#she and magus worked so much better

[kyraxyrespace]

Day Twenty - The Magus/Princess Katharine (Gargoyles)

[protagonistscum]

dnd is SO funny

so our group split into two

this led to the druid, the bard, and the paladin to get into a fight with the cult leader. as they all had decided to go down a well and found that there was a secret room.

the fighter/cleric and rogue were in a locked storeroom, OBLIVIOUS until they heard screaming through the walls. as none of us can pass a perception check to realize there's a secret door. (none of them noticed the stairs into the storeroom. they deadass just jumped into it.)

for several combat rounds, the cleric couldn't get a high enough strength check to kick down the door. the rogue couldn't get a high enough dex check to pick lock the door. the paladin couldnt roll high enough to pass the wis saving throw for hold person. leaving the bard and druid to fight the cult leader.

[styrmwb]

I beat Chrono Trigger

And I beat it like, nearly entirely unspoiled too.

For the longest time Chrono Trigger was "The most Styrm game Styrm has never played" and I felt silly cause my super cool ADHD brain never decided it was gonna decide to play it until now (I also had to get it done before FFVII rebirth or it was NEVER gonna happen lmfao)

So like, what are my onions?

The game's so fucking good, it stands up so incredibly well that I regret not getting to it sooner. The music, the story, the gameplay, the art (backgrounds and spritework), every single part of this game I absolutely adored. I can MAYBE think of like 2 things I would have changed about the game but they're so minor.

Characters

I loved every single party member. The ones with character felt so alive and enjoyable, and the ones that didn't really have much character were super fun to use in battle. Crono MIGHT be one of the most broken JRPG protags I've played as; I gave him a counter item for the whole game and he would constantly attack with high crits. Marle is one of my favorite characters; being all adventurous and shit, rejecting the stuffiness of royal society but like, not NOT caring? I like it. Plus she was instrumental in having me not die lmfao. Lucca had a really great character arc with Robo and her mother, and blowing shit up was super fun. Speaking of, Robo deserves the entire world; I would die for him. Unfortunately he didn't get as much use in my playthrough as I would have wanted, but I still dearly care for him. Ayla was a powerhouse even though i completely neglected her thief mechanic, and despite her caveman speak and relative lack of goal compared to the cast, I really appreciated her presence as I almost felt like she was a pillar For the rest of the cast. Magus was hype. I'll describe thoughts later down the list, but for his gameplay his magic annihilated battles, and the dude pretty much solo'd the Lavos boss rush.

Finally; Frog. The absolute best character in the game. His design? Creative. His story? Heartbreaking yet heroic. His gameplay? Essential. I loved Frog from the moment I saw him and he was with me through thick and thin. Something I really appreciated was that HE got Masamune rather than Crono. Sure, Crono is the main character, but Frog is the hero. I love my amphibious mans.

Lavos is super cool to me. It's not really a character (but kinda is?) and more like a force of nature. I also think it's kinda conceptually funny that the main villain of this classic game is the meteor that killed the dinosaurs. I don't think I FULLY understood what it truly was, but it's a concept that I very much enjoyed.

Overall, all of the characters in this game are great. Everyone has a role, everyone is enjoyable in their own way, and I really love seeing how the time travel aspect would let you see fates of characters and their role in history.

Gameplay

I loved the lack of random battles. Every battle felt planned and like its own individual puzzle, especially with the positioning gimmick; what enemies get hit by what abilities, how do I avoid hitting this enemy with the element that heals them with my super strong AoE ability. The idea of dual and triple techs enhanced this further: am I gonna use individual turns for heals or am I gonna just have Crono and Ayla fuckin decimate the entire area?

The aspect of time travel felt overall very well used. Past experiences affecting the future, but things in the future not affecting backwards; it feels like it should be obvious it works that way but it just felt like, well executed. this paragraph proves i need to get better at writing cause ultimately I just said I liked it

I also feel like the whole beginning section with the fair leading to the trial really makes you think harder about what to pay attention to and what matters: it teaches well without shoving it in your face. Might just be because I play a lot of RPGs and this is an older one, but I was able to discern the knowledge i needed easily.

Story

So to clarify here, I know there are multiple endings, but I got two; the Die To Lavos Ending not sure why i got this one nope and the real ending; I tried to do everything that I possibly could, so that was my experience.

It's great. I kinda loved how it was less a "party vs a bad time man" and more of a "party vs a natural calamity": I feel like that's not done often in games, there's usually a big bad (which I don't hate!) but it was a nice change of pace. I absolutely loved how each timeline had its own individual struggles, and the nature of time travel made them flow together very well in small ways (like defeating Magus makes Ozzie the worshipped one). Being able to go into it unspoiled really improved the huge moments, like Magus and Crono's big events (not gonna say in case there's someone like me out there), and I very much enjoyed guessing what would be next and what would affect what.

The Only Major issue I have is the 3 party limit, and character dialogue being locked to who you have. I feel like there would have been some really cool moments had everyone been there, like the campfire scene where everyone got their time.

Music

I mean, it's peak. I've already heard some of Mitsuda's work in later games, but hearing him here do (pretty much) the whole soundtrack was just a treat to my ears. The main theme is stuck playing in my head daily. The overworld and cutscene songs I think are where it shines, although I did really like the battle songs as well. and as always shoutouts to Uematsu we love that man.

Art

Again, a short section, but this game is beautiful, and I could tell that a lot of the techniques they used felt advanced for the time, like the time travel effect, or the car race; the spritework felt bouncy and alive, the backgrounds were beautifully detailed (Like Magus's Castle holy shit), and the entire game was a joy to look at.

Unspoiled

So yeah, I beat this game unspoiled somehow. I knew a couple characters like Crono and Lavos (the fact that they Existed), I've seen some backdrops like the campfire and Masamune in its sheath, and I've heard some songs; but other than that, I didn't know anything!

(warning for spoilers if you are like me and have gotten unspoiled don't read this)

Like I said in the story, it was really fun to figure out how things would be affected by the nature of time travel, naturally figuring out side quests like Fiona, and being hit by moments that I never would have expected. I didn't think my actions at the fair would affect anything until I saw the trial which made me question everything (I'm sorry old man for eating your lunch) (twice). I remember getting what i thought was the full party cause that's what the box art was, until I noticed what I thought was a 7th party member slot, leading me to wonder when this person would join and who it is; discovering Antiquity (also a surprise to me) convinced me that the person was here, and then that said person was Boy with cat that said I was gonna die, and lo and behold I was right! But not in the way that I thought. Seeing Magus be the final member was incredibly rewarding, and I probably wouldn't have gotten him if I didn't get reality checked by my actions mattering in the trial (although I do wish he had some more party interactions and dialogue). Also close to this: I did not know Crono STRAIGHT UP dies. Like, OBVIOUSLY he was gonna come back, right? But to have that happen to your main character? Felt revolutionary for the time. Didn't think Lavos was gonna be like, a humanoid creature, and I ESPECIALLY didn't think it was gonna have a phase 2.

(ok spoilers over)

Final

I could not be happier with my experience for this game. I can absolutely see why it is considered a masterpiece, and it's clearly going to stick with me for a good long while, the rest of my life, even. My negatives are incredibly minor, really only wanting more party dialogue and interactions (and to remove Golem FUCK that fight lmfao), and for that, I can probably consider it one of my favorite RPGs.

10/10, thanks for reading my ramblings if you did.

[soleminisanction]

I kinda joked about this a few weeks ago, but the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that the Bad Kids are Pathfinder 2e characters trapped in a Dungeons & Dragons 5e world.

Gonna start with Riz here because he's the one who put the idea in my head in the first place. Riz Gukgak and his parents are clearly closer in concept and design to the green, sneaky, tech-and-fire loving Pathfinder Goblins than they are the yellow, burly mobs of the official D&D goblins. (This is probably because most of the art you find when you google "Dungeons & Dragons goblins" is actually of Pathfinder goblins.) Riz also uses guns, weapons which are uncommon but well-established in Pathfinder, but barely exist at all in D&D.

Most importantly, Riz is fundamentally an Investigator, which exists as its own class in Pathfinder but not in D&D. You know what other classes D&D doesn't have? Oracle and Swashbuckler. The former of which is mechanically way closer to the way Brennan already plays Adaine's oracle powers narratively (and has its own built-in narrative hook to play with, a curse), while the latter has entire fighting styles built around dance and makes you a more effective fighter the more you show off.

For Gorgug you have to dig a little into the gritty details, because Barbarian is a class shared by both systems, but the big one is that unlike D&D, Pathfinder has actual technology rules. Non-magical technology rules, so taking on the Artificer equivalent, the Inventor, as an archetype wouldn't have had that particular synergy problem. There's also a feat, Adopted Ancestry, that would give him mechanical access to culture-based gnome feats to reflect his upbringing with his adopted parents.

Similarly, with Fig, Bards exist in both games (Warlocks don't, but multiclassing into Hexblade is mechanically similar to taking the Magus archetype) but you know what doesn't, RAW? Tieflings that are also elves, because of how D&D's races work. In Pathfinder, however, the tiefling equivalent (nephilim, specifically hellspawn) are a versatile heritage, a secondary template that can be applied to any ancestry, so "elf hellspawn nephilim" is legal RAW. And it's something where you can choose how much of that heritage is expressed in your character's appearance so, again, the mechanics line up better with the narrative re: it only being something she learned about later in life.

Finally, you've got Kristen, who is, on paper, the one who fits comfortably in either game -- a human cleric. But I will attest that, given what she's capable of, she's not just a human cleric. Given the shit Kristen has pulled off over the last three seasons, I maintain that she would be best represented by, at bare minimum, taking the archetype for the upcoming Exemplar class (playtested last year and releasing officially in War of the Immortals, Oct 2024), the only rare class in Pathfinder 2e because they're meant to be literal, actual demi-gods, legendary heroes on the same level as Hercules, Gilgamesh, Cú Chulainn and Maui. It's a class designed to essentially break the game in select ways to make the players feel awesome (hence why it's rare, so GMs can restrict access if they choose), and well. Tell me that doesn't sound like Kristen Applebees.

So yeah, there's the rational behind my crack theory that makes way too much sense: the Bad Kids are Pathfinder characters. Or growing up to be Pathfinder characters. Something like that.

[clown-friend-gt]

I haven't made a lot of progress on the main story recently, but I have been thinking a lot about some of the AUs I have for it. I wanted to keep them secret until I finished "Up, Up, and Away." But also I want to be able to talk about them so here's a brief description of the main two:

Fantasy AU: Princess Adelaide is cursed. Whenever her emotions get the better of her, she starts to float away. So until she can learn to handle herself, she is sent away to live in a tall tower deep in the forest that borders the kingdom. But somehow, no one thought to mention the fact that the forest was protected by a giant. And suddenly, he seems to be taking an interest in her... Trevor isn't sure what to think about humans. All of his kin, his fellow guardians of the forests of the world, have differing opinions about them. And due to his upbringing by the magus, Wren, he may be the only one of his kind who speaks their language. But he's hardly ever gotten the chance to even see a human, much less speak to one. So when one moves into the middle of his forest, in a tower nearly as tall as he is, no less, the careful balance that he works to uphold may be changed forever.

Borrowers AU: Trevor's landlord warned him when he moved in that the place was haunted. He didn't pay it much mind until his things started disappearing and reappearing again in the wrong places. His food always seems to run out quicker than it should. Sometimes, he can even hear the faint sound of voices coming from another room. So he's either living with ghosts, or he's losing his mind. Borrowers Wren and Addie (called Birdie in this AU) have lived in secret amongst humans for decades now. They make their living by taking what they need to survive, and make their lives more interesting by playing pranks on the hapless humans who unwittingly choose to live with them. But as they get embroiled in the life of the newest tenant, they find themselves at odds for the first time on how to deal with him. And if they aren't careful, their disagreement may lead to their eventual discovery.

Feel free to shoot me an ask if you have any questions about these stories. I have some stuff written, but nothing I want to put out just yet. So the only way I plan to reveal the plot, at least for the time being, is by answering asks.

[rinshiroufan]

An Analysis of Two Different (Yet Complementary) Endings: UBW in the VN and the Anime; and What They Mean

So I recently finished my re-watch of Ufotable’s unjustly maligned 2014-15 adaptation of Fate/stay night’s Unlimited Blade Works route; I thoroughly enjoyed myself, which wasn’t shocking at all—Rin/Shirou is only my favourite fictional relationship (not just romantic, but any kind of relationship). It did however induce to more thoroughly and exhaustively compare the anime original conclusion to the two’s story with the original ending as presented in the VN, if only because I suspect that a careful reading of the nuances of the characterization of both will yield some very fruitful results. It might seem a bit paradoxical at first, but I’ve come to find these two scenes while seen incredibly fondly by most Shirin shippers are in fact quite underappreciated—because there’s just so brilliant and intricate in the subtle ways in which they manage to weave in so much depth and substance into exceedingly simple and seemingly plain plot developments. They are insanely thematically rich, and people often are left far too dazzled and enchanted by the magic of the superficial writing that they miss the genius hidden beneath the surface.

We’ll start off with the comparatively simpler part of the analysis: the original conclusion to Rin and Shirou’s story.

The Ending in the VN

For the purposes of this analysis, I will be skipping all of the epilogue sans the final classroom scene; the reasoning is quite straightforward and should be readily obvious—most of what is of relevance to this analysis is basically confined solely to Rin and Shirou’s final conversation. This disclaimer might appear to be superfluous to some, but I decided to include solely due to my recognizing an asymmetry in the structure that I chose to employ herein—because the section posterior to this one will have to deal with comprehensively picking apart the entirety of episode 25 of the anime. There was a distinct possibility some readers might find the decision somewhat puzzling, so I think it would be no great harm to tell people what precisely they are getting into, though I consider the content itself will be perfectly sufficient in providing people with an understanding of the thought process behind it. So without further ado, let’s finally begin.

The crux of the conversation between Rin and Shirou that caps off UBW is her invitation to him to tag along with her to London as she goes to continue her training in becoming a proper magus—and Shirou’s reaction to her doing so. I will now post all of Shirou’s key internal monologues relating to the matter during his initial contemplation of the matter, omitting all of Rin’s elaborative comment interspersed throughout Shirou’s thoughts for comedic effect, in order to allow us to better understand what precisely the story is trying to communicate here.

She speaks casually, but I'm sure it's an amazing thing. …But London, huh? …That's certainly too far away. My father wasn't in the Magic Association. I'm just like him, and I don't like formal stuff.

[...]

…But I might be able to move there. I can start working more, study English, save up traveling and living expenses, and find a job over there…

[...]

No, no, let's say I am able to rent an apartment there. I don't know what kind of a place the Clock Tower is, but I'm sure Tohsaka will get even busier. …Then it should be better for me to go there after I become a proper magus by myself. Yeah, that sounds good. First of all, London isn't suited for me. I bet I'll faint if I go there and if it's filled with people like Kotomine———

It is at this point that Rin finally notices Shirou has wandered off in his thoughts and thus not paying attention to her—subsequently presenting what amounts to an ultimatum to him. But before we go into that, let us more carefully and studiously parse what we have been presented with here: a dialectic. A dialectic meant to represent Shirou’s inner conflict—an exceedingly minor and trifling conflict, no doubt!—between his ideological aversion and distaste for formal magecraft and the sorts of individuals drawn to it, and his curious desire to nonetheless follow Rin wherever she goes. For literary effect, the text chooses not to immediately explicitly reveal what might be behind this willingness to nonetheless move to London despite his misgiving, but anyone who has been paying even the tiniest bit of attention can easily deduce what might be the cause. Nevertheless, the story firmly establishes a key piece of information going forward—Shirou is not fond of the Mage’s Association. He would certainly not choose to associate himself with them of his own volition.

But now that we have the set-up, we are almost immediately greeted with the pay-off—the previously posted CG of Rin’s brilliant visage in an adorable hunched over position and adorned with a radiant, loving smile, accompanied by the following text: 

"So, what will you do, Shirou?" She asks me gently, with eyes that see through me. "——————" My face turns red. Her words and expression blow away my humility and my dislike of the Magic Association. …This is what I mean by Tohsaka holding my weakness. I can't help it if I fell in love with her.

“Oh, why go silent now? I haven’t heard your answer yet.“

She keeps smiling mischievously. She knows what my answer is, but she's mercilessly attacking me. "Uh… I, um…" To be honest, London is too far away, but I can't imagine myself being taught by anyone other than Tohsaka. And I never even thought about parting with her. Most of all, I want to be with Tohsaka. "Be clear, this is important. Will you still come with me, even if it's as my assistant?" She looks up into my eyes. She looks so attractive that I feel like my heart will pop out of my mouth. "S-Shut up, you idiot…! You idiot, idiot, idiot! I-I-If it's so important, tell me about it in a more appropriate place! I can't answer you when it's so sudden…!!!"

I don’t know what’ll happen to me if I keep staring at her, so I look away. ...I still feel Tohsaka’s presence.

She’s happily watching my reaction.

"Hey, Shirou. What's your answer?" She murmurs gently. ………She's got me beat. Is it this hard to nod and reply honestly? "………" But I can't turn around unless I say it to her.

"……You idiot. Don't ask me such an obvious question." I meet Tohsaka's gaze and tell her my honest opinion. Her smile broadens at those words.

“And I never even thought about parting with her. Most of all, I want to be with Tohsaka.” That’s the key portion here. The internal tug of war between Shirou’s deep-seated hatred for the common amoral magi and the stifling environment of Clock Tower on the one hand, and his unbridled love for and admiration of Rin is decisively and unquestionably resolved in Rin’s favour. It was barely even a contest. Returning to previously discussed dialectic, it is noteworthy how Shirou considers moving to London at a later time than Rin so that he wouldn’t represent a burden for a Rin less likely to be able to spend precious time with him. Hell—the guy already starts making plans about how he’s going to move there without her even inviting him or expressing that she wants him to go with her! He’s so lovestruck that the mere mention of her moving to London has his immediately making preparations so that he can be with her. It’s odd to think that Shirou could possibly find some way to work more than he already does, but that’s not stopping him. Shirou’s internal back and forth weighing his options, contrasting his reservations towards moving to London with his obvious preparedness to go there for Rin’s sake, is presented as barely even really being a proper conflict; the outcome was determined from the very start. There was simply no other way this could have been resolved—Shirou wants to be with his Tohsaka.

But why is this the conclusion to UBW? Why precisely was it so important to finish the route like this, with this particular scenario, with this particular character dynamic? It might seem like this is just the logical conclusion to how the story should be: it’s hardly in-character for Rin, someone who is portrayed as someone who loves magecraft and finds it fun, to not eventually go to Clock Tower, given that one of the themes of the route is her and Shirou’s learning to walk their chosen path out of their own love for it and on their own terms; it also helps reaffirm Shirou’s love for her. But how exactly does this help cap off Shirou’s character arc? How does this serve as a fitting conclusion to his character arc taken in its entirety, including his conflict with Archer? The essential element here is Shirou’s invocation of Kiritsugu, prefacing the rest of his comments elaborating on his opposition to the Association; Shirou’s refusal to move to London is symbolically associated with his ideal. The core question of UBW of course is “Will or will not Shirou become just like Archer?” He is after all walking on the same path, headed to the same direction. What makes him so different? This scene is meant to answer that: his love for Rin. The entire scenario is a microcosm of Rin and Shirou’s relationship, showing why he won’t become Archer: he loves Rin more than he wants to pursue his ideal. Of course Shirou wants to become a superhero—but he wants to be with Rin even more.  Shirou will always treasure the precious time he spends with Rin far more than he does his adventuring. Whatever corner of the world he may be in, whatever conflict is afoot, no matter how faraway he may be—he will always find his way back home, the place where he truly belongs: with Rin. The girl who loves him, and whom he loves back.

And I really cannot think of a more fitting poem to end that scene than...

The Ending in the Anime

In episode 25 of the 2014 UBW TV anime adaptation by Ufotable, we finally get to see Rin and Shirou’s life together in London.

It makes for incredible fanservice, to say the least.

He’s giving her a headpat—SHE’S SLEEPING ON HIS SHOULDER!!! Thanks for humouring my pic dump; now, onto the analysis.

Within the confines of the anime, the classroom conversation between Rin and Shirou is quite heavily abridged, positioned very deliberately so that it may be carefully instrumentalized for the specific narrative purposes of the broader narrative of the London epilogue it is situated in. It is in short repurposed. We will have to return to the specifics of that later. For now, let’s begin analyzing how the narrative unfolds.

The epilogue has a three act structure, divided over three in-universe days. The first day acts as the set-up; the second day as the elaboration; and the final day provides us with the conclusion. Now, the first day is mostly fanservice, and this is not without reason: while it lays the foundation for Shirou’s inner conflict that we see unfold over the next two days, it is a mostly laidback story that simply invites us to enjoy Rin and Shirou’s nearly idyllic life in London. It’s a way to frontload almost all of the pure, unadulterated fanservice so as to allow for more narratively relevant elements to be positioned at the very end, which is precision-focused to delivering a fitting conclusion to Emiya Shirou’s arc—which isn’t to say that the latter portions of the story lack fanservice, or that the frontloaded fanservice has no purpose whatsoever; rather, the later fanservice simply has more thematic depth to it. The early fanservice meanwhile serves mostly to establish what Rin and Shirou’s life in London is like; it’s purpose is to establish what is at stake. Many have lamented that Ufotable cut a lot of the elements which were included in Nasu’s original script (most likely rejected due to the Ufotable animation staff’s qualms with having to do another exhausting 45 min episode), but ultimately it was for the better in my estimation; it resulted in far more focus. Instead of wasting time on the total mediocrity of a character that is Luvia, the existing story utilizes her wisely for a specific purpose—to establish just how much Rin has changed over the narrative. I mean, the girl went from freaking out at the suggestion she might be fond of a certain redhead to being so openly enamoured with him that’s she willing to throw down with other girls for flirting with him! The idealized portrayal of Shirou’s new idealized life with the girl he loves is interspersed with discussion of his receiving an invitation to join the Association—and the implications of that. The day ends with Shirou’s mentioning that his heart lies elsewhere; in his pursuit of the ideal.

The next day is fairly laidback as well, but also a bit more... contemplative. Rin and Shirou’s ruminations on the Holy Grail War and what they learned from it during their visit to Glastonbury aren’t exactly directly connected to the central conflict of the narrative, but they nevertheless help portray just how much more mature these characters have gotten, how much they have changed since the events of HGW. It’s important to have Rin portrayed in a much more serious light; after all, the beginning of the episode had her used as comedic relief. Yes, it’s a perfectly fine way to establish just how much Rin truly loves Shirou, but the conclusion to the episode ultimately relies on her being both loving and mature; she’s always been the more intelligent, level-headed and wise of the two, so it stands to reason that it would be quite prudent remind the audience of that as it becomes important once again. Once more, we are treated to a dialectic; the hopelessly in love Rin of the first day meets her antithesis in the wise, contemplative Rin of the second day, ultimately resulting in the synthesis we encounter in the final resolution to the narrative. Having Rin portrayed as being both more mature yet also more fun than Shirou also reinforces just how much more at ease she is at Clock Tower than he is.

On the ride back home, Shirou has a flashback. And we suddenly find ourselves back in Fuyuki, two years prior.

Cute.

Anyway, we return to our repurposed classroom scene.

What exactly is the goal of this scene? Shirou’s monologues, so crucial to the scene in the VN, are wholly excised. We can see Shirou’s blushing like crazy (I can’t blame him...), but we are otherwise left clueless as to his considerations whether or not to follow Rin to London. The thematic relevance of the scene in the VN is gone; no-one, going based solely on the anime, could possibly have realized that this particular scene was meant to be a microcosm of their relationship, showing my Shirou will not become Archer. If anything, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to say that the scene is just there to fill in the gaps about what happened in the immediate aftermath of the events of Fifth HGW and act as more Rin/Shirou fanservice. It’s the final episode, so why not just give your audience diabetes ten times over? Just look at it!

God, I’m really sorry if this many images bothers anyone—but I just can’t help it, it’s too cute and amazing.

But yeah... good fanservice. Doesn’t necessarily mean there’s anything thematically relevant or important to the characterization our heroes receive, right?

Well...

This... is what the episode is all about.

Shirou doesn’t want to betray Rin.

“Thanks for bringing me with you.“ Shirou is profoundly grateful to Rin for giving him this wonderful opportunity to be with her and spend time with her. He is so very happy to be able to cherish his time with the girl that he loves... but he can’t stay at Clock Tower. Rin is the only reason that he is happy there. He feels uncomfortable with the subject of his future there, too afraid to openly and honestly express his feelings to Rin, because he doesn’t want to break her heart. For all that Shirou has matured, he is still just a young man trying to find his place in the world, confused and scared; scared that he might have to abandon the girl he loves so dearly—scared of what she might say. He doesn’t want to spit all over her effort and hard work, all that she has ever done for him; fundamentally, Shirou’s conflict in this episode is about Rin. It’s about his struggling with the difficulties of maintaining the relationship that he has built with her, and his fears that it might not last. His fears that Rin wouldn’t understand what he’s going through, and reject him for it. And that in doing so... his fate will as Archer will be sealed.

But that’s not what happens. When he is finally forced to explain himself to her, he is surprised to hear that she isn’t mad at all. No, she’s wholly supportive of him! Encouraging, even! In fact... she’s the one reassuring him. Earlier in the narrative, Rin was Shirou’s foil as the down to the earth realist to his wide-eyed, idealism. Rin was the one with the self-esteem issues; Shirou was the one who kept charging at the impossible without a doubt in his mind about his chances of success. The confession was all about Shirou’s providing Rin with the necessary support to get back up due to his holding her in a higher regard than she did herself; to Shirou, she was always the amazing, incredible girl who never quits despite all the things weighing on her back. And now, in a beautiful symmetry... it’s her, the girl who didn’t think she had it in her to strive for the impossible, giving encouragement to him, the boy who never did quit, who now has doubts about his future... to never quit. Because she believes in him, just like he believed in her.

People tend to grievously misunderstand what Rin says in this episode—it’s responsible for like 90% of the stupid takes on this episode and the future of the Rin/Shirou pair. She never claims that she will always follow Shirou around; she quite openly states that she eventually wishes to settle down at Clock Tower, because pursuing magecraft is fun, it’s her dream, and it makes her happy. She just doesn’t think that is necessarily incompatible with her being with Shirou. Just like Shirou had made a temporary sacrifice coming to London to spend time with her, so too will Rin now make a slight detour from her path to accomplishing her dream to support the most precious person in her life. It’s why I find it somewhat regrettable that Shirou’s monologues were removed from the classroom scene; it would have been nice to have it be readily apparent within the show itself without recourse to the VN that there’s a symmetry between Shirou’s going to London with Rin and Rin’s going on adventures with Shirou. I understand the omission, given the excellent execution, but it was nonetheless an imperfection solution; perhaps the only one there was. But I can still lament, can’t I?

Rin and Shirou’s relationship is going to face a lot of issues. It’s not going to be easy. A clash of wants is inevitable. But Rin is willing to make it work. She is going to make it work. For both of their sakes. The beauty of Rin and Shirou’s relationship is in its striving towards an ideal; it can never be perfect, but it still comes close to being so. Its imperfections make it more than perfect. Theirs is a relationship just like any other—filled with ups and downs. The proof of their love is not in the absence of problems, but in their having the patience, understanding and mutual respect to overcome them, together. Many people when praising the Shirin pair like to adduce its being the most “realistic” of the three VN relationships in its favour. I think such people are doing it a massive disservice by doing so. Shirin is wonderful because it’s a highly idealized version of a normal relationship. Just look at the episode! Their love story is a like a fairy tale! The entire story is about Rin and Shirou, partners in crime; just the two of them against the whole world. Falling love in the midst of a conflict filled with strange mystic mages and legendary heroes from the past. And yet... it feels so down to earth. It feels like something that could occur in your own neighbourhood. What makes me love it so much is this careful but amazing balance between reality and fantasy; it’s just the story of a boy and a girl falling in love... but it feels like a grand epic. Both of them are strange and downright weird people... yet they are also just two regular teenagers, doing regular teenage things. Two regular people, stuck in extraordinary circumstances where they don’t belong... and making the best of it. Together. And nothing exemplifies that more for me that this one final scene at the end of episode 25, perfectly encapsulating why they are so great.

Many people lament the absence of more physical affection between Rin and Shirou, in both the VN and the anime. I sympathize with such people; I myself wish we had gotten many more hugs, kisses and cuddling than we did. And yet... I feel as though in decrying what is not there, they fail to appreciate what was there. Because frankly, few things have made me as emotional as this one handshake.

[ilovedthestars]

Hi Stars! I've been thinking some more about media with deep platonic relationships, and I'd like to recommend Victoria Goddard's Nine Worlds fantasy universe. She has several interconnected series set in different parts of the same world, most of which have a lot of "love as in significance" going on.

In particular, The Hands of the Emperor and its sequel, At the Feet of the Sun, focus on the deepening friendship between the Emperor and his personal secretary (later Lord Chancellor), Cliopher. The sequel makes it explicitly clear that Cliopher is ace and the relationship he dreams of having with the Emperor is a queerplatonic one. Both books are enormous doorstops, but I love their leisurely, character-focused pace and overall tone of compassion and hopefulness.

Ooh, thank you so much! I can enjoy a good doorstopper if it's well paced, and this sounds really cool. I went to go look up a summary on the author's website:

An impulsive word can start a war. A timely word can stop one. A simple act of friendship can change the course of history. Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god. He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person. He has never once touched his lord. He has never called him by name. He has never initiated a conversation. One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday. The mere invitation could have seen Cliopher executed for blasphemy. The acceptance upends the world.

I can already feel the platonic pining, oh my goodness. That kind of imbalance, wanting to be close to someone who's revered as a ruler and a god, being devoted to them as both but also caring about them as a person--it's so juicy. I imagine this is why some people love bodyguard romances and similar plots, but knowing that the desited end state of this pining is queerplatonic makes it so much more exciting to me.

I read the sample on the website too, which is sizable and took me all the way up to the invitation. I'm intrigued by the worldbuilding, I love that the protagonist is a bureaucrat whose life's work is trying to help people and shift political systems to be better for the citizens, I love all the complicated emotions of his trip back home and trying to reconcile his two lives. I can already feel that compassionate, hopeful, contemplative tone to the writing, and I can already tell that this is a story that treats friendship with weight.

I mean, look at this:

He thought of his lord, pacing in his study, bearing the weight of the world on his shoulders. Thought of how well they worked together, the enmeshing of respect and knowledge and good humour and experience. Thought of leaving his lord to the court. Thought of leaving his friends in Solaara-Conju and Ser Rhodin and Commander Omo-how none of them had families, had lost them in the Fall. Thought of leaving his work undone. All those projects slowly, delicately, unobtrusively transforming the government according to his vision of what the world could be. Thought of his lord, never failing to do his duty. Thought of his lord, with no one to joke with him. Thought of losing that—he could not call it friendship, could he? That implied a kind of equality, and there was no equality possible between the Sun-on-Earth and anyone else. But call it a relationship, that was permissible. He suppressed the wish that he dared call his Radiancy his friend.

And this:

"You saw this beautiful place, and you thought I would like it, and that I might enjoy a—a vacation after finishing up my present project, so you rented it for a month in my name, am I correct?" Cliopher swallowed. But his Radiancy said I, not we. He held to that. "I did not presume so far, my lord. It is in my name." His Radiancy continued to frown silently for several moments longer. And then he said: "Thank you, Cliopher." When Cliopher glanced up in surprise, for his Radiancy's tone had changed utterly, he saw that his Radiancy was smiling and there was even, oh just perhaps, the suspicion of moisture in his Radiancy's eyes, and Cliopher sank back to the ground in sheer relief and wonder and also a kind of pain, for he had seen that kind of surprised pleasure before in the faces of people receiving entirely unexpected but welcome gifts. And it occurred to him, somewhat later, after they had settled into their usual work, that if he, who was the chief member of his Radiancy's household, had never before dared offer a gift to his Radiancy beyond the tithes and service expected of him, then apart from his Radiancy's sister, who barely wrote and even more rarely came to court, there was no one else to do so.

I think I am going to LOVE this book. I've requested it from my library, and I can't wait for it to get here. Thank you so much for the rec!!

[volterran-wine]

| 20 questions for fic writers

Thank you very much for tagging me @agirllovespancakes . And apologies for this being exceptionally late!

To not clutter everyone's feeds terribly I have put everything below the 'keep reading'. Do take a look if you want to read my ramblings as well as getting to know my brain a little more intimately.

I even discuss some of my other fandoms and expose myself as somewhat of a shipper.

1. How many works do you have on ao3?

Currently I have nine works up on Archive of Our Own

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

37,793 words and counting, now my word count on this blog however... I dread thinking about it.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Currently I have only ever written for Twilight, though I have outlines and ideas for other fandoms. Among others;

Hunger Games

Final Fantasy VII

Pokemon

Lord Of The Rings

4. Top 5 fics by kudos

The Hands of Time (98)

I Gave You My Heart (62)

Equinox (45)

Snowfall (39)

If These Walls Could Talk (34)

5. Do you respond to comments?

... I am absolutely atrocious at replying on AO3, while on tumblr I have been slightly better at keeping up with feedback. I greatly appreciate every comment however.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

It has to be "Didyme's Demise". The short story details how she has faith in her dear brother, and does not even see her murder come.

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

... I do not understand this concept. Though I guess "I Gave You My Heart" has a bittersweet ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I do not believe I have received direct hatred towards anything I have ever posted or written.

9. Do you write smut?

Yes, though I have crossed more into the... emotional/romantic sphere than the hardcore smut genre.

10. Craziest crossover?

... No crossovers so far.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

I have experienced people pilfering my edits and graphics, but never any of my written work. That is something I am thankful for.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

No, but I am not against the practice as long as credit is given.

13. Have you co-written a fic before?

Never! Though I really wish to do a collaboration at some point. Though, a little thing I am finishing up has a lot of influence from a dear friend; with one of their own OC's making an appearance. A blending of verses if you may.

14. All time favorite ship?

I have never been a huge shipper within fandom spaces, nor do I have a one true pairing (do we still use OTP?) I will throw down over. Most of the time I find myself shipping characters with comfort, happiness and mental stability these days. Instead of one ship I will give a little list of ships I have read about the last decade and a half, exposing some of my previous and current fandoms...

Carlisle/Aro (Twilight)

Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)

Haruhi/Kyoya (OHSHC)

Rufus Shinra/Tseng (Final Fantasy VII)

Clarke Griffin/Lexa (The 100)

Yuri Katsuki/Victor Nikiforov (Yuri On Ice)

Chise Hatori/Elias Ainsworth (The Ancient Magus' Bride)

Oikawa Toru/Happiness&Success (Haikyu!!)

Also, someone recently dragged me into JJK, and I think anyone in the know understand why I cannot look away from the absolute tragedy that is Geto and Gojo, wether it be platonic or something more.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you will

There is a work hidden in my vault that was begun while I was friends with someone. Now, this friendship has since turned sour, and because of that I do not know if it will see the light of day. It is Twilight related but it is centred around The Romanians.

16. What are your writing strengths?

The most common compliment I receive is "Beautiful", and seeing as though beauty is in the eye of the beholder I am inclined to say my strength is different for different people.

Personally I believe I have quite a good vocabulary, as well as being good with my metaphors.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Fast paced action rarely works well with my borderline purple prose, which is why some of my works sometimes feel very different in my opinion. The New Moon rewrite has a lot more action instead of introspection and feelings, that is a challenge for me.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language

If you do decide to add dialogue in another language; confer with someone who speaks said language if you are able to. Or, at the very least, do a lot of research so it does not sound off or out of character. The few times I have used Greek I have asked people who are native speakers for help!

Personally I think it can add a nice touch as long as it is not overdone.

19. First fandom you wrote for

Twilight! While I have been a part of fandom spaces ever since I was 12/13 this is the first time I created any sort of content for others to enjoy.

20. Favorite fic you've written

Of the ones that have been finished and published it has to be "He Loves Power, A Terrible Love". That piece will forever have my heart, and whenever i feel discouraged about my writing I return to it. It reminds me that my writing is in fact not half bad. Though I do believe a fanfic in the works called "As Above, So Below" will knock it down from its throne.

That one will have people showing up outside my house with pitchforks.

No pressure tagging

Anyone who feels inclined to join in on the fun!

[meoawa]

Order of summoning and circumstances of some summoners and servants(mostly just Artoria and Tart)

Illya was brought to Fuyuki during the fourth war and thus aged normally and also acquires the Emiya crest. She summons Archer at the cannon time then starts badgering Shirou to summon Saber.

Shirou, with help from Illya, Sakura, and Rin has a better time with his magecraft and picks up blacksmithing after learning his element and origin. He summons Saber a week after Illya.

Rin summons Caster who, after parsing the Great Grail war Rules, drags Rin to the Emiya household and tells Shirou that he will teach him everything he knows after barging in and explaining things, much to the concern and confusion of Illya, Shirou, and Sakura, who was staying over that night.

Sakura is rescued from her canon fate by the magus tradition for siblings that share a soulmate being having the sibling that doesn't get the crest find their own path. She summons Rider the next day

The other three masters of red are found and brought to the Emiya Household.

Artoria is much better mentally with Camelot lasting beyond her reign, the Lancelot-Guinevere affair being openly being between soulmates with one in a political marriage, teaching Mordred to be a good king, and her deal with Alaya being for the ability to reach her soulmates naturally(see Lion_of_Avalon's Pursuit of the dream on AO3https://archiveofourown.org/works/34621243/chapters/86187268)

The Magia Record plot happens and is resolved/averted a year after the end of Homura's timeloops, leading to there being a doppel field encompassing all of Japan by the time of the grail war. The Wings of Magius eventually figure out how to reverse the transformation into a Witch and soon Wraiths start to spawn within the Doppel field.

Kyoko Madoka and Oriko summon their servants while Homura is in Europe looking for Catalysts.

For Catalysts Homura finds Riz's Witch and Mordred's lance, and potentially a few minor catalysts for the others.

Sayaka summons Mordred expecting her to be Saber/Lancer, but gets Saber/Avenger because of Morgan le Fay having Been summoned as Caster of Black.

Homura is the last of the Purple team to summon as she needed to purify Riz's Greif seed into a soul gem, get a new body for her, and then finally enlist her help in summoning Tart.

The location of the hidden crypt containing Liz/Riz's witch was provided by a Mirror Witch clone early on in Homura's loops.

Mordred died of old age. She also took one look at Shirou's soulmarks and immediately calls him mom in front of Sakura and Taiga(who was read into the Moonlit world just an hour earlier after noticing the command seals.)

Soulmates who are extremely temporally separated tend to have the ones from earlier in the time stream encounter temporal anomalies in their teens so they live happy lives together. Alaya is the force behind the time travel and obviously extorts some Counter Guardian time from anyone usable as one, sometimes adding to their legend, most relevantly with Tart by having her disappear just moments before the flames of the Pyre touched her.

[blueberryinko]

Guardians of the Galaxy PS5: Zen-Whoberi Gestation

It had been a month since Magus, and Nikki was settling in well with the team. Having a thirteen-year old girl hanging around was a new dynamic for the team, but Gamora and Peter had slipped right into the parental roles. Peter, while still immature was a good father, attentive and fun. Gamora was the one who Nikki came to for talks and cuddles, girl things.

Gamora groaned, she’d woken up that sol with an aching heat deep in her belly and stiffened, realising what it was. Her Heat was up, and she bit her lip. She usually hid in her room during her Heats, but she didn’t have that opportunity right now, it was being used as Nikki’s room for now. She was just lucky none of the guys were around at that moment.

She stumbled from the cockpit onto the sofa. Kammy was laid there, and if sensing her owner’s stress, the space-llama rested her head on Gamora’s belly.

“I know baby,” Gamora huffed, she needed a heat pack or something to soothe the aching, but she also didn’t wanna get up. Her belly gurgled, she felt it working its magic.

“Oh, fuck, now?” She didn’t wanna do this now, but she had no choice.

She unbuttoned her jeans and swore at the mass gaining in her belly. “Oooh fuck.” She eased herself up, biting her lip. Why was this happening to her today of all days?

She presumed it was because her heat had flared up, but she watched in frustration as her gut slowly blew rounder, fuller.

“Hey Gamora, you up right now- what the HELL!” Gamora froze. Peter was back early, whipping around and showing off her expanding green belly. “Peter, get the fuck out!” She swore, but Peter slammed the door back open.

“No Gamora, explain, what the hell is this?” Peter watched his girlfriend’s belly gaining fat at an alarming rate, but all she seemed was annoyed. “Can we not do this right now?” She demanded.

“Not when you’re blowing up like a balloon!”

Gamora growled, and sat her fat ass back down on the couch. “It’s a thing my people used to be able to do.” She explained, hoping that would get him to go away. “Okay, explain.” Peter told her.

“Can you just go the fuck away?” Gamora begged. Peter crossed his arms. “Are you gonna keep blowing up? Then no!”

“Fuck sake Peter, I’m just pregnant, go away!”

“Pregnant!” Peter’s heart dropped into his gut and he mentally counted up how much they’d had sex in the past few weeks.

“Not like that idiot!” She retorted, her jeans button finally banging off of her, split in two, burning a hole in the wall from the sheer force it snapped off at. Her gut continued to balloon and she held it gingerly. “Zen-Whoberi women get pregnant with a gigantic amount of babies whenever we subconsciously desire!”

“That’s even worse!” Peter argued back. Gamora rolled her eyes. “Fuck off, I’m not explaining myself to you.”

“Uh, I think you are, because you’re my girlfriend!”

“And in a few years I’m gonna be your wife but I still prefer you stay out of my business!”

Peter’s heart skipped another beat and he was about sure he was gonna have an aneurysm. “How am I not supposed to worry about this?” He scowled.

Gamora sniffled, tears welling up. “I-I don’t know! Peter, I- look.”

Peter sat down and watched her rubbing her belly nervously. “These aren’t really babies per se, it’s more like a type of slime if anything. On my homeworld we had these creatures called Vuaran, who upon our heats would gestate their babies inside our wombs, bloating us up into these big, slime filled balloons. We had the power to gestate them whenever we wanted. Their lifespans are short, so we can give birth to as many as we want.”

Okay, that at least sounded better than what he’d originally been thinking. Gamora’s breasts ballooned another size up and his eyes almost bugged out, swallowing as blood ran south very quickly. “Okay, right, that’s uh, a lot better.” Part of him was a little sad that he wasn’t about to be a dad again however, and he tried his best to shake that feeling. Gamora knew he was feeling it and leaned over.

“We have Nicki, and when we want, we will have more.” She promised. They were Guardians, but she was sure they could make it work. “Can you uh, get pregnant with babies as well?”

Gamora gave a wry smirk. “We have been known to self-fertilise from time to time.” Peter saw her belly-button pop, and suddenly marvelled at how fucking hot she looked like this. “Gamora, oh, my God, you’re..” She leaned forward, kissing his jaw. “Come fuck your big, pregnant wife.” She teased. He raced forward and started tearing her jeans, her hands already working his zipper.

“You’re gonna be my big sexy whale aren’t you.” He demanded, her belly pressing into his chest as his cock grew to full size, blood raging through his hard-on, her jeans splitting apart as green, pregnant flesh grew bigger, tauter, fatter. “I am, gonna be a huge fucking ball, just for you. Empty your balls into me, make me your fat pregnant cumdump.” She agreed. She was fully giving into her heat, which old her would have hated, but new her was hopelessly addicted to.

She was hopelessly fat, Gamora thought, a whale beached on a shore on Earth, needing to be rolled back into water like the breeding blimp she was. “Peter!” He was more than willing to oblige her, bucking his hips into her puffy green cunt.

Peter bit his lip, his cock hard and rigid, pumping into her with all the lacking inhibition of a horny teenager after prom night, getting faster as he watched her belly swell rounder. Her top had so many holes in she didn’t know if it could really be called a top anymore.

More of a very ill-fitting bra really. Her nipples spilled out of her top, darkened green and leaking milk. Peter gasped, feeling them up. “Oh my god, you’re like a big, pregnant cow.” He groaned. The image of her in a cow bikini came to mind and the image was enough for his cock to harden further, brushing her cervix.

“Your big pregnant cow.” She urged, she needed him to be possessive, needed him to own her YESTERDAY.

Gamora’s belly reached a precipice where it hung over her knees, her fat thighs separated by the bloated mass that spilled forth from her hips. Her bunk was getting too small but they wouldn’t dare move her to the living room, Peter taking in the sight of her pretty green cunt leaking his cum, like she was made for filling up into his balloon.

“My pretty pregnant Gamora, so ripe, so fat. You want me to feed you later baby?”

Her breath hitched. “Yes! Yes, I wanna be stuffed so bad!” She wanted to gain weight. Wanted to see her hardened, athletic form be forced into a plush, permanently fattened state, to be made into a big green blimp-like pig even when she wasn’t round, fat enough that a whole bariatrics team would be needed to roll her anywhere.

“Good girl. Very good girl. Wanna cum for me pup? I wanna hear you cum.” She squealed as she came around his cock, her tongue lolling out for a second, panting.

“Peter, s-stop-!” She didn’t want him to stop, she didn’t. So Peter continued, despite all the mixed messaging. “My Gamora loves it when she’s treated like my puppy, don’t you.” He stated, not asked.

“I do! I’m your puppygirl! I’m your fat, swollen breeder wife!” She agreed desperately as he flicked her nipples, tearing apart the torn remainders of her top with little more than a brush of his hands, now entirely nude just for him as he fucked her raw. Her cunt was so swollen, so hot and used she was surprised it wasn’t bruised, his cock slapping against her underside and driving her wild.

“Good girl!” He growled, imagining their future. His plump, overly swollen whale of a wife, and him, surrounded by a dozen kids, and another brood well on the way. “You’re no Guardian now Gamora, you’re my pregnant wife, and that means making our home.” He insisted.

“Our home, our babies!” She was addicted to his cock, drunk off of the virile ravaging of her womb, her mind addled with sex to the point she’d agree to anything, and Peter grinned. “What will the galaxy say, when they find out I tamed Gamora, daughter of The Mad Titan?” He teased.

Gamora’s tears trailed down her face. Happy tears. “Peter!” She gasped between breaths. “I really want this! I wanna stop fighting! I don’t wanna hurt people anymore! I wanna be yours!” She was so sick of the constant war. Sick of the constant death and destruction she left in her wake.

“I know baby,” Peter murmured, easing up his thrusts as he attempted to draw her closer to orgasm. “I know. And you can do whatever you want,” It was a sobering moment for both of them, and as Gamora’s thighs swelled to a frankly ridiculous circumference she damn near broke the couch.

“I-“ She couldn’t think about that right now, once again lost in a haze of sex. “Dammit Peter, I gotta cum again!”

“I gotcha sweetheart!” He fucked her faster and watched as she came around him again, unloading another knot-full of heavy, thick cum into her womb as she howled. “Ready babe? I’m gonna go all out now.” He told her.

She laid back and let him do all the work. Her entire tonnage jiggled as his cock hammered her pussy, sloshing her juices around at such a pace that her head bobbed and bucked without rhythm. “Peter, Peter, Peter!” She whimpered, but she was so close, so close to cumming her brains out she couldn’t form any other words.

“I gotcha, I gotcha, I GOTCHA!”

“OOHHH FUUUUUUUUCK!” She wailed, his knot plugging up her womb as Peter ensured it stuck, her body ballooning to full as her limbs met her enlarged sphericality, a full ton in weight now that she was full. Her breasts spewed milk and Gamora couldnkt be happier.

Peter rested for a moment before sliding off of Gamora, watching her cum-crammed body struggle to hold its capacity. “Oohhhhhh…” Came Gamora’s intense whimper from over her diameter and he chuckled, satisfied.

“So, what happens now?” He asked. Then promptly wished he hadn’t.

“What happens now- oooh, Peter! Contractions!” Oh fuck, already?

“Okay, okay, what do I do?” He questioned, her waters had obviously broken during her orgasm. “Just wait! I gotta dilate for a bit!” She urged. He watched as her vagina began to stretch, flowering gently, strangely erotic.

“How’s it feel?” He asked, rolling her slightly forward so she could see him easier. “Weird, but good. Fuck.” She hiccuped, “On my belly, on my belly.” She urged. Obediently, he rolled her over so she was set on her lower belly, now face to face.

“You done this before?”

“A few times,” Gamora admitted. “After we broke up that first time, then the night after we got back together.” Peter swallowed. He’d heard her that first night they’d broken up, he thought she’d been crying, but if she’d been moaning then- he groaned, his cock erect once again. “Jesus G, you can’t just say that to a guy-“

“That Daddy teasing Mommy made her gush like a big, fertile water balloon?” Gamora moaned through another contraction. She was dilating incredibly fast, her body trembling as she hit eight centimetres. “Fuck, Pete, baby wants out, baby wants out!” She urged.

Peter crouched down and watched as she hit full dilation, swallowing. “What do I do?”

“Just help me breathe and keep me pushing!” Gamora directed. She could do this, she realised. She felt powerful in the way only a mother could, and she felt an uncanny strength burning through her diameter. She was going to do this.

Gamora bore down from the first time, breathing slowly. “Ooooohhhh…”

She tried again, inching her body, encouraging it. “That’s it,” She murmured to herself. “Slow bursts.” She felt out what was coming out of her and as she felt something solid passing into her birth canal, tears pricked her eyes. “Oh, Pete! We’re having a baby!”

“Wh-now?” Peter was only just getting used to being a dad to Nikki, now they had a chance to get a do-over. “Now,” Gamora confirmed. Peter’s heart raced, but sensing Gamora’s conviction a paternal determination grew in his core. “C’mon baby, give us our baby.” He encouraged, helping his wife through her birth pains.

“Mmmmffff…” She almost swore when a particularly strong contraction rippled through her, but she held fast as she buried her chin in her divot, bearing down. “The head, G, I see the head!” Gamora gasped. She could feel it. “Peter, Peter, I’m pushing, I’m pushing!”

She bore down with all her strength, letting out a primal roar as she stretched to full crown within minutes.

“Oh, fuck, fuck burns!” Compared to everything else she’d gone through this was nothing. Peter dived right in, and probing his wife’s nethers slowly extracted the baby’s head, and with the baby almost out he rubbed her underside. “Come on Gamora, she’s almost here.”

Gamora found strength to give in to the maternal force willing her forward, and with one final roar she pushed the rest of their daughter into Peter’s waiting arms.

“Holy shit,” She heard as their daughter began to cry. He brought her around to Gamora’s waiting face and the once fearless warrior found herself sobbing over how beautiful she was.

“Oh my God, Peter, she’s perfect.”

“Nikki’s gonna love her.” Peter commented. “Y’know, I was shit scared when I found out Nikki was my kid, but… I think we can do this. This whole parenting thing.”

“I think we can do it too.” Gamora commented peacefully, flapping her hands. “Go clean her up, then we can figure out baby stuff.

As Peter went to bathe their daughter, Gamora thought up the perfect name. “Aurora.”

Yes, that would do quite well.

[tgrailwar]

Tumblr Holy Grail War, Another End: (Final Battle for the Grail) - FINALE

The battle was over. Exhausted, the Archer and Caster teams grouped together.

Dante: "We've won. Foreigner's magical energy is decreasing. I believe we've hit her Spirit Core, and Lady Medea's Rule Breaker will stop her from recovering."

Medea: "Perfect. Then our job as Servants is done, if the Sabers managed to destroy the Grail."

Arjuna: "I see… so it's truly over. You all were unconventional, but… well, you were worthy allies."

Nobunaga: "To think that we'd be fighting together during a Holy Grail War. What a strange occurrence…"

The four Servants stood together, before their bodies began to slowly fade, signaling that the Grail itself had been successfully destroyed.

Nobunaga: "So I'm going first... I suppose that makes sense. I've put quite the strain on my Spirit Origin. Our time together was short, but certainly eventful. Keep your chins high, Masters. You summoned the great Oda Nobunaga, after all, and while I will allow you to be disappointed at my leaving-- I don't want to see any downcast expressions. After all, us meeting and parting was inevitable!"

The warlord gave a broad grin, as her body turned to twinkling light.

Medea: "…She's certainly loud. But I suppose I share her same sentiment. You've done well. Perhaps not perfectly, but asking for perfection would make me a rather poor instructor, wouldn't it? Be proud of what you accomplished here, my cute Masters. Perhaps we'll meet again."

The magus gave a bittersweet smile as she disappeared into the ether.

Arjuna: "…I wish I had more to say. I simply hope that I served well as your Archer, and that perhaps… perhaps we may cross paths again. Be well, Masters. As strange of a journey as this was, I did enjoy every moment. Your kindness. Your determination. Your earnestness... do not lose those qualities."

The warrior nodded somberly, before vanishing with a peaceful smile.

Dante: "This was a worthy endeavor. I see you took my words to heart. I believe the word has changed over time, but to me, a comedy will always simply be a 'happy ending'. To make a story-- to make one's life-- a comedy doesn't mean that there aren't moments of strife or sadness, but that you simply end everything with a smile and with satisfaction. I believe this is the type of ending that you can smile at, my Masters. I wish you all the best on your journeys."

With that, they vanished without any trace except the memories they left behind with their Masters.

Two Servants remained at the scene of the battle. Foreigner, her Spirit Origin collapsing, was sending out violent pulses of burning hot mana, causing the ground around her to crumble. The process seemed automatic, a self-destruction-- worthless as her enemies had already faded to dust.

However, even Van Gogh, defeated and destroyed, didn't seem to be filled with madness or anger.

She simply wept, with a peaceful smile on her face.

Van Gogh: "...You did your best, Masters... you did your best to support a Servant like me... you could have summoned someone better, or stronger, or easier to handle... but you supported me. I'm happy. Maybe... maybe if we meet again... I'll be able to repay you for your kindness... or maybe just paint you a picture... ehehe... just a Gogh Joke..."

And with that, even she was gone.

The only Servant that was left was Avenger. Despite looking worse for wear from the battle, he had a wide smile on his face, looking satisfied.

'Avenger': "Good work, that's all I can say. And I'm saying that to all of you. No matter who's Master you were, you did a hell of a job. Feels like Foreigner's mana is speeding up the system collapse though. Shame. Would have wanted to spend some more time wandering around with you guys."

He looked around at the destruction, before chuckling to himself.

'Avenger': "Eh. It was more scenic before. We're not missin' out on much. ...Hm? Me? I'm not saying goodbye yet. I have to make sure that this all shuts down properly, after all. I'm sure Ruler's doing the same. I'll leave you alone for a bit. Goodbyes are always a bit tough, after all."

[arcanusarchieves-if]

If it hasn't been asked before, how does the ROs feel about MCs condition? And the ones that don't know about it initially, will they treat mc differently when they find out? I'm aware this might probably be spoilers but couldn't help but ask considering the previous ask👀

Right off the bat I’ll say that any character (not just the ROs) who find out about MC’s condition during the course of the game will start to treat them differently. I won’t go into the exact details because spoilers but I will tell you how they feel about the condition in general.

Astoria (like all of them) has pretty complicated feelings towards people with Interius. She doesn’t hate them or feel disgusted by them and is actually pretty involved in the activism surrounding their rights!

But…

She can just be a bit…dismissive. She unintentionally speaks for them instead of supporting their voices and has a bit of a toxic positivity mindset - very “things will get better!” instead of acknowledging how bad things have been. She’ll get better about it as time goes on but she’ll definitely need to improve her methods a bit - even if her intentions are good.

I’ll just say it flat out - Caspian handles it the best. He has had nearly two decades of “experience” on how to handle supporting MC and other people who suffer from Interius.

He’s obviously very supportive of people with the condition and is (shockingly) pretty involved in activist circles surrounding the topic - but when it comes to how he handles/talks about the condition itself on a more personal level, he tends to take notes from MC.

Like if they’re joking about it, then he might joke about it or if they’re silent on the matter, he won’t bring it up, and I imagine you get the point. Overall, he tends to let people define how they feel about the condition and works from there.

Solaine handles it the worst. There’s really no way around it. A big part of their story and route is going to be them getting over their discrimination towards people with MC’s condition.

That being said, their hatred towards people with Interius comes less from a place of genuine disgust and more from a place insecurity. Like, Solaine knows that they are heavily disliked, but they also know that the majority of Magus dislike people with Interius more so their mindset towards them has become “I’m terrible but not as terrible as them…” in a sense.

That being said, there is some level of genuine disgust there. I won’t try to hide that. As intelligent as Solaine is, they’re not completely immune to the opinions of the people around them or making decisions based on feeling instead of fact.

So yeah. They’re a bigoted asshole but they’ll get over it.

Maeve handles it…decently? She doesn’t exactly hate people with Interius but she is a bit uncomfortable around them at first because of the stuff she’s heard about people with the condition.

She doesn’t necessarily see people with Interius as being bad or dangerous (which doesn’t seem like much but is a huge step forward compared to most Magus) but she understands the dangers of the condition itself which leaves her a bit torn at first. Once she gets a better understanding of everything though, she is incredibly accepting!

Jasper…doesn’t really acknowledge it? I think that initially he just doesn’t know how he’s supposed to handle it. He doesn’t hate/look down on people with Interius but is aware that other people do so he kind of just keeps quiet so that he doesn’t step on any toes.

It isn’t the best way to handle it - and he knows it’s wrong not to stick up for what’s right - but he just finds it difficult to speak up against it considering how prevalent the discrimination is. It’s definitely something he will be working on throughout the story though - and once he gets past his initial fears, he’d also be pretty involved in activist circles.

[skynapple]

Budding Romance | Ch. 12

Love and Deepspace | Jeremiah x MC / slow-burn / friends-to-lovers

warnings: none

Multi-chapter | A03 link

Beginning | <- Prev | Next ->

"Barriers | Part 1" Building and breaking barriers

For a while, nothing happened. Social media updates, a cordial text message here and there, never a phone call, never too much, never too far. She would stop by the shop with some new dead plant. Not too often. Not too suspicious. He would always try to be the wingman. That's how it was then, and to him nothing should change. He certainly wasn't picking up on her hints to tell him she wasn't really interested in Xavier. She couldn't stop thinking about the dead azaleas in her kitchen, which she had taken great lengths to attempt to revive.

Maybe they're just dead. Maybe there wasn't even anything there worth salvaging. 

She still didn't want to be the one pursuing, but feelings often had a mind all their own. Feelings couldn’t be helped.

Be careful. Take it slow. Be careful. Take it slow.

After a long day of work, slightly bruised and wanting to comfort shop, she headed to Philo, only to see that it was closed for the day.

Maybe it's a sign from the universe.

Frustration bubbled within her at her own sailing thoughts, when she knew she could be spending better time elsewhere, doing things that were more productive, or trying to make new friends. At the very least, there was still a video game level she just could not get past. Even so, the desire to comfort shop outweighed her dejection and she decided to walk around the area, angrily telling herself she’d get rid of those azaleas once she got home. 

The road nearby lead to a few boutiques and interesting businesses. For a while she wove in and out, browsing aimlessly in search of something that would be worth her trip. It was almost to no avail, when a stationary set caught her eye. It had little flowers on it, with a matching floral pen. It would at least serve some use on her desk at work since she only really had the impersonal office pens to utilize. After exiting the store, she finally realized that she was in a less familiar part of town. While she knew the decent majority of Linkon like the back of her hand, there were areas and streets that she had no particular reason to visit - or memorize the way home to. After some mild efforts, she managed to find the nearest public transit station.

To her luck, after boarding she got distracted reading a new chapter of a comic she loved and missed her exit. She has no choice but to exit and wait for a the next train in the opposite direction.

As she waited, a sudden Beep, beep from her hunter watch spurred her attention.

Metaflux spiked and cold feeling shot through her veins as the screen on her watch indicated a wanderer was nearby, calling for nearby hunters. She tapped to accept and rushed into action, glad to still be in uniform for once, leaving her items under a bench at the station. The marker on her watch showed the wanderer was on top of her, although as she glanced around the station, she saw nothing in the area. The first and proper action was to evacuate people. It was second nature now, like putting on a mask, immediately launching into professionalism as she raised her voice above the busy crowd. These moments her resonate evol came in particular use, utilizing it to grab people’s attention, command them to remain calm, and guide them to safety. When it was clear that it was likely outside, she ran out of the station, pistol raised and ready. 

The wanderer was bigger than the ones she was used to seeing sneaking around barriers, such as pumpkin magus. This one stood on two hind legs, snarling ferociously. The shots she took with her pistols had little effect. In fact, it looked excited and raced right toward her. It wasn’t her first time fighting wanderers alone, but it was still nerve wracking against her tired and bruised muscles with how energetic this one seemed.

I can do this.

Just then, the flash of a gleaming sword cut through it, making it stumble down. Her first thought was Xavier! but as the monster fell forward revealing a masked swordsman, she realized this was not someone she knew. 

Or... is it? 

The man didn’t look at her, completely focused on the wanderer, who, despite the aggressive cut, still wasn't down. The swordsman wore dark clothing, and a mask over his mouth, but to her the resemblance was unmistakable. It was none other than Jeremiah. His elegant movements attacked in a way that she had previously only ever seen one other person do. With a few more swipes and aided by her continued barrage of pistol fire, the wanderer disappeared into shimmering smoke, leaving a glittering protocore behind. Quickly he grabbed it, observed it, viscerally hesitated, then tossed it to her. 

“Jeremiah?"

For just a minute, he turned away from her, appearing to be type something on a mobile device. Her watch flickered and the wanderer warning returned to normal, as if nothing were ever there. He turned back, meeting her eyes, sword poised away from her, eyebrows drawn together. Any softness she had grown to recognize was gone, completely cold and serious, an entirely different person. The mask was adjusted and she suddenly had a sense of deja vu, as if she knew he would leave without a word.

Rushing forward in anticipation, she reached her hand out and blurted. "Don't go!" This stopped him, though he glanced around, and then at his device.

“Shh. There are other wanderers nearby."

The abrupt tone was unnerving, though she drew closer still. Although the sound of it confirmed its owner's identity, however seeing this different side of him felt like being introduced to a total stranger. Hunter training had prepared her for the unexpected, to keep her emotions and her actions controlled. Yet, to realize that there was so much –so much– about him that she didn’t know, and be confronted with it in this manner, was almost overwhelming. Although she’d known that from the start that he was no ordinary florist, given Xavier’s sudden introduction without explanation as he had Jeremiah assist her with tools and a disguise. This much though? It terrified her. 

“How do you know that?” She asked, taking a shaking breath, trying to be cautious. A feeling of distrust waned in her heart. “My hunter watch just said it was cleared-”

“-The association doesn’t know everything. Yet." He interrupted. "Wanderer activity has picked up at an alarming rate in this area. It’s...unusual. I’m trying to pinpoint the break to report it.” It sounded believable. It also sounded like a believable lie. She wasn’t sure what to think.

Rather than press it, she adjusted a setting on her gun as an excuse to look away. “Ok… what’s your plan?”

He didn’t respond immediately, just stared before he said, “Go home. I can handle this.”

The frustration from the day and the situation caught in her throat, making it hot and vaguely she could taste something metallic on her lip, not realizing she was biting down hard in anger. “This is my assignment. I won’t let you disappear when I'm not looking.” A sharp bolt of determination and assertiveness made her step forward, standing her ground. “I’m the licensed member here. I have an obligation to keep ordinary citizens safe. Like yourself.”

Now he looked at her fully, pulling the mask down, and it was the sternest she had ever seen him look at her. She would have been chilled, if she wasn’t so wasn’t so worried about who he really was, or why he was acting this way.                                                                                                                                      

“On your orders then, ma'am.”

--

They walked in silence along the barrier on the limits of the city as she used her scanner to search the area. He'd added something to it, said it amplified signals and could better pinpoint direction. 

She was trying to focus, but couldn't stop replaying the image of him in her mind, like monster in his own right tearing into the wanderer. 

"What's the matter?" She heard him ask beside her.

"You." She said with bitterness. "You come out of nowhere, dressed like this, and nearly take down a wanderer? With a sword?" 

"Look, you weren't supposed to see that." His tone was softer than before, but still colder than she wanted it to be.

"I know that. That's what terrifying."

He didn't say anything in reply, so she continued. "I know you said you and Xavier studied together, but for some reason I thought you ended up studying to become an analyst, or something tech related. I didn't think you were actually..." She had so many questions, but she left it at that for now.

Then he said her name, and she had to look at him, face hot with anger, shoulders clenching with emotion she didn't know how to process or what to do with.

In the forrest near the barrier, the sun had long-set leaving gleaming stars above, and gentle wind that rustled everything around them. Disturbed leaves ripped themselves from branches to settle around them. Between them, a dangerous quiet, and in the distance, birds seemed to call warnings to each other.

"I don't know how to make you trust me," He said, pulling down the mask and tucking it away in his belt. "But we're on the same side."

"Anyone can say that." She responded flatly, returning her gaze briefly to her watch, mindful of the fluctuations. 

"Then..." A gleam of light in his palm revealed a sword that shimmered like starlight, its unique metal leaving a ringing note that disturbed the setting around them. It looked like Xavier's, but there were notable differences in the intricate design on the hilt. It was no ordinary sword. It certainly was no hunter's sword.

"Hold on to this." He handed it to her, keeping the blade pointed down away from them. 

"Why?" She asked as she took it, skeptical, but not missing the opportunity to  confiscate his weapon.

"Because I'm defenseless now. If another wanderer appears -as you said before- you'll be the one protecting this ordinary citizen."

"So, your life is in my hands. Got it."

"Something like that."

She scoffed and turned on her heel, not entirely sure what to do with the sword as she walked. It felt clumsy in her hand, and heavier than it looked. It was a delicate weapon, but she knew the level of dedication it required to train with it to master it well. At the hunter academy, she had learned a variety of weapons. A sword wasn't entirely unfamiliar to her. It just so happened that she became an expert marksman and chosen twin pistols as her weapon of choice. 

What unnerved her was that Jeremiah could have had an easy explanation, or an easier one considering she already knew of his past as a possible hunter. Yet, he hadn't. She had thought Jeremiah was a terrible liar. He wasn't - not entirely. What else was he hiding?

Before they could resolve the tension and questions between them, a blip in her watch told her wanderer activity had picked up again.

"The break. It's there." He said behind her. There in the digital enhanced mechanism atop the barrier were scratches  as if something had been clawing at it. Something big.

"There's no way anything could have escaped from the no-hunt zone." She said, with a little fear in her voice.

"They always think that." He sighed, then pulled a device from the tool hilt in his belt.

He crouched down, removing more tools before glancing up at her. "I had a feeling one of the mechanisms is damaged. I need to repair it." There was no lack of confidence in his tone as continued, "Cover me. When I disable it... they might come."

She made no move to stop him but crossed her arms, displeased. "This... this isn't your job. I need to report this."

Jeremiah scoffed a little, no longer looking at her as his eyes were transfixed on the digital barrier mechanism. "So they could take 5 business days having a meeting about allocating resources to a repair person who might do the job in time? I'm here now. Report it later."

"That's not how it-"

"That's exactly how it works." 

Despite the disagreement, he had a point in that he was here and ready to repair it now. With wanderers already slipping by as they'd encountered earlier, she knew it was imperative that it be repaired as soon as possible. 

"Fine!" She grumbled, keeping watch on the barrier as he began climbing up the large tower that it was attached to.

The digital mechanism connected for several meters, creating an extra barrier of protection for occasional wanderers escaping the no-hunt zone. However, with a digital field glitching, every time it glitched became an opportunity for one to slip through. The moment Jeremiah began to work on it, the barrier glitched again, before the section in front of them finally shut off with a crackling sound. In slight discomfort, she looked ahead and behind to make sure the rest of the barrier was still all connected. Seeing that it was settled her a little bit. She would only have to watch this area.

It seemed for a long time that nothing happened. He was too high up for her to converse with him any further. Occasionally she would watch him, not able to really see his face from far below. No wanderers came.

Restless, she would pace the margins of the disturbed barrier area. When her watch indicated a call, the sudden break in silence startled her so much that she jumped. It was Jenna. Briefly she explained that the situation earlier was handled, leaving out Jeremiah's involvement, and then explained that the barrier should be investigated, attempting to leave it as vague as possible. When ordered to head home for the day, she answered in the affirmative and hung up. 

She returned to the bottom of the thin tower and called up to him, "Hey!" not wanting to use his name. 

"Almost done." He returned, and said nothing else, then got her attention again, asking, "Aren't you watching the barrier?" 

Irritation coursed through her. "Yes!"

"Something's coming." He called out, making her worry suddenly. Nothing seemed to be on horizon, but he was higher up. "I need a few more minutes."

"Ok." She responded, guns already in her hands.

What came up in front of them was an A-class wanderer, definitely one of the larger ones she'd seen. She could feel a protofield forming around her. She knew better than to enter a protofield by herself, it was a rule for a reason.

Not good.

In a split second of anxiety, she glanced up at Jeremiah. He had asked her to buy him time. 

Maybe it'll be fine.

Tightening her grip around her pistols in resolution, she went to step forward into the protofield barrier when his voice bellowed behind her. 

"Stop!" He called, leaping from where he was already climbing down from the tower.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled back, beginning to lose the sound of her own voice in the fields fluctuation and winds. "You're supposed to be fixing that!"

Jeremiah held his hand out, now at her side. "My only concern is making sure you're not fighting alone."

With no time to argue, she stepped forward, letting him follow her. It was too late to back down now. She could only hope no more wanderers would slip through while they were in the protofield. She handed him his sword, and refocused her attention on the wanderer.

---

For the next few minutes he fought at her side. It was like before, he had a masterful skill, almost like Xavier. She wondered where in the world he'd learned to fight the way he did.

He didn't know her movements, but he soon fell into quick step with her, calling commands to use her evol that she instinctively understood. She realized she had to instruct very little. He knew the very length and width of her steps. It was almost like they had been fighting side-by-side for a long time already.

The enraged wanderer beat its chest, lifting a large boulder of pure ice to smash at them. He dove in front of her, pressing her to the ground as it shattered within centimeters of them.

"You ok?" He asked frantically, helping her up. The look in his eyes was fierce, but just for a second, she saw a genuine care there that comforted her.

"Yeah." She nodded at him then rose her pistols once more.

"I'm going left-" "I'm going right-"

They said simultaneously. Then he grinned, full toothed and bright and twirled his sword, giving her a two fingered salute.

When the wanderer was finally beaten down, the protofield shimmered out of existence leaving them exactly as they were before at the edge of the barrier. There was no time to celebrate. He left her to collect the protocore and scrambled back up the tower to finish the repair. It took just a few minutes more, as predicted.

"Got it!" He exclaimed when it was accomplished, leaping down in cheer as the barrier flashed to life.

She wanted to hug him, she wanted to cheer with him and celebrate, but she couldn't. Something about the whole day twisted her stomach in knots. 

"Is it a good one?" He asked, eyeing the glowing cerulean protocore in her hand.

"You can't have it." She retorted squarely.

He laughed, for the first time seeming more similar to the man she knew before that day. "I didn't want it, but gee thanks for offering." Then his voice softened. "You alright? You're quieter than usual."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" She said, teeth clenched, and she didn't mean to say it that way. She didn't mean to sound so bristled, but the emotions in her wanted to spill out, hot tears of anger moistened in her eyes but she would not allow them to spill.

"Are you mad?" He asked, then sighed, shaking his head. "Let me ask you this... Has Xavier ever lead you astray?"

She squinted, wondering what that had to do with anything. "No... He's my partner."

"Ok, well. If I tell you Xavier trusts me, is that going to change anything? We're... working on the same team. I may not be a hunter, but the one thing you can count on is that I'm working on things to help you."

She wanted to yell at him again, tell him he wasn't making sense, tell him that she wanted the truth, she wanted answers. Nothing right to say came to mind. All she could do was clench the protocore in her hand, a reminder of the way he'd fought at her side, protecting her and making sure she wasn't fighting alone.

"Jeremiah, I need you to tell me the truth."

He was quiet then looked off into the distance. "Not here... let's get a drink."

[triedpklove]

Screenshots of the boy? I'd love to see how bad CF screwed the pooch.

So one of the main things in regards to how Roy has been written since day 1 is how he has always valued his work over himself and others -- ESPECIALLY its impact on the world. This has been fact since Calamity Trigger as shown in his side story, The Diary:

"Why do they not understand, why doesn't [Kokonoe, who is referred to as 'that woman' throughout] understand? As I've already said, this is a discovery that was lurking in the blind spot of our research. When it's the genius talking, and because a lot was said that today I feel it deeply. I definitely feel it. Firstly, only taking a light glance at it, then rejecting it as if some kind of dirt had touched it. Have you seriously stopped to think about it? It's possible. So why deny that possibility exists? If you have an answer within you then prove it to me. Something has to be done about that strange person. I've always felt that that woman is a strange one. Even if due to the deparment's spike in ability she may be a genius but that is different. In spite of being called a god that woman is useless. That woman is useless."

"Today I composed my thoughts once more. Today I had a little doubt about the design of the patterns so I omitted several vital parts in the previous entries. Right now humanity is flowing like blood, I'll explain now. It's become like this. Firstly about anti-seithr, it's the same phenomenon as the phenomenon of the Ars Magus phenomenon. To compensate for this ___ definitely the dangerous Azure which no one has noticed I'd do it once, eventually I want to skillfully, skillfully, do it. I'll have to discreetly do _______ thing ____ and that ______ was unexpected. Different from Ars Magus. Different from those Library vermin's Ars Magus. The huge Azure and azure's ______ bursts open, and the relief that forms quickly grows big, definitely rarely big so you cannot not notice it. Drawing near is dangerous, so first I have to extract that from the rear. It's directly close to the spine.If I rush there I'll die, that's for certain. After I extract the Azure ______ I'd really like to do that. I'll certainly have finally reached. I explained it with all my heart and soul, but no one is listening? to me it seems. So then I should just gently delete everyone. Gentlygentlygently_______"

Day 35 and 51 respectively.

The fact that he's so desperate to prove himself to others, ESPECIALLY KOKONOE, is the whole reason he injected himself with seithr in the first place. He wanted to prove to Kokonoe his work was worth something, even if that meant causing harm in the process.

As much as I dislike what Collisions did to Roy's backstory (as I find the idea of him being physically infected by seithr and melting into Arakune rather than him just simply. falling into the boundary and becoming Arakune more compelling and more terrifying) it did give us more insight on his character and his intentions past the little we knew from his diary and the occasional flashback we see as we play through Litchi's POV as well as her POV in Borderline and Kokonoe's POVs in That Which is Inherited.

Continued under the cut so my mega autism doesn't clog up people's dashes.

(lol, foreshadowing)

(All screenshots above are from Collisions.)

...I think that's more than enough to prove Roy's true mission and what he envisioned his work to become. And with both ways he was written, he both becomes victim to his own hubris -- whether it be him injecting himself with seithr or infusing himself with seithr via smelting. He has thrown all ethics out the window for his own research and has ruined relationships as he did so. (Although his relationship with Litchi is better detailed in Borderline.)

And then we get to Centralfiction.

Before you read this, you may think to yourself, "Oh, CF is simply a different scenario brought about by the Embryo! It makes sense that the writing would be different!" And yeah, you may be write, but in no way does it excuse it from ruining the character arcs we just saw build up throughout the past 3 games. It's pure salt in the wound and considering Centralfiction is the most fresh in a lot of BB story fans' minds it's frustrating to see a character/characters who have already been mistreated by interesting writing choices have their entire arcs ruined by some stupid AU plotline.

Honestly, I could go on forever about my opinion on this scene in it's entirety (and I have, here are some fun links) but all I really have to send is this picture:

For good measure, let's read that bottom line again:

Does that not... entirely go against literally everything I have just established previously? In this context, he's essentially telling Litchi to kill Arakune as he's okay with staying in the Boundary because the self satisfaction of studying the Boundary from the inside is more important to him than others seeing the fruits of his labor. Which entirely goes against his entire character that he has built up from Calamity Trigger until now. If you would like to watch the full scene, here is a link.

Roy is a very well written character, especially when in conjunction to Arakune, Litchi, and Kokonoe/Tager. I could very much go on more about how Centralfiction and it's decisions also destroyed the dynamic/friendship between Kokonoe but that would be another mile long post. So, I will instead share these two win quotes from Kokonoe -- one from Chronophantasma, and one from Centralfiction respectively:

"You've been infused with an Artificial Causality Weapon? Roy…"

vs.

"Kokonoe here. I've captured Lotte Carmine. Get him to my lab. Stat."

She doesn't even call him Roy.

Maybe I'll do another post detailing his relationship with Kokonoe but for now I have Japanese homework due in 30 minutes I need to get done. Hopefully this is a sufficient explanation on my opinions regarding Roy's writing in Centralfiction and how they dropped the ball on it horribly.

[animehouse-moe]

The Ancient Magus' Bride S2 Episode 1: Live and Let Live

A bit of a background for those that don't know. Studio Kafka is the team behind MahoYome S2, they handled one of the OVAs before tackling this full season, and they are an offshoot of WIT. This is their first full on production, and a sequel to a series that many have a strong affinity towards. Does this first episode live up to the expectations that WIT put in place, and does the new staff heading it up manage to keep things in check while providing their own style?

In short, I would say, "Very nearly so". I wouldn't say that they immediately manage to deliver on what fans are hoping for from them, but I also wouldn't say it's a let down in any sense of the word. It inhabits a state of limbo, as viewers wait with bated breath for a definitive slip up or success, neither of which is immediately apparent in this first episode.

So, allow me to address the elephant in the room: CGI. Yeah, that's about the extent of the challenges in this first episode (aside from some sound mixing issues that appear in one or two scenes). Surprisingly, it's not really anything like direction or design or art or anything like that, as the people in roles like character or color designer have carried over from WIT's tenure with the series. Anyways, The CGI doesn't blend all that well, the compositing is far from atrocious, but the moment it appears you immediately think, "ah yeah, that's CGI" in a sort of resigned fashion.

But I think that's all that needs to be said about that. There's struggles, certainly, but Kafka is making the best use of what they have on hand. Their CGI expertise might not be absolutely incredible, but I think it's palatable enough for them to use it wherever so that they can put more effort into the other, more important pieces of the episode.

So let me move onto direction then. It's a new director, you can't really avoid challenges in the gear change from something so massive. It's not MahoYome S1, for sure, but with what we've seen I'm quite liking Kazuki's approach.

Though it's at risk of not being incredibly unique, I think it meshes very well with the overall tone and sentiment of MahoYome. From this first episode we can see what amounts to creative aggression. Intense camera angles, plenty of closeups, and lots of slow yet wide motions.

We're largely focused on eyes and feet in this episode, as they convey the emotions and thoughts of the characters more than their facial expressions manage. We're shown the backs of characters as they converse, their feet or shadows as they walk and talk. Much of the content is expressed through these close up moments, peeling back the superficial layer that decorates the story and characters to provide a more sincere look. Now, this has almost nothing to do with what I said, but take the following scene as an example.

The overall layout is quite solid, showing that the conversation is predominantly involving Adolf and Chise, while Elias is left as a bystander to the whole affair. Going even further than that is how Adolf is "above" Chise in the scene, asserting the authority and relationship between the pair rather naturally. It's a really natural showing of the understanding and underlying expression that the characters have throughout the episode, but maybe I should show examples of what I did say earlier.

Aside from being Sakuga of course, this little scene is a really nice way to show how the nurse (Alexandra Heath) is treating Chise. She comes off very personable and responsive, but at the end of the day she is an employee of the college and will act as one. It works even better considering the fact that Alexandra doesn't have regular human eyes, so the emotion ends up conveyed through scenes like this one.

Then there's stuff like this scene with Elias, putting his hand to his chest where we can't see his face. Elias is another prime candidate for Kazuki's direction since he doesn't have any facial expressions. Regardless, this simple action allows the episode to express the feeling of unease Elias has, and how scared he is despite not being able to really express it in words.

And there's even scenes that speak to the obvious, like this one. Starting on Chise's left eye, it draws the viewer towards the talking point that Elizabeth makes.

Okay okay, one last example because I love it. This one is really incredible because, it's both a literal and figurative reflection of Chisa. She's getting cold feet meeting her roommate, of all things. Why would that be? Well, the episode answers in kind, explaining that Chise's had a very hard time with friends and school. So, the reflection of herself that is starting back at her is the materialization of those glares and stares she got when she was a child, the very thing she fears in meeting her roommate.

I think that about explains Kazuki's choice in direction, and I'd say it's one I'm already very comfortable with. The expression of emotions, and the challenge of doing so (particularly with Chise and Elias) is exactly the crux and driving force of MahoYome. Latching onto it and making the most of it is certainly something I'm happy to see, as it shows just how well the source material is understood.

Now, this might come as a surprise, but I've only read up until the end of the first season in the manga, so season 2 is all new material to me. Because of that, there's so much I'm learning and picking up about it already.

Firstly, I'm really loving the sort of reset button we've got going on with Chise. It's hard to continually amp a story up and up, so opting to circle back to what is usually seen as a beginning is really nice, especially given Chise's mental and emotional state now. She wants more, she wants to make friends and be happy, she wants to become more selfish.

This first episode really sells that sentiment quite well, as she's able to do things like talk with Alexandra about some of the side effects and issues she faces with being a Sleigh Beggy, and cursed by two different entities.

Both Chise and Elias have come a far way from where they stood in season 1, and the story does a great job of expressing that. Rather than jealousy that someone else is spending time with Chise, or taking her away from him, Elias is scared of losing Chise. It's a small difference going from jealousy to fear, but it speaks to the great bounds of emotional development that Elias has gone through to arrive here. I certainly wouldn't call it more complex, but I would say that it's a far more mature response on his part, serving as a great opposition to Chise's more childlike nature appearing.

It's interesting, Elias is progressing with their emotional state, while Chise is attempting to regress somewhat, though building from nothing is easier than rebuilding from something. The two stories together create a really great dichotomy though, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things go as Chise begins to associate and relate to more people around her age.

And I think the last little thing I'll settle on is the world. I love the world of MahoYome, it's incredibly rich with magic, but has more than its share of dangers. It's both wide and deep, so you never know when you might fall off an edge and be reminded of the nature of magic in this series. Even take something as simple as the dorm matrons (who are cats). Whimsical and cute for sure, but they provide moments and dialogue that speak against that superficial nature (much like other magical entities have before). It really adds a unique air to the appeal of the world.

So that's the first episode of MahoYome, not quite the first season, but far from a fall from grace. There's still lots of undecided aspects and pieces to the series, but this first episode does well to strike at the heart of MahoYome while providing a different approach to it.

[red-dyed-sarumane]

quastion i think uve talked abt before but i wanna hear u talk abt it again if thats the case. which magu girl do you think would be fun as a sinner a la limbus company. like who do u think would be the best fit...

the only 2 ive talked about are the girlies bc u made the best art of them in the limbus spirte style but why dont i just go thru all of them to amuse no one but myself.

honestly with shoushitsu's perceived emotional distance it might be fun to see her as one. she has her own desires & is willing to act on them Clearly given she's alive in the series but the fact that she can bury that to seemingly deal with the problem unbiased (impossible but shes doing it better than anyone else) would make her an interesting sinner. everyone would see her as the normal one or the slightly annoying one until it would get to her canto & open a whole new perspective on her. she strikes me as being similar to faust, if just a little.

kyuuyaku i dont think would be the best candidate for a sinner. she has the motivation but the whole dying repeatedly & watching everything crumble with her is clearly getting to her. she's a fighter in the fact she wont give up but i dont think she has what it takes to do any abnormality suppression. i also think at some point if not right away the whole dante bringing her back to life thing is going to trigger some sort of panic attack or similar.

touhikou would also make a good sinner. she's willing to fight. she's willing to go off on her own if that's what it takes to get her answers. between kannagi & kyuuyaku being in the same time as her it seems to me she's dealt with both sides, praying & research, and decided neither of them were enough & she'd find her own way. she'd be good at suppression & likely the job in general, with the one problem being she also would end up disagreeing with the other sinners as she works with them, but due to contracts she cant just leave this time. she would be a fun sinner.

tenshi. WORST pick for a sinner. whats she gonna do. cry and make them feel bad????? girl's not saving anyone she's getting smushed by the first abno she meets. she would never be able to handle any ego or corrosion thereof. she's like u said she would be one of the cool npcs that gets killed before the end of the chapter. much like how she does in the series.

apoptosis is my other choice for good sinner. theres something so so wrong with her her ego skills would be So Something & with how she melts down in canon i bet shes prone to ego corrosions. shes also just so fucking awful she would have no problem fighting everyone and anyone like vergilus would have to scare her into behaving shes that bad i think. i dont even think her canto would be that deep i think shes just Like This.

maximizer could go either way. shes full of ..... idk if its whimsy exactly but shes at least pretending to be very lax which could either lead to a very dramatic canto reveal or very lackluster one. she'd see fighting & ego stuff as just part of the job & wouldn't have any real problems with it i think.

kanon could be interesting given shes willing to lie to manipulate others. like yeah she regrets that but its a thing that happened. she did in fact go that far. i think that could be a very interesting reveal if her canto was later; everyone working with her having no real problem with her, shes just there, and then suddenly everyone finds out its because of her influence & direction people got killed permanently & her outward way of handling it was just 'well that wasnt the goal sorry that happened'. like maximizer i dont think shed have any real problem with fighting anything given its in her contract, its probably just inconvenient for her.

ashura would also be a good sinner bc theres a lot going on with her itd be fun to explore in this setting. the whole controlled by external forces theme & all. but bc of that she might not be considered to become a sinner in the first place since she lacks her own motivations or at the very least wont act on them. i think she's bitter enough tho they should let her fight things i want to see her ego corrosions.

laboratory would be a bad choice for sinner too i think. shes a do as shes told oops i forgot to be a person type chara. she'd be one of the branches like research workers that gets killed mid chapter or like shrenne not a sinner. i dont think she has any fight in her anyway.

yamete. realistically i think she'd be in the same company as labo & end up getting killed slightly after her after spending all her energy fighting to keep labo alive & failing. that said in series it seems like she does have a lot of her own motivations and ambitions her downfall was purely buying into the "just do ur job" rhetoric she was pushed. she's bitter & she's biting as she goes down so i think itd be fun to give her a sinner role anyway.

kannagi i think would be a bad sinner on the basis of she's not really willing to fight for want she wants. she IS acting of her own will & has her own desires but she's so non confrontational about it, at least from what i can understand, that she would be like. useless functionally as a sinner. she can be an npc for funsies tho.