#should i go with mages or espers?

[moonandris]

Ughhhh... I went back and looked at an old science fantasy WIP I started in 2015 and it gave me SOOOOOO many ideas that make me wanna change everything. *cries in adhd*

I seriously hate my adhd brain SO much because I could worldbuild for literally eternity and it would never be enough, lolololol. I keep tweaking and changing the genres and magic system of my modern fantasy WIP and It’s driving me insaneeeeeee!!! Send help for my indecisive writer brain!

Idk if I wanna go the full blown high fantasy magic route with mages, sorcerers, witches, and warlocks OR if I want to explore science fantasy route of my old WIP and instead of mages & witches, I’d have espers (essentially, people with psychokinetic abilities). My story is set in a modern setting and I want to mix science and magic either way but it really comes down to how much power I want my mages/espers to have... like do I want them to have the ability to use their magic/psychokinetic abilities teleport across the world instead of using trains or airplanes? Do I want (some) of them to have god-like magic or do I want them to have more practical, less showy magic that works with the man-made technology of their world? I really love the idea of magic technology or psychokinetic-powered machinery, too.

I also feel like I might be overthinking it because either way, espers and mages are somewhat similar in that they both have fantastic powers with just different names...

Ugh, I’m being bombarded by so many ideas (which is great) but with the way my brain works I have to explore every little thought until my WIP has a ‘perfect’ system. It’s so annoying.

I also don’t see as many novels that explore espers over mages, as using the magic/mage terminology is more popular. I like the idea of having a ridiculously small amount of the human population with these powers, whatever they may be. So, if the world population in my story is 4 billion, then there would only be about 20,000 mages/espers, which is less than 0.0005% of the population. Some could be incredibly powerful while others could have powers that are completely useless, hehehehe. So. Many. Ideassssss!!

What sounds more interesting, mages or espers? Or both??

[shiroi---kumo]

Mist Mythics || Misterica's Grand Summoner

So in my previous talk about Mist Mythics I spoke about Sword Dragon and Summoning briefly but I still sort of feel like I didn't speak on it enough. Especially in the terms of Kumo specifically. I explained summoning in a general sense, but I didn't really speak on it in a sense of how it works with Kumo and why he avoids using it unless needs to.

So as I previously explained, the concept of summoning within the space of Misterican Society is the ability to summon forth the might of a creature known as Sword Dragon.

I.E. this ->

Sword Dragon is also known in Misterican Society as a "Mist Dragon" and they were seen as the "Lower Gods that served under that of Lady Tiamat." To be able to summon one of them through the use of one's own mist was considered a great honor.

All Misterican Summoners were Mist Mythics, but not all Mist Mythics were summoners. The Mist Mythics that could summon were considered "High Mythics" and to date, Misterica only ever had one High Summoner, and that was one Valkoinen Pilvi.

That's why we're going to talk about how summoning differed for Kumo than it did for everyone else in Misterican Society.

When summoning in Misterican society, a Misterican could summon one Sword Dragon to their aid and only one and there was one incantation to do so, that being:

"Enveloped in a beautiful and eternal song, Pure - color - Requiem."

The only thing that changed about the incantation from user to user was the color in which they summoned by - aka the summoning color being that of their mist.

Example:

When Kumo uses it he says:

"Enveloped in a beautiful and eternal song, Pure White Requiem."

When his brother, Usva (Kiri) uses it he says:

"Enveloped in a beautiful and eternal song, Pure Red Requiem."

And it yields that of a Sword Dragon matching the color of the summoner's mist. So in Kumo's case it yields white.

The trick is that on top of this incantation, Kumo has many many others and amongst those many others, he has the ability to summon up to four Sword Dragons at one time.

So basically not only could Kumo summon multiple Sword Dragons simultaneously, he was also in possession of multiple incantations to do so. He has quite a few different incantations to summon a single Sword Dragon, but each incantation causes the Sword Dragon to act differently upon summoning.

The first summon we ever see Kumo use, Silver Etude, brings forth a singular Sword Dragon that charges forward like a bullet train towards its train until it runs it straight through with nothing but the sheer piercing force of its blade.

However the next Sword Dragon we see Kumo summon forth, the Pure White Requiem, maintains solid form enough to engage into sword to sword combat against Kiri's Requiem - and even comes blast to blast with each other until it is ultimately overpowered by Kiri's beast.

Kumo's incantations not only bring forth a certain Sword Dragon(s) but also function like a chain of commands. Unike Soil Mages, who use Soil Poetry to describe the soul in which they are temporarily resurrecting from the dead in combination in order to create an esper; Misterican Summoners summon by way of their own Mist so incantations are commands of how that dragon should operate. How their souls should operate.

Much like a maestro must guide their orchestra their incantations are the score for the pieces they must play. If you will, the incantations that Kumo speaks are the songs he's asking his soul to sing by way of the Sword Dragons that rise from it. To give birth to life from his very soul.

Mist at its core is the element of life after all.

So that's why when he summons, this dragons are tied to his physical form and his very life itself. As long as a Sword Dragon is summoned to this physical plane, Kumo is burning his life in order to maintain it. If you want to think of this in RPG status, think of Kumo's Sword Dragons like HP Burn. As long as he keeps one summoned, he's burning his HP to do so and even without the damage that he's been dealt to his soul thanks to Chaos - such a move is risky at best.

This is why he doesn't summon unless absolutely needed. (Unlike his trigger happy counterpart.) It costs vitality and energy to do so. Kumo needs to recover massively after doing so, and even if he summons say -

The Chalk Quartet and then continues to fight, you can get The Quartet are going to get dismissed just as fast as they came. Kumo summons for a purpose and next to never keeps his dragons out longer than necessary.

I say next to never, because there are circumstances in which he will - and not.ally those circumstances are pressing. On top of this, by keeping Sword Dragons on the field - Kumo has the ability to fuse dragons together with an ability called "Konzert of the Drawn Sword."

This ability however is even more draining and he will be required time to rest and recover from doing so.

So let's talk about the real problem here.

Kumo's shattering soul.

If summoning functions like HP burn then what would happen if he summoned in current events?

Depending on how long he keeps the dragon active / how many of them he summons forth - it could knock him out if not kill him. It's burning his life force to keep that kind of power active and even as an Unlimited that power is not endless. Worse with the current condition his soul is in. If it doesn't knock him out to do so,.it could very well take a piece of his soul as a toll for going that far.

Especially if he soul taps when he does so. Even more so because there is a summon -in which he can convert another soul into most to summon - that requires him to soul tap in order to do it.

Even when converted another soul into mist in order to summon, Kumo is still required to access his own soul in order to do it.

So he avoids summoning at all costs on current day events because he cannot risk more damage to the state of his soul. It's already shattering. He doesn't need to smash more of it out in the name of a Sword Dragon that he might not have needed if he just handled the situation himself.

Kumo holds a massive amount of power on his own already. Sword Dragon is reserved for dire straights and serious situations only.

[stephschoices]

Hello !! I’m Steph (she/her , 28) !! I make edits/gifs/gfx/art and this is my side blog for playchoices, romance club, interactive fiction, visual novels, and otome/amare games. And for all my mcs that go with them ^_^  

Sometimes I may also post about other ocs from anime, video games, movies, etc. ~

❕ Main blog I follow/like from: @sweetchaosyk​ 

Commission info​

⬇️⬇️ links & recs & tags below ⬇️⬇️

tags:

!! every separate character tag on this blog will either be “mc: name” or “oc: name”

my edits

my art

my characters tag (interactive fiction)

my characters tag (video games, movies)

answered asks

picrews of my mcs

where to find me:

main blog that I follow/like from: @sweetchaosyk

vav sideblog: @softgeumhyuk​

my main/kpop twitter: softstvan

my oc/if/vn (18+ no minors pls) twitter: stephschoices

my insta: softstvan

my pinterest: softstvan

interactive fiction I play:

⭐ = top favs that I highly recommend

💜 = canon mc if I have more than 1 listed

🔞 = very nsfw / only 18+ should read

a bard's tale by abardstale - ( mc: vallen - ♡aspen )

a comedy of manors by sviyaginthegreat - ( mc: morgan - ♡tony )

a mage reborn by mage-parivir - ( mc: yeona - ♡leon )

a moon so cruel by amsc-if - ( mc: yurei - ♡kade )

a tale of crowns by ataleofcrowns - ( mc: mirarî - ♡dara )

abyss by abyss-if - ( mc: soobin - ♡jinho )

an elemental existence by beeanca-writing - ( mc: aurora - ♡sydney )

arcadie: second-born by sofia-d-asb - ( mc: grace - ♡cyril )

attollo by attollogame - ( mc: wren - ♡operator )

the bastard of camelot by llamagirl28 - ( mc: mordred - ♡gawain )

⭐ beyond empty eyes by beyondemptyeyes-if - ( mc: piper - ♡keir )

blood moon by barbwritesstuff - ( mc: jazmine - ♡marco )

⭐ body count by bodycountgame - (💜mc: daphne - ♡griffin💜 || mc: dakota - ♡charlie || mc: delaney - ♡atticus )

⭐ buried love by buriedlove - ( mc: marina - ♡alex )

⭐ circuit by circuit-if - ( mc: akali - ♡roman )

conspiracy in emerson by emersonfreepress - ( mc: annie - ♡jack )

crème de la crème by hpowellsmith - ( mc: briar - ♡patrice )

dark as night by cereuscross - ( mc: parker - ♡taj )

🔞 degrees of ledity by vrelnir 

dereliction by dereliction-if - (💜mc: makaela - ♡solas💜 || mc: marin - ♡havu || mc: avena - ♡gareth )

diaspora by diasporatheblog - ( mc: cailin - ♡sangarinus )

⭐ disenchanted by disenchantedif - (💜mc: isabelle - ♡viktor💜 || mc: leliana - ♡lucien || mc: kamry - ♡avery || mc: elena - ♡theodore || mc: rumaiza - ♡amrit || mc: monah - ♡harlow  || mc: tabitha - ♡cameron  || mc: savannah - ♡araselis   )

the eight years revolution by eight-years-revolution - ( mc: savea - ♡ajmal )

⭐ esper by esper-game - ( mc: nari - ♡leith )

everything is blue by everythingisblue-if - ( mc: sapphire - ♡milo )

the exile by exilethegame - ( mc: juniper - ♡sabir )

⭐ fallen lights by fallenlightsif - (💜mc: cora - ♡florian💜|| mc: inola - ♡orion || mc: mirielle - ♡emil || mc: nadya - ♡dimitri || mc: yvette - ♡julian  )

⭐ fate unwritten by fateunwritten-if - ( mc: elodie - ♡ivan )

fellow traveler by robotvampire - ( mc: macie - ♡sameer )

fernweh saga by lacunafiction - ( mc: leah - ♡beckett )

fields of asphodel by chrysanthemumgames - ( mc: persephone - ♡hades )

the fog knows your name by clio yun-su davis - ( mc: elsie - ♡rex )

⭐ god of the red mountain by friendlybowlofsoup - ( mc: "rabbit” - ♡spider )

⭐ golden by milaswriting - (💜mc: kendall - ♡blaze💜|| mc: adaline - ♡kaidan )

⭐ the golden rose by anathemafiction - ( mc: arya - ♡hadrian )

greenwarden by fiddles-ifs - ( mc: larken - ♡marc )

hollowpass town mysteries by hollowpass - ( mc: mitchie - ♡maxwell )

the hunt: demon eyes by thehunt-if - ( mc: cara - ♡bas )

⭐ in deeper tides by indeepertidesif - (💜mc: seraphine - ♡haakon💜 || mc: irelia - ♡thorne )

⭐ infamous by infamous-if - (💜mc: mina - ♡seven 💜|| mc: rian - ♡sebastian )

⭐ ink & laces by inandlaces-if - (💜mc: jade - ♡pepe 💜|| mc: archer - ♡anders || mc: dove - ♡fernando  ||  mc: quinn - ♡foley )

keeper of the sun and moon by keeperofthesunandmoon - ( mc: hayden - ♡altair )

larkin by larkin-if - ( mc: delia - ♡cyrus )

🔞 love for sundown by godsamael 

the lure of the gallows by lureofthegallowsgame - ( mc: emma - ♡leo )

the masked defenders by ian-lythe - ( mc: brooklyn - ♡emerson )

⭐ mind blind by mindblindbard - ( mc: blaire - ♡gray )

⭐ more things in heaven & earth by morethingsgame - ( mc: ophelia - ♡hamlet )

 murder at play house by murderatplayhouse - ( mc: blake - ♡nate )

the nameless by parkerlyn - ( mc: arabella - ♡the healer )

⭐ next in line by nextinline-if - (💜mc: calia - ♡constantine💜 || mc: cerys - ♡frederick )

the northern passage by northern-passage - ( mc: mercy - ♡lea )

⭐ novaturient by kalorphic - (💜mc: seulki - ♡noah💜 || mc: sage - ♡kalan )

an ode to dying starts by dyingstars-if - ( mc: alora - ♡krios )

ofna: birds of a feather by ofna - ( mc: maya - ♡jeremy )

olympus: secret services by ekgfiction - ( mc: tahmina - ♡louis )

the overtaken by theovertaken - ( mc: maria - ♡immanuel )

⭐ the passenger by the-passenger-if - (💜mc: ava - ♡roach💜 || mc: destiny - ♡jonny )

⭐ paved in ashes by pavedinashes-if - (💜mc: indigo - ♡felix💜 || mc: saskia - ♡michael || mc: beatrix - ♡sparks || mc: mallory - ♡francesco || mc: este - ♡dima  || mc: sabine - ♡alex )

⭐ perfumare avulsion by pdrrook - ( mc: natalie - ♡reed )

perfumare amalgam by pdrrook - ( mc: lexie - ♡flavio )

project hadea by nyehilismwriting - ( mc: callisto - ♡nash )

raiders of the caravan by leftski-if - ( mc: taya - ♡ruokar )

⭐ reaper’s bay by reapersbayif - (💜mc: fallon - ♡striker💜 || mc: teagan - ♡kai || mc: arany - ♡adrianus || mc: laina - ♡finn  || mc: giselle - ♡marius )

the reaper watches me by thereaperwatchesme - ( mc: makani - ♡sable )

royal affairs by hpowellsmith - ( mc: sofie - ♡asher )

⭐ scout: an apocalypse story by anya-dev - ( mc: zoey - ♡oliver )

sentinel by nyehilismwriting - ( mc: naomi - ♡levi )

⭐ shepherds of haven by shepherdsofhaven - (💜mc: ellery - ♡blade💜 || mc: arainia - ♡red || mc: halle - ♡trouble || mc: kellen - ♡briony )

the soul stone war by intimidatingpuffinstudios - ( mc: seobi - ♡morkai )

speaker by speakergame - ( mc: raina - ♡rory )

⭐ the spirited: origins by yuveim - (💜mc: payton - ♡derek💜 || mc: xavier -  ♡levi )

spring panic by ange-writes-ifs - ( mc: odessa - ♡aspen )

the sun chasers by elleryfiction - ( mc: narelle - ♡taran )

⭐ supernatural in new york by llamagirl28 - ( mc: sky - ♡dom )

swan song by swansong-if - ( mc: rosalie - ♡odile )

the sword of rhivenia by theswordofrhivenia - ( mc: abigail - ♡xavier )

thicker than by barbwritesstuff - ( mc: sunhi - ♡iliya )

time’s legacy by legacies-game - ( mc: talay - ♡eilert )

tournament of souls by maxdes - ( mc: reya - ♡euric )

triaina academy by leo-interactive-fiction - ( mc: averie - ♡matthew )

⭐ the unseelie by theunseelieif - (💜mc: cyra - ♡morgan💜|| mc: sokki - ♡kiran || mc: avalon - ♡auberon || mc: haelyn - ♡kendall || mc: june - ♡camilo )

⭐ unwilling souls by unwilling-souls-if - ( mc: fleur - ♡xander )

virtue's end by virtues-end -  ( mc: anika - ♡shea )

the wayhaven chronicles by seraphinitegames - ( mc: clara - ♡nate )

⭐ we all bleed red by lost-kiwi-dev - ( mc: alina - ♡chengyi )

when twilight strikes by evertidings - ( mc: carmen - ♡rylan )

the whisper in the mist by ellawrites-if - ( mc: noelani - ♡ciaran )

⭐ the wrath of sekhmet by sekhmetswrath-if - ( mc: nailah - ♡elija )

you live and fern by beetlebethwrites - ( mc: river - ♡matt )

zombie exodus: safe haven by Jim Dattilo - ( mc: fiona - ♡jaime )

visual novels I play: 

⭐ = top favs that I highly recommend

💜 = canon mc if I have more than 1 listed

🔞 = very nsfw / only 18+ should read

aloners by sonnet009 - ( mc: rowan - ♡trash )

⭐ andromeda six  by wanderlust-games - (💜mc: nayel - ♡june💜|| mc: aeris - ♡vexx || mc: cassia - ♡damon )

blooming panic by robobarbie - ( mc: angelite - ♡xyx )

⭐ 🔞 college craze by collegecraze - ( mc: fawn - ♡undecided )

ebon light by underbliss - ( mc: merra - ♡vadeyn )

it lives within by itlivesproject - ( mc: summer - ♡abel )

monstrata fracture by astralore - ( mc: ivy - ♡cailean )

the neptune diaries by meduzagames - ( mc: felicity - ♡ren )

⭐ our life beginnings & always by gb-patch - ( mc: melody - ♡cove )

⭐ perfumare by pdrrook - ( mc: natalie - ♡reed )

⭐ when the night comes by lunaris games - ( mc: bellamy - ♡alkar )

playchoices stories I play:

⭐ = top favs that I highly recommend

blades of light & shadow - ( mc: daya - ♡tyril )

the elementalists - ( mc: jennie - ♡beckett )

foreign affairs - ( mc: kennedy - ♡blaine )

the haunting of braidwood manor - ( mc: alessia - ♡victor )

⭐ it lives beneath - ( mc: rose - ♡parker )

⭐ it lives in the woods - ( mc: dallia - ♡connor )

nightbound - ( mc: charli - ♡cal )

romance club stories I play:

⭐ = top favs that I highly recommend

⭐ arcanum - ( mc: selena/lilith - ♡liam )

⭐ heart of trespia - ( mc: eden - ♡wyatt )

heaven’s secret - ( mc: violet - ♡lucifer )

hell and high water - ( mc: laney - ♡chand )

kali: call of darkness - ( mc: amala - ♡amrit )

love from outer space - ( mc: amber - ♡todd )

⭐ the one v1 - ( mc: cassie - ♡evan )

psi - ( mc: lou - ♡kay )

sails in the fog - ( mc: adelaide - ♡sebastian )

⭐ seduced by the rhythm - ( mc: miki - ♡brandon )

shadows of saintfour - ( mc: serena - ♡michael )

sins of london - ( mc: ivy - ♡glashtyn )

other story based apps I play:

⭐ = top favs that I highly recommend

the arcana by nix hydra - ( mc: juliet - ♡muriel )

⭐ duskwood by everbyte studio - ( mc: aspen - ♡jake )

obey me! by shallwedate - ( mc: hani - ♡belphegor )

⭐ love island the game by fusebox games - ( season 1 mc: rose - ♡levi || season 2 mc: lily - ♡bobby || season 3 mc: iris - ♡ciaran || season 4 mc: daisy - ♡bruno || season 5 mc: clover - ♡suresh || season 6 mc: aster - ♡lewie || season 7 mc: holly - ♡alex || season 8 mc: dahlia - ♡jack )

[kazeofthemagun]

Should you fight Black Wind?

[tagged: I see people do this so I shall, too]

[tagging: @shiroi---kumo @cursedfortune (@ofmanytxngues ) depends on if you wanna do a writeup]

[Anyway, let's get on with it: Should you fight Kaze?]

[Realistically? He's the God of Destruction's vessel, no you should not fight him. Jokes aside:]

Anime Kaze

At least with this one, the Magun is wounded and asleep so unless you both happen to be near a potent source of Chaos that will wake the gun up, you will not be blown up by a godly and/or demonic creature. In this version, Kaze is almost completely unable to use the Magun, which includes manifesting the engine blades. Really, his right arm is solely a bludgeoning weapon. Seriously, that thing weighs a figurative tonne, stay away from it.

Despite being incapable of using his Main Thing, Black Wind is a highly trained Windarian general, and is all about guns. Gun-mage, remember? He has a double-barreled, spring action shotgun with heavy caliber rounds that pretty much guarantee a kill upon impact by making sure your body is turned into mincemeat. If you're hit in a limb, that limb is going to be decimated. If you're hit in the main body you're toast. This gun possesses an indeterminate mag size of anywhere between 10-20 and please do not ask me how it works, this thing is more fantastical than the Magun itself.

When fighting long range, the best strategy would be to try and get him to waste his ammo until he has to reload, though he could very well bluff and surprise you with a few more shots. When he does have to reload, however, he has to do it onehandedly and it takes a while. Getting in melee is your best bet, but now you're facing a 6'8" humanoid alien with superhuman strength who is more than capable of snapping your neck (and everything else). Despite his heavy Demon Weapon, he is surprisingly fast and skilled with the use of the dagger he keeps at the backside of his belt. Absolutely will fight dirty, trying to sweep your leg and utilizing more underhanded tactics as the fight goes on.

This version of Kaze's stamina is notably worse than his after-series counterpart. He hasn't eaten in a long time and the magical Demon Weapon is the only thing keeping his body functional. Despite his height, he is quite the twig, and despite the Windarians' racial strength, could probably be contended with by a physically powerful human. Can be off-balanced somewhat easily due to the Magun's immense weight bending his spine and causing his center of mass to shift to his right. Also, any version of Kaze is weak to water magic and extremely weak to Blue Elenium, if some still exists in Wonderland.

After Kaze (Main Verse Kaze)

Noooope. You're fighting an awakened Unlimited, which is Bad. No ordinary human stands any semblance of a chance here, similar to a fight with White Cloud. These two? Gods' vessels, and have the power to show for it. The Magun is well awake and capable of unleashing potent magic (and its blades) at a moment's notice. When fighting this version, you will have to contend not only with summoned Espers, but Spiral magic. Sand alone is coarse, rough, and irritating, but have you ever considered magic soul sand? Soil comes in a variety of colors and elemental properties, and when it starts to stir, you will be assaulted by a magically volatile sandstorm and any hard-hitting attacks of your own will be blocked by the Soil hardening into near-unbreakable glass walls. Glass walls that can well explode outwards like frag grenades. All the while, you will be shot at.

But none of this is nowhere near as terrifying as what an Esper can do. Sure, if you can get past rampaging Soilwind you could probably throw a wrench into Black Wind's summonings. Certain spells could interrupt him and force him to fold the Magun's engine avoid damage. Still, if you find yourself unable to throw your biggest attacks to stop this process, you'll be forced to fight an entity known as an Esper. There are many Espers, and each has a different set of abilities, but one trait they do share - being am unparalleled force of utter destruction. Good luck.

If you still survive, you probably know what to do. Prevent the gunmage from casting his funky lil spells and you may stand a (temporary) chance because yup, you can't kill an Unlimited in any way that will stick. If you can use your own magic to manipulate Soil in any way, you can throw off the Demon Weapon's mechanisms and cause it to overheat faster. Similarly, going through 4-5 summonings in quick succession is nearly guaranteed to overheat the gun and cause it to shut down. Kaze's blood serves as its coolant, so this is more than likely to be a kill.

Congratulations, you've beaten who's probably one of Final Fantasy's most OP characters. Now go fight Kumo and see if you can get that one achievement for besting the both of them.🏆

Gun Dragon form

...Don't even think about it.

[to-fly-without-wings]

I never knew that the view from up here is more breath-taking when I'm with you 💞☁️✨

Another fanart of one of my fave pairings 🥺😍.

Kuja was just flying around when he noticed Terra being surrounded by several manikins brought by Kefka. She was overpowered and had no choice but to escape because the manikins kept on appearing while Kefka is laughing hysterically; enjoying the show. How he loves to play with his puppet!

Terra was nearly out of gas when a manikin casted a fire attack on her. To her surprise, the manikin got blasted by a familiar holy ring attack which belongs to no other than the flamboyant mage.

Kefka saw what happened and screeched in annoyance for ruining his entertainment. He attempted to aim a magic attack on Terra who was surprised at the sudden turn of events while defending herself from the manikins.

With no choice because Kefka would never stop bringing more manikins in while chasing the half-esper girl, Kuja swooped her in his arms in one quick motion and flew away fast from the area while casting ultima to cover them up.

Distracted by the ultima spell, Kefka dodged the attack and the last thing he saw was the mage flying away with the doll in his arms.

"Curses! I really.. really... really... Haaaaatteeee youuu!! "

~ ~ ~

"Kuja, thank you. I didn't know you'd be there." Terra muttered under her breath; staring on the mage's fine features.

"Hmmm... mere coincidence or should I say, luckily I was there in the nick of time. Tell me why are you out there all alone while being played by that buffoon and his manikins?" His voice was curious; his sapphire eyes never left the sky.

"Well... I was looking for this flower which I wanted to give to Eiko for sharing her kupo nuts with me... and I didn't notice that Kefka was following me."

"Oh dear... Kupo nuts?" He hummed.

"Yeah, I didn't know that they exist and moogles love them." There was fondess in her voice as she stared at her hands.

"Don't tell me dear Terra that you enjoy the company of those furry pompom balls?"

She beamed, "They're fluffy, cute and adorable. I just love to hug them and I find their presence very calming."

He noticed the softness of her voice as she describes to him the creature. Who on Gaia would find those noisy little creatures, adorable, especially with that ridiculous pompom on their heads?

"Kuja, is it true that in your world, there is a place only inhabited by moogles?" Her innocent voice sounded like a child; curious and hopeful.

He swallowed. He didn't expect that this would be a moogle conversation.

"I guess if Eiko told you so then there is."

His answer made her beam. "Really?! I wish I could go there! I wonder what it looks like and how it feels like to live with such adorable creatures."

"You could unless it is possible and you know where it is." He smiled in return.

"If I can travel into other worlds, then I'd go there first! Maybe you could accompany me, if you're not busy once we return..." She trailed off.

"Why me? Zidane is a better guide than me and there's Eiko who knows the place."

"I think Zidane would be with Garnet and I don't want to disturb their reunion together. As for Eiko, she told me she"ll be in the castle with Zidane to meet their friends again."

He challenged, "Do you trust me that much, dear Terra?" His eyes are fixed on hers.

"I..."

"Please darling Terra, I hope you understand that I am the antagonist in the play back in my world."

"I know but that was way back and I just can't shake off this feeling that I want to see you again." Her eyes sparkled with sincerity.

He was taken aback. "You wanted to see me? Pray tell me for what reason, dear?"

"I don't know yet but I know that seeing you again makes me feel at ease." She sighed.

"Don't flatter me, my canary, it sounded as if you missed me." He laughed.

"Kuja..." She called.

"Hmmm?" He stared at her lilac eyes once again.

"I'm glad that I met you."

Those words stirred an unfamiliar feeling in his chest. He could feel the warmth of her body against his chest and her eyes are full of radiance as they stared back at him. He would never forget her face at this moment as the breeze danced against her soft whispy hair and how her lovely features beautifully accented the glow of the clouds around them. He knows that her words are full and sincere but sometimes, he couldn't help but challenge them to see how the weight of it would feel on his chest.

His challenge was useless for he, too, knows what he wanted. And he is contented that she speaks it out for him.

"So do I, dear Terra." He smiled warmly.

~ ~ ~

So a short headcanon for this particular scene of this fanart 😆.

I can't help but get this fluffy feels when I headcanon these two.

Disclaimer: This is only a headcanon! 😅

[demytasse]

  [Shinzaya] Past Affection

— 

  The afternoons which bordered Summer were just as much a nuisance as they were a spectacle.

On one hand, they were the creators of colourful settings—beautiful, vibrant hues that blended from one stage to another; and the sun, a keen mage, slowed the passage of time until it was difficult to determine the current hour. Moments were easily lost, now with an unfamiliar schema that needed to be followed. That was the unfortunate other hand.

To which lost moments were already too many for students who’d been locked away in stuffy classrooms prior to the bell. Because all things considered the school grounds weren’t the place students wanted to remain past academic droll and extracurricular electives—sports teams and clubs. Yet inevitably time would get away from them; at least in return they created lifelong memories.

  One day—in exact two before Summer—there was a particular club that fell victim to that of an extended school day.

The club was its own undefinable thing; a sort of study hall but also not. A science club by name, but a ruse. That and it was comprised only of a peculiar pair who had decided to rehash middle school upon a whim—late in the game, mid-career.

Hardly needed was a biology lab they once took advantage of, so a sterile box was ditched for an unused classroom that lacked decorations and student accommodations.

Beside its wide window were the founders, Izaya and Shinra, who had positioned themselves across from one another and occupied two turned desks united at their cutoff. Under the table their ankles did much the same—rested near each other, suspended in open space, their legs crossed in mirror.

Though one was a bob, a percussion that Shinra played against Izaya’s leg without his awareness; hardly nervous, rather a content tic—an old habit that resurfaced, years unpracticed thus a drumming disaster instead of something consistent and precise.

Regardless, he continued on with his unconscious backbeat for the seasonal cicadas and conditioned air flow—just as well accosted Izaya with low key affection.

Struck, Izaya was separated from his studies, hit with memories he wasn’t prepared to remember; scenes from his early teens, details he had tossed aside for less important ones. Though he was innately familiar with the beat, it was easy to move on.

That is until Shinra started to hum a swooning melody that matched the calm afternoon; that was when Izaya completely lost concentration.

    He stuttered words within his notes, failed to comprehend excerpts already read in his textbook. It was far too difficult to focus with a track sweetly and tenderly sung in reverb; the only song Shinra ever hummed.

With that calling it was a struggle not to smile.

Though maybe he had, despite his wishes—given the glance he shared with Shinra for a second before his clubmate went back into space and beyond.

Further a distraction was the song itself. Izaya never had a name for it—nor did he have an artist or lyrics, just a general genre. Truly it never bothered him before, but lost in the moment it did, like he wanted to steal an mp3 from the internet in order to listen to it on repeat, unsure of if a moment like this would continue on in the future.

That aside it was pure curiousity.

A mystery he wanted his friend to reveal as a detective Izaya hired under the table with a nudge to halt the beat.

    "So, I believe it's due time that you fill me in on what song you've been humming."

    Shinra stopped. "Was I humming?"

    "You weren't aware of that?"

    "Well, I did have a song stuck in my head..." he looked to the ceiling, finger at his chin.

Izaya knew Shinra’s obliviousness was straight up crap.

    "Perhaps you’ve had the same song in your head going on four years, then. Not like I doubt the possibility, with your proclivity to obsess over solo things."

    "Oh geez, did you become an esper without me knowing? I mean, I would expect your desire to pry into the inner workings of other people’s minds, but never mine."

Shinra remarked slyly which ruffled Izaya.

He already had a hard enough time asking an oddball question out of the blue. Rather, it was odd for him to ask a personal question of a person he knew personally. Mind you, fairly exact.

    "No." Dead-eyed, he continued. "Like I said, you hummed out that incessant ear-worm...and have been for so long that it’s permanently attached to my eardrums."

    "Right,” Shinra nodded, “and just now you’ve begun to wonder what the song was." 

    “I’m sure if you roll back the script you’ll find your answer.”

    “Well if you insist, should we take it from the top—�� Izaya kicked Shinra, who laughed when his knee jerked in reaction.

    “Spare me, Shinra.”

    “Haha, alright! Alright! I’ll relent.” His laughter died as blind thought replaced his bespeckled vision.

    Surprisingly the name wasn’t at the tip of Shinra’s tongue, unlike the wit he usually taunted. With a slack frown, he reviewed memories played in reverse.

All the while Izaya studied Shinra; heavy head in palm, pen long ditched, opposite hand a paperweight.

    "Hmm...you know…” Shinra relaxed his confusion when the answer clicked.

    Izaya hummed for him to continue.

    "It wasn’t ever a song I intentionally picked. As cheesy as it might sound, the diddy automatically played whenever we were alone."

    "Hu. I didn’t expect that… What is it, then? The song."

    "I don’t know, Izaya. It probably shares the tune of a preexisting song."

    "In other words… You made it up."

    "I guess so. Is that so bad?"

Shinra looked without a care, his head nudged in favour of the window, enough to watch the sunset as it painted drifting clouds.

    "Isn't that just like you..."

    There was a definite pause—long enough for Izaya to put his pen to paper, but not enough for his paper to accept written word.

    "Though it's funny, isn't it? That I never thought twice about it... That's rather not like me.”

    Shinra spoke indolently, “but I realised something while thinking over it.”

Izaya let him continue.

    “To be honest, it just reminded me of you," he stirred clouds with his finger, “much like the sunsets often do."

The confession was blunt, but in a good way—in response it widened Izaya's eyes, and all of a sudden the low sunset was blown into full saturation. Not in the sky, but a kaleidoscope swirl upon Shinra's cheeks.

The answer held more weight than he expected. More heart, more sentiment, more romance… It lulled simple honesty, acted as proof that they had become fully comfortable with one another. Finally, an overdue rain-check—fulfilled in the middle of golden hour on that random day.

Izaya remained entranced by his brightened view of Shinra, just as his object of attraction was lost in his skygaze.

     "...ah…"

    Shinra chuckled. “That's all you can respond with?" Clearly, Izaya knew how he really wanted to respond, but he struggled with how to do it; how to redirect that wistful stare upon him.

Even though he was handed the perfect opportunity it was difficult to craft something appropriate for the lackadaisical mood. To pull Shinra closer—more than a friendly distance, shorter than their default comfort zone.

Pathetically, the only thing he could muster was an edge forward with his fingers in lead; but beyond a few inches he froze, contemplated if he could see the simple plan through.

He couldn't.

His desire felt like it would ruin the moment���he lied to his cowardice. Which in return his confidence reassured him that sometimes a moment was better kept beautiful, uninterrupted.

Instead Izaya decided to reciprocate the warm caress of his ankle that Shinra reinitiated, in hopes that it wouldn’t sacrifice their intimacy upon contact.

Shinra twitched, but barely acknowledged it. He simply tapped the tabletop to invite Izaya to connect with him, at the very least by hand.

Covered in shadow Izaya’s smile probably went in vain, though it certainly spoke through his response; a sigh that mocked the blow of air conditioning.

    "Mmm…” Izaya nodded.

    “...that’s all."

—

AN: This is the cheesiest sht. This was originally an idea that was part of my fic Hold Me Tight (Or Don’t) but it didn’t quite fit after things progressed. I loved it too much to let it go to waste. Err...that’s why the setting about them rehashing their middle school biology club days is...is similar. Eheheh...

[lombax-lombardi]

Shifting~

Summary: One must take a moment to ponder.

Genre: Plot Breather.

“Take the creature down to the lab. I assume there is some kind of container to hold it in?” The ever smooth combined voice of the fusion spoke to the Keyblade wielders, posed in a manner of thinking.

Rii gave a small nod. “T-There show be something to contain the Shadow until she talks....”

The dark creature only hissed as Riku tugged slightly against the chains around her wrists, the creature hissed even more at him. “Yes. Maybe she can tell us why Ruby is still unconscious”

Movement caught the fusions ears, she turned her head to see Madilyn pull herself up off the ground, quietly dismissing her monsters, turning to the older woman who shielded her.

“T-Thank you for saving me” she bowed in respect, the old mage merely gasped then giving a small smile. “Y-You’re welcome....” she felt a slight twinge in her chest, reaching over to grip her shirt.

“....It’s finally over....Once we get the information of the people the Shadow has taken, I will seal her away for good” The old mage tried to stand but fell back to her feet.

“Why did you come?” Rii asked, Sophia looked down at her hands. “My daughter Sapphire, she was shifted into Ruby’s weapon at my request. So she could protect her, but the creature was becoming too strong...as you know I sealed my grandchild away.”

She motions to the sunflower pin in Rii’s hands. “Sunflowers....Ruby’s favourite, Sapphire said that when she was born she was like the rays of the sun....” A single tear fell down her cheek. “When my Sapphire asked to be changed into Ruby’s staff I said no. No no I said, but Sapphire was a stubborn child....all my children were”

Madiaheart listened intently, landing on her feet, eyeing the broken Keyblade that belonged to one of her halves. 

“I....I...I transferred some of my daughter’s life essence into that pin. Because of your powers Rii I thought you could have saved my Sapphire.....but....” The old woman eyes the black creature with fury. “My Sapphire is no longer with us....she is with the rest of her s-siblings....now...”

Aqua approached the old mage, kneeling down to her level. “What happened to your daughters?”

Sophia sighs. “My family are knights, mages and few of us are Keyblade Wielders. As you know my Sapphire was the final tragedy in this terrible play, her twin Kimberly was a brave soul, a knight. She was slain by the Heartless. As for my younger two twins, Sarina my youngest was a child of light, thus was destroyed by the very thing she treasured, her sister Stella”

The whole mood became pensive.

“Stella and Sarina were twin Wielders, they were polar opposites. The darkness consumed my Stella and she destroyed her twin, at the call of that bald...bastard” the tears flowed more now. “He took my children, he took my love from me and he hurt you all....”

Aqua pressed a hand against the old mages cheek. “Hush now, he will no longer hurt you again. Come on you’re weak, I’ll take you to the lab to rest...perhaps call a doctor”

“No need” Spoke Madiaheart, the others turned to face her, still in slight awe of her prowess. She seemed so...ethereal.

“I have taken it upon myself to call someone for help. You know her by now. The one called Seven, she should be arriving soon to examine Miss Sophia and Lady Ruby. Go on ahead. Take the creature.”

“You aren’t coming?” Terra asked, the tailed fusion turned her head. “Soon.”

It seemed she wanted to be left alone for a bit so they did, Riku tugged on the creatures binds, she reluctantly followed. Once she saw them leave her field of vision, Madiaheart approached the broken blade, reaching over to the handle to reef it out from the slab.

“It has been too long. But it is broken, perhaps the wizard in the tower can fix this. Once I separate of course. Unlike Sevenheart, not to say Sevenheart herself is weak but she can only last an hour before she becomes two halves again. I however will be lasting a while.....” She sighed, placing the broken blade on her back, ripping off the fabric from her pants to use it as a makeshift sash to keep the blade in place.

Seven should be arriving soon.

.......

It had been a long time now and Ruby still had not moved, breathing slowly but no other signs of movement. Ven was patiently waiting, ever watchful, dark circles under his eyes.

It seems he had not slept.

The doors to the lab opened and he jumped up, relief on his face to see the others were alright. “Aqua! Terra! You’re alright”

The brunette and the female with blue hair gave their friend a smile. “How is she, any progress?” Asked Aqua, Ven’s ever cheery face fell. “No. She’s still sleeping...”

They sighed, Aqua moving Sophia over to lay her down, Esper came rushing in when she heard the doors open, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw Sophia.

“You gave us quiet a heart attack Miss Sophia, Master Ansem is coming down to check on things...” She looked around, brows raised. “Where is the tailed one and Direheart?”

Aqua and Terra gave each other a look. “Before that? Do you have a way of containing a Shadow?” The loud hissing filled the halls.

“Ah...you have caught Ruby’s terrible half it seems....” Esper said, uncovering her ears. “Yes. Sophia tried but was too weak to contain her so Rii asked Riku to help. We...were told to keep her alive until she told us where the people she has taken are located...” Aqua explained, the blonde gave a small nod.

“I see. Yes. Master Ansem should have something to keep the beast contained. We shall move her once he arrives. Now as for the tailed one and Direheart?” She asked again, only to fall short on words when a new figure arrived.

One she had not seen.

“....Who is that?” She asked, walking over to curiously look a the female figure. Tail....different garb...gemstone located on forehead...That’s when she figured it out.

“Direheart has...another fusion? I thought the only one she could fuse with was with Seven, the medical robot” The blonde spoke clearly, Aqua nods. “I thought so too, since she showed me her power. But this one is far more stronger then the form she has with Seven”

Madiaheart raised her hand. “I am Madiaheart, do not be afraid. I shall not harm you....I have Direheart’s broken blade with me, can you hold on to it until I can defuse? Touching it....has seemed to scar my hands” She gestured to the slight burn marks on her palms, Esper nods.

“Very well. We shall contain the beast and Direheart’s blade for now....but what we should focus on is Ruby and Miss Sophia.” 

“I have summoned help for that one Miss Esper. Seven shall be arriving shortly to assist you as she is a doctor”  The smooth voice belonging to the fusion echoed around the room once more, Esper was slightly taken aback.

This....woman was remarkable. Worthy of study.

“Perhaps you wouldn’t mind answering a few questions for me? You may not be a Replica but I am very curious as to how this whole process works” Esper spoke, Sophia who had been listening nearby also gave a nod.

“I would...as well. The ruby I created should not do such things but....perhaps you’ve tapped into its deeper power then I thought it had....when I created it...” Sophia desperately tried to sit up but her body refused, Rii, who had just came in, rushed over to her side.

“P-Please don’t over exert yourself....please....you have to be okay when Ruby wakes up”

The old mage gave a small smile.

“Yes.....for now...I shall...rest....” She leaned back against the pillow behind her, eyes slowly closing, breathing becoming slow. Rii felt her shoulder slump, as if a weight she had carried had been lifted.

“Ven?” Aqua’s voice turned Rii’s attention to the sound, Aqua was standing with her arms folded, Ven slowly backing away. 

“You haven’t slept have you?”

“H-How can I Aqua? R-Ruby needs me! What if I’m not awake when she is?” But Aqua was not having any of that.

“No Ven. You need rest”

The young man pouts, earning a chuckle out of everyone in the room, Rii turned her head to focus on Madiaheart.

She looked so regal. 

So powerful

But deep in her eyes it looked like something was...shifting.

[gryffnwing-blog]

State of the Blog/ Channel

I've been blogging since 2016. I had started off with a review on a model kit; went silent, only to talk about gaming. In October of 2016, my Blog went almost exclusively to Magic the Gathering content. These days, the blog has largely been ignored for my Twitch Channel. As of recent I've been told that, "I didn't know you streamed", or "How long have you been streaming?" Which is a bit bothersome, since I started streaming at most 6 months after blogging.So today I'm going to make sure that you, my amazing followers, know what the actual fuck is going on. Welcome to the State of the Channel. A Guide of What the Fuck I'll be Talking About. -State of the Blog -State of the Twitch -Goals for the rest of the year -The Return of the Commander Challenge -Name Change? -I did not have relations with that General -A Question to you all -Thank you -End -Tags State of the Blog I mean, it's been kinda dead. While I'm using this as a personal/political/hodgepodge of a Blog. I want to change that. I'm not going to comb through this blog and delete stuff. No, I don't have the time or patience for that. I'm going to start organizing things. More meaningful tags. #mtg and #MagictheGathering (which I already do, but it's an example). Next, I won't just be focusing on Magic the Gathering; might be counterproductive since a large majority of you follow me for that. I like other things, like you all do. For example, I like doing crafts. Namely I paint miniatures and I have a ton of model kits I need to build. I'll be posting more about those. I talked about reviewing anime. Starting June I should have a Crunchy Roll account, so I'll have access to legally distributed anime. Except first episode reactions and other such writings. I've ignored this Blog long enough, and that's going to change. By doing so, I hope to improve my writing style, and connect with you all more. State of the Twitch. Holy fuck, this has been a fun roller coaster. Something needs to be said though. I've been streaming for nearly a year now (A year sometime this month, but Twitch says it's later? Dunno, it's been about a year). I stream, and only now are so many of you finding out. While I have you here, you should totally follow me here at www.twitch.tv/gryffnwing. I haven't found my footing yet, but if you like Horror games/ League of Legends/ Metroidvania/ and the odd Visual Novel/ Dating Sim, well I play them. Oh, and side scrollers~ While I know it can be intimidating to be in a chat, please know that my chat is pretty chill. Tell us about your day, and stay for the rage against some shitty games...have you played Resident Evil 5 on PC? Sorry...raging still. Still, I love chatting with you all, and it's much easier to get my attention there (Because I forget that Tumblr Messenger is a thing and sometimes I "see" messages and never even know it. Goals for the rest of the year. Well, I summed some of them up before. - Review anime -Talk about other hobbies - Post more consistently - Play games that you'd like to see. - Be more active in the MTG scene (again?) Return of the Commander Challenge?

Man, I burned myself out on this. Weekly decks with weekly polls that I had to update daily. Damn, I consider this one of my greatest successes and failures. I think my deck crafting and writing improved with the Commander Challenge. My failure was not being able to keep up with it. On top of this, while the polls saw tremendous numbers, it failed to garner that same result with the actual article. This has a lot to do with how Tumblr is. I am not calling when I'm bring the Commander Challenge back, but I will say this. I'm changing the formula for good. Perhaps a set price for decks and just have the voting be on the general. Dunno yet. It will make its return. Name Change? When I started under the name Gryffnwing, I had gone through well over 20+ names. Many of you don't know this, but it's a play on my name. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm no Birb fanatic. I've been mulling around with ideas for some new names. Maybe I'll make a poll and have you all vote on it. I don't know just yet, but I wanted to give ya heads up on this.

A question to you all. Why did you follow me? What brings you back to blog, and why do you stay? I'll also follow up with this, what content do you want to see? Many of you are into many hobbies and games, would you to see me talk about them? I'll be keeping my inbox open (That I see more often than the Tumblr IM). So drop a message, and I'll react to it as quickly as I can. Thank you. I want to thank all of you. Many of you I've gotten to enjoy some conversations with, and it's always a blast. I'd like to thank @wolvenmonarch, @iamthezubatman, for always stopping by my Twitch, and to @eyesoftirnoch & @thegreateyebrows for the great questions. Thank you to all of you, for supporting me, and for just being awesome peeps. Without you guys, I'd probably wouldn't be doing many things. So thank you. There are so many people to tag...you’ll see - End This is the end of the State of the Blog/ Twitch. Follow me here on Twitch at www.twitch.tv/gryffnwing It's over, The End. Tags

@magikrobotdinosaur  @thebleedingbananacult @commandtower-solring-go @midnight-entourage @flavoracle @kayaswife @pidgemidge @cinderclaw @katargeo-avaritia @golgari-thot-farm @elvish-memesmith @lotus-path-to-exile @gaptoothwifeofbath @dewberrypanda @ezurad @mayaels-petting-zoo @gatewatch-hq @anxiety-cannon @someonesomewhat @etheriumsculptor @geckomaster25852 @indefinite-free-pizza @captainsqueak @kami-jakira @simic-initiate @tamiyos-pokedex @pyromancererika @morbidlyqueerious @esper-etherium @pontious99 @blogging-phelddagrif @misteryada @ojutai @glissa-the-traitor @follower-of-liliana @mtg-realm @sylvhem @planeswalkerwithtardis @iamafireplace @circlesmadeofglass @mtg-lynx @manafested @fresh-prince-of-beleren @jolly-ob-saint-nixilis @albino-black-man @livingguildpact @lili-the-last-hope @zilnas @somewhatstrangr42 @fatesealer-mage @tarniyo @elspethsunschampion @eloneth @eugene-thespiritdragon @theotherunicron4000 @counter-target-gender @hazoretspartyfavors @syndog17 @horusiswatching @theinsanemindblog @mox-hedron @monsieursneaks @tempus-vulpes @rashmi-eternities-crafter @magicsmite @it-that-memes @the-nerdy-necromancer @arcane-ethereality @izzetvisions @borosarrowman @vens3r @sekkuar-swagkeeper @thescorpiongod @sultaiascendancy @qrimsin @magic-noob @imperialseal  For those of you I didn’t tag, I’m sorry @.@ Tried to keep it organized.

[the-phyrexian-is-a-part-timer]

Fanwalker Bio: Xelos Vekka (return of the re-cont.)

Part four. This should be it. I hope.

The exhaustion from the planeswalk knocks Xelos unconscious. When he comes to, he is resting in a room made of curved fine metal. He notices the areas that were burned by the chemicals’ explosion are covered in a lattice work of more metal. The spots where it touches his skin tingle and feel numb. Thinking it is like a cast or splint, he realizes it is more flexible and moves with him, almost floating against his body. He is greeted by a tall blue skinned being with most of their body missing, replaced with more of the same metal on his body. The vedalken tells him that he is safe and lucky to be living. He also explains that his injuries weren’t just outright replaced due to them considering he would want to have a say in how and with what. With this, he leaves. Xelos, still amazed at everything he sees, goes out the doorway the stranger went through. Everywhere he turns, he’s met with more filigree structures and stared at by more impossibly prosthetic people. As he reaches a wide open window overlooking the cityscape, his vision is briefly blurred by a large object flying by his view. As it lands he sees it’s a huge sphinx clad in more of this metal. He has arrived in Esper.

He is escorted back to his room by some of the healing staff that find him. There, he is met by many people. Most look at his “untouched” body and the strange happenings of his arrival. After a few more tests and questions, he is released from his “recovery harness” with new, restored flesh underneath. He is offered an apprenticeship in one of Espers’ artificer guilds. He quickly learned what they taught him, mostly due in part to the magic he had learned on his home plane so many years ago. Seemingly impressed by the progress made, the guildmaster offers to give him enough resources start replacing body parts with etherium. Instead of full on amputation and replacement, though, Xelos wants a full treatment to take place instead. He explains his plans and the guildleader agrees, though finds it a tad strange. After much planning and getting ready, the procedure goes as follows. First, his entire body is placed in a concoction of etherium and a magical gel-like substance. The substance is heated up to a high temperature for a long time. When Xelos emerges, his entire body is stained a grayish color. Every hair, nail, and patch of skin is infused with etherium to a small degree. Second, a liquid/etherium mixture is given to his eyes. Third, his veins are punctured in multiple spots and mages start to channel etherium inside his body. Things are mostly calm here. Then the hard part, infusing it into his circulatory system. The process is grueling work and torturous to Xelos. Before the metal reaches his chest, though, his spark flares and he planewalks away.

Conscious this time, Xelos lands in a rain forest. This one, though, is huge. Not just the forest itself, though. The foliage, too, is huge beyond compare. He was standing on a leaf the size of a decent sized sail boat. Amazed at the sight, he reminds himself of the predicament. Using his metallomancy, he forces the rest of the etherium that didn’t bind to him out of his body. He then heals his incisions and starts to look for shelter of some sort. As he continues to walk, he notices the horizon is curved upwards on the ends. Tired of the weird feelings and sights he’s experienced, his thoughts drift towards his homeplane. As his thoughts become more and more intense on the situations that he left there, he suddenly walks back. Again, amazed by what just happened, he tries to use magic there, hoping that whatever he gained away from there he kept. His magic does work, but he is confused why. After exploring the plane a bit, he finds out the faceless were outed in his absence and that their meddling was the last straw that let magic return to the plane. Overjoyed that things turned out alright, he was confused when he also heard no gods actually came back also. After searching for any signs of them, he only finds some rocks that were claimed to be the hammerscale from the making of the gods’ belongings that fell to earth. After finding nothing more, he gathers the rocks and uses the metal within to make himself some armor. Not seeing much else to do, he planeswalks away vowing to master his new transporting ability.

Many years pass as he goes from plane to plane, always staying long enough to gain something useful and then leave. As he goes, he starts researching way to summon a soul and encapture it, thinking of his son and love. He finds many different ways on many different planes to do these actions so he spends alot of his time trying these in his home plane. As one after the other don’t work, he becomes more and more disheartened. After his failure on his home plane, his walks start to become more like idle drifting.

In a few years, he starts to realize that he still has to do something with his life. He begins to research more and more into the original endeavor of sealing a soul for safekeeping. As he does, he also tries to figure out more about his planeswalker spark. He returns to Esper after many years of being away. When he goes to his old guild, he is greeted by a new guildmaster, kinda. His “guild” was actually a front to study him orchestrated by the ethersworn. When he left, they had to wait years for a new planeswalker to show up so they could continue their research. Xelos vigorously begins to go over the data they had collected on planeswalking and the spark. With the knowledge he had acquired throughout the planes and the notes they had, he asks if they can spared one last procedure unto him. He gets the divitium armor he made and pulls it apart and shapes the pieces into runes. Then, he goes to a plane to get a particularly hard crystal. He gets it shaped to the desired size, then leaves. Next, he goes to a plane of metal and flesh abominations he had studied earlier. After luring one away, he kills it at drains it of the substance it held, confident that the “oil” would help stabilize the body and make it last. After gathering everything, he sets up the plan. His sternum is removed, replaced with a chamber that holds the crystal that is covered in embedded runes of divitium. After putting that in him, the attendants are to do a specific ritual to bind his soul and spark within the crystal. After that, they are to inject the liquid he procured into his bloodstream. When he awakens, he finds out it all came out well. He allows himself some time of acclimation, while checking to make sure everything is really alright. With his departure, he pays for the procedures he as given by giving them more data on planewalking and departs.

Now free of the restraints of time, he goes to think of the next step of his plan when a voice in his head starts demanding things from him. It gives him an all consuming need to spread the oil he has in his body everywhere he goes. Knowing something is wrong with the oil, he goes back to the plane he got it from before starting work of a way to fix it. As he tries to find out how, he is captured by beings on the plane. These ones are of chrome and tools that find him quite interesting. After some negotiating, he employs them to help modify his body just a bit to make it more secure and less likely to be influenced by the oil. In exchange, he will bring a device when he planeswalks away and comes back to give them data on other worlds. As everything is done, and he is debriefed on the modifications done, he immediately planeswalks away.

Xelos goes to Ravnica to try and setup a base of operation, as he can’t trust the the allies in esper to not interfere (not to mention the problems that plane seemed to be having anyways) and his homeplane is a place of too many emotions for him. He starts work as a doctor to make his funds enough for his first construct on the plane. It was small, simple, and had one job: to find any scrap materials no one was using and bring them to him. From the first came supplies for the second, and the third. As his little army grew, so did his ambition with them. He started outfitting them with the ability to relay their senses to him and store them for later use. He started selling some of his findings to the Dimir, who found his information “worthwhile” and “always available”. He grew his operation with the ties he obtained to what it is now, a network of tunnels accessible to his little drones and a central command that he can defend reasonably well. The voice, still there no matter how hard he tries, still feeds into his paranoia that he needs to prepare more.

Finally done. Jeebus this was long. Hope you like my character’s backstory. Any questions are welcome. Available for rp.

[leonawriter]

....thinking about it?

People probably would notice that Zidane is ‘different’ if there was a body swap really quickly, because they handle things so differently?

Sure, Zidane can get quiet when stressed, but he’ll also brush it off if people ask about it until it gets really big? Whereas like we saw with the Black Mages later on in the game, if Kuja is stressed he tends to snap back at people first and think about what he’s doing later.

And, as has been said - a subtle thing that people would pick up on would be how Zidane’s got more of a taste for popular theatre, whereas Kuja seems to like the high classics and stuff like that, so there’d be ‘Zidane’ quoting from something that both Tantalus and the rest of his close friends know damn well he doesn’t read.

He’d miss cues with people, he’d probably get defensive about some things more than he should - and others things less than he ought. Like... imagine being one of Zidane’s friends and he just doesn’t react to something. Even knowing freaky shit was up between him and his brother, that’d be... really creepy. Especially if it’s something like... how people are treated. Or if that ‘how people are treated’ involves ‘someone is using words to refer to Zidane that normally... he’d have said something against this by now’.

Not to mention things like, Kuja does have a tail, but he prefers to hide it away (somehow). He’d probably feel awkward keeping it out all the time like Zidane does, forgetting it’s there, getting it caught in things, and so on. Or he’d forget who he’s supposed to be, and tuck it away and then someone would say something about it.

And now I’m thinking ‘people would probably expect him to be flirting with girls but Kuja’s idea of flirting, if he does have one, is probably markedly different from Zidane’s’. Either he’s putting on all the charm ever, or he’s completely awkward and doesn’t know how to do this what’s he doing dear gods and espers above someone save him.

...I didn’t know I wanted this and now I do.

Also: Kuja getting into a drama debate with Tantalus while pretending to be Zidane, and loses track of what he’s supposed to know and/or say halfway through, and starts acting and talking and referring to more Kuja things than Zidane things, but Tantalus is too caught up in this Awesome Discussion to be bothered with asking what’s up yet, or to point out what’s going on, so-

Okay what if. What if this happened before Zidane got back to Alexandria in the epilogue, and when Garnet asks what took him so long, this Long Look passes between the Zidane and the rest of Tantalus before he goes “well, there’s a long story behind that...”

[mtgaddicted]

Budget Mana Base for Commanders: 5 colors decks.

How many times have you heard that a good deck needs to have all original dual lands and fetchlands so its mana base is fine? As long as you are a millionaire or you're playing on Cockatrice that is really easy and possible to do, but, for the rest of us whose budget is limited we have to come up with something else.

In this article I will show you how you can get an effective mana base for a 5 colors commander without having to sell a kidney to do so. It can be used for any kind of deck (2 colors, 3 colors, and 4 colors) but i’m focusing more on 5 colors. A brief disclaimer: This is only my opinion on what works best, so don't take it as a final word, and you can make any changes you like, fitting your needs.

First, we have to cover the basics of every commander deck: Land-No land ratio. I like to run my decks with approximately 34 lands. Recommended are around 36/38, but with mana accelerators i find 34/32 lands fine, 32 the lowest. It really depends on how many accelerators you have and your average CMC for the deck.

The second important point to consider are mana accelerators, which are divided into three: Ramp spells, mana creatures (which I wont cover, as it depends totally on your deck), and mana stones. Some colors have a better chance to ramp than others, being green the master of ramping, so you have to take that into account.

Third are mana fixers, because running 5 colors can get you one color screwed.

And finally, before actually starting, you have to check your commander's color ratio, and see which colors predominate.

Now, the mana base. We're going to start from the most expensive to the cheaper.

 First: The lands.

Yeah, believe it or not, the lands end up being the most expensive cards in a deck (well, there re some ridiculous expensive cards that do not count.) Lands can be divided into:

Multicolor lands: Lands that produce multiple color.

Fetch Lands: Lands that search for other lands.

Utility lands: Lands that can be used for other things beside generating mana.

Basic lands.

 For multicolored lands we have 2 color lands, 3 color lands, and all color lands. I find the all color lands the most important for 5 color commanders, as they can generate any color for anything in your hand or your commander. Depending on your deck, you could have better chances of getting this lands than other decks. Allies decks have Ally Encampment, Dragons have Haven of the Spirit Dragon, Elementals have Primal Beyond , and so on. Among all colors lands we have some really REALLY expensive (Cavern of Souls, and Glimmervoid) that if you have them you can include them, but those are 0 budget friendly.

 Lands that are a total must:

City of Brass

Command Tower

Mana Confluence

Exotic Orchard =  Unless playing against a monocolor deck, this usually generates from 3 to all colors.

Forbidden Orchard =  If you don’t mind giving a token to an opponent.

Grand Coliseum =  Enters tapped, but still really helpful.

These generate any color mana with no restrictions, which is great.

 Conditioned Lands:

Ally Encampment =  For allies tribal.

Ancient Ziggurat =  Only for creatures.

Haven of the Spirit Dragon =  Only for Dragons

Pillar of the Paruns =  Only for Multicolored

Primal Beyond =  Only for Elementals

Sliver Hive =  Only for Slivers

Spire of Industry =  Only if you have artifacts, which you will probably have.

Thran Quarry =  It must be sacrificed if you have no creatures.

 Helpful Lands:

Aether Hub =  If you use energy counters.

Crucible of the Spirit Dragon =  For dragons.

Gemstone Caverns =  To head start.

Lotus Vale =  It's not too cheap, but if you can untap target land…

Mirrodin's Core =  Putting a counter on it can be really useful.

Opal Palace =  Your commander enters with +1/+1 counters.

Tarnished Citadel =  If you don't mind the 3 damage.

Undiscovered Paradise =  For landfall or if you can play more than one land each turn.

 Depending on the ammount of lands and the speed of your deck, you can add the Vivid cycle (Vivid Crag, Vivid Creek, Vivid Grove, Vivid Marsh, and Vivid Meadow) if you think you will need them.

 To avoid:

Transguild Promenade, Rupture Spire =  Enters tapped and cost 1 mana. If your opponent blinks them…

Henge of Ramos, Holdout Settlement, School of the Unseen, Shimmering Grotto, Unknown Shores =  Those are just filters, don’t fill your mana base witht that.

Tendo Ice Bridge =  A single counter isn't worth it, unless you proliferate a lot.

  Multicolored lands are nice, they can generate 2 or 3 colors, which is very versatile. 3 colors are the the most versatile, but they are not fetchable. I would include 2 or 3, with the most predominant colors in my deck.

 3 color lands:

Arcane Sanctum

Crumbling Necropolis

Frontier Bivouac

Jungle Shrine 

Mystic Monastery 

Nomad Outpost

Opulent Palace

Sandsteppe Citadel

Savage Lands

Seaside Citadel

 The exception for this is Murmuring Bosk, which can be fetched.

The Lair lands can be used, but they slow a little bit the game.

 The 2 colors lands are a LOT, but useful budget lands are not that much. Shocklands are very useful, but the price of them is not budget friendly, so, if you have some add them to your deck, otherwise you should include these:

Canopy Vista

Cinder Glade

Prairie Stream

Smoldering Marsh

Sunken Hollow 

 Then, some other useful 2 colors lands:

Choked Estuary

Foreboding Ruins 

Fortified Village 

Game Trail 

Port Town 

 Adarkar Wastes 

Battlefield Forge 

Brushland 

Caves of Koilos 

Karplusan Forest 

Llanowar Wastes 

Shivan Reef

Sulfurous Springs 

Underground River

Yavimaya Coast

 Tainted Field

Tainted Isle

Tainted Peak

Tainted Wood

 Temples are really good if you want to scry, even if the slow the game a little bit.

 To avoid:

Lands that enter the battlefield tapped with no other effect and add 2 colors. Also Gates, unless you're playing them all and Maze's End. Bouncelands can be fine, for fewer color decks, but 5 colors are not worth it.

 Fetch Lands are really important lands, and something I didn’t really understand when I started Magic. It not only helps you fixing your mana, but also reduce the number of lands in your deck so later on in the game you wont be drawing lands. There are some really good fetchlands that are overlooked and budget friendly:

Ash Barrens =  Not really a fetchland, but its cycling is really helpful.

Bad River

Bant Panorama

Blighted Woodland

Esper Panorama

Evolving Wilds

Flood Plain

Grasslands

Grixis Panorama

Jund Panorama

Krosan Verge

Mountain Valley

Myriad Landscape

Naya Panorama

Rocky Tar Pit

Terramorphic Expanse

Terrain Generator =  Not fetching, but helps ramping.

   Utility Lands really depend on your deck. So you have to search them depending on your needs. However, there are some basic utility lands you have to consider:

Arcane Lighthouse =  No hexproof or shroud for your opponents.

Bojuka Bog =  I always add this. Because you don’t know when are you facing a reanimate deck.

Cathedral of War =  Exalted.

Crystal Quarry =  A 5 colors filter is not that bad.

Cascading Cataracts = A 5 mana filter and indestructible.

Darksteel Citadel =  Indestructible.

Ghost Quarter =  Because we are mean and your Cabal Coffers is not fair.

Llanowar Reborn =  Graft.

Mage-Ring Network  =  Mana storage.

Mirrorpool =  Copy things.

Nephalia Academy =  Discarding to Top.

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx =  Devotion.

Reliquary Tower =  No maximum hand size.

Riftstone Portal =  Put it in the Graveyard.

Scorched Ruins =  Untap it somehow.

Shrine of the Forsaken Gods =  Extra mana with 7 lands.

Temple of the False God =  Extra mana with 5 lands.

Thespian's Stage =  Copy land.

Unstable Frontier =  Turns any of your lands into any basic land.

Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper =  2 colorless only for legendary creatures.

Wirewood Lodge =  Untap target elf.

  Not super Budget but if you can have them…

Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth

Vesuva 

 Hideaway lands are excelent depending on the deck you're running.

Manlands are cool too.

  Basic lands should be considered last, but you should keep at least one of each type, specially for ramp spells and fetches.

 With a land base done, everything else depends entirely on your deck. Here are some sugestions you can cosider.

5 colors commanders have the benefit of using all mana stones, so it wouldn’t be a problem. The number of mana rocks really depend on you, but here are some that you must include:

Sol Ring

Chromatic Lantern =  Not too cheap, but it is a must.

Commander's Sphere

Fellwar Stone

Darksteel Ingot

Gilded Lotus =  Went up in price, but it's worth it.

Mind Stone

Star Compass =  If playing enough basic lands.

Coalition Relic =  Not budget friendly, but it is a good card to consider.

 If needed, these are fast accelerators and also generate color if needed:

Talisman of Dominance

Talisman of Impulse

Talisman of Indulgence

Talisman of Progress 

Talisman of Unity

Thought Vessel

  Ramp Spells are usually green, but there are not only green ones.

 The green ones:

Cultivate

Explosive Vegetation

Farseek

Harrow

Journey of Discovery 

Kodama's Reach 

Mwonvuli Acid-Moss =  This one is forest only, but the land destruction is good.

Nature's Lore

Peregrination =  Not too recommended for the cost, use only is necessary.

Rampant Growth

Shard Convergence

Spoils of Victory 

 The non green:

Expedition Map

Gem of Becoming 

Gift of Estates

Knight of the White Orchid

Kor Cartographer

Oreskos Explorer 

Solemn Simulacrum

Sword of the Animist =  An equipment, yes, but very useful.

Tithe 

Wayfarer's Bauble 

  For the mana fixers I only have a couple of suggestion

Prismatic Omen =  Not budget friendly, but it is really good.

Celestial Dawn =  Beware of Iona.

Pulse of Llanowar

The already mentioned Chromatic Lantern for this.

  Again, you don’t have to include everything you see here, but you can get a nice diea on how to fix the mana of your deck :)

So, what do you think? :D

[moonandris]

Should I go the science fantasy route or the modern fantasy route? Heeeellllpppp meeeeee! Ughhh >:(

I’m going to drop the most basic ideas/tropes/plot points in my WIP below. Could you  P L E A S E  give me some advice and tell me if you think it fits more of  modern fantasy world or a scifi fantasy world? Both ideas are set in a modern, secondary world like ours but obviously different.

Science & Magic Are Intermixed (Certain Humans Have Powers)

I’ll either have espers who have psychokinetic abilities or mages with magic (whatever ‘magic’ looks like/is called by in my world). I just can’t make up my damn mind on what would work better. Technically they both accomplish the ‘humans with powers’ role I want for this story. It’s incredibly rare for a human to be born with these powers/magic, so majority of the population is non-magic.

Post-apocalyptic Event that Changes the World (Demon Apocalypse)

We’re talking thousands and thousands of years after said apocalypse, so humanity/society has had plenty of time to rebuild. This catastrophic event drastically changed how society had to proceed going forward in order to prevent it from happening again. Certain organizations systemically euthanized people who were more at risk for demon possession and created safety measures and magical safeguards (but most of this is not not public knowledge). While mages/espers took control after said event and there’s class issues with magic vs. non-magic folk, it’s not necessarily a dystopian setting. Society is up and is thriving.

Voluntary Games to Increase Status, Wealth, and Quality of Life (Maybe)

Colosseum-style games run by a magical empire that offer life-changing rewards for those who participate. No one is forced, but people are heavily encouraged to enter. Games vary and could be anything from a race to a battle royal to hide and seek to a talent show. All games are pubic and televised and aggressively advertised to those on the lower end of the social hierarchy spectrum (non-magic folk).

If I Go the Modern Fantasy Route (My Original Idea)

I’ll be able to include other immortal species besides in my story, like werewolves, vampires, shapeshifters, etc. There’s not a lot of them because when mages took control after the apocalypse, many were hunted down and eliminated as the posed a risk to the survival of humanity. Common folk believe that there’s no supernatural creatures left other than the mages (this is partially true, as their numbers have dwindled drastically). I also like this idea because HELLOOOO I can you even imagine magical schools? Criminal organizations with magic? Humans using magic technology to get ahead in life because they have no magic of their own??? So many possibilities!

If I Go the Science Fantasy Route (More Recent Idea)

The only species in the story are common humans, elite humans, espers, super soldiers, and demons. There’s no such thing as immortality, though through thousands of years of medical experimentation the lifespan of all types of humans has increased exponentially. I also thought of possibly creating a dystopia disguised as a utopia type setting. ‘Magic’ is not considered magic as it is considered a type of science.

What are your thoughts??

[cosmiciaria]

Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age Review (Spoiler Free!)

I'm terribly sorry, but I'm one of those who played FFXII for the first time this year.

 Final Fantasy XII was actually the first game I ever got on my PS2, because the vendor recommended it to me, but alongside that game, I brought many others, including Final Fantasy X-2 (yes, not X, but X-2). By then, I didn't even know what Final Fantasy was, so I tried XII, didn't like the gameplay, got stuck after two hours and never touched it again.

 After 2014, which was when I've played Final Fantasy X for the first time ever (yes, quite late) and fell in love with the franchise, I actually tried FFXII again, to see if I could manage beyond those first hours of story. It turns out, I managed, but got stuck again, at six hours, without being able to leave the dungeon where I was. I was quite underleveled and didn't have many resources to buy supplies, so I said 'screw it!' and never touched it once again.

 I was really not fond of the gameplay. I was all about turn based combat, not this real-time-thingy-but-not-so-real-time. But when I saw that this game was coming completely upgraded for the PS4, and with the new gameplay mechanics from the International Zodiac Job System (which should be called Japanese ZJS, not International), I desperately wanted to play the game. I have a friend who wouldn't stop recommending it to me, and insisted even more when she knew about this new version. I had no excuses, so… yes, third time lucky!

 I managed to play beyond those first six hours, and up until now, I've played over sixty hours, and there's plenty more. And I can say, what a good game! What a good Final Fantasy! How could I pass on this all these years?

 I must start this (or… continue?) by saying that I'm completely, utterly, totally, overwhelmingly surprised. With two previous failed trials, I didn't have many expectations for the game in general. I only knew this was a Final Fantasy game, and it was going to have a guy called Cid, chocobos, magic, crystals and friendship and all that cheesiness. I did not expect a political conflict, I did not expect such a diversity of characters, I did not expect that much of a challenge. Guess what, I was wrong, of course! It is a Final Fantasy game after all, why would I doubt it?

 Final Fantasy XII happens in the world of Ivalice, in the middle of a political turmoil. The Archadian Empire is engulfing everything in its stride, and pretends to claim the Rozarrian lands. In between these two behemoths (no pun intended) we have two small kingdoms, Nabradia and Dalmasca. The king of Dalmasca marries his daughter, Princess Ashe, to the prince of Nabradia, Rasler, thus sealing an alliance. Rasler will take the reins of this newly formed nation and fight the Archadian Empire back, who was trying to step on both their kingdoms to get to Rozarria. Overwhelmed by their power and strength, Rasler falls in battle (because it seems these people had no sense while designing their armors), and the Empire takes Nabradia and Dalmasca under its totalitarian wing.

 Princess Ashe isn't oblivious to what's happening. The Empire kills her father and she, the only survivor of her dynasty, fakes her own death to fool Archadia. She starts working in the shadows, preparing a resistance, an insurgence, and waits for the right moment to reclaim her throne and her title.

 Two years pass, and fate will bring together six very different characters: the aforementioned Princess Ashe, fighting to get back what's hers; Vaan, an orphan and thief, the so called main protagonist but is less protagonist than that chocobo over there; Penelo, who follows Vaan wherever he goes because, yes, they're friends; Basch, a forgotten soldier who lost everything, even his honor, in the war, but is willing to regain his dignity and to defend Dalmasca; Balthier, a sky pirate with whom I may've fallen in love SO HARD; and Fran, a very beautiful viera (a hybrid with bunny) who's Balthier partner in crime and senses the Mist and speaks in encrypted riddles.

 These guys, who seemed to be taken out of a magician's top hat, will be accompanying Princess Ashe in her pursuit of regaining Dalmasca back, revisiting her ancestor's scattered hints across the globe to learn of a power beyond her comprehension. Along the way we'll MEET: many creatures; different landscapes; lots of tracking and backtracking and tracking again; lots of grinding, grinding, grinding, GRINDING; a very weird but crucially important stone called nethicite (of which I still don't understand much about); the almighty and solemnly mysterious MIST; giant bunnies; some guys with horns called 'garif'; some people who are always acolytes and when you see them from a close up you can learn they're actually white MONKEYS; beautiful and 'step on me senpai' BRITISH ACCENT; sky pirates and ships addressed as 'she'; summons who are not the summons we're accustomed, and the summons we are accustomed were put in the game as names of ships; violent chocobos; a thousand hunts; moogles everywhere doing everything and always in the right time for you; A GIANT ASS CRYSTAL WHICH DOESN'T HAVE A FRICKING MAP; Vaan asking stupid questions; Fran sensing the Mist and collapsing into Balthier's strong arms sorry not sorry; a twelve year old boy who acts and speaks better than all of us; and a ton crap of places to visit and maps to fill and dungeons to suffer through.

 I'll be honest, the game has a lot of content compared to its predecessor in the PS2. FFXII feels like an open world but condensed into zones (because of the limitations of the hardware, of course). But it's, in fact, the closest thing we had to that genre, and it does it perfectly. There's always something to do besides the main story. There's a ton of optional bosses, of unlockable Espers, of spells and technics to find, of weapons to seek, of maps to explore. There are also many, many hunts available, which unlock new areas in previously visited places, and also some hidden fetch quests, which are a must for those looking for the platinum. The game still doesn't cease to amaze me with its content.

 The gameplay might be a bit problematic at first, but you soon learn to grasp it. You basically can control any of the six party members, and set up the orders for the others to fulfill in a certain order. It seems hard to understand when the game explains it, but hey, if I could, then anyone can! The idea is to give priority to those orders which will save your character's life, and then make the appropriate combinations that suit you for fighting. These orders are called 'gambits', and they're the core of your gameplay. Better befriend them.

 You also have 'License Boards'. These licenses 'authorize' you to learn certain ability, or to wield certain weapon. For instance, to wield Excalibur, you not only need to have the actual sword, but also the license for it. And so on, so on. It goes the same for spells and technics. You can buy them at shops or find them in chests across the dungeons. Just bear in mind that some of them are only attainable in certain parts of the game (COF COF, HOLY, ARDOR, FLARE) and won't respawn later if you don't get them on time. 

 In this Zodiac Age version, we get to choose two jobs for each character. Now, I recommend you search in Internet for the best combinations, for I've made many mistakes choosing those, and I'm in no position of giving any strategy to anyone. I'm just going to say that, if I ever replay this, I'll be having a White Mage/Knight character, and it'd be a badass paladin.

 Dungeons can be a pain of the ass, and there's no shame, I repeat, there's no shame in looking for maps and guides. The Crystal has a great dungeon design, I won't deny it, but it can be really annoying and confusing to traverse. Pharos is also a great example of good dungeon crawling, but it can be really tiring with all its many, many floors. 

(Oh, and in case you were wondering because you’ve already played this game, there are no more ‘forbidden chests’ and the Zodiac Spear is located in another place altogether. So don’t worry about opening whatever appears in front of you)

 I can keep on talking about the gameplay and stuff, but I'm missing the most important thing here. What I liked the most about this game and what enthralled me so much, was the complexity of its characters. As I said before, I didn't expect many things. I didn't expect the characters to be morally grey. Ashe, who is the main driving force in the story, many a time doubts about the right path to follow, and blindingly falls into temptation. Gabranth, Basch's twin brother, has a divided loyalty, a complete devotion to his young master Larsa, and contradictory feelings about his brother. Balthier claims to be only there because of the treasure and the sky pirate spirit, but he soon gets on the personal race thing when his father appears on screen. All this, I've never seen it before in an FF game (maybe there was, but not in the ones I've played – that's a conversation for another day), and I was very glad to find that my characters weren't all on the heroes side. Speaking of heroes, our main villain might be the very first Final Fantasy villain I completely hate; he's not relatable, you can't sympathize with him in any moment, he kills his siblings because reasons, he's just bad because he wants to be bad. And also I hate him because I had to replay his battle three times before I finally defeated him. F*ck him.

 So, overall, I really enjoyed this FF. With each game I play, I fall in love more and more with the franchise. I'm glad I've come back to this one after all those years. The story is mature, the cast of characters is adorable (except for Vaan, sorry) and the soundtrack is on point, with many memorable themes. If you haven't already played this game (like me), this is the moment to give it a shot. And if you're a die hard FFXII fan, just dive in and enjoy the same old ride, but in HD!

 Final Fantasy XII is one of those stories which you've heard about but never actually experienced it. But once you do, there's no way in hell to let go of it.

[paperbookteacat-blog]

Sorry all, I am pretty late on this one. This is due to a double whammy of a vacation and then getting seriously sick from the vacation. Better late than never some say. Here are my thoughts on Anime Winter 2019, any other anime I’m watching, and the Spring 2019 season thoughts…

Winter 2019 I watched:

Kemurikusa

Mob Psycho 100 II

Boogiepop wa Warawanai

The Promised Neverland

Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note – A Grave Keeper, a Cat, and a Mage

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka

Grimms Notes The Animation

Karakuri Circus

Anime I am watching, but not part of Winter/Spring:

Kino’s Journey, 2003 and 2017

Winter 2019

Kemurikusa

Synopsis

The story follows girls who fight with weird entities nicknamed “mushi” (bugs) and survive in a world of red fog.

(Source: Anime News Network)

-Image from LiveChart.me

Episode 12/12 (Complete!): I really loved this one and its a shame it was languishing on Amazon Prime. While I don’t think it ever would have been the season favorite, I will probably remember it for times to come. The characters manage to be charming even if they aren’t deep, I also loved the theme of sisterhood and how the girls stuck together no matter what. I enjoyed the build up of the mystery, the ultimate solution and even how certain things remained unresolved or uncertain. Ultimately I loved the vibe of the show. Despite the bleakness there was a hopeful spirit to it. For something that could have had an epic scale, instead it felt cozy and intimate. I highly recommend this if you want some cozy post-apocalyptic anime.

Mob Psycho 100 II

Synopsis

Kageyama Shigeo, a.k.a. “Mob,” is a boy who has trouble expressing himself, but who happens to be a powerful esper. Mob is determined to live a normal life and keeps his ESP suppressed, but when his emotions surge to a level of 100%, something terrible happens to him!

As he’s surrounded by false espers, evil spirits, and mysterious organizations, what will Mob think? What choices will he make?

(Source: Crunchyroll)

-Image LiveChart.me

Episode 13/13 (Complete!): I really enjoyed this one too! A heavy hitter of the season and deservedly so. Despite a few hiccups in the beginning, it ended up being better written than the first season. I don’t have any real deep thoughts on this one and hope there is a season 3 so we can see how the new Team Reigen interacts. Someone to out awkward Mob!

Boogiepop wa Warawanai

Synopsis

There is an urban legend that children tell one another about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they may be suffering. This “Angel of Death” has a name: Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real.

When a rash of disappearances involving female students breaks out at Shinyo Academy, the police and faculty assume they just have a bunch of runaways on their hands. But Nagi Kirima knows better. Something mysterious and foul is afoot. Is it Boogiepop, or something more sinister…?

(Source: Seven Seas Entertainment)

-Image from LiveChart.me

Episode 17/18 (DNF!): I stopped caring and didn’t finish this one. An utter disappoint. I just recommend people read the light novels. The only parts that seem to be interesting are the ones around Nagi Kirima but she didn’t show up in the final arc so…. bleh.

The Promised Neverland: 12/12 (Complete!): I wasn’t planning on this but wow was this an incredible romp! That said, I have mixed feelings on the ending. It felt like this anime preferred SURPRISE! rather than telling a good story. There was one revelation in particular that made me feel like I was watching a completely different anime and certain scenes didn’t line up. But then there was the revelation between Mother and Ray that was actually well done?  IDK, while I enjoyed the ride, its hard for me to 100% recommend or go onto season 2 (if there is one).

Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note – A Grave Keeper, a Cat, and a Mage: 1/1 (Complete!): Although I’m not too invested in the Fate franchise overall I did enjoy Zero and Waver Velvet so I watched this. Well done and there is going to be another episode in Summer 2019 which I will definitely catch!

Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka: 12/12 (Complete!): Another show I just happened to check out and it really it me in the soft spot. I love magical girls and bro-y military anime and this had both! Combined with some interesting world-building and character development and this show had me hooked. I hope there is a season 2, but the ending made it satisfactory, even if it does not.

Grimms Notes The Animation

Episodes 12/12 (Complete!): This one was ok to start but kind of went off the rails. At first it was sympathetic to fairytale villains like Snow White’s step mom and John Silver, but then completely forget them in order to hone in on the point that the good guys are fighting to preserve stories, even if they suck. I feel like Mattel did better on this subject. I don’t really recommend this.

Karakuri Circus

Episode – Current! – Ongoing!: This show is continuing on and should end with the Spring season if I am correct. It just put on its third and final opening, which is nice and uplifting. I still feel like this is an underrated anime. Every episode has been entertaining if not heart wrenching, and I love where most of the plot lines are going. It also weird to think of where this anime started.

Watching, but not part of the anime season

Kino’s Journey -the Beautiful World- the Animated Series

I don’t which remember which episode I stopped at but blargh this is sooooooo bad in terms of getting the point of the light novels and the Kino character. Its almost on par with Boogiepop in terms of how can you rip the heart and soul of an adaptation so badly? I kind of want to do a 2003 vs 2017 post but don’t want to finish this. ;_;

Also I watched the 2003 version and it surprisingly holds up well for an older anime. Shoot, my heart was in my throat for nearly every episode. I recommend this one.

Merc Storia: Mukiryoku Shounen to Bin no Naka no Shoujo

Slowly working my way through this one. Its cute but meant for a younger audience. I have a hard time watching as Yu is a boring protagonist.

Overall Winter 2019 was amazing for me. More great watches then disappointments. While I have my eyes open for Spring 2019 there isn’t anything calling to me that I can watch (*shakes a fist at One Punch Man Hulu exclusive*) so I’m concentrating on older anime that I missed out on. You might see them on this blog when I finish or DNF them.

A big problem this season is that there are so many supernatural anime, its hard to tell them apart so I’ll check out which ones people are still watching a few weeks in.

Also this is good for my other hobbies. I really need to finish Kingdom Hearts 3, I’m about 2/3 done with it along with some other games on my list. Also I need to concentrate on posts and social media more!

Hope you all had a good anime season! What did you like or not like? And thanks for checking out this Big Bite!

Finally going over #Anime Winter 2019. There was a lot of good stuff this season! And my plans going forward! Sorry all, I am pretty late on this one. This is due to a double whammy of a vacation and then getting seriously sick from the vacation.

[shiroi---kumo]

kazeofthemagun​:

He walked several paces and stopped abruptly, his back turned. The day was still too young, and it was clear the gunmage had gotten exactly zero sleep that night. He stared off into what little of the rising sun could be glimped between foliage, normally sharp eyes distracted. It should not have been like this.

Every day from that one fight. It continued on, and on. As a summoner, and mage of Soil, he was also a warpriest, and the poems of spirit sand served to name, honor and lay the spirits to rest so that they may not linger after death. His words brought destruction to his enemies, but soothed the departed at the same time. The color of their soul, that called glorious Espers. A blessing, a purpose well served and a life fulfilled… had he failed in his craft? What was this, then?

What was this curse of the Magun, one of many the Beast had cast over its wielder? Souls flowing through his veins alongside blood, indistinct voices, voices, voices, but there was still one distinct sound that made it past his mind’s numbness and into his ears. He listened.

“You shouldn’t…” He suddenly spoke. “Shouldn’t have…”

Why? Why keep this up for so very long? This one, singular soul. Why?

Ocean blues closed shut as the Demon Gunman seemed to struggle for a moment, a shiver traveling through his spine despite how well-bundled he was within his trusty cape. The temperature had yet to rise but it was hardly chilly. He shivered again. The only movement of the statue that he was.

His only sound was a hushed muttering.

“Rest. You should leave. Why did you stay..? …should leave… in peace….”

“Do not endure this… with me.”

To say he was hovering was an understatement. Even with the prince hanging in the air, keeping as close to his counterpart as he possibly could without crowding him was all he could think to do. Something was wrong with Black Wind.  He hasn’t been sleeping and while the Misterican held a remedy for that trapped inside his lungs he was holding off on his trump card until absolutely needed if only to avoid the lecture that would come with him when the elder Unlimited woke again. 

He’s mumbling something to himself but even the faintest of voices could be picked up by Misterican ears and he hears him.   “You shouldn’t  - shoudn’t have?”  

A single snow colored brow is raising as the Prince continues to linger around his counterpart, hovering behind at his shoulders, ready to catch the man should fatigue finally take him in battle and the towering giant of a warrior were to just fall over without warning. What is Black Wind going on about?   

There’s something supremely wrong. Oceanic suns are setting, if only for a moment while the Wind struggled for a moment. The Cloud is ready to help lower the man to the ground should this be the moment of his defeat. The Moon is ready to rise in the Sun’s place, and as such he would fill the night with his light and provide a soft guiding comfort that would the signal to the Sun that is was indeed time for rest. 

The Moon would rise for the Sun. 

But the man of the Black Winds continues yet, shivering as he stands in place. Small pale hands are hovering just behind his back ready to take him down to the ground at a much slower pace than his inevitable collapse whenever it should occur. It had to be soon. It had to be soon.  There was no need for his mist for the time being. 

There is a voice muttering again.  Does he know how insane he sounds? 

“I’m not going to leave you, Black Wind. You’re clearly unwell. You should rest. I can help you set down. Do you require assistance?   I’ll stay with you because I promised to do so, so at your side forever I will be.   Whatever it is, we’ll endure this together. 

But please Black Wind, at least take a seat. You’re wobbling where you stand.” 

[crystalelemental]

I have been stupid pre-occupied with Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age, because damn.  Damn what a good remake game.

Let’s start at my absolute favorite thing: you can activate fast-mode travel.  Meaning you can speed up the game to 2x or 4x speed, no problem.  Why is this the best?  Because at 4x speed, you can level grind or money grind into infinity with zero issue.  It is truly incredible.  I’ve never loved a change in mechanics so much.  The original game was fairly slow and it’s a big game, so I had put aside a ton of time for this game.  But turns out, I didn’t need to!  I can move 4x as fast, and plow through things in no time at all!

But there is something that’s better in this game.  Job system.  Look, I love the final fantasy classes.  I think it’s a concept they should always use.  But you know what i like more than the class system?  Sub-classes.  Strap yourselves in for this Etrian Odyssey shit, because you get TWO classes!  That’s right, two sets of licenses to unlock!  And because you have classes, you’re encouraged - nay, required - to use different equipment.  Gone are the days of me beating Gil Snapper at level 3 with a team using all Main Gauge and Green Beret for fastest moves and maximum dodge rate.  Now you have to plan it out.  This has led to me using different weapons on everyone, and being thrilled with the results.  I’m so happy with everything about this implementation.  Without everyone having the ability to spam Cura/Curaja, it turns out a lot of this game gets really hard!  I’ve had more trouble with the marks in this game than I ever did in the base game, and don’t even get me started on the hidden espers and how badly they’re kicking my ass.  It’s fantastic.  I love having to actually plan for things now, in a way that isn’t just setting everyone up with the same “optimal” equipment and gambits.

Speaking of gambits, apparently Trial Mode exists, and is effectively a boss gauntlet where you have to beat every boss in the game, in sequence.  The mode was allegedly designed to give players both the opportunity to use your best equipment that you only get after beating the hardest bosses, and also to create a challenge in which no one set of gambits will result in victory against all foes.  Which is true.  Imagine going from Behemoth King to Zodiark to Yiazmat to Omega Mk. XII.  Those four have wildly different approaches.  Especially Omega, who I don’t even think you can beat without one very specific strategy.  Which...I just realized will be a LOT harder to pull off now that not everyone can spam Reverse...  Hmm...

For anyone wondering, my current setup is:

Uhlan/Foebreaker Vaan Machinist/Time Battlemage Balthier Archer/Red Mage Fran Knight/Bushi Basch Monk/Black Mage Ashe White Mage/Shakiri Panelo

I’m pretty satisfied with them?  I don’t have a whole lot of trouble adapting to the specific classes, but apparently it gets really tough in the end-game if you didn’t plan appropriately.  I did do some research on good combos, and otherwise just kinda set things up to wing it.  Apparently Archer/Red Mage allows for the most hard-hitting spell in the game, Knight/Bushi is supposed to be super strong and versatile enough to run Excalibur or Masamune depending on elemental weaknesses, White Mage/Shakiri can run a good shield and Main Gauge for massive evasion, Monk/Black Mage just gets +16 to attack and magic which is pretty significant.  Uhlan/Foebreaker was one I kinda just ran with, and it turns out that Foebreaker gets all those necessary Debuff skills, so Vaan has a significant use!  Machinist/Time Mage was kinda cobbled together based on having 3 Swiftness each, only to find out later that activated licenses like Swiftness on one grid auto-activate on the other, and the most you’ll ever have is 3.  On the one hand, that’s fine.  Cutting movement speed by 60% may be excessive.  On the other, that also kinda sucks, and throws a lot of my planning off.

See, the license boards have certain areas away from the main grid, and the only way to get to them is to use the Espers.  When you recruit them, they’ll show up on every board.  Some will allow you to access extra licenses.  For instance, Mateus allowed the Knight grid of Basch to open access to white magic spells.  Pretty useful!  But some of the ones I had pre-planned are no longer necessary.  I initially wanted to use one on Fran to access +5 magic lore for her Archer setup, only to realize that activating them on the Red Mage board unlocked them on the Archer board as well, invalidating that entire plan, and crushing my dreams of doubling up on those lore nodes.  A lot of the hidden licenses can be activated without espers, just by using the right alternate class.  There are a few things that can’t be accessed otherwise, but what it basically boils down to is that espers...didn’t mean as much in accessing licenses as I thought.  The only big one that will matter is the one that get Ashe access to heavy armors.  Beyond that, there wasn’t much that made a significant difference that I have seen.

I’m currently around level 50, just finished the first fight against Dr. Cid, and can head to Giruvegan.  I’m gonna go out of my way to do a bunch of hunts and esper collection, as well as a bit of Rare Game Hunting.  But know this.  I am having a ton of fun right now.