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silviakundera · 1 year ago

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a very official and unserious ranking of chinese mini-dramas I've watched. Mini-drama = 5-15 min episodes. Color coded "sets" that had same actor or writer.

1. Night of Love with You (2022) - the unbeatable. the ULTIMATE. villain 4 villain romance with a protagonist who knows she is in a manga series... but something has gone wrong, because how did she and the heroic female lead get switched this time?!

2. Provoke (2023) - Republican era noir revenge saga. Unresolved sexual tension. Glamour. Great lighting. Hot people in period costume giving VIBES. She married her mortal enemy as a concubine and keeps a murderboard. I'm in love w her.

3. The Deliberations of Love (2023) - Married consort of a prince dies with him due to the struggle for the throne. Then she wakes up in the past, only for this ambitious idiot to get them killed again! Receiving yet another chance after 2 awful deaths, she's determined to choose life over love and not marry into the royal family again. But it's not quite so simple... especially when the prince starts to feel echoes of their past life together. The romantic chemistry is what sells this lil tropey drama. She keeps subconsciously drifting back into acting like his familiar spouse and then he starts vibing too.

4. A Familiar Stranger (2022) - Like with Provoke, I think everyone's seen this one? Conniving prime ministers daughter face-switches an innocent girl who is searching for her sister and pining away for this hot general who saved her once. Wow what luck, the horrible marriage the prime minister's daughter wanted to escape is with her dream man. This all sounds very wtf but this director x screenwriter combo creates these moody pieces that have a certain dream logic.

5. Zhang Gong Zhu Zai Shong (2022) - The emperor's sister is tyrannical and keeps a stable of hot men. Political intrigue ensues. ngl this one is real choppy but is ranked high due to my bias for achingly hot leading ladies who step on a breathless delicate ML. 🔥 She makes me SWEAT.

6. The Killer is Also Romantic (2022) - Mr and Mrs Smith in costume drama imperial era china. It should be higher, but for an English speaker it's dragged down the list by terrible subs.

7. My Decoy Bride (2023) - Hidden identities, assassin marries her target in imperial era china. Same male actor as Deliberations of Love who builds good energy with his costars. But less budget, worse subs, choppy editing. Still fun. Probably ranked way too high but idc I was entertained.

8. Dong Lan Xue (2023) - 3 min episodes of broken Murder Couple ❤. The slighted 7th prince and his ex-prostitute maid who are out for blood & revenge. (It's that badass lady & her delicate suitor again. Love this webisode pair. love herrrrrrrrr)

9. Miss Mystery (2023) - Republican era revenge drama in a similar vein as Provoke but lacking it's elite lighting, sets, & cinematography. To her it's Fake Marriage but he agrees because he liiiiikes her. The couple has chemistry, gives good power-couple, and the FL is out for bloody revenge. It's a fun ride. But the writing isn't as strong as Provoke and the uneven acting of the supporting cast drags it down the list.

10. What's Wrong with My Princess (2023) - The standard reborn revenge tale played straight. Female general helped a prince fight for the throne, then he & her sister have her murdered when vulnerable and pregnant. Gasp! She wakes up years earlier on her wedding day to this other prince she'd married once, only to kill for her evil lover boy. Now she plots the downfall of lover boy & her sis, joining hands with the husband she betrayed the 1st time around. It's... exactly what it sounds like lol. Nothing stands out and the script is a string of tropes. But it delivers exactly what it promises.

11. Everlasting Bride (2023) - Republican era revenge with added spy games. Like Miss Mystery & Provoke, strong character intros & first meeting. They're mysterious and well-dressed and dangerous to know. More polished than Miss Mystery. The leads here are more filtered and more conventionally attractive. But I have to admit that there's a charm about how rough around the edges Miss Mystery is. And I like the lead actress in Miss Mystery a lot more. The first 3rd is pretty fire, then it lost steam for me.

12. Forever Love (2023) - It's that smoldering guy from Maid's Revenge (absent from this list because due to crap ending). Absolutely extra in every way, a tropey hormonal mess, to the point one can argue it circles back around to be ART. Female protagonists for 1-10 are all great & fun. Alas I can't say the same for #12. 💀

Haven't Finished:

Butterfly Lover (2023) - I have a serious hate for open-endings and I heard this has one, so I paused on it. It's from that amazing director&screenwriter combo, though (Provoke, Familiar Stranger, Killer is also Romantic...). So I know it's worth watching.

Romantic aka Love Strikes Back (2023) - I started this but stalled out. idk it wasn't compulsively watchable for me. Other people loved it.

#cdrama #im sincerely intrigued about where c-ent goes with mini-dramas in 2024 #diving head first into gratuitous tropes #silvia recs #drama watching

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seolhe · 1 year ago

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Top 5 of your original characters! 😀

Ah, where to start! This obviously tends to change a lot, so this is just a reflection of whichever idiots stand out to me at the moment! 1 + 2: Lotus and Hadriel:

Lotus (left) and Hadriel (right) really examplify that black cat/golden retriever relationship dynamic. Lotus is a bit of an ice queen, left a little emotionally stunted by a tough childhood, and also a master of snark. Hadriel on the other hand is a chaotic disaster bisexual, party boy supreme and notorious manslut 😂 Lotus might think Hadriel is an obnoxious idiot, but he is HIS obnoxious idiot.

These are my go-to comfort characters, and I often fall asleep playing scenes of domestic fluff or snarky banter between them in my head. Also, Hadriel is by far my favourite character to draw, and the character I bring up the most in casual conversations. He's just FUN!

Dropping this beautiful drawing you did of them here as a bonus. Look at my precious babies! 🥰 3: Sabreas

Sabreas may have been born as an outlet for a past hyperfixation with the history of eunuchs (imagine the internet search history that left me with!), but he's grown into so much more than that. If nothing else, he is prime punching bag material! Life serves him a lot of genuinely horrible, tragic garbage, but he's just enough of a spoiled brat that you don't feel too bad punching down on him. Sabreas is all righteous anger and brittle pride, motivated by pure spite. He's also one of the rare characters of mine that get to have some genuinely badass magic powers, which definitely adds to his coolness factor!

4. Tala

Tala is a relatively new addition to the cast of characters rotating in my brain, but she's been occupying my mind a lot lately. Tala is Sabreas wife, and although their marriage began as a politically motivated arranged union, they end up developing a very beautiful partnership. Tala is a woman who knows what she wants, and she's not afraid to get it, so when she decides that what she wants is Sabreas, he really doesn't stand a chance (I think she and Relonia would get along well! ((I also think they should kiss)))😁

5. Kharim

The thing I love most about this guy is his dynamic with Sabreas. Sabreas really tests his patience at times, especially throughout those edgiest, brattiest late teenage years, but Kharim can't deny he gets a kick out of goading him on. At the same time, there's definitely a certain amount of respect there. While Kharim may be Sabreas's superior (and also able to physically squash him like a bug), Sabreas's powers make those power dynamics more than a little blurry, and it's a good thing they're both just honourable enough to respect the terms of their contract. Also, the danger kinda turns him on.

Commission by @chotomy who captured these idiots and their dynamic perfectly! 🥰 Thank you for allowing me to ramble about my idiot children! I love them all so much! ❤

#silvysartfulness #my art #my ocs #long post

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don-daygamerz · 3 years ago

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Cute Interruption

Ben Barnes x Reader (Family AU)

Requested by: anonymous

Request: So imagine that he's during the online interview let's say with SaB cast. And during his speech (with camera on) they see a glimpse of a woman or hear a baby's laugh sth like this, and then they're like "What was that Ben?" and you know his eyes went wide cause he knows that they know 😂 ❤

Alternate version: Little Web Guest

Warnings: none

Word count: 2.2K

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All was set for the man of the hour. His camera was well focused and audio clear. It would be like an ordinary facetime chat only with more people and live streamed to a broad audience from around the globe. Was he nervous? A little but he was in the comfort of his home and his family would be here supporting him from the living room while he was in his office. So he was good.

“You ever miss doing the interviews in person?” (Name) asked as she gently bounced their baby girl.

“Sometimes but I’m happy to do it from home these days. I get to be with the people I love,” he endearingly said to his wife as he threw his hands in a gesture to pass him the baby he helped create.

“And I get to be here all day, every day, with this stinky little bugger,” the baby girl laughed at the silly face her daddy pulled which caused her to stretch one of her chubby hands to grab his nose. In doing so, Ben kissed his baby girl’s little hand before she went to cutely scrunch his nose.

“You happy daddy’s home?” his little girl kept smiling and giggling. “My darling, Eleanor.” Eleanor Tricia Barnes was the name bestowed upon the dark and starry-eyed child of the Barnes family that was gifted to them. She was their true pride and joy all since she was conceived.

“Yeah of course you are. Who wouldn’t be?” he teased. (Name) just rolled her eyes playfully at him.

“Mwah!” he then gave an exaggerated kiss on his daughter’s cherub cheeks, “Daddy loves you so much! You cannot imagine how much!” Ellie laughed as he began to tickle her tummy. “I can’t get enough of how you dressed our little starlight,” he continued as he gestured to the baby’s clothing. Their little one was dressed in a dark custom baby grow with printed silver antlers encasing writings in white font at the front saying, ‘Little Darkling’.

“I couldn’t help myself!” (Name) exclaimed in excitement. “It suits her.”

“It really does,” he smiled at that and their daughter just cooed, bringing smiles to the parents’ faces. His wife had been very vocal about how proud she was of him for landing a unique role (just like his previous roles).

In fact, she was obsessed with his character. Who wouldn’t obsess with such a dashing villainous character with a dark personality and a penchant for power and destruction? He found it adorable how his little wife obsessed over his character.

“Sometimes, I think you love the Darkling more than me,” he teased one time before. “No, I do not!” she quickly denied but Ben was not convinced by how smug he looked even though he was teasing her. “I just can’t help but admire my husband’s magnificent talent in acting, that’s all.” She said it ever so flamboyantly that it caused her husband to laugh at her ridiculous antics but gently so as to not interrupt his baby’s feeding time.

“Nice save on that one,” he said as he bottle-fed their dark-haired angel in his arms.

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The interview began a moment later. Ben was immediately absorbed into his work of listening and answering fan questions diligently just like the rest of his co-stars (now close friends); Jessie, Archie, Freddy, Amita, and Kit as well as the addition of a special guest, creator/executive producer, Leigh Bardugo.

(Name) was occupied with folding the laundry on the couch while looking after her daughter who was laying on her stomach on the play mat gnawing the ear of her stuffed elephant that was gifted to her by her nana. Gosh, she was so adorable.

An interruption rang from the front door as the doorbell sounded off. (Name) looked away momentarily from the baby girl minding her own business towards the main entrance door wondering who it could be. Well, she could check for a quick moment since she felt confident that little Eleanor would not leave the play mat. So off she went to tend to the matter at the main entrance. It had only been a package delivery. She had placed her signature and received the package from the delivery guy.

But as soon as she returned to the living room, her child no longer occupied the soft play mat. She silently freaked out and looked around for the runaway. ‘She couldn’t have gone far,’ (Name) thought to herself. The mother had only been gone for a measly 2 minutes. Eleanor was not anywhere in the living room, the kitchen, or the dining area. Panic was starting to rise in her body and negative thoughts flooded her mind. ‘Oh shit! I am such a bad mom! I should have put her in the bouncer and strapped her in. But I didn’t think she would really run off!!’

Her near meltdown faded away once she heard her baby’s laughter down the hallway that led to Ben’s office. She laughed in utter relief and rushed to Ellie’s location. She saw the little Barnes cutely crawling down the hall; her diapered tush wiggling as she babbled and harrumphed.

“Now where do you think you’re running off to, starlight?” (Name) chuckled as she walked to her rebel of a child. Ellie stopped and turned to her beloved ‘mama’ and smiled as if she didn’t commit a felony. “Ah, ah. Don’t play coy with me, you little rascal.” Unbeknownst to them, Ellie had stopped her ‘running’ and stopped at her father’s office door… which was left ajar.

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“How has everyone adjusted to the ongoing pandemic?” the interviewer asked the cast members. Some answered with sentences like:

“We were lucky to wrap up season one by the time quarantine began and get home safely…” the writer announced to everyone.

“Right now, I’d say for everyone we’re just chillaxing with the addition of disinfecting,” Kit joked making everyone laugh.

“So true,” Jessie chimed in.

“Yes, it caused quite a panic for us since we worried for our families and friends,” Freddy commented which everyone agreed to.

“I understand some of you guys are parents as well. Was it Archie and Ben?”

“Yes.” “Yeah.” They both replied at the same time.

“I apologize for this being too personal and late but I wanted to congratulate Archie and Ben on being fathers,” the interviewer complimented them which caused the two men to smile shyly and bashfully. Everyone in the chat applauded ‘softly’ and some whopped in cheer.

“How are the little ones?” Amita asked her friends.

“So great.”- Archie

“Wonderful.” - Ben

“Totally kicking my ass.” – Archie

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” laughed everyone including the interviewer.

“Can’t disagree with that statement,” Ben said to his co-star.

“Fans can’t get enough of how the show’s two rivals are now fathers. Both of you have baby girls, right?”

Ben and Archie said ‘yes’ and introduced their names.

“Iris”

“Eleanor”

“Such lovely names!” The men smiled then thanked the interviewer.

“Alright, then what can we expect from the next seaso- ” their interviewer got interrupted by a series of giggles belonging to a baby, that came from behind Ben through the gaping door to his office. Ben was using his MacBook and was seated not too far from the door in case his wife needed him.

“What was that?” Freddy barely completed his sentence as he could feel himself chuckling. Archie himself knew what that sound was as he himself was familiar with the sound of a baby’s laughter.

They heard the giggles again and a faint sound of a woman playfully scolding them. Ben half covered his face with his hand but it was evident to everyone including the viewers that he was smiling as well as chuckling from how his shoulders shook.

“You’re such a troublemaker, huh? But you’re my troublemaker,” the woman continued to say.

The webcam showed how Ben’s eyes directed towards the sound with a look of happiness.

“Was that Baby Barnes?” Kit asked in mock shock and playfulness. The comment section started going crazy, heating up with so many questions and sweet messages regarding Ben’s baby.

Omg! I heard Ben’s baby!!!🥰🥰🥰🥰

Special guest Eleanor Barnes💫

Please let Baby Barnes join the chat!

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️💘

💕Has to be adorable if her daddy is 🥵Ben Barnes😎

Love how Ben is all smiles when it’s about his daughter!!

👶👶👶🥰🥰🥰😍😍😍

“Aww she sounds adorable,” Amita cooed.

(Name) then poked her head out the door which gave the cast and viewers a brief glimpse of her figure or rather face. She leaned slightly so she could keep her daughter out of the camera’s view. One of the things Ben and (Name) prioritized was safeguarding their daughter from social media.

“Sorry, love. She ran off,” she apologized guiltily for having to interrupt Ben’s work. But her husband dismissed it. “It’s fine. How’s the little one?”

“She’s good. Our mischief-maker ran off without me looking,” she stopped as she felt their daughter get antsy which signaled that it was her feeding time. A small chubby hand pulled at her hair and played with the strands. Ben laughed when he heard what his daughter had done.

“Is that (Name)? Hi, (Name)!” Jessie called out excitedly. Since Ben and Jessie began working together it brought (Name) and the young actress close together and become really good friends. She had also become a really good aunt to their darling Eleanor.

“Oh Jessie says ‘hi’” Ben pointed out to his screen.

“Oh…Oh! They can see me?! I’m so sorry for interrupting! Hi Jessie darling! Hi everyone! I’m gonna go now! Love you!” And immediately (Name) went off and closed the door shut in case the little rebel ran off to her father’s office. Ben’s co-stars sent their greetings as well before she dashed off.

Ben blew her kiss and waved her. “Love you too.”

“Wow that was an unexpected but cute interruption,” Kit announced out of the blue. His statement caused everyone including their audience to crack up.

“It really was cute!” Leigh smiled.

“Now I’m starting to wish my daughter interrupted me, aah,” Archie joked. He as a father understood that there is no such thing as privacy but it was not at all a bad thing. Not at all. It was like a wonderful surprise. Laughter just kept ringing through the web chat.

“That was really nice, wasn’t it?” Amita asked them. “It really lightened up the mood. I love it.”

“Yeah! Ben should have his kid screeching more often!” Freddy offered jokingly.

“Screeching?!” Ben exclaimed in mock shock, “I’ll have you know, Mr. Carter. That my daughter is blessed with the voice of an angel.” He added that bit in a serious tone.

Their laughter and bantering nearly took up most of the online interview but it brought out the good in these people. The audience was eating everything up and savoring how sweet Ben and (Name) were to each other.

“Sadly, that is all the time we have, thank you so much to our panel and to everyone at home watching. Can’t wait to see the next season of Shadow and Bone. You can keep up with Shadow and Bone on their official Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages. Thank you!”

The cast and the creator bid each other farewell and returned to their daily lives. Ben closed his laptop and left his office to return to his family. He saw (Name) feeding their daughter what looked like banana puree. Eleanor was strapped in the high chair diligently eating but paused when she noticed her father coming her way. The girl began to swing her legs in excitement and reached out her palms to him.

Ben laughed as he rushed to his baby’s side as if he was impatient. He rubbed his thumbs on her chubby cheeks and then placed a long loving kiss on her dark downy head. Eleanor cooed so adorably at Ben and gave a gummy smile.

“How was the interview?” (Name) asked her husband who now began wiping away the drool and puree around his baby girl’s mouth.

“Was really good, actually. We had an amazing laugh and exchange of banter. They loved how you disrupted our interview.” He smiled at the last sentence.

“I’m really sorry! I never meant to interfere, babe. Really.” (Name) felt so guilty for causing a scene.

“It’s alright,” he reassured her by wrapping her in his arms. “In fact, you were amazing. Everybody in the chat thought you were cute.”

“I don’t if I should be happy or embarrassed,” she muttered unsure.

“It’s good, darling.”

Ben and (Name) looked at each other deeply and leaned in for a passionate kiss. (Name) could never get enough of her husband’s kisses. The way their lips melded like two long-lost lovers on their honeymoon (corny, I know). The kiss didn’t last long as they were interrupted by a loud babble and cry.

The couple looked to the little one who stared at them in pure wonder before laughing at the two as if they did a funny bit. This caused the mom and dad to laugh as well at their daughter’s silly antics. “Looks like Ellie is developing a knack for interrupting people. You really are a mischief-maker,” Ben teased.

The Barnes household was always filled with laughter, joy, and love. Now more than ever, Ben and (Name) made it their goal to protect their child from the virus that had taken over the world.

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Author's note:

Man... did this take forever but I'm glad that I managed to finish this fic. I have apologized for one too many times for the delay in my work but it's gotten difficult to find the motivation to keep writing. But now my inspiration is back and I no longer have writer's block. There will be an alternate fic to this one coming soon, very soon actually. It is similar but very different. I wrote it in my own vision but it will be a gift to the anonymous user who requested this current Ben Barnes fic.

So to the anonymous, I apologize for making you wait and in addition, there will be another fic coming soon. Hope you enjoy this one-shot. Thank you to everyone who has loved and supported my work.

Taglist:

@lokimischrf @s0-theking @s1xthirty @maggie-pottah @itzzzzcookie @mandybug39 @enchantingeggslimepeanut @nana-licious @fangirlfree @rheathesimp @darlingangel-17 @edithsvoice @chrisevansmarvelmcu @calimoi @lovesssss @esther334

#ben barnes #ben barnes x reader #ben barnes x you #ben barnes imagine #ben barnes imagines #ben barnes x female reader #ben barnes fanfiction #ben barnes fanfic #ben barnes fluff #request #special requests #fanfiction #reader insert #x reader #celebrity x reader #dad!ben barnes #dad au #family au #celebrity imagines

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that-one-grey-witch · 2 years ago

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I started working with prayer beads for the first time yesterday

So i figured id make a post with my experience so far, because i struggled to find a source on ways to use them rather than just the usual 'find something and pray about it a lot.' But in this vein it is very eclectic and based on my own beliefs rather than a specific path.

I have found that i use them kind of like reminders.

I string the beads myself, picking out specific beads to represent specific aspects im looking for. I start out with an intent, thought, or feeling im trying to evoke (ie i used my clear beads to both invoke clarity of the mind and listen to myself when im trying to make a decision i dont feel is clear). From there i use color associations: these are my personal ones:

Red- passion, fire, warmth, inspiration, flame, pride, humanity

Orange-sunlight, warning, molten lava, destruction

Yellow- Hope, happiness, sweetness, striving for better, knowledge

Green- nature, growth, peace, stillness, expansiveness, life cycles

Blue-cool, calm, peaceful, tranquility, beauty, fierce protectiveness, isolation, the individual

Purple- calm, gentle, guidance, deception, royalty, magic, willpower

Pink- soft, warmth, gentleness, strength, ferocity, togetherness

If youre able to, making the beads out of clay can add another personal touch, allowing you to make them with symbols, sigils, or other carvings. Making them out of wood, crystals, or other similar materials can carry over the original materials properties into your work as well.

Most importantly, they are for you so your associations and making them sacred to y o u is the goal. Not anyone else or their associations.

Stringing the beads with color associations, material associations, and numerical associations can make very very powerful magic. I tend to view it similar to a witches ladder, or working with the energy or spirits of the crystals in a more day to day life that i dont personally get with sticking the crystals in my pocket (i tend to forget they're there and dont thank them or they go through the wash.) This to me is a way of keeping both my magic and my entities close to me still and allowing myself to remember my spellwork rather than just setting and forgetting like five minutes later.

You could also view it as a portable altar if youre using them to pray or otherwise wanna use them as an offering (if you deem everything inside them a sacred space you could use it as a cast circle or a portable place to do formal offerings if you get out in the woods a lot). If you will be way from your own altar and you want to bring something rather inconspicuous with you, you could use them for that too. :)

The book A String & A Prayer by Elenor Wiley and Maggie Oman Shannon has some good general information HOWEVER they do appropriate from closed cultures so keep that in mind if you attempt to read it.

Best of luck and let me know if you use them and how it goes 👀

-Grey ❤

#prayerbeads #witch community #ask a witch #eclectic witch #witchblr #witchcraft #spirit worker #altarspace #my altar #spellwork #greywitchesgrimoire

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wizzycore · 3 years ago

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here's an ask! how different do you think the story would be if raven and spiders' domains were different, but their personalities were the same? i.e., if raven was the god of shadow and spider were the narrator? would anything of substance change besides reflavoring the divine kids?

omggggg

thank u this is such a good question 😭

imo....

i think TONS of stuff would change.

for spider-as-light:

* either spider would make dragonspyre his home, guarding the sleeping fire titan like og raven guards the ice titan -- (definitely being a fan of dragonspyre's extremely structured society, for better or for worse), AND/OR khrysalis's aspects of light such as radiance reborn would be emphasized and protected from morganthe's influence. in fact, i think khrysalis would take the place of empryea as the holder of the chaos heart and the place of the light god's chosen people.....

* although, one wonders if spider would make the decision to make the spiral w a chaos heart at all. he's cunning and so is raven, but raven's rationalization for her actions lies in necessity and duty. and the question becomes whether it is her aspect as order that makes her act that way or whether that is her personality!

* i think even if we assume that spider would take the heart and make the spiral (though as he says his Divine Prerogative is pettiness) i dont think his rationalization would be the same, nor would he write the rules of the spiral surrounding her the same as she did for him.

* spider's rationalizations, i think, would center around duty not as a maternal figure, as raven spins it, but as a duty towards effort. spider says THIS

back in khrysalis -- and its always been one of my favorite pieces of dialogue from him. i think he'd cast taking the chaos heart as mutual sacrifice in the pursuit of important work, as to rationalize it to himself and to the history and folklore of the spiral.

* speaking of the folklore of the spiral, on first thought i imagine spider refraining from the dramatics the raven employed in making the spiral, but..... spider is SO dramatic. just in a different way. i think rather than people and stories holding high power and significance in the spiral, spider's creation would give that respect to Locations and to Titles. titles in a sense are already important in the og!spiral! but locations take a backseat.

* so duel spellcasting wouldn't be so focused on summoning creatures but rather summoning the essence and attitude of a place and agitating it to violence against the opponent! kind of like how you'd imagine a traditional wizard or spells like meteor strike, tempest, etc.

* oh yeah, rat bat and scorpion still exist obviously. but they're stationed in Places™ to chill and uphold light -- and polaris + mirage entails having to stop shadow witch forces (and mellori!!!!) from dethroning each son and plunging each location into chaos.

* and i think rather than being made of love, each son is made out of lets say.... #guilt (bat).... a part of spider's feeling of superiority (rat ❤)... and a part of spiders creativity (scorpion). and while guilt is given a kid(bat) to embody because spider doesn't like the emotion, the other two kids got Genuine Gifts to help guard and guide their given locations.

for raven as darkness/chaos:

* actually, this is scary, heheh. ive always seen benevolence and light as sort of a buffer between ravens true personality and her actions, and imagining her without it is a LOT to think about.

* however, i think her more playfully dramatic nature would really come out. she'd be the same old scheming witch, etc, but i think she'd really have fun with it. less grandmother and more wine aunt.... when the player first releases her she'd go by lady nightstar (as spider did old cob)

* and instead of being a bedtime story to scare children as og!spider is, shed be more the villain of a fable made to educate about being cautious -- lest u fall to the endless trickery of lady nightstar. she wouldn't be considered evil perse but as a symbol of having no control over your situation. if u spill ur coffee on the ground, blame lady night.... if u get backstabbed by a friend, blame lady night..... basically, a rude and ominous spinster, not satan.

* and the wizard letting her out during the khrysalis equiv (i think empryea, the world itself, or maybe wintertusk, would take khrysalis's place) is a MAJOR bad omen. shadow wouldn't get the rep of being tainted or inherently evil... just scary as all hell. nobody wants conniving witchy beasts controlling ur life. so the arcanum #discrimination is not on evil but on the wizard secretly being smarter than they are and using it to disrupt them.

* mellori is basically the same as she is but more goth. spunky sheltered witch.... excited to be let out and do stuff for raven.... realizing all the stuff raven wants Sucks.™ and that she should be against raven and for the spiral instead.... and bat is the only one that takes to it cuz he wasn't hunted like a beast by her 😭....

ill expand more on my thoughts later in a reblog maybe!!!! but MAN this question put my brain on tumble drying machine style

#w101 #wizard101 #grandfather spider #grandmother raven #mellori #w101 bat #long post

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chacusha · 3 years ago

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Echoes of Mana liveblogging (1/?)

Some early thoughts:

Aw yes! Got my girl! Apparently there's a stronger Angela in the pool, though. Nooo!

Anyway, I'm loving this art -- it looks sooo good!

I love seeing more interactions with Mana characters! In general, I'm impressed at how different all the characters sound, which is made apparent by these little story adventures and even the dialogue you get by building up character bonds. The character personalities really shine through. I also appreciate how they've given the MC dialogue options similar to the ones in Legend of Mana where there's like a normal option and then there's a really goofy option (really sassy, ridiculously accommodating like the bottom one here, etc.). It's just a fun feature of this series that you meet a lot of Wacky Characters and you can choose to just go along with their eccentric ways.

I also like Honeycomb and Duffle and the other original cast for this game. The character designs look really nice and Mana-ish, and the personalities and interactions are also fun anime-style stuff.

The Mana Goddess and Mana Tree in this game are pretty! I like how they're going with the orchard theme where you harvest stuff off of trees (the MC's weapon isn't so much a staff/spear as, like, a fruit-picking tool...), and the world fruit have such strange names like in Legend of Mana: Beginniberry, Verdigourd, Epicorn, Soaramame, Faerieberry.

I'm very curious about the unchosen MC. He seems so sad to be left behind? Is he going to be story-important?

OMG they did it! 😍 (Also, does this game make it canon that Hawkeye is the main character/chosen hero of Trials of Mana, I guess?! 😂 You get to see his backstory opening, he's searching for the Mana Sword, and he's got Faerie :O)

Aww these guys again. ❤ I like this event featuring Randi and Duran squaring off against each other. And the Scorpion Gang! Again, it's fun seeing Randi's agreeable and diffident personality contrasted with Duran's competitive confidence. This is the kind of content I signed up for!!

I'm currently midway through chapter 5. I have basically two 4* characters (Riesz and Sumo) that I've built up to ~3800 power, and that's too weak to clear stronger enemies quickly enough, so I'm too underleveled to finish off the remaining content. Netplay doesn't work for me ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ so I'm just sort of waiting until I have a character I can upgrade to 4* and who will hopefully be my third strong team member. (It's probably going to be 3* Lekius because I could use a strong water character to try to take down the fire armor boss and the fact that he has a bow makes him situationally useful. I'm also going to ascend 3* Randi to fulfill the event bonus missions, but he's not Lv 50 yet...)

My favorite character so far is my 3* Julius, though. I mean, he's one of my favorite Mana characters in general, but he's also pretty fun to play as -- very strong magic that leaves him pretty vulnerable. Very glass cannon, which is fun. I also like his quotes: "A Mana Tree exists here too... Hm? No, only thinking aloud." "What are you up to? If I can be of help, let me know anytime." "Keeping an eye on me, are you? No need. I'm quite harmless." Don't worry! This man is helpful and doesn't have an ulterior motive at all! But yeah, I love that about Julius -- he seems so nice and polite.

I very much also want the Crimson Wizard -- another one of my favorite characters for maybe similar reasons. Apparently he's available for purchase with spell shards, but you need to make it all the way through the Twillwool Tower (twice...?) for those. So that might take a while.

I really like the interface here. It is very sleek and visually pleasing. And there is an impressive amount of features and stuff to do for a game that has just launched!

That said, I'm not sure how long I will stick with it. I tend to get frustrated with gachas where it's possible to invest a lot of time into a single battle and then just realize, welp, I can't actually beat this despite all my effort. That's why I stuck with Kingdom Hearts Union Cross so long, because it had the nice feature where high-level battles always had a very strict upper limit on how many turns they would last -- the challenge was always in getting your damage output high enough throughout the three turns to defeat the enemy and not about survival strategy to keep hanging on with the vain hope of winning. Already, attempting to fight a losing battle has really frustrated me, so I kind of foresee this game making me ragequit at some point.

That said, despite my complaints about the gameplay (most gacha battle mechanics just don't work for me and eventually lead me to getting frustrated), I do really like this game. It's got a lot going on and as a Mana fan, I would never have dreamed of getting a gacha game of this quality.

One thing I'm confused about, though, is why this game shares its victory music with Kingdom Hearts Union Cross! Do they share the same composer? Is it an Easter egg? Do Kingdom Hearts and the Mana series share a canon now? XD

It's very sweet that the LOM Heroine (Serafina) says that Pinzton reminds her of her home. It does!

#echoes of mana #seiken densetsu #video game liveblogging #echoes of mana liveblogging

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