but oh well LMFAO-

i really enjoyed making this and I hope y'all enjoyed reading it <3

stay tuned for more drs because i am always thinking of new ones to go to!!

[luimagines]

*walks on in tiredly, soaked to the bone and looking like I've just lost a fight with a lynel, hands you a bag of pastries, refuses to elaborate* Hey there, how have you been doing lately? Apologies it's been a while, life's been rough sadly so I haven't been able to properly drop in here, but thank you for all your work in the fandom! As always your work makes it easier to help remember how to smile when the going gets tough ^^

I've yet to fully breakdown the oneshots like how I wish to sadly because the Twilight Wild West Enemies to Lovers has been attempting to fight the Beauty and The Beast Twilight portion of the Fairy Tale AU, so instead I'm dropping this here to see if it will help them settle so that I can actually write those breakdowns and drop each of the fairy tales, of Assassin/Triple Agent Reader and Warriors, more specifically about the outcomes of the Neutral Dramatic Route (Before LU) and the Dramatic Chaotic Route (During LU). And because why not share? XD, technically a scenario/long post ahead? Apologies in advance.

So Assassin Reader defects from being Cia's tactician and joins the party after they get wounded, they and Warriors slowly get closer and rebuild their friendship over time while the war is still going, but just before Warriors and Artemis go face Ganondorf they get attacked by one of Ganondorf's followers (most likely Ghirahim, but either Volga, Zant, Dark Link or even Yuga works because Reader would have worked in close conjunction with them and Cia as the one making the tactics and sabotaging the enemy because they definitely weren't being payed enough to deal with cleaning up after Wizzro, plus I mentally believe Ghirahim and Assassin Reader would have been wine buddies, complaining over the hero and sassing the other antagonists because while Ghirahim doesn't have his head on straight either he at least gave Reader less work to do and Ghirahim wouldn't have wanted to deal with ay of them, he would have been royally FURIOUS that they defected and left him to manage that circus alone after all those times they complained over the hero together and the idea of Warriors being offended/jealous over that is insanely funny to me), and Reader has to stay behind with Impa and the others to give him, Artemis and Lana the opportunity to go on, Warriors naturally protesting because he wouldn't want to leave them behind again after he JUST got his childhood friend back but eventually having no choice but to go as Assassin Reader pushes him towards Artemis with a call of "Don't die! I'll never forgive you if you die now after you survived so many of my attempts on your life!" And leads the fight away from them to hopefully get locked in single combat with one of the opposing generals while they go on. They may be an assassin first and foremost, but they do have knight training so the least they can do is buy him time and survive.

Now there's two ways this can go:

Neutral Dramatic Route (or In Which Warriors Suffers 2: Hylian Boogaloo)

Assassin Reader manages to hold their ground and/or defeat their opponent, but gets injured in the process, hit on their not quite fully scarred over wound by Dark Link and retreats, but knowing they brought Warriors enough time to seal the gates to each of the ages. They slip away unseen and dwell on their options, just because they defected and worked as practically a triple agent for the rest of the war, that doesn't mean there's any guarantee Artemis might clean their name after getting set up by their family and well, Warriors will be safe now right? Cia is gone (or at least contained safely by Lana) he has Linkle, Mask and Wind so surely he'll be okay now right? They don't want to bring him any more trouble, because he already got enough grief while they were knights and they saw how well he did in the role of Hero. He shouldn't want anything to truly do with them anymore or worse, it'll paint a bigger target on his back than being the Hero already will just by them being around and well... He has Artemis now too. Surely he doesn't need them anymore or truly want them back in his life, he'll be happier without them chaining him down. So instead they make a choice.

The very next day, after the celebrations are done for the end of the war. A list of names of the traitors appear on Warriors' bedside as well as a list of nobles (including from Reader's own family, who framed them for the original crime that brought about theirs and Warriors' fallout), as well as a letter detailing every single underhanded deal to sabotage the Hylian army, corruption within the army AND plots against Artemis that were planning on taking advantage of her absence during the war to gain more power, as well as detailing where to find the evidence to it all, at the end, there's a simple set of words in slightly stained ink, oddly a bit damp compared to the rest of the letter: "My apologies, for everything I've said back then and now. Live happily and well, Link.

I'll see you around."

Assassin Reader is nowhere to be found, no matter how hard Warriors looks after he presented the contents of the letter to Artemis, who indeed find all of the evidence and starts immediately cleaning house, finding some of the traitors with the most active hands in the plot already dead ("Killed in their sleep." details Impa).

Warriors is devastated, but doesn't let the information Assassin Reader left behind go in vain, being the first on the scene when dragging out the members of Reader's family in on the conspiracy, being there through all of the trial process and advocating for Reader's official pardon and for them to be reinstated as leader of their noble house as they should have been had they not been framed, even if they aren't there to actually see it through and the title of overseer goes to one of the members of Reader's family not in on it (maybe a sibling?). He doesn't forget them and still chases after every rumor relating to them he can in an official capacity until Linked Universe happens and Artemis promises to keep a look out as well because even if they started on opposite sides, Reader still did them a huge favor after the confrontation in the Temple of Souls and they deserve to know that justice has been served.

Fast forward to LU, and eventually the Chain circles back to Warriors' Hyrule, where Artemis is hosting a masquerade ball in celebration of the end of the War of Ages, as a way to remember the fallen and honor all who participated in the war, the Chain is participating and so is Warriors (albeit begrudgingly, because you cannot tell me he wouldn't dodge every time of situation involving possible suitors or people offering their daughter's hand in marriage to him as well as nobles planning to backstab one another every chance he got, him and Assassin Reader used to steal away to any non occupied room with pilfered snacks after an hour or two just to enjoy each other's company, avoid Reader's family or people bothering Wars whenever those functions happened in their youth).

Everyone scatters and thinks go as you'd expect, though Warriors can feel occasionally eyes on him and swears he's seen a flash of (h/c) on the corner of his eye, only to be disappointed when it's nothing, only for the dance to happen. After going through at least two dances and planning to bow out after the end of the third, he almost loses his composure at seeing his new partner when they're spun onto his arms once they lock masked eyes. They freeze in his arms as a hand tightens around their own in reflex, sharing in his disbelief.

Because beneath the mask those are Assassin Reader's eyes. Dressed to the nines and undercover because they've been rooting out the remain traitors from the shadows.

The dance goes on, because when you don't know what to say defaulting to try and acting natural helps, near the end, Assassin Reader finally breaks the silence.

"... Ah, I suppose this was inevitable, didn't expect it to happen this soon though." They chuckle, a bit sheepish, awkwardly trying to regain their footing, they look him over, head tilted with a bittersweet smirk as they lift their mask cheekily, showing it really is them, "What? Nothing to say to little old me?"

"You're here."

They twitch, sighing, "... I am, aren't I? Apologies for disappointing you." They pause, their smirk softening into a smile, "You look well, I'm glad." They gently squeeze his hand, seemingly searching for words to say, "... You-" they cut themselves off, swallowing, then try again, just as the dance ends, the breathe, "... This has been a wonderful experience, Li- Sir Hero." They bow, slipping from his grasp, they smile at Warriors, "... Have a good evening, thank you." I hope you have a good life, sincerely thank you for everything. Ends up unsaid, as they hesitate, steel themselves with a heavy heart turn and walk away to search for their target for the night, convinced Warriors doesn't want anything to do with them anymore.

Now does Warriors let them go or run after them? Also I can just imagine the reaction of the Chain if they catch Warriors just bolting into a sudden chase, decorum be darned after someone who literally just seemed like another person going through to the balcony (when really it's just Assassin Reader trying to gracefully remove themselves from the situation because the plan was NOT dance with Warriors, just make sure he was alright after he vanished then try to let him go because he has Artemis already).

Or the Chaotic Dramatic Route (also know as Warriors Does Get to Take a Break, Kinda):

Things play out similar to the Neutral Dramatic Route, but before Assassin Reader can spiral fully down into deciding to leave, Warriors notices they're acting off and immediately drags them over to talk to Artemis about investigating what really happened the day they fell out as soon they fully wrap everything up and in working on that pardon, Artemis, who knows an opportunity when she sees it and has been having alarm bells about Assassin Reader dipping now that the war is over while still injured and she'll be darned if she doesn't thank someone whom she came to see as a friend properly, agrees easily enough.

As long as Reader does some investigation for her of their own so she can clean house more efficiently AND stays under Warriors' custody. (Half protective custody if Reader's family still has it out for them, half really house arrest because Warriors is the only one actually equipped to keep Reader anywhere because they'd feel guilty if they hurt him now after everything and he actually knows all their tells and how to see through their disguises in case they do try doing a runner, and also because she's a meddler and Warriors is onto her.)

Despite Assassin Reader's protests and Warriors tellingly not really objecting, they end up moving in together and properly become friends again, even if their interactions still look like an old married couple or a very amusing comedy routine of Menace Assassin and Feral but Pretending He's Not Soldier™ to anyone who sees them (and Reader's feelings who never really died come back full force while Warriors is doing his best to not say anything until after their name is clear so he can properly try courting them). Think Spy x Family but make it medieval vibes, or "It's rotten work" "Not for me, not if it's you" for them both (Warriors messing with Reader to figure out their boundaries nowadays, and Reader being a menace to keep his reflexes sharp when they don't spar in revenge.)

Except one day (likely when Assassin Reader is sick or otherwise incapacitated), Warriors' doesn't come back home for a full day just after Reader got the letters with the news of their pardon.

Assassin Reader is about READY to become a public menace again and go back to their assassin ways that have really been somewhat retired lately when he's gone to figure out what happened until Artemis intercepts them with Impa (but not before they've already broken into Lana's and Cia's place and are interrogating Cia because she'd be the first suspect on the list), saying that he was just whisked away into a divine quest and that they shouldn't worry much, and for Reader to work on Artemis' payroll now until they reestablish themselves as the leader of a noble house because again, Artemis know how to use her opportunities and to keep her people close.

Months pass and Warriors returns, but not with the Chain. And something about him feels... off.

Tellingly how he's not messing with them nearly as much and doesn't know about the pardon.

Cue Assassin Reader's danger senses immediately going off even as they act natural like how they did back when they started planning to backstab Cia.

One day while they're visiting the castle and walking through the gardens, Reader finally springs an ambush, holding 'Warriors' at knifepoint

"Oh? What's the sudden aggressiveness for? I thought we were already past stage, (Last Name)-"

Assassin Reader's blade cuts him short, barely piercing his neck as they snarl, "I knew there was something wrong. Link doesn't use my last name, hasn't used it since I switched sides. He always calls me by my first name and the nickname he gave me when we were recruits."

The garden is still, before there's a chuckle, black blood drips down Reader's dagger, "...So you two are that close-"

Assassin Reader doesn't even pause as they pounce, grimly satisfied with a second dagger, "I lied."

(Is this a blatant reference? Yes it is because it's basically how the drabble draft that likely won't see the light of day this year is titled XD)

Cue Warriors, just stepping foot into his Hyrule with the Chain after hearing from Impa HIMSELF and you were visiting the castle and went to the garden, walking in on the scene with the rest of the Chain.

And that's where I'll leave it for now because I'm tired XD, hope you're having a good day/night and thank you for all your work in the fandom once again!

-Just a Tired Anon on a Rainy Stroll/WintertimeStoryteller 🐚

I live for Reader and Ghirahim being wine buddies. I love the mental image of that. XD

If you go with Warrior Suffers Part 2: Hylian Boogaloo- you need him to chase after them. It would cause an entire ruckus with people suddenly startling at the Hero of the land chasing after what they assumed was a nobody- while al the guards and the Chain are like "!! Say the word we'll chase them too!!"

Except the Chain doesn't ask and just starts chasing Reader as well and maybe Reader gets cornered by Wind or Time but doesn't recognize them at first. and then there could be more angst! >:D

But then you have the one where Warrior gets a break and just "It's rotten work." that one. that's the one. "I'm sorry I'm a handful." "It's ok. I have two hands."

I DID NOT SEE DARK LINK COMING HOLY COW

...I can see why we cannot have both in this scenario.... This is bad. I want both now. XD

[cosmicfortuna]

Bright Conversations

Also wrote this for my school newspaper and posting it here. One of my longer works but, oh well.

Crediting @saradika for the border

Balls. The bane of my existence.

Not that I hate the concept of parties or grand events but the fact that I had to attend was kind of bugging down my mood. Despite being a star pupil and the adopted daughter of Vesper, the Evening Archmage, the king decided to reduce me and Piper to “talented magicians” for cheap parlor tricks in order to entertain the nobility. If I had the option to engage with flamboyant rich people for laughs or remain in the Twilight Wing of the palace studying the history of celestial entities and magic itself, I’d go with the latter.

The atmosphere was beautiful, I won't lie; only the best from the Orionis royal family. But the gold on top of gold chandeliers, railings, and table centerpieces reflecting warm light proved too much for my poor overworked brain. Maybe it was a side effect of being cooped up in the Twilight Wing for years on end or my affinity to the night's darkness. Perhaps both. If I had a hand in decorating tonight's event, I'd turn the ballroom into something attuned to a planetarium; stars scattered across the walls and silver cutlery along with the table centerpieces — more along the themes of the constellation that the kingdom is named after.

I gazed out into the crowd, sipping a bit of sparkling cider that was too bubbly for my tastebuds. The music that orchestra played was whimsical enough to rival Cinderella’s in terms of crowd pleasing. They moved so smoothly and elegantly, exchanging dance partners as if it was as simple as a handshake. Dresses weren’t tugged by the floor and were allowed to spread evenly and twirl about if they were silk. Oh, I envy them. Poor little me was stuck on the sides in a glamourized recreation of my uniform. It would’ve been nice if I could actually enjoy myself instead of reading horoscopes for pretentious people only for them to get upset about their future.

Out of nowhere, an older looking blonde nobleman approached me. Just looking at his snobby, stuck up appearance, I would have to play nice in spite of my annoyance.

"Good evening sir,” I greeted, smiling gently.

“Good evening, indeed,” he spoke with a little too much enthusiasm. Perhaps he had too much to drink and decided to chat up the only loner that was on active duty. “Algol, although you've most likely heard of me.”

If he phrased as a question, I would've been thinking of a more savory thing to reply with. The fact that this man insisted on it being an honest statement baffled me. I truly did not know this person.

“I'm sorry,” I said meekly, “I'm afraid not.”

His face grew a bit red; whether it was already from the drinks, embarrassment, or anger, I couldn't tell. Still, he didn't look pleased.

“Algol… Duke of Sigma Persei… ” he said slowly.

“Oh,” the realization hit me like a meteor. “you're from Perseus,”

“Well, of course,” he rolled his eyes, flicking a couple of stray hairs away from his face. “As the so-called ‘Cosmic Fortuna’, I'd figure you'd already know.”

The only response I could muster was rapidly blinking my eyelids; acting like he was supposed to get the hint and try his time with some other poor girl. Unfortunately, he failed and was still in front of me looking ever so haughty. Still, I had to save face.

“Apologies, I don't get many chances to talk to other noblemen outside of the kingdom,” I explained, leaving out the part where it's somewhat part of my own violation.

He scuffed, annoyed. “Well then, if you have no indication of my identity, how can you even properly divine my future?”

“I couldn’t even if I wanted to.” Is what I would’ve said if he didn’t walk away with his head held high and probably in a nicer tone of voice. Feeling defeated, I took another sad sip of my drink.

“You good, Cos?” My attention focused on the blue eyed girl with white crescent moons for pupils — Piper.

“Yeah, fine.”

She squinted at me then blinked a few times, a familiar sign of her not buying for the “I'm fine, let it go” song and dance routine. Again, books and reading.

I sighed, my grip loosening around the stem of the glass. In turn, Piper also sighed, getting the memo. Unlike me, she lived for the busy crowds and chatty with the bourgeois

She leaned in close, whispering amongst the beautiful ensemble. “The garden gate is unlocked. Tell Selene I said hi.”

A smile graced my lips. Piper leaned back, removing the cider from my hands and taking a sip. I swiftly nodded my head, my curled hair bouncing as I moved. She ventured back into the crowd — probably looking for a waiter with a tray of more bubbling drinks.

A little fresh air wouldn't hurt anybody, I thought.

Following suit, I made my way through the crowd of people towards the open double doors that led to the garden. It wasn't too crowded with people, a few stragglers peppered among the greens. Most likely also running away from talking to self-righteous rich people and needed a break from the stuffy atmosphere. Striding past them across the cobblestone path, I approached the wooden door that separated the wilderness from the carefully curated grounds of the palace.

The door itself wasn't very interesting — merely plain dark oak wood with a gold keyhole with a matching door knob engraved with our constellation insignia. I took hold of it and turned. It didn't not budge so it was unlocked. Before I pushed it open, I stopped myself. How did Piper know that the door wasn't locked? The gardener Fiona had always made sure that it was locked, especially at night when the little woodland critters were out and about looking for food. If Piper was inside the whole night, she'd have no idea.

Nevertheless, I disregarded the inquiry and pushed the door open, crossing the threshold. My breath hitched. A rush exploded from within me. A familiar rush that I’ve felt since I was ten. The exhilarating feeling of breaking unwritten rules and diving into one’s vices. I had to stay on task, though. Quickly, I closed the door behind me and took a breath of sweet relief to calm my senses.

Get a hold of yourself. I reprimanded myself. You’re barely set foot into the forest.

Another deep breath and swift exhale was enough to get me to keep moving. I took a few steps before realizing something -- my shoes. In order to blend in with the ladies at the party, Vesper insisted that I wear a pair of nice heels fit for dancing. Piper (like usual) smooth talked her way out of wearing traditional heels in favor of some riding boots. If only I had her level of confidence and deviance. Then again, here I was a mere two inches away from the door and a couple hundred feet towards freedom.

It’s not like I wanted to run away — Piper always had a knack for escaping into the deep wood — I just wanted some space. Some nice center of the woods all by myself and the stars space.

My eyes traveled towards them. They looked better out in the open, shining like no tomorrow. Not obscured by the royal blue curtains decorating with a golden scroll pattern. Not hidden away from the world… Something welled up inside my being; it wasn’t a good something.

Maybe I should just head back. I considered it. Yea, back to the palace…

It’s times like these where I remind myself that no one else was out here to see me — that everyone was inside fast asleep. But that’s not the case this time. Everyone is inside but awake, lively even. And that comes with a new risk of my nightly escapades: the threat of me getting caught. It wasn’t like I hadn’t thought about it since I’ve begun indulging in my vice but that there’s a difference between a few guards randomly sleeping at their night posts and a couple guests lying around the palace grounds. Still, once again, I made it past the door. The door was the only thing preventing me from venturing out into the woods.

That’s it. I’m going. Even if my shoes make noise. I don’t care.

My mind finally felt at ease. Finally, after so many long nights, I was back in the ocean of the stars at last. I felt free. Free from socializing and watching and the overabundance of golden this and golden that reflecting golden hour levels of light with little remorse. It felt great.

And from there, I ran. Not caring if anyone heard.

Well, there was one thing that still bothered me. I allowed the wind to touch me, feeling the cool breeze tickle on my back and delicate wings. Giving them a few flaps, they woke up and readied at attention.

That's better.

Letting go of a stray breath, I hummed the ball's waltz. My arms raised with a mind of their own, my breath calm and controlled; my eyes fixed upon the starry night sky. And soon, I began to dance. Not so rigid like the shelter and stone cold higher class but not like the intoxicated earls, dukes, and whatnots relieving the stress of putting up fronts. A mere mix that laid straight in the middle — a dance of a girl who wants to be alone and is happy with it.

The stars got brighter. Shining and illuminating the heart of the forest that was my oasis. The moon casted a dim light reflecting the sun’s glow; trees highlighted with iridescent silver. Owls silently flying overhead but hooting a welcome message to the lady of the night. It was perfect.

A familiar feeling flowed through my body that I haven't felt for a few weeks: warmth. A warm glow. A warmth took me to the quiet place of my mind. I closed my eyes and continued moving, trusting the light to protect me during my sacred rite of relaxation.

My mind's eye painted the perfect scene. Not too different from the current setting but somehow more extravagant. The grass no longer laid beneath me and in its place was a lovely spring that remained still as my feet moved. Stars swirled in the sky like an oil painting, the light streaking in a controlled manner. I kept dancing, a smile making itself known on my face. Little wisps of periwinkle energy exuded from my fingertips, filling the area with magic. It was perfect. My own microcosm safely hidden away from the rest of the world. My smile grew and I could feel my feet departing with the ground, my wings carrying me higher. Euphoria swept through my entire being; the stars expanding and glowing immensely.

“Woah…” a bewildered voice interrupted.

My eyes snapped open, my beautiful art piece escaping me.

There he was.

Among the trees.

Gawking at my suddenly still body floating a good couple of feet above the ground.

His almost midnight blue hair would’ve hidden him completely amidst the night sky if it hadn’t been for his stunning gold epaulets and the dramatic cape flowing behind him.

I gasped, “Crowned Prince Rigel!”

Immediately, my body dropped onto the grass in a bowing position.

“I-I apologize that you have to see me in this state,” my face burned with embarrassment.

The prince stepped out of the trees and into my circle of twirling dim stars.

“Please, call me Rigel,” his voice was soft but low. “Don’t bow before me, Cosmic, I’m not your king yet.”

I rose up, dusting off my skirt and facing his royal highness.

“Yes, but as crowned prince, you command my respect.”

He shook his head, a smile brimming from his lips. “I thought titles never mattered to you?”

“In the case of my department’s employment, I’d say that they do.” Royal mages without ties to the royal family would just be regular old mages after all. Not that I think they could ever get old in the first place.

He laughed lightly. I sucked in a breath.

“Speaking of my department, you’re not going to…?”

He chuckled, waving a gloved hand. “Of course not. Far be it from me to tell the Evening Archmage that his daughter is skipping out on royal events.”

I released a sigh of relief but a feel of uneasiness still churned in my stomach.

Why hasn’t he said anything about my wings?

In good measure, I hid them again before he could ask.

“So…” Something I didn’t expect from the Prince of Orionis was him searching for a conversation starter. Most royals are very keen on small talk. “What made you leave the ball anyway?” he asked.

I looked down, fiddling with strands of hair that framed my face.

“I needed some fresh air.”

In response, Prince Rigel let out a hum mixed with a short giggle.

“I feel you,” he confessed. “Too many people with too much money and too much energy talking on and on about not having a good time.”

I raised a brow. “Isn’t that the point of these things?”

“Unfortunately not,” Rigel shook his head, his hair flowing with each turn. “The point is to find a spouse for poor unassuming young noblemen. Jokes on them, we’re very aware.”

I laughed but felt empty. Laughter is the best medicine for life’s unfairness — cheaper than breaking down and crying about how you can’t change it. Even the highest of highs cannot escape their predestined fates… Wonder what that says about the ones that choose to pursue the impossible…

“Well, um we should be heading back now…” I cleared my throat and moved to leave the dense wood.

He placed a hand carefully on my shoulder, halting me. “Wait.”

I turned to face him. “Yes, your highness?”

“I never said that I wanted to go back.”

True, he indeed didn’t mention his intentions of heading back.

“Then what would you like to do?”

The prince pulled away slightly, then offered his hand to me.

“With all that small talk, I didn't get a chance to dance with anyone yet…”

I stayed silent but eyed him carefully, flickering back and forth from his hand to the soft look in his eyes. He took my hand in his, raising it to his lips and placing a gentle peck.

“Will you dance with me under the light of the stars and silence of the night?”

[thefirstknife]

Spire of the Watcher lore reveals!

Okay, so, I've done the dungeon and I've been in the game for 11 hours doing multiple clears and I am ECSTATIC because my obsession with stuff I thought were possibly throwaway things from years ago were actually foreshadowing!

I am talking about the stuff I noted first as an overall possibility at the end of this post from last year, and more concretely in this post from August. In short, the weblore Legacy pt 1 and 2 (specifically 2) is very important as it follows Ana's journey to the edge of the system where she discovers a Bray space station orbiting Uranus, where Braytech was preparing an exodus mission. The goal of the exodus mission was to establish a colony in the Andromeda galaxy (M31).

ECHO-1 and ECHO-2 were stocked with Exo unit crews. As you know, their task was to establish and oversee embryonic development at Colony M31, Site-A and Site-B.

The dungeon confirmed that! The dungeon also explores a really unique collaborative effort between Braytech and Ishtar Collective who were working on Mars together to explore exodus options for missions. Ishtar installed a special submind in the facility which they classified as an "Augurmind" and called it Soteria.

The Augurmind was designed with the use of Vex technology to use data to predict which places would be good for colonisation efforts of the exodus missions. As a side note, augurs were special "prophets" in Ancient Rome that interpreted the future by observing the flight of birds. Cool! As a second side note, "Soteria" was an Ancient Greek goddess of safety, salvation and protection from harm. From that word comes "soteriology" which is the study of religious concepts of salvation. Also cool! The Vex used the same word for their programs, back in Splicer, probably a nod to Soteria's predictive abilities of Vex origin.

The lore from dungeon items mentions the ECHO project, which was the name of the Braytech exodus project ships. Due to Clovis' interferences and overall just Clovis behaviour and his desire to have control over Soteria, Maya eventually pulled Ishtar from the project and resigned, but not before Soteria made the attempt to launch one of the ECHO ships with pods to protect humanity. At that point, Soteria had already detected strange anomalies, cancelled the flight to Andromeda and had to alter many of her data. During a test flight, Soteria changed commands.

(rest below because lore is not yet on Ishtar and there's a lot of long screenshots with text)

From Long Arm scout rifle:

AI-S is soteria. [H] is humanity. CBI is Clovis Bray I. Clovis got pissy about Soteria ignoring his direct command to return and Soteria said the following:

"Twilight" refers to the Twilight Exigent moral structure where the Warmind assumes that all humans are dead without his intervention and will prioritise saving the human species over individual humans. Rasputin used this structure during the Collapse. Soteria noted that she designated a new route for ECHO's escape; use ANY available "strongholds" on the way to a destination in Andromeda. One of the strongholds, Nefele, is Neptune.

After Clovis interfered with this, Maya resigned. Clovis partitioned Soteria, aka split her into smaller pieces and effectively put her in a prison where she could no longer act alone. However, the partitioning was not instant. In Into The Sunset sparrow from the dungeon, she says so herself and uses the little remaining time she has to designate one part of herself to tether onto the ECHO ship she tried to save:

This now independent part of her split off from the rest and was able to be freed of the prison Clovis wanted to put on her. This fragment of her is weak, but it can go forward and drive the people to a nearest possible location; Neptune.

She notes that the ship crashed "through azure clouds." A part of the ECHO fleet is the exodus ship that originated Neomuna! I was on the right track with that back when I first talked about Legacy and Braytech colony ships and here in this post where I made the connection that Rasputin and Braytech have to be involved with Neomuna and that ships mentioned in Legacy (ECHO project) were possibly the ones that made Neomuna. Also a good predictive analysis in this post, where we both noted the possibility that the colony ship that made Neomuna was originally planned to go elsewhere but had to land on Neptune.

So, Neomuna was seeded by Soteria, a submind whose only purpose was to predict a safe spot for humanity to continue existing after she detected an anomaly approaching and endangering humanity's existence. From Terminus Horizon machine gun lore:

Maya asked for details, but Soteria could not understand the data, only that the anomaly appeared to be mobile and dangerous. Soteria changed all predictions, cancelled the previously established route to Andromeda, removed most of the habitable worlds from the list and noted that the hazard of travel is 87-100% mortality rate. In other words, Soteria saw the Black Fleet. Soteria also sent this data to Rasputin:

And Rasputin immediately started preparing for the Collapse. "Egyptian" is a code for a security protocol. During the Collapse, the security check was "SECURE ISIS" which falls under "Egyptian." It's a nice tie-in to the beginning; Soteria's discovery led to Rasputin's activation to prepare for the Collapse. He used Soteria's data to do so!

It's a really cool connection, one that I've considered before, but couldn't really prove much besides just speculating. But Legacy weblore was HUGE and it was never fully resolved and I'm glad they tied that to this. It definitely makes sense, since I've made the connection already, and other people have also considered the overall possibility.

Braytech is definitely involved in Neomuna's creation! Neomuna being based on nanotechnology is not a coincidence, as they were probably packing SIVA and had a thousand years to develop that technology to the level they have without the Collapse. Interestingly enough, Clovis specifically wanted Soteria to piss off because ECHO had Exos on board and he didn't want them to be wasted on a "rogue" AI's whims, especially AI directed by Maya Sundaresh. I wonder if there were any Exos left on the specific ship picked by Soteria that crashed on Neptune. Would be immensely cool if there were highly advanced Exos there.

I feel like mentioning this is meant as a hint to expect Exos or some form of Exo technology on Neomuna. Perhaps far more advanced and possibly the origins of Cloudstrider augmentation; advanced nanotechnology and advanced exo tech would certainly do it. Maybe!

Another really cool detail from the lore is this poem that Soteria wrote and dedicated to Rasputin, from Liminal Vigil sidearm:

I love these nerd AI.

There's other lore from the dungeon, especially the stuff about the fireteam that Ana works with after we secure the site to get more information from the Spire. They're a really cool trio geared in Tex Mechanica armour that's loot we can get. One of them is particularly interesting; Moss-2 is a Warlock with a unique ability to connect to his Ghost (No Name) via an implant which allows his Ghost to literally control his body and abilities in a fight. From the helmet:

From the class item:

Unbelieveably cool.

And to end this with more info on Soteria herself, after we raided the Spire and freed it from the Vex, what's left of Soteria fled and integrated herself into the new exotic bow! She is in the bow!

Unfortunately, she is not exactly talkative, but her prediction engines still work, which is incorporated into how the exotic itself works (I haven't gotten it yet though):

Soteria deserves this and more for being made by the original girlboss Maya Sundaresh, defying Clovis, originating the data that prepared Rasputin for the fight of his life in the Collapse and saving humanity!