#she's dual wielding swords so it feels like a waste to give it to her

[bragganhyl]

Something that I find funny about Modwyr that she has that low-key jealous line when you pick up the Magister's Cudgel, which in my case is... pretty baseless since Gaura is a chanter and the MC doesn't bind with chanters. But you know what does bind with chanters? Blightheart - a sort of sentient gun hosting the soul of a menpwgra, which (like Modwyr) wants a steady stream of murders bc it feeds on the souls of its victims and if it doesn't get the sustenance it wants, it will rot the wielder alive. And Modwyr doesn't say a single thing about that lol

[smxmuffinpeddling]

The first time Benja officially met the infamous Princess Namaari (infamous through his daughter’s repeated grumblings about said princess of Fang), she placed a blade in front of him with her head bowed. Her face is somber and her strong shoulders weighed down by an invisible force.

Chief Benja had sensed this sort of presence before from old warriors or generals that have overseen countless battles. More recently he has caught this presence on his daughter in moments where she thinks he isn’t observing the woman she has become. It made him sad to see these haunting expressions on people so young. The princess of Fang appeared to be burdening herself with more ghosts than most.

“And what would you have me do with this, Princess Namaari,” Benja asked in his most patient tone as he eyed the blade placed on the ground before him. He had a sneaking suspicion based on rumors and Raya’s own stilted recaps of what transpired before and after he was turned to stone. There was a lot to process, but Benja could only make judgments based on what he could see before him.

“As the Chief of Heart, you have the power to punish war criminals,” Namaari responded, eyes still on the ground. Chief Benja sighed from deep within his bones and set aside the tea he brought to share when the princess requested a private meeting with him. She continued, “The talks of peace would go much smoother if the people of Heart received justice for the wrongdoings committed against them by Fang. It would mean the most coming from you.”

“And you think the best way to do this is to offer yourself up for persecution?”

“Healing can't begin if the other tribes feel Fang hasn't paid the price," Namaari reasoned, almost casually. As if she wasn’t offering her young life to him on a platter. "If it helps the people of Fang… of Kumandra,” Namaari corrected herself, resigned to the fate she envisioned for herself. “Then yes.”

“Does Raya know you are here?” Benja inquired out of curiosity. Namaari’s gaze snapped to his for the first time. They held gazes for a moment, guilt creeping up in Namaari’s expression as she looked away.

“No, she doesn’t.”

Chief Benja hummed to himself, stroking his beard in thought. "What you say is not without merit." He busied his hands by setting out the cups for tea. It would be a waste to let it grow cold after all. "I admit, I have been approached by some of my people regarding this very topic.”

Namaari nodded, unsurprised. “Would you prefer to do it publicly then?” Her shoulders seemed to slump even more at the thought.

Benja couldn’t help chuckling morbidly as he poured tea into two cups. “Now you’re just laying it on thick.”

Her brows knit together and her mouth twisted, ignoring the cup he offered her. “I’m serious about this, Chief Benja.”

He responded with a look conveying that he was taking her gravely seriously. “Drink. I made it myself.”

The princess seemed to notice the offering for the first time and accepted it hesitantly. He politely took a sip first and she followed. He allowed his Fang guest to breathe for a moment. “What do you think?”

“I think I should pay for the hurt I’ve caused,” Namaari was quick to answer.

“About the tea, Princess Namaari,” he corrected with a hint of a smile on his lips.

“Oh.” If the princess deflated anymore in front of him, she’ll blow off on the breeze before their meeting concluded. “It’s excellent.”

The smile on his face grew warmer. “Glad to hear it.” They continued to sip until he poured them a second cup.

“Raya told me that you came together to save Kumandra.”

“I did not make it easy for her,” Namaari said, the tea turning bitter on her tongue.

"You were only a child."

"Not the second time," Namaari confessed with a pained expression. The tightness of her knuckles threatened to shatter the cup in her grasp.

He reached for the sword and she straightened at the gesture. The sword matched the one on her other hip. Beautifully balanced, and a lot lighter than what he was accustomed to, he held it respectfully in both of his palms.

“To hate and blame is the easy path. The hardest thing is change and forgiveness.” Namaari’s eyes widened in surprise when he handed the sword back to her. She took it instinctively, a frown pulling the corners of her mouth down.

“Princess Namaari, the punishment you seek will not be carried out by me.”

“I don’t understand,” Namaari protested.

“You know what I see when I look at you?” Benja’s gentle expression crinkled his eyes. The look on her face made it clear she expected insults and then some. “Someone who understands better than most the consequences of their actions. Of how important it is to our people that we come together or we’d fall apart. When I look at you I see hope.”

“Hope?” Namaari tilted her head as if the concept eluded her.

“Hope that the future of Kumandra will be safe in the hands of someone who changed, and grew. Kumandra was a dream of mine, one I realized might have been a naive one that night,” he admitted. “The real work comes now, and we need examples like you to inspire hope in others and lead.”

Namaari opened her mouth to say something but she merely looked down into her reflection on the sword instead, eyes growing wetter. He could see her cheek jump from her gritting teeth and he reached out to lightly grasp her shoulder.

“That is what dragons do,” he made sure to look into her eyes reassuringly. “They inspire light in humans to be better, and in turn, that light spreads to others. I will not extinguish the light growing in you, Princess.”

At that moment, the Fang warrior simply looked like a little girl again, barely holding in her overwhelming emotions. “But how will I atone for my mistakes?” Namaari whispered, lost.

Benja squeezed her burdened shoulder before leaning back, finding his tea grew cold. “My daughter has already passed judgment on you, and I trust her.” His pleasant smile turned into a sly grin. “And something tells me she would not be too happy if she found out you came to me for your punishment.”

At that, Princess Namaari finally made a sound of amusement and her gaze grew a little warmer at the thought. “I suspect not.” The sword was fastened back to her hip and her shoulders did not look as heavy as they did when she approached him. Hands forming a circle, she bowed towards the Chief of Heart and muttered a shy thanks.

The second time Chief Benja met Princess Namaari, her hand rested on her blade’s hilt as they stared each other down.

“I think you have some explaining to do, Princess Namaari.” His grin was sharp, particularly enjoying this. She did not look as amused as he did.

“I’m sorry, Chief Benja,” Namaari’s grip grew white-knuckled but her resolve flashed in her eyes. “But... I’m in love with your daughter,” she said it like it was her greatest sin to date. A sin she looked ready to die for.

Earlier that day as Benja was taking a stroll through Heart’s gardens in a rare moment to himself, he stumbled across quite the sight. He spotted his daughter in an intimate embrace with the princess of Fang. He was surprised but managed to not make a noise, slowly backing up to allow them privacy. However, before he could slip away, he locked eyes with Namaari over Raya’s shoulder. He might’ve laughed at the size her eyes grew in panic, but he was already gone. He felt glad that his daughter was letting others into her heart, even as he tried to push the image from his mind.

The princess evidently did not forget, charging up towards his sanctum with determined steps.

“I know you’ll want my head for daring to overstep my welcome in your home. But I’m serious about her and I don’t care if you doubt my intentions. I won’t ever back down again when it comes to her!” she declared fiercely.

Benja finally broke character when a laugh escaped him and he gave into it. Namaari was visibly confused that Raya’s father wasn’t trying to strangle her right now as he doubled over laughing. It took a few seconds for him to calm down, facing the young woman while wiping a tear from his eye.

“Have you told Raya that you love her?” he asked with genuine curiosity. Namaari’s demeanor quickly changed, from ready for a fight, to flushed and stammering.

“I- no. Not yet.”

A few stray chuckles were still escaping him as he moved towards his weapons chest. “You should. And all that other stuff you just said.”

“You’re… not angry with me?” the other woman sounded surprised. He perused through his collection in an unhurried fashion.

“I’ve told you before that I trust my daughter’s judgment.” He selected one of his new swords made for him after his daughter inherited his last one. “Though there was always one thing that bothered me.”

Namaari brought her guard up again at those words, taking a fighting stance once Benja made a few test swings with his new sword. “What would that be?”

“Raya once told me you were the most skilled fighter she’s ever faced.” His shoulders popped as he rolled them, loosening his muscles. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a proper challenge besides my daughter, and I’d like to remind her who the fiercest warrior in her life is,” he said with a confident grin.

Namaari visibly gulped but she squared up, drawing her dual-wielded swords to face him. And he felt proud of the fire he saw in her, glad that his daughter chose someone who was not only willing to die for her but to live for her.

The next time Chief Benja and Princess Namaari met in secret, thankfully there were no blades involved. They were sipping tea together in companionable silence, though the Heart Chief could tell the woman was nervous about something.

It wasn’t often she was nervous anymore. Over the years she’s grown to be a capable and charismatic leader, accepting the love that was given to her and giving love in return. Intricate Visayan tattoos spread over her arms and shoulders highlighting the assured way she carried her burdens. Her hair, once asymmetrical, was evenly shorn on both sides of her head, with the hair on top braided down the center. (Raya had told him in her smuggest tone that Namaari mimicked women she admired, even while Raya stared at her beloved from across the room with her dopiest grin. They were so in love Benja had to laugh at their expense.)

“Jade for your thoughts,” he nudged before she lost herself in her thoughts.

She put her cup down and cleared her throat. “Chief Benja,” she started before he waved at her formalness.

“That's Benja to you,” he reminded her not for the first time.

“Chief Benja,” she stubbornly asserted with a smirk. He smirked back. “You’ve always been kind to me. More than I deserved at times, and I have nothing but respect for you.” She took a deep breath, maintaining eye contact with him. “It would be the greatest honor of my life if you extended another kindness and allowed me your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

Benja regarded her, feeling misty-eyed and bursting with sentiments. His little girls have grown up so fast.

Namaari continued, growing nervous at his silence once more. “In return, I can offer fifty serlot kittens, copies of Fang’s most sacred dragon scrolls, and as much gold and metal every cart in Fang can hold, as well as-” Benja cut her off with a deep laugh and a hand on her shoulder.

“Does Raya know you’re here?” he inquired with a raised brow. This time, she matched his smile.

“She does, actually,” Namaari tilted her head knowingly towards the door, where they promptly heard a muted curse and feet hurriedly walking away at being caught. They shared a chuckle at Raya’s antics.

“Namaari,” Benja’s voice dripped with pride. “There is no one else in Kumandra I trust more with my daughter’s heart.” Namaari’s eyes widened at his words. Even after all these years of fighting for approval, she was still surprised when it was imparted to her. “You have my blessing.” He raised his glass in a toast to them. “I’m only surprised it took you so long to ask!”

Namaari was as relieved and light as he’s ever seen her, glowing from the inside out. “For a long time, I didn’t feel worthy of her. I still don’t sometimes, but…” She placed a hand over her heart. “She still wants me, and I think that’s finally enough.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Benja approved warmly. He rubbed his beard suddenly as a thought occurred to him. “Oh, because I suspect you’ve been dying to hear me say this,” Benja’s expression went from overjoyed to deadly serious in the span of a breath. “If you hurt my daughter I’ll kill you.”

Namaari was surprised for a moment before she smiled gratefully. “Thank you. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” They clinked their cups together in agreement.

[akampana]

Oh, oh, how about a Gil vampire lord and arty famous vampire hunter in a eternal rivalry for no.1, kinda Hellsing and dracula rivalry but with a twist

“I couldn’t live with myself, if I didn’t tell you.” Gilgamesh x Arturia Vampire x Hunter. Enjoy!

_______

Three bullets.

Two knives.

One vampire.

Arturia Pendragon clicked the cylinders back into place and brought her weapons up to her chin, the warmth of her breath misting the polished barrel. She was the only thing in this accursed mansion that had any sense of heat, as everything inside was either unlit, inanimate, or dead.

The small hunter cursed the winter. There wasn’t a poorer season for killing vampires than one that was as dark and cold as the night creatures’ hearts. However, she could wait no longer. For generations, her family had pursued the blood-sucking fiends, hoping to one day cease the plague that had haunted their lands. At last, it could come to an end. There would be no need for her little brother to learn to handle a gun as well.

All she had to do was put Gilgamesh to rest.

A sudden movement from the right had her fingers on the triggers, but it was an effort wasted. There was nothing but the creak of wood and a curtain dancing in the cold breeze. However, she was not too quick to drop her guard. The vampire she hunted tonight was older than time and just as wise. Tricks like this were not beyond him. It made his hunts more interesting, she bet.

"There you are, my love."

...

Too slow!

The Pendragon ducked to the floor just in time to hear his palm smash through the stone brick behind her. Aiming her revolvers, she sprang up like a gymnast, twisting midair to face the hellspawn.

Silver shot out of her gun, but she already knew it would miss. Vampires were quite the agile creatures, having shed their human limits in exchange for their souls. Even if Gilgamesh looked mortal like herself, the way he sidestepped fire at such a short distance clearly suggested otherwise.

The soles of her boots screeched against the floor as she secured her landing by chucking the revolver at her opponent. Empty guns were useless in fights that required all her attention, but thankfully, this one had extra utility against creatures of the night.

When a high pitched squeak more suited to a frightened pig passed her old rival's lips, she knew she'd made a successful play.

"A silver-barrelled gun? Ha! And here I believed you had exhausted all your options," the older one smirked, the skin of his hands hissing from the contact. "That must have cost your family the entire treasury, my dearest Arturia. Who did this once belong to, hm? Was it your father's? Grandfather's? Great-grandfather's?"

Arturia grimaced as she snatched one of her knives from her heel.

"Killing your kind brings quite the fortune,” she answered, as per their usual simultaneous verbal bouts. “I can buy a hundred more with the price on your head, Gilgamesh."

She spun the blade round her fingers to provoke him, stopping in a backhand grip.

"More of your distractions, girl?" he sneered, just a hint of irritation breaking through his haughty mask. "It will take more than parlor tricks to fell the likes of me!"

Arturia lunged like a fencer, weaving through his usual jabs till she nicked his skin, lamenting how terribly shallow the cut was. As her breaths began to labor, her eyes flickered to the hallway, debating whether or not she could make a break for it. There was no outmatching a vampire in a direct dance to death, but she’d already made that play. Gilgamesh was not going to let her go a second time-

A sharp hiss was the woman’s only warning before his hands seized her throat.

No!

Desperately, she fired the gun at his knee, but all it did was have him bruise her skull on the floor instead of the wall, flinging her around like she weighed nothing.

The woman kicked and thrashed, but for all her effort, all she managed was a slash to his face before he rid her of her knife. Black spots began to cloud her vision, but Arturia took aim even as her lungs began to burn.

She had one bullet. One final attempt to make sure no Pendragon would ever have to take up the craft again. She had to spare poor Arthur. Only six and already being taught how to wield a knife. Igraine was already planning to take him out to hunt foxes. Arthur loved foxes. God. She had to make this one shot. Just this last one. For his sake. Please.

It didn’t take Gilgamesh any effort to bat her gun away.

Arturia’s emerald eyes locked with those of her assailant’s. Her whole life, she’d trained for this day, only to still come up short. It didn’t matter, the thousands that had fallen to her technique. She was still no match for him, not even after all this time.

Her nails clawed into the skin of his knuckles as Gilgamesh dipped down toward her shoulder, no doubt preparing to sink his teeth into her jugular.

Was this how she was going to meet her end? So close to finally ridding the continent of every vampire there was? So close to liberating her brother, her entire clan, from cruel deaths at the hands of the immortals? Why, after all she’d sacrificed, after giving up her life to become a hunter, did she have to fail at her mission’s most crucial moment?

Tears fell from her eyes as she shut them tight, refusing her last glimpse of life to be the eerily perfect face of the undead.

His teeth scraped against her skin. A final torture before he drained the life out of her.

Arturia braced herself for the bite, her head screaming apologies to every person she was letting down. Igraine, her late father, her cousins, Arthur.

But it never came.

“You have done well, my queen,” whispered the old creature, his cold lips brushing against her neck. Arturia gasped for air, hacking and coughing beneath him, a million questions running through her mind. He quieted them all with his thumb on her bottom lip, freezing Arturia where she lay.

“I have endured several of your lifetimes. Each, more passionless than the last. I thought myself fortunate at first, able to experience every pleasure the world had to offer, but a thousand years can make even the sweetest fruit seem vile.”

A flicker of irritation crossed his sharp, eternal features, but it was quickly replaced by something Arturia had never seen before. The emotion swelled within his vibrant ruby irises, which glowed even through a night as dark as this one.

“Eventually, I saw this ‘gift’ for what it truly was: a curse, bestowed upon me by that loathsome snake an eternity ago,” he voiced cryptically, knowing this beautiful little girl would likely never grasp just how long he’d walked this earth.

The Pendragon stared up at him with those fiery irises he’d been fond of since the first time he beheld them.

It was exactly twenty years since the day she first came here. Fifteen years old, a mere child, yet one that possessed the gall to challenge him to a duel. He spared her that day, and she went on to challenge every single creature in the continent that had been turned, coming back every now and then for another shot at his head.

Arturia wasn’t anything like those that shared her last name. Her clan was stiff. Traditional. She took their knowledge, but did not stop there, taking various forms of study to hone her craft. She'd been to Ireland to study their methods. To France to understand alchemy. Three years ago, she nearly killed him with near-invisible wire she acquired from the east. Before that, it was a sword of fire. Today, apparently, she’d gotten dexterous enough dual wielding either guns or knives, when she hadn’t that skill prior.

Ever since they met, his days were full of excitement, anticipation for the day she’d return. Suddenly, he was always on his toes, rising at the first sign of night to prepare for her next arrival. His hunts were no longer mechanical, for he knew now that he and she were bound to cross paths. Where would she see him next? On a hike into the mountains? In summer, when the days were long? Maybe even at the local ball? There were so many possibilities!

About a decade into their arrangement, Gilgamesh realized he was feeling something he hadn’t felt in eons.

He felt alive.

But like most living things, he knew Arturia had a limit. And before she reached it, before his fun could be taken away once more, he knew he had to do this. What better time than now, when he had the opportunity to caress her cheek for the first time?

“However, despite how I’ve loathed my own longevity, I never want our duels to end,” he admitted, memorizing her face, counting her freckles, brushing his thumb against lips he didn’t dare kiss for fear of imparting his curse.

“You, wicked woman, have made this soulless being crave a soul, if only to meet you once more beyond the grave.”

Minutes passed in silence as Arturia registered his confession. The night did not conceal her expressions from him. Not the fear, the anger, the confusion. He witnessed the exact moment of her realization, felt her heartbeat quicken, saw the heat rise to her cheeks. At last, she understood why she lay under him and had not yet fallen victim to his fangs.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked calmly, her voice strained, but clear. “Why now?”

“I have desired to do so for half a decade, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t tell you...and I cannot die without you knowing that you are treasured beyond belief.”

Slowly, he reached for her ankle, where he knew she’d hidden her last knife. It burned his flesh as he grasped the hilt, rejecting the impurity of his being, but he persisted anyway, rejoicing in the sensation. This would be one of the final times he’d experience it.

“Wh...what are you doing?” she asked as he pulled her up to face him, placing the dagger in her grip and clasping his hands around hers. Even presented with the opportunity, it was no longer killing intent that resided within her eyes, only conflict.

“Without an end to one’s existence, love, the delights of what you call ‘life’ have no meaning,” he explained, moving her arms so that the blade’s tip rested just above his heart. “Therefore, Arturia Pendragon, I ask that your worthy hands grant me mine.”

He’d expected his death to be immediate, to happen as soon as he loosened his hold. Gilgamesh knew better than anybody what Arturia had at stake and who she was protecting. Hell, he was excited just contemplating what kind of life she’d lead, now that she’d been liberated of her family’s burden.

But now, when her goal was right in front of her, she hesitated.

For what seemed like a better eternity, Gilgamesh watched her stare into his exhausted red eyes, like she was engraving their intimidating splendor into her memory.

“Thank you.”

His death couldn’t have been sweeter.

[segersgia]

Looking back: Part 3 - Craftworld Aeldari

The Psychic Awakening event was kind of a disappointment. Nothing really major happened within these books and the focus of most of them involved stories about Space Marines. The Xenos factions got it very bad in most of these books, but none as bad as all of the Aeldari.

I feel so sorry for what Aeldari players have to deal with in the hobby. Most of your range is either still in finecast or in metal, and you haven’t had a major model release in about 8 years. The entire Craftworld range definitely needs an update.

I must be honest; I don’t care that much about the Aeldari. I’ve never been particularly interested in elven races, save those that go full ahead with the nature aspect. This is why I prefer the Wood Elves and Exodites, over races like the High Elves or the Lumineth Realmlords. 

So I will put a disclaimer on this post; Aeldari lore is not my strong suit. In fact, I find it sometimes quite confusing. I might make mistakes or misinterpret the lore of these units. I hereby apologize for this. 

Let’s begin...

Spiritseer:

Aeldari Spiritseers are Warlocks specialized in the preservation and care of Aeldari souls. They are the ones that guide Aeldari spirits inside of Wraith Constructs. In some way, you could call them a form of necromancer.

They walk the “Path of the Seer”; one of the most dangerous Paths for the Aeldari to walk. On this path, they develop their psychic abilities and learn how to control them. They’ve also (if I’m correct about this at least) previously walked the “Path of the Warrior”, which gave them the necessary experience to control their impulses and emotions.  

This Spiritseer got released alongside the Wake the Dead box-set, which pitted the Spiritseer Qelnaris and the forces of Saim-Hann, against the Ultramarines. I can’t find what the conclusion of this battle was, but guessing from the way that the Eldar have been treated this edition, I would say they probably got stomped by the Ultramarines.

Normally, this Spiritseer is not something specifically to write home about, as he looks as you would expect a Spiritseer to look like. However, looking back upon their older model, I can see that this new version is quite an improvement. The pose is way better and the proportions seem to have been fixed in this version. 

My favourite thing about this model is the mask. I love when Eldar in any form look otherworldly and alien, and these domed masks work perfectly for that. 

8/10

Howling Banshees:

Howling Banshees are a form of Aspect Warrior; Aeldari who walk the “Path of the Warrior”. As an Aspect Warrior, the Howling Banshees embody a certain aspect of Khaine, the God of Murder. Specifically, the aspect of aggressive close quarters combat.

As the name would imply, their Aspect is inspired by the mythical Banshees, who, with their wails and cries, heralded doom and death.  

They go into battle carrying Shuriken Pistols and Power Weapons (mostly swords), and they certainly know how to use them. Howling Banshees are freakishly fast and precise, but what makes them unique is their Sonic weaponry. The mask they wear is called a Banshee Mask, and it amplifies their war-cries into some sort of psychic screech. Those that hear this become disoriented and paralyzed because their nervous system can’t handle this amount of psychic energy. 

The Howling Banshees are what I think of first when someone mentions Eldar. It would only be fair that they became the first Aspect to be updated. From what I see, it doesn’t disappoint so far. They remain faithful to the source material and the poses are overall better compared to their predecessors. They also have a more decent proportioned waste now. 

The inclusion I most of all like is the separate Aspect Relic, and I believe it is an effigy depicting Morai-Heg, The Crone Godess. The website encourages you for using it as an objective marker. I love it when the designers give us these little extra’s that can be used as set pieces. I hope every new Aspect Warrior gets a symbol like this in the future. 

9/10

Howling Banshee Exarch:

Exarchs are Aspect Warriors who specifically have become lost and trapped within the “Path of the Warrior” and become the High Priests/Guardians over their specified Aspect Shrine. Think of them as teachers who train their squad in the way of their Aspect.

Their armour is more ornate than the rest of their squad and they’ve forgone their Shuriken Pistol in favour of going fully melee focused. They then can carry either two Mirror-Swords, an Executioner Power-Glaive or, they can mimic their Phoenix Lord and carry a Triskele (the three pointed boomerang-thingie). Their overall skill- and power-level is way above that of anyone, probably capable of dueling the best warriors that the Imperium could throw at them (if GW wouldn’t be so biased in their campaign books).

The Exarch kit contains a seperate head that doesn’t wear the mask. This apparently is an Ynnari Exarch, who walks a way different path than that of the Craftworld Eldar. I can’t find much information about this, but it is at least interesting that the Ynnari don’t need to wear their War-masks.

I’ve seen discussions and complaints about the way that the maskless face looks and let’s just say a few things.

Men can become Howling Banshees, though will still wear the same type of Aspect Armour (which includes the breast plate).

Women don’t need to look feminine when they are actively at war, and it doesn’t make them any less feminine.

If the Mechanicus can have non-binary members, then the Aeldari most certainly can have them as well. 

These are technically part of the Howling Banshee kit, so the same points can be applied to these two. I do think that the Glaive looks way better on this model than the Mirror-swords. The Exarch looks a little “out-of-balance” when dual wielding. I did wish though that they got some more weapon options. The Triskele isn’t in the kit, and I also saw a concept piece for an Eldar Power-Axe, which the Aeldari just deserve to have in their arsenal. Give Howling Banshees Power Axes. That would look so cool.

8/10

Jain Zar:

Phoenix Lords are by far some of the most ancient and powerful members of the Aeldari race. They were former Exarchs who have fought for so long, that they don’t have an Aspect Shrine or Craftworld left to protect. Instead, they wander from Craftworld to Craftworld and arrive to fight alongside their kin when the need arises the most. 

Whenever a Phoenix lord falls in battle, their soul is transported inside of the spirit stone of the suit. Then, another Eldar warrior will don the suit and become possessed by the original Phoenix lord. Most Phoenix lord armour contains the souls of dozens of Eldar, all who’ve sacrificed their lives in order to resurrect their respective Phoenix Lord.

Jain Zar is of course the Phoenix Lord of the Howling Banshees. In fact, she is the founder of her Aspect and according to legend, became the first Exarch. This makes her the second Phoenix Lord to come into existence, with the first being Asurmen. She is considered one of the most active Phoenix Lords to roam the galaxy and has an active hatred for Chaos. After the rise of the Ynnari, she became one of the biggest advocates of their cause.

Jain Zar carries the Jainas Mor and Zhai Morenn. The Jainas Mor is the Three bladed Triskele, which is “Sharper than any mortal blade”. The Zhai Morenn is her Power-Glaive, and it is a relic from before the Fall of the Eldar. Her Banshee Mask was the first of its kind and every Banshee mask that has followed is a copy of hers.

During the Psychic Awakening, Jain Zar protected Yvraine from Drazhar and pursued him. This proved fatal and got her sliced in two.  A new Exarch donned the armour and Jain Zar was reborn. She then got a rematch with Drazhar and became victorious. Eventually the infamous battle of Iathglas happened, where she, together with Yvraine and the Visarch barely managed to defeat a HOLOGRAM?!? of Shalaxi Hellbane. (goddamnit Geedubs).

Jain Zar’s new model is such an improvement over her older one that I am excited to see what any of the other Phoenix Lords might look like in the future. I love her proportions, her pose, her appearance... everything is so good. I’m not even bothered by the hair and I don’t care that it is too long or impractical in combat. 

One thing I would’ve preferred though is that they would’ve kept her original paint scheme. I prefer the black/red paint scheme over the white/red one. I get why they changed it, because it fits better with the scheme of her Aspect.

10/10

--------

While the Craftworlds didn’t get much this edition, what they did get has been very good. I’m excited for what may come in the future for the Aeldari.

Games Workshop. Could you just make more Eldar models? People have been begging you to update them for over a decade now. Listen to them. Most of the Aeldari range is still finecast or metal. 

Next up: Primaris Vanguard Infantry

previous posts: Primaris Mainline Infantry, Death Guard Infantry

[risingsouls]

Conversations: 3

[Part 3 of what should def just be called my self-indulgent and soon to be shippier bs. The shippy isn’t REALLY there yet but the chemicals are reacting, as they say.]

“I have another question.”

“Why am I not surprised?” Vegeta eyed Nabooru from across the campfire, usual frown twitching a touch lower. The flames danced in her gold eyes. Had it not been for the dinosaur steak roasting over the fire, the offered view of the flame’s glow illuminating her against the early night sky might have been pleasant. “Well, go on. I’ve indulged you every other time, why should now be any different?”

The Gerudo reached out to turn her dinner for an even roast. Considering their last encounter, how the train of conversation intensified to a point that felt as though the slightest movement would trigger violence, she almost didn’t expect him to let her follow through. A whole week passed before he returned to the wasteland for a spar and, while she tried not to dwell on it, to accept that she pushed too far and overstayed her welcome, or, harder to swallow he didn’t consider her a worthy sparring partner any more, it had bothered her more than she cared to admit aloud or to herself. When she hit the low point of considering finding him herself or showing up at his place of residence--a tidbit of information she picked up at the tournament if she couldn’t sense him--she threw herself into her own training. A good long span of survival training without the use of her ki helped clear her head and consider ways to move forward with her growth on her own once more.

“This one might be personal.” She snorted at the raised eyebrow he gave her and amended, “In a different way. Like about your body sort of personal.”

“What?” His expression morphed into a scowl. Heat soared into his cheeks and he glanced away to keep her from noticing it. “What the hell would you need to ask about my body?!”

It took a second too long for her to realize why her words caused such an indignant reaction in the prince. “W-wait! No, I didn’t mean it like that! I’m not--!” she sputtered, trying to regain ground. “Ugh, I’ll just ask. You and Nappa are both Saiyans, but he has a tail and you don’t. Did you have a tail at some point, too?”

Vegeta felt the blush flee from his face and his heart rate slowly returning to normal, but her inquiry did nothing to quell his sour expression. He turned it back on her. “Of course I had a tail. All Saiyans are born with them.”

Had. Considering the tidbits of his past she knew, she feared the worst. Frieza was obviously a racist bastard that feared his kind. Had he taken it? If so, why hadn’t he lobbed Nappa’s off? A warning? Another sort of message? Nabooru pulled the steak from the fire and extended it to him. A peace offering, a silent apology. A way to cool him off and keep talking if only for her own curiosity. “What happened to it, then? Or is yours special and invisible?”

Snatching the proffered meat, sharp canines tore into it. He ignored the burns to his tongue and the roof of his mouth as he chewed. “Got cut off,” he rumbled around the bite before taking another.

Nabooru failed to stop her eyelids from lowering and the corners of her lips dipping downward in an unamused frown. Rolling her eyes, she popped up to her feet and strode over to the carcass a few meters away from their camp. “Should I ask you how or why?” She considered summoning a ki sword but instead pulled one of her dual blades from her hip, if only to strike back by annoying him as he was her. When he found her earlier that afternoon training with her trusty blades--the weight welcome in her hands, the technique of wielding them so embedded in her muscle memory she lost no time delving into her old routines and toying with new ones--he had made it plain he didn’t care for such weapons. She brought it down in a swift arc, slicing another steak from the beast’s tail. Noting that he was halfway through the one in his hands, she hacked off another for insurance. “Or would I be wasting my breath?”

Though the rage from that particular day had long since dulled to a weak summer thunderstorm when given half a thought, Vegeta avoided considering it. A successful endeavor so long as his mind cooperated and no one reminded him of it. The day his life was upended and flipped upside down, never to return to a proper orientation even after all these years. His whole understanding of himself, his place in the universe, his strength and prowess as a warrior...all of it ripped to shreds and uncertain. Sometimes, it all still felt like an extended nightmare and he would wake up in his pod on some new planet to conquer with Nappa and Raditz at his side. Such moments were fewer and further between these days, but he once more found himself on precarious footing with no clear goal for himself. No clear desires. A murky identity despite his best efforts to conceal just how lost he felt through declarations of his princely status to a dead race.

Their last conversation had reminded him of it and, as he tended to do when he needed to feel like he was accomplishing something and forget the world around him, he trained day and night until exhaustion forced him to rest. Then he awoke a fee meager hours later and did it again. He lost at least a week this time, if the last message Nabooru sent and he replied to and her off-handed comment earlier was any indication.

"A fat man cut it off," he began between bites of meat. He swallowed, watching her prepare the next steak on the spit. "Never saw him again after. Best for him because I'd have killed him if I did."

An empty threat, likely. He had promised the others there that day the same fate but failed to enact any of them. A waste of energy, he told himself. But deep down, he simply knew it was a death wish when he still tailed Kakarot in power. And though back then he wished and sometimes still considered if he would have been better off sharing the same fate as his people, obliterated to space dust to forever float among the cosmos and join them in Hell, his fire to reclaim his honor and place as the most powerful Saiyan kept him alive.

Nabooru knew her follow up question was predictable, but if he found it annoying, he could easily amend it by filling in the proper details without prompt. "A random fat man just cut off your tail?" she asked, tone devoid of humor despite the image parading through her mind. "Seems rather random."

"It wasn't." Her steely gaze pinned him to the spot, full lips thinned and an eyebrow lifted. A chuckle rumbled in his chest, and he could imagine--almost feel--the missing appendage in question flicking in idle arcs of amusement. He finished the last bit of meat slow, relishing the taste and her mounting frustration over the game he played. "Our tails are what allow us to transform into the mighty Oozaru. He cut it off to return me to my normal form.”

“Another transformation? Like your Super Saiyan thing?”

“No, not exactly. During full moons, Saiyans transform into giant apes capable of leveling planets. Hence why our talents were in demand for someone like Frieza and his family.” He wiped his mouth with his arm. “Plenty of us could do it without the transformation, but using the Oozaru form was typically faster and more difficult for enemies to strike down.”

Nabooru whistled low, fascinated by the idea. She leaned forward and twisted the meat to the other side. “Mm, so then cutting off your tail was actually strategic of this mystery fat man?”

“You give him more credit than he deserves,” the Saiyan huffed. “Kakarot and his friends got lucky the first time I touched down on this damn planet. The clown was dead to rights, and had those idiots not shown up to our battle…” He trailed off, unsure of how that would change his fate and certain she could fill in the blanks herself. Where would he be now had he destroyed Kakarot and his friends that day? Still serving Frieza? Ruler of his own empire like his father promised him? Dead?

She opened her mouth to respond, pointing out that technically Goku hadn’t defeated him that day exactly by that detailing, but reconsidered. Another sore spot that, if she understood right, sparked his rivalry with the other Saiyan. His need to surpass him and defeat him in battle. She could understand that; she wouldn’t care for such an outcome either, and would crave a proper rematch. She suspected the blow to his pride ran deeper than just the need for a rematch, however. Like her, his warrior status was intrinsically tied to his identity, and the loss to Goku had shaken that, the reverberations of which he still obviously battled with.

“Why is it that I’m the one always answering questions, anyway?” Nabooru glanced up from the flames at her company. His muscular arms were folded over his broad chest, and he watched her with narrowed eyes. She blinked, and when he didn’t amend his inquiry, she replied, “Because you’ve never really asked me anything?” She lifted a shoulder. “I never talked much about myself because I figured you weren’t interested. I didn’t think you would like such a breach our quasi-master-student relationship or really care to listen.”

“And all of your questions didn’t do that already?” He sneered when all she offered was another shrug in response. He had no one to blame but himself on that front. If he really took offense to her interrogations, he could have ignored her. But the ease of conversing with her lulled him into blathering on about his past. And, if he wanted to know more about her in turn, a possibility he tried to deny due to its futility, he had no reason to doubt she would answer in kind. Her being a warrior as passionate as he was about improving herself had piqued his curiosity at her tournament, and her final words that all but ended their tense conversation a week before haunted him, further prodding the desire to uncover her past. His reasonably cynical mind deemed it pointless, an effort to form an unnecessary bond, and, until outwardly admitting it moments ago, he had conveyed such a mindset to her successfully by not partaking in asking her his own questions. But a part of him he could not pin down--simple curiosity? Loneliness? Hope of finding someone who could even remotely relate to him in more than basic ways and that didn’t annoy him too much?--begged him to ask similar questions to those she asked him and learn more. With his outburst, he had little choice but to follow through.

Another huff blown out through his nose. “Fine. You said you didn’t get to kill your Frieza. Who was your Frieza?”

Nabooru hid her surprise in his follow through by casting her gaze to the steak and turning it slowly. Habit and buried bitterness made her want to question his sincerity in asking: did he really want to know, or was he just trying to get back at her for all of her inquiries? She didn’t usually share her experience with anyone, and most were too caught up in themselves or completely unaware that she and her people hailed from a different planet and would never think to ask such questions. She kept most at arm’s length outside of the Gerudo to not only shield her emotions but to, perhaps, better cope with the past and the loose ends she left behind. It’s success felt questionable most days. 

“He was the King of Hyrule,” she said, deciding at length that Vegeta wasn’t the type to bring something up if he wasn’t genuinely curious. “Well, really the monarchy of Hyrule. Perhaps the whole country in its own way.” Gold eyes flicked up to him, assessing. “It’s...a long story. It would take a bit to help you underst--”

“Try me.” A challenge issued out of both his undeniable interest in her tale and annoyance that she tried to deflect his question when he answered all of hers (nevermind that it took some coaxing on her part). “You and I seem to have little more than time, so get to explaining. Not so fun being on the other side, is it?”

She chewed her lip and pulled the meat from the fire. She turned it over, once, twice, then handed it over to Vegeta instead. “Well...as I’m sure you guessed, the king and his people were not very fond of mine. Decades of friction from how we fought the longest and hardest in the Civil War, and likely could have won if our supplies and numbers had held up. In the end, we surrendered and joined the other nations in signing a treaty of unity, but the spoils were tactically skewed against us. It offered a semblance of peace, ensured our sovereignty as long as we played by their rules. It did not, however, help us secure better lives for ourselves in expanding outside of the desert for farmland nor did it open up the trade that had been restricted. Though they blocked every request, despite our people dying from the war draining our supplies and a desert not being the most hospitable home, we did our best to find ways to survive while trying to play their games of diplomacy and peace. It was hard not to see it as an orchestrated, slow strangling and punishment for our near success in the war.”

Nabooru paused, the next portion of her story lodging a lump in her throat and igniting a furious flame in her belly. She still struggled to talk about certain bits, the memories painful and the feelings of shame stilling her tongue. Perhaps another time she would illuminate Ganondorf’s role and her betrayal in more detail. For now, she could work around it for the most part.

“Our king...he lost patience with them and staged a coup on his own. He was captured before he could get too far and...imprisoned, likely to be executed. It only fueled the hatred Hyrule had for us, as well as their fear because they assumed we would pick up where he left off.” She stabbed the spit through the remaining stake with unnecessary ferocity. “Whole groups, including people of the court called for our complete eradication. It was considered radical at first, niche groups popping up here and there, but it quickly gained traction, and the king nor his lackeys ever denounced it all, despite the peace treaty and our insistence to uphold it. I had taken over as leader and tried everything I could to convince them, to stave off the growing violence and once more try to save my people and give them a sustainable life. To play their game like they wanted. It did no good. I was laughed out of every meeting.

“Back home, we were split. We were all angry, desperate, and many called for war, even though we could never win with hardly the supplies to sustain ourselves in peacetime and being horribly outnumbered by the rest of Hyrule. Others suggested we take our chances with the desert before they storm our gates.” She swallowed, staring into the fire, reminded of the torches they bore and how it glinted off their steel as they swarmed their home. “We didn’t get the chance to make the decision. Soldiers and civilians alike stormed the fortress en masse. We fought as long as we could, but we had to make the decision to flee into the desert. Only those that made it here survived.”

Tears pricked the corners of her eyes but she refused to let them fall. Tears of mourning, of shame as a warrior who was forced to flee rather than face her attackers and die a warrior’s death or come out victorious with the King’s head on a pike. No matter how reasonable, no matter how she had helped save at least some of her people and helped them flourish in another home, it felt cowardly. Unfinished business never set well with her, but, at the same time, she wasn’t entirely sure that, given the chance, she would go through with making the dreams of storming Hyrule and leveling it with her newfound power a reality any more. The fleeting satisfaction it would bring didn’t feel worth it.

Somewhere during her story, her fingers had woven into her ponytail to glide through the crimson tresses. She snatched her hand out of them as if they had burned her and burrowed both hands into the space between her crisscrossed legs. “While I took down plenty of those who attacked us, I didn’t get to kill the king or his court or anyone else who wished me and my people dead. That’s why I said what I did. I understand that yearning for...well, I don't know what to call it. Justice? Revenge? Closure?”

Vegeta had slowed the pace of his eating as she spoke, nibbling on the hunk of meat rather than tearing chunks from it. Many of her people were killed out of fear of their might and potential--as warriors and in what they might do--and they were forced to flee because of it. He could easily see why his own history resonated with her, the parallels uncanny. And she was their leader for a time, a fact he could have guessed at considering the others still seemed to turn to her for guidance, likely out of habit, and the way she carried herself among them. They both understood the pain of failure, of helplessness to change anything due to lacking power or sway to do so. She at least didn't grow to resent the survivors of her kind, or shove them away because they were weaker or deemed useless. She had the chance to learn to be a proper leader. His only guidance in that department was Frieza. 

He grit his teeth; he hated when he realized just how similar to that bastard he had been. How many of his habits and practices he picked up unintentionally just to survive.

“All three, I suppose,” he mumbled at last, choosing to stare at the meat in his hands than make eye contact. “Maybe someone else got vengeance for you and your race.”

His words didn’t make her feel better, but she suspected they weren’t meant to. “Mm, somehow I doubt it. People like that always live longer than they deserve to.” She pulled her knees up to her chest and turned her steak. “You still wish it was you, then?”

Vegeta popped the last bite in his mouth and chewed it slowly. He didn’t miss the bitter hope in her tone. Her gaze finding his despite his best efforts to avoid it. For what, though? Someone to understand? For someone who was anything but “normal” to validate the hollowness of a vendetta not claimed? 

“It should have been me. But the universe thought Kakarot had a better stake to the claim than me.” He didn’t mention his own son cutting Frieza to pieces like he was nothing and, to add salt to the wound, did it as a Syper Saiyan as well. “But...yes. I suppose I do. Not so vehemently as after the fact, but I will still say he was mine to kill after all the shit he put me through. After all he took from me.”

Nabooru remained silent for a while, offering only a nod of agreement in answer, the crackle of the fire and the howl of a coyote in the distance the only sounds. Though the ache remained, they had both figured out how to manage. Perhaps not in the healthiest of ways but maybe they could help each other with that. The thought surprised her; did she really expect this sparring arrangement and conversing like this to be long term with no real indication that it would continue even the next day? Once more she had to contend with her potential want for his company, not just anyone’s. A confusing revelation, since the last decade or more of her life had been spent consciously avoiding creating such bonds and pretending she didn’t want them outside of the few Gerudo she had already established them with. 

"Hey."

The Saiyan returned his attention from a lizard scaling a nearby rock to the woman with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

Nabooru bit her lip, a smile tugging her lips. "Want to spar? The night is young."

He stared at her, confusion still present on his features. "What about your food? You need to eat or you won't have the energy to make it worth my time."

"What are you my mother or just scared?" She rose to her feet and smoothed out her pants, kicking sand onto the fire. "If you really want to play that game, you obviously need to get more sleep. I could see the bags under your eyes from a mile away." 

"Scared of what? You maybe landing a decent hit?" He scoffed and rose to his feet. He didn't care to be nagged about his extra erratic sleeping patterns of late, and the prospect of a spar sounded more enticing than delving into their bloody pasts and regrets for much longer. 

She stepped toward him and rested her hands on her hips. "So, are you going to fight me or what?"

He smirked, feet leaving the sand. "If you're so eager to get beaten,, then let's go. We're burning moonlight."

[razorblade180]

Skirmish pt2

“Seriously!? We can fight?” Nick’s entire mood brightened, but then immediately turned to nerves. “What’s the angle?”

Carmine lightly chuckled. She pulled off her scarf and wrapped it around her torso. “No angle, just an apology. I might not have said the kindest words to you. Also I shouldn’t ask for training help then turn someone down. So yes, I’ll fight you.”

“Simple as that huh? Okay, let me know when you’re ready to-”

“Now.”

“NOW!?” They all screamed. Carmine looked at them as if they were the weird ones and nodded. It takes a lot to actually keep her down. Lucas definitely shaved some aura off of her but she had more than enough in the tank to have another skirmish. Carmine gave them a thumbs up.

“Everything is already healed up and fighting below a hundred percent is sorta my thing.

“...”

“Not that I’m underestimating you, honest!” Carmine tried explaining. It was days like these she wished Kovu was around. He typically understood her words.

“Anyways let’s apply the same rules. Swords, semblances, and hand to hand of course. You challenged me so I picked the spot this time.”

“That’s fair. Do me a favor though and choose a place that doesn’t feel like an oven?”

“Actually, I have the perfect place in mind. You might know it.” Carmine snaps her fingers and once again The Void is engulfed by light.

When it eventually fades, the group finds themselves in castle ruins. The walls crumbled slowly and a shattered mosaic scattered light across the room.

“Mom’s battle sight.” Summer said, roaming around. “From when she killed the Arma Gigas.”

“That’s right. In my world Weiss comes here sometimes to get away from it all. Her secret stage is what Weiss calls it. Fitting place for a fight.”

Nick scanned the area. Open space, nice temperature, a certain spiritual charm to it; indeed it was a fitting spot. The others must’ve agreed because the others wasted no time moving towards the broken ceiling, taking a bird’s eye view of the fighters. “Truly a stage fit for our match.”

“I gotta say I’m starting to grow fond of that charisma of yours pretty boy. Nicholas Schnee…”

Carmine pulled out her blade and stabbed it right into the ground. Her hands rested on the hilt and she stood confidently in the middle of the room, letting her crimson aura shine brightly. “Do your best.”

He was scared. Nick didn’t want to admit it but he was actually a bit scared of Carmine at this moment. Was it because she was so calm? So unnervingly confident to the point of choosing a place familiar to his family? Nick drew his blade and looked at it.

A battle of skill huh? Let’s see what I’m made of. To be honest, I might lose instant-

“Hey stupid!”

Nick looked up to see Summer standing up on a broken support pillar. She took her sword and pointed it right at his face. “I’m watching, better not blunder or you’ll never hear the end of it!” Summer stuck out her tongue then smiled. “Kick her butt.”

As far as siblings pep talks go, that one was easily top notch. Carmine could tell Summer was calming his nerves and it had worked. Nicholas slicked his hair back and took his stance. Eyes looked ahead, chin down, back straight, right foot forward, but not too far forward. Mort Froid pointed right at her chest. Carmine couldn’t help but imagine Weiss standing before her.

Nick took one final deep breath. “Little siblings am I right? Once they want something...you gotta give it to them!”

Carmine didn’t see him move. She didn’t even see a glyph, and yet she knew deep down to raise her sword straight in front of her body. Though Carmine didn’t see him, Nick was already in front of her and crashed his blade right where she had raised it. Carmine pushed him off but Nick came right back at her with serious intent to harm. He can’t afford to play nice with an opponent like her.

Nick thrusted his blade at the tip of Carmine’s, then slashed along the middle to knock it away. He followed through the swing by aiming for her face and barely scratching her face before Carmine jumped back. Nick’s left hand flexed and created a glyph behind Carmine that stopped her escape, making her wince the moment the back of her head hit it.

Nick went to sweep her legs from the right but Carmine raised her foot and stopped it dead in its tracks. She raised her blade to return the slash to the face.

He’s open.

Nicholas made a glyph in his left hand and brought it over to the right side of his face. The glyph created the arma gigas blade and blocked Carmine’s strike. He then thrusted it forward and struck right in the middle of her chest. The force of it was enough to send her flying through the glyph that was still behind her.

Nick can’t see my movements like Lucas but he’s faster. Also he seems a bit more experienced; if I knew about the dual wielding then I might’ve asked if I could use my nightstick. But then it wouldn’t be a sword much, and I’d be too tempted to use my scythe.

Carmine manages to flip herself around midair and lands on the stained glass. She kicks off of it, right back towards him with one hand on the hilt and the other on the inside of the curved blade.

Nick crossed his swords together and blocked the attack head on, getting pushed backwards as Carmine’s body forced herself forward against his blade. They kept sliding until Nick’s body hit a wall. He gritted his teeth painfully as he tried to push Carmine back.

Pain shot through his arms and sparks came off their clash. “Damn it! Why are you so..gaaah!” Nick put a glyph under Carmine’s feet and yanked it out from under her like a rug. Carmine lost her balance. Her feet went backwards and Nick slashed upwards to send her sword flying out of her hands. “My turn…”

Nick kneed Carmine in the chin then swung both blades down against her shoulders, earning another wince. His left blade went right while the other went the opposite direction across her body, then did it again in vice versa. The others watched in amazement, except for Summer and Valerie who expected no less.

“Six hits in two seconds. Nick is stepping up his game.” Summer said, a little surprised. Her palms got sweaty and feet started to fidget. “He’s matching my speed now, that jerk. It’s like the only thing I have on him!”

Valerie wanted to comment on the numerous things Summer had over Nick when it comes to fighting but she was too fixated on the boy as well. Unlike with Lucas, Carmine was more on the defensive. Whenever she blocked one sword it meant the other was free to find an opening, and there’s always going to be an opening in a fight. Nick’s greatest strength never came from his swordsmanship, but the ways he mixed up his attacks. Even so, Carmine’s mind seemed to follow a similar thread of logic.

Nick used Mort Froid to swing down at Carmine’s body in order to force her to block, which she did right on time. He then used the gigas sword to strike right at her ribs to expend more air. A failed plan, Carmine quickly grabbed the other sword. Both simultaneously slid their right foot forward and behind each other’s left foot to sweep it but Carmine’s strength edged out Nick’s easily, sending him to the ground and ending up with the older girl’s knee on his chest.

Carmine places the sword lightly against his neck as he turns away from her. Carmine looked a little puzzled. His face was getting red. Was he upset that they did the same thing, or maybe she was heavier than she realized.

“Hey, this doesn’t hurt too bad right? Still breathing fine?”

“Yeah it’s just uhhh, your shirt.” He said, clearly his throat.

“My shirt?” Carmine looked down and realized it was hanging loosely before the way she pinned him. Nick no doubt could see straight down it. Carmine looked back at the blushing boy. He was so calm moments earlier but this seriously froze him up!? Yeah, he was definitely an Arc.

Carmine shook her head out of amazement and disbelief. “I hope you don’t get this distracted in an actual battle?” She chuckled. Carmine didn’t know why but seeing people flustered over things about her like this was always strangely adorable and interesting.

Nick pouted, “I’m way more serious when it matters! I’m even serious now in case you hadn’t noticed.” He motioned his head towards her. Carmine looked over her shoulder to see a glyph with a summoning sword aimed right at her back.

When did he-I didn’t even notice! I don’t remember seeing his hands move at all either. Even in the midst of combat it looked like Nick was always moving towards another step towards getting the edge. His parents must be proud for sure.

“You know….” Carmine bit her lip. “I’m willing to call this a draw if you don’t wanna continue?”

“Regretting not resting up?” He was a bit bitter she chose that option.

“No, I am just satisfied with things I’ve learned today and being able to fight such a unique opponent.”

“But I didn’t even get to see you use your semblance yet.”

Carmine leaned down lower and whispered in his ear so quietly that not even Veronica could hear. All of them watched curiously until Carmine finally got off of Nick and helped him up. He looked a little conflicted.

“Do we have a deal?” Carmine asked, almost pleadingly.

Nick rubbed his hand through his hair and sighed, “fine, we can put this test of swords on hold. On one condition! Show us a glimpse of what you’re really made of.”

Carmine thought about it for a moment. It would be the least of what she could do since he’s cooperating. “Okay, sure.”

“Uhh excuse me!?” Sienna chimed in. “What’s going on?

“Nick has been kind enough to let this fight be on pause in return that I get serious for a moment. Honestly the next time we fight, maybe we’ll both be able to cut loose without restrictions. I’d be honored to have a true grudge match against you.”

“I might just take you up on that. We’ll consider this the warm up then.” Nick summoned the gigas sword to his hand and picked up his actual blade. He then gave Yujin a nod that signaled the girl to pull out Carmine’s nightstick that she was still holding onto for safe keeping. Reluctantly, Yujin tossed the intriguing weapon down to its rightful owner.

“Thank you Yujin. I’m surprised you weren’t tinkering with it.”

“Could you reward my restraint by letting us know what exactly you whispered to Nick?” Her eyes got big with anticipation.

“Sorry, our little secret for now. I promise you’ll all know eventually though.”

Carmine gave her a wink before turning back to Nick; he was already back in his fighting stance. This time with a second sword pointed downwards by his left side.

“Ready when you are Carmine.”

Carmine extended the nightstick and switched her sword to her left hand. She stood up straight with her left side facing more towards him than her right. Carmine had a bit of mixed feelings about this. In now way did she actually want to have a serious fight. It was goofing around, experimenting with new ideas was interesting to say the least. Above all, Carmine didn’t want to hurt Nick in any way. Even if he only remembers this fight while in The Void, she still wanted him to continue growing. He really was starting to grow on her.

“Nick I just want you to know, after eight moves I’ll stop and ask if you want to continue. You’re a good swordsman, a great one actually. I would actually feel bad discouraging you.”

Nick could tell she wasn’t trying to belittle him in anyway, but hearing that was a bit shocking. Was there a specific reason for eight moves only? Why warn him? Did having both weapons really change things that much. This was Carmine, the girl he was actually able to hit several times.

Still he knew better than to let that go to his head. Clearly this would be a different fight. He could already tell her belief in being the strongest wasn’t all talk.

“Okay.” He nodded, slowly. “I appreciate the heads up.”

Carmine’s small smile soon faded. All that was left was near blank expression and eyes as intense as the moon behind her. Nicholas knew in that moment he wasn’t prepared, but he wasn’t about to be scared off so easily. Nothing ventured, nothing gained after all.

No one said a word, or even breathed it seemed. They were too invested in what would happen next. They wanted to know the young woman known as Carmine Arc-Rose, and what made her so different. She put her finger on the trigger of her nightstick and rubbed it slowly. The last thing Nick saw was Carmine point it behind her before a BANG!

It felt like the sound reached his ears after she did. Nick had virtually no time to even blink before those silver eyes were staring into his just a fraction of an inch away. It should’ve been over then. His body should’ve felt some sort of pain anywhere but yet it didn’t. Carmine, she didn’t attack. She only stared at him then calmly walked back to where she stood. Finally she spoke.

“The first move is free. Now then, are your nerves gone?”

Gone!? Nick felt like he might have a heart attack! Using recoil to propel movement wasn’t new in the slightest but was stupidly fast, yet she stopped right in front of him. Still, Nick had a mission. He wanted to see the other seven. He shook his body out and retook his stance.

“Seven more, right?” His voice wavered, yet his eyes held firmly to his desire. Carmine found another reason to like him. With any luck, Garnet would have half of Nick’s spirit.

“Get ready Nick…” she pointed her gun behind her again. This time he didn’t let his nerves get him and crossed his swords right in front of himself as another gunshot went off. He could only see the red tips of Carmine’s hair and her tan scarf turn into a blurry streak that went right at him.

Carmine’s sword crashed right into the guard and left a thunderous noise. She pointed her gun slightly outward from behind her and fired another shot that forced her into a spin. Her blade knocked Mort Froid away and cut right through the gigas sword, making it vanish. The momentum of the spin kept going for another three spins that slashed Nick’s chest, shoulders and then chest again. All faster than he could react to and hadn’t even begun to recover from.

Carmine didn’t give him the chance anyways. Her nightstick connected to the bottom of her sword and the actual entire blade curved down further and locked into place to form her scythe. Carmine swung it past Nick’s legs then pulled the trigger again to pull it against the back of his knees and sweep both legs into the air. Carmine quickly twirled to the right and let the scythe do a full swing tilted up that slammed into his back midair and sent him upward towards the moon.

Seven moves, just like that. Nick wasn’t sure what he was feeling right now as he stared at the moon. Time itself seemed to be in slow motion. He knew it wasn’t and yet everything Carmine just did was so fast that he might as well have been stuck in slow motion. Nick never blinked as he stared upwards, nor did he look at anyone else. His view was eclipsed however in what must’ve been a second. Carmine somehow got above him with her scythe poised to strike as she was silhouetted by the shattered celestial body behind her. Those silver eyes being the only source of light on her in this moment. So this was the difference between them, between her and everyone supposedly. This was Carmine Arc-Rose.

It wasn’t infuriating being outclassed, not like this. They were in a sense, literally worlds apart. Whatever made her this strong was unique to her in every way and yet, Nick knew that wasn’t any excuse. He was an Arc just like her, and would not falter or give in without trying his damndest!

Carmine swung straight down, aiming for the middle of his torso. An easy blow that should’ve connected, but was blocked perfectly by a glyph in that exact spot. Eight strikes, he made it through.

Carmine let out a silent gasp. Huh, he blocked me. Their eyes locked for a moment.

“Should’ve saved your free move.” Nick barely said, before finally starting to fall. Carmine grabbed the edge of the glyph and launched herself downward, catching Nick on the way down. She did a flip to readjust and gently landed on the ground. Carmine couldn’t help but look down into her arms happily to see Nick completely knocked out from exhaustion. A big ol smile right on his face.

“Not bad Nicholas Schnee. Not bad at all.”

Part 1

[inheritorofmemories-archive]

The Old Guards and their iconic weapons

Because I’m not done thinking about and over analysing that movie yet. Here’s me talking about the old guards weapons and how that translate into their fighting style.

Under cut because I got slightly carried away. Featuring screenshots that took a lot of time to get because I’m not the most talented.

Andy: Ah, the bisexual axe. The Labrys, interpreted as a symbol of matriarchy, also known lesbian symbol since the 70s. Iconic, if I dare say so. She uses a ton of other weapons and guns in canon but I feel like her first and true love is her axe, and for that I respect her.

Fighting style headcanon: She uses force and the enemy’s body and movements. She’s the kind to say “Go Big or Go Home” because she’s used to going head first and expecting it to work. She literally had centuries to experiment tactics and moves and perfect them to the point where there’s nothing you can do when she attacks you except to go down. Firm believer of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” that’s why she still has her axe and swords.

Quỳnh: We see her with two main weapons, I think that’s so great of her, a versatile master. A sword (a katana in comic canon, I’m not sure what she has in the movie, hope they used a Vietnamese weapon) and a bow that she uses in a hand to hand fight!! She gets you from sixty feet or up close, either way you’re going down, and she looks amazing while doing it.

Headcanon: She’s a Pit Viper: she strikes faster than you can see her coming. Very calculating when fighting, she analyses everything and plans out to the smallest details before she even raises her weapons, and by the time she does you’re already dead. A walking dead if you will. A queen.

Lykon: Had a lance!! The taste of this man, incredible. Wish we had more of him on screen and I didn’t have to get this ugly screenshot off of a youtube video but anyway.

Headcanon: He was swift on his feet and had a really good eye, to pierce through armors and weak spots but also to spot about anything really, from berries to treasures to cool birds to show to his friends. Confident in his abilities and cocky about it sometimes (”that’s your job Andromache” he says when she saves his ass. Confident and talented, we love it.)

Joe: The scimitar. Google tells me scimitars are very efficient for slashing and cutting through things (people mostly). Also tells me it was very light and thus had more moves and possibility in a fight and it was easier to handle and to be more precise with it. Gun Option: a shotgun, very sexy of him because it’s also very versatile and the go-to gun for damage but also no collateral victims because it won’t go through the body/thing you shoot. A king of Dramatics but safety for the people around him.

Headcanon: He likes some panache and grace in his fights and he’s very quick and efficient, doesn’t waste a move for nothing. But he’s mostly concerned with getting the job done and not harming innocents in the fight. The one most likely to learn cool and updated moves and tricks and constantly try new stuff.

Nicky: A long sword. Google again tells me they were heavy, and need to be carefully manoeuvred and that to cut and slash you need a great control of it and also to be rich enough to have a sharp sword and not a blunt piece of steel mostly used to break bones. Gun Option: sniper rifle, very sexy of him too, but a different flavor of sexy. The deadly silent kind of sexy.

Headcanon: This is a feral Nicky abiding blog, he’s calm and focused until shit goes down and his family or innocents are in danger and then he’s ruthless and focused, going for it. Keeps an eye on his family and is in the first line to protect them. Stick to what he knows even if it’s a heavy sword he could trade for lighter weapon.

Booker: His assault rifle I guess. If we wanna go the Blade Way, maybe a sabre if he was a high ranking officer which I highly doubt since he was a convicted forger so maybe a bayonet (even tho they don’t look as cool as real swords do). He’s apparently the explosive guy too.

Headcanon: Whatever works. Just give him something to shoot or hit the bad guys with and he’ll work something out. Bonus point if it can blow things up or make big damages. Never understood the others sense of flair because putting a knife through an eye socket is just as effective as their coordinated parade and parry with their fancy blades.

Nile: She uses guns in the movie, but she clearly favors assault rifles (marine are trained with that kind of weapon), and in the 2nd comic that’s what she chose to use for most missions so I’ll go with that. I’d say she’s the most versatile in modern guns and can easily switch between options. Kiki Layne trained in boxing for the movie so including that too, she likes to go for efficiency and short cut and known ways because they often works. The Blade Way: a Ka-Bar since she was a trained US marine. Also, knives are sexy too and I think Nile deserve one.

(Yes that's her knife in Andy right there, but she threw it away; Nile needs to get another one asap.)

Headcanon: She’s the most practical out of all of them and “let’s get this done in a quick and efficient way because I have no time for you bs” attitude you find in boxe and modern training, but she has to rewire her brain to accept that she can die and walk it off after 25 years being told she has to try and not die. Give her a couple years before she’s just as bad as Andy and go for it Throw The Bad Guy Out Of The Window With You On Him way. Will take on Joe's love for theatrics, the rest of the team will hate their plans. Really smart, quick on her feet and able to think of something on the spot (she did use that belt to tie Andy in the plane, I love her!! She’s amazing).

.

In conclusion: They are all really cool. Joe and Nicky are each a side of the same coin and have complementary fighting style, which is extremely valid of them. Andy is a battering ram but with more finesse because you get bored and learn tricks over 6 millenniums. Andy and Nile will get along real fine with how similar they are (just look at how Andy smile in the plane after Nile clock her, she’s enjoying it so much). Nile and Joe will also go along fine because they have the same brand of just enough crazy to enjoy their plans. Booker is tired and feels alive when he blows shit up. Quỳnh is very cool, and also very deadly and efficient and she was dual wielding weapons before it was cool (before the team did it in the 20th century, she’s the original hipster guys). I need more Lykon content, please even just a ig post with two lines would be nice. A video with BTS and deleted scenes would be better tho.

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this mess.

[cryptovalid]

The Rise of Skywalker is Bad, but I was wrong to expect any better (and it’s not as bad as I expected, either)

If the title did not give it away, I’m conflicted about Star Wars Episode IX: the Rise of Skywalker. I just saw it in theatres, and I thought it was bad, but I can’t muster up any scorn or outrage. It’s just like the popcorn I ate: bland and forgettable, and somewhat stale. I guess it helps I was never a huge Star Wars fan at any time. I’ve seen every movie in the series, except for Solo. but I’ve not seen any of them more than once or twice. In short, I’ve always thought of Star Wars as Fine, but also massively overrated. I believe the interesting concepts in A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back were squandered by first George Lucas, and then J.J. Abrams.

 I can’t say that Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi was my favorite Star Wars movie, but it was without a doubt the least compromised of all the other entries. It had something to say whether fans liked it or not. It wasn’t meandering, self-indulgent and uncanny like Lucas’ prequels, and did not take the original trilogy as unassailable gospel the way JJ Abrams does. I did not like the pacing or how Poe and Finn’s characters seemed less central to the story, but I understand why Rian Johnson focused on Rey’s interactions with Luke. The message of the Last Jedi was bold and challenging for fans: the Force is for Everyone and fans are wrong to obsess over the royalist eugenics and power fantasies in the original trilogy. Johnson wanted to focus on some of the more challenging aspects of war: loss, betrayal, and failure. Not everyone liked that, but for all that it did to sideline my favorite new characters, Finn and Poe, that was a daring and worthwhile statement to make.  

That said, I expected Disney to fully backtrack, given the way TLJ was received. So expectations were not high. Watching RoS is a strange experience. It’s kind of fun but also profoundly unoriginal and hackneyed. But given how similar it is to the Original Trilogy, it just made me realize that Star Wars was never as good as I imagined it was (or could be?). For Rise of Skywalker to be actually great, it would have to Rise (pardon the pun) above its predecessors. Which obviously it didn’t.  

 From here on there be Spoilers for SWIX: ROS

Let’s talk nuts and bolts. This movie is a random remix  of setpieces and McGuffins, artificially raised stakes and callbacks and hommages to the Orginal Trilogy. There’s a thing the heroes need to find the resurrected Emperor, and 80% of the movies is just a huge wild goose chase that also involves Kyle Ron stalking Rey to convince her to rule to galaxy with him. Then there’s a bunch of Death Stars and  confrontation with the Emperor. It’s all quite well paced, shot and scored, and even though I am highly critical of both the stilted dialogue and the uninspired plotting, the film is at least entertaining to watch. It is frequently funny and tense, sometimes unintentionally. And this, looking back, is really all that Star Wars can really claim to be. It’s an all-ages action comedy about war with some fantasy and sci fi for flavor and that’s really all that Star Wars has ever been.   

I had an epiphany as I watched Kyle Ron’s redemption and the messages around the Dark and Light Side. I was first struck by the fact that they are really the same story beats as the original trilogy, with some details changed that merely made it more obvious how hypocritical, lazy and thematically inconsistent these ideas have been from the beginning. Redeeming Darth Vader was always a cheap copout. He is a mass-murderer whose last action is sacrificing his life to kill the Emperor. He never really reckons with his many, many crimes. 

It becomes slightly grosser when Kyle Ron has one warm moment with his mom before she dies, a near-death experience and a peptalk from the dad he murdered, murders a bunch of goons, and sacrifices himself to save Rey’s life. For this, Rey immediately not only forgives him for the mass kidnappings, genocide, torture and the many times he threatened, gaslit and assaulted her, but immediately kisses him. It’s such a gendered framing of redemption that basically reproduces the views that narcissists and abusers have about relationships: that you can treat others like literal dogshit and redeem yourself with a single grand gesture of self-sacrifice. I’ve talked about the Martyr Dad before on this account, but making it a romantic thing is so much worse. This is the cycle of abuse to a T.

In terms of the Light Side Versus the Dark Side, Star wars has always wanted its cake and to eat it too. On the one hand, it wants to suggest that the Light Side is a fundamentally morally opposed way of living focused on ‘Knowledge and Defense‘, that striking a Sith down in Anger is something the Light Side can not abide, but in the end, the Light Side always wins because the Sith are violently killed. It always feels like a convenient loophole that Darth Vader throws the Emperor into a nearby pit so that Luke doesn’t need to get his hands dirty. All the more so when the resurrected Emperor literally has his own Force Lightning reflected into his face by Rey’s dual wielding two Skywalker Lightsabers+3. It’s cheap. It’s moral sofistry with the gratification of a power fantasy.

You might have noticed I’ve said nothing about my soft boys, Poe and Finn, or Rose Tycho for that matter. That’s because they’re not important to the overarching story. They could easily have been cut from the film without significantly altering the story. They pad the runtime. They’re charming and funny as always and the writers give them stuff to do in every act, but it’s not the A-plot. The story is partially about Kyle Ron having an admittedly well-acted but very hackneyed redemption arc that is sure to please fans of the character but doesn’t involve in any sense an understanding that he has hurt billions of people. His redemption is exclusively about his parents, who are the only people he’s hurt that are worth mentioning in this context. The other part is the revelation that Rey does have a special lineage: she’s Palpatine’s granddaughter. This is why she’s powerful and also why she’s tempted by the dark side. 

If the message of TLJ was ‘we’re all equals in the eyes of the force‘, ROS is basically a massive apology for even entertaining that idea, and reaffirms that all the important characters are related by blood to characters from the original trilogy and all the rest are also there, I guess. If you’ve ever thought that you could be as strong in the force as Luke or Kylo or Rey, you are a fool. After all, your parents weren’t Force Royalty. You thought a person of color or a non-force user could be the key to defeating fascism? You thought main characters could be anything other than straight? Utter simpleton, you. You thought redeeming yourself from mass-murder was difficult, or that the Jedi were flawed just like every other organisation? Nah mate, the bad guys wear black robes and we totally fucked them up with laser swords and heavy ordinance. 

Don’t worry, white hetero superfan looking for a power fantasy that doesn’t challenge your beliefs or moral superiority. Your priorities and fixations are our script editor. We’re sorry, Disney appears to say with this movie, that we would ever suggest there was anything more to Star Wars as a franchise. We promise, she may be a girl, but in all other respects, she’s just like Luke now. Except this time, Luke is hot and totally into your edgy dark side.

Ok, I’m sorry, that’s just the bitter shipper in me. Finn deserved better. He deserved to be a main character. A love interest. His redemption was never fully framed as such, nor did he ever really get credit for being a consistently supportive, relatable, honorable character with the scintillating charisma of John Boyega. Despite being literally raised as a child soldier, he was never seen as a good example of redemption and somehow, he was not considered a main character. This is, I believe, the greatest waste of this trilogy.

Fuck the idea of a Dynasty of the Force. Fuck Eugenics. Fuck this idea that your birth is what makes you powerful. It is weak. It is lazy. It is boring. 

I had such high hopes after Episode VII, despite it being derivative. It appeared in that moment that Finn could be love interest for both Rey and Poe. Perhaps even at the same time! I imagined the climax of this trilogy would be all about Finn growing from a deserter unsure that he could ever make a difference, to becoming a true hero. I imagined the heroes facing the First Order in their darkest hour, when all is lost. I imagined them being rescued by defecting Stormtroopers, painting their helmets with three vertical red stripes in honour of the First Traitor. I imagined my boy Finn leading a legion of traitors, proving that all it takes to defeat fascism is to reject it and inspire others to do the same. 

But of course, that hope was foolish. I shouldn’t have expected good storytelling from a series that pays lip service to non-violence and redemption while handling both as cheap, esthetic elements rather than actual narrative commitments.

[burnouts3s3]

Kill la Kill IF, a review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Publisher: Arc System Works Developer: A+ Games Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 59.99 USD How much I paid: 49.94 USD (I got a pre-order discount) Number of Playable Characters: 8; Satsuki, Ryuko, Nui, Houka, Ira, Uzu, Nonon and Ragyo (Satsuki and Ryuko have 2 variations). Number of Stages: 6 Rated: M for Blood, Language, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes and Violence Nudity: Lots and lots of cleavage and side boob. Characters usually dressed down to bikinis and thongs when disrobed. No visible female nipples. Can I play offline: Yes How long I played: 4 Hours. 2 hours to complete Satsuki's perspective on Story mode and 2 to complete Ryuko's. Microtransactions: None so far. What I played on: My Nintendo Switch. Performance Issues: When the Switch is docked, the performance 'mostly' runs smoothly, albiet shows the soft textures up front. When in handheld mode, the framerate sinks like a rock and becomes stitled. One instance of the game pausing for one moment before resuming. Lenghty loading screens whether docked or on handheld mode. And of course, no anime game is complete without its most famous feature, missynced lip flaps. Dual Audio: Yes. Both English and Japanese voices are available. English Cast: Erica Mendez as Ryuuko Matoi, Carrie Keranen as Satsuki Kiryuuin, Matthew Mercer as Aikuro Mikisugi, Patrick Seitz as Ira Gamagori, Stephanie Sheh as Nui Harime, Christine Marie Cabanos as Mako Mankanshoku, Kaiji Tang as Tsumugu Kinagase, Grant George as Uzu Sanageyama, Romi Pak as Ragyo Kiryuuin, David Vincent as Senketsu, Sarah Anne Williams as Nonon Jakuzure, Steve Staley as Hoka Inumata and Todd Haberkorn as Shiro Iori My Personal Biases: I recently watched Kill la Kill and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I thought it was a good show. My Verdict: Even fans aren't going to be satisfied with this package. With an anemic roster, few stages and a battle system where you fight the camera more than you fight your opponent, Kill la Kill: IF is wasted potential. Even the amusing cutscenes can't save this piece of junk. Wait for a sale. Kill la Kill IF, a review

It's strange that after 5 years of one of the most beautifully animated action shows that we finally now get a release of Kill la Kill IF. Based on the popular anime, will the game do its original source material justice? Let's find out in this review! For those of you who aren't familiar, Honnouji Academy is a fictional high school situated in Tokyo Bay, Japan on the island of Honnō City. The school is dominated by its fearsome student council led by their president Satsuki Kiryuin. Its students wear Goku Uniforms, which give their wearers superhuman abilities because they are constructed with a special material known as Life Fibers. Vagrant transfer student Ryuko Matoi, who wields a scissor-shaped longsword that can cut Goku Uniforms, challenges the council as she searches for her father's killer. Although she is initially easily defeated by Takaharu Fukuroda, she finds a sentient sailor uniform that she names Senketsu, a Kamui which is completely made of Life Fibers and transforms her so that she can face Kiryuin and her trials and obstacles. Kill la Kill IF is a filler story set in the anime's canon storyline. Gone are the various side characters and multiple developments throughout the story and instead speeds through to the main battles and opponents. Set as an arena fighting game, players control one of the characters found in the show and use their unique abilities to whittle the enemy's lifebar to zero. Each character is given access to a melee attack, a ranged attack and a grab which breaks the opponent's guard. Overtime, a player's SP bar builds up. 2 out of the 4 bars can be used for a special attack or to unleash bloody valor, a rock paper scissors mechanic to gain boosts such as attack or health. Losing the battle results in damage while winning continuously allows you to unleash a final ultimate attack. The issues become evident right from the start. Despite Studio Trigger, the animator of the series, supervising, the game's engine just cannot live up to the 2D anime that told the original story so well. While the art direction certainly lives up to the original with its use of contrasting colors and unique aesthetic, the actual animation itself remains stilted and choppy, even on the best of machines. While the animators are able to work around this (Mako's scenes continue to be the highlight of the franchise), you can't help but feel the 3D counterpart is struggling to match up what Trigger mastered in 2D animation. You better get used to the visuals. In order to unlock any of the other modes, you'll have to play the MANDATORY story and watch the stilted cutscenes (which you can skip, Thank God). Because who wouldn't want a story mode that has cutscenes that are longer than the actual gameplay? After all, it isn't like someone won't upload those cutscenes up to Youtube and you can watch them for free... Wait... And that's not even mentioning the numerous loading screens that come between every other cutscene and before the gameplay starts. I don't know if the loading screens are shorter on more powerful consoles and PCs, but they were certainly a slog on the Nintendo Switch. So, if you're in the market for a game with little gameplay, lengthy cutscenes and lots and lots of loading screens, have I got a game for you. Most matches are set between an individual opponent and involve whittling down the foe's health bar to claim victory. However, certain modes allow multiple opponents to face off against each other, either in battle royale or with pairing into teams. Half the time, the game plays like a Musou or Open world beat em up where in the player character must defeat multiple enemies on screen. Sometimes it's rogue Covers, sentient uniforms and other times its Nui clones. With no camera control and no ability to lock on to individual opponents, you'll often miss your intended target and end up hitting a new enemy instead. Story mode, even on its easiest difficulty, opts to pad out the game by giving certain enemies so much health, it takes forever to shrink it down to zero. Forget the sword sponges throughout the game; half the time the camera can't keep up and my poor player character is out of frame because of all the enemies are upfront while said PC is all the way in the back. In addition to the story, there's also Online matchmaking, survival challenge in which you play AI opponents in a row and Covers Challenge, in which the game becomes a full Musou and you must defeat all foes in the arena. All the original voice actors from the anime's dub cast have returned. Erica Mendez as Ryuuko Matoi and Carrie Keranen as Satsuki Kiryuuin give the same respect to the source material as did the Japanese Seiyuu and it's always fun to hear Patrick Seitz, Grant George, Stephanie Sheh, Todd Haberkorn, Matt Mercer and Steve Staley again.   If you dislike the voices, the game comes with Dual Audio and you can switch to the original Japanese. CAVEAT: What a waste! How did such a great property get saddled with such a lousy adaptation? Kill la Kill (the anime) still holds up as a show even 5 years after its release. It's too bad all that potential is made into a cashgrab of a game. With its limited roster, wonky camera, and lack of stages, even diehard Kill la Kill fans should wait for a sale while watching the cutscenes on Youtube. It's too bad. For just a brief moment, I did see the makings of a good game. The only reason this anime adaptation doesn't take home the award of "Most squandered potential of an anime property" is because Jump Force came out earlier this year. Verdict: Rental or wait for a sale. Or just watch the anime again.

[animatedpileofbones]

DA q's!! 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11, 14, 17, 25, 33, 34, 37, 40, 42, 47, 51, 52, 60, 63, 66, 77, 78, 79, 98, and 99~! (◠‿◠✿)

eli i love you man here we go, this is long sorry but i have a Lot To Say! i literally wrote like 1500 words for these so it’s under a readmore.

1 how did you get into dragon age

i was on tumblr when inquisition came out and a lot of my friends and mutuals at the time suddenly became dragon age blogs for a while (some still are, howdy!) yEARS later i found origins on discount at gamestop and decided to check it out and whoops now i’m a fucking mess forever :)

4 about my warden(s)

My first, and most recently rehashed* warden was Gwinek, she was a casteless dwarf rogue, dual wielder. I didn’t know there were specific temperaments in this game like in 2 but I play her as gruff but fiercely loyal. She would do almost anything for her friends and sister, but is very naive in matters of magic. She romanced Leliana.

*rehashed because I came to the series completely blind, and as such made some not so great choices the first time around.

I also have an elven mage, named Lemmen, she was also a big helpy helperton but slow to trust. She romanced Alistair and I don’t like to think about that sacrifice. :’)

5 about my hawke(s)

My first Hawke was Marcel, a dual wielding rogue and I played him purple. He is big into his friends, obviously, but mostly just wants to be liked despite the fact that he is accidentally an asshole sometimes. He romanced Fenris. All my Hawkes romance Fenris. I love Fenris just so much and I keep telling myself one of these times I’m going to romance Isabela but then Fenris walks in all drama and vengeance and I’m just too gay to handle it. My latest Hawke was Lucien, a… purple dual-wielding rogue. He erred on the side of blue, though, whereas Marcel was vaguely red, so. Not Entirely the same but view my problem, especially going into...

6 about my inquisitor(s)

My first inquisitor was Vodahl Cadash, a… dwarven dual-wielding rogue. :) He was pretty anti-chantry but was also more invested in taking care of his crew than making enemies, preferring to let Josephine handle PR and just say what she told him to say while he supported his team as he saw fit. He lived for life on the road, mostly, an adventurer type, but whatever his inner circle needed, they got. He romanced The Iron Bull, because I’m a thirsty thirsty bitch. I rehashed the dwarven rogue in Heraht, this time romancing Dorian; Heraht was much more enamored with surface life, not necessarily Ferelden-style though. He was well manicured and a bit on the sarcastic side of charming. Right now i’m playing a human sword-and-shield warrior, Errol Travellyan, and he is accidentally just Dorian But From The Free Marches in personality. He can be easily frustrated, I play him fairly no nonsense at times but he’s trying to maintain his Approachable Facade. He’s…. also romancing Dorian OH NO

7 favorite origins backstory

Oooh this is tough because I love Leliana so much, and Alistair just makes me cry all the time I Love That Man, ooh this is tough but I think I have to say Morrigan. She is a story gift that keeps on giving, and I think this is because of what we learned in Inquisition. Without that info, I think… OH NO WAIT IT’S SHALE, HANDS DOWN IT’S SHALE

11 best hawke quote

it’s not specifically a quote but when you bring the viscount’s son back in act 1 and you can either keep your mouth shut about their disagreement or Well Actually yourself into that conversation, that’s my favorite.

14 favorite origins party combo

Before you get Shale, it’s Alistair, Leliana, and the dog. After Shale, it’s Shale, Leliana, and either Zevran or Alistair.

17 mabari name

In Origins, I named the mabari after a person from the backstory. For Gwinek it was Leske to keep her friend with her even now. For Lemmen it was Jowan, because at least the mabari would never let her down. In DA2, it was a family pet, so for Marcel it was named Champion, and for Lucien it was Handsome Cal, and you can envision all sorts of titles in there but I didn’t have enough characters. Lord Handsome Cal Esquire III (he was the first)

25 favorite inquisition place

It’s the Hissing Wastes for sure. It’s always dusk, it’s so vast and beautiful. I love just hanging out there.

33 favorite dragon age character overall

Hey Eli? I hate this question! I am doing my current playthrough solely for the benefit of Leliana this is true. But I have a horrible weakness for two (2) men, Fenris and The Iron Bull, I can’t choose between them, and also Varric, and, asdlfjasdf how could you do this to me? I also identify very heavily with Dorian, and, I’m going to just cry instead of answer this, how about that?

34 least favorite character

Oh it’s Anders no doubt, no question, I hate him. I hate him so much. Like don’t get me wrong, I am in full support of mages taking back their space in Thedas, I just. Have known guys like Anders and the way he hits on f!Hawke like immediately after his intro quest, y’know where we had to kill his boyfriend? felt so bad and just turned my mild irritation into full-on hate.

37 blood magic yes/no

Nope.

40 moment/action i regret in game

Just like everything with the ending of Origins. I don’t prefer to do the ritual with Morrigan because I tend to play women which means I need to coerce Alistair into doing it and I did that for exactly two savestates (one being my Cousland because I wanted to see how that went and then the first time around with Gwinek) thinking “this is the best long term post-game choice! Neither of us have to die! And I’m not even making him be king!” despite it sitting bitterly in the back of my mind the rest of the series. then comes Inquisition and the full consequences of my actions hit me like a brick in the face and I eventually scrapped that playthrough and went back and didn’t be a shithead shitbag, replaying Gwinek entirely so that choice wouldn’t have even begun to make sense to her. I regret that so much.

42 who do i wish i could romance

VARRIC “PARAGON OF MANLINESS” TETHRAS

47 best antagonist

Arl Rendon Howe from Origins, cos he was voiced by Tim Curry and that was just so sexy of a choice. In all seriousness though, Meredith from da2.

51 favorite warden/hawke/inq headcanon any/all

Lucien Hawke routinely had sleepovers at his estate in Hightown. He tried to a couple times while living with Gamlen, but everyone was too sad to indulge him.

Heraht nearly breaks up with Dorian on a near weekly basis whenever Dorian accidentally lumps him in with the Fereldens re: hygiene. Also, not a headcanon but just the way I played but the two of them absolutely had coordinating outfits at all times.

Gwinek shared tents with Wynne most nights, finding in Wynne the mother she wished she and Rica would have had.

Also with Gwinek, she may have helped her sister’s paramour become king but she doesn’t trust him half as far as she can throw him and comes down to Orzammar on the regs to make sure he’s treating Rica right, and he knows damn well that Gwinek put him into that throne and she Will take him back out of it, and he can’t do shit without risking absolute chaos. 

This is also a good time to mention my ot3s: Hawke/Fenris/Isabela, Heraht/Dorian/Bull

52 favorite npc headcanons

Fenris took to reading rather easier than Hawke would have guessed, only Hawke didn’t know just how well Fenris had taken to it until years into their relationship because Fenris thought the “lessons” were cute.

The Iron Bull introduced hot cocoa to Skyhold and literally changed so many lives in that moment; quartermaster Morris pulled so many strings to get marshmallows in, and when they arrived the first time the celebration was almost a riot.

60 who do i wish had been given more story

Weird to say for the woman who had her own Origins DLC and also was pivotal in Inquisition, but Morrigan. She’s just really interesting to me. Also, Warden Stroud. I think he was just there to be the Easy Low Stakes Choice to leave in the Fade honestly but I hated not having a reason to care about him. I didn't play any da2 dlc tho.

63 best story moment

This is tough? I enjoyed the landsmeet in origins. I think most of da2 was great story. Except Orsino obviously. I think I’m just going to point to all of da2. Yeah.

66 something i hate about any of the games

it can’t seem to decide how it feels about the qunari. also that there are characters that absolutely are not straight that the writers decided Actually, Despite Everything, They Are Straight Actually :’)

77 what moment/memory still gives me chills/feels

Definitely definitely Dorian’s confrontation with his dad. That was so well acted, I felt that pain and betrayal so viscerally. It hurts every time. As for a different brand of chills, y’know when if you seduce The Iron Bull and stuff finally starts happening there, and he lifts the inquisitory by the wrists in One Hand and remember I was playing a dwarf, oo golly that shit is All I Need In Life

78 what am i hoping for in da4

More magic and Old Gods and stuff! More Morrigan? Familiar faces!

79 what am i worried about for da4

Familiar faces! :’) Also just so heavyhanded “morally gray” issues that is actually just bad edgy writing. Worried we will be racelocked like in 2 :(

98 if i could be any non human da species which/why

Dwarf, because halflings don’t exist in thedas and dwarves are fairly industrious as a culture

99 where would i live

Despite what I just said, I would probably live somewhere in the Free Marches! Kirkwall ended up pretty fucked and I am absolutely biased because da2 was my favorite.

[minijenn]

Universe Falls Preview 3

K so yeah this is the last preview I’m giving ya’ll for this chapter because from here on until like almost the end its just a fucking montage with dialogue scenes mixed in so yeah. This is kinda mostly by the books (most of the original stuff is gonna come pretty late on in the chapter) but I still think its pretty good (plus I wrote all of this today, so yay, progress!) So yeah, enjoy!

In order to properly train Connie and Dipper in the ways of the blade, Pearl would need the proper venue to accommodate such training, and fortunately, she knew of the perfect place. The white Gem warped herself and the kids to this greatly elevated destination with a broad, confident smile, a pair of training swords cradled in her arms. The kids were a bit less dignified, with Connie giggling in excitement and falling flat onto the pad as they arrived, having warped only a handful of times compared to Steven and the twins. The young Gem chuckled himself as he helped her up, and while Mabel initially smiled in amusement at this, her expression soon fell as she glanced over at Dipper, whose manner was quite cold and serious, even despite the beautifully bewildering place they were now in.

The massive marble structure seemed to be set adrift in an endless sea of fluffy white clouds, high above the ground with only sunny blue skies above it. The pair of staircases behind the warp pad led to a vast, open-air arena, one that clearly showed is age in how over half of it had completely crumbled apart. What was left was still rather impressive though, from its high staggered seating, to its towering pillars and accompanying statues, to the collection of four diamond symbols stacked together at the pinnacle of the structure, the bottommost of which had broken apart quite some time ago. The kids all soaked this incredibly sight in with apt wonder as they followed Pearl down into the arena’s empty center, which would certainly provide more than enough space to pass her sword fighting skills along to her two new students.

“Whoa… this place is amazing!” Connie exclaimed upon finally seeing the full lay of the arena and the billowing clouds surrounding it.  

“It certainly is, Connie,” Pearl smiled broadly, her back turned to the kids as she glanced down to the pair of training swords resting in her arms. “This is an Ancient Sky Arena, where some of the first battles for Earth took place! It was here that I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight, completely dedicated to a person and a cause. Its easily the most noble, heroic resolve any Gem or human could hope to dedicate themselves to. Dipper, Connie, that is what you both must become: brave, loyal, selfless. Entirely devoted and committed not to yourselves, but to those you’re willing to give up everything to protect and serve! You… must be knights!”

At this, the white Gem turned to her young pupils, finally holding the pair of training swords out to them and silently instructing them to take up these blades. For both Dipper and Connie, the moment they both reached out to take their swords felt surreal, almost monumental. After all, these weren’t just plastic toys or dulled metal; these were real, sharp, potentially deadly weapons, weapons that they were about to learn how to wield with their own hands. As the pair exchanged a rather tentative glance upon claiming these weapons for themselves, they could both acutely feel just how intimidating this prospect really was. In fact, it was so initially intimidating to them both that they gave Pearl’s manifesto much thought, even if Steven and Mabel were rather caught off guard by its somewhat alarming implications. Still, the white Gem didn’t waste a beat as she decided to formally start her training regimen.

“We begin with a bow,” she said authoritatively. “First to me, your teacher.” As Pearl gracefully bowed to her pupils, Dipper and Connie followed suit, albeit a bit less confidently, both of them awkwardly holding their swords and unwittingly showing that they had quite a lot to learn. “Now again, to your fellow student.” The pair did as the white Gem said, respectfully bowing to each other and ignoring the soft chuckles starting to bubble up from Mabel and Steven behind them. “And finally, to your lieges.” Pearl nodded over to the aforementioned laughing pair, who were quick to sober up under the sudden scrutiny.

Steven’s smile was quick to return however as Connie lowered herself to one knee before him, her manner filled with plenty of hints of levity as she did so. “My liege,” she remarked, her tone intentionally overdramatic.

“Miss Knight,” the young Gem acknowledged with an air of playful sovereignty before both him and Connie broke down into a gale of muted laughter under their breaths.

Mabel was already smirking as she watched this silly, lighthearted interaction, but her smile widened with surprise as Dipper suddenly bowed to her, much to her amusement. “Tis an honor, Sir Dipping Sauce,” she giggled, slightly bowing back to him, though Dipper adamantly refused to join in on her merriment.

“Come on, Mabel,” he scowled admonishingly as he glanced up at her slightly, causing her smile to drop almost instantly. “This is serious.”

“Indeed it is, Dipper,” Pearl agreed as she overheard this, taking a step closer. “I’m glad someone here recognizes that fact…” The white Gem frowned as she sent a critical glance to Steven and Connie, who were quick to stop laughing and straighten up upon being called out.

“Oh! S-sorry, ma’am!” Connie blushed, clearly flustered by her teacher’s admonishment.

“Mm hm…” Pearl nodded as her gemstone began to glow. Out of it emerged a pair of near-perfect holographic replicas of the white Gem, both of them already wielding solid rapiers as it stood emotionlessly and rigidly alongside the real Pearl. “Now, to begin, these holo-Pearls will be your opponents.”

While Connie, Mabel, and Dipper were all quite impressed by the white Gem’s holographic abilities, Steven was instantly set on high alert, largely because of something that had happened not too long before summer had begun. In fact, his dread progressively grew as both holo-Pearls raised their blades a bit, their voices crisp and robotic as they spoke in orderly unison. “Level 0, beginner set, dual opponents. Do you wish to engage in combat?”

“Yes!” Connie readily exclaimed, her eyes a light with daring excitement.

“Uh, s-sure, I guess,” Dipper replied a bit more unsteadily, undoubtedly intimidated by the fact that they were actually going to start off learning how to fight firsthand.  

Steven, however, was far less complacent with the idea of two of his friends being pitted against such heartless holographs in the same way he had when Pearl had been out of commission for nearly two weeks and one of the only remnants of her he had left had been one such ruthless combatant apparition. Which was why, upon his mere self-preservation instinct alone, a large pink bubble bloomed around him, Connie, Mabel, and Dipper, startling the other three as they all looked to the wide-eyed young Gem questioningly.

“Steven? Are… you ok?” Mabel asked with a concerned frown, taking note of his rather shallow, sharp breathing.

“H-huh?” Steven blinked before noticing the bubble he had unconsciously created. “Oh! I-I’m sorry! It’s… i-it was… um, r-reflex…” The young Gem lowered his bubble, scratching the back of his neck as he let out an awkward laugh and began to back away. “Uh, y-you guys just be careful and we’ll… we’ll, uh, be over here…”

“Yeah, have fun, you guys!” Mabel called with a small smile as she began to follow Steven over to the stands, but not before placing a steady hand on Dipper’s uninjured shoulder. “Seriously though, bro-bro,” she whispered to him, her manner suddenly quite intent and worried. “Be careful. Even if you said you’re feeling better, you still probably shouldn’t go all overboard with this sword fighting stuff—even if it is really cool—so soon after… w-well, you know. So… so just promise me you won’t push yourself too far… ok?”

Dipper hesitated upon hearing this, his grip tightening around the hilt of his sword as he met his sister’s sincere, almost pleading gaze. But all the same, he forced a weak, reassuring smile, pulling his posture up as he nodded slightly. “Don’t worry, Mabel. I’m not gonna go ‘overboard’ or anything like that. I… I promise.”

Mabel smiled once more, allayed by this affirmation as her hand slipped off his shoulder. “Thanks,” she sighed contentedly as she hurried to join Steven on the stands. “And hey! You got this, ‘Sir Dippin-Dots!”

Despite his earlier exasperation with Mabel’s playful nicknaming, Dipper couldn’t help but crack a genuine smile at this, glad for her vote of confidence that easily could have been nothing more than teasing under different circumstances. Even so, he couldn’t help but feel the slightest bit guilty as he glanced down to the sword in his hand, not entirely sure if he’d be able to live up to the promise he had just made to her.

Upon seeing that there was no further distractions or delay, Pearl came to stand in between her two students, placing guiding hands upon both of their shoulders as she started her very first lesson. “Alright, everything begins with your stance…”

[odogaronfang]

Zombie apocalypse aus are neat. Tell me more.

oh thank you so much for asking!!!!!!!!

okay this might get long so prepare, uhhh where do i start

so basically. henry is my main character. in this au, the risen are the zombies, makes sense yknow. difference is, while most zombie media tags zombies as slow to move, slow to act, and without capability for higher thinking, the risen are still, on some level, fundamentally human. (this kind of stems from the risen’s capability to fight in awakening, and from of a support between ricken and henry; see “they’re just like us, but dead” (((: ) given, the risen are slow and not all too strong, they’re dead and decaying and atrophying- but the fresher risen, the recently turned, can in some cases rival a healthy, living human. i’m still thinking on what caused the pandemic, i’ll be honest, no haha-no-one-knows cop-out, i’ll get back to you on that. but no one knows of any cure yet, of course, or this au wouldn’t exist.

so. in a world of the living dead(?), where being a mage translates to being a gunslinger, cut to henry. was this an excuse to make henry dual wield handguns? maybe. will i apologize for it? absolutely not.

i digress. henry is the chaotic neutral/neutral evil gunslinger with incredible aim and a questionable at best moral compass. i’ve actually got a sketch of him somewhere, of him pointing a gun at someone saying “give me your stuff. or die! i win both ways!” ‘course i didn’t draw the other person, but it gets the message across. he’s generally just kind of desensitized to things. he comes from a neglectful but wealthy family (as he does in canon), so he never had much of a mentor or anyone to guide him in what’s right versus wrong. mostly he’s just interested in self-preservation, and the preservation of his birds; he’s been rescuing wounded birds (read: crows) since he was old enough to know how, and he names them bird puns and keeps them as pets, and now he’s got what’s basically a murder of loyal crows at his beck and call. they feed on the risen (and humans) he kills, and warn him when something is approaching. he trains them well. he’s the pavlov of corvids.

gaius is a slightly more morally responsible survivor, who probably raided a bass pro outdoor shop/renaissance festival as soon as the pandemic broke out. he’s got a sword, and throwing knives, and some daggers, and a bow (before it breaks and he doesn’t know how to fix it). the good thing about it is that he doesn’t spend time looking for ammo- the bad thing is he has to do a lot of maintenance on them. he is a thief, steals from encampments and sleeping lone wanderers, but he isn’t killing anyone for supplies, usually. except candy. he’d probably kill for candy if he liked the brand enough.

the shepherds are a survivors’ group dedicated to assimilating, training, and protecting fellow survivors- think alexandria, hilltop, or the kingdom from the walking dead, if you know it. their HQ is an abandoned castle, a historical landmark, that they filled with traps and alarm systems, and is practically impassable if you don’t know it. chrom founded the group, along with his (boy?)friend robin (that’s actually his nickname, because of his fighting style, not his real name).

-lissa is chrom’s little sister, an aspiring general surgeon and the current medic of the shepherds alongside maribelle, her close friend since VPK.

-frederick is a good family friend to chrom and lissa, and by extension the rest of the shepherds- he’s a war veteran and former hand-to-hand combat instructor, and does his part by training new recruits, and often acting as chrom’s and lissa’s bodyguard.

-sully is my wife also a veteran, was actually trained by frederick while still in active service. she leads a lot of patrols around their HQ, and interrogates new recruits. just to make sure.

-stahl is the resident herbalist/apothecary, it was his father’s trade and he grew up learning it. he’s often an assistant to lissa when she needs it, as he can make the salves and ointments and medicines that she needs to treat injuries. he also sometimes helps in the kitchen, because of his extensive knowledge of plants.

-miriel is their sniper, and hobbyist historian. the historian part doesn’t matter so much, but she likes to talk people’s ears off about things if they’ll let her. she’s pretty okay with math and science too, so she’ll help stahl with measurements, ratios, etc, but mostly she likes history and shooting things from 200+ yards.

-ricken is the baby boy of the shepherds. “it takes a village to raise a child” they say, and he’s the village’s child. everyone looks out for him. everyone is his parent. he is well loved and being trained by miriel in the art of sharpshooting. (he’d rather be with stahl learning how to make things.)

-donnel is their agricultural expert, and directs all their non-specialized workforce in the maintenance of their fields. he’s very strict about their schedule, about how things are planted and pruned and fertilized and harvested, about how croplands are rotated for optimal yields, but damn if the results aren’t better than anything they could’ve gotten at a market pre-apocalypse.

-virion is their bowhunter. they could use guns, but it wastes precious ammo and is loud and attracts attention, so he trains archers and leads them out on hunts when their tame livestock are running low or they feel they can risk the venture. it’s more sensible to take from the wild than their personal resources, robin says, and robin’s advice seldom fails them…

-panne and nowi are in charge of livestock (and nowi is a herpetologist on the side. she loves reptiles. she has a pet python.) panne hates to see any animals killed, but especially her babies, as she calls the one she raises, and fully supports virion and co’s ventures as long as it spares the lives of her animals. she recognizes necessity when she sees it, however, and if an animal needs to be killed for whatever reason, she does it herself, to make sure it’s quick and painless. she’s not the most social, but she and donnel get along well, and when henry joins their number she takes quickly to him and his avian following.

-generally, their guards/patrols consist of vaike, gregor, cherche, kellam, basilio, flavia my other wife, lon’qu, and say’ri. they’re alternating shifts on castle patrol, two to each group, one pair on each side of the castle, east and west. they’re always up late but they’re allowed to sleep in as compensation.

-cordelia, sumia, and libra jump around a lot, help a lot with donnel’s farming but also with out-of-camp ranging, as they’re skilled riders. cordelia helps tend to the horses, and ricken sometimes joins her.

-olivia was an aspiring actress before the pandemic, and before she became a single mother- now she’s practically a secretary, keeping their records of harvests and hunts and slaughters and rangings and patrols. she’s mentored by miriel, who adores that kind of boring work. olivia is also an excellent liar and if they ever need to negotiate with other people, she’s their go-to.

-tharja is also a sniper and everyone’s favorite hot topic membership cardholder. she and miriel like to have cynical conversations about the state of the world and complain about men with sully. the three of them definitely have a girls’ club going.

-inigo (the only child character i bothered to include) is olivia’s son to an unnamed father. his interests have always been in the performing arts field, but as that isn’t realistic anymore, he spends a lot of time with everyone. sometimes he’ll go and sit with ricken, and they’ll browse the castle library for fairy tales and folklore and read it together, and sometimes they’ll try and write their own and then perform it for everyone else, on stormy nights when the mood is dismal. they’re always stupid but they’re funny- they both have a gift for dramatic comedy- and everyone looks forward to their shows.

i feel as though i should warn people that it’s henry/gaius, though that isn’t the focus of it. it started as a bad shitpost and now it’s a ship so… [wattpad voice] don’t like don’t read, you feel

[velkynkarma]

I've just read your cool One Piece/Voltron posts, and I was wondering how do you think the rest of the paladins would get along the crew when they came to save Shiro or whatever? (Pidge would would LOVE Franky and Chopper.)

I’m only gonna go into one or two interactions for each paladin, because otherwise I could write a whole essay on character interactions. Even prior to the timeskip there were a LOT of Strawhats, it’d be difficult to write their interactions with each paladin :P Shiro’s been covered here and here, so he won’t be covered extensively in this list.

As a general rule I think most of Team Voltron would get along with the Straw Hats. The Straw Hats are a kind of weird bunch, but I think once team Voltron adjusts to the bizarre physics and powers and generally weird antics of the Straw Hats they’d be okay with them. They’re a generally friendly bunch after all. I think they might have a few ideals barriers at first with the Straw Hats, since they are outlaws and Luffy professes to not want to be a hero, which is kind of what Voltron is all about. But the Straw Hats tend to do heroic things quite often anyway just to help people out because they’re not assholes, so I think they’d get along okay in the end. I can see the paladins getting a little exhausted by the high-energy Straw Hat crew, especially more reclusive characters like Keith, but overall they’d all work well together.Also, the Straw Hats are totally psyched about the entire concept of Voltron, especially Chopper, Franky and Usopp, because they are experts on Giant Interconnecting Robots, naturally. Except Robin. Robin is Not Amused. Or Zoro. Zoro doesn’t remember because he forgot it. On purpose. But I think there are a few team/crew interactions that could be of interest.Hunk and Sanji: Oh my goodness fuck YES. This is the one I would want to see the most. Enthusiastic gourmet with an incredible palette, and professionally trained gourmet chef. I feel like Sanji would try to give Hunk crap at first just like he would for any of the chefs back home, but since Hunk tends to be a little more passive (more like Usopp in general temperament), this might get a little rocky. Sanji’s pretty perceptive though, he’d probably eventually back off and just focus on the one passion they both have, FOOD. I CAN see a major conflict showing up at some point since Hunk has proven to be a bit wasteful of food in the past (he threw some of Sal’s worse offerings around when he didn’t approve, and was 100% involved in the food fight, or the food goo attack), whereas Sanji treats food like it’s sacred. You don’t waste food, period. That might be a point of contention, but I can see Hunk really learning from it, and the two would get along pretty good after that. Bonus: through weird coincidence they both play the same leg. I can also see him hanging out with Franky or Usopp though, both for their technical/engineering savvy...and Usopp because he’s funny. Keith and Zoro: As a general rule I don’t see Keith getting along with most of the Straw Hats, or at least struggling with the high-energy crazy stakes of the ship. Keith likes quiet. The Straw Hats are the very antithesis of “quiet.” Keith also doesn’t really like loud enthusiasm, or people who shirk the very big responsibility of saving the world. The Straw Hats are literal outlaws with wanted bounties and they don’t give two figs about saving the world (even if, through coincidence, they often do—for the Straw Hats, they only do so because it’s personal in some way, or they just Happened To Be There). But I can see Keith getting along with Zoro, who’s closest to him in temperament. Zoro also tends to be the outsider in the crew as well, since he’s quieter and a little warier than the others. Also, Zoro is an expert at not just swordsmanship, but dual- and triple-wielding swords. I can see Keith deciding to train with him just to learn new techniques for even higher levels of expertise. Shiro: Keith, please tell me you’re not learning that three-sword style...Keith: Of course not, that’s ridiculous.Shiro: Oh, good—Keith: I mean, I only have two swords.Shiro:.....A secondary character would probably be Robin, who’s also quiet and calm...and also has quiet an understanding for some dark and sordid pasts, so she could relate if he needed a listening ear.Lance and Usopp: I can absolutely see these two having a lot in common and getting along well. They’re both the people-person of their respective group, they’re both the resident snipers, they both have a tendency to want to run away from conflict unless they have to stay and fight, and they both have insecurity issues in regards to their place on the team where everyone else has a clear-cut role. Usopp’s dream is just to be a brave warrior, whereas most of the rest of his team has some form of ‘be the best at X’ or ‘do X first,’ which implies some degree of expertise in order to be successful. Likewise, Lance often equates ‘success’ with ‘being the best at something,’ even if that definition of success doesn’t really suit his own skillsets (which are geared towards people, or supporting others). I think they could relate here. Obviously, they are also both excellent shooters and great at keeping people entertained, and I have a feeling they could get up to some insane shenanigans as a team.That said I can also see Lance getting into some real spats with Sanji over girls, because they are both the resident would-be Cassanovas of their teams. That could get ugly, especially since I’m pretty sure in one-on-one combat Sanji’s gonna win that one hands down. (Lance totally hits on Robin and Nami at first. Sanji comes to their defense, he thinks. Robin finds them both amusing; Nami thinks they’re both idiots...but she will absolutely play Lance like a fiddle if she needs something from him).Bonus Bonus:Sanji: *kicks Zoro through a wall*Zoro: *throws Sanji off the deck*Lance: Ugh, those two are so loud! Why are they always arguing?! Keith: I know. Can’t they just get along? They’re on the same team!Every Other Straw Hat and Paladin: *dumbfounded stare at Lance and Keith*Pidge and Franky: Franky is the most tech-savvy guy on the team. In the absence of computers, Pidge would be all over the more mechanical aspects of the crew. She would absolutely want to know how the hell a cola-powered engine works, how Franky gets that much weaponry stored away inside of himself, and all about how the Thousand Sunny works. It’s a kooky kind of engineering and lacks the delicate elegance of the Castle of Lions or the natural efficiency of the Olkari technology, but it’s strangely effective and highly intriguing. I don’t know that Pidge would like Chopper the most, they don’t seem like they have a lot in common. He’s cute, but Pidge hasn’t been proven to fall head over heels for cute things in the show like she does for machines (Beezer), which Chopper isn’t. The person I can see her interacting with the next most is probably Usopp, who also invents all kinds of stuff, or maybe Robin, who’s a bookworm, and that might appeal to Pidge in other ways. Allura and Nami: Nami has already proven she’ll adopt princesses in the past and I think Allura would be no exception. I think Nami would invite Allura to hang out with her and avoid the insanity of the majority of her crew (plus the rest of Voltron, once they get involved), and considering how frustrated Allura got with team Voltron fooling around with the gun noises, I think she could probably use the break. Allura and Nami are also the respective navigators for their team/crew, so I think they’d have quite a lot to discuss (space travel vs ocean travel, for example, or Allura offering input on maps and planets, since she’s frankly amazed they haven’t even managed to map their own world yet). Allura gets along with Robin really well too, and Chopper, because they’re both shapeshifters. But perhaps the craziest moment is when she and Zoro end up in an arm wrestling match, because she can match him evenly in a no-holds-barred strength fight, to the shock and awe of every single Straw Hat crew member. I mean, this is the same guy who threw a building at an opponent once, and Allura’s just like, “Oh, what a quaint game you humans have, with these strength matches.” (On the flip side, every Voltron paladin is frankly stunned any human can keep up with Allura at all). Coran and Brook: Look, they’re both the old uncle-grandpa type characters of the team. They’re kooky, they’re quaint, they’re deceptively polite and formal, but they can still kick six kinds of ass if you threaten their team/crew, and don’t you forget it. Coran laughs at all of Brook’s skull jokes even though he only gets maybe 20% of them. Brook yo-ho-hos for a solid minute at the Coranic joke. Brook listens to all of Coran’s old war stories and tales of ye olden dayes, and is able to reproduce some Altean music after getting a bit of a walkthrough to how it works, so they can sing old Altean folksongs and such. Coran learns every word of Bink’s Sake and will belt it out at the top of his lungs with great enthusiasm. Coran and Brook also know what it’s like to be an only survivor, and to watch the rest of your race/crew die, while being the only one to carry on a tradition or still keep a promise to those people. Coran also gets along with Franky well (again, mechanic, and that inherent paternal instinct that’s kind of there but silly). He’ll help Sanji out with setting places or with minor food prep too, but Sanji’s banned him from anything more intense than that after that horrible Paladin Lunch. Which he forced down like a trooper because  you don’t waste food, but man, never again. The Space Mice and Chopper: Chopper’s the only other one who can understand the space mice besides Allura, I have a feeling they’d get along great. They can talk to each other and share adventures. It’d be awesome for them.Luffy gets along with everyone in the same way he gets along with everyone in canon: About 75% of the time you want to clock him for being an idiot, and 20% of the time he’s friendly or calm enough that you’re just kind of neutral to him, but then there’s that 5% of the time he shows an incredible display of wisdom or leadership and you go “Oh...that’s why we listen to this guy.” All the Voltron paladins have seen it at this point, so they’ll put up with Luffy’s goofy antics, play with him, tell him stories about their giant cats that turn into a giant robot, and pull him out of the water a dozen times in a day, because it’s endearing in a weird way, but they also know he’s got their back when they’re in trouble. Hands down. No questions asked. He’ll tear apart an entire island if that’s what it takes to save them, ‘cause they’re his friends, and that’s what Luffy does.(The paladins all refused to join in on Tactics Fifteen though, because...no. Just. No).

[5kindsofmagic]

Sharing my Skyrim characters

Briinah: Argonian, Dragonborn. Light armor, shield, and dagger. Her dagger is one of Alduin’s own fangs, ripped from his mouth atop the Throat of the World and enchanted with absorb health and fiery soul trap. Adept-level illusionist, silent-casts muffle and invisibility to sneak up on her targets. Primary ranged option is bound bow. Her signature move is rolling forward into a spring attack to catch targets unaware. She’s a humanitarian (ring of namira, does not eat other argonians or khajiit). Uses the atronach stone to absorb incoming magic attacks.

“Go north they said. Skyrim would be a better place they said. Bah. I get run over by some idiot warmonger while I’m trying to find a place called Darkwater Crossing and next thing I know I’m on the chopping block accidentally getting saved by a gigantic black dragon.” Many adventures later she had eventually found that mine, and rescued the handsome male Derkeethus. He would be found by her side from then on. The two of them would woo the bright-spirited Shahvee and turn Honeyside into their little love nest as well as storefront. Being thane of The Rift gives her plenty of opportunities to try to improve things for all the argonians there, and keep jarl Blackbriar on her toes. Her favorite nightly activity is hunting thieves, though she has yet to find their secret base of operation. She adores Paarthunax, and through conversing with him she learned that her name means “beautiful fury” in the dragon tongue, or alternatively “sister”. She takes the second interpretation as an unofficial title with pride. She hopes one day to reincarnate some of the dragons whose souls she’s absorbed, using her eggs as vessels.

Ghorash: Orc, member of the Dawnguard. Uses heavy armor plus the Azhidal mask. Primary weapons are the Longhammer and the Grenade Launcher (enhanced dwarven crossbow enchanted with fire damage and fiery soul trap that uses exclusively exploding dwarven bolts of fire). Uses little magic aside from restoration spells, though is trained heavily in fire destruction magic to get the most out of her weapon. May or may not be dragonborn, but would use Elemental Fury primarily if she was.

Ghorash's early years were defined by being tossed out of her stronghold for reasons she doesn’t remember. She doesn’t even remember which one it was. After following the roads and nearly succumbing to starvation, she managed to fall in with a group of bandits. Life was pretty standard, as far as banditry goes. One of her favorite safe houses was Liar’s Retreat, the bartender and owner Rahd always happy to share stories with the swiftly-growing orc. One day she and a small group were doing the usual stakeout when an older orc wearing unusual armor came into view. Thinking this would be an easy mark, the group didn’t notice the vampire stalking them until it was already feeding off one of them. Durak of course did his duty and slayed the foul undead, but not before it had finished off all but Ghorash. He was impressed enough with her to offer her a place in the Dawnguard, in the fort near Riften. That was all the fortune Ghorash would find that night. Upon limping back to Liar’s Retreat, the young orc barely made it to the bar when a war party of Falmer broke in through a wall near the kitchen. Rahd was swiftly struck down by a pair of shamans, and Ghorash barely had time to grab his signature hammer before fleeing out into the night. With nowhere left to go, she turned herself eastward to find her new fate.

Ghorash now travels with Durak, the latter in charge of guarding and using Auriel’s Bow, Auriel’s Shield, and the Dawnbreaker.

Myst: New guildmaster of the Thieves Guild. Imperial-turned-vampire (non-Volkihar). Shield and spell. Master-level illusionist, technical pacifist. While she has won a brawl or two, she has never killed. The whole blood-drinking thing does upset her a little, but she usually can find an attractive “volunteer” around town “willing” to indulge a little neck biting. She avoids suspicion by wearing hooded monk robes in towns, only switching to her blackguard armor when on a job. Definitely not dragonborn.

She was done for. That idiot Lokir had gotten both of them caught, over some flea-ridden horses. Frankly, she was kind of happy when the coward tried to run, only to get himself pincusioned. She was hoping to talk her way out of execution, but no, she just HAD to get the imperial captain whose brother she’d slept with. Wait, what’s that noise? Now, you may be wondering how she got named the new Guildmaster. Well, the last one had an unfortunate accident involving a slick statue and hitting his head on a loose rock.

Lilina: High elf, dragonborn, imperial Legate, honorary Penitus Occulatus, Archmage of the College of Winterhold. Aside from her PO gear, she wields a custom stahlrim mace enchanted with frost and chaos damage in her left hand. She uses all forms of magic, having enchanted her gear to reduce costs in all schools by 25%.

Fleeing to Skyrim seemed like a great way to escape the Thalmor. Right up until she realized that they had an embassy and at least one garrison right near the capital. The ugly looks she got from the locals weren’t much better. With no other recourse, she enlisted in the imperial army in Solitude to try to earn some respect, or at least a few hot meals. One war later, and on official leave, she gets captured by some madwoman from the Dark Brotherhood. Well, one kill later and she’s working her way to Dragon Bridge to tell Commander Maro about her encounter. After that, it would be on to Winterhold for some hopefully-peaceful study.

Vannyssa: Breton, dragonborn, VIP of Raven Rock. Dual wields sword and axe. Light armor, little magic. Amulet and Blessing of Talos. Primary Shout is Slow Time.

Vannyssa met the other dragonborn on the climb to High Hrothgar. After they split up to tackle different objectives, she was accosted by some cultists. Feeling rather incensed, she followed the trail back to Solstheim to get some payback. Eventually she forgot about the goings-on back in Skyrim, kicking Miraak’s ass and doing everything she could to make her new home in the ash wastes better. She’s currently keeping all the black books out of everyone else’s hands so as to give Hermaus Mora the middle finger. When her time comes, she is really really hoping Akatosh has more of a grip on her soul than tentacle-face.

[As-of-yet-unplayed Khajiit]: Bow and claws (unarmed). Illusion magic for hiding. Will become Harbinger of the Companions. I like to think that instead of a werewolf she becomes more of a weresabercat.

((In a different continuity)) Tess’la: Dark elf vampire lord. Lord of Volkihar, Stormblade, Oblivion Walker, Archmage of Winterhold, Speaker of the Dark Brotherhood, Dragonborn, Ysmir, Dragon of the North, Thane of all provinces, and many other titles. Wears the Jagged Crown over Zahkriisos, along with Master Robes of Destruction and Daedric gauntlets and boots. Custom enchants done using Azhidal’s Genius and Secret of Arcana bring his destruction spell cost to zero. Makes gratuitous use of dual-cast Thunderbolt. Stops leveling up at 46 so the loot tables are maximized but the enemies stop getting stronger.

This guy is just an evil asshole. Side with the stormcloaks? Check. Steal the Jagged Crown right out from under their noses? Check. Usurp power from Lord Harkon and keep his daughter as personal eye candy? Check. Overpower some thalmor dingus who took care of the dirty work killing the last archmage? Check. Kill the servants of daedric princes in order to earn their favor and hoard their artifacts? Check. Ally himself into a major house of Morrowind? Check. Pledge service to Hermaeus Mora in exchange for forbidden knowledge? He has no soul to lay claim to, so double check. Zapping Alduin’s scaly hide back to Oblivion to lord over the dragons still on Nirn? Check. Betraying Paarthunax just to keep the Blades as useful minions? Check.

[kwalt49]

The Guards

 The Farm Boy: Lukas Nackston

 The young man from a small hamlet barely on the map, nowhere. A farm boy with grander dreams of knighthood and honour, a life beyond his own. He was a skinny lad, short and frivolous, with scruffy cocoa coloured hair and hopeful, accompanied with eyes like two copper coins. Endless hot summer days plowing the fields helped build up muscle, as well as the many duels he had with his sister Tarla, dancing with sticks and broom handles. Each fight would bring a smile to both their faces as sweat dripped down their brows and their hearts pumped inside them, flowing life through them.

Little Lukas was loved amongst those in his village, they would smile and greet him each morning as he passed by. Everyone knew him, and everyone loved him. He even befriended the animals, learning to ride a horse at the age of six. He and his sister would ride through the nearby woods and across the streams to explore and collect little insects of various colours. One day he hid a spider in his sister's hair and she knocked him into the stream for it, she returned home with her hair a mess, and he came home soaked and soggy.

On his fifteenth birthday, his father gifted him his own sword, a single-handled one made of pure iron, accompanied with a handle made from the wood of the trees he used to play in as a child. He no longer had need of sticks and broom handles. That day his father placed his hand on his shoulder and looked at him with hopeful eyes.

“Son, one day you will be a soldier.” His father had said to him. Lukas had never been happier, he dreamed of knighthood, to fight for what was right and good in the world, and now he had the tools to achieve that dream. And so, on his sixteenth birthday, he saddled up the horse that he had known for so long and rode off into the horizon. Towards Krostad, towards his future, towards his dream, while back home, the people who had watched him grow up into a young man, his family, they await the day their little Lukas returns home.

 The Shrewd Child: Anton Evander

 Krostad was never kind to young Anton, a city of criminals and soldiers. No matter which side he took, he would be facing off against someone else. Enemies wherever he looked, some days it was too much for him so he would waste away his days hidden beneath his bed sheets. He never had the courage to fight, instead, he would always observe from the side, watching and studying. Anton took interest in the way people moved and how they reacted to things.

Anton had short blonde hair cut at the sides, with a pushed back tuft of hair at the top of his head. Though he wasn’t the strongest amongst his peers, he was the smartest. On sunny afternoons he would go to the Krostad harbour and set up board games outside a bustling butcher shop. For hours he would sit atop of crates and barrels and wait for a worthy opponent to happen by. Anton won most games, but occasionally someone would get the better of him and tear down his win-streak. Eventually, he raised the stakes, and started betting money on each match, it was his way of bringing in income to the Evander family. At night he would return home with a bag of copper and silver, on the best days the bag would be overflowing with coin. Before he went to bed he played one final game with his grandmother, Avaline Evander. She was the only one in the family who appreciated his games. His father was a smith and had died in an accident years ago, while his mother worked hard and never had time for young Anton.

One foggy morning, two City Watch soldiers approached Anton as he sat by the docks with his board game. Two guards, a man and a woman of highborn blood.

“Give us a game?” The female guard asked of him. Anton accepted the challenge, and they engaged in a battle of the mind that lasted a half hour. The female soldier was a worthy opponent, but in the end he was victorious. Her colleague chuckled at her loss and asked for a chance to go against Anton. The second guard was an equally tough challenger. Their game lasted even longer, each move was slowly and carefully planned and considered. The game was close, sweat dripping down their heads by the final move, and in the end, Anton ruled supreme. The two soldiers smiled and congratulated him on his victory. The male guard complimented his mind and tactical thinking, the soldier gave him an offer; an offer to put his mind to better use, and Anton accepted.

The Swapped Soldier: Rynor Ysbrand

His world required him to be strong, the cold and unforgiving lands of Friohiem were a test of strength, where only the strong would be granted to the gift of life. Rynor was one of the lucky ones, born in a stone fortress with fires flickering within forever. Castle Ysbrand kept many alive during the savage storms and endless blizzards. When the snows cleared, Rynor would gaze upon the frozen corpses of those who failed to seek shelter in his home. He saw the unfairness of it all but had no ability to change it. His father Ulrik was harsh yet careful, fearful that if the castle became too overcrowded during the long winters, then everyone would surely starve.

During the summers Rynor would leave his castle to travel the lands of Friohiem. He studied with the mages of the snow peaked mountains, rode with the reclusive huntsman of the woods, and sailed with the fisherman of Whitewater. The cold hardened him into a warrior like his father; he could dual-wield, fire a bow, and hunt a variety of creatures. He tried to make a difference wherever he could, help those in need of him. His name became commonplace, a name beyond the firstborn son of Ulrik Ysbrand, his own name. Lesser men wanted to be him, for he was strong and brave.

His world changed the night he received a royal letter. The envelope marked with the stamp of some foreign Duke from some foreign city. Written in ink was an offer, a trade. Soldiers for soldiers, that was the deal. It was a ploy in order to improve relations between the two lands. To travel to a new place, where the seas were warmer and the faces new. Rynor had to admit, he was tempted. It would broaden his horizon and expand his worldview, and most of all be a fresh new challenge to him.  

Among others, he packed his bags and set sail for the city of Krostad. To train amongst their soldiers and fight in feuds that were not his own. He hopes that one day he can return to his homeland with tales of adventure and prosper and that one day he can return home to make a difference.

 The Huntsman: Dameon Wolfram

 He was too far gone, he had hunted too many beasts to fear them now. Born a hunter, he slew a beast when he was ten, yet he never got the hang of dealing with humans. Talking to people was never his forte, instead preferring the silence of the hunt. Gifted with a bow and arrow, he could feed an entire village on his own using his skills. Dameon was from a small family, one separated across the mountains and forests of Friohiem. He has siblings that he does not know about, the only family he had around him was his fellow hunters.

One hunt he came across a stranger, one who was tall and broad, dressed in the finest pelts he had ever seen. An eve of mistrust went by before he decided to share a campfire with the stranger. They talked and shared stories throughout the long, dark night. In the morning the stranger asked if he would join in a hunt, and Dameon never turned down an opportunity to hunt. That day he showed off his skills and abilities and even taught the stranger a few lessons. By the end of the day, the two shook hands and parted ways, leaving Dameon feeling empty. The brief human encounter had left him longing for more.

The port-city of Whitewater was his destination, there he made his home in the taverns and brothels of the city. He hunted game out of the city and would sell his prey on the markets on snow filled streets. He made his living in his new home, and soon he became happy. He worked as a guard on the side for extra coin, snuffing out criminals and ending bar-fights. Dameon was good at his job, it made him feel needed and fulfilled, he was content.Then one night he spent his night warming his stomach with a pint of ale with his friends in one of Whitewater’s taverns when the man he had met in the woods walked through the door. Dameon smiled.

“Well met, stranger” Dameon called out to him. The rest of the night he spent drinking with the stranger. They laughed and drank and talked. The stranger's name was Rynor Ysbrand, he spoke to Dameon about a voyage to the faraway city of Krostad, an adventure. Dameon drunkenly accepted, and before long he found himself on a ship bound for the unknown. He missed his homeland dearly, he longed to take part in the hunt once again,. He aimed to seek out whatever this new land had to offer him.