#say hello to my new favourite npc

[ohyka]

shade witch!

[nemo-of-house-hamartia]

Hello again!

Thank you so much for welcoming me into your corner of the internet (it really feeds into my Ac obsession, as if I needed more of that lol, but really it’s nice to see other ppl that like some side characters ahem *likeFedericoand Greencoat*ahem). And thank you for your answer abt Feducia as well, I’m glad you liked the library gifting idea for I have another one : Imagine if the library had secret alcove(s) and/or passage(s) and one of them lead to a small balcony. Do you think Federico would stand below said hidden balcony to read poetry/Lucia’s favourite pieces while she stood up there and admired him from above ? (A bit like the infamous balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, the inspiration came after reading @giuliettaluce’s seriously adorable fanfic “Upon their holy act, the heaven smiles”)

Oh! I also really like your Aranea x Mephisto ship and I’m so excited abt your new(?) OC Tatiana Volkov bc I seriously thought the Flables/The Wolf Among Us fandom was dead when I arrived late as usual 😂 And I love both ships dynamics, I think it just suits them very well

Hope you had a good day and keep going, xx

(Ps Im sorry abt the long long asks I’m just excited to share my ideas with you)

Hello there again, Nonnie!!!

Please, do partake in coffee that I just made (wish I could truly offer you one through the screen)!!

AND OMG YES. PLEASE, DO ALLOW ME TO ABSOLUTELY FEED INTO THE HYPERFIXATION FOR ASSASSIN'S CREED.

I myself have been going strong for almost 5 years, AND AM STILL GOING STRONG.

THE OBSESSION IS REAL

So please, do sit tight and enjoy the ride!

AND OMG YES. YES.

FEDERICO AND GREENCOAT ARE MY BEBE.

Like, I still get super SUPER salty about the fact that Federico has met his end basically 5 minutes in the game (infact, around here, we absolutely throw canon out of the window, and Fede is alive, well and living his best life with his love, somewhere in Italy - in my particular case, in the Kingdom of Sicily with Lucia. Trapani has never been more beautiful than when they lived there!).

To say *absolutely* nothing of HOW SALTY I AM ABOUT GREENCOAT. 2 MINUTES OF TRAILER, AND UBI HAS NOT DEIGNED TO GIVE US A *GLIMPSE* OF WHO HE WAS, WHAT'S HIS REASON WERE, HIS PURSUITS, NOTHING.

BUT.

As salty as I am about that, I am also immensely grateful, because if the Baguette Bois were full-fledged NPC, then I would have never created my Mathias, and as you will see now that you are here, he is my most beloved brainchild alongside my darling Dorothea <3.

SO YES.

WE STAN THE TERTIARY CHARACTERS THAT ARE BASICALLY OCS!!

Now, onto your question:

YES.

YES.

TRIPLE YES.

I *absolutely* believe that Federico would stand below said balcony and recite Lucia's favourite poems ( probably the Canto 5 passage of Paolo e Francesca from Dante's Commedy, her most favourite AMONG ALL).

I can envision it so well, with Lucia just beaming and listening to him as he recites those poems, waiting for him to just climb up her to her balcony (because she KNOWS he would do that. Man cannot stay away from climbing around, as much as he likes to make it believe that it's becasue he needs to follow Ezio and make sure he's not going to fall face first lolol).

AND OMG YES, JUST LIKE ROMEO AND JULIET. ABSOLUTELY

(it kinda helps that my FC for Lucia is the beautiful Olivia Hussey as Juliet from Zefirelli´s movie).

AND I KNOW RIGHT??? @giuliettaluce IS THE *ABSOLUTE* PROFESSOR WHEN IT COMES TO ROMEO AND JULIET, AND HER WRITING IS JUST SO IMMENSELY BEAUTIFUL.

Seriously, she wrote for me the Federico/Lucia one-shot based on Romeo and Juliet that was EVERYTHING, and she wrote for me a one-shot about Mathias/Dorothea that I have never shared, but that I reread truly often and it melts my heart each time. She is such precious friends and beautiful person, it warms my heart SO MUCH knowing that you appreciate her writing <3 she deserves ALL THE PRAISE.

ALL THE PRAISE.

AND AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!

MY MEPHISTO/ARANEA AND BIGBY/TATIANA.

they are my "dark pairings", so to speak, because while I love to dwell in FLUFF galore, and this is something that I generally explore with my Assassin's Creed pairings (though, there is a certain dose of darkness there as well), with Mephisto/Aranea and Bigby/Tatiana I LOVE to explore the darker side of the relationship between two lovers (though, tbh, Mephisto/Aranea take the crown in this, but that's easy because Bigby and Tatiana are still very much decent people altogether, while Mephisto is a freaking Archdevil and Aranea is his Warlock/Consort, so they are bound by their own character alignment - which is firmly on the evil side).

AND OMG, LISTEN, NO FANDOM IS TRULY DEAD UNLESS I AM DEAD, TRUST AND BELIEVE.

I AM STILL HERE, WRITING AND DRAWING STUFF FOR FFXII, AND IT HAS BEEN ALMOST 20 YEARS SINCE ITS RELEASE.

So trust and believe, no fandom is ever truly dead, and you are MORE THAN WELCOME to discuss whichever fandom you fancy at present! :)

(and please, do not worry about sending me long asks. I *ADORE* reading them, the longer the better. GIMME A DOORSTOPPER ASK OR GIVE ME NOTHING LOLOL I am kidding of course! always feel free to send asks as long or as short as you prefer, at your own convenience <3 just know that they are always welcomed! <3)

WISHING YOU A PLEASANT, BEAUTIFUL DAY NONNIE.

HERE, TAKE SOME LASAGNA I MADE AT LUNCH.

*gives lasagna in tupperware*

--Nemo

[fandomhop]

hello friend, what is fable? you seem to like it a lot and i gotta be honest i dont know the first thing about it. now,, i COULD ask google but i think that you could explain it better mhm mhm

[Oh boy! /affectionate]

[So, in a general, overall statement, Fable is a series of games from the 2000's-2010's. It's a quintessential bit of adventure fantasy, and totally progressive of its time.]

[Fable, as a whole, is about making your own sort of path within the story, and having your actions reflected on the world and yourself. It has a cool morality morphing system where, when you do something good or bad, not only does it affect the funny lil' NPCs around you, but it also reflects on your body. Do enough good actions, your complexion becomes glowing and you have a halo, do enough bad and you become more demonic looking.]

[There's actually both a deep and semi-shallow amount of lore. The first game was deffo built upon the bending and twisting of stories and folklore- you know, fables- and the games after followed along centuries after that, showing a world trying to grow past it's story built roots, but not being completely rid of them, even as technology grows and advances.]

[It's also British as hell. But, like, in a fun way! There's a fun and wonderful mix of light and darkness, sincerity and satire, sadness and humour. There's these beasties called Hobbes that are these sorta ugly things that act silly in and out of combat, but they also eat human flesh and are rumored to turn children into them. Some of them turn into kamikazes and they like teddy bears.]

[Also you can kick chickens (they're fine, don't worry about it, they have reinforced feathers)]

[Your character is a Hero (with the capital H), a person who is born to be able to deal with the struggles of protecting or commanding respect of the common man. You can wield and utilize Strength, Skill and Will, the trio of combat skills. The combat is a bit simple, but it's also fun and easy to get into. You can also upgrade with experience points to get better with your weapons and will powers.]

[I think the story, world, and characters of Fable: The Lost Chapters are extremely iconic, but the character building and development starts to really shine in the later games. All the games have wonderful setting appearance, though. Looking at pictures of Fable are these beautiful settings and desktop/screen background worthy scenes. The people look a bit silly, though.]

[Also? This game series is also progressive bc of its LGBT+ rep. The first game got called out for letting the male only player Hero marry a man, so the next game include bisexuals. Fable 3 lets you adopt children, regardless of your spouse's gender. There's a potion that lets you trans your gender (available only once in a quest after the main quest) and no one bats an eye to it (if you have a straight spouse, they won't immediately divorce you as long as you treat them well, but they won't have sex either.) There's a quest where you help out a guy find a suitor who is secretly gay, and the end of the quest is him coming out to his dad and being accepted. You can wear clothes of either gender, and get tattoos, hair, and facial hair regardless of your sex. (there is a cross-dressing statistic, but the Brits love a bit of cross-dressing humour.)]

[Now, I will not lie and say that they are perfect games, there are some flaws with them, and Fable 3 gets a bit of a bad rap for it's heavy streamlining, but I can genuinely say that these games are cherished a lot. Fable 2 is my go-to favourite game ever, and every once and a blue moon, I will be revitalized with a longing for the series. If you wanna get into it, I think it's a fun time for an old-ish game, and I really hope the new one that's coming out in {*looks at wrist*} the-yet-to-be-announced-future will be as cherishable, even if it's slightly different.]

[Also? Like, every time I (re)enter an interest/fixation, I make a little Fable AU in my head to consider what kind of heroes the characters might be.]

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

hello everyone, the annoying spaniard is back to rant about the cultural references i'm seeing on my pokemon scarlet playthrough! here's my previous post in case you want to check it out :)

i have many thoughts about zapapico cause it's most likely based on almería and granada and my family is from there and yeah... anyways

the house design of that town, with them being excavated in the stone like that, is definitely inspired by the house-caves of guadix (granada) [pics 4-6], cuevas del almanzora (almería) [pics 7-9], and many others (those are just the ones i know about / been to). the sourrounding landscape reminds me of almería and its tabernas desert but, based on its location and the fact that there's another more likely desert in the other side of the region, i would say all of that area is based on los monegros desert (aragón) [pics 10-12], the other extremely arid area in the country.

and now i wanted to talk extensively (i'm sorry) about probably my favorite part of the game so far... team star poison squad.

to start, let's talk about the location. tagtree thicket is based on the oma forest in the basque country (i sadly forgot to take more pics of the location in the game so you only get this screenshot of my team before entering the base)

this might be a reach, but oddly enough i think it might be also at least partly inspired on sierra morena. i genuinely only got this connection cause at the entrance to the forest an npc (once again i forgot to take a screenshot of it) tells you to be wary of the forest, as the area is full of bandits and rascals and whatnot. that reminded me of the bandolero culture and the romantization of it, which flourished in sierra morena and other mountainous areas of andalusia. in particular there was a legendary bandolero called curro jiménez that got his own tv show (he was basically a spanish robin hood). there's even a cartoon in andalusian tv about a ragtag group of bandoleros with a bomb opening song. this is not actually too far off of the characterization of the leader of team star's poison team (my new favourite character ever)...

where to start with atticus?? (btw why is that his name in english?? in spanish he's named henzo which makes much more sense imo) let's start with the obvious: he's a ninja (which actually is an incredible design choice i'm kissing the pokemon team in the lips rn). but apart from that, everything else is heavily spanish inspired. basically, all of his persona is taken straight out of what's referred to as the spanish golden age (more or less the 16th and 17th centuries). i imagine his speech patterns and personality are an homage to shakespeare in the english version, but in the spanish one he speaks just like don quixote and actually has a lot of similarities to that character. for those of you who don't know much about don quixote, it is known as the greatest literature work in the spanish language ever and was written by miguel de cervantes (to help you situate all of this, he was a contemporary of shakespeare. in fact, in school we learn they died on the same day but on different calendars or something like that, it's a whole thing). in the novel, alfonso is a noble who spends all day reading chivalric romances to the point he at some points loses his mind and thinks of himself as a medieval knight that has to defeat evils and save people and whatnot. don quixote's speech patterns are mocked within the novel for sounding antiquated (just like atticus' speech sounds old for us). other direct references to don quixote are the fact that in the flashback the fairy dude comments on how atticus is a nerd of ninja and epic novels [pic 1], and the fact that during his presentation atticus says he is a 'desfacedor de entuertos' [pic 2], the same expression don quixote uses (it would kinda translate to 'problem solver' i guess?).

apart from don quixote, there's also references to playwright calderón de la barca, most noticeable through atticus' dramatic attitude (his first words are 'jumping to scene' [pic 1] and in his picture he is bowing to you [pic 3]), as well as one particular line after you defeat him where he says an extremely calderonian line [pic 2]

and that was all!!! sorry for the wall of text, i had many thoughts™️ for this one lol

here's next post !!!

[fallen-chances]

From the ask game: Morning Star and Midyear for Celeryn & Rhene? :) (hi btw it’s the gremlin who made Gaelin & then proceeded to forget to communicate with anybody for like 53476 years hi hello glad u are still alive)

SENGA HIIIIIII!!!! I still remember u when I see u on my dash or in my notes I go -points- "SENGA!" I am glad ur still alive too!!! I still got notifs on for ur snelf blog too :)

Morning Star - What was the first thing you gave your OC? Name, backstory, design, etc

Celeryn - okay this is embarrassing but Celeryn did not start as an OC of mine. He was heeeaaavvily inspired by the modded follower Darien from the mod Anna's NPCs. The Altmer/Nord Pirate guy? So I guess backstory and design were technically first for him? I changed things but also there's still similarities. His name is dead last though. He used to be Celebrinis, thought it was a mouthful so I changed it, but now I hate it bc he's just. celery boy.

Rhene - For Rhene it was his name first I think! Or maybe his backstory? Honestly I can't remember. You were there. I remember that lmao. And his design is coonnnnstantly wavering and changing besides like his color palette. I recently did a portrait of him I need to redo bc I forgot I wanted to start giving my snelves saami like features and I didn't do that in his new portrait like a dummy :/

Mid Year - Does your OC have a favourite celebration? Do they celebrate holidays?

Celeryn - He definitely loves to celebrate holidays! Anything for an excuse to have a drink at the tavern and take a break (either on land, when he was pirating, or a break from questing, during the game.) I'm not sure what his favorite would be. Love Day, probably, bc he's a sap.

Rhene - I'm. not sure. Holidays were definitely a thing when he was a kid before the like reality of the Falmer/Atmoran war was known to him, but I imagine there was. quite a pause for awhile. WAIT WHAT AM I SAYING HE WOULD LOVE JESTERS FESTIVAL AND FOOLS DAY. Especiallllyyy in 4E in the chantry full of a bunch of other snelves. he has learned of fools day from Uthryne and will never let the jesters festival week go unforgotten.

ty ty for the ask sennggaaaa!!!

[rage-across-insubria]

The forest was wet and cold

Every step they took splashed mud around them while they went into the thick of the forest. "Where are we going?" said Maira, with a concerned look. "Looking for a friend." cut short Alex

It had been a long time since he had gone so far in the forest, but every tree and every smell were the same as he remembered. After the fourth beech he turned to a trail hidden between the leaves. The burrow was still there.

"We should change into Lupus" said Alex, moment before the fur started growing on his face. "Longpaw - " he barked "- it's me!"

The black wolf peeked his muzzle from the burrow. "Throat! So glad to hear you!". Longpaw jumped on him, biting playfully Alex wolf ears. He was excited. For a while. "Who is she?" Alex knew that Longpaw wasn't in the mood to make new friends, but Maira needed to see who he is fighting for. Longpaw was a lot like him. Well not like-like him, he wasn't a Garou and all that, but he too was a victim of the unregulated hunting ground of Varese. He found him after he lost all his pack to the hunters coming from the city. They were there because "the wolves dragged a little girl in the woods and killed her". It was weeks later that the girl was found in another city smuggled by sex traffickers ready to ship her in the UK. Longpaw lives in Throat old burrow since then. It's isolated and quiet. Alex used to bring him cold meat at first, but he always liked to hunt little boars and the occasional deer. "She is a friend" said Alex pointing his muzzle at Maira "We're here to help" "I don't need help, I'm a great wolf" "Sure you are" said calmly Alex "but there are new dangers" "The man with the fire?" "Yes" "I'm hidden here, they won't find me" Longpaw was very proud. He was the only survivor of the pack because was the smartest of them. But deforestation and bulldozer were too much for him to grasp. "The man with the fire is coming here too - " Maira understood why Alex was here " - we need to find another safe space" Longpaw growled at her "You don't know! You are a small wolf without claws! I will fight them" "You can't fight them now" added Alex "you need to be smart as you always were, and hide in a better place" He was worried. "You have to hide with us, while we solve this" Longpaw wasn't convinced, but Throat was a friend. More, he was his pack. "There's someone that can help you. She helped me before." Alex knew that, if Ottolini was setting his eyes on the forest, there was no other safe place. "The scary lady?" Longpaw hid his tail between his legs "The scary lady" repeated Alex, hiding a laugh imagining what Giorgia would think of her moniker. "She helped me when i was a little wolf, and will help you. It won't be for long" "I don't want to go" said Longpaw "Did I ever tell you to do something bad?" Longpaw looked into the burrow, then Maira, then Alex again. "She has something scary inside. Like your friend." he paused "Like you sometimes." "Because we want to protect the wolf we care about" replied Alex "And protecting who you care about is scary. That's what you are seeing" ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hello again! I got a looooong pause from writing, mostly to travel and read. But i started missing Alex and Maira so, here we are again! Longpaw was one of my favourite NPC. He is so cute and damaged and I spent most of the time protecting him and trying to make him understand the complexity of the world. He is a strong wolf and all, but it's a puppy when compared to all the Garou in this story. I hope to give him justice 🐺

As usual: link to the previous part And follow me for the next parts!

Throat says woof <3

[spandexual]

HELLO! I JUST HEARD THE NEWS. I’m so sorry. I’m taking it well but I’m sorry for bringing it up before trying to distract you : (

Ughhhh, I really don’t have very new things to ask you so what are you planning for genshiro (if it’s secret, don’t tell, ahahah) Does it involve a lot of lollipop sucking, personally I find lollipop-centered fics to be fun /genuinely (I only read two, pain). Lollipops are great, do you have favourite flavour, lolp?

Also maybe any tips on building wardrobe for a person who mostly goes to work?.. lol (Aren’t we all) I can have a fun makeup days but my clothes are still NPC and I don’t go out thaaat much so maybe anything about hats, scarfs, style direction, eeeeh. Recently got a stars belt, yay! I’m not scared of colours, I love them, but the stores around are 😔

Btw, didn’t say so yesterday but really wanna try Jazz Club on skin soon, hhh, even if might not end up purchasing, wish me luck on that, they’re out of stock EVERYWHERE. TF is still out there though.

it fucking sucks!!! ugh I'm really upset coz he was one of my faves but well >idols >being fake as hell broken people >shockedpikachu.jpg

and actually the lollipops are only a small part of it so far hahaha! I did see that someone had already written one and I don't really like to retread things unless I have a completely different take that I feel needs to be put out there. I am 100% selfish in my fic-writing lol! It will involve some other idiosyncrasies I find fascinating about Genba's character though. Hm, actually, I'm only about 80% selfish considering I added something a little fetishy that is not my fetish but is something that completely fits his character. For the type of people that enjoy that particular kink, I hope it hits the spot lol

As for work clothing, it's really hard, isn't it. I work in a very sombre environment (it's a very specific industry so I don't want to dox myself, but it's death-adjacent) so my work wardrobe is extremely bland, just dark colour pants and plain button-up shirts, maybe the occasional inoffensive Micro-Florals For Men print or something. That's why I go out so hard on my days off! But I think having a good baseline of high quality versatile basics is important. Your basics don't have to be what other people think are basics either. For example, when I worked in a more normal office environment, I often wore vintage button-ups in pastels and fun patterns (not the more vibrant ones though, they're strictly weekenders) with the rest of my outfit being average businesswear. I think that's a good way to incorporate a little fun into your daily wear. Plus, you can get some really nice silk and quality cotton 80s/90s vintage shirts for pretty cheap because they're not trendy with kids lol. Like half of my wardrobe is vintage, I really recommend it. But I think the most important thing is kind of just finding your work "uniform", capsule-ising it (I have abt 10 shirts, 3 pairs of pants, and 2 skirts I rotate) and focusing on what you actually like wearing on your days off. That way you can reduce your stress level in the morning by not having to think about it, and you're not stuck in thinking "but can I wear this to work?" when you're looking at a piece of clothing that actually speaks to you.

And good luck with Jazz Club!!! I really really love it, it's such a sexy and sophisticated scent that is also so warm and soothing. Even though it's sold as a male perfume, I think it has a definite sweet softness. I'm usually so fussy with perfume, and I often only buy testers or travel sizes, but I bought a bottle of that like after my second try. Do see if you can find a site that sells samples btw, they shouldn't be expensive, but the only sites I've used are strictly Australian so I can't recommend you one unfortunately. Probably just search "reddit perfume samples websites" lol

[paragonraptors]

Hello, I absolutely adore that last piece of yours. The one from Andromeda. My question is - what are your favourite aspects of the game. I played the demo version (first ten hours) and I have mixed feelings about it. So I would like to know what kept you hooked on it if that's alright?

Thank you! You've just asked me the one question I have spent the last like 5 years thinking about. So, well...[cracks knuckles]. As much as I hate saying it, I feel like the first 10 hours are a poor representation of the game, depending on how quickly you progress through the main story. For better or worse, Andromeda's first act frontloads you with a lot of side quests, and I think a lot of the ways it presents its setting and ideas in that time can leave someone apprehensive about how it grapples with its themes later on. If you're willing after reading this, I'd grab it on sale for super cheap or borrow it from a friend/the library and give it at least until finishing the mission to rescue the Moshae on Voeld. (This is around the 15-20 hr mark.) Loyalty missions begin to trigger after that and you really start getting into the thick of it. Though I think they're worth doing as you progress (you are rewarded for it in the final mission), anything that's not in the main quest and companion tabs of the journal can pretty much be ignored without consequence and completed post-game.

Despite all the online shit, it was love at first sight for me. I played at launch and got close to finishing before the first major patch came out. A lot of what probably kept me in my first playthrough was that the idea I had for my Ryder fit really well into what the game gave me, so I was deeply invested in my PC. I think that can really influence one's enjoyment of an RPG.

Ryder is not Shepard, and Ryder's canonical backstory as a 22 year-old nepotism baby who, from what we can tell, had a fairly cushy life growing up on the Citadel until fairly recently is kind of essential for the story to work. I joked in a caption that ME:A is a YA dystopia, but I'm also completely serious about that. It still has a lot of the core cosmic horror themes of the original trilogy, but with a much more scrappy, unexperienced, underdog flavor that you get with a younger protagonist. I liked this in contrast to Shepard being highly and unquestionably competent and having already experienced significant trauma before the story starts via their origin or psych profile. It almost forces you to create an entirely different perspective on Mass Effect's universe as a whole.

Beyond that, it really hit on things I felt were missing from the original trilogy, and especially in comparison to ME1, it's an incredibly compelling introduction to a new trilogy. (I believe it is a disservice to compare ME:A to the original trilogy as a whole, and have come to these opinions by almost exclusively comparing it to 1.)

I really enjoyed the roleplay system. I think the casual/professional/logical/emotional wheel and the impulse actions were a good move away from the paragon/renegade thing. It allowed for choices to not get locked into the appearance of being "good" and "bad" or a kind of set personality type. I like that Ryder gets a psychological profile and relationship bios that are updated as you progress.

I'm a huge fan of all the characters. They carry this game. I think their flaws are interesting and add depth to what's appealing about them. I think the voice performances are just fantastic across the board. I really loved how the NPCs interact with each other and that they have distinct and active relationships outside of Ryder, which is something we didn't really get for the Normandy crew until 3. I love that the Tempest is a small scouting vessel with a crew of 11 all sharing *one toilet*. It's a MIRACLE they are not actively trying to kill each other! Especially when you consider the Normandy was so big it had a whole staff you just straight up didn't really get to know, and Shepard's squadmates were sometimes actually trying to kill each other-- And they at least had three toilets!!

The male characters were written with a vulnerable emotional depth we rarely get to see, especially in video games, and especially in the Mass Effect universe. Hearing them openly talk about their emotions without deflection, and sometimes even gawking at the idea of deflection, was really refreshing. Its easy to get caught up in Alec's whole thing, but the themes of masculinity and fatherhood in other characters' stories (Drack, Vetra, Gil, Jaal, and Liam particularly) offers some nice balance and reflection to that narrative to the point I believe they are intentional supplements/foils to what Alec's got going on.

This game is PACKED with ambient dialogue and text, and it makes the world feel so alive. The message boards, emails, and data pads you find throughout are so good. The ones on the Tempest and New Tuchanka in particular are my favorites, but even the text you can pull up from the forward stations have some delightful little bits. It's unfortunate that ambient dialogue/banter can get cut off by the slightest thing, and the only workaround is to just stop dead in your tracks the second you hear someone talking, but I love listening to the dialogue. It's crazy to me how much made the cut to be recorded and put in the final product despite the known time crunch issues of the game's production.

I've always favored Bioware's map design over of a lot of open-world games, and this one isn't any different. Though I wish they were more fleshed out, there's a solid attempt at introducing different mechanics for different areas of the game to switch things up. I lament the loss of controlling squadmate powers, but the combat is still fun and I enjoy the fluidity of the class system for mechanical and narrative purposes. I really enjoy Remnant sudoku.

For all the flack Andromeda caught about bad animation, it has some of my favorite bits of animation in an AAA video game. For every awkward animation there is a wonderfully charming and well-done one. I wish I could get into specifics without spoilers, but there's a list of ones that get me every time. I've also always considered these cosmetic flaws to be a feature I enjoy in games. So what Ryder runs kind of weird up and down stairs? Geralt Witcher3 can't walk stairs very well either, yet that somehow never came up when people would compare the two.

Your mileage could greatly vary when it comes to the main story. Upon several replays (through the whole series), really getting into the codices, and reading the novels, I think they were setting up a lot of really cool things that expanded on the ideas of the first three. Cosmic horror, creationism, the integration of organic life and artificial intelligence, regulation vs deregulation, autonomy and self-governance, resilience against entropy and destruction. However, I can see how it could come off as half-baked, thoughtless, even irresponsible. It's not perfect. It's clearly rushed in places and unfinished. I don't really have a counter-argument to this as it does also deal with sensitive topics- specifically colonialism and genocide- where people's tolerance can vary significantly. While Ryder can be fairly principled about the problems you encounter, and can often speak out or refuse to be complicit, not everything is handled delicately. Sometimes you will say "Man, I wish I could do this other thing instead of the options I'm given." or "Oof, that could have been written A Bit Better." It struggles to balance the shoot-em-up gameplay with the Moral Questions. I take it as the necessary, but flawed, result of not hand-holding and spelling everything out for an M-rated open-world RPG that can only offer so many variables, but not everyone feels that way, nor do they have to.

With all that said, this is just one of those games I keep coming back to and finding something new to love about it or a detail that illuminates something in an entirely new way. I think it's a shame that as far as we know, subsequent sequels have been cancelled. Much like ME1, the ending left me ready for more.

[carryondrawing]

Hello this is my favourite NPC from the hit podcast Dungeons and Daddies Season 2 who definitely exists and is in the podcast!

Name: Smol Beans/ Smol "Shy Potato Kwaii" Beans

Pronouns: He/They

Race: ???

Age: 32

Affiliations: Scam Likely's grandkid

Catchphrase: "Rawr XD"

They're such a rich and interesting character! I love them so much!

(If you don't know what happened, I had a dream where this NPC showed up in the new season. I named him Smol Beans and posted about it. A lot of people went "hmm this is our NPC now" and added to the Smol Beans lore. As we all know, every time you say their name the more real they become. Thus they are now able to take physical form. I was possessed by the spirit of Smol Beans to create their horrifying visage. Please, this is so cursed and so funny but also so cursed)

[dumb-dumb-mander]

7, 14, 18 for the GW2 Anniversary asks?

@commanderfloppy

Hello ! Thanks to pass by ! <3

7. What is the biggest or most arduous project you have completed in the game?

MMmmhhh... I would love to say a Legendary (looking at you Kralkatorrik ones, I'll get you one day, you're lucky I need a new computer) but...

I would say 2 ones?

The Branded backpiece we got by completing the "The Shatterer" achievements list because the achi' "No-Fly Zone" and "Smash the Dragon" absolutely can't be done alone and need a lot of people's cooperation......... (`皿´＃) This is a massive fight of patience mostly, to come again and again until you get it but *screech*

And also "Migraine" achi' where you need to beat Mordry's ass with the Challenge mote-mote activated and even by managing to drag some of my friends who are used to Raids it was an ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE─

I kiss your left butt cheeks friends

14. Favourite NPC who has been a companion of the Commander?

I'm forced to name Trahearne even if this is obvious kjfbzf

But look, I barely have male crush and I didn't expect to fall for him... But I did... Strong but also need protection, what can I say─

Now I could also name Braham, MY SON (it started as a joke, but more I learned about him and more "yup, that's my son") and also Canach who slowly but surely grown on me for whatever reason I cannot explain fzejfn He is the type of character I normally roll my eyes about and ask people WHY they like him, but he did grow on me and I confess I have a very tiny crush on that choya

18. Is there anything you have not yet mastered in the game?

A lot of things, but the one I can point for sure is how to Raid

My brain ends up overwhelmed by trying to remember the rotation, looking at my attacks, looking at the enemy/enemies, looking at what's going on and trying not to die

I desperately want to join one of my guild to Raid and finally meet my twins Largos, but I'm also subject of... a lot of bad thought

Doing something bad for me, myself and I is okay. But when it got repercussions on others, this is the apocalypse. I guess I'm still in the mindset I put myself in when I grew up as a single child ; need to be perfect huh

Which is a shame because my Guildmate are all adorable and a lot of them have adhd so they understand me but haha you know, IRL life also got on my brain

[dollfaced-erin]

Not So New Afterall (Sdv Sebastian x F!Reader)

A/n: Hi! Hi!! Rin here again! It’s been quite a while since I’ve written, and this may be one of my last chapters before I got on a hiatus. School’s opening up soon, and I’m a hostel student. Currently, this is my last year, so by the end of this year, I’ll be updating lots more! (And playing alot more Stardew valley hehe)

This chapter may be more Abigail centered, since the friendship between the two is really necessary for the plot.

Ah, one more thing, the clothing choices will be based on a mod in Stardew Valley, cute seasonal clothing for NPC’s

Oh plus, Sebastian’s gonna be that emo jerk, ya hear me? Don’t go coming at me for that please :’)

CHAPTER THREE

It’s been a few weeks since (Y/n) had moved in, and apparently, had been settling in just nicely. Not only was she doing well with the farm, she was starting to get along with the all the villagers of Pelican Town. Especially the bachelors and bachelorettes around her age. 

Namely, Abigail and Sam.

Speaking of the duo, they had been hanging out with (Y/n) whenever she was free. But she seldom was, since she had to maintain her income by doing other work such as fishing, mining for mineral goods and doing odd-jobs for those around the town and they respected her.

Sebastian too hasn’t seen her recently, except during the moments she come to his house to talk to Robin about the farm buildings when he comes out to get lunch (or breakfast, for his case), or when she passes by on her way to the mines when he was taking a smoke. She would always slip in a brief hello and the two would exchange a few words before she was well on her way.

(Y/n) wasn’t always one to take a breather, not when she has so many things to take care of. Harvey apparently told Maru who told Robin, who told Sebastian, who told Sam, who told Abigail that (Y/n) had passed out numerous times from exerting herself too much. So the two put their heads together to get her to relax a little. 

Abigail was staring out into the clear blue stream that flowed beneath the stone bridge she stood on. The fish were swimming happily beneath her and she smiled in delight. Oh how she wished she could be as carefree as the fish. 

“Ah! I got it!” a familiar voice exclaimed from behind her. 

Abigail whipped her head around, her purple locks swaying as she did, as she turned around to see her (h/c) friend with a bamboo pole clutched in her hands. 

“Oh, wow! It’s a big one!” Abigail shrieked in excitement, her green eyes shining with pure joy. “Come on, (Y/n)! You got this!” she cheered, her hands in determined fists as she watched her friend reel in the marine life. 

“Ah!” (Y/n) exclaimed, as she successfully reeled in a silver-grade Shad. 

“You did it!” Abigail cheered childishly. Then, she stopped as her face beamed red. It was quite rare of her to have an outburst like this, she was usually so reserved to people she didn’t really know. 

She glanced at the (s/c) girl next to her, who was quite pleased with her catch. But ever since this girl moved in, she, without a doubt had shared her interests with the said girl, leading to many long and exciting conversations. 

Abigail admits that (Y/n) is a worthy as a cool enough gal to hang out with the gang.

“Yo, (Y/n). Me and the gang are hanging out at the Saloon tonight. You down?” Abigail asked with occasional her city-girl slang. (Y/n)’s head whipped around to face her, her (e/c) eyes gleaming. “You and the gang? You mean Sebastian and Sam?”

Abigail nodded as she let out a slight chuckle. “You bet. It’s some kind of tradition for us, and I thought maybe you should join us sometime,” Abigail invited as she flashed a quirky smile with her pearl white teeth.

She was hoping so bad in her heart that the girl would say yes, she really wanted some girl time with another female after so long with only boys. Agh, that must have sounded so bad, she scolded herself. She was literally gonna die if (Y/n) said no after she had put up that ‘macho’ front.

“If the boys don’t mind me around, sure why not? I could use some sweet free time, with my bestie,” said (Y/n) as she nudged her elbow with the purple-haired lady, a similar teasing smile on her lips. 

“Great! Meetup starts at 5, game starts 30 minutes after,” Abigail said. (Y/n) nods her head, “Thanks, I’ll head on right over after settling my shipments for the day! Can’t go on without making progress on the farm, huh?” 

The two parted, leaving Abigail to look at her reflection one last time in the crystal clear river, before heading off to the game room of the Stardrop Saloon. Her smile was so wide, she got lots of odd stares from her parents, since she was such a cold and shut-out girl, and to see her like this really shocked her parents. 

“Honey, what’s got you in such a mood?” Caroline asked, as she passed her daughter as she lent Evelyn a hand whilst tending the community gardens. “Ah, it’s...it’s nothing, Mom!” Abigail said, her smile immediately morphing into one of shock.

“Is it Sebastian, Robin’s son?” Caroline teased, making Abigail shake her head furiously. “No, Mom! It’s not him!” she protested, her face getting slightly redder. 

“Hmm, then I don’t suppose it’s that charming farmer that hung out with you a moment ago?” the green-haired lady teased once more.

 “Uh-(Y/n)?! No! It’s really not!” Abigail protested more, more aggressively once more, realizing her mom was spot on. The woman laughed lightly at her daughter whilst the young woman stormed off in frustration. 

“I know it’s both of them,” Caroline smiled delightfully. Maybe the farmer’s presence really would bring a good change to the community, and most importantly, to her daughter.

“You said (Y/n) was joining us?” Sam said ecstatically as he plopped down on the red sofa in the corner of the arcade room. Abigail nodded triumphantly, since Sam had been trying to really hard to strike up an interesting conversation between the two before it fades down to awkward silence.

“I’m telling you, she’s this really cool girl type. She won’t let your conversation die down!” Sebastian heard the female tell, as soon as he stepped into the Saloon. 

“Yo, Seb!” Sam greeted, raising a hand, as the male responded similarly, before tucking his hands into his pockets of his hoodie once more. “So, who’s one to not let your story die, huh, Abby?” Sebastian teased, indirectly telling her just how loud she was.

“It’s not that frequent I hear you praising someone so generously,” he said, plopping himself right next to Sam. Abigail huffed and crossed her arms, “Oh, come on, Seb! You know she’s an out-going person,” she said before her expression morphed into one of teasing. 

“Oh, right. You don’t spend much time out of your room to know about the outside,” she teased, making an irk mark appear on Sebastian’s forehead. “Excuse me? I’m working my butt off from programming, mind you,” he said.

“Hey, (Y/n)!” Gus greeted, and a loud hello from Emily.

“It’s rare to see you here, but how’re you doing?” Pierre asked, as the said girl entered their vision. It seems that she had groomed and cleaned herself thoroughly before coming, her (h/c) hair slightly shiny from water, and her bright skin that was earlier much redder from heavy-duty. Her clothes also seemed to have changed from her dirt marred blue pants and black shirt to a white shirt with a light blue jacket and light blue skirt.

“I’m doing great! The seeds I got are sprouting just nicely!” the girl praised, earning a hefty laugh from Pierre.

After greeting those that have called out to her, she made her way over to the trio that had invited her over. “Wow, didn’t know she was this well-known since she’s new and all,” Sebastian muttered.

“Haven’t you heard? Mayor Lewis put (Y/n) in charge of mending the old community center, and everyone’s buzzing about it!” Sam said, quite surprised at his friend’s reaction. “She’s starting to get on great terms with my mom, and Vincent totally likes her,”

Abigail nodded in agreement, “Yeah, Dad has been boasting that (Y/n)’s been preferring our goods over Joja��s,” she said making Sebastian scoff lightly. 

“New and already a people-pleaser?” Sebastian said, quite sour with how easy (Y/n) managed to round everyone’s attention within a small time span.

Sam slapped his back in a friendly way, “Hey, sooner or later you’re gonna have fun with her too,” Sam said. Typical Sam, a cliche optimistic guy.

“I’ll see if she’s a good enough lass to hang around,” he said as he stood up and picked up his personal favourite cue stick. “Let’s see how well she plays pool,” he said, a slight smirk on his face making colour drain from Abigail and Sam’s faces. 

“Hey guys, sorry I’m late! I picked up a few things I wanted to hand out,” the girl said as she racked a hand into a small pouch. (Y/n) then approached Abigail and gestured a hand.

Abigail was legit scared that (Y/n) would put something she hated like...like spiders. But (Y/n) laughed it off and said she wouldn’t stoop that low. The said girl placed a fistful of cold small...things on the pale girl’s hand.

When she released her hand, turns out (Y/n) had placed a fistful of Amethysts in her hand. “I saw this in the mines and thought about your purple hair, do you like it?” she asked.

“Like it? I love it! You’re the absolute best, (Y/n)!” Abigail gushed before the multi-job farmer turned to Sam. 

“I heard from your mom you love this, and I got plenty,” (Y/n) said as she produced a tin of Joja cola and handed it to Sam. “Yo, thanks! I really like this! Thanks a whole bunch, (Y/n)!” 

“And, Sebastian!” she said, as she held her fist behind her back, her other hand fiddling with her pouch. “Don’t think you can be friends with me that easi--” he was cut off by a forceful pull taking his arm and stretching it out, the palm open. 

“Ah, you were already waiting for something?” the girl teased, making the other two snicker as the ravenette’s face turned red and looked away. “N-no,” he stuttered as he felt something warm then cold press into his palm.

He looked back into the open hand, a lovely crystal blue item resting on it, other than the slender body part that held his hand. A frozen tear. Sebastian looked at (Y/n) in disbelief. But the latter just smiled cheekily.

“I reached level 53 in the mines yesterday, and saw this little beauty. Looks like you, don’t you think?” she asked, a playful smirk on her lips as her gaze lingered to her feet. 

Sebastian’s eyebrow lifted, as he expected the girl to continue what she was saying. “Small, and cold, don’t you agree?” she teased as Abigail and Sam burst out laughing. 

Sebastian’s eyebrows furrowed in slight anger but more to amusement and his expression turned into his sour one (y’know, like one of his sprite design). “Sorry, sorry,” (Y/n) laughed. “But no, actually, it just reminded me of you, no lie.”

“Thanks,” Sebastian said, his face reddening as he realized he hadn’t pulled his hand from hers. “I...I really like this. How did you know..?” he trailed off. “Instinct, truthfully. You look like someone who loves things from the mines, am I wrong?”

“Right,” Sebastian said, before picking up another cue stick, handing it to her. “(Y/n). Wanna play a game of pool?” he asked, or more like challenged, as the two cheered slightly in the back. Abigail clutching onto Sam’s sleeve and he clutched her hand in slight panic to (Y/n) answer.

A small smile graced her plump pink lips, as the maiden accepted the stick the male held out for her to take. “I’m not too good at this, but I’ll give it a shot.”

[jawsandbones]

if i remember correctly you run some campaigns for dnd, i’ve been trying to dm a campaign for a few years and i’ve finally found a group. do you have any advice for new dms?

Hello anon! I do indeed run some campaigns. 

I’m currently running my second major campaign. I will fully admit that the first campaign I ran was basically my first experience with DnD and it was 100% a shit show BUT I learned a lot, and now you get to benefit from my blunders!

There’s a lot involved in preparation for a campaign or even a session, but these things are so personalized to the style of each DM. I, personally, like to be overly prepared and took a few months to really brick up lore and details of NPC’s, cities, environments, major homebrew elements, potential story beats, etc etc... I will say that if this is your first experience DM’ing, I recommend staying away from homebrew. I really regret not starting with a pre-made module as they give a lot of great advice and show different aspects to quests and checks. But again, that’s just opinion so I’ll stay away from the prep aspect aside from one golden rule: as the DM you are not the sole arbiter of the story. 

You’re building that with your players. This isn’t a book and you must bend to your players character’s decisions, even if it goes entirely where you don’t expect. This is a team game that definitely includes the DM. So with that said: that respect goes both ways. Talk to your players, and they’ll talk to you. Respect their character decisions, they’ll trust and respect your story decisions. If a DM is doing their job correctly, all of this is pretty moot, because if your players have the correct resources, hooks and information, chances are they’re going to do what you expect/want anyway. It’s just up to the DM to give them those correct resources, hooks and information. If there’s a disconnect, it’s because that was broken along the way. 

All that being said! Here is my list that I keep stickied to my monitor

The players never miss. Failure needs active opposition, be in combat, during dialogue or a check. Even from level one, player characters are absolute badasses compared to the rest of the population. It sucks when the game doesn’t reflect that. So instead of “lol you miss”, what happens if that becomes, “the bandit is just barely able to block your blow, gasping as they reel backwards out your reach - for now”? Feels a lot better.

Along those lines, if your players are adding combat flavor to their attack rolls, don’t punish them for participating and make them do checks for it. Not everything needs a roll. Let them be cool. 

Answer “will this work” from the perspective of the character asking. This could go for anything a player asks. Try and answer in a way their character would understand. Someone from the cold regions of the north and someone from the swampy regions of the south will have differing thoughts/opinions/knowledge of things. PC’s live in the world. Put their lived experience into their rolls.

Insight also follows this. Insight shouldn’t just be, “he’s telling the truth” or “he’s lying”. If the particularly perceptive bard who is the charismatic face of the party is doing an insight check, they might pick up the twitch of an eye, the sweat on a brow. If the distracted monk holding the party’s adopted kenku is asking the question, they might not notice these things. 

Let your players talk and interact. Don’t be in a hurry to move things along if the party is bonding or looking into things. This doesn’t mean let them linger forever - if you find things have stalled, then of course a “so, what would you like to do now,” never hurts. I mean in the way of interjecting to participate. A DM is a part of the group but isn’t, yeah?

The less you share/hint to your players the better. Don’t let them know what they got or what they missed. What they have is what they have. Sometimes it’s fun to let them know of a potential thing that could have happened, but generally... don’t be an active participant in those conversations. Essentially, with your players, be ‘excited for Vague Future Stuff and Things’ (literally I just copy paste that into the chat when I’m planning out stuff and can’t repress the need to blurt out excitement), not next session’s x event. 

The internet is your friend. There are so many resources, everywhere you look. I am particularly fond of the subreddits /r/DnDBehindTheScreen and /r/DMAcademy. Don’t be afraid to pull inspiration from your favourite media as well - bring the The Trouble with Tribbles to your adventuring crew, you won’t regret it. You’re going to burn yourself out fast trying to out-do yourself as well, and there are a lot of pre-made drop-in adventures. This is a patchwork quilt you are making with your friends, go fucking wild. 

A list of my favourite resources!

Treasure Generator

NPC/Merchant Generator

Town Generator (seriously this one is god-like)

All Shops and Items (base things)

Random Generator and D100 lists (this one also fantastic)

Besides that: take good notes, communicate openly with your players, discuss sessions after they’ve concluded to find what worked and what didn’t for everyone. Don’t be afraid to say no. A lot of other things, it’s just going to take time and experience.

Good luck, have fun, roll well!

[fenriael]

Made a short, stabby, Sithis-worshipping edgy dunmer assassin yesterday with the intention of some point soon playing through the Dark Brotherhood again and saying hello to Speaker Terenus and some of my other favourite npcs from there. Also gives me a chance to make use of those awesome glowing spiderkith eyes, as well as that armour that came with the new expansion.

Her name is Riwynni Blenwyth, and she hails from Blackwood. Especially with the glowing eyes I reckon her birth might’ve possibly involved some connection or deal with Boethiah (also considering that she’s sneaky and likes to use poisons and that matches well with the effects of the ebony mail in Skyrim). Also she has some connection to Deepscorn Hollow (which if I remember rightly was the first house I got when playing Oblivion years ago).

She’s a stamina dragonknight in game, mainly because I’ve not really played a stamina dk type character before and it has lots of cool green poison-y effects that suit well ^^

[stellarsightz]

Today's drawings i did instead of paying attention in school ✨

Say hello to my new favourite tiefling character, Lychen (they/them)! They're very fun to draw and I'm absolutely in love with them <3

They were supposed to be a monk who came from a very poor and shady background, but now that i think about it, they might fit the magpie murderhobo rogue stereotype more lol. They're my gender tiefling and i care them very much.

As for the last drawing, he's an NPC from a campaign I'm currently dming, called King's Fall! His name is Finnigan Cinderguard and he's the disgraced son of a powerful noble. His given name, Phineas Stormbreaker, has been quickly cast away as soon as his father drew a blade on him when he "disrespected" the King. I came up with lots of lore for him, but i sadly don't have the energy to ramble about him right now. He's my poor little meow meow and i cant wait to use him against my players >:3c

[acetone-free]

Getting the Dames and Dragons wiki up and running proper

Hello!!!

So I’ve been editing and adding to the Dames and Dragons fan wiki for about a year now. I’m an admin and bureaucrat and all that jazz but to be honest the wiki totally needs a revamp and I would really love some help with it!! If you would be interested in writing or editing some stuff please check out the bit under the cut! 

Thank you! :D

First off: Transcripts

@camomilafil got the ball rolling on the transcript front in 2018, but since then only 19 have been completed. I’ve done a couple myself, so I know that they can be pretty high effort and time consuming. But at the rate that they’re going right now Torva will have been defeated and the Guardian’s will have started their true quest of destroying Dawson before episode 50 even has a google doc.

Creating transcripts not only makes the podcast more accessible, but they also make a super good information base for pages on the wiki. Writing episodes and character pages is made so much easier when you can CTRL F for keywords on a transcript doc, rather than having to re-listen to specific episodes. 

At this point there are only four more episodes to transcribe for Into Avelis, but I think it would be really good if people were to begin transcribing later arcs as well. I would love to be able to stay on top of current episodes.

If you are interested in transcribing, you can find a guide on how to format here and the master doc of all episodes here. I’ve only added a little bit to the original rules of the transcribing doc, but I think they were helpful additions :). Keep in mind, you don’t have to transcribe a full episode, or even format any of it. Every little bit helps and even just doing a minute or two is awesome of you!

Secondly: Wiki Pages

Arc and Episode summaries

So far I am up to episode 16 for the summaries. I’m trying to transcribe a few episodes ahead because personally I find it way easier to write a summary with a transcript than while listening to the episode. However, you absolutely don’t have to have a transcript to write an episode summary. On the wiki I have created a page for every Arc so far (except for The Survivor's Ballad, I’ll get on that soon hehe), with an episode table so it should be pretty easy to see episodes that need summarising. 

If you don't want to summarise an entire episode but do want to help, please, please, please feel free to go back and edit episode summaries from Arc 1. I made those about a year ago before I really had a good idea on how to summarise and trust me, those bad boys are rough to read. I’ve been planning on going back and redoing those for a while now lmao. 

Otherwise, whole Arc summaries also need to be written. I’ve already done one for Arc 1, so that should give you a good idea on the type of detail needed. 

For writing episode or arc summaries, I would say try to keep them around 1000 words and generally don’t write anything too meta. Try to keep it as in the world as possible. That being said, it’s totally cool if the summaries aren’t Serious Retellings. I usually try to do jokey subheadings and stuff like that. 

There are a few more things I think are important to keep in mind while writing episode summaries, and if people express interest I am totally down in writing a guide to how I have been doing it. The best thing I think to do would be to go and read a couple of the summaries already on the wiki. Preferably from Arc 2 because I wasn't kidding about the quality of the ones from Arc 1. 

Place and People pages

Hehe alliteration.

Just to get it out there: The main Guardians’ and Maeri’s pages totally need revising. They need summaries for their actions in each arc, as well as updates on their personality sections because these dudes have gone through character development. So if you wanna start somewhere, I’d say go ahead and do that. 

Otherwise, here's what I think you should do if you want to write a character or location page: Choose your favourite character or location or item or whatever. Figure out exactly what episodes they are in, listen to them, take notes, and then write the page. If you’re feeling frisky, even transcribe the parts of the episodes that they appear in. 

Once again, I think the best thing to do is to read a few characters or location pages to get an idea of the amount of detail needed as well as what type of sections you should write. Like, their personality and appearance and whether or not to separate their page into episode summaries or arc summaries for that location/character. If people want, I can also make a more thorough guide on how to write these pages. 

To be honest I haven’t done many of these because I’ve been more focused on getting transcripts and summaries out. So far, however, I’ve been doing these pages as I go. If a new NPC is introduced and only appears for an episode or two, I’ll write those character pages as I’m writing the episode summaries. That being said, if an NPC is introduced and I know they’ll appear later down the line I’ll usually compile all information I have on them in a separate google doc and wait until later to write they’re page. The same goes for location pages, really. For example, I have a google doc full of a half-written page on Danmar that I haven’t published yet because I know that in about five transcribed episodes the party will be back there and I don’t want to have to edit it a whole bunch. 

Thirdly: Editing

If you don’t really want to write an entire summary or don’t feel comfortable enough to do so but still want to contribute the absolute most helpful and important thing you can do it edit. The wiki is like, full of typo’s my dude. (Totally my bad, I’m really bad at catching them hehe). Not only that, but it would be really good if people were to fix any grammar issues or any incorrect information within the pages themselves. Broken links, missing info, inconsistencies in categorisation, all that good stuff. 

You could also go through and double check transcripts that have been deemed ‘complete’ for any typos or formatting issues, if you wished. Absolutely anything and everything helps and it’s always good to have a second or third pair of eyes. 

Fourthly: Where to start

Here’s a list of wanted pages on the wiki. For anyone unfamiliar with how fan wikis work, a red link indicates that the page hasn’t yet been written but has been linked in another page, and that’s where you come in, my dude. 

You don’t have to write a full on, in depth complete page. Even just creating the page and beginning to summarise is great. That creates a basis for other editors, allowing people to build on what you have started. 

If you want to start a transcription you absolutely have to read the formatting and editing guide, linked here once again. Do your best to follow those rules, but it’s okay if you forget or miss some here or there. That’s why other people double check your work! This is collaborative and you can’t be expected to do everything right in the beginning. 

A Final Word

I think it would be cool if we got a few more people to semi-consistently edit and add to the wiki. I don’t expect many people, but any addition to it makes it a better compendium. 

If anyone wants to start writing stuff for it but feels like they need direction please message me! I’m sure I can find something fun for you to do :). Again, I think I’ll write some more in depth guides for how to write pages on the wiki, but if you want to do transcriptions the instructions are already in place and good to go.

That being said, I don’t completely know what I’m doing. I don’t know how to write any of the cool formatting code and stuff that some wiki’s have, so if anyone is interested in helping create a more fancy-schmancy lookin’ wiki and knows how to do all that, it would be really cool if you could get in touch with me as well. 

I would love to hear any other questions or suggestions! To anyone who chooses to help, thank you in advance!

[101flavoursofweird]

Brenda deserves better.

I’ve talked about some of the other under-appreciated PL ladies like Katia, Janice/Melina and Marina. Now here’s Brenda.

In PL4, Brenda appears in a grand total of two cutscenes (with 0 voiced speaking lines), in a bonus episode and a few credit pictures. At first glance, her character profile doesn’t give us much insight into her personality either. She doesn’t get her own description in the PL4 character section of The World of Professor Layton, just a quick summary in Luke’s Family section. It’s easy to see why people don’t get immediately attached to her.  

There are plenty of other female characters in PL4, even those who aren’t ‘reoccurring characters’, who leave a much bigger impression— Rosa, Emmy, Arianna, Loosha, Marylin, Wren (A lot of my personal favourites!)... Listing them all now, I’m just realising that it’s no wonder Brenda doesn’t stand out! 

We first hear about Brenda when Layton asks Clark how she’s doing. Clark replies dismissively, ‘My wife is fine. She’s away. Family matters.’ Liam O'Brien doesn’t get enough credit for how well he plays Clark. Seriously, as much as he snaps at Luke, if you replay PL4 you can hear the anxiety hidden in Clark’s voice. He then quickly moves on to Luke. Layton says that he hasn’t seen Luke since he was a baby, which would suggest he hasn’t seen Brenda since then either. 

Brenda enjoys travelling, as her character profile indicates, so her absence wouldn’t seem too suspicious at first for Layton. However, it’s the manner in which she left that’s odd. If you talk to Brenda’s NPC friend, Thomas, he’ll discuss Brenda’s departure with Luke. Brenda would usually chat about her travel plans with Thomas, but this time, she left without a word. Thomas wonders if there’s a reason for this. He notes that Brenda always loved family vacations, unless she and Clark were fighting... He could be referring to fights Brenda and Clark have had in the past, or to more recent fights during the spectre attacks. Brenda noticed how Clark was acting like a different person after Evan Barde’s death (something Luke also picks up on), so that might have led to some misunderstandings.  

Luke thinks his mum left because she couldn’t deal with his dad anymore. (Or that Clark had even hidden Brenda away!) But she would never just leave without telling Luke. 

Beth the maid notes that Clark has changed since Brenda left and she’s been hearing noises from the Tritons’ cellar. 

As awful as it would be for anyone to be trapped in a dank cellar for months on end, it must have been especially awful for someone who loves travelling. And in their own house too! Sure, Angela got locked in a hotel room. Yeah, Flora was trapped in a barn. Bill Hawks got taken to Future London for like a week—no one cares. But at least they all got rescued fairly quickly. Much like Angela, Brenda had a hunch about the villain in her town... and she ended up getting imprisoned by Descole.   

When Brenda and Doland escape from the cellar, Brenda’s first concern is Luke and Clark’s safety. Emmy asks if she’s OK, but Brenda doesn’t answer. She’s just shocked to hear that Luke is with the professor. Professor Who? Hershel Layton?! Again, this suggests Layton hasn’t seen Brenda for many years— since Luke was a baby. 

In Layton’s bonus episode with Clark, Layton mentions how Clark and Brenda have always been close. Layton is the one to suggest that the Tritons should come back to London. 

Sadly, we don’t get a conversation between Luke and Brenda, or Clark and Brenda, during PL4.

We do learn that Luke is protective of the bear his mum got him for his birthday. There’s also the heartbreaking bit about Luke calling out to his mum in his sleep while she was missing. But then, we get THIS precious picture from the PL4 credits:

Thankfully, we get more interactions with Brenda during Azran Legacy, and we get more of a feel for her personality. Luke spots his mum in Kensington High Street and wants to say hello to her with Aurora. Brenda is surprised to see Luke, as she thought he was off on a trip with Professor Layton. (She actually calls Layton ‘Hershel’ when she speaks to him!) Brenda is quite happy to let Luke tag along with Layton. Though, she does tell Luke to be on his best behaviour— no reckless rushing around. 

Luke mentions in a dialogue box that he got his blue cap from the fancy hat shop in Misthallery. @laytonerd​​ came up with the idea that Brenda may have bought Luke his classic hat. (In the Layton universe, giving someone a hat is a sign of love*.) And from what we see of Brenda during Azran Legacy... yeah, that sounds about right.

I love how something so simple like the Dress Up Minigame can reveal so much about a character. Brenda is elevated from Loving Mother to Hippie Angel Lady. That quirky part of her personality was already alluded to in her character profile. But now we see that Brenda doesn’t just collect odd souvenirs... She has a very unique style as well. (Her top hat appears to be inspired by Hershel’s top hat—again, adding some weight to their friendship!) Luke thinks her whole outfit is just too much, but Clark thinks she looks stunning and it suits her to a T. This is probably just one outfit amidst a huge wardrobe of wacky outfits. Perfect for Brenda and Clark’s wedding anniversary! Clark states that Brenda’s angel outfit reminds him of when they first started seeing each other... and he doesn’t know what he did to deserve her, making Brenda blush. Luke wants no part in this.

Brenda’s favourite colour is yellow. A colour associated with the sun, flowers, hope, cheerfulness and energy. (Like Emmy!) But it’s also associated with sickness, cowardice and deceit. (Again, relating to Emmy!) I wouldn’t call Brenda a coward, but she was a pawn in Descole’s plan and it probably took some time for her to recover from that. But, from her demeanour, she seems cheerful when she’s in London!

Brenda’s obviously quite close to Doland too. He worries about her when they escape from the cellar. It’s not like he does all the chores around the house! Brenda is the one to cook Luke’s favourite meal (roast lamb) when their family is reunited. Brenda knew when something wasn’t right with Doland while Descole was in disguise. She even refers to him as ‘Our Doland’. Awww!  

We get several conversations between Clark and Layton in PL4, along with a bonus episode, demonstrating their friendship. But I really wish we could’ve seen more of Layton and Brendas’ friendship. Brenda is very relaxed about Luke going with the professor on his trips. (This isn’t surprising as she is a fan of travelling herself.) Brenda is very similar to Layton in how she picks up on other people’s behaviour. Brenda noticed that Doland was acting out of character, and she noticed Clark was being manipulated. She tried to go to the authorities (though, Third Eye Jakes wouldn’t have been much help...) and so, Descole had to take her out of the picture. She, like Layton, posed a real threat to Descole’s plans. Brenda describes Hershel as being very dedicated and hardworking when he was a student, but he’d also disappear for days on random adventures. With Brenda being a traveller herself, that’s another thing she and Hershel have in common! 

To this day, I’m still not 100% sure what Brenda does for a living. In Luke’s Family section in The World of Professor Layton, it’s mentioned that Brenda was ‘also Professor Layton’s classmate’. I’m assuming this means she studied archaeology as well? During AL, she talks about how she’s going to Gressenheller’s Library to do some research for a paper on plate tectonics... I thought that had more to do with geography than archaeology, but who knows? Maybe she does both! So, she might either teach at Gressenheller like Clark and Layton, or she has returned to university to do some studies of her own. She doesn’t seem to work in the same department as Clark, at least. She ‘drops by’ to see how Clark is doing, and to get a look at his department’s cutting-edge technology. 

Brenda, like Professor Sycamore, is partial to the odd pun! She then proceeds to give them a puzzle— ‘Mutual Meeting Place’.

It’s about four friends going to the theatre! ...Four friends. Could that possibly be a reference to Layton, Clark, Brenda and Claire? The girl in the puzzle picture also just happens to have red hair and she’s wearing green! (I just made myself sad.) Unfortunately, Claire doesn’t get so much as unnamed reference when Clark, Brenda and Layton talk at Gressenheller, but it’s easy to imagine Claire was close with them back when they were students. 

I’d like to think Brenda was particularly good friends with Claire. (They may even be a rare ship of mine...) *Who else was obsessed with quirky styles, and bought a hat for someone she loved? Brenda’s top hat in her Dress Up costume looks just like the hat Claire chose for Hershel. Brenda has an interest in new technology— imagine how many hours she spent discussing science with Claire! “You want to be the world’s first time traveller? Sure, go for it!” I find it quite significant that Claire’s death— and the institute explosion— were referenced in PL4. (Chelmey’s bonus episode is so hard to watch!) Had the Tritons already lost touch with Hershel (and Claire) before Claire’s death...? I wish Level 5 had given us more content for the Gressenheller gang. 

I can’t really say Brenda went through any under-appreciated character arcs, like Katia or Janice/Melina. She starts out as Luke’s-loving-mother... and by the end of the prequel games, she’s still Luke’s loving mother, which is fine! By AL, I guess you could say her relationship with Clark is much happier, if they were fighting before? And in the AL bonus episode, she admits she was initially worried about Luke when he wanted to go on adventures with the professor, but she can see has Luke grown up since then. She even helps Luke choose the blue sweater that he wears during the original trilogy games. Brenda and Clark don’t appear during the original trilogy- obviously, as their characters weren’t invented yet. But we could take this as a sign that they’ve accepted Luke’s growing independence and they still trust Hershel immensely! 

There is a picture of the Triton family meeting up with Layton, Flora and the Barde siblings. Luke, Arianna and Tony are looking at a photo, remembering the time they spent together in Misthallery. Brenda is smiling at Flora in the background. Brenda’s clearly happy and, like the Barde siblings, she was able to move on from what happened with the spectre.  

@the-triton-family-blog​ was also a great help for this post!