#i’ll post more about fiora soon

[renaissancefailmarriage]

first art post on this blog….veneziano and my florence OC

[rainbowwing251]

New World, Old Traditions (Xenoblade Chronicles Tickle Fic)

A/N: SURPRISE! I decided to write a shorter fic for the 1-year anniversary of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!

While I couldn’t finish “WARNING: Beware of Grins” in time for the anniversary, I couldn’t stomach the idea of not doing anything for it. So I sat there, wondering if I could do anything to celebrate this milestone, when I thought to myself, “Hey! I should write a fic based on two of the headcanons that I have about the birthdays of the main party members in Xenoblade Chronicles!”

What are those two headcanons? Well, allow me to describe them to you!

Headcanon #1: The birthdays of each of the main party members correspond to a date that matches up with either one of two things:

The release date of a specific entry in the Xenoblade series, including ports.

A date on which major news for a specific entry in the Xenoblade series was announced. An example would be March 26th, the date of the Nintendo Direct Mini that announced the release date for XC:DE and the Future Connected epilogue that came with it.

While I would love to list off all of the birthdays, I don’t want this Author’s Note to drag on and on, so I’ll just list off the birthdays of the characters who will be the main stars of this fic.

#1- Shulk’s birthday is June 10th (the release date of the original Xenoblade Chronicles in Japan).

#2- Reyn’s birthday is March 26th. I already explained the significance of this date earlier, so I won’t repeat myself.

#3- Fiora’s birthday is May 29th (the release date of Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, A.K.A today!)

If you want to know the birthdates of Dunban, Sharla, Melia, and Riki, let me know!

As for headcanon #2, this is what it is: Shulk, Reyn, and Fiora have a tradition of tickling each other on their birthdays. It doesn’t matter whose birthday it is, they will all get the chance to tickle each other. If you would like to learn more about this headcanon, check out this post!

Now that I have explained my two headcanons, I would like to give one last bit of information before we move on to the fic.

Normally, when I write a fic, Shulk is the lee. However, I wanted to try something different with this fic.

This time, it’s Fiora’s turn to be the lee. Shulk will be one of the two lers in this fic, the other being Reyn (though I suppose that’s obvious, given the fact that I told you my headcanon for Reyn’s birthdate). This is going to be fun to write.

Oh, and one last thing: There are major spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles in this fic. Do not read this fic if you haven’t beaten the game yet.

Alright, I think it’s about time that we get to the fic. So without further ado, let’s go! Happy 1-year anniversary, Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When was the last time she had slept like this?

When was the last time she had a good night's rest with no nightmares or monsters to keep her up at night? When was the last time she dreamed of her friends and the wholesome mischief they would get themselves into? When was the last time she slept in in the morning?

And most importantly, when was the last time she had slept in her Homs body?

For months on end, she was afraid. Afraid of how others would view her in her mechanical body. Afraid that both her friends and brother would betray her. Afraid of losing control over herself once more (even though Meyneth was careful with her body, never putting it in harm's way). Afraid that at any moment, she would fall asleep forever.

But now… she was free. Free from the cold metal that once gave her a second chance at life. Free from the sorrow that filled her heart every time she thought about her shortening life span. Free from the emptiness that came with the inability to feel the physical touch of an organic life form. Free from the gods that once ruled the world.

She thanked them. She thanked everyone and everything that made her life as a Mechon more bearable. She thanked those who gave her the courage to fight on, even with the threat of Zanza and the constant feeling that death was coming for her.

But most of all, she thanked Shulk, Melia, and Linada for finding the Biotic Regeneration Device, the very machine that saved her life.

The sudden loss of her mechanical body meant that she could feel certain physical sensations again. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had felt hunger, thirst, or extreme fatigue. Sure, she had felt tired as a Mechon, but that paled in comparison to the exhaustion she had been feeling since the day that she woke up from the chamber. She hadn’t felt this tired since the day that her brother returned home from the Battle of Sword Valley.

She had felt this way for at least a week now. She knew that some of it came from all of the walking she did when she was tasked to find those who needed help with the reconstruction efforts in New Colony 9, but when she thought about all of the times that she had helped people in the old world prior to the Mechon raid on the old Colony 9, she knew that the majority of her fatigue came from an entirely different source.

She didn’t know for sure what the cause was, but she figured that it had something to do with the fact that she was in a mechanical body for months. She was still adjusting to the body she never thought she would be in again, so it wouldn’t surprise her if the fatigue went away on its own in about a month. For now, she would have to deal with the excessive amount of sleepiness.

Right now, she was asleep, burned out from her walks across the new yet all-so-familiar colony she called home. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue with any of her companions. All of them knew that she was much more tired than she had ever been in her life, and they would usually let her be when she slept into the late hours of the morning.

However, today was a little bit different.

Today was Fiora’s birthday, and she had slept in. Shulk and Reyn were having none of this.

“What do you say we do to wake her up?” Reyn asked the former visionary.

“Hm… We could gently shake her until she wakes up, but she won’t be happy about that…”

“Should we spook her?”

“No! We are not doing that!”

“Sorry, sorry. Just wanted to propose an idea.”

Shulk glared at him for a bit before he put his hand on his chin in thought.

“Scaring her isn’t a good idea, but maybe we’ll have to do something that will jolt her awake…”

“Seems like it’s the only way to wake her these days…”

Reyn mulled over a possible solution. After a few seconds of silence between him and his closest friend, he was suddenly hit with an idea.

“Wait, I got it!”

“Oh dear Bionis… what is it, Reyn?” Shulk said, playfully teasing the older Hom.

“First of all, don’t give me that attitude,” He poked the younger male in the bicep, “second of all, do you remember a certain tradition that you, Fiora and I used to have?”

Shulk rummaged his brain for a memory that would provide the answer to the soldier’s question. Eventually, he found it.

“Are you talking about… that tradition?”

“Huh? Can you be more specific?” Reyn was a bit confused, not understanding the vagueness of the heir’s response, before he noticed the blush that was forming on his face.

“Oh, so you do remember that tradition?”

“Yeah…”

Reyn ruffled his hair before he asked him, “So what do you think? Should we do it?”

“It might work… And even if it doesn’t, we’ll tickle her anyway at some point in the day. Tradition and that.”

“So is that a yes?”

Shulk nodded and said, “Yeah, it’s a yes.”

The auburn-haired male gave him a thumbs up. “Alrighty then, let’s go and wake up Fiora!”

The two of them left the Weapons Development Lab and strolled through the streets of New Colony 9. As they walked by, Dunban, Sharla, Melia, and Riki all greeted them, asking if they could wish Fiora a “Happy Birthday” on their behalf (all four of them were busy with the reconstruction, and Dunban didn’t have the heart to wake his sister up from a well-deserved sleep). They told them that they would, and kept on walking.

Eventually, they arrived at Dunban’s House. Reyn went up to the front door and turned the knob. He wasn’t surprised to find that the door was unlocked. He quietly pushed the door open and tip-toed inside the house. He waited in the kitchen for a few seconds, listening for the blonde woman’s footsteps, before he turned to Shulk to tell him that she was still asleep. The scientist carefully stepped inside the room.

They sneaked up the stairs, careful to avoid the spots that made the steps creak, and found the young girl sleeping in the bed.

“Ready?” Reyn whispered to his fellow Hom.

“Ready.” He answered

The older male slowly lifted the blanket off of Fiora’s body, revealing that she was wearing a Dyed Top and Dyed Bottoms. She usually put these two pieces of clothing on when she was about to go to bed, and wore her normal outfit during the day.

Reyn looked over at Shulk and whispered, “You go for the knees, and I’ll go for the sides, alright?”

“Got it.” The heir whispered back.

Reyn carefully reached over to pull Fiora’s shirt up and slowly drifted his hands towards her sides, while Shulk made his fingers walk up to her knees.

As soon as their fingers made contact with her skin, they lightly wiggled them.

At first, she didn’t react to the touch, far too deep in her sleep to notice anything that came from the real world, but in ten seconds, she finally let out a couple of giggles.

“Hehehehe… Stahahahahahp…” She made an attempt to swat at the boys’ hands, but she didn’t put enough strength into the swats, and was therefore unable to stop the sensation.

Soon enough, her eyes fluttered open, still giggling at the sensation that was coursing through her body. Shulk and Reyn took their hands off of her as she drifted towards wakefulness.

“Shulk…? Reyn…?”

“Good morning, sleepy head!” Reyn sang, ruffling Fiora’s hair exactly like he did with Shulk’s back at the Weapons Development Lab.

“Hands off, you big oaf…~” She teased, earning a pout from the soldier and a laugh from the scientist.

“Happy Birthday, Fiora!” Shulk said, pulling her up into a sitting position before hugging her.

“Aw, thank you, Shulk!” She replied cheerfully, then turned her attention over to Reyn.

“No, Fiora, I didn’t forget your birthday this year.” Reyn said with a faint blush and an exasperated tone.

Fiora had every reason to doubt him. Normally, Reyn would forget about her birthday for at least half of the day before someone would remind him.

“Heheheh�� I don’t believe you one bit- ah!” Fiora was about to sass her muscular friend, but she was cut off by Shulk pushing her onto the bed.

“You can laugh at him later, Fiora. For now, we have a tradition to attend to.”

He quickly lost the former Mechon, “What? What are you talking about?”

“What? You don’t remember our old tradition?” A tinge of dismay flashed across Reyn’s face, but in a split second, it had vanished. “What do you think, Shulk? Should we help her remember?”

The younger blonde nodded as a smirk grew on his lips. “Yeah, let’s do it!”

Reyn was about to tickle her underarms, but Shulk stopped him.

“Hang on, do you know how long we’re supposed to tickle her?”

Fiora heard that second-to-last word and immediately began to panic. “Wait, what did you say?”

Reyn ignored her (as did Shulk) and answered the heir’s question. “Yeah, she’s nineteen years old now, so we’ll tickle her for nineteen minutes, correct?”

“You got it! Now, are you ready?”

“You bet I am! Let’s bring this tradition back!”

Fiora could only squirm and giggle as Reyn grabbed her wrists and pinned them down with his left hand. Meanwhile, Shulk sat down on her legs and moved his body until he knew for sure that his weight would keep her legs pinned.

“Nohohoho, guhihihihihiys!”

Shulk tsked at her and slipped into his role as a ler, “You should save your breath, Fiora, because you’re going to need it~”

The unexpected tease from the former visionary was the last thing she heard before she was suddenly attacked by two pairs of hands. One pair went for her underarms, while the other snuck up her shirt and pinched at her ribs.

“Ahahahahahahaha! Nohohohohohohohoho!” She quickly fell into a laughing fit and tried her hardest to pull her arms down. Unfortunately, Reyn’s grip was far too strong, so she had no choice but to surrender herself to the tickles. Even worse, while she made her attempt to escape, the soldier took advantage of the situation and sped up the tickling every time she stretched her arms out.

“Eep! Reheheheheheyn, stahahahahahahap! Lehehehehehet mehehehe gohohohoho!”

“Sorry, Fiora, but you’re out of luck. There’s still eighteen minutes to go~!”

Fiora squealed as the older male raked his fingers back and forth in her underarms and teased her at the same time. Since when did he become an intimidating tickle monster?

Knowing that she was helpless under Reyn’s hold, she decided to focus her efforts on her legs. Shulk was a bit weaker than Reyn, so she figured that it would be easy for her to knock him off. She laughed and laughed for another two minutes before she made an attempt at lifting her right leg.

However, as soon as she tried to lift it, Shulk countered her by launching an all-out attack on her knees.

“Oh no you don’t! You’re not getting away from us~!”

“Whahahahahahahaha! Sihihihihihihihihincehehehehe whehehehehehen dihihihihi yohohohou gehehehehet sohohohoho bohohohohohold?”

“Trust me, if Reyn wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be doing this right now. But since he’s here with me, I’m feeling rather brave.” He moved his right hand to the back of her right knee and began to scratch at the spot, while his left hand skittered across her left kneecap. “Soon, you will fear me~!”

The teasing and tickling from the youngest member of the group nearly broke the helpless woman underneath him.

“Ihihihihihihihihi’m nohohohohohohohot ahahahahahfraihihihihihihid ohohohohohof yohohohoHOHOHO! REHEHEHEHEHEYN, NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!” Reyn broke the laughter dam within her by blowing raspberries into her neck.

“No? No what? What am I doing wrong, Fiora~? Tell me!”

“QUIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT THEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE RAHAHAHAHAHAHAHASPBEHEHEHEHEHEHERRIHIHIHIHIES!”

Reyn let out a chuckle, “Sorry, what did you say? I can’t understand you!”

“YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU KNOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOW WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI SAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHID!”

Shulk shook his head and made his hands jump up to her sides. “Fiora, Reyn doesn’t speak ticklish.”

“Yeah, I don’t understand the ticklish language! I haven’t even studied it, yet!”

Fiora’s mind was about to be lost in the raging river of laughter that spilled from her mouth.

“SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUT IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT!” She accidentally yelled.

Reyn stopped tickling her and put his hand over his heart in mock offense, while Shulk let out an exaggerated gasp and sped his tickling up to the max.

“Fiora! That wasn’t necessary! Shulk, I think we need to punish this rude little birthday girl!”

“I agree, Reyn, but we should save the punishment for the last five minutes. That will straighten her out for sure!”

Fiora had never shivered at Shulk’s words before, but even though all of the tickling, she felt a powerful chill run down her spine.

“WHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOES THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT MEHEHEHEHEHEAN, SHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHULK?!”

The scientist let out the most threatening laugh she had ever heard from him in her life, “You’ll see~” Then he zipped his hands onto her stomach, releasing a shriek from the back of her throat.

“EEEEE! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIT! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP!” She was getting dangerously close to breaking as she endured the barrage of tummy tickles that rained down upon her.

“Ten minutes left, Reyn! Don’t let up just yet!”

“Got it, but we might want to slow it down so Fiora can breathe!”

“Good idea. If my hypothesis is correct, her laughter will turn silent in two minutes, so we should ease up on her so that doesn’t happen.”

Reyn had to laugh at that. Even when he’s tickling someone to death, Shulk would always find a way to be geeky. Fiora probably laughed at that too, but right now, it was impossible to differentiate between her normal laugh and her tickle laugh.

The two boys slowed their fingers down until they were only tracing over her skin, and although she was tittering, she was able to take a dozen, much-needed breathers.

“Yohohohou guys ahahahahare much mohohohohore ehehehvil than Ihihihi thohohohought…”

Reyn took this moment to revel in her words, “Don’t mess with this tickle monster! You’ll regret it when you do, right Fiora?”

Fiora did her best to give him a death stare, but only succeeded in making herself look silly (if Reyn laughing at her was anything to go by).

As per usual, Shulk took the smart route and just facepalmed at Reyn’s behavior.

“That’s a dangerous thought process, Reyn. Don’t forget that she can dish out  punishments more dangerous than Zanza.”

That got a shocked response out of the other male, “You sure about that? I don’t think a tickle monster would have anything on a god!”

“I didn’t defeat Zanza on my own, Reyn! Fiora helped, and so did you and the others!”

Reyn wanted to argue back, but found that he couldn’t. Shulk had a point.

“Anyway, we have five minutes left, and you know what that means~”

“Dear Bionis! How did he transition back into his role so effortlessly?!” Well Shulk was right, Fiora would learn to fear him at some point. If he can return to the role of a ler in no time flat, then she would be terrified to know how he would act if he was playing the role of a tickle monster.

“Ohoho, I’ve been waiting for this! Ready for the grand finale, Fiora~?” Reyn asked with an unnervingly innocent tone in his voice.

“N-nohohohoho!”

“Well too bad!” Reyn nearly shouted out at her. He made his hands hover over her neck, while Shulk had his hands over her hips.

“This is part of the tradition, Fiora. When we reach the five-minute mark, we will target the lee’s worst spots until this time is up. We will not make any exceptions, no matter how much you protest against us or beg for us to reconsider.” Shulk explained to her in the most nonchalant and calm voice she had ever heard from the former visionary. The voice was so haunting that even Reyn was shuddering in fear.

“Now, any last words before you meet your end~?” He asked her. Silence was the only thing he got in response.

“Nothing? Very well, then. Reyn, on the count of three.”

“A-alright then…”

Shulk looked over and raised an eyebrow at his slight stutter before he returned his attention to the poor woman beneath him.

“Three.” The two of them brought their hands closer to her in perfect sync with each other.

“Two.” They finally made contact with her skin.

“One.” Fiora was once again in an anticipatory giggle fit.

“Now!” All hell broke loose.

At long last, Fiora broke under the intense tickling that shook her to the core.

“NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO! WHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIY WOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOULD YOHOHOHOHOHOHOU GUHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIYS DOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO THIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIS?!”

Reyn was going to answer her, but Shulk butted in and only said the word, “Tradition.”

They both knew that any further teasing would send the former Face unit into a fit of silent laughter, so they stayed silent for the remaining five minutes. The only sound that could be heard in the house was Fiora’s uncontrollable laughter.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity to her, they let up. The tickling abruptly ended, Reyn let go of her wrists, and Shulk got off of her legs.

She laid there, chest heaving up and down as she struggled to regain her composure, while the scientist checked on her legs.

“Can you feel this, Fiora?” he asked as he squeezed her leg in a way that would not be painful or tickly.

“Yes… I can... feel it.” She told him in between breaths.

“You alright?” Reyn questioned her. “Feeling woozy?”

“No, I’m… fine.”

All three of them sat there in near-silence as Fiora’s breathing returned to normal. When it did, she spoke.

“That was impressive. I didn’t think you two had it in you to tickle and tease me like that.”

Reyn objected, “Hey, I’ve had that potential for years! If there’s anyone you should be impressed by, it would be him!” He pointed at Shulk, “I had no idea he could speak like that! It creeped me out!”

The younger boy couldn’t help the prideful smile on his face. “I learned it from watching and listening to all of you guys.”

“So that’s why you sounded like Melia towards the end there!” Fiora exclaimed, “I was trying to figure that out!”

“Oh, uh… That wasn’t intentional.” Shulk professed, feeling slightly embarrassed. He often imitated those that he loved on an unconscious level, and apparently, that’s exactly what he did when he teased Fiora.

“Sure it wasn’t.” she countered.

“Hey guys,” Reyn spoke up, “I think we should go and find the others. They might need help with the reconstruction.”

Fiora was a little concerned about the possibility of them working all day today, considering what day it was. “Do you think we’ll have time to celebrate my birthday today?”

“I think so,” he answered, “They told us to tell you that they said ‘Happy Birthday’, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they thought about that.”

“Oh! Well, I think we should go and find them so we can talk about it! Just give me a few minutes to change!”

“Okay then! Shulk and I will be downstairs waiting!” He turned to the other boy, only to find him staring at the bottom of the staircase.

“Shulk?” He didn’t get an answer. 

Reyn didn’t notice it (or perhaps he might have forgotten it), but Shulk knew what was coming next. According to the tradition, once the birthday boy/girl was free from his or her tickle session, then…

“But first…” Yep, he called it.

He turned around and found that she was still sitting on the bed, looking at him and Reyn with an evil glint in her eyes. He knew what was coming.

“W-what?” Reyn stammered out. He was about to turn and make a run for it, but Fiora’s reflexes were too fast, and she caught his arm before he even had the chance to take a single step away from her.

“If I remember correctly, it’s your turn to be tickled.”

The soldier’s eyes widened, “W-wait, so you DO remember our tradition?”

“Yep, I was just pretending to not know about it. I’ll admit, the results I got from that were surprising,” She glanced at the younger Hom, who was as still as a statue, “...but I knew that the reveal would rile you guys up. I know that this will make you ten times more ticklish, so I figured that I would go for it.”

She got up off of the bed and tugged at Reyn’s arm, trying to pull him onto the spot that she was in mere minutes ago. “Shulk, can you help me?”

“On it.”

In no time at all, Reyn’s laughter would fill the home. After that, it would be Shulk’s turn.

They may be in a new world, but they knew that they would adjust to it just fine, because even though everything has changed, the past would never be forgotten.

[xyztrio721]

I found my favorite combination of characters for Xenoblade 2.

I dub this team the “Never-Ending Driver Combo Team.” It consists of Tora, Nia, and Zeke.

Click or tap on “Keep Reading” to learn about this team. Believe me, this is going to take a bit for me to explain this team set up.

Be warned, there will be spoilers for the base game of XC2, as well as NG+ and DLC spoilers. Be aware of this as you read on. There will not be any Torna ~ The Golden Country spoilers in this post, so if you haven’t played that yet, you’ll be safe from spoilers here.

Let’s begin with the set up for the Driver Arts and Blades.

Tora should have Poppi QT Pi with the Speedy Sword and Swooshing Slash Arts to inflict Break and Launch respectively. He should also have Poppi QT with the Dented Shield Art to inflict Smash, and Poppi Alpha with the Big Boost Art to inflict Topple.

For Nia, she should have a Blade that can inflict Break. I used Dromarch for this, but I’m aware of the fact that he kind of sucks in battle, so you can use a Blade with a Bitball or an Ether Cannon to inflict Break as well. If you are playing NG+, you can use Obrona, Perdido, or Mikhail for this purpose. If you have the DLC, you can also use Fiora or Elma.

She should have a Blade capable of Toppling the enemy, too. I used Gorg for this, but you can use any other Greataxe Blade for this purpose as well (other Greataxe Blades include Zenobia, Dagas, Agate, T-elos, and Common Blades). If you are playing NG+, you can also use Akhos for this purpose.

Finally, she should have a Blade that will allow her to inflict Launch. I used Ursula for this, but you can use any other Knuckle Claw Blade for this purpose as well (other Knuckle Claw Blades include Adenine, Kora, Nim, and Common Blades). If you are playing NG+, you can also use Cressidus or Sever for this purpose.

For Zeke, he should have a Blade that can Launch an enemy. I used Pandoria for this, but he also use a Blade with a Shied Hammer for this purpose (other Blades with Shield Hammers include Godfrey, Finch, Electra, Kasandra, Common Blades, and, if you have the DLC, Poppibuster). If you have the DLC, you can also use Shulk for this purpose.

He should have a Blade capable of inflicting Topple as well. I used T-elos for this, but you can also use any other Greataxe Blade for this purpose. Zeke can also use a Blade with Knuckle Claws to inflict Topple. If you are playing NG+, Akhos, Cressidus, and Sever can be used for this purpose too.

Finally, Zeke should have a Blade that can inflict Smash. I used Praxis for this purpose, but you can use any other Megalance Blade for this purpose as well (other Blades with Megalances include Perun, Wulfric, Vale, and Common Blades.). If you are playing NG+, Patroka can be used for this purpose as well. If you have the DLC, Corvin will work just fine.

I know that putting Break, Topple, Launch, and Smash Arts on more than one Driver can be redundant, but this serves as a precaution should the A.I not continue the Driver Combo on their own.

For the Acessories, Tora and Nia should have a Beta Scope (a Legendary Rarity will be the best version to use). This Accessory makes it easier to inflict Break onto enemies. They can also use an Accessory that increases their Luck stat, as a high Luck stat can better the chances of inflicting Break on an enemy.

For Aux Cores, I don’t have any suggestions for this, other than Hunter’s Chemistry to get to Max Affinity faster. If you got any ideas, feel free to experiment!

For Pouch Items, I recommend using a Dessert Pouch Item. Any Dessert Pouch Item will use, but I tend to use the Narcipear Jelly. This Pouch Item allows for Arts to recharge by 0.4 every second. It will also decrease the amount of physical damage by 4% and decreases the amount of ether damage taken by 3%. This item’s effect will be boosted by 20% if you use it on Gorg, Praxis, Ursula, or Vale. You can get this Pouch Item from the Honeycomb Sweets shop in the Argentum Trade Guild.

For the Affinity Charts of the Driver, I recommend that you have the following Skills unlocked:

Feral Awakening I, II, and III (Nia) [These skills enable you to use the Arts assigned to X, Y, and B, respectively, at the beginning of a battle.]

Hard Hitter (Nia) [This skill extends Break duration by 15%.]

Tooth and Claw (Nia) [This skill enables you to use a Driver Art after canceling another Driver Art. Successful cancellation of a Driver Art or auto-attack is indicated by a blue-colored ring appearing on the screen if timed correctly. It also has a sound cue, should you not see the ring on screen.]

Focused Technique (Nia) [This skill reduces enemy Break resistance by 25%. Do note that this skill can not obtained until NG+, as this is on Nia’s Hidden Affinity Chart. To find this Hidden Affinity chart, go to a character’s Affinity Chart screen in NG+ and press X.]

Lucky Cat (Nia) [This skill increases Nia’s Luck stat by 20. Do note that this is a Hidden Affinity Chart skill.]

Lady of Luck (Nia) [This skill increases Nia’s Luck by 10%. Do note that this a Hidden Affinity Chart skill.]

Raring to Go I, II, and III (Tora) [These skills have the same effects as Nia’s Feral Awakening I, II, and III skills.]

Luckypon (Tora) [This skill increases Tora’s Luck by 20.]

Double-Luckypon (Tora) [This skill increases Tora’s Luck by 10%, similar to that of Nia’s Lady of Luck skill.]

Nopon Chain Arts (Tora) [This skill has the same effect as Nia’s Tooth and Claw skill.]

Nopon Topple Arts (Tora) [This skills extends the duration of Topple by 15%. Do note that this is a Hidden Affinity Skill.]

Look Over There! (Tora) [This skill reduces enemy Break resistance, similar to that of the Beta Scope. Do note that this is a Hidden Affinity Skill.]

Mach Prep I, II, and III (Zeke) [These skills have the same effects as Nia’s Tooth and Claw I, II, and III, as well as Tora’s Raring to Go I, II, and III.]

Lucky Duck (Zeke) [This skill increases Zeke’s Luck by 20, identical to that of Nia’s Lucky Cat skill and Tora’s Luckypon skill.]

Move Chaining (Zeke) [This skill has the same effect as Nia’s Tooth and Claw skill and Tora’s Nopon Chain Arts skill.] 

Air Extender (Zeke) [This skill extends the duration of Launch by 15%.]

Unleash Shining Justice (Zeke) [This skill can only be used in NG+ after reaching Max Affinity with Pandoria and pressing +. This skill can only be used once per battle, and it only lasts for a certain amount of time. I’ll admit, I have no idea what this actually does as of right now, and I don’t want any spoilers on that.]

For a Blade’s Affinity Chart, get the Blades you want to use to S Rank Trust if you want to get the best out of them. Bonus points if you have S1-S+ Trust with them.

That’s all I can think of for now. If I missed anything, or if you have any suggestions for a change in the team, feel free to let me know and/or experiment with it yourself! I personally enjoy this team, as this team can make it so that you can barely get hit by an enemy’s attacks, but maybe Rex and Morag can do something that Tora, Zeke, or Nia can’t do! Maybe there are Blades that I am overlooking too? What do you guys have for team combinations in XC2?

As a final note, this team can not be fully utilized until you have reached Chapter 8 in the main story at the very least. Poppi QT Pi can not be obtained until then. In NG+, you must wait until the end of Chapter 4 to use this team. If you obtained Poppi QT Pi in your original playthrough, you will have access to QT Pi as soon as you get QT.

If you want to use T-elos in your set up, you should be aware of the fact that she can not be awakened until the post-game.

[peopleofmechonis]

Dickson

I was discussing some XC1 thoughts and observations with a friend, and we ended up talking about Dickson and Zanza’s disciples.

I’ll be taking the opportunity to share some more observations ramblings. This time about our favourite slimeball.

It’s a pretty long post, so I’ll be placing a ‘’keep reading’’ below.

Hope you enjoy!

When I played for the first time, he was this guy I really couldn’t put a finger on. Everyone else was more or less clear in intentions, and their character estabilishing moments gave off impressions that last. 

To be fair, I still can’t put a finger on this mustachio.

With Dickson, it is unclear. His words and actions constantly contradict eachother. One time he’s a goody goody ally and helps out Dunban, and calls him a beast, which seemed a fitting nickname, the other time he absolutely stabs the main party in the back in one of the most epic plot twists I’ve seen. Upon replaying the first few cutscenes, it looks more like he wanted Dunban to die so Shulk gets the Monado, and that ‘’beast’’ nickname seems a lot more derogatory. He’s a Giant, one of Bionis’ first races, of course a Homs is a mere beast to him. 

Yet in the cutscene with Metal Face right after the Ether Mines, beast remains an affectionate nickname of sorts, and he doesn’t call anyone else that way. He also seemed genuinely concerned with the whole Metal Face shenanigans going on, even helping out the party. 

And that’s with Dunban, someone that could be considered a friend of sorts. With Shulk, it’s a whole different can of worms. 

The interactions, the observations, all these moments he talks to himself, it’s hard to gauge whether he truly cared about the boy, or only cared about safekeeping Zanza’s vessel until his reawakening. 

The game implies Dickson raised Shulk himself, took him under his wing and trained him. He taught Shulk the value of research and learning about the Monado as long it was in Dunban’s possession.  I have to say, we do not know when or how Dunban got a hold of the Monado, only that Dickson found the blade with young Shulk sleeping next to it. I could ponder on that bit, but I think that’s best left for another post.  Back to the topic on hand, Dickson took Shulk in. If he wanted to keep Zanza’s vessel alive, he could’ve easily tossed him into an orphanage and sponsored said orphanage. Or if he was friends with Dunban for a long time, he could’ve asked him to look after Shulk alongside Fiora. 

It’s not like Dickson cares about the implications around tossing baggage onto someone. 

Yet he took the boy in. He raised him. He taught him everything Shulk needed to know to develop on his own. I feel that alone contradicts his attitude in general.  Might he have felt any regret upon finding Shulk? Was it purely to keep Zanza safe? Or did he simply grow to care?

That’s pre-game. During the course of the game, Dickson is constantly encouraging Shulk to stay on the right track. The track of avenging Fiora and possibly ending up getting the world rid of the Mechon or even the Mechonis. That the one who killed Fiora happened to be a Faced Mechon and therefore Homs integrated with machinery was probably just another opportunity.

An opportunity to have Shulk climb all the way up to Prison Island and unshackle the Monado. Strengthening the chances of his God’s awakening.

Yet, there are moments where Dickson seems to be regretful about steering Shulk into that direction. That he really hoped that the kiddo would survive everything thrown his way.

These moments were when he was alone and talking to himself. There was no reason for him to lie, unless he is somehow aware that the world is a video game and there’s an audience. 

I doubt that is the case.

A moment that stands out for me is moment right before Mechonis Core, when Dickson and Alvis opt to stay behind. Dickson seems to be worried and mentions something along the lines of ‘’I hope you’ll do what is right, Shulk.’’

He has caught on Shulk’s reluctance on mindless revenge and ‘’making the enemy pay, regardless’’ since Fiora ended up alive. He really hopes Shulk will make the decision he would have made if he had never found Fiora, but he seems doubtful of it.

Having doubt about Shulk’s future actions, Dickson knows he has to intervene if Shulk doesn’t kill Egil as intended. 

The whole fact he is worried about it is strange. I doubt Dickson would behave this way if Shulk was just another vessel. Killing Shulk would simply complete his goals sooner.

Perhaps Dickson thought, or even knew, that there was a possibility Zanza would keep Shulk alive. For Dickson, or for Zanza’s own selfish reason, I don’t know. To Dickson, it might have been his preferred outcome, even if things would have ended up the same regardless.

That, and the fact he waited until the last possible moment for intervention. Mechonis had stopped moving long before Shulk got shot as Egil and Shulk had this lengthy conversation before shit hit the fan. Dickson would have known Shulk had either killed Egil, or didn’t, and could’ve gone up into the Core a long time before the shooting. 

Did he go up as soon the Mechonis stopped? Did he stand there watching the events unfold, cursing himself and the boy?

Or did he just wait until he figured the party wasn’t coming down any time soon and went up and fired a shot as soon he saw things weren’t to his liking? 

Did he hesitate before pulling the trigger?

Either way... I find the time taken to be very strange for someone who was pretty spontaneous with his actions the times prior. 

Joining Dunban during Battle of Sword Valley and just going along.

Going to Fallen Arm as soon he realized Shulk was there. 

His big damn heroes moment alongside Dunban with Metal Face.

Spotting Junks and abandoning the fight to aid the party prior to Core.

All spontaneous actions. Everything of it is a guy who knows what to do to keep things moving along nicely for his master.

Yet this one moment, he seems to take forever. 

And also precisely the moment he had to hurt someone he implied he cared about.

I find that fishy for someone who claims to be a heartless liar during the third arc.

The moments afterwards are a bit blurry for me. I played through the third arc of the game (post-Core) into the dead of the night, because I was too far in to put the game away. The downside is that it didn’t get registered in memory very well.

But there were several moments that Dickson still seemed to care and implied he rooted for Shulk. He even said he obeyed the strongest, but if the strongest was overthrown by someone else, then he’d obey said someone else. (I think that was during the Telethia attack on Colony 6)

That was said in the presence of the party, therefore I take it with a grain of salt. I doubt Dickson would say the truth with others around. 

And then there’s Prison Island. He could have faced the party as soon as possible, but instead, he tosses three boss battles at the party.

It could be in order to postpone the party’s arrival at the top of Prison Island.

It could be in order to get them to die before they can get to Zanza.

Or is it an attempt to avoid the inevitable battle against Shulk? 

Then he finally fights Shulk. The boy he claims to see as his son. The boy he claims to care about. 

He ends up losing thanks to, yes I’m going to say it, the power of friendship. The party cooperates like clockwork and the last Giant is finally bested. 

Dickson tells Shulk he’s proud the student has outmatched the master. He witholds dying in front of the party. He claims he doesn’t want to give the party the reward of seeing him die, as a final middle finger. 

Or did he not want Shulk to see his father figures die? Or did he not want to face Shulk’s reaction in his last moments? 

It’s hard to tell at this point. The expressions aren’t exactly nuanced or subtle, but based on what I’ve observed before, I think it is because Dickson cared.

In a very twisted and selfish way, a way only an ancient individual obsessed with power can be, Dickson cared about the kiddo he took in fourteen years prior. 

He likely knew Shulk was going to be his downfall, and he went into it with his chin held up high.

Downfall or not, he’d get in and out of it with a bang.

And that he did. 

[magusofthefork]

The Eldraine Planeswalker

UPDATE: Mark Rosewater has confirmed we have had a card of the planeswalker before. So definitely not a new planeswalker. So it was revealed that there will be a Planeswalker acting as the face of the new set and they will be from Eldraine. People are speculating who that planeswalker could be. It could just be a brand new planeswalker but we can’t speculate much on that so  for this post I’m going to assume its a planeswalker we’ve already met. First a list of Planeswalkers who are not from a known plane: Aminatou, Angrath, Ashiok, Davriel Cane, Elspeth Tirel, Estrid, Garruk Wildspeaker, Kasmina, Kaya, Ob Nixilis, Rowan Kenrith, Serra, The Wanderer, Will Kenrith, Wrenn. (Thanks to DemonDragonJ  on Tapped Out for the list)

Read on to see my in-depth analysis

So immediately we can rule out Ob Nixilis as he destroyed his home plane. I’m also going to rule out Ashiok as I don’t think wizards will ever reveal their home plane in order to keep them mysterious. We can rule out Elspeth and Serra as both of them are dead (Elspeth could come back but is unlikely to be in the next set).

I’m gonna rule out both of the Kenriths because I don’t think one would appear as the face of a set without the other.

The rest are all possible but I will still cut the list down a bit more. Angrath and The Wanderer I think are unlikely for aesthetic reasons. Whoever is the face of the set will be someone that doesn’t aesthetically clash with the pretty purple fairy aesthetic we’ve already seen. Angraths Colours clash and The Wanderer looks to be from a more Asian styled plane. So that leaves Aminatou, Davriel Cane, Estrid, Garruk Wildspeaker, Kasmina, Kaya, Wrenn.

With what we know at the moment any of these walkers could be from Eldraine I’ll go over each one. Aminatou

We don’t know much about Aminatou. The only reasons I could see for her not being the face of Eldraine are that she isn’t well known to players (appearing only in a commander set) and her design and story don’t have anything in common with Eldraine.

Davriel Cane

We actually know quite a lot about Davriel for a new planeswalker. Based on his clothing and that he was once an accountant I suspect his home plane is one with a more advanced civilisation like Fiora, Kaladesh or Ravnica. Eldraine could be a plane like that but if its following English fae mythology its not likely.

Estrid

We know almost nothing about Estrid. Even less than Aminatou. I assume the plane she is pictured on is her home plane and it doesn’t look like a plane where traditional fae would live. I think Estrid is less likely than Aminatou.

Garruk

It could be Garruk. All we know about Garruks home plane is that it had big forests with big forest creatures (something most planes have) and human authorities and soldiers (which again, most planes have that). We also know that part of the reason Garruk hasn’t shown up in a while is because R&D have plans for him in the near future. We also know Garruk is a really popular planeswalker that could easily help sell a set. When he was last the face of a set (M15) a similar purple color was used in the design so he could match the aesthetic. He looks quite rough compared to fae but I think that actually helps from a marketing perspective as it provides a good contrast.

Kasmina

It could also be Kasmina. We don’t know much about her but nothing that we do know conflicts with her being the face of Eldraine.  The only negative against her is that she is very new and might not be known or popular enough with the playerbase to “sell the set” unlike Garruk or the next possibility.

Kaya

From what I have seen of what other people have said Kaya seems to be the favourite. I can see why. She is a popular walker and she does fit aesthetically. Nothing about her homeplane says it can’t be Eldraine. There is one issue though, Kaya is kind of too busy in the story to be going back home. She’s the Guild Leader for the Orzhov and unless there is a bit of a time skip in the story I think it would be a bit too soon for her to be leaving Ravnica but that is the only issue I can find. Kaya recently Joining the Gatewatch is also a huge point in her favour.

Wrenn

Like with Estrid we know almost nothing about Wrenn. The only thing working against Wrenn being the face of the next set is that she is largely unknown and thus not popular enough to be the face of a set.

All of the walkers I went over in detail could be the face of the set but realsitically I think the most likely candidates are Kaya and Garruk, assuming its not a new walker. I expect we shall find out tomorrow at Maros SDCC panel. Personally I am hoping its Garruk, I miss the big guy.

[bookaddict24-7]

FIRST CHAPTER CHALLENGE!

I apologize for the late post, if you follow me on Instagram you’ll see I was having my Friendmas!

I was super surprised with how my reading went with these three books. There were a couple of books I was sure I would enjoy and one I hadn’t yet picked up, but knew I would hopefully get to it one day.

It’s always surprising how some of these books on my ARC TBR list are books I probably wouldn’t have picked up if I’d just read the first chapter. Lessons being learned, I guess, aha!

A gentle reminder: Just because I’ve unhauled the books in this post and in future posts, it doesn’t mean that they’re books not worth reading. They’re just not right for me. This is more of an incentive for me to free up space and give these books better homes than my basement.

Read my original post and how I’m going about this challenge here.

Have any of you practiced this challenge this past week?

Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi

Decision: Unhauled

I remember the hype surrounding this book when it came out, mainly because a lot of reviewers were receiving copies in the mail. I was of the mindset that I would love it--especially because it looked like the kind of book I was sure I’d love. Then, I started reading it and I was a bit turned off by the protagonist. The writing was a little messy and I just didn’t feel like this was a book I could get invested in. 

Synopsis: 

“Scott Ferdowsi has a track record of quitting. Writing the Great American Novel? Three chapters. His summer internship? One week. His best friends know exactly what they want to do with the rest of their lives, but Scott can hardly commit to a breakfast cereal, let alone a passion.

With college applications looming, Scott's parents pressure him to get serious and settle on a career path like engineering or medicine. Desperate for help, he sneaks off to Washington, DC, to seek guidance from a famous professor who specializes in grit, the psychology of success.

He never expects an adventure to unfold out of what was supposed to be a one-day visit. But that's what Scott gets when he meets Fiora Buchanan, a ballsy college student whose life ambition is to write crossword puzzles. When the bicycle she lends him gets Scott into a high-speed chase, he knows he's in for the ride of his life. Soon, Scott finds himself sneaking into bars, attempting to pick up girls at the National Zoo, and even giving the crossword thing a try--all while opening his eyes to fundamental truths about who he is and who he wants to be.”

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

Decision: Unhauled.

I’ve had this on my shelf thinking that I would one day read it and love it because it was almost a sure thing, since I love Sanderson’s writing. I don’t know if it’s because the first chapter wasn’t what I was expecting, or if I just wasn’t in the mood, but I wasn’t really into this. I put it on my “Currently Reading” stack just in case I did want to keep going, but then I chose not to and it became an unhauled book. 

Synopsis: 

“On his thirteenth birthday, foster child Alcatraz Smedry gets a bag of sand in the mail-his only inheritance from his father and mother. He soon learns that this is no ordinary bag of sand. It is quickly stolen by the cult of evil Librarians who are taking over the world by spreading misinformation and suppressing truth. Alcatraz must stop them, using the only weapon he has: an incredible talent for breaking things.”

Things I Should Have Known by Claire LaZebnik

Decision: Read, Reviewed, and Kept.

While I’ve read and loved LaZebnik’s past books, this was probably one of my favourites by her. I was surprised because the topics are a lot more serious than anything she’s ever written about before. 

You can read my review as part of my Music Mondays feature here.

Synopsis: 

“Meet Chloe Mitchell, a popular Los Angeles girl who’s decided that her older sister, Ivy, who’s on the autism spectrum, could use a boyfriend. Chloe already has someone in mind: Ethan Fields, a sweet, movie-obsessed boy from Ivy’s special needs class.

Chloe would like to ignore Ethan’s brother, David, but she can’t—Ivy and Ethan aren’t comfortable going out on their own, so Chloe and David have to tag along. Soon Chloe, Ivy, David, and Ethan form a quirky and wholly lovable circle. And as the group bonds over frozen-yogurt dates and movie nights, Chloe is forced to confront her own romantic choices—and the realization that it’s okay to be a different kind of normal.”

Have you read any of these three books? What were your experiences with them?

I’ll be back next week with another three picks!

Happy reading!

[obliviousriki]

So because I’m in a very specific mood to yell about why I like Xenoblade so much, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I tend to be decently long-winded (though in-depth!)

Probably again nobody’ll end up reading this but that doesn’t matter especially to me right now. I’ve thought of doing reviews for each individual game in the past, but I don’t know if that would be feasible. So instead, for now I’ll just talk about all three that I’ve played.

So one of the first things that I’ve been thinking about in this past hour or so while listening to the XC2 soundtrack is why I like the Xenoblade series as a whole so much. Clearly it has some fantastic entries from a gameplay perspective, as all three games have been regarded as amazing from some standpoint. 

In fact, the series as a whole comes close to being my favorite piece of entertainment I’ve ever consumed. It’s just so fun to be in a Xenoblade game, to interact with the environment and the people, and to learn everything you can about the world. And in my opinion, that superb immersion is probably the one thing that makes a video game go beyond the rest. I hear a lot about Dark Souls and Skyrim being great at these as well, and it’s probably also why they’re so widely enjoyed by most people. From my personal experience, the Zelda games are also very good at that, but nothing that I’ve played in recent memory comes close to these games. 

But surely it can’t just be some good video games that fascinate me. I have very weird, specific tastes when it comes to entertainment, and they’re often hard to sate. So what, specifically, about Xenoblade makes it such a good series?

I personally feel it’s the way storytelling is handled. Each game has a unique take on how the story is driven, and how the environment affects the story is also a huge thing I enjoy. As a writer myself (tried putting some writing here, if you want to see it it’s still there), this sort of storytelling is only possible in visual media, but I feel that video games do the best job at it. I think I’ve mentioned how I find Metroid’s passive, environmental storytelling to be some of the sort that I really enjoy. Xenoblade’s titans for the first and third games really do this well (as the places you explore are also characters to some extent) while XCX’s massive, explorable environment also hints at past events that you never get to know about, but can only speculate over. I get super excited when ancient lore (speaking of, I’ll likely be getting the expansion pack soon) and things like this are brought into any sort of story, but when they’re done like this specifically this feeling of fascination is only multiplied. 

The main story in every game has not been... great. XC1′s main story was very good overall, and heavily driven by character interaction, which I find to be some of the best stories. Obviously it isn’t perfect, as some things about it don’t feel quite right (lots of technicalities about the Monado and Shulk existing and everything like that), but overall it’s probably the best of the three. XCX’s main story was passable, though I’m in agreement with a rather popular post that’s been floating around that says that XCX’s main story appeal comes not from the main story but from the sidequests that build Mira’s world and characters. This also somewhat contributes to the passive storytelling; when ordinary people that you can talk to react to events as you complete them. I feel like the linearity of a lot of games prevents this from happening at such a scale as it does in the Xenoblade games. Finally, XC2′s main story is alright. Because I didn’t get as invested in the characters as I did in the other games (they felt less real, but this could just be my perspective), the character-driven scenes seemed less interesting, and thus bogged down the story. There are some standouts, especially in Morag & Brigid’s case, and Nia to some extent as well. I may be missing some, but many of the characters seemed rather flat and boring. However, this game is definitely one of the more environment-based of the three. You can almost constantly see the titans moving, reminding you where you are, and how the people here have evolved to fit their surroundings. It’s great for just imagining all the things that’ve happened on these titans, why things are the specific way they are, and things like this. 

My main issue with this is that often this subtle, almost unconscious storytelling is very rarely brought to the front of attention. I often wonder about things in a world because that's my nature, but if the devs threw in an occasional group conversation that was just them wondering about what happened in a certain area, I think it would serve to make both the world and the characters stronger.

And that's also just the thing; Xenoblade is interesting to me not only because of what it is, but of what it could be. In fact, I believe that the flaws in each game just give the series as a whole more flavor. Instead of only getting a chance to appreciate what's done well, one could also critique what's done poorly and think about how it could be better. This might just be a me thing, but based on how many people want to talk about the water temple in Ocarina of Time, I feel that it's probably something that applies to more people.

Clearly every game has its faults. XC1 had bad base graphics (which I mitigate by using dolphin and HD texture packs) and some other bad visual things that were mostly a product of the time and system. Some gameplay elements were easy to exploit, such as agility. I also personally feel that many characters were much less interesting as they could have been. Fiora is especially weird to me, as she constantly protects Shulk and, based off her passive characterization, seems like she wouldn't have the battle line, "Reyn... you saved me!" She seems much more in-control and confident than she actually is in-game. I personally love how sonocomics handled Fiora, and I'd encourage all two of you that've bothered to read this far to check them out.

XCX handled alien races terribly. I particularly despised the Ma-non, a supposedly genius race that constantly acted weirdly and like they knew nothing at all. All of the humanoid races were, for one, humanoid, which is just so weird to me. How has every species in the universe evolved specifically to be able to handle the exact same kind of weaponry, have the same body type, and the same basic cultural archetype as Earth cultures?

XC2 is super-notorious for its oversexualization of its female characters, but that's already been analyzed to hell and back, so I'll just skip that one. It's still a huge issue, but everyone's heard so much about it by now. I've also already mentioned how the characters themselves are weird, tropey, and usually flat (especially in Rex's case, because I don't know how much he actually grows). Plus the ending was just really bad in my opinion. Pneuma dies, Rex shows emotion and cracks, but then she (they) just... come back. It really ruins all that emotion that was expressed in the previous scene, and the game could have left way more of an impact.

But lastly, what I feel is most important about these flaws is that one can take them and think about how they could be made better. The potential that Xenoblade has for improvement is enormous, and just makes me giddy to think about. It's already so huge, so great and diverse, that the mere idea that it could be bigger, more diverse, better, and even more in-depth just makes it all that much better.

As I play through XC1 for the fourth time, I've noticed so many more things about the game that I've never really paid attention to in my previous playthroughs. In trying to 100% the game, I've been completing each map. Just seeing areas I had no idea existed in the game until now makes me so much more excited to see all the things I've missed. Again, this is my fourth time through the game, and I'm still discovering new things about it. How great is that?

I think I'm pretty much done. Xenoblade is great, and hopefully this expressed my feelings on why it is as great as it is. Please let me know if I missed anything or if you disagree with anything I said, I'm legitimately curious to hear other's points of view. And thanks for reading this far.

[fuzzystarofficial-blog]

Bonus Post! Chapter 1 Preview #3

Hello my fellow writers and readers! Here is another preview post. Looks like Isaac and his friends found something nifty. I hope they get to keep it around their necks...

We crossed the street and waited for Austin to get his drink from Cafe' Grounds. The coffee shop set up a booth across from the hustle of the fair to let frostbitten patrons know that they still existed beyond what was now a sea of multicolored tents. The booth worked, too; the line was ridiculous. The rest of us kept our distance, though.

Austin was a lot happier once that he had something hot to sip on. So much so that he stopped talking about the cold and went on to his favorite pastime during corny town fairs: looking for the most ridiculously priced and useless items he could find. That year's winner was a tribal mask worth over a year's allowance. It would have been perfect to play Fiora's boogeyman, too. She pulled him aside to another tent and made him try on what I think was a cow, a goat and a duck mask, leaving Emma and I alone.

"So you're starting to mix well with the Elites." I said to her.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean Meghan Fenton, Cher and those other people. They're starting to pull you into their group, or maybe it's that they're pulled to you." I said.

"Yeah Meghan's pretty nice," Emma began, "the only problem is that I don't think I could really be friends with someone who can only talk about boys and nails. Where's the substance? The purpose? Oh! And all of that gossiping," she shuttered, "it's so frivolous."  

I couldn't understand how or why Emma hung out with us all the time, especially me, since we had so little in common. The first time we met I was scared that just by talking with me her G.P.A would take a nose dive. Then again, she did live with Fiora. If she was destined to tank because of bad influences it would have happened a while ago. Our bond was probably forged from the mouse we found during a science field trip in sixth grade. The A+ we scored for discovering the tiny live rodent in a pile of owl droppings must have sealed the deal on our weird friendship.

We eventually found June and Fiora gushing at a store labeled Lady Blossom's Mysterious Finds. Most of her trinkets were shells found on the beach and homemade mood-rings. We were the only ones at the purple and blue draped stand, which made me question the quality of the junk she was selling. Lady Blossom looked like she couldn't wait for the whole affair to be over. She stood tapping her finger on the table; the last vendor in the line of swindlers.

"Hey, I found something really awesome!" said Fiora triumphantly. She pointed to four necklaces hanging off an iron rafter of the booth. Each of them had a stone attached to a black string. Clear, clean and fitted into a metal base, the crystals seemed to have a life of their own as light came down through the barren tree branches above. A rainbow swirled around inside of the jewels then spilled to the ground below, adding color to the browning grass.  

"They're probably plastic." said Austin. Lady Blossom shot him a dirty look.

"They are authentic gems from far away, kid." she said in a hoarse voice. She coughed once and stuttered when she spoke. "You should be happy that I'm willing to part with them."

"If by "far away" you mean the dollar store in the mall, then yeah." said Austin.

"They're so popular that someone even stole one from me. You better dish out your money or move along, pip-squawk."

"Pipsqueak." corrected Emma.

"Whatever you Earth people call it. Who cares." she said.

We blinked in silent confusion.

"Oh come on!" Fiora said happily. "At least one would make a nice keepsake. Next year we're all going to different high schools. And besides, they have that special "mystique" about them."

"Who knew mystique only costs five bucks plus tax these days?" said Austin dryly.

I put my hand on my chest. My fingers travelled over the small lump. June had looked to me with eyes that pushed harder than a telemarketer.

"It's not that lame." I said.

"Dude, who needs a keepsake when we have Instant Messenger?"

The same melancholy come over me again from the start of the day. We would all be in the same city, but would lead separate lives. I saw Fiora's point. We needed something small to mark our circle of companionship.

Austin refused until he was met with Emma's blue eyes.  "Come on. Just get the stone so my sister can steal it from me and save the day. After that maybe we could do something else." she said.

He threw those dollar bills in the woman's face so hard I thought she would have gotten a paper cut. She didn't even blink when a penny that got stuck in the bundle landed square in her eye. It sat there for a second, then slowly fell. I thought I heard a clink sound when it hit.

With shiny trinket and bunny mask in hand, and Lady Blossom five dollars (plus tax) richer, we left the festival and continued on our original quest for warm shelter.

Once we got to the intersection of Main and Hurst Grove, we stopped and said our goodbyes to June. She thanked Austin and I for going with her to the fair, followed by hugging each of us. I think my hug was the longest.

"Goodbye guys, and I still hate you Emma. Message me later with the answers to tonight's homework and we'll call it even, okay?" Her long raven hair flowed as she smiled brightly and skipped cheerfully down her dreary street.

About ten minutes later we arrived at a block of living quarters next to an empty shopping plaza, save for one exceptionally good Chinese takeout restaurant. The tall sign in front advertised stores that had been out of business since I was six, and under it nature had gotten its revenge as weeds and tall grass pushed through the pavement.

"Home at last." I said.

Fiora threw her fist forward. "Good, we can do the final scene then go get more hot chocolate then play video games and-"

"One thing at a time, Moon-Nutjob." said Austin.

We walked into the mouth of the brick building maze. The complex was so large I was sure you could fit half of Mantlestown there. Most units in our section of the complex were vacant, though. Our destination was the final set of units by the recreation area. The apartments there were under renovation, so the only thing there to watch our embarrassing performance was piles of wood and gratified walls.

Fiora climbed on top of a pile of wood, doing her best to avoid protruding nails. "Alright, places people! There aren't any trees so this will have to do."

Emma set down her bag alongside mine and Austin's. "Finally, this torment can end." she said. Emma put the necklace around her neck.

"Just don't tell her there's a season two next year." I said.

After a lengthy recap of the story so far, mostly for Austin's benefit and I think partly to hear herself speak, we were ready to begin our last act of role-play that should have died alongside the class goldfish in fifth grade. Austin put on his mask and started making the most of it by dancing around like a lunatic.

"Be scared! Oh! I'm an alien henchman! I'll eat your babies!" he yelled. The kid jumped on my back and put me in a headlock. I had to flip him over my shoulder to get the devoted stand-in off me.

"My brother gets out of school at three thirty, so I need to be home in about a half hour. Let's get this right on the first take, okay?" I said. I looked around and picked up the largest wieldable stick I could find.

"Fair enough." said Fiora. "Emma get up here and start laughing manically, and Austin get ready to duel Fuzzy. Let's get started!"  

I would soon find that I needed a bigger stick.

[vorthosjay]

Future Foretold

Last year, Mark Rosewater was very sly by giving us his article Tell Me What You Want. Whether by intent or accident (after all, it’s smart to make what people want), he loaded it details about sets that were coming up, but we just didn’t know it yet. Today I’m going to examine what was in the article, and apply to things we learned from various visions that have occurred in Magic Story.

Please note that a few these sets were already known to be coming back at the time, like Conspiracy: Take the Crown. They may not always line up exactly, but some are close enough that I’m attributing them with a product. Given that R&D does significant work on products about two years out, Maro would have had a fair idea a lot of this was coming up. That means that we can make some fair guesses from both the visions and other product clues as to what’s coming in the year or so after Ixalan.

Fate Foretold by Dan Scott

I’m going to organize this by product release, and I’ll be pulling bullet points from Maro’s article, so read the original thing first! And remember, this came out before Shadows Over Innistrad. I’m going to focus on the bullets with flavor value, as this is a Vorthos blog after all.

As It Was Written

These are the bullets we can attribute to something already. As far as I can tell, we can confirm nine of the bullets happened in the first year following this article (more or less).

Shadows Over Innistrad/Eldritch Moon

Spider Legend (Ishkanah, Grafwidow)

Werewolf Legend (Ulrich of the Krallenhorde)

A black Oath (Oath of Liliana)

Conspiracy: Take the Crown

Fiora (This was known at the time)

Kaladesh/Aether Revolt

Kaladesh (Duh)

Indian World (Or as close as we’re going to get)

Commander (2016 Edition)

Four-color legendary creatures

Amonkhet

Egyptian World 

A -1/-1 counter block

So It Shall Be

So what can we extrapolate going forward? We’ve got a fair idea of the rest of this year, and most people have already figured out next year’s Dominaria return for the 25th anniversary (plus, the Kaladesh art book and reportedly the Player’s Guide confirmed it). Archenemy: Nicol Bolas is already confirmed not to have any new non-Scheme cards,  and Hour of Devastation isn’t likely to incorporate huge new themes, so let’s move on to the recently-confirmed Ixalan.

Ixalan

Meso-American World

Pirate World 

A tribal block

So, we know Ixalan is a meso-american world. The Packaging leak from last year named it Atlazan, but that was likely just a placeholder name for the packaging test (Wizards has mentioned the name of a set is one of the last things finalized).

So why pirate world? In It’s Another Conspiracy, Mark mentions that the mechanic that would become Monarch is one he had planned for Ixalan:

Shawn's problem was the space they were exploring was very similar to something I had tentatively planned for Ham, the large set for October of 2017. The biggest problem was that Conspiracy: Take the Crown was scheduled to end design before Ham's exploratory design (the very first design a set does) began.

So whatever is going on in Ixalan, it would have involved the Monarch Mechanic. With how pirates have resurfaced in magic (starting with... Conspiracy: Take the Crown!), and how many pirate-related questions Mark has been answering lately, AND with Vraska sporting spanish garb in that same packaging leak, it’s not an unreasonable guess. It’s highly unlikely Creative wants to do a Conquistador story, so the best explanation for the spanish garb is Pirates (the conquistadors were pirates, anyway)! And Monarch makes perfect sense as a ‘booty’ (heh) or Pirate mechanic.

And why tribes? Well we know Ajani is there, and he’s got a different look. Given that Naya was meso-american themed, and Amonkhet just gave us a cat lord, we might be seeing new Nacatl. We see a merfolk features prominently, too, so we could see some new tribal for less supported tribes. At the very least, if Pirates are around, you can guarantee we’ll get some kind of Pirate tribal!

Art by Victor Adame Minguez

Dominaria (Unknown Title)

Dominaria 

Viking World

Raven Man

Legendary Blue-Red Artificer

An instant- and sorcery-heavy block

Urza

Yawgmoth

Serra

Yes, Dominaria. What rock have you been hiding under? This list is longer than it probably should be, but I wanted to explain why. Dominaria is the perfect opportunity to bring back old cards in a Time Spiral-like fashion. There’s no reason the entire story there would have to take place in the present, and there’s so much nostalgia associated with a return like that I think they’ll have to. We’ll probably see a supplemental product (maybe even C17) that addresses some Nostalgia, too.

Why Viking World? Because in the article, Maro mentions that Dominaria already did this in the Ice Age. And with C16, we got Saskia, who reminded us all a hell of a lot of the Balduvian barbarians back in the day. Of course, it’s possible this will be saved for another viking-specific world, there’s some reason to believe our return to Dominaria might in fact be a return to the Ice Age. I’d love to see a neo-Balduvia. And why is Raven Man in there? Well... you’ll all find out soon enough.

The legendary blue-red artificer could be Jhoira. She’s likely still alive, and her last card was cool but not really indicative of her artificer abilities. And what better time to return to an instant and sorcery-heavy block than the original Magic plane? Uza, Yawgmoth, and Serra could potentially be nostalgia adds in a related product or in a Time Spiral-esque return.

Of note, Nissa seems to get a vision of what could be Dominaria in The Hand That Moves:

Nissa saw a world, then tens of worlds, hundreds of worlds. Thousands. She saw this world, the world of Amonkhet, and wrapped around it was a dark sinewy line. That line stretched back through all the worlds, all the thousands of worlds, and she saw an unbroken line of darkness from Amonkhet all the way back to the beginning of the line.

Dominaria is the Nexus of the Multiverse, so this corruption as she calls it might be a reference to that. If there are intangible lines connecting the multiverse, they all lead back to Dominaria.

Now, Dominaria is all but confirmed. So what comes next?

So it... Might Be?

We know next year is Magic’s 25th Anniversary, and so it’s likely that Magic’s most popular plane makes it’s reappearance.

Tablet of the Guilds by Nic Klein

Ravnica

Ravnica

Fblthp

Feather

When we last saw an ongoing Ravnican plot thread, the Obzedat had imprisoned Teysa Karlov in their special guildpact-proof room. I didn’t make the connection until later, but another of Nissa’s visions in The Hand That Moves seems to apply here:

A large golden disc, shaped and stylized like a sun, descending from the sky. The sun disc approached a large circular stone tablet covered with strange sigils, and the two discs merged, becoming a single golden disc. Cracks appeared in the golden disc, small at first, then widening, growing. The disc crumbled away into nothingness.

Could this be a reference to the Orzhov, whose sigil is a stylized sun, destroying the new Guildpact (a reference to the tablet). I’d dismissed it before and called it a reference to Amonkhet’s second sun, but now I’m not so sure. It seems awfully coincidental that it’s so evocative of the Tablet of Guilds and the Orzhov sigil, and the last ‘big threat’ or unresolved plot point we saw of Ravnica was the Orzhov’s Ghost Coucil, right?

Of course, a return to Ravnica is a great opportunity to see Fblthp and Feather again.

And then there’s another vision which would hint at another plane we’ve been long overdue to return to.

Art by Tyler Jacobson

Theros

Theros 

An “enchantments matter” block 

Arixmethes

I commented when it came out that this particular vision sounds like a reference to Ashiok and Theros:

She saw a young man, his face erased, stumbling among a garden of statues. High above the man a growing cloud of dusk attacked the sun. From somewhere outside the garden there was a mighty roar.

Given the new focus on Gideon, the next step for his character might be a return home. It’s also important to note that in The Promised End, each vision was a portent for the future. Tamiyo’s manipulation by Emrakul. Chandra’s confrontation with Baral. Nissa’s ongoing Emrakul influence. And... Gideon’s confrontation with Erebos. Plus, Theros has two of the longest dormant story threads in Magic: Ashiok and Elspeth. Might be a great time to see them again.

What’s Left?

Kamigawa

Tarkir

Alara

Ulgrotha

Shandalar

Lorwyn/Shadowmoor

Vryn

Muraganda

Fairy Tale World

Wild West World

Prehistoric World

Poison

Other alternate win condition block

Legendary Bear

Taigam

Of the rest, we’re likely to be hitting them all in one way or another in the next few years. Blocks are already sketched out (at least in concept) out to the early 2020s.

Kamigawa is just a no-go. They’ve been explicit about that. Ulgrotha is popular but unlikely.

That leaves some ideas:

Shandalar, which may be the focus of a small block.

Muraganda, which is obviously the Prehistoric Block

Lorywn/Shadowmoor, which we haven’t seen since they fused. Since it was already the fairy tale world, it could be an opportunity to make it a ‘true’ fairy tale plane. This might also be the focus of Commander 2017.

Vryn, which is post-apocalyptic but could also potentially fill the wild west block world.

Of course, this is all assuming the theme worlds won’t be new planes. I’d love to see a full viking plane (there are a couple names for one already), a fairy tale world and a new wild west world.

As for the rest, we’ll have to wait and see! Regardless what happens, I’m excited to find out. Do you have other ideas about what’s coming up? Let me know!

[rainbowwing251]

Sleep is for the Ticklish (SSB Edition) (Super Smash Bros Tickle Fic)

A/N: Wow, I did it again! I wrote another fic!

As you might have seen from my list of potential tickle fics, I couldn’t decide on whether or not I wanted to write this concept with Shulk and Cloud, or Shulk, Fiora, and Reyn, so I wrote both of these ideas down on the list. This fic is the SSB version, A.K.A the Shulk and Cloud version.

I provided a link to the list of tickle fic prompts from which this fic was inspired from, but if you haven’t seen the list of potential fics, here’s the link to the prompt list:

https://notmeblahh.tumblr.com/post/190407288511/tickle-prompts

For your information, this fic will not contain any sort of romance or NSFW content. This fic is just about a blonde swordsman tickling another blonde swordsman until he comes to bed.

I might have forgotten something here, but I’ll worry about that later. For now, onto the fic.

Update 07-10-22: This fic is now on AO3! Here’s the AO3 Link!

——————————————————————————————————

Cloud approached the door to the lab of the Smash Colosseum. He had just woken up from a deep sleep, and would have returned to bed, if it wasn’t for one thing.

Shulk was likely still in there, working on some sort of device or weapon. Either that, or he was doing research on the other Smash fighters.

Normally, Cloud wouldn’t have a problem with this. Having prior knowledge of a person’s fighting style would give someone an advantage in battle. Not to mention how the addition of a new weapon could enable a person to come up with new, effective strategies.

No, the problem was that Shulk would stay up late. VERY late. Sometimes, he wouldn’t get a wink of sleep at any point during the night. It irritates Cloud quite a bit, but he’s more concerned about Shulk’s health than he is annoyed by the younger blonde’s bad sleeping habits.

Luckily for Cloud, he knew just the thing that would get Shulk to sleep.

The light was still on in the lab, confirming his suspicions. He quietly stepped closer towards the door. He could hear the sound of a page being turned in a book, along with the faint sound of someone breathing.

He carefully grabbed the handle, slowly pushed it down, and opened the door as quietly as he could.

The first thing Cloud saw was Shulk sitting in a chair in front of the large desk that was up against the back wall of the room. He couldn’t see what he was doing, but based on the fact that there was a book in his hand, and a couple of papers on the desk, the mercenary assumed that he was taking notes. He didn’t know what those notes could possibly be, but reading those notes wasn’t his goal.

He carefully crept up behind Shulk and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. The visionary jumped at the sudden touch, then turned around to face the older blonde.

“Cloud?” Shulk asked, not understanding why the other was still awake.

“How long have you been in here?” Cloud responded with his own question.

“Uh… I don’t know.”

Cloud let out a sigh.

“You can’t keep doing this. You may not know what time it is right now, but I do.”

Shulk had a confused look on his face. “What time is it?”

“About 1:46 A.M.” Cloud answered, not surprised by the look of shock that came on the boy’s face in response.

“What?! It’s that late?!”

Cloud shook his head. “Yes.”

“Wait, why are YOU awake right now?”

“Well, I was going to go back to bed, but I realized that you were likely still awake doing work or research. I came to check in on you.”

Shulk suddenly became nervous. “I’m sorry, I’ll go to bed soon.”

Cloud saw right through that statement. If there are two words that could describe Shulk right now, they would be “terrible liar”. The younger male was known for being a truthful person, so if he were to tell a lie, people would instantly catch on to the fact that he’s lying.

Cloud gave him a glare. “That’s a lie. You plan on staying up all night doing research, aren’t you?”

“U-um…” Shulk began to shrink into himself. Clould’s glares scared him, even though there was a hint of affection behind them.

“I see... That’s nothing new. No matter, I know how to get you to go to sleep.”

Shulk shrinked into himself even more.

“H-how?” He stammered out. Cloud’s plan was beginning to show some results.

The older male slowly pulled the heir out of his chair before throwing him onto his shoulder. Unfortunately, there was no bed nearby, so he would have to walk down to his room with Shulk on his shoulder. Good thing that Shulk was rather light.

“W-what are you doing?” Shulk asked quietly as Cloud turned the lights off and walked out of the lab.

“Taking you to my room. You know what I’m going to do to you.” Cloud answered as he closed the door.

Shulk knew what that meant, and began to lightly squirm under Cloud’s arm.

“W-wait, no! Don’t y-you dare do it!”

“Do what?” Cloud quickly switched from a slightly disappointed tone to a teasy one.

“I… Don’t…”

Cloud lightly chuckled at Shulk’s stutters. He still couldn’t say the word, how cute.

His room wasn’t that far from the lab. In fact, it was only that close to the lab because he changed rooms with Ryu in order to keep an eye on Shulk. In no time at all, he was at the door.

He noticed that the younger blonde didn’t protest too much, but he figured that he was trying to stay quiet so as to not wake up another fighter. He quietly opened the door, also being cautious to make sure that no one else woke up, and closed it upon entering.

He nearly threw Shulk down onto his bed and pinned him down.

“W-w-wait! Someone will h-hear us!”

He had a good point. Considering Cloud’s plan to get him to sleep, someone might be awoken by the sound of loud laughter from the other room.

Or that would have been an issue, if all of the rooms didn’t have soundproof force fields that could be activated at any time at the press of a button.

“Not if I soundproof the room.”

Cloud went over to the glowing blue button on the wall and pressed it. The force field activated immediately and silently.

He quickly went back over to the other blonde and pinned him down again.

“That’s better. Now tell me. Will. You. Go. To. Sleep?”

At every word, Cloud gave a gentle poke to a random part of Shulk’s body, earning him a few jerks and twitches.

“Nohohoho. W-waihihit, I meahahan’t…!” The visionary realized his mistake.

“No? Very well then. I guess I’ll have to convince you…”

The mercenary decided to throw off Shulk’s expectations by targeting his knees, lightly tickling both the front and the back of his kneecaps.

“Whahahahahaht? Whihihihihihihiy thehehehehehehere?”

“I’m being merciful. If you don’t promise that you will go to bed, I’ll make you suffer.” Cloud’s teasy voice came back towards the end of the second sentence, but it now had a hint of a threatening undertone.

Shulk’s eyes widened at the threat. “Nohohoho! Nohohohoho! Plehehehehese dohohohohon’t!”

“Will you go to bed, then...” Cloud decided to lean down and whisper into the other boy’s ear, “...Brother?”

Shulk nearly lost it as soon as the word “brother” left the other man’s mouth.

“Ohohohokahahahay, Ihihihihi’ll slehehehehehep!”

“Hm…” Cloud gave him a quizzical look. “I don’t believe you.”

Shulk squeaked. “Whihihihihihihihiy?”

“You tried to lie to me earlier in the lab. Why should I trust anything that you have to say now?”

The heir didn’t respond, choosing to remain as silent as he could while he giggled his heart out.

“You’re not going to answer me? Okay then, I guess I need to get serious...”

In a split second, Cloud’s hands darted up to Shulk’s upper body, targeting his rib cage. The move made the other boy shriek, and it broke the laughter dam within him.

“NAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!”

If the soundproof force field wasn’t on right now, Shulk’s laughter would have woken up both Lucas and Bowser Jr.

“This should be easier now. Are you ready to give up?” Cloud taunted.

“NOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO, THIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIS IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHISN’T FAHAHAHAHAIHIHIHIHIR!”

“Too bad.” Cloud continued to tickle Shulk’s ribs with his right hand, while his left hand moved down to his belly.

“AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! THAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAT’S CHEHEHEHEHEHEHEATIHIHIHIHIHING! BROHOHOHOHOTHEHEHEHEHEHEHR!” Shulk nearly screamed out.

Cloud feigned confusion, but he couldn’t hide the grin spreading across his face. “Huh? How is this cheating?”

“TWOHOHOHOHOHOHO SPOHOHOHOHOHOTS AHAHAHAHAHAHAT ONNNNCE!

A loud screech came out of the blonde as his navel was suddenly being attacked by a single finger that managed to worm its way under his sweater. It nearly interrupted Cloud’s actions.

“Dear Gods, I didn’t know you could make that noise! Surely, you are finally going to admit defeat now, right?” Cloud’s voice was full of amusement as he randomly switched between the giggly blonde’s rib cage, sides, and underarms with his right hand. His left hand never left his stomach.

“YEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHES! IHIHIHIHIHIHIHIHI’LL GOHOHOHOHOHO TOHOHOHO BEHEHEHED!” Shulk had been squirming this whole time, but at this point, he was thrashing.

It didn’t last long, however, as Cloud had decided that he had enough. His hands left his body, and he set Shulk free from his pin.

Cloud watched as Shulk’s chest heaved up and down, giggles and laughs still pouring out of his mouth.

“Too much?” He asked, worried that he went too far.

“N-nohohoho… I think ihihihit was… enough… hehehe…” Shulk struggled to get his words out in between his pants and residual giggles.

He felt the bed shift, and he felt Cloud’s hand on his right side.

“Nohoho more…” He half-whined, half-giggled.

“Don’t worry, it’s over.” The merc’s hand gently rubbed away the tingly sensations, though it solicited a few timid, heart-melting giggles when it moved over the visionary’s belly. These giggles were a typical reaction that Shulk can have when he gets flustered during a particularly tickly belly rub.

“Calm down there, giggles. I’m not trying to tickle you anymore.” Cloud said, booping Shulk’s nose. The action caused the latter’s blush to darken into a shade of red similar to the Monodo’s Smash Art.

“I know… I can’t help it…” His voice gradually went from sounding somewhat sleepy to incredibly sleepy.

“Mission accomplished.” Cloud thought to himself as he saw Shulk close his eyes. He stayed up a bit longer, stroking the other’s hair, before he too succumbed to his exhaustion and fell into a deep sleep, right next to his “brother”.

[rainbowwing251]

(This post was recently revised. Revision date: March 6, 2021. Some spelling and grammatical errors have been corrected.)

You know what? I just realized that despite how much I post about Shulk, I’ve never made any general headcanons for him! So you know what? I’m going to do it!

Actually, before I get started, I don’t think everyone knows which Shulk I’m talking about, because there are technically three Shulks, all of which are from different fandoms. I should have clarified this earlier, but I’ll do it now.

There’s Tubbo Shulk, which is from the MCYT fandom. If you came here for this Shulk, then I’m sorry, but you’ve come to the wrong place.

And then there’s She-Hulk, who has the nickname of Shulk, from the MCU. If you came here for her, I apologize. You’re gonna have to keep searching.

And the final Shulk is from Xenoblade Chronicles. I wish I knew how to insert a picture into a Tumblr post, because I would love to show you just what this good boy looks like. If you came here for him, then congratulations, you came to the right blog!

Alright, now that that’s cleared up, I’m going to get to the headcanons. These will go under Read More, so click or tap on “Keep Reading” to see them!

. Okay, so starting off, just look at Shulk. Look at him, and tell me that he doesn’t look like a lee.

. Well, you can tell me that he’s a ler. I’m interested in know what your opinions are. But to me, Shulk is a straight-up lee.

. His worst spots? I’ve gone back and forth between his ribs and his stomach, but you know what, I’m going to go with both!

. The people who target him the most? In Xenoblade Chronicles, it’s pretty much the entire main party, along with Alvis, Kino, and Nene. For Super Smash Bros., it’s Cloud, Pit, and Palutena. Honorable mentions go to Rosalina, Joker, Marth (for some reason, I think Marth would go after Shulk), Roy (Fire Emblem Roy. Again, I don’t really know why, but I could see Roy being a ler to Shulk), Pyra, and Mythra. For Xenoblade Chronicles 2, it’s Fiora, Rex, Pyra, Mythra, and Zeke (though Rex is susceptible to retaliation. Maybe I’ll write my XC2 headcanons some day).

. He can’t stand any form of teasing. If you talk to him in a baby voice while tickling him, he WILL die. If Cloud calls him “brother” and teases him like a big brother would, he’ll spontaneously combust. If Joker teases him in a low, smooth voice, his face will burn with the heat of the sun.

. Oh by the way, he likes being teased. He won’t admit it though, so you got to tickle him into admitting it.

. If you really want to kill him, there is one way to do it. It’s simple, it’s easy, and he will lose his mind while he blushes profusely. Just say this one word: tummy.

. Riki and his family LOVE to exploit this weakness while they gang-tickle him into oblivion. The Nopon tend to say the word “tummy” or “tum-tum” quite often. Therefore, Shulk’s face is just a constant shade of red while he’s in Frontier Village, and it happens every single time he visits the area. Also, I don’t know if you have seen the Nopon, but they have feathers. Riki has 13 family members (14 if you count Shulk himself. Huh? That Heart-to-Heart might not be canon? Fuck that, I’m making it canon!). Shulk is going to die in at least two different ways at the same time.

. Speaking of feathers, Shulk is SUPER weak to them. If you find a Fortune Feather, try to walk up to him with it in your hand. He will bolt.

. Too bad that he can’t run that fast. Not even a Quick Step gem can save this boy from his fate.

. He has a hard time with traveling in Alcamoth because the High Entia have feathers, and they are everywhere. He proceeds to have a lee crisis in the middle of the street.

. He’s not safe from the feathers in Smash, either. As soon as he sees Falco, Pit, Dark Pit, Palutena and Sephiroth all in the same area, he makes a run for it. He’s not going to take a risk.

. When he first got to Alrest, he thought he was safe from the feathers there. Long story short, Roc and Rex proved him wrong.

. The feathers will always find you, boy.

Okay, as much as I want to keep going, I need to stop for the night. I need to head off to bed soon. I’ll make sure to return to these headcanons as soon as I can!