#she has no illusions as to why she feels so much better when Gil's around

[softquietsteadylove]

ok not sure if my last ask went through bc i got an error message (thanks so much tumblr) but i am here to say you FLAWLESSLY executed circus AU, like gave everything i could have ever wanted in that little fic so now i'm sorry to say i'm just gonna have to keep asking for more!! specifically, what happened to angus!

"Come on, boy! Come on, you can do it!"

Thena walked into the ring, left intact just this once between shows due to the short window between the saturday night show and the sunday matinee.

"Good boy!"

She stepped further out of the shadows, her feet completely silent as she moved forward. The place was dark except for a few oil lamps set up around the ring as Gilgamesh led Angus around with just a regular rope around his neck.

Angus cantered around within the circle. He was obviously still healing, a little more slow than he used to be. But he was on his feet--even the injured one. He knickered quietly.

"Atta boy, Angus," Gil cheered for him as he observed the progress of his healing injury.

They had been holding their breath.

She and Gil had, that was to say. No one else cared nearly as much, except maybe Kro, who was eagerly waiting to inflict some punishment on the innocent creature for costing him even a penny in profits.

Angus slowed his pace, bobbing his head as he caught sight of her.

"Mi--Thena!"

Thena walked right over to them, linen nightdress and light robe be damned. She picked up pace until she could embrace Angus' snout, pressing her forehead to it, "look at you."

Angus' tail swished, relishing in the warmth of arguably his favourite person in the world.

She pulled back, still holding the horse's massive head by his chops, smiling at him and leaning to be more in the view of his massive eye, "I knew you could do it."

Angus nodded, in a way.

She turned to Gilgamesh, who had put an appropriate and respectful distance between them since her arrival. He looked younger in the faint light of the lamps. "That means you too."

Gil managed a soft smile dripping with modesty, "it's all Angus, really. Even I had my doubts, but..."

But here he was, up before dawn to help him practice being on his leg? Yes, he certainly was.

Thena ran her hand down Angus' mane over his neck, "like you said, he's young. He's too young and too strong to let Kro put him out of his misery so early."

Gil never offered his agreement too eagerly when she spoke of her husband. Too much to say within too few words, maybe. "Well, hopefully today's show will go well, and we can put this all behind us."

"Indeed," Thena smiled, catching Gil crossing his fingers behind his back. "Truly, Gil, we both owe you more than words can say."

He gave her a somewhat curious look, as if to ask what she could possibly be doing thanking him for something--as if he didn't do so much for her with his mere presence. "Least I can do, Miss."

Thena looked back at Angus. She liked it when he called her Thena. It was sometimes the only time when she was actually able to hear her own name spoken aloud. "On the contrary, this was above and beyond, even for you."

He blushed, and he looked truly sweet when he did. "Anything, Thena."

She looked at him, finding him looking back at her this time. He had such nice and warm eyes.

"Anytime."

Truly, he had such an amazing heart, this sweet and humble man. She had known that from his occupation, of course, but the more she got to know Gilgamesh himself, the more she found herself enchanted with all there was to him.

Her eyes darted down to his lips for just a second.

He didn't catch her. No one ever caught her when she did that. But she was no spring chicken, and she knew very well that her desire to keep him around was no childish flight of fantasy. No, her life was far to coldly rooted in reality for that.

But she far preferred to have him just out of reach than not have him at all.

Gil looked over his shoulder. He was always checking his surroundings whenever they found themselves alone.

He was looking for Kro. All things considered, she probably could exercise more caution than she did. After all, it wouldn't be her whom would have hell to pay, but Gilgamesh. Her mind did reel, sometimes, to think of her husband turning a corner and seeing...something.

She wasn't sure what he would see if that day ever came, but she knew enough to say he would not like it.

"You should rest," she whispered, petting Angus' soft nose again.

Gil knew that it was meant for him anyway. "As should you, y'know."

She smiled directly between Angus' eyes, "sleep often eludes me."

"Thena-"

She turned to Gil, determined not to let herself pull on that thread. There would be no going back if she let herself get up to the knees in him. "You'll need your sleep, Gilgamesh. Kro will have you up as soon as he wakes, demanding to see how Angus performs."

Angus shuffled in place a the mention of his worst nightmare.

Thena turned and comforted her poor steed once again, "I'm sorry."

Gil nodded, putting his hand on the swell of Angus' muscled cheek. "Right, then, but only if you find some rest as well, Thena. You need it more than anyone here."

Exhaustion truly never left her. It was in bed with her far more than her own husband, that was for certain.

"Yes, I suppose you're right," she conceded, more so that he would find some sleep than anything. She inhaled, pressing her forehead to Angus' once more. "Knock him dead."

Angus nodded more certainly this time.

Thena smiled, kissing his nose gently. "And you."

Gil startled but held still as she pressed an equally chaste kiss to his cheek.

She walked past him, not willing to dwell on it, nor able to afford to. She did wave at him over her shoulder, "goodnight, Gil."

He blinked at her, stunned rabbit in a trap, "uh, n-night, Thena."

She turned again as a smile came over her; such a sweet man. She simply couldn't resist expressing the depths of her gratitude somehow. And in some ways, the kiss was better than throwing her arms around him in some way. Because then, what if he had put his arms around her in return?

If he ever did that, there would be no going back, for her.

[fgodestinyawakenings]

FGO Destiny Awakenings: Fujimaru Ritsuka and Fujimaru Ritsuko bio

My procrastination on life, writing my story, anything I needed to do is bad enough I’m surfing web day by day so.... Might as well get my ass to work on this

This is pretty long since it’s two people bio, so everything is under the cut! 

Note: In regards to their Magic Circuit quantity, neither FGO wiki or material gives any information about them. I’ve estimated them to be around Emiya Shirou’s level of circuit, but can be lower or higher... But more likely lower as they are only receiving magecraft training in the story

Note 2: Foreign languages in here are courtesy of google translate, if you’re able to improvise its grammar, please drop me an ask so I can edit

Note 3: Some of the info are quite spoilerly but not that much spoiler since it’s a base information for me on their personality, background, magecraft

Note 4: After reading the bio, I know some will be enrage with me at the sensitive topics I’m about to touch for this story. Some are imagination, some are based on what I experience, and I won’t revealed which of what is imagination or experiences in reality. The bio will contain sensitive potential topics such as Depression & Family abuse, you’re entering this at your own risk to read.

Reminder: Yes this is fiction, but you need to separate in from reality. I’m not your babysitter to cater your needs, I have put up 4 notes to remind you of the content you’re entering. And yes, I’ve pacing back and forth on their backstory knowing the backlash I received since this is Fate lore we’re going in out of consideration.

Fujimaru Ritsuka

Character Type: Human, Master, Magus

Affliliation: Chaldea Security Organization

Gender: Male

*Lineage: TBA

Birthday: December 6th

Height: 1.72m

Place of Origin: Japan

Alignment: Lawful Good

Likes: Meeting and getting to know historical figures, Magi*Mari, Reading and Researching about history

Dislikes: Needles

Talents: Stage Magic 

Circuit Quality: D

Circuit Quantity: D

Magic: Projection (Illusion), Hypnosis

Elemental Affinity: Air, particularly closest to Mist

Profile

Background

Ritsuka’s father divorced with his birth mother for unspoken circumstances and remarried to Ritsuko’s mother at the age of 11. At their first meeting, Ritsuka’s body was completely frail with his bones visible in plain view, wearing a dead emotionless face that shocked Ritsuko completely. His family situation was only described to young Ritsuko that Ritsuka’s father is doing everything it takes to ensure his mother will never come near him again.

But after spending more time with his new sister, Ritsuka gained back not only his weight, but his ability to speak, where first happened to yell at her for being reckless in fighting against their bullies. Though, he immediately regretted doing so and apologized afterwards when he knew all she did was to protect him.

Whenever someone brought up about his mom, Ritsuka immediately pushed the subject away to another topic. However when prodded further a little, he’s often described to be showing his real self by a broken look with a heartbreaking smile whenever he mentions about her

Personality

Intelligent, compassionate, self-conscious and rational with a reserved personality holding a snarky mouth, Ritsuka is considered the “brains” and leader to his sister and contracted Servants in their goal to restore humanity  

By many Servants and Chaldea Staff who are Mages, he’s often described as someone “born with a heart that’s unfitting to be a magus”. Ritsuka would often bring his tablet along in each Singularity to inquire and take photos of the historical in each singularity. His scrupulous attention to detail comes in handy when he is off creating strategies to win against the enemies in the Singularity. And his ability to learn magic quickly helps in fasten his pace to be a better Master, but sometimes his answers in avoiding his friends to find out his meeting with Merlin within his dreams leaves others questioning his credibility for his talent. 

Because of his strategic mindset, Ritsuka is highly perceptive to the others' feelings, and can figure out the source of most people's inner turmoil in a matter of a few important conversations.

“The last time someone falls in love with somebody, they had either--created a stepping stone to an illegitimate son to bring his father’s kingdom fall into ruins, trapped themselves forever in a land of utopia or even knocked up with his Master’s sister because why the hell not. No offense to you, Caster.”

-- Ritsuka to his sister while mentioning about Arthur’s, Merlin’s and Cu Chulainn’s love life  

However his lack of experience in love and holding low regards about it from reading tons of historical and mythology books, had made him completely oblivious to his own and other people who had fallen in love with him. Though this is mainly of his own low self-esteem of his own worth as a person may have stemmed from his childhood, despite being considered an ace in everything he does by his sister. Ritsuka usually hide this but immediately quickly putting back up the façade of “a reliable and dependable but also ridiculously goofy person” when someone notice.

Understanding how critical their situation is, Ritsuka often refuse to sit still when there’s a given chance to do anything to help Chaldea. He also seems to get a little annoyed sometimes when people think he's cute or adorable, as he wants to be taken seriously like a grown-up from people around him as at most times Ritsuka is more mature and wiser than others. 

When Ritsuka and Ritsuko are on their adventures in the Singularity, Ritsuka is the one to act as the leader because he is shown to be very brave and smart. He can be very protective of his sister, whenever she is in danger he is always there to help and will do anything to get her free.

It is also well mentioned that unlike his sister whom is open about her problems and sociable, Ritsuka is much more reserved and emotionally distant often avoiding talking about his past and himself. Even though he admired Heroic Spirits greatly and wished to understand them more, some would notice he often forced himself to draw a line from getting too close for some reason. But as the journey goes, Ritsuka has become greatly attached to everyone in Chaldea amd considered them strongly as his secondary family.

With his strong knowledge in history and novels, Ritsuka thinks much like an actual detective.

Despite his serious personality, living with Ritsuko his whole life (who is famous for her silly attitude) has caused him to indulge in childish activities with her. As such often either jokingly teased he’s forced to join with the shenanigans with the Child Servants, or mostly being the butt monkey teasing by them.

He also holds a huge soft spot towards children in particular to Jack and Mordred. When asked why in particular, Ritsuka easily gives his true smile that children like them deserve the love and acknowledgement they needed. But, he does a huge comedic soft spot to Alexandar and Ko-Gil, making his heart thumping when both used their charm while calling him “Onii-chan”.

He also seems to not mind breaking the rules in order to have some fun, which often having him to be scolded by Emiya when he does so. In particular habit is often staying up late or staying over at Romani’s room to watch Magi*Mari.

Abilities

“Merlin: After all, you and I are very similar, Ritsuka-kun. There shouldn’t be a problem for you to learn my tricks. Ritsuka: By similar, if you’re talking about having the same sexual reproductive organs... That’s captain obvious, Merlin.”

-- Ritsuka to Merlin on his first lesson with him

Illusion Magecraft

With his experience in entertainment magic, Merlin had taught him in magecraft of deception and proficiency in Projection. A magecraft that relies on fooling a being’s psyche to win, a magic which Ritsuka concluded only a mage like Merlin befits this magic for his notorious mischievous behavior.

Misdirection

Under the incantation chant “maintenant tu me vois maintenant tu ne”, Ritsuka will fool his enemy thinking that he had disappeared by their five senses. Rather than concealing his presence, Merlin described this spell as “Putting one’s attention focused strongly onto another. Like falling in love at first sight, where your world focus on that person alone!”

This spell Ritsuka commonly mostly to hide himself from enemy, and also additionally do a surprise attack from the back

However due to his quantity and quality of his magic circuits, Servants and enemies with strong sense and Clairvoyance are able to notice his whereabouts.

Projection (Illusion)

Unlike Emiya’s projection, Ritsuka’s projection creates objects based on his memories and imagination. A skill he’s able to do easily as though it’s strangely natural from his muscle memories, he currently lacks the learning to reinforce his projected works to a reality

Under Merlin’s teachings, Ritsuka is able to create an illusion of manipulating to fool his enemies five senses during battle. But, it may not work if one is able to see through eventually  

To perform this magecraft, he need to act/pretend of an action in order to project the desired item from his mind into reality. However because it’s like an illusion, not only it lasted for seconds to minutes, that item may not even appeared in his enemy vision if the latter noticed the truth.

Combat

Even if magic circuits is weak, Ritsuka makes it up by physical combat via kendo. In combat, Ritsuka will give commands to his Servants while fighting against the lower mobs summoned by enemy Servants. Lacking any fear towards death, Ritsuka won’t hesitate to step forward to deal against enemy Servants if needed to buy some time for his allies Servant to summon their Noble Phantasm

As such even facing against a professional magus, Ritsuka treats it as an experiment test nearly at the cost of his own life to find a weakness within them.

Role

Ritsuka acts both support and fights with their Servants in Chaldea. He has no specific Servant in mind as being dragged into the World of Magus. Ritsuka admired all Heroic Spirits, often near instantly switched into his fanboy mode when meeting those he admired. 

While he enjoys their company and wishes to personally know each of them better, he does get exasperated by some of the extremely colorful and chaotic Servants summoned in Chaldea.

But, Ritsuka instantly draws a line between him and the Servants from getting to close by often avoiding talking about himself and his own true feelings. Despite making himself distant from them, he cares a great deal about them and strongly hated the idea of treating them and anyone as tools or weapons to use.

Unlike his sister, he’s the one who supplies mana generally to most of the Servants via a technique Merlin taught him when he requested earnestly for his help.

Fujimaru Ritsuko

Character Type: Human, Master, Magus 

Affliliation: Chaldea Security Organization 

Gender: Female

Lineage: TBA

Birthday: May 29th

Height: 1.58m

Alignment: Lawful Good

Likes: Sports (mainly excel in softball and basketball), Morning workout as early as 4am, Sweets

Dislikes: Studying through reading of books, Anyone who hurts her brother and even attempting to bring up his family problems, House chores

Talents: Accuracy in throwing and quick learning speed taught via hands-on

Circuit Quality: D+

Circuit Quantity: D+

Magic: Nine Hand Seal Magecraft

Elemental Affinity: Fire

Profile

Background

Ritsuko mentions to Mash in Fuyuki Singulary Section 9 Part 1 that her real father disappeared on both her mother and her when she was a baby for reasons unknown. As such, it’s noted her mother has been raising her single-handedly by herself before remarrying Ritsuka’s father when she was 10.

At their first meeting, Ritsuko was completely horrified at Ritsuka’s body was completely frail with his bones visible in plain view, wearing a dead emotionless face that barely even respond to her when she first greeting him warmly. His family situation was only described to young Ritsuko when she asked was that Ritsuka’s father is doing everything it takes to ensure his mother will never come near him again, and will only explain to her when she grew older.

She mentioned though he was quiet, he was still receptive if not hesitant in answering to her. But after spending more time with his new sister, Ritsuka gained back not only his weight, but his ability to speak mainly to yell at her for being reckless in fighting against her bullies. Though at that time, Ritsuko chuckled she was unsure why she was crying while he apologized; whether it was the bullies, her brother scolded her, or the happiness she felt when she saw life in her brother’s eyes after months of wondering if the effort was futile to get closer to her new older brother. 

Personality

On the surface, Ritsuko is fierce, independent, and pugnacious, but beneath her tough exterior, she possesses a strong loyalty toward her friends and duty as the Humanity’s last Master with her brother. She also has an admirable compassion and devotion, demonstrated when she expresses love toward things such as her family and friends. Unlike the calmer and reserved Ritsuka, Ritsuko is similarly quick witted and impulsive, especially in heated situations. And, she lacked perception towards her rash decisions often resulted in her accidentally insulting others.

Ritsuko is tough, impatient, headstrong, sarcastic, and assertive. Due to her crush on Mash, she tends to pull her away and shield her from others who showed interest in her. Like her brother, Ritsuko fully embraced her position as the Humanity’s Last Master, but lamenting her weakness how she isn’t calm and level-headed as her brother. A trait of Ritsuka she admires greatly when they were kids, as she’ll always be grateful during the times she was in near trouble. Mainly Ritsuka’s willingness and accepting of her secret towards her interest in woman, as she didn’t want her mother to know out of fear of disappointing her.

Because of this, Ritsuko also tends to be protective and even more so than her brother when it comes to his own well-being. Her mother never told anything about Ritsuka’s parents, except as she quoted: 

“Mom said I was too young understand. Telling me Ritsuka’s mom did something really bad to him so Dad ensured his mom will never come close to meet Ritsuka again.”

As such, Ritsuko often keeps an eye on Ritsuka’s reaction whenever someone asks about his mom; ready to deflect or even pull him away at the uncomfortable situation.

Initially frightened and frozen with fear at Fuyuki Singularity, Ritsuko lamented with regret greatly how if her strength to save Mash from Artoria Alter’s Noble Phantasm could do the same for Olga Marie. But, she knew better she can’t wallow in grief, vowing to grow stronger and requested Emiya’s and Sadakuni’s aid to train her in combat and magecraft respectively.

Abilities

"Boomer-Dagger”

A pair of dagger crafted specially by Emiya after considering her skillset. It can be used for both physical combat and her magecraft. When thrown to her enemies, it returns to her via an invisible string connecting to her magic circuit. Also, it’s used as a placeholder on her talisman before conjuring her Nine Hand Seal Mudra Magecraft

Talisman

Her catalyst to invoke with her magecraft. Taught by Sadakuni, she needs to place it on her target before doing her Mudras to attack her opponent. Ritsuko often brings her mat of magic circle drawn by her blood to imbued powers into the talisman daily through meditation.

Onmyoudo Kuji-in aka Nine Hand Seals Magecraft

Taught by Section Chief Agano Sadakuni, Ritsuko mainly uses this magecraft for combat. This magecraft relies specifically on specific hand gesture and pattern to conjure her spells. From reinforcing her weapon and physical strength, to summoning fire magic for combat

Rin-Pyo-Toh, ready for battle: Enhancing her physical strength

Kai-Jin-Retsu, release: Conjure an explosion burst of flames

Jin-Pyo-Zai, bind: With ranged of 10 talisman connected by a burning magical rope to bind the target

Zai-Sha-Kai, heal: Transfer her mana for healing or empowering her Servant

Combat

Like her brother despite having slighter better circuits than him, Ritsuko sides along with her brother via physical combat. She often pairs with her brother, acting as a bait to go against the enemy, while Ritsuka pulls off a surprise ambush via his illusion magecraft.

In the face of an enemy Servant, Ritsuko steps back to give orders to the Servant she contracted with.

Role

While she treats Servants who are Kings or Queen with respect by their title, Ritsuko treats everyone equally with respect and as a friend. She’s shown to be more than willing to teach them about the modern technology and slang, also joining them in their crazy plans often resulted in chaotic humor, much to Ritsuka’s chagrin.

Like her brother, Ritsuko detested the idea of anyone treating Servants as tools or weapons as she view those who contracted her as their friend. This feeling also extend to her enemy Servant, believing they are living beings with their own free will and emotions.

While her brother generally supplies mana to their Servants, Ritsuko acts second-in-charge right after he finish mana transferring to their Servant which resulted him immobile and carried around by Emiya or Caster Cu Chulainn.

[cherrytart-ffxiv]

thorns and choices.

[[ Trigger warning here for physical, emotional, and verbal abuse. Please read at your own discretion. ]]

I wish I had thorns covering my body the way that Alfie’s roses do. 

That way, he would come away bleeding each time he touched me, but not because he bloodied his knuckle on my skin. It would be because of the pricks sinking past his skin. I wonder if he likes roses so much because he gets to sit and cut the thorns from them before he places them in the gaudy vases surrounding his mansion. He snips their one defense mechanism away and leaves them nothing but pretty stems, arranged in just the way he wants them. 

I feel like one of the roses he’s pulled the thorns from. At least, I do when we’re alone. Away from him, I feel like the toughest bitch on the block. I’m strong, and smart, and can bare my teeth and snarl at anything and anyone who looks at me the wrong way. If someone grabs my arm or says something nasty, I have no problem in making them pay for it. But with Alfie... with Alfie, I feel so small. I feel so weak. No one in the world can make me feel as small and as insignificant as he can. I hate when he wants to see me. All the confidence that I’ve worked to build in myself withers. It dies, like a rose left out in the desert. 

“No one will love you like I do,” he says to me as he cradles my face in his hands, though he presses one of his thumbs against my throat. A warning. “Why do you toil away with anyone else, Cherry? Don’t you know that you and I are meant for each other? No one else will love you. No one else will want you. You’re dirty. You’re tainted. But it doesn’t bother me, darling. You and me are so alike. We’ll do anything to get on top, won’t we?” 

I don’t respond. I stare at a spot over his shoulder until he jerks my head and obscures my vision, giving me no option but to look at him. I hate him. I have never hated anyone as I hate Alfie. But he reminds me... he reminds me that I need him. He reminds me that, without him, I might as well be dead. He reminds me that I owe him my life. 

It is hard not to believe him. 

Unlovable, he calls me. He’s right. I close my eyes, and I can feel the countless hands that have invaded my body, touched me and taken what they want before tossing me a bag of gil for my time. So many of them like to pretend that it makes me feel good. They like when I pretend that it feels good. I know they really believe that they’re all magicians with their dicks that can make a girl who does this for a living feel anything, and if it makes them pay more, I’m happy to play into that illusion.

I’ve gotten good at subtly watching a chronometer, waiting for their time to be up.

It’s hard to let Caius touch me after I come home. It’s even harder to look him in the eyes. I know he can smell them on my skin, no matter how hard I scrub in scalding hot bath water. There is still the scent of other men on me, and he never says a thing. He never complains. He never calls me disgusting or unlovable or a used up toy. He never treats me that way. But if I grind my teeth, want to stomp my feet and yell at seeing the marks Oenone left on him, out of both anger for him and, admittedly, jealousy that she still has her touch on him, how must he feel knowing what I do with other men?

Why is it easier to believe Alfie’s cruel words than it is to believe Caius’ sweet ones? 

After leaving the pool, running into all manner of faces both new and old, I had intended to hurry to the airship and go home. I was buzzing. I thought I could wash away my night’s work and go home to Caius, crawl into bed and sleep a while with him resting beside me until he knew I was fully asleep. But Alfie’s grip is tightening. He called me back to the mansion before I could get out of the Goblet. He knows that I am slipping away from him. It terrifies him.

I forgot I was wearing it. I forgot I was wearing Caius’ signet ring. Alfie didn’t even ask any questions when I walked through the mansion door. He just grabbed my arm and threw me into the wall, smashed the back of my head into a mirror. His knuckles crashed across my cheek and his hand wrapped around my throat while he shouted in my face, spit flying while his grasp tightened.

“He’ll throw you aside! He’ll cast you out like the trash you are! Stupid girl! You dumb cunt! I should fucking kill you, you know that? You’re a blight! You’re nothing-- you are NOTHING without me!” 

I curled into a ball. I know how to fight, but instead, I cowered. I let his blows hit my body, let his words rail against me as my fingers curled around Caius’ ring to protect it more than protect me. To protect him more than protect me. Alfie couldn’t know that it was a Garlean crest, that it was a Garlean inscription. He would take him away from me. I would lose him. And so I weathered the blows, let him choke me and watch me gasp for air before rinsing and repeating. I let him lash me with his belt. I let him, because lashing out wouldn’t hurt me the most. I wouldn’t be Alfie’s first target.

Selfish creature that I am... in letting Caius into my life, I have put the target on his back. And selfish creature that I am... I can’t walk away from him. There is a choice that must be made. It has been abundantly clear since the first kiss beside the inn room door, since the softly spoken words Caius gave me, the ones where he promised me that I deserved better. 

There is a choice that must be made: Caius or Alfie? The dove or the raptor? The decision is obvious, of course. I grow better towards the sunlight. I grow in the direction of my dove, of my future. 

I just have to stop being such a fucking coward. 

[thorndale-industries]

Let Me Bleed Instead Of You (Part 2)

2 days after the Incident

Gillian was sitting on a huge king-sized bed, covered in several layers of cozy blankets and surrounded by big soft pillows. They all were colored in different shades of black and gold - some of them were decorated with floral patters - just as Robert liked it. And she had to admit that she enjoyed sitting here although she was tied to that place. The doctors at VersaLife allowed her to relocate to her husband's penthouse and she was relieved about this situation. The room she woke up in after the life-saving surgery might have been welcoming, but she has felt imprisoned. Gillian needed that intimate enviroment of Robert’s place to feel better. Her left arm rested in a gray and plain sling to relieve her shoulder from pressure and any unnecessary movement that could open up the wounds. In addition to this, an infusion was still connected to her right hand, hanging on a stand right next to her. It frustrated her to not be able to get up alone whenever she wanted, so all she could do was to wait for Robert to come home. Just this once, their dog Pancake was allowed to lay on the bed, warming it and Gillian's heart. The black dog was peacefully napping and snuffled occasionally. People always said that pets could ease the pain and she started to understand why.

The white-haired woman had a blue ebook in her right hand, reading The Time Wanderers by the Strugatzky Brothers - it was one of her favourite books. She couldn't tell how many times she had already read it.  Suddenly coughing again she reached for the glass of water standing on the wooden nightstand to her side.

“And now coming back to the news that hold the whole world in their grip..”

Gillian looked up to the big TV screen across the room that Robert had placed there for her. Eliza was reporting for Picus again, keeping the people updated about the horrific tragedy that happened 2 days ago. The number of casualties had risen to 44 million and it was still increasing. There wasn't a name for all of this, but it was just a matter of time until Picus has found the right one. But the weakened woman in bed knew that this wasn't the same Eliza since the incident. The original one, the one she has created with Morgan, went AWOL since Panchaea has collapsed and the Hyron Project with it. No one could tell what happened to her, but Gillian was sure that she was still out there somewhere. Perhaps the merge with the drones has messed with her programming. Only if I could take a look Thorndale thought and sighed frustrated. However, now she was looking at the face of an back-up Morgan had in store for such situations. It was perfect as well, every movement appeared natural and believable and her voice was calming as always. No one could spot the difference, so the public was still caught in that illusion. They, the leaders of Majestic 12, knew this version was a huge regression but right now it was the only thing they had. Gillian assumed Morgan would ask her to help him out again as soon as she was back on her feet. Another reminder of her own fragile state.

She placed the empty glass back on the stand and tried to focus on the book again, suppressing the growing frustration and resentment insider of her. The feeling of uselessness, it was preying on her mind. She ran her cold hand over her face and massaged her pulsating temple. Either the painkillers stopped working and she had to take another dose or her body already got used to it. No, her mind and senses were still numbed, it had to be something else.

Her hands were shaking and she could sense how she started to sweat heavily again without any reason. Pancake was awake again and carefully placed her head in Gillian's lap, looking at her owner and quietly whimpering. She knew that something was wrong as well. Nervously the sick woman grabbed her phone and checked if Tyrell, her CTO, had texted her about an urgent matter. Since she can't go back to London, he was the one who took care of TI. But no, there was nothing. The anxious woman looked out the big windows to her left site - distraughtly petting her dog - and tried to distract herself with the beautiful cityscape of Hong Kong. Just to notice how many apartments were dark instead of inhabited.

A loud bang of closed doors interrupted her depressing thoughts and brought her back to reality. She was startled by the loud noise and the heavy footsteps that came closer to her. Unconsciously she grabbed her glassy ebook again -  ready to throw it at the intruder that was about to reveal themselves.

“THIS FUCKING BITCH!”

Gillian's eyes opened wide open as soon as she saw the distorted expression of her husband  - filled with anger and fury. His face was nearly as red as his ruffled hair, several veins became apparent on his forehead and neck. It seemed like the facial augmentation could pop out any second. His green eyes were looking around with a fiery gaze and tried to focus on something while he breathed heavily. Instead of getting more tensed, Thorndale actually relaxed  a little bit. Relieved it was only him and not a real intruder who wanted to cause any real harm. Even their dog stayed calm and looked at her other owner with a disinterested look. She was more interested in another nap than him.

“SHE CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!”

His boisterous yelling made Gillian's ears ring, reaching through the medication-induced numbness of her senses. Robert's whole body language was extremely hostile and his muscles were fraught. He didn't even notice that he wasn’t alone until Gillian tried to talk to him.

“What happened, Robert?” her voice was soft and barely audible compared to his.

Grunting he grabbed his tie and untightened it with shaking hands while he walked into the bedroom, stopping at the door frame. His expression didn't change when he looked at her with his nose wrinkled.

"Our beloved DuClare — THAT'S WHAT HAPPENED!" He disclosed, angrily shouting his last words and throwing his tie to the ground; so hard, it jumped back a little.

Page put his hands on his hips and impatiently tapped with his right food while taking a deep breath. Then he ran his right hand through his hair, still staring at the ground. He behaved like a little boy who wanted to make a scene because he didn't get the toy he desperately wanted. With a quick movement he glanced at his partner still quietly sitting in their bed. Robert's expression alternated between pure anger, frustration and remorse within seconds. He knew that one of his tantrums was the last thing she needed at the moment but he couldn't help himself.

“FUCK THIS!” he clamored and grabbed the big and decorated black porcelain vase standing next to him and threw it out the bedroom, right across the hallway. Gillian flinched to the distant sound of shattering pieces and squinted her eyes for a moment.

“Are you feeling better now?” she inquired with a calm but annoyed voice. “NO!...Yes...” Page sighed “ I don't know.” He buried his face in his hands.

“Just come here.” Gillian invited him by tapping on the mattress with her hand. “Sit down and tell me what's going on, my love.” The heavily breathing man nodded barely noticeable while he approached his wife and collapsed besides her on the soft gray bed, grunting. His eyes were still restless and aimlessly examined the illuminated golden ceiling before he puled for a short moment. Gillian gently placed her pale right hand at his reddened cheek and stroked it with her thumb.

“Come on, Robs. What distresses you so much? What did Beth do?” Her partner's green eyes finally looked into hers during the little caressing of hers. He started to calm down.

“She blocks my...our...way to Panchaea. Claimed all the salvage work for herself and shuts everyone else out. There is no chance to get to it right now.” Page closed his eyes while he wrinkled his nose and forehead again. It didn't surprise Gillian that Beth would do such a thing. DuClare disapproved of the whole project all the time and this was the perfect chance to demonstrate that they screwed it up. It was just another part of her little power game she enjoyed so much and Lucius gave her a free pass. Thorndale started to share her husband's frustration but didn't display it.

“Have you spoken to Morgan?”

“Yes, just a few moments ago. But he has taken her side and doesn't understand the urgency of this matter.”

“Is this the reason for your outbreak? That he doesn't cover our backs?”

“....Somewhat, yes. Among other things. I am just sick of Beth and Lucius behaving like we are little children and that THEY need to clean up OUR MESS. If they are so great and all-knowing, they should have foreseen Darrow's betrayal!” Robert's voice started to get louder and shaking once again, his expression turned furious as well. He was about to get up again but the weakened woman stopped him with the little force she had left in her arm, gently placing his head in her lap.

“Stay. One vase is enough for today.” Gillian whispered to him and started to softly massage his warm and tensed temples. The man grunted discontented but didn't make any more moves.

“Morgan told me that Beth will send us all the parts she will find but I don't believe her, Gillian. Not at all. Either she will just neglect our equipment for so long that it gets destroyed by the ocean and THEN she will claim that other things were more important or she will keep it to herself, giving us only a fraction to keep us satisfied. “ He reluctantly crossed his arms and bristled with anger. “I won't accept this, Gil.”

“I know, and I don't expect you to. But we didn't lose that much besides Eliza. And that isn't a real issue.”

The woman had to cough again and decided to pull out the infusion out of her hand. It wasn't a smart decision, she knew that, but right now it was nothing but an annoying obstacle. For a short moment she looked at the TV again, examining the well-dressed newsanchor and turned it off -  an eerie silence settled in the large room. Robert had his eyes closed and seemed to ponder her words.

“What do you mean?”

“Darling, did you forget everything? Your little anger management issues aren't doing you anything good.” Gillian chuckled and stroked his cheeks again. She could sense how the painkillers already lost their effect on her. She groaned silently.

“We still have our own little OCM project at the Omega Base and it seems to run really well so far. We didn't need Panchaea's Hyron when we got our own running. “ Her husband nodded slightly.

“And Eliza's loss isn't tragic, we got the back-up. We just need to tweak it a little and we will be at the same point we were. Plus we got a wonderful starting point for the M Initiative.” she continued to disclose.

“I am still concerned about Beth and Lucius. Morgan also said that he believes that them knowing about our unauthorized projects will get them back on track. I don't like this.” Robert grunted again and turned his face to her, burying it in the blankets at her stomach. “I don't like this at all.” he mumbled unintelligibly.

Gillian put her unharmed arm around him to squeeze him gently, affectionately smiling. “Me neither, but let them claim that victory, as small at it might be. The whole incident will keep them busy while we can continue as planned.”

Her husband got up again and look at her with an exhausted and tired expression on his face – the anger was gone as quickly as it came. Through all those years they were together Gillian knew how to calm her little boy down.

“Speaking of our plan,” he started with a raspy voice “Morgan wants us to look at that Eliza back up, he has sent us a copy to analyze. Since you are the huge AI nerd and expert here, I thought it would be more wise to let you do it.”

“So he already wants to work on the Initiative?” the white-haired woman raised her eyebrows.

“Not only. He's worried about the version that went rogue. I told him it isn't sophisticated enough to cause any trouble. That's true, isn't it?”

“Robert...I don't know”

“What do you mean, you don't know?”

“I can't give a qualified answer until I know what Hyron has done to her. Or what caused her unusual behaviour.”

“I...see. Staying on a related subject: We will need a name for the M Initiative, my love. What do you think? I suggested Mandrake, Morpheus,.. such things.”

Gillian's two-colored eyes were rapidly moving while she was thinking about a fitting name for their next big project. She turned her head to the windows and looked at the city again - unsuspectingly sleeping and dreaming while she and her husband were forging their future.

“Morpheus.”

Robert tilted his head. “Really?”

“Yes,  I really like that one. A silent observer who watches over everyone while they sleep and dream.”

“Then it's a really fitting name, indeed.”

Her partner slowly leaned in to give her a long and gentle kiss on the lips. “You always have the best ideas, darling.” he whispered.

Then he got up and stretched his exhausted limbs while taking some deep breaths.

“Splendid. Now that this matter is taken care of... what about some nice tea? I think we both need some.”

Gillian laughed out loud and smiled at him. “You? Tea? Are you bloody kidding me?”

“Well, I heard it can have a really relaxing effect, right? You are the one who keeps telling me I should take care of my anger management issues.”

“Exactly. Tell that to the vase you smashed a few minutes ago. It was a gift from me when you moved in here.”

“Oh.” he turned his head to the hallway. “I am sorry about that.”

“No. Don't.” But before Robert could react, Gillian grabbed him by his collar and pulled him down back to her. “My husband doesn't apologize. Not even to me.”

She gave him a deep and passionate kiss before she pushed him away.

[yekulan-dothkah]

“Minor” Rework & Story

So, going through Encyclopedia Eorzea and the lore of the game post 2.0, plus the lore of 1.0, along with the work of the community I've come to some minor tweaks and changes I want to do to Yekulan to keep her in line with the constantly evolving information in a way that is interesting and unique as she always has been. I also want to set a scope of where she's going in case people want to IC mentor/teach/be friends/ ect.

A quick biography recap, as quick as roughly 100+ pages of writing can be:

As an Au Ra, Xaela and Dotharl, Old Yeku believed in the Dusk Mother and her love for her children; even thought she fought to kill the other bands of tribes as a young one. When she joined the Kahkol this led her to seeing the error in her violent ways and wanting to do better, but not knowing how to do anything but fight she struggled with this. Traveling to Eorzea, she sought to make fortune with her violence as a sell sword protecting those in need and killing massive beasts which filled her urge for adrenaline.

After an incident with a Mhachi artifact she was cast into a perpetual state of dreaming where she was stuck facing her greatest fear; harming those she cared for. Forced to kill those she cared for in this dreamscape over and over, Yekulan became very traumatized by the time the spell was finally broken. The trauma manifested in a type of delusion that she had someone telling her to do horrible things, and when acting on this voice her mind blocked out the events to protect what had become fragile, giving her the illusion of having an inner beast. Fearful now more than ever of the dreams coming true she nearly kills herself several time before she turns to an Allagan researcher and alchemist, Ramza (@wyvernjack-xiv), and asks for a concoction to wipe her mind, to start fresh in hopes the past will no longer plague her.

The concoction works but damages her relationship with Altan as she no longer remembers her lover. Altan seeking to shelter the woman who now feels more like an adult sized child, keeps her at home and rehabilitates her to society as best she can. Things Yekulan kept were things like muscle memory which gives her an innate knowledge of how to fight that she doesn't understand. For simplicity sake, language was so deeply rooted in her it was not so easily removed for the same reason; however she lacks metaphors and idioms for example.

Bored out of her mind living only in a house, she sought to earn Gil so she could help Altan maintain things, only really knowing how to cook and clean as that was all she had been encouraged to do; Yekulan set out as a door to door maid/chef. While the Gil offered her many personal belongings in addition to helping Altan, it also made her curious and slowly more bored as she performed the same tasks again and again. In many houses she saw multitudes of books on magick and magick paraphernalia, this spiked her interest to learn the arts herself.

Without a mentor as she didn't know at the time they existed; she read, researched, and practiced as best she could. Lacking a medium or focus she used her left arm to dabble in conjury; much to her demise. Casting tiny versions of bigger spells against proper methods caused Aether to build up in her arm as she used it like a focus. Being one who gardened and lived within the shroud on a constant basis she was surrounded by wind, water, and earth Aether and being her primary spell types, this caused the plant like transformation to take place; akin to the same mutations that afflicted the captain of Sastasha HM. The longer she looked for a cure to the mutation, the further it spread as the Aether slowly continued to build. With help from a new but knowledgeable friend, Thrae (@thraebhar), she has figured out a treatment.

Now knowing how to release the Aether built up in her arm she has halted the transformations progress at just past her shoulder, but in light of finding the solution too late has found  her arm irreversibly changed. As per Thrae's request, she went to the conjurers guild to look for how to properly cast spells and avoid a repeat of the incident, possibly even understand her magick; only to find her arm soaks up the Aether meant for her wand or staff in painful quantities. Upon returning to the guild and trying to at least learn the conjurer mindset and study where she went wrong, she comes to awaken her ability as a Hearer as many before her, able to hear those of earth, water, and wind Elementals. Altan and her have slowly been rebuilding the relationship lost as Yekulan starts falling for the woman a second time, while Thrae has become a close steadfast friend who has given her a paying job as a botanist and cook at their company, BWilf.

Now the background is out of the way, what's changing? Near Future Development?:

First and foremost would be her left arm, a very key feature that has lead to a lot of her character development in an equally unique way. What will be changing but not immediately will be her ability to cast spells with her arm and a better understanding of it's application, and of it's drawbacks.

To understand the arm; look at it as an empty crystal that constantly and slowly absorbs similar Aether from the world around it in small amounts, and when too much has been built up Yekulan suffers Aether sickness, and without releasing the pent up energy for too long the mutation will consequently spread. Spending too much is tiring on her, as this is similar to a Thaumaturge that has spent their wellspring and needs time to restore it, she can restore it at an accelerated rate but at a risk that too much could cause Aether sickness once more; time in the Black Shroud honestly is the best medicine for her.

Currently she is able to absorb normal seeds of plants like herbs and vegetables, and grow them at an accelerated rate from her arm while also granting her immunity to the negative effects. In a way this is very much a spell in and of itself and expends some of the Aether that is building up in the arm over time. I have written out absorbing seedkin seeds, assuming any of you read those. Aside from this accelerated body botany, she can and has used her Aether to get nearby plants to grow in a favorable fashion such as restraints or to blockade something about to attack her, even to cause a crop to bear fruit before it's time.

What the minor rework is looking to explore is the ability to continue using her arm as a medium, much like a conjurers staff or wand, as her arm works very much the same way by absorbing aether around it and then projecting it out with incantation/intent to give it shape/purpose. This will not be without training, exploration, mistakes even, and may be abandoned all together or pursued in limited quantities.

Currently Yekulan has started doing more serious work for the Conjurers guild as her membership is bordering on a year. She has become more adept with time and practice at being a Hearer, and consequently fulfilling the Elementals desires on a regular basis. This is included my more recent post of putting down rabid hoglets in a unique but effective way that avoided woodsin for all involved. This will string into the next development of why the guild wants to work around her arm with her, to unlock more of her potential to be an outstanding member of the guild.

One thing I want to throw in that hasn't been written is time; roughly a month, with Ceana (NPC) whom she consulted about her arm and lacked answers when she was trying to halt the spread of the mutation initially. Working with Ceana to better understand the mutation, being the only willing and living subject of who have suffered such an exposure for tests, as she too wants to understand the change better. This has left her with a better understanding of how her arm works which will help with learning how use it for magick, and a bit of fear that comes with that knowledge. She has become aware from the experiments that her arm can be crudely used to suck the aether of a person till death, or push enough aether into someone to kill them too; and this is the cause of the fear along with what may happen should the mutation spread too far. The assumption from the study is should the mutation spread too far, she may become similar in mindlessness to other victims and easily tempered to the primal of her elements; whether this will happen, and be the outcome, remains to be seen.

Arm out of the way, Yekulan's faith is being tweaked slightly. While she believes in the Elementals mainly on the basis she can hear them and has seen them act; she is going to be a bit more devout. Not quite a "tree nut" but definitely up there. Her Chirurgeon methods are based on the background of the ancient methods as opposed to modern, but also what she has experimented with, and what the Elementals have given back to her as knowledge for her faithful service.

Yekulan also has some but very little experience with the beast tribes, namely the Sylphs who are fond of her arm. I want to expand on her relations with the Sylphs, as well as travels to the north when she hears of the Vath; especially when she catches wind of their knowledge of the land.

All and all this makes for a very busy Au Ra. Working for Thrae, working with the conjurers/Elementals, and spending her "time off" visiting the beast tribes, doing her own experimentation, and mailing off remedy requests left in her mailbox in her absence.

Future Story?:

I've been majorly delaying this post on account of the Stormblood expansion announcement  and that there was still some fanfests with information needed to confirm how I want to move forward with Yeku. Now the last one has finished I feel a bit more confident in how I want her story to actually move forward. Nothing is set in stone of course.

Yeku, has just very recently been accepted into Matron's Reach; a IC link shell of healers from all corners of study that are available for RP needs, the group offers clinics and care facilities across the three major cities. When I have more information I will gladly share.

With the release of Orthard ahead of my scheduled story (wasn't expecting it for another year or so) it will feel a bit rushed but Yeku does want to return home and figure out more about her old self, why she was so violent, and what drove her old self to "erase" her mind.

Why this will feel rushed is a slightly long winded explanation.

I wanted Yekulan to stumble into the Ninja's in Eorzea, so to speak. The religion that follows it in that the gods are in everything around them; heaven, earth, and man, is something she'd easily see and misinterpret as Elementals. While she wouldn't use the methods of assassination against fellow man or woman; she would use the poisons and careful knife play to help keep the forest in check, and the sneaking to avoid conflict with the forest. Whether she will dabble in mudra remains to be seen. All of this is very similar to the post I mentioned before in her work for the conjurers guild, just unaffiliated to the ninja's. Yekulan has very little in the way of self defense other than bashing potion bottles over peoples heads, while effective don't get me wrong, to be able to fight in self defense would be a huge boon and would open a few more avenues for writing and interaction with other peoples characters if they so choose.

The concept of her needing to kill something is a conflict she will have with her old self, in that she doesn't know what they fought for or why they killed so much and she fears repeating history. Hence Yeku is wanting to figure her old self out. However, if she isn't harming anything, there is no reason for this avenue to be explored in time before Stormblood's release to urge her to the new land.

As far as Red Mage and Samurai, if Yeku actually dabbles or goes fully into these will remain to be seen. I don't want Yekulan jumping on one or the other because of a trend, I want her there for significant character reasons. While I highly doubt Red Mage at this point based on what I've decided on for her ability to interact with magic, and that style of swordplay feeling "flashy", not something she'd go after. Samurai however might be something she looks into if, big if, there is spirituality or meditation within the lore in the same way or more than there is with Ninja. She may even simply be drawn in by the control over ones self; something warriors (old Yeku) are not very known for in an attempt to distance herself and justify her actions as her own. Again, this remains to be seen until more information is available.

Another fact is the "classes" and "jobs" I've considered for Yekulan are all jobs that are "recent" in the sense that Ninja's haven't existed since the fifth astral era or Allagan Empire for example, meaning the studies would theoretically be more readily available and easier to learn (As opposed to searching through a soulstone I'm not even sure how she would find for the answer of how to cast a spell). Not that there isn't a stone for Ninja, but with lore it feels more like a heirloom or badge than an actual requirement to perform the actions the job is capable of. Soulstones have begun to feel more like a programming mechanic at this point as well with new jobs because a soulstone allows a base class to change conditionally into a job, and less an rp requirement. For Ninja and especially with the Machinist job for example where the aim was for Machinists to be a job any low born could do and help with the war effort. Obviously for jobs like scholar, Summoner, and Black Mage; it feels a lot more necessary.

What does this offer the community?:

I always want what I do to give back in some way shape or form, should people choose to use it.

First off, Yekulan obviously offers her services still at free to very little charge. Characters are free to explore with or without Yekulan more natural medication and "mental" rituals where believing in them makes them effective as opposed to their questionable effectiveness. Being a member of Matron's Reach she has some added networking to be available for your needs.

Second, if anyone would be interested in making a plot with me to move Yekulan along the Ninja ideas above, I'd be more than welcome to ideas or suggestions, and character interactions; otherwise I will pick NPC's, made up or otherwise, to teach her.

Third, if anyone wants to interact with Yeku at any point, please feel free to do so. I like to reply at least once a week, if not more frequently. I'll rp on Tumblr or Discord, just message me.

Please feel free to add your thoughts, concerns, theories, ideas, or criticism.

[sugarbubbleslove]

Finished (Again) and Questions

Okay - I finished my 3rd playthrough of romancing Liam (I’m a sucker and I wanted to get the cutscenes - next PT will be romancing Jaal! Promise)

But I have some questions.

Under the cut because it’s kind of long, and I don’t want to take up space on dash

1 - Ryder and SAM - disconnecting SAM from Ryder is what caused them to die, and their connection had to be manually reset - does that mean that Ryder will no longer die if SAM is disconnected from them again? Since the reason why the whole thing happened is probably because Ryder was dying when Alec passed over the connection when he died, triggering a double traumatic experience for SAM. (Look at Macen & Avi)

and while we are on that topic - shouldn’t Knight trying to disconnect SAM from Ryder should have caused some pain of some kind, especially since they were actually trying to disconnect SAM to save Ryder. Would have added a bit more to the story if Ryder had the chance to call Knight on her actions - especially since we know - from Lexi - that Ryder and SAM were connected on a level that even trying to untangle them would have resulted in Ryder’s death.

So my question is - is that still an issue? Because I really don’t think Cora and Liam would be too impressed if Ryder were to die on them, again. (3 times was 2 times many if you ask them - since they keep telling Ryder to stop playing dead)

2 - If you look at the codex in the ending, it implies that Cora, Vetra and Peebee will be the team to stay on in the next game - which does make sense in a way. 

Liam has made a promise to set up a Crisis Response team so he might be busy with that. (Especially considering the Kett haven’t left completely - and might not, they still have stasis pods, and Anagara to save)

Drack will have his grandkids. So there is a chance he will want to stick around to look after them while Kesh and Vorn keep working.

Gil will have his child. He said he wanted to be there for the child, to help Jill raise it so he might not be too committed for a long term work if it takes him away from his child for too long.

Jaal does have the Resistance, and the position he turned down - he might still have the chance to take it up - especially in the face of them going against the Archon and winning, so he will want to help the Resistance drive out the last of the Kett and reclaim as many of their worlds as possible)

So - does that mean we can get new members onto the team but at the same time, we can still get our old team back - like maybe they have missions that Ryder can help them with?

A part of me doesn’t want to break up the team - they’ve become a family but at the same time, everyone had their own things they need to do.

Just no break up. If they want to give us the option to keep the relationship going or break it off, fair enough. But I don’t want to sit through a stupid break up only to try and get my Ryder and their partner together again. Just give us an option to keep the relationship going without all the bullshit like what they did in ME 2 to ME 3, you started a relationship in ME 2, you had the option to tell the romance you wanted to keep it going or break it off. 

Kallo will probably stay as the pilot - they cannot get rid of Kallo, so I’m hoping he’ll stay on. Suvi on the other hand might stay behind or she might come with us - maybe we can get a choice, or maybe she will make a choice.

3 - Will we get the chance to have the other Ryder on the Team? Or do you think they might give the Sibling a team of their own, having them doing their own missions?

Just really curious since I really want my twins to have a mission together - where, preferably, both of them are kicking ass and not one of them being in danger - please? Bioware?

At the same time, I wouldn’t mind the chance to have the same mission together but you get to switch between the two Ryder. (then again, I would love the chance to do a romance with the Twin you didn’t do in MEA - it would be interesting switch if you could romance Scott with Cora in the next time if you played as Sara in the first one).

4 - SAM profiles - they were really interesting, but will they take it up a notch in the next game? For example, will a Biotic Ryder get the ability to make that lightning barrier type thing Aria had during the Omega DLC. Because it was fucking cool, and my Sara Ryder would rock that move - seriously.

But all in seriousness - would they give it a boost - especially since we know Ryder’s SAM is juiced.

5 - The Primus Deal - in some, I take it but don’t use it, once I took it and used it, others I don’t take it. How do you think it will impact in a later game, especially when you consider the ending it looks like she might become the Antagonist in the next game. Could we use it as blackmail to get her off our backs? Or could she use it against us? Should be interesting to find out.

6 - Where the HELL is the Council going to be? The Nexus? Meridian? Are they just going to pick a planet that no-one has claimed and use that as a neutral place?

Because I can’t see the Nexus working out neutrally because it is technically ‘Milky Way’. Would they build something like the Citadel only on a smaller scale since they probably wouldn’t have people living there?

7 - they better not bring any bullshit from the Milky Way into Andromeda. I think the reason why I love Andromeda so much is because it’s all new, all different and completely and utterly unknown.

I don’t want the Reapers - we had three games regarding them. They are finished, over and done with. We already unlocked Alec’s memories about them and that is enough. There is no going back to the Milky Way so don’t bring the fucking Milky Way to them.

Keep the Reapers away as far as a possible from this game, and I will be fucking delighted.

Protheans - well - given the Asari’s comments, there is a chance that the Jardaans could actually be them, but I’m sincerely hoping not. I want them to be completely different. 

There was this comment I saw about the Jardaans possibly being AI/Robotic - like the Geths and all I can think is NO FUCKING WAY.

Like I said in my last post - keep the fucking Organic and AI war out of this game, I am begging here. We’ve had that war - we’ve had the chance to reconcile the war between the Geths and the Organics - I do NOT want to go through all that again.

Seriously - give me a good story between the Jardaans and whoever made the Scourge - just do not bring in the whole ‘creating AI and it turned on us’ crap.

We have Ryder and SAM - a perfect symbiosis of Organic and AI working together - that is enough. We don’t need a war on that front, again.

8 - Curiously the Benefactor - as I said before, I’m sure the Benefactor is not a native of the Milky Way considering they use that there was trouble coming a long time before anyone else did. Considering that Ellen had been dead for a while before Shepard started telling people about the Reapers and the Benefactor approached Alec when Ellen was still alive.

They said they knew something big was coming to the Milky Way - they didn’t know it was the Reapers, which gives the impression that there might have been something else coming to the Milky Way or they got some kind of warning.

I know people think it’s the Illusive Man but to be honest - I actually doubt it, why go all the way to bring back Shepard and help them if he was giving people a new chance - and seriously? Do you really think Illusive Man - the one who thinks Humanity should be on top - would have backed something that would mean other species would have to go with them?

I get the feeling the Benefactor is someone/something else and it should prove interesting, if they actually do pick up the plot mind you. (Considering they did drop some plots in the ME trilogy).

9 - and they LIED! I thought we were told that we could invite crew members back to our cabin when we wanted to spend time with them? Imagine me - on my first playthrough - all excited once I locked in Liam’s romance only to find I can’t invite him back to the Cabin?

Seriously?!!!!

I want that fixed in the next game. We should have the opportunity to invite people to the cabin. What is the whole bleeding point of having a nice couch and table if we can’t have fun playing cards and such (Did we seriously have to go to the nexus for Gil and Ryder to play cards?)

And there was a perfectly good bed that they wasted too (as far as I can tell). Liam and Sara use his ratty couch, Scott and Cora use a fucking table? (Seriously?), I can’t wait to see if any of the other romances actually use the freaking bed.

(and maybe a chance of getting Ryder to sleep in the bed every now and then?)

10 - WHERE THE FUCK IS MY BROTHER/SISTER after the ending?! No one will tell me where they are, I can’t find them anywhere and they didn’t leave a message. Some sibling to disappear on me after I’ve spent most of the game worrying over them. 

And we better get the Hamster and Pyjack in the next game too. I am not having them missing.

Questions are over (for the moment, I might gain more when I’m playing to romance Jaal).

Answers would be appreciated! 

OH!

I forgot - I always wondered who was doing the Codex, for some reason - I actually thought it was Lexi considering she does the profile on you. Turns out that it’s actually SAM. That made my heart melt, little bugger.