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blackjackkent · 9 days ago

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Interestingly, we get a completely different opening sequence upon entering Lorroakan's tower this time! I'm not sure if this is a new patch addition, or if it's because we're here without Aylin.

The scene opens on Lorroakan, one of his magical armors ("Krank"), and a poor hapless halfling named Miklaur, engaged in setting up a William Tell-esque archery challenge in the center of the tower's atrium.

"Hold very still, Miklaur!" Lorrokan says cheerily. "Krank's aim is much improved but still leaves something up to chance!"

"Yes, sir," the poor halfling says miserably, holding as still as possible.

(A/N: I'm actually quite pleased because this answers a little mystery from Hector's playthrough. Miklaur was in the boss fight against Lorroakan there, with a solid eight hit points and basically nothing to show for himself, including any explanation for why he was there. At the time, he didn't even have a wiki entry, which lends some credence to the idea that maybe this scene was added in a more recent patch. Either way, it answers the overall mystery of who this guy is; clearly he's another of Lorroakan's "apprentices", being subjected to bodily harm and mental torment for his master's amusement.)

"All right, Krank," Lorroakan says, utterly uncaring of Miklaur's evident terror. "Ready... aim..."

An unexpected sound splits the air as a portal opens at the far end of the room, revealing Rakha and her companions striding forward.

"Hm." Lorrokan's eyes narrow. "We have a visitor." He jerks his hand dismissively. "Miklaur, you may go."

The halfling doesn't need to be told twice; with a relieved grin he darts away, followed by the animated armor, which clanks with unsteady steps into the corner.

Lorroakan looks Rakha up and down, then eyes Wyll, Jaheira, and Minthara one by one. Then he makes a show of looking behind them and raises his eyebrows.

"I see no Nightsong," he points out with a brittle smile. "Surely you wouldn't have entered my tower without the Nightsong."

He steps closer to Rakha, his voice lowering with what he clearly thinks is a dramatic aura of threat. "Surely you wouldn't have wasted. My. Time."

He might have more of the desired effect if Rakha weren't almost a foot taller than he is. As it stands, she just looks down at him, deeply unimpressed. This, then, is the wizard who thinks so highly of himself, who wants to see another of Rakha's companions stolen out of their camp - small, smarmy, and self-righteous, tormenting his staff with the threat of arrows through the skull.

(What a show that would have been, purrs the beast in her head. Blood spilled all over this lovely carpet. A little shriek of fear-pain, and then silence...)

"What do you want with her?" she asks curtly.

Lorroakan's head draws back and his lip curls; he examines Rakha with a suddenly keener eye. "Her. Fascinating. You've been to Shar's temple, haven't you?" he says coolly. "To the Shadowfell?"

Ahhh.

Rakha's use of the word was neither accidental nor arbitrary. She is gauging the man carefully. There are various possibilities here.

If he truly thinks that the Nightsong is no more than an artifact he could acquire, then perhaps he is less dangerous. Perhaps the situation could simply be explained to him, and then he would call off his hunters before any of them tried to enter Rakha's camp.

But this... this is the other possibility. He knows exactly what-- who-- the Nightsong is, and is only surprised that Rakha does as well. He knew exactly what he was doing when he sent Aradin into the nest of goblins in search of the entrance to Grymforge.

He wants Aylin, child of a goddess. He wants to be the next in line to steal someone out of Rakha's shaky and unstable family. He wants to attack the woman Rakha has fought so hard not to kill.

He is a threat.

"I have," she says between her teeth, her eyes narrowing to slits.

Lorroakan's smile widens unpleasantly. "And the Nightsong? Speak true, now, for I *detest* a liar."

Rakha is no liar - but she wants information far more than she wants to give him any. "Why do you want her so badly?" she asks.

Lorroakan rolls his eyes with a noise of sudden impatience. "I'm growing tired of this repartee, my friend," he growls. "Let us cut to the chase."

He flicks out a hand sideways; an echoing snap ricochets through the Weave and suddenly a small scepter is in his hand - silver with a dark blue inlay of lapis.

Rakha's eyes widen. Lorroakan begins to explain the nature of the object, but she almost doesn't need him to; she can see the warm shimmer of powerful magic over the scepter's surface.

(A/N: I love this moment of animation. This is absolutely the expression I picture Rakha wearing whenever some bit of magic fascinates her enough to make the murder urges shut up.)

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Lorroakan says with a smirk. "Worth more than your life, too. I bought it from a Calishite warlock with very little of his soul left to him." He lifts the scepter and twirls it in a dramatic gesture. "It can bind a celestial to the wearer's service with a snap of the fingers."

He jerks his head to indicate a side alcove of the tower. "And this? This can keep her in place... forever."

Rakha follows his gaze sideways, and it doesn't take long to figure out what he's referring to. Etched into the floor of the alcove is an enormous, elaborate sigil, glittering with power - power she recognizes. She has seen this symbol before, and this same magic surrounding it.

This is a Soul Cage. The same spell Balthazar constructed to contain Aylin in the Shadowfell. Once again, Lorroakan's version is visibly sloppy, frayed at the edges where it connects to the Weave... but it is, undoubtedly, the same spell.

Everything clicks into place at once. This is merely yet another way that Lorroakan is proving himself a second-rate imitator of spells Rakha has seen better done elsewhere. Somehow, by some means, Lorroakan learned of Thorm, of his immortality deep in the shadowlands, and he means to steal that power for himself.

Probably an ill-fated venture from the start, one he was never going to be able to accomplish - certainly not while Thorm lived. With the general dead, he might have more of a chance to lure Aylin into this new captivity... if Rakha were willing to let him.

Unfortunately for him, she is not.

You are a pathetic imitator of those with skill. You make a mockery of the Weave. You would cage Aylin again just like the last would-be immortal I destroyed. There is *purpose* in killing you, and I will enjoy watching you die.

[SORCERER] "First Ketheric and now you," she growls disdainfully. "I thought wizards were supposed to be the smart ones."

Lorroakan laughs. "It didn't work out for poor Ketheric, did it? He was a fool. A desperate mercenary who whored out his soul to whichever god flattered him. I serve no god but that which stares back at me in the mirror." He tilts his head, preening before an imaginary audience that is certainly more appreciative than Rakha. "The Nightsong will be put to a grand purpose - equalizing man and god. Whoever helps me attain that which I seek will be greatly rewarded."

Now the beast - that echo of Bhaal's divine blood in her veins - is awake and snarling in Rakha's head as well. How dare he? it growls. Imposter. Pretender. Useless wretch with delusions of grandeur!

"Equalizing man and god," Rakha says coldly. She is struggling to maintain control now, her fingers twitching with the urge to lash out and seize the wizard by the throat. "Quite the lofty ambition."

He smiles. "I intend to achieve greatness!" he crows. "And I intend to do it for a long, long, long time."

(A/N: This conversation is VERY convoluted, and it took considerable examining of the parsed files to figure out which path through it I liked best. The challenging aspect of this was that the path I really liked - which allows us to bring Aylin here at a companion's urging and thus gives a reason for Rakha not to just open up on Lorroakan immediately - requires Rakha to FAIL an Intimidation check, which took several reloads because she is very good at intimidation. But it is a DC20 and Rakha only has +14, so a failure isn't out of the realm of possibility; in this case we are saying that Lorroakan's self-aggrandizing is far too impenetrable even for her. :P )

He has started to draw closer to her, enraptured by his own power, oblivious to the tight fury that has drawn across her face - and at this moment he makes the mistake of reaching out to slap her lightly on the shoulder.

At once, her hand flashes out and catches him by the collar, yanking him almost off his feet.

[INTIMIDATION - FAILED] "Get out of my face. Now," she growls.

At once, the brittle smile falls off of Lorroakan's face. Both his hands come up, crackling lightning between his fingers.

"Choose your next words carefully, friend," he says icily. "They determine the length of your very life. You *will* bring me the Nightsong... won't you."

Rakha goes still, her weight shifting, calculating whether she can crush his head against the wall before he can unleash the spells he is holding. She's just about determined that the answer is yes when, to her surprise, an unexpected voice weighs in from behind her.

"We should kill this petulant wizard on our own terms," Minthara growls. "And allow Nightsong the pleasure of taking his head. Do not provoke him."

Rakha hesitates. She can kill him now, she is certain of it, and the beast keens in her head eagerly at the idea. But Minthara feels Aylin should have a chance at the killing blow, and even despite the strained nature of their friendship at present, her opinion is enough to sway Rakha, to stay her hand.

She releases Lorroakan with a jerk back onto his feet, scowling. "Have it your way," she mutters irritably. "I'll bring her here."

Lorroakan relaxes, straightening his mussed robes and looking at her with deep dislike that is ill-masked by the smile once again plastered onto his face. "Good," he says brightly. "I was growing scared for you. The last person who disappointed me is suffering for it still." He takes a few rapid steps back until he is a good deal more than arm's length away from her, flanked by two elementals that come shimmering out of the walls.

"Do not return without my prize," he finishes crisply, giving a dismissive wave and picking up a book on a nearby table. "Do you hear me? Good day!"

#bjk plays bg3 durge #rakha the dark urge #whew kicking off with a really long one right off the bat rofl #some new content here though whee!

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vees-genshin-blog · 2 months ago

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My first/main team

I mentioned in an earlier post that I would talk about my main team, so here it is!! This posts will cover who exactly is in my team, and the "story" behind its creation. Of course I will also share their current builds, one of which was already shown before, and I might mention how I want to develop this team after building my Childe International team.

The Team:

So, the big question: Who is on my main team?

Welllll, it's Anemo Traveler, Fisch, Bennett, and Diona.

The thing is, I play Anemo Traveler as a physical DPS.

Yup, that's right, I play the ANEMO Traveler as a physical DPS.

The Story:

Back when I was, roughly in the AR 20s or maybe 30s, I knew I had to build a proper team. I watched some videos about team building and got a rough idea of what I should be aiming for. I knew I wanted the Anemo Traveler to be my DPS (because she is amazing 😤), so I searched up some builds for her as a DPS.

In my search, I came across someone who built the Traveler as a physical DPS and something in my head clicked and I went "I HAVE to build my Traveler like this!!" For some reason, physical traveler was more appealing to me than using anemo traveler the normal way 😭. The damage they were doing wasn't bad either, and while it wasn't nuke-worthy damage, it was still impressive to me, who couldn't even hit 1K 😭.

Anyway, against all common sense, I built my Lumine for the physical route and chose the other members of my team based around her:

Diona for shielding, healing, and cryo application.

Fischl for electro application (for superconduct), and a sub dps

Bennett for extra pyro in case of leftover aura, and his burst attack buff

Yes, I'm now aware that superconduct is basically the worst reaction in Genshin Impact, and that physical damage is basically worth nothing in the present. But back then, I didn't care because this was the direction I wanted to go.

Of course I know Geo Traveler was better if I did want to go the physical route, but I liked Anemo Traveler's skill better. The burst was awkward to use but I figured how to deal with it over time.

So yeah, that's how my main team was created!!

The Builds:

Here are the current builds of my main team. I ended up farming Ridge Watch for both sets: Pale Flame for the Anemo Traveler and Tenacity for Diona. I also did a few runs of the domain with the Thunder artifacts and Bennett got pieces from bosses since I could NOT do the Noblesse Oblige domain 😔.

I'd like to improve these builds once I get my Childe International done (though Bennett gets improvement since he's also part of Childe International). Since I'm gonna farm Noblesse Oblige, I'm hoping to also get some good pieces of Bloodstained Chivalry I can give to Traveler for a 2pc/2p Pale flame and Bloodstained chivalry.

Bennett needs a complete revamp for his artifacts because I didn't know the burst was based on Base Attack so I should focus on ER and HP for his healing 😔.

Honestly I think Diona's artifacts are fine for now. I just need to finish ascending her weapon and level her skill a few more times.

Fischl needs both her burst and skill to be leveled a bit, and I'd like to get a 4pc Thundering fury for her, but I'm ok with a better 2pc/2pc like what she has right now.

The Damage:

In terms of damage, well, in my opinion, I think its ok! I mean, they carried me through Inazuma to the current Archon quest 😤. They've been my ride or die since the beginning and I don't regret going this route. Though I will admit that events with battle involved can be a bit hard since they don't dish out 100k 😔.

I don't have any screenshots of Lumine's damage since I play on my Mac, but I'd say its around or under 10k? It's definitely more than 1k; I do N2C combos and I've seen a 2k hit a few times, though I don't know about the charged attack.

Overall team damage is a bit mixed though with the reaction triggered by Fisch and Bennet, plus the Swirl damage from Lumine.

The Future:

What are my plans once both my main and Childe International team are good?

I'd like to build Dendro Traveler to try out a Dendro team!! I was thinking a team with Dendro Traveler, Fischl and two others so I don't have to build too many new characters. The problem is I don't know who yet.

I chose Tighnari as my free 5-star so he's an option but I don't know his playstyle yet. I was also thinking Xinqui for a bit, but then I read that Fischl isn't good for Hyperbloom so that's probably a no. Either way, it's exciting to think about the potential teams I could make; maybe I'll end up building something crazy like my main team 😂😭.

Once Nahida comes around and I hopefully get her (🥹), then I want to build Intergrassional, or some variant of a Childe Dendro team. They all look so fun to play 😁😁😁.

Conclusion:

That's basically everything about my main team!! I hope you enjoyed the story of its creation, the fact that physical anemo travler is my dps, and the entire dissection I did of it! I'm honestly really happy with them and they were only my team I had until now, so I'm excited I got to share them with everyone!

#genshin impact #genshin thoughts #genshin rambles #my main team #yes I ran physical traveler #I didn't want to go the typical route #carried me through the game #no regrets #fischl #genshin diona #genshin bennett #genshin traveler #lumine

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nazmazh · 11 months ago

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So the whole "cozy farming/town building/etc. games are colonialist/imperialist in nature" discourse that's going around these days:

Like, I firmly do believe that it's not the worst thing in the world to examine underlying reasons - Conscious or unconscious - For why something might appeal to you/an audience in-general.

And sure, there probably are some societal factors that lead to certain things being used as shorthand or jumping off points that do often go unexamined - Like, the idea of there being a terra nullis that you can no-muss-no-fuss-no-complicated history of colonialism/displacement/genocide is definitely one that does often just get used unquestioningly. And there certainly could be some interesting discussions about whether or not that should be such a default.

But, like, at the same time - This is explicitly escapism. Fantasy of a sorts (depending on the game/setting, it might explicitly not be the real world). These scenarios, unless otherwise stated are taking place in a true terra nullis - Nobody had to suffer anywhere in this place's history. Build your animal people village or cozy little farm without even having to think about this sort of thing.

But it's not always so simple, is it?

Any game that includes side-tasks centered around finding treasures/artifacts, exploring ruins, etc.? Well, now, that implies that this was not truly a terra nullis after all. And yeah, that can raise some implications. Much of the time, it still falls back to something like *Oh, they all died long, long before you/your current civilization got here - Don't even worry about it!"

And, like, I get it.

You don't want to think about your character's potential complicity/inheritance of a legacy of genocide when you're playing a cozy farm sim game. You just want to make a nice, efficient farm, and arrange found trinkets in a satisfying manner. You just want to curate your village to look like a 1:1 recreation of your favourite Skyrim town, but with silly animal people. Sometimes it's just the skin that's wrapped around your "make the numbers match up in a satisfying manner" exercise. Sometimes it's all about the stories and playing a role as given to you by the set-up.

And that's all fine.

You're allowed to have escapism without having to turn into Chidi from The Good Place, agonizing over whether everything is 100% ethical from all angles and possible implications.

And people are allowed to think about things from those points of view and decide for themselves if they really enjoy these sorts of games after all.

And there are some games out there that do invite you to think about these sorts of things - Sometimes explicitly, sometimes subtly.

Like, I play Satisfactory, which has a few of these elements - Terraforming an alien world - A supposedly true terra nullis as far as the scenario is concerned - And while resource extraction and manufacturing isn't a cozy pastoral farm, there still is a deep level of well, satisfaction, that comes with arranging things just-so, such that you have an aesthetically-pleasing factory colony, and one in which all of your processes' rates sync just right that it all flows smoothly to get you the components you need.

But it's also a running joke of sorts between me and friends who play about well, just how much sprawling machinery you can into a formerly pristine wilderness. The game might not outright say "Look how horrible this all is for the environment here", but you can't really look upon your creation and not see the horrible transformation the once beautiful natural landscape has undergone.

In the end, though - I've only despoiled a digital canvas, so to speak. No guilt needs hang over my head for finding joy in my colossal monstrosity of a factory. (Other than perhaps I need to work on improving my efficiency. I love my tangle of conveyor belts, but maybe I should plan my machines better so that they're not always backed up and stalled out).

And, like, these people complaining about Stardew Valley or Minecraft being imperialist and then saying people shouldn't enjoy them (Admittedly that last bit seems only to exist as a theoretical strawman to argue against and get mad at/about - I can't say I've honestly seen anyone claiming that nobody should be allowed to enjoy them) - Have they run out of complaints about other game genres? I know that nothing should get a free pass by merit of something else being worse, but I am curious as to where their logic would lead in terms of whether any games with any sort of abstraction/story should be enjoyed, ever.

Have... Have they seen other genres of games, at all?

Like, I also love the 4X genre, but that one explicitly encourages imperialism. The Xs include "exploit" and "exterminate", specifically. And yes, there have been criticisms of this genre too, but I can't say I've seen people vilified in the same way as this last round of criticism lobbed at cozy games.

There's plenty of games whose entire goal is just "kill everyone else" - PC, NPC, mob, etc.

Again, though - I'm not outright against criticism/reexamination of things from different angles or anything like that.

Honestly, the sci-fi and fantasy genres have had some absolutely fantastic developments stemming from the line of thinking of "Hey, does it feel a little off/icky to have expressly sapient races that are universally evil/bad and therefore okay to in-turn slaughter without hesitation?" This reexamination has led to plenty of games where Orcs and Goblins and such aren't just stock villains and cannon fodder - They have their own actual motivations beyond "Pillage and kill! Just because!", they're full-fledged factions that can be reasoned with, negotiated with - Dealt with in ways that don't necessitate violence.

Like, sure, if you have a certain style of game, you'll need foes. And making them "monsters" is often an easy strategy to avoid having to think about why it's okay/good/fine to kill them. But if they're all purely mindless or bestial, it gets a little repetitive - So, yeah, you add in ones that can think too. But at that point, they ought to have the capacity to question what they're doing and why, and thus, should have the freedom to not just default to doing bad guy stuff for the sake of it. And then from there - Writing them to always be evil anyway kind of does feel lazy/reductive and willfully, pointedly avoidant on a subject that should be considered.

I don't know if I have a point to all this. Yes, it's fine to enjoy things. Yes, it's often good to question underlying assumptions - Including and often especially things presented as "idealistic" and "harmless". Yes, consumption of media can lead to self-reinforcement if ideas, including potentially harmful or toxic ones. But also, yes, sometimes, things aren't necessarily as deep as they have the potential to be.

Sometimes it's just "If I had a small corner of the world to make my own, what would I do with it?"

Sometimes it is "If I could take over the world and make it align with my vision, what would I do with it?"

Sometimes it is "If I could take over the world and expressly be like, a cartoon supervillain, what would I do with it?"

People's escapism often isn't meant to be problematic. Or examine how things might be problematic.

Sometimes, it is something that would be expressly problematic outside the confines of the theoretical/simulated.

And that's fine.

It's fine.

People are allowed to enjoy problematic things.

People are allowed to indulge in fantasies that aren't completely selfless or altruistic. As long as they're not going out there and actually harming other people/the world/whatever -- What does it ultimately matter?

#current discourse #ramblings and rantings

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macbethz · 10 months ago

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I visited your blog to find that great edit you made of Alex Wilder again, because I think it's just great and one of the best edits i've seen of Alex. I was wondering though, what did you think of Rowell's time on the comic series. I really do admire how much she cares about the characters, I really do, but I had a massive problem with the progression of the stories. I just feel like it would have been better if it was in a show rather than a one comic that comes out once a month

OMG you came to the right person because i have many thoughts on Rowell's run...also thank you for the kind words abt my Alex edit its one of my favs and i always forget it exists

In terms of Rowell's run. It started off as one of my favorite runs and as time went on I grew to really dislike it.

I think there's some stuff she does I REALLY love - I think she gets Alex on a level a lot of writers really don't and does some genuinely interesting things with him which is very important to me personally since he's one of my favs. I sometimes like to look at the stuff she wrote for him in a vacuum and pretend the rest of that run doesn't exist LMAO. The stuff with Molly and her reluctance to abandon her parents because she was so young when she lost them I find very compelling as well, as well as stuff that begins to be explored with Chase in terms of How To Cope With Your Dead Girlfriend Coming Back to Life And Still Being 16, but unfortunately it isn't really resolved. Gib also is a fun addition to the cast and I like the parallels between him and the rest of the Runaways. Anka's art is ofc beautiful as always (kinda a minor issue tho but I wish he had gone less nugoth for Nico and stuck to her more classic romantic/trad goth looks - it makes her look so artificial to me)

It's been a hot second so I really need a reread but iirc i didn't have as much of an issue with pacing as I did with some weird characterization and plot choices so I don't really know if another format would have improved it, but maybe if a show or something stretched out the runtime of each arcs. I saw someone say once that Rowell is a fix-it writer and i think that really describes the problems with this run, which is that she's far more interested in resolving ""plot holes"" and bringing back old characters than telling new interesting stories. I put plot holes in quotation marks because frankly a lot of these things are not plot holes. The fact that we don't know how the staff of one works is NOT a plot hole, its part of it being a weird fucked magic artifact. Making it a person kind of undermines everything Nico has gone thru in the rest of her arc and adds some weird ass implications to every other writer's work. Even with things that actually are issues, comic history is full of holes not everything exists to be repaired especially if it comes at the cost of cool stories.

THE ROMANCE ARCS feel engineered just to kinda create cute moments rather than good stories. I didn't find Nico and Karolina's relationship issues believable or interesting at all especially considering their respective histories. I find them and a lot of the cast to be vastly OOC but that's pretty typical for comics I guess. Victor and Gert's romance is one of my main issues as well because it just seems kind of out of nowhere to me and just kind of an effort to pair off the cast. I don't feel like they have any chemistry, Vic (and the rest of the cast but mostly him) feels really dumbed down and his complex struggles with bodily autonomy are simplified down to him wanting to hold his new girlfriend. Just overall his characterization in this comic completely revolves around Gert and it sucks. Gert in general is a huge issue for me because while I find her an interesting character in her original form, in this run she kind of monopolizes the entire comic with her arcs always taking precedence. AND THEY DONT EVEN DO ANYTHING INTERESTING WITH HER. SHE LITERALLY DIED AND CAME BACK AND LOST YEARS OF TIME WITH HER FREINDS WHO HAVE GROWN CLOSER IN HER ABSENCE and instead they write this very like cartoonishly evil fatphobia plot which doesn't seem interested in saying anything besides "fatphobia bad :(" I normally hate to like try to read author intention but its difficult to me not to think Rowell did a bit of a self insert/authors pet situation here.

TLDR - OVERALL I think the comic could REALLY have benefited from less characters with longer arcs rather than trying to fit everything and the kitchen sink from the last 20 years of runaways history. But I also think it is unfortunately one of the best and only runaways comics we've gotten recently so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ def need a reread to fully collect my thoughts as well

#warlock wartalks #many thoughts!! but god i need a reread. anyway runaways forever stan alex wilder my final message goodbye

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theadventurerslog · 1 year ago

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Discworld | Part 5

To the tune of Frère Jacques/Brother John Are you sleeping

What do I do, what do I do? I am stuck! I am stuck! What the heck do I do? What the heck do I do? Damn, dang, darn. Damn, dang, darn

So, I only lost my marbles for a short time... No, never mind it was a short reprieve before they were indeed, lost again. Basically just a lot of losing and finding. But, as for the first problem, I did make some early progress thanks to hints--thanks friend! Friend hints feel much better to get than just looking up stuff. And gah, this game. No wonder it has the reputation it does.

I needed black robes. I figured out it was the monk of Offler: robe style was the same, he mentions himself as a Black Monk of Offler and then he also references weather. But I had no idea how to get his robe.

What I ultimately needed to do was get him wet, so he'd remove his robe. Spread a little chaos. The butterfly effect you might say. The right butterfly was needed as there are two: one around the inn during the present day and the one I've mentioned before from the park the previous night that put fish and water in the present day park's lamp. See? It makes sense. Chaos butterflies! The park butterfly was the one I needed. However, I wasn't sure how to actually catch it at first. I needed to do something with the previous night's drunk Rincewind. As it turned out the butterfly was out of reach because of his snoring.

Now, my logic was a little fuzzier and a lucky guess. I figured, okay, maybe I need to get him to move so my present Rincewind could hop onto the bench or something, and so I tried the frog thinking it might jump on him. No, it ended up in his mouth which blocked the snoring which brought the butterfly close enough to catch it successfully with the butterfly net. See, I'd forgotten that Rincewind, early in the game when getting the university gates open, had coughed up a frog. That was one of my hints had I remembered it. Now we know how he ended up with a frog in the first place. But, I stumbled into the solution anyway.

Then I brought the butterfly to the corner where the monk was (after some fumbling and accidentally putting it in Rincewind's pocket and thinking I lost it), or rather where the monk will be, as we're still in the previous night. Use the butterfly on the lamp there and presto, storm in the present day over the monk. Butterfly effect!

Back in the present day he was robeless and the robe was left to dry in the fishmonger's alley on the clothesline that was there. Finally saw a use for that clothesline.

Back, again, to the previous night where I was able to go back to the hideout and then use the glass on the drainpipe to eavesdrop on the thief to the get the password. The glass has 'fine acoustic properties'. Then don the robe and in I went into the secret brotherhood's hideout! At last!

Part of the summoning ceremony that was shown at the start of the game.

Now I got the first part of it, which revealed that their leader as the jester from the palace thanks to him showing his Chucky staff. And the other members were all complaining about things and what they want to see improved by this whole affair.

The ceremony proceeded on as it did in the game's intro.

And got a glimpse again of the dragon.

Then that was that and I was put back outside.

Now here was my thought process at the time. It was flawed. Very flawed.

Aaand, then I was back to now what. The palace seemed a reasonable next step with the knowledge gained of the jester being the head of the brotherhood, but the guards are still blocking me. Getting into the brotherhood's hideout ended up not helping much. I guess despite the dragon making a big deal of following the trail of the summoning book first I'm just supposed to start hunting down those artifacts? I just expected to get some sort of clue toward any of them. Unless I did and it flew over my head. <- Bingo!

So, I went for the bigger loose ends I still had like the inn. After some other wandering around including noticing another lamp in the fishmonger alley that led me to wondering if I could put a butterfly there at night too, only to find the frog was totally gone now and therefore I couldn't get the butterfly back, I ended up back at the inn. The inn does have a butterfly during the day but not one I could catch. However, checking the room again led me to discovering that I had missed a bed sheet I could take.

Aha! What do you with big white sheets? Ghost time! Boooo spooky. There was my missing link for the scared guy at the inn during the previous night, so back there I went. Seeing a lot of L-Space...

With the bed sheet Rincewind was able to look like a ghost and the guy hid quivering under his blanket, letting me explore the room freely and follow the steps he'd told me about. Once I checked the jewelry box Rincewind did the rest without my input:

Check the jewelry box on his bedside table In the bottom is a secret compartment with a letter opener

Use the letter opener with a note hidden under his mattress Learn the combination to the safe from the note Open the safe revealing a hammer, though I didn't realize it was a hammer at first and Rincewind didn't know what to do with it so he put it back.

And then I tried not to scream. That led nowhere! So after a moment of more growling and huffing and trying again in case I missed something I thought I'd go back to the present day and speak with him again. Maybe there was a step I'd forgotten.

No, as it turned out, having gone that far, now Rincewind knew about the hammer to ask him about it which gave me the last step. Break the jewelry box with it to get the gate pass inside. So I went back again to do the full round and acquired a gate pass that'll let me leave the city.

An aside where I'm going to get out of order briefly here. I did make some further progress, but I decided, because certain I must have just missed something, I went back to the dragon summoning again, and yeah, each brotherhood member does give a clue as to their identity and therefore the artifacts as they each have one. It just kind of went over my head the first time... From what I gathered if I correctly understood these I want

a thief though could be assassin, but presumably thief as he stole the summoning book

the fish monger

chimney sweep

the dunniking guy?

something about wanting to outlaw cheap plastering in favour of major structural reinforcement - not sure about this one, could be alchemists for all their explosiveness? Could be the toymaker? He's been suspiciously rebellious and has a big thing of paste...

Probably the Fool himself? He's the leader; I assume he probably has one of the gold artifacts too?

I got some direction. At least some people to work with. But that came later.

Back to where I was, with the gate pass in hand I was able to leave the city but I didn't know why. It was an option so I took it.

More locations! More locations...

I had the Wood, the mountains and the Dark Wood. I went to the wood first where I found a wishing well.

I was able to fill my pot with water but didn't find anything else to do.

I went to the mountains and was taken to a path where I ran into a cockatrice. Thankfully as things were looking dicey the good ol' trusty Luggage came and scared it away.

And the cockatrice left me an egg and a feather.

Then I entered the dark wood with a bunch of eerie and sinister stuff.

As far as I could tell I couldn't do anything with the various creepy stuff, but the path took me to Nanny Ogg's cottage.

Just wandering into a witch's cottage, even if it's Nanny Ogg's, seems a little dangerous, but wander in I did, sorry Nanny! The cauldron had some custard which I put in the pot, replacing the water I'd grabbed earlier. Given what I had seen of her recipe book before I was figuring it was probably love potion custard.

With that in mind, there was the whole milkmaid and barber situation, so I went back to the city thinking to do something about that.

I went back to the psychia-trickerist's only to discover that the first seat was empty now and that led me to being called next to visit the psychia-trickerist.

I got a couple ink blots out of it to keep, but otherwise I don't think the experience helped Rincewind much.

Trying the custard with the milk maid lady didn't do anything either.

Since I was in the Square anyway, I thought I'd talk to everyone again in case stuff had changed.

Dibbler was now selling treacle donuts dusted with sugar, cinnamon and honey. Very sticky.

I also spoke again to the street urchin and he started this secret handshake thing with I'm pretty sure the toymaker but refused to teach Rincewind it until he proves himself a man in more than the physical sense. Add that to the to-do list...

It was at this point I finally dragged myself back to the secret brotherhood to witness the summoning again and got a better idea of who each member was and that they were in fact giving me clues as discussed earlier.

With that in mind, I decided to go to the fish monger because he was clearly one of them and my inability to do much there up to this point had been bugging me.

When I got there, things had changed a little because there was now an octopus just hanging out in the stall as an octopus does.

I couldn't just pick it up, but I was able to use the twine to tie it up and then I felt bad for doing it, but I got an octopus in my inventory. Temporarily.

Now, my thought process that did get a result, albeit not the result I was originally thinking: I went back to the alley behind the fishmonger where the toilet is. I tried putting the octopus in it, thinking aha, maybe that'll get the dunnyman involved in this somehow and he seemed like another artifact bearer. It seemed like something could result in clogging a toilet with an octopus. So I did that and went to go see him and discovered he had a gold tooth.

So my thought process was immediately derailed because gold tooth! I know how to get a tooth out: something sticky! The donut! (thanks Monkey Island for that very quick thought.) It did indeed break his tooth and he rushed off to the barber/dentist. I followed after, and he was there, but the dentist was too distracted daydreaming of the milkmaid to actually do any work. With a little back and forth I was able to finally matchmake him and the milkmaid lady at the psychia-trickerist and off they both went to meet at the forest where the well is, leaving Rincewind to mind the shop.

With the barber/dentist gone I was able to use his apparatus and knock the gold tooth out claiming it for myself. One artifact acquired! But none of that had anything to do with my work with the fishmonger, oops.

Before I went back to the fishmonger, I dropped off the tooth with the dragon and then went to the alley where the rooftops are. I wanted to see if the chimney sweep was there and the tile that launches you was working again. Or maybe I was messing something up last time; I don't know. Either way I got up there, saw the chimney sweep had a golden brush and had no idea what to do about that, so I left it for now.

So, that's one out of six golden artifacts down, and my next goal was to go back to the fishmonger's and try to sort out what's going on there and what his artifact is. And that'll be next time where I will hopefully find several of the artifacts. And maybe I won't get repeatedly very stuck...ha... Though, despite my initial start to this post and associated sessions, I am proud of the progress I did end up making.

#discworld #discworld game #adventure games #discworld_log

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menolly5600 · 1 year ago

Text

Reading all the comments and notes gave me ideas and I ran with it. This isn't polished and more summary/synopsis/rambling than full fic. Also fairly long.

Fair warning, I'm pretty new to using Tumblr, so hope I'm doing this right.

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Ghost Writer is perfect for this. He has the power to trap others in stories. Maybe he and Danny get into an argument about if comics count as literature and Danny is trapped in the Silver Age Batman and DC comics. But some artifact or Fenton tech interferes in the usual holodeck-style of Ghost Writer's world, and it instead drops him in an actual DC dimension currently in the Silver Age.

But between the nature of the dimension and Ghost Writer's powers, Danny is trapped and subject to the laws of reality of this Silver Age dimension. But he can see it from an outsider's perspective. But even beyond the usual shenanigans of this dimension, Ghost Writer's Narrator powers are affecting him by treating him as a character.

At first, Danny tries to blend in, when not yelling at the sky at Ghost Writer to try to make him let him go, not realizing that Ghost Writer isn't in control or watching him. But when he's blending in with the citizens, he's subject to being a background NPC. He's horrified to find his features literally fading from his own and others' perception and awareness when the focus isn't on him. His features blur into indistinct shapes when he sees himself in a window or mirror. His memories and awareness of time get fuzzy.

The only times he feels and looks himself, sharp and clear and in focus, are when he's the center of attention. He feels most like himself when he's that crazy street kid yelling at the sky. He feels solid and real when he's mugged or held at gunpoint in a corner convenience store. But everything is clearest and sharpest when the vigilantes or Rogues are paying attention to him. If he could just keep that focus he could think clearly enough to find out how to get home.

He realizes he can't stay in the background without risking fading away if the magic narrative completely ignores him. He has to keep the attention on himself as much as he can. In a comic book, the best way to do that is to become a hero or a villain. He doesn't want to go full blown villain, because that way lies Dan and an empty planet. But being a hero, especially in a Silver Age dimension, means being shackled by duty and unable to less than legally acquire the resources to survive and get home. And he's broke and homeless. So he decides to be a mix of wacky Fenton mad scientist, mysterious occultist, and 'phantom thief' to steal what he needs. It keeps the magic narrative guessing at his motives and character so it can't lock him into a single archetype of behavior. He calls himself Ghost because he doesn't want to associate Phantom with being a criminal.

He steals what he needs to survive and to try to break the magic narrative or create a portal home. He tries to summon his allies in the Ghost Zone with magic spells or artifacts. He tries to use interdimensional devices to get to the Ghost Zone, or mad scientist build his own. But he doesn't kill or really hurt anyone. And when the Teen Titans show up, he realizes not every kid hero is as well trained as Robin, or as capable in unexpected situations. So he decides to become a recurring Rogue for Robin and the other kid heroes to teach them to adapt, overcome, and improve as heroes.

Danny knows the kid heroes are never in any real danger when facing him, which helps his protector obsession. Getting repeatedly foiled at the last minute in his efforts to find a way home is frustrating. But always makes sure the kid heroes don't get hurt. In fact he's teamed up with Robin especially, and the Teen Titans too, to stop actual big threats. He's even teamed up with the Batman and the JL for world ending threats too. He's even stepped into situations he stumbled across to protect a hero or two on occasion. He's also teamed up with some other non-lethal Rogues on occasion and helped some have some normalcy.

Robin-Dick, and later Robin-Jason, eventually come to see him as a sort of friend-shaped anti-hero that should really be a hero instead of a thief. They still don't understand his motives. The Bats and the Titans have discussed in circles about what his goals are and why he steals tech and magic stuff. But Danny never elaborates on his main goals so he can keep attention on him by keeping the narrative curse guessing. As long as he's mysterious, heroes and Rogues will keep focus on him.

Because of the narrative curse, he doesn't age, because characters in comics don't age once they reach a certain point. At 15-16 he's already old enough to stop aging in this dimension. He's there for years, trying to break the curse and go home without being foiled by the heroes. He first meets Dick as Robin a few years before he goes solo as Nightwing. He meets the rest of the Titans not long after and decided to be their training villain.

Eventually he meets a tiny Jason as the new Robin. Maybe he even tells Nightwing congratulations on the new baby brother, and mentions his own sort of adopted baby sister, Ellie. It plants the idea in Dick's head early that Jason could be his brother if he let him, rather than just a replacement Bruce found somewhere.

Dick complains to Danny about Jason being annoying sometimes, and Danny laughs and says it's the job of little brothers to tag along and annoy their big siblings. He mentions his big sister and how they annoy each other, but he always knew his big sister was safe and would take care of him if he needed it. He talks about how he'd seek her out when they were younger, wanting her attention, and wanting to help her in return, even if he didn't know how. Having someone to talk to about being an older and younger brother really helps Dick speedrun accepting Jason as his little brother. It makes Jason's death hit harder, but with less guilt for not being a better brother.

Danny treats Jason like the adorable little gremlin that he is. He teases him and Dick about each other, telling Jason embarrassing stories about Dick, and vice versa. But he also indulges Jason, teaching him and giving advice, and giving him food and telling stories about other heroes. Jason practically thinks of him as an estranged second big brother.

Danny runs into an even tinier Tim stalking the Bats and Birds. He nudges Tim into coming to the attention of the Bats early. Tim and Jason meet before his death and become friends, and maybe unofficial brothers. So Jason doesn't try to attack and maim Tim when he comes back to Gotham.

Danny discovers Cadmus early and pulls heists to point the Titans at it so they can save any clone kids. But when Superman doesn't step up immediately to take care of a tinier Kon, Danny starts targeting him in Metropolis specifically to shame him and knock sense into Superman for treating the kid like it was his fault some fruitloops created him. Basically, 'talk out your feelings with a therapist and get your shit together and be an adult. That kid is all alone and some villain could take advantage of him if he thinks no one else cares about him.'

Clark eventually reaches out to get to know the clone boy. Between forcing Clark to face his feelings; and realizing that the boy is a scared, lonely kid that Luthor could take and twist; and that Danny himself was on the verge of stealing the kid away, Clark realizes he wants to be part of the kid's life and wants the kid in his own life. It helped speed things up by Danny tattling to Clark's parents and Ma and Pa Kent welcoming the boy into their family regardless of what Clark thought at the time.

It can be Danny who steps in to figure out how to stabilize Kon's DNA and body to age properly so he can grow up normally. Tim can help with his giant intellect too, as a treat. It's very confusing and alarming to Superman and other adult heroes that the mad scientist magic-tech thief teen Rogue knows Superman's identity, and becomes an expert on DNA hybrid Kryptonian cloning. But then only uses that knowledge to tattle on Clark's behavior to his parents, and fix and balance an uneven mix of human and Kryptonian DNA. The Bats and Birds just shrug and say he's mysterious like that.

Young Just-us gets a head start with tiny 12 year old (looking) Conner being introduced to tiny 11 year old Tim. Maybe a younger Cassie is introduced to them in a year or two in an effort to give Kon and Tim more kids his age to socialize with. Then Bart shows up early, Danny's presence having nudged the timeline, causing ripple effects down the timeline.

Tim trains early and gets better training from Batman, Nightwing, Robin, and Danny. His presence with the Waynes isn't overshadowed by grief or being a replacement, but he's not officially a Wayne, or a hero-protege yet. He and his friends get into shenanigans and adventures, but aren't an official hero group. Sometimes their adventures are in civies and domino masks instead of their hero outfits and armor. Tim doesn't go by Robin. Instead he chooses to name himself after Danny, half out of spite after Dick and Jason laughed at him for trying to go by Drake. Bruce forbid using his last name too. So Tim goes by Phantom as a nod to Ghost, not realizing he's taking up a temporarily retired hero mantle anyway.

Years later, after Jason dies, Tim takes up Robin to honor Jason's legacy with more than just a suit and placque in the Batcave. Dick and Bruce protest at first, but Tim refuses to back down, telling them he refuses to let Robin's magic fade away to nothing more than a cautionary tale and grief. Jason gave Robin magic, and Robin is a hero, a light that they can't let die, for the sake of Gotham and especially for themselves. Honoring Jason is Tim's way of processing and dealing with his brother's death. It's not until Damian receives Robin that Tim takes up Red Robin. He gets teased about being bad at naming things.

Danny's research into curse breaking eventually figures out that one way to break a curse is to use it against itself. From past summonings of demons and spirits to question, he knows that if he can remove himself from the dimension, the curse will break without an anchor, and he's the anchor. He finally has a plan to prevent the heroes from foiling his efforts to get home. He has to use the comic book narrative against itself to allow himself to write in a resolution to his Rogue-arc where he returns to his home dimension. He sets up a dramatic farewell situation, expecting the Bats and Titans, and declares he must return to his people as he is needed in his home dimension.

Danny has been stealing, studying, and reverse engineering magic and technology for years. Stealing various magic and divine artifacts from all over the world. The things he steals and summons are so diverse that it's not clear what he wants it all for. He deliberately steals some things just to throw off the heroes trying to figure him out.

Finally with a plan to work with the narrative curse instead of against the story of 'the heroes always win,' he uses a combination of reverse engineered New God/Apokolypse portal technology, Death magic related divine artifacts related to Hades, Osiris, and other pantheon death gods, more magic artifacts related to gods of balance like Ma'at, reverse engineered alternate dimension and time travel tech stolen from Star Labs and the Watchtower, and a carefully reversed summoning spell, all cobbled together in a very Fenton way, create a temporary portal keyed into Danny's dimensional signature, the energy of ectoplasm, and Danny's ice core to open the way into the Infinite Realms between dimensions, near the Far Frozen.

Because he's made it dramatically clear he's leaving, going home, his people need him, the narrative allows it as an end to his character story as a villain, writing him out of the storyline. Bruce, Dick, Jason, Tim, Kon, the rest of the Titans and Just-us all get a chance to say goodbye, providing resolution for the heroes on their end, further cementing writing Danny out of the story.

Danny steps through the portal and it closes behind him. He hasn't aged, and the dimensional timelines run differently so time has barely passed for his world. The narrative curse is broken and he can go home and finally hug his family and friends. He misses the Bats and Birds and other teen heroes, even some of the better Rogues too. But he's home after years trapped in comic book Silver Age logic in another dimension.

The curse made sure the heroes didn't really consider the fact that Danny is a child still, with no adult supervision, and is a criminal. A kid's comic doesn't care where the parents are when the teens are on an adventure. And a kid-friendly mysterious nemesis teen villain doesn't need parents getting in the way. But once Danny does succeed in leaving the dimension, the narrative curse breaks, and the heroes can't help but think back on all their interactions with him and feel like they should have realized and helped him more.

The dimension of the Bats and Birds continues on after Danny left. Jason dies still. The dimension is reset and merged with other dimensional timelines a few times. People forget about the anti-hero rogue, Ghost, for a while, then remember again.

The heroes that remember are the ones he interacted with the most, and they miss him all over again. The Waynes in particular feel guilty they didn't see all the warning signs of a homeless kid turning to crime and mad magic-tech to get home to a family with questionable parents. Things are a lot more obvious without the comic book narrative curse blinding them from seeing. Danny had offhandedly mentioned a lot of things that are concerning in hindsight, about his parents and home.

Dick especially was guilty and hurt that Danny had still wanted to go back but didn't even ask the Bats for help. Danny was like a brother to him, older and younger at the same time with wise advice and playful annoyance. Sometimes he wonders what it would be like if Danny had stayed, if Bruce had taken Danny in like he had the rest of his siblings.

With hindsight, Bruce thinks he should have looked harder at Danny's situation, should have realized he was homeless and acting out while trying to survive and get home, should have tried harder to reach out to him and offer to take him in and help him. He already had emotionally claimed the mysterious rogue teen that reminded him so much of Selina and his kids in various ways.

By the time Dick considered Ghost a friend-brother, Bruce considered him practically a second, if estranged, son. He actually sometimes thought of Ghost as the more responsible son. He trusted Ghost to not go too far and harm the kid heroes, and to protect them if there was a real danger. But he'd never said anything directly to Ghost, never offered directly to take him in. Never directly told Ghost he trusted him with the teen heroes and cared about him. Even knowing Ghost knew Clark's identity, and other hero identities, but had never acted to harm them, Bruce had let his paranoia about risking his family's identities with a known rogue prevent him from directly offering his home to Ghost. He'd only directly said he'd help him find a good family to take him in if he needed help to get out of crime. Ghost had refused being tied down to foster care and vanished into the night once more.

Bruce wonders what it would have been like with another son, and regrets. Even if he had to go home, some of what Ghost had said about his parents and growing up were red flags. Even if he'd only had Ghost as his for a temporary time, he thinks he would have preferred that over knowing he failed the boy so completely.

Jason was killed not even a year after Danny left. He was fighting with Bruce and went off on him about how controlling he is and how he shuts people out and throws them away if they don't obey him. How it's no wonder Danny never came to them for help, for a home. How Danny was smart enough to realize that Bruce would would have been disappointed and throw him away almost immediately for not being exactly what he wanted Danny to be. Jason was also projecting his own insecurities and feelings , his fear of being thrown away for not being good enough to meet Bruce's standards.

Batman had benched him because Jason had been furious about a man with diplomatic immunity using it to avoid charges for beating a woman to death. Jason had taken a page from Ghost with some help from Tim, and sabotaged and exposed the man's actions publicly in Gotham, DC, and his home country. The man had been found dead in his home shortly after, apparently having fallen to his death, possibly from foul play. It was being reckless with the sabotage and theft, putting a target on the man, that Batman had issues with. Jason thought Bruce blamed him for getting the man killed, but wasn't sorry someone had done him in.

Bruce wasn't sorry for benching Jason for being reckless. He didn't want him getting hurt. He also didn't want him being vindictive when the legal system fails because of technicalities. It's a slippery slope in Bruce's opinion to taking justice into their own hands. Not because Jason had a petty theft background, but because of the standards Bruce holds himself to, knowing how far he'd fall if he let himself act out Justice when the system fails.

It hurts that Jason thinks he'd throw him away for not being good enough. It hurts that Danny probably felt the same way, not coming to him because he thought Bruce would reject him for not meeting his standards. He tries to tell Jason he's his son and wouldn't kick him out, but Jason brings up how Dick was kicked out too for not obeying. Bruce tries to explain he never meant to make Dick feel unwelcome and that he still considers him his son, even if he didn't want to be adopted. But he struggles to articulate it, starting off poorly, and Jason storms out, still angry and hurt.

If Danny had still been there, Jason would have gone looking for him to talk. But he was gone and Jason missed him, part of him blaming Bruce for Danny having left. Dick was off world, but Jason left him a message before leaving to find his bio mother. He didn't tell Tim because he felt guilty for dragging Tim into trouble with Bruce by getting his help to mess with the diplomat. He knew Tim would help him find his mother, but he didn't want to drag him to Ethiopia or get him in more trouble with Bruce.

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In Amity Park, Danny makes it to 16 before things fall apart for him. The GIW lock down on Amity Park and start mandatory testing people for ectoplasm signatures. Anyone found with contamination was taken away to cure them and placed in a facility where they were experimented on and ultimately killed anyone who protested or refused testing was detained and vanished too.

The Manson parents refused and started a protest, the Foleys refused to subject Tucker to testing after seeing people weren't coming back after being detained and 'cured'. The Fentons were ecto contaminated and tried to refuse being detained claiming they could cure themselves. The GIW tried to use it as an excuse to seize all of Fentonworks. The Fenton parents were shot and killed by the GIW in the ensuing fight. Jazz barricaded herself in the Ops Center and called Danny to escape. He had been with Tucker who had been told to run and hide when the GIW took his parents into custody. They gathered at Sam's where she had been hiding Ellie while she visited before the GIW started testing people. There they heard the GIW had arrested and detained the entire protest. Danny went to try to rescue them, but found the GIW had already killed their parents.

Tucker hacked the GIW facility and leaked the information and video of the experimentation and killing the detained people, and the Fentons' murders, online. Amity Rioted.

In the chaos, the five kids decided they had to flee into the Ghost Zone to survive the GIW hunting them. They had to drag Danny away from trying to rush in again to protect the people of Amity during the rioting, but he had gotten shot trying already. Ellie dragged him, convincing him that if he ran off to fight the GIW, she would fight too and he couldn't let her get hurt.

But once they're in the Far Frozen, they don't know what to do next, they haven't had a chance to grieve, they don't want to go to Vlad even if it was safe. Is there even anything left for them in their world?

They spend some time with the yetis, grieving and recovering from injuries. Danny can't help but remember another world where he has sort of friends that maybe would help them set up a new life, especially if he was a hero this time around. If not, he could always be a Rogue phantom thief again to support them all and get a decent place. They'd be safe from the GIW at least.

They'd raided the Fenton weapon vault and taken all of the Fenton database and schematics before destroying the portal and Fentonworks behind them when they fled to the Zone. He could create a new portal to the Infinite Realms or even recreate his ritual gate from before so they could access the Ghost Zone again if needed.

Danny asked to borrow the Infimap to go to the right dimension. Frostbite agreed to come with to return with the Infimap to the Far Frozen. They packed up the belongings they took when they fled, and supplies provided by Frostbite, Pandora, Dorothea, Lunch Lady and Box Ghost. Danny aimed for the place he completed his ritual death portal, but didn't focus on a time.

Danny arrives with his Fraid and first thing he does is test for the narrative curse. But it was broken years ago, and since then the dimension had been reset and merged with others several times. The Silver Age comics narrative curse is gone. Danny is relieved and gives Frostbite a Phantom Phone so they can stay in contact if they need help or if Frostbite needs Danny's help.

Then Danny and Ellie carried the rest and went to check his old safehouses and caches. From the caches that hadn't been found, he got enough money to get a motel room that wouldn't ask questions. The safehouse was years rundown and he didn't feel safe having his Fraid staying there before he could be sure it was secure again. Once he was sure they were safe, they planned out how to contact the Bats and which to contact first. Tucker found the Internet and connected to it, discovering many years had passed in this dimension while only a year passed in their own dimension.

Danny decided to find Dick, searching for Nightwing first. He spotted Red Hood but didn't know if he was a hero or Rogue and wasn't up to talk to anyone else. He finally finds Nightwing who actually aged while Danny was gone and is in his mid twenties now. But Danny doesn't care how old he is, he's just so glad to see him alive and okay. Danny is tired of losing people he cares about.

Danny had put on old spares of his Rogue outfit gear. Not a full set, just pieces. He looks exhausted and disheveled, wrung out. But he's so glad to see Dick again. He approaches cautiously, hoping Dick remembers him, that he still cares.

Dick is shocked still and speechless at seeing Ghost, looking like he's barely aged, approaching warily. He looks rough and stressed, but more uncertain than Dick can remember ever seeing him.

Dick swallows and hesitantly asks if he's really Ghost? Danny nods and smiles, asking if he missed him. Dick smiles with a short laugh and says of course he missed him. Danny asks if he comes over there, Dick won't arrest him, will he? Dick shakes his head and approaches, slowing as he gets closer until he hugs Danny. Danny tenses, then just collapsed into the hug, clinging back. Danny murmurs that he missed him too. Dick asks, he thought Danny went home, that he was needed? Danny tenses, then practically sobbed that he had, but he hadn't been enough.

Alarmed, Dick holds his littler brother and asks if he wants to talk. Danny says not really. Dick holds him and tells him he wants to help him, that he should have helped him before. After a long moment, Danny quietly says they never should have been enemies, that he doesn't want to go back to that. Dick's quiet for a moment, some kind of hope in the back of his throat. He holds Danny closer and says quietly, that Danny doesn't have to, that Danny can come home with him instead. Danny is quiet for a long moment, then pulls back to look up at Dick, asking if he really means that. Dick reaches up to brush back Danny's hair and smiles, telling him the family should have offered him a home years ago.

Danny pulls back and Dick reluctantly lets him go. Come home, Dick says again. Not yet, replies Danny. But you will, asks Dick hopefully. Danny hesitated, then says he can't go back again, there's nothing left for him in his old world.

I'm here for you, we're here for you, Dick replies, you don't have to be alone. Danny smiles and says, that's just it, he's not alone. Dick hesitates and asks, your family? Danny replies, my sisters and best friends. Your big sister and baby sister, asks Dick with a smile, wanting to meet them. Danny nods then after a pause asks if the offer still stands. Of course it does, insisted Dick.

Danny says he'll talk with them and let him know tomorrow night. The usual place, Dick asks. Yeah, responds Danny, then gives a little salute, until then, before he takes off and vanished into the shadows.

Dick's comms explode with all his siblings who overheard that exchange. The younger ones wanting to know who that was. Jason, Tim, and Bruce wanting to know if that was really Ghost. Dick says it really was Ghost, but he looks run down and grieving, but he doesn't look like he's aged either, he's still a teenager. He explained his sisters and friends are here too, Dick says he thinks they had to run from his old world. Then Bruce speaks up and says there's plenty of room in the manor, he'll ask Alfred to prepare some rooms. Dick grins.

The next night Danny shows up on top of the Martha Wayne Foundation. He and Ellie brought everyone and Ellie is keeping them invisible for now. Nightwing, Red Hood and Red Robin are waiting for him. Danny takes a moment to recognize Tim, and it takes Jason removing his helmet and greeting him for him to realize he's little Jay all grown up.

Danny asks if the offer still stands for him and four others. Dick tells him yes of course. Danny asks what about their secret identities. Tim grins and says Danny already knows them, right? Danny shrugs and nods. Jason snorts and says they ain't worried, they trust Danny won't hurt them and they trust if Danny vouches for the rest. Danny looks wary, uncertain and asks, what about metas? Tim groans, B's opinion is greatly exaggerated and needs better PR, he doesn't hate metas in Gotham. Dick nods, one of our new brothers is a meta, he's excited to meet you.

Dick moves closer and holds out his hand to Danny. He asks again, using the words he used to say to Ghost to leave behind crime and join the heroes, we don't have to fight, whatever pushed you to this, we can help you start a new life, we should be on the same side, you'd make a great hero.

Danny laughs and steps forward to take his hand, I know, I used to be one. What, squawked Dick, but then, why? Danny sighed, would you believe I was literally cursed back then? Jason scowled as he came up to them, Cursed? What do you mean? Danny shook his head, long story short, I had nothing but the clothes on my back and if I didn't keep attention from heroes and Rogues on me, then I started fading away, unable to focus, and losing my memories. Figured being a training rogue for other teen heroes was the best way to do it.

Dick pulls Danny into a hug, holding him tight. Tim worriedly asks, are you still cursed? Danny shakes his head, no, I had to figure out how to break it, and I needed a lot of stuff to do that and figure out how to get home, people wouldn't just give me it all if I asked, I was a nobody here, stealing was the only way to stay relevant and get access to things. Danny leans his forehead against Dick's collarbone as he holds him. Dick says, I wish you had told us, even if not at first, we could have helped you. Jason presses a hand on top of Danny's head, no way we'd have let you fade. Danny inhales shakily and quips back, I know, but commit to the bit, you know. Tim snorted a laugh and shoved his shoulder before he leans in to hug Danny too.

After a moment Danny pulls back and says he wants to introduce them. He calls out to Ellie and she drops the invisibility revealing the others. Ellie isn't in ghost form and looks her scruffy street kid self. Jazz looks stressed, eyes still a little puffy from crying earlier. Sam and Tucker are leaning into each other for support. Sam tries to look aloof, but she's standing slightly in front of the rest, defensively, still wary. Tucker is huddled into himself, looking disheveled and distraught still, despite his efforts to look presentable for a first meeting, but he looks relieved at the warm reception Danny got.

Danny introduced them. Sam warily asks if they're really ready and able to take in all five of them, because they're not splitting up. Dick grins and says their dad and basically grandfather already has rooms ready for them at the manor. A manor, Sam deadpans and side-eyes Danny. Danny sighs, he's kind of a billionaire with a secret fruitloop basement lair, except he's a big hero in this world who dresses up like a bat. Ellie cracks up laughing, oh my god, the Fruitloop would be so pissed you agreed to live with a different billionaire fruitloop! Jazz sighed and gave a little smile, only you, Danny, only you.

Dick arched an eyebrow, you know a lot of billionaires with secret lairs? Danny shrugs, if I had a nickel for every billionaire I know who has issues, a secret basement lair, and wants me to live with him, I'd have two nickels, it's not a lot, but it's weird it happened twice. Jason snorted, you'll have to tell us about it later so we can make fun of B about it.

Dick smiles at them and asks, are you ready to come home? The empty Batmobile has been waiting for them nearby in anticipation of taking Danny and his family back to the Batcave. Bruce and the rest of the family have been listening in from the Cave. Bruce was practically biting his nails in hope and anticipation of finally having his second son come home.

Danny gives a tired but sincere smile back, yeah, yeah we are.

Short DP X DC Prompts #40

Danny figures out that he can traverse the multiverse and gets super excited to check out his favorite superheroes in action. He goes to see Batman but takes a wrong turn and gets stuck in the acid trip world of Silver Aged Batman comics.

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symphorine · 15 days ago

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The Dread Wolf's Eluvian Most of us have only traveled through the eluvians at the whims of those who called themselves our gods. We know them as mirrors that always go from one to another, a bonder pair linked no matter the distance. Solas has outsmarted the so-called gods. If we used normal eluvians, they could track us to our lair. Solas has improved upon June's work by creating a mirror whose singing stone can change its tune to take us to any aluvian and not just its bonded partner. Thus ,we can travel wherever this rebellion needs us, with no fear of pursuit. Travel is as safe as a normal eluvian. If you have questions, ask for the Slow Arrow, and I will guide you. - Felassan

codex we find right in front of the lighthouse eluvian. interesting... mostly bc it doesn't. actually talk about the crossroads? what exactly are they? an in-between liminal space that Becomes when the eluvians are linked? and persists afterwards? maybe something to think on later when ive. actually gone into the crossroads and find some more codex entries. but ooh are the crossroads actually only an artifact of solas' improvements? if regular eluvians are a simple one to one, presumably there would be no need, and most importantly no possibility, for the crossroads. at best it would be a single passage in the fade. i think maybe that tracks! with the way the caretaker talks about solas, and the crossroads seem to be in general placed under his ownership (loosely).

ALSO this is clearly propaganda. yay wartime propaganda. also seems to imply travel was not entirely free ("at the whims")? or is it just bc obviously the location of eluvians was decided by the evanuris, since they were the ones creating them?

also interesting in terms of solas' skills. june is the god of craft and building (also irelin wears his vallaslin!), so clearly was like, not a small time player. i think solas refers to him later as like "our greatest buildings came from june". but solas was able to improve upon his work. was it just solas? did other elves work on this as well, but he ended up getting the credit as project manager to reinforce his image in the rebellion?

and more minor but felassan again being like. if you are lost or confused ask for me and i will help. nice dude. wish he was still alive and around. actually i would have LOVED to see him help rook & co and fight with solas omg. rip felassan

snippets of strife and irelin convo - not all

Strife: This is because of Fen'Harel's -- sorry, Solas's ritual, isn't it?

Strife: If those two [Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain] are back out in the world... it explains a lot.

Strife: Solas might be a bastard, but compared to the Evanuris?

Strife: Let's just say they weren't known for being kind rulers.

Irelin: There's a reason Solas led a rebellion against the Evanuris. And a reason he imprisoned them.

Strife: We've still got dozens of Veil Jumpers unaccounted for.

Rook: How can we help? Irelin: We need to find Bellara Lutare. She's the best there is at working with our ancient artifacts.

Irelin: She was off looking for another artifact before this ritual shook everything loose.

Irelin: If anyone can get a handle on all this wild magic -- and the artifacts it's setting off -- it'll be her.

irelin is so pretty. anyway. dozens of veiljumpers unaccounted for - ill try to do a headcount when i do get to the VJ camp, but this is useful to get numbers. more than a dozen less than a hundred, i'd say, which is a large window but still. idr if we get any more particulars on how the veil jumpers started? they seem to be a recent organization formally, but from tevinter nights we know strife and irelin, at least, were around already a few years ago, and presumably there have been dalish clans in arlathan forest for a while (there permanently? travelling and leaving? a mix of both? how much did they all try to explore the ruins? were they more or less accessible before this? what about inquisition time, when the veil was definitely weakened, even if arlathan forest was far away from the Breach? did some dalish stay there, separating from their clan, to explore the ruins more?)

also it's been pointed out before but. "[the evanuris] weren't known for being kind rulers." since when exactly? i dont mean this flippantly im literal. definitely not the wider view in inquisition. what's changed?

this is more speculation than canon for various reasons, but: iirc most of the elves we heard of starting to follow solas in trespasser were city elves (makes sense, especially with the mounting tension in Orlais since the masked empire's events - and dalish people presumably would absolutely not trust someone who fashions himself the dread wolf, whether or not he truly is). from what we know city elves have even less access to knowledge of elvhen history than the dalish, so maybe it was easier/ran less contrary to their deeply held beliefs to hear the evanuris were also terrible masters who enslaved their ancestors? definitely resonated with their own plight as city elves. so that's one thing - but the veil jumpers must have been (and still be) mostly composed of dalish members. strife iirc was not born dalish and joined later, but i think irelin is dalish, bellara definitely is. when and how did they find this information? they cant have just accepted what solas said. what did they find in the ruins? was it in areas/artifacts suddenly accessible and awoken by veil instabilities and the gods' presence? and how widespread is it? we basically only interact with or hear ambient convo from the veil jumpers' members in terms of dalish elves (besides dalish npcs we save and don't really talk to). is this knowledge that only the VJ have, and most of the rest of the dalish are carrying on as normal? how DO other dalish clans react when they inform them of this?

also a more personal gripe: the constant talk of artifacts to retrieve is... hm... feels like filler? like something for VJ to do. what artifacts? what do they do? how do you classify them? clearly there are very different types! i wanna know more! it's sort of acceptable for this first conversation bc we're meeting for the first time and there's no time ot go into details, but it happens again and again in later interactions. tell me more! where ARE your artifacts! what do they do! who else besides bellara is working on fixing them! i want to knowwwww

and ofc the eternal question: last time we were in thedas, eluvians were also not something commonly known; most of them were broken, and finding working ones was rare. in da2, Merrill spends all game trying to make one work, and sure she doesn't have a lot of resources, but it doesn't seem to be an easy task. at the very least, she needs Power that isn't readily available, which is why she uses blood magic (someone correct me if i'm rembering wrong). how come now there are 1) eluvians everywhere (we'll ignore the convenience of their location bc yes that's obviously dictated by game mechanics rather than lore) (altho i might go back to that later when ive unlocked more of the map and have ruminated more) and 2) so many eluvians in working order! did solas fix and transport them all to ease his travels? that would open interesting implications in terms of where he's been going and why in those last ten years.

#davg lb #dragon age #davg #davg spoilers #dragon age the veilguard #dragon age the veilguard spoilers #once again i played [checks notes] five minutes then wrote a novella #it's fine im going back to it #sorry beryl this is gonna be the slowest playthrough ever #strife also very handsome i commented on irelin more readily bc im a lesbian. but fr what are the veil jumpers eating #is being pretty a recruitment criterium

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rinwellisathing · 9 months ago

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You're Awful, I Love You: Part 27

Enver Gortash/Trans Male Tiefling Durge

When the two returned to Enver's home, they realized before anything further, they would likely need to clean themselves up. As Enver fiddled with some knobs and taps in the fine washroom with its pristine walls and spacious bathing pool, Sentry knelt beside him, hand glowing with radiant energy over the deep bite in his arm. The flesh and sinew began to knit back into place, blood returning to his veins. Paladin training gave Sentry a unique opportunity as both an artist and Bhaal's Chosen, but in this case it was simply an act of preserving his lover. “So you designed this home? All this stuff?” Sentry asked when he was finished, gesturing to the pipes. “There was a similar sort of set up back in The House of Hope, but I've improved on it.” He explained. “Granted, mine doesn't offer healing like that one did, but the water temperature can be controlled more precisely.” “You really are brilliant.” Sentry breathed. “Hey....if we can raid Mephistar for this artifact, then maybe we could raid this 'House of Hope' and get some healthy revenge. What do you think?” Enver tensed, eyes wide for a moment, Without his coat, he barely kept down the tremble that threatened to course his body before he composed himself and forced a cold, hollow smirk. “I don't think that would be a good idea, dear Sentry.” Sentry cocked his head curiously, searching his lover's face for a moment, then decided better of it. He recognized that look, he knew it very well. It haunted him in the mirror whenever Orin or one of the others called him that awful wrong name. “That's fair, I won't suggest it again.”

As the pool in the floor filled with warm water, the two stepped in. Sentry sighed and leaned back. This was very unlike the baths at the temple, more showers really. Baths themselves were usually ceremonial blood fonts meant for baptism of Unholy Assassins. Actual wash areas to clean up to avoid detection while hunting were often quick rather cold showers. Sentry ordinarily didn't mind, he liked the cold and the freezing water on his skin made him feel fully awake and alert, but this was luxury and decadence. Father did teach a healthy appreciation for those vices. The water was slightly perfumed with fine smelling soaps and oils. Not quite as intoxicating as the scent of sweat and engine oil he usually eagerly anticipated when Enver had been working on his contraptions, but it was certainly pleasant.

He felt those strong, hairy arms drape around him, slowly scrubbing the blood and sweat from his skin. Sentry slouched down a bit to rest against his lover's shoulder. He had to admit, he was more exhausted than he'd been in a while and he was sure father was very angry with him for what he'd done as headaches and flashes of red were crossing his vision. But he couldn't help but smirk even so, after all, Gortash was necessary for this plan which father seemed to approve of and Sentry was necessary to fulfill his destiny as Chosen. What could father do so long as Sentry was progressing both plans towards fruition? Besides, any of the other spawn at the temple would make poor chosen, Sentry knew it, Fel knew it, and he was sure his father knew it.

Sentry didn't realize he'd fallen asleep until he realized he was just waking up on a comfortable but worn old cot in Gortash's workshop. He yawned and stretched as he sat up and looked around. He could hear the sound of metal against metal, the whir and buzzing of machinery. He realized also that he'd been re-dressed in deep crimson silk sleep clothes, pants and an overlarge tunic. He rubbed his eyes and got to his feet, standing for a moment as he looked to the work bench where Enver was focused intently on putting something together. It smelled like smoke powder to Sentry, something the Bhaalist was at least passingly familiar with given its availability in supply and weaponry shops.

“Preparing for the next step?” Sentry asked. “Shoring up some supplies just in case, but the real task at hand will be meeting with a diabolist to find a way into the hells. I've heard of one in the city, that shop near the cemetery, Devil's Fee.” Enver explained, not looking up from his work. “And how much IS the Devil's Fee? Because I can imagine getting into the hells to begin with is expensive, let alone directly into Mephistar.” The tiefling folded his arms across his chest and cocked his head, trying to figure the likely cost in his head. “I mean, I could probably threaten the cost down a bit if I had to, but...” “Unnecessary. Just let me do the talking, dear Sentry.” Enver chuckled, setting down his work and turning to face his partner. “I dare say this will be even more thrilling than our little museum heist.” Sentry smiled fondly at the memory. “I don't know about that, the way you snapped that guard's neck...”He approached, resting a hand on the side of Gortash's face. “The way you looked covered in his blood....I think that's when I started to fall in love a little.”

Enver smiled as well, tilting his head against Sentry's han as he thought to that night. “The way you beheaded those sniveling archivists....You earned your name well, my dread executioner.” He pressed his hand to Sentry's, caressing the ridged hells touched flesh.

The two stayed in the moment for just a bit longer, mismatched eyes meeting dark emerald ones, a moment of connection, of belonging. Both thought back to their tryst back in The Iron Throne, to the likely consequence, and what that would mean.

“Completing this plan, if what we did bears fruit, is no longer just for us.” Enver mused. “If we do have a child, I want everything for them I never had. We will protect them, deny them nothing. They will be our heir, our legacy.” He looked up at Sentry, his expression an oath, a promise. Sentry thought of what progeny meant to father, to a good Bhaalist. He thought of what even he as chosen had been expected to endure. No. Not even for father. His child would never experience the breeding cage, the hands of 'family' touching them in ways that felt so wrong and all while still too young to understand, too young to even produce what father demanded. Defiance pushed against the red agony that clawed at Sentry's mind, anger at what he'd been forced to endure. He barely noticed the hot tears forming in the corners of his eyes as he remembered crying, begging it to stop, trying to lash out but being too small, so easily held down. How it hurt. Gods, how it hurt, the agony inside of him that never subsided, that was never allowed to heal. “Yes. We'll do right by them. They'll be loved, worshipped even.” Sentry agreed. “And I'll tear anyone apart who would harm them.”

“To that end, the success of our plan will afford them all of that. Meet me at The Devil's Fee tonight. I've a few more preparations to make.” The Tyrant stood briefly to kiss Sentry, those rough, calloused fingers brushing against the tiefling's throat. “Then I'll see you there.” Sentry nodded, a quick nip at his lover's mouth, and then he made his way up the winding stairs of the workshop.

Arriving back at the temple, Sentry was greeted by an eager crush of fur and saliva as the gnolls, seeming to sense their new pack leader's return, dashed over to him, yipping and hooting excitedly. They licked and nuzzled at him as he chuckled and grinned.

“Alright, alright, yes, papa is home, my beauties. I'm sorry I kept you waiting.” He cooed, hands brushing over the mottled coats, an occasional kiss planted on a soft, slobbering head. “I missed you too, I know I was out all night, I know.” The gnolls eventually made way for Sentry to enter the common area. Gabraela was clearing the remains of dinner and Sentry felt a pang of jealousy at the realization he'd missed some fine roast dwarf, seasoned with some of Tomi's best herbs from her personal gardening project. Still, worth it. Tomi was sitting on a shabby chaise, running her hands through the long auburn hair of a formerly handsome corpse, his face now set in a look of shock and agony, veins blackened and prominent, tongue swollen, skin pallid and sickly. Orin sat in a high backed chair, arms folded across her chest and glaring daggers at Sentry, who merely smirked and gave a jaunty wave. “You look angry. Careful sister, you'll ruin that porcelain complexion. You're starting to look like Orin the Red in more than just name.” The Chosen taunted as he made his way into the room. “Father is angry with you, slaughterkin.” Orin replied. “Your filthy skittering about with Gorebag is prick-poking holes in your duties.” “Oh, so you haven't heard? We're working together on a plan. Something big. Something father heartily approves of.” Sentry's grin didn't falter as he sauntered over. “Something only I, father's own Chosen, could have arranged.”

“Not your plans, sibling, no....the slimy wriggling in your insides....Your filth-rutting with unworthy meat.” Orin glared. Sentry didn't deign to reply, merely rolled his eyes and turned away from her. “So this plan, I suppose Sceleritas filled you all in? We're up to big things, siblings! I have an important errand to run tonight, but it would absolutely gut me to leave you all home alone and bored again, I've been so absent lately after all....So I've an assignment.” “Ooh how exciting, dear brother.” Tomi giggled, looking up from her newest toy. “My blade stands ready.” Gabraela replied quietly. “Great, so....there's a necromancer we're supposed to recruit to the cause, Chosen of Myrkul. Some dread general former Sharran.” Sentry explained, crossing to a weathered seat to recline a moment, steepling his fingers. “Now personally, I know how we all feel about necromancers, but father's orders, so...we accept this for now. I want you to take a party of cultists and reach out to him, get his attention. How you do it? Doesn't really matter, be creative. I will offer that he has supply caravans from the local graveyards in the dead of night in the direction of Reithwin, so that could be a possibility.” “And if he won't speak with us?” Gabraela asked. “Well, a lovely gift is always a good way to break the ice. Though I doubt a thoughtful bouquet of poisons would do...” Tomi pursed her lips thoughtfully. “Fel, what'd we ever do with Jackal?” Sentry asked. “Jakael still rests in the morgue, my dread master.” Fel replied with a polite bow. “Right, there you have it. Necromancers like corpses after all.” Sentry smirked. “Not like brother dear is of any use to anyone otherwise.” He got to his feet and made his way towards his room. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to get some painting done before my big outing tonight. I'll leave you to work out the details for your own little excursion.”

#baldurs gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 #tiefling #oc #durge #dark urge #writing #fanfic #gortash x durge #durgetash #lord enver gortash #enver gortash

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sithisreadingcorner · 1 year ago

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Hi I’m nini. Can you tell me a little bit about how I can improve my social life and make connections I actually feel good with? I’m done feeling like i’m the odd one out of the group. Thank you for doing this and have a great day! 10/24/2004

Hello Nini! I like the way you go about this, and this is a great question to ask from tarot. I can tell that you are trying to be proactive in your situation and I'm sure that this will pay off.

I made this reading a little bit longer than usual because there is something that I really needed to know. Namely, is it really true how you feel, and why do you feel this way?

[IX. THE HERMIT.]

The Hermit is a card of self-imposed isolation. It represents an escape from the hustle and bustle of the city, a turning away from constant newness toward Ye Olde ways. For the hermit, solitude is the road to the sublime – a road that is taken not with great bounds and strides, but with small, concentrated steps.

[XVIII. THE MOON. REVERSED]

The Moon reminds us that reality is not always what it seems at first glance. In a world of appearances and illusions, the best course is often charted by one's own intuition. The Moon is also the card of dreams, desires, and of course, sleep – Death's nightly ritual.

You know, based on the cards, what I think happened is that at one point in your friend circle there was an Incident™. Like, maybe there was a person in the friend circle who made you feel this way at the time, who was gossiping or talking shit behind your back, and you found that out, and maybe that person tore your friend group apart or something similar cataclysmic happened. I think this might have been a long time ago already but I don't think that you have ever been the same, ever since this had happened. I don't think that you were just imagining things at the time when this was relevant, but ever since the Incident, you have been perpetually on the defensive and it still hurts you to this day.

five of coins. queen of cups. the undaunted

You know, what makes this reading difficult is that yes, there is something you can change, but it's one of the hardest asks that tarot can demand. And I want to tell you something that makes you feel empowered, not overwhelmed. Though I also have a feeling that you have been trying for some time and you are just frustrated enough to take any advice on the situation. And here's the thing that I think, based on the cards.

I think that deep down, you are an extremely interesting person. Yeah, like, a little bit weird, sure, but in a quirky, likeable way, you know, that a lot of people are drawn to if they are into that sort of thing. The problem is that literally nobody sees this of you, because you swipe your entire self under the rug in order to project something completely different to other people that you think they will like, that is completely flavorless and is mostly just based on what you think they need. You wanna help people and I think that's really heartfelt of you, but if giving is the ONLY thing you share of yourself, then that's what people will come and stay for, and thats not a good thing.

If everything else in the reading was true, then I think that a source of the frustration that I feel coming from you is that you feel like you have been giving a lot and not really getting a lot back, which genuinely sucks ngl. What you are asking from me is basically "What can I give them so that they like me? I feel like I am running out of things to give!" Wrong question. What you should be asking is: "What can I show to other people about myself so that they will like me?"

TALONS: Every magic item you wear or carry disintegrates. Artifacts in your possession aren't destroyed but do vanish.

The thing is that all the advice the cards are giving are extremely easy to say and really hard and complex to follow through. I know that. I pulled the talons as a last resort like, cmon, give us some kind of tangible advice to work with. Where should Nini start?! This is a little tough, but I feel like there is a silver lining there. Again, I want to reiterate, that working on the boundary thing with people is paramount. From now on, way less giving and way more saying no to things. And you kinda have to internalize and make peace with the fact that this will make the people who were only there for your giving slowly phase out of your life. The people who just wanted to take from you, and the people who actually like you for you, may not be the same people at all, and you have to accept that and let them go.

The second thing is that I don't think that the person you are projecting is fake, but it needs to be understood that while you think this makes you a good person morally, from the outside it just looks a little... boring, I guess? Whereas the parts of you that are quirky and you are ashamed of, and you're trying to hide, are actually things that make you a really interesting and genuine person. You know, genuineness always draws some people in.

I think that's all I can say Nini. I know this is a lot, but for what it's worth I really believe in you and I think you are worth the work that your self esteem needs.

july readings (2 of 5)

tips? 💗

#txt #tarot #alleymans tarot #deck of many things #cyberpunk 2077 #free tarot readings

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more-than-a-princess · 6 months ago

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Perhaps the idea of switching talents was terribly funny. Sonia hadn't found it to be side-splitting humor herself but clearly Kokichi did. Then again, he seemed to laugh at everything: at jokes, at pranks, at people falling over (it was a blessing that Mikan wasn't in Class 79, for Mikan at least). She rather wondered which petite peer of Hope's Peak would win a prank and bullying war: Hiyoko Saionji or Kokichi Oma. It seemed like an explosive combination, to put the both of them in the same room together, particularly alongside anyone more on the vulnerable side.

"But I do take great care in my supernatural worship!" Sonia insisted, taking a sip of her tea. "I always ensure all occult artifacts come from reputable sources and I track the ownership of all manuals of demonic possession. The last thing I want is to utilize a book that has not been written by an expert in the field. You could summon someone you do not wish to converse with or worse, no one at all!"

It was conversations like this that, in general, made others wary of chatting with her. That, and she always tried to recommend horror movies someone might like, or a list of presumed serial killers in a 50 kilometer radius. Or whatever the latest issue of Occult Magazine was reporting on. Kokichi, however, seemed unperturbed by her hobbies and how much love and care she put into them. Sometimes, when life felt too difficult, she needed to lean on them until her mood improved.

It also helped that he was willing to divulge some of the secrets of being the Ultimate Supreme Leader. She could respect the notion of never being boring: that was a luxury she didn't have (though she had quite a few of them already, multiple pieces of real estate and priceless antiques included). She didn't think being a princess was like being a supreme leader, so it was a challenge to comment intelligently on the comparison, but her eyes did light up when he explained what he'd truly been getting at.

"Oh! You were speaking of if we switched our classes, or were in the same class!" She exclaimed, chuckling and nodding eagerly. "Well, I feel fairly certain that I would befriend Tojo-san. She has sought me out already for lunches at times and is very kind. I think I would get on well with Gokuhara-san as well if we were in the same class, he is so friendly and nurturing to the bugs he tends to. And I would like to become friends with Harukawa-san. She is so very mysterious but I feel certain that there is a gentle side to her that she shows to very few!"

Truthfully, she'd likely find a way to befriend everyone one way or another. Even Iruma-san, who had a tendency to attempt to get under her skin by taunting her modest attire, polite methods of speech, and generally refined manners. Though Sonia merely smiled and refused to dispute with her, no matter how much she attempted to needle her. "I am not sure an 'Ultimate God' would be terribly successful, Oma-san. The most important part of being royal is being helpful, protective, and to guide your people and country into a better future than the one you inherited from your parents. It is not about control, as much as absolute monarchy likely implies: the title, and how you may serve the people, comes first. It always comes first, before any personal or selfish desires."

It was the only way Novoselic had maintained their monarchy over the centuries: when so many countries fell due to the greed and self-interest of their nobles, Novoselic remained strong. Old-fashioned in some ways perhaps, but they'd avoided both World Wars: they hadn't entered a war since the 17th Century and they didn't intend to start now. Maybe it was a bit ironic due to the country's prioritizing military training at a young age, but the goal was always never having to use it one day.

"Something other than a princess, though?" She repeated, exhaling deeply in thought. "I think about this often, really. It is my way to dream, I suppose: when I have met so many who dream of being a princess, I have dreamt of being a professional editor or reviewer of novels, or horror movies. Or becoming an interpreter and traveling the world translating languages. I do feel a strong pull towards civic duty as well and would like to contribute to campaigning and creating new legislation. But what about you? What would you like to do, if you were not bound to your talent?"

It was something he would always let the roulette decide : once one truth could have more meaning, people were allowed to decide whatever they wanted with his sentences … and he would kindly play around within picked option … even though it didn't have to be immediate reality about what he had expressed previously. Why should be change common habits concerning his personality ? Why should be change how, around him, nothing and everything coming out of his lips could be actually trusted ? He enjoying myself as an Ultimate Supreme Leader, find further lies to told himself about how imposing that reality within Hope Peak as it was something to be expected, when internally, there was playfulness concerning how circumstances were.

Truth was nothing more than a weapon. Truth was just an distorting tool.

It wasn't amusing to just focusing over one boring reality when everything was removed of illusions, when everything was removed of something considered interesting … It came within consequences of course. He could hardly say his class loved him. They were mostly forced to live with him and endure so many comments he wished he could be quiet for an second --- as, on his concerns, it simply confirming he cannot been truly perceiving by them. Cannot truly aspiring to be aspiring beyond the appareance he was reflecting. How he could hope to be loved one second for his personality ? How he could hope to have someone ready to fight for him ? How he could hope to have someone to care ? In some manner, it wasn't really important. Actually, it didn't mattered at all. The world needing lies.

Though, no enough words coming from his lips would thanking enough Nevermind-san. She always had been more accepting, less judging concerning the terrible rightful reputation of gremlin or menace he had around his features --- in which he confirmed that sentiment without hesitation, without even pondering himself emotionally about the consequences. If they were happy to considering it was the case --- he will giving them right. Whatever if it's was nothing more than another lie on the pile. He was happy to sharing process over his organization, though distorting every information . Supernatural interest remind him of Yumeno-san, proclaiming again and endlessly about how she was an witch, how she could do magic, in which he watched with distant eye. He appreciated annoying an detective who wanted to prove himself or found manners to be on the way of an dreamy astronaut. They were so ridiculous ! In return, as much comments born, there was gentleness attached. Discovering another country was quite an adventure --- he would offer her an place !

Sometimes, he had been truly wondered how it will be if circumstances were different … If other classmates of the school could have accepted him around … Or if he had been associated to her Class instead to be within his current promotion … Or the opposite … Or even if they were accomplices or something …

He nodded as she was repeating the question, when he wonderfully swallowed back disappointment of the misunderstanding by offering his most bright smile. ❝ Hi hi hi hi, yes, as we have different talents ~ ❞ It never had been inside that manner that sentence was supposed to be understood, but it was too late, and truthfully enough ? He didn't care. He couldn't help to laugh loudly over that another misunderstanding note. If he was some prince of another country … What kind of talent he could aim for ? Oh, naturally, if circumstances were different, he wanted to be a king. An real and true king, an expert of the art of lies and beautifully becoming an ruler ! ❝ Note, members of an coven would be something truly uncanny within these walls. Be careful of the supernatural worship ! Though, Yumeno-san would became immediately an member of your cult. Pulling some magic tricks as you'll be some obscure sorceress~ ❞ He answered immediatly as the thoughts seemed amusing to him. Though, no correction had been made within the misunderstanding. Though, imagining someone else be the Ultimate Surpreme Leader --- ❝ That position is quite fulfilled of responsibilities.. Creating chaos is lot of work~ It must be magnificent~ It must be never boring~ It must be entraining~ Which is truly something~ ❞ As he was looking over her as she paushed the origiri on the place, there was no desire to expressing the entire truth of the reason of such a sentence in first place.

It wouldn't make any difference.

❝ I was mostly imagining as I was within your claaaaaassss~ ❞ It would be possibly one of rare times of his entire existence he will allowing himself partial honestly to someone else. Everyone who didn't truly knew him merited his lies, and the truth was something who have to be discovered, called out, brutalizing him for pulling himself within that lonely hell. He could do something around with reality of circumstances, and not be crushed by it. He could believe every lie possible towards himself for avoid himself the pain of reality. ❝ It was also what I was thinking,~ You having my talent will be something interesting … though on my concerns, I don't know what I would be. The Ultimate King, something like that. The Ultimate God if such thing can even exist ! The Ultimate Evil would also fit me, but I didn't caused enough harm for won that title~ Hey, didn't the thought never crossed your mind ? Imagining yourself be inside another position than your current one ? Imagining yourself be something else than an princess ? Like an supervillain ? ~ ❞

#lightcreators #Non-Despair AU: Hope's Peak Academy #(Sonia has not picked up on the more wistful. if not longing. meaning to Kokichi's words)#(She's used to him pulling pranks and teasing others)

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rapifessor · 2 years ago

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Layla Theorycrafting Post

Thanks to @fungisteri I was able to get a lot more details on Layla in the Genshin Impact 3.2 beta. I’m happy to say that she looks a lot better than I initially thought, so I thought it would be fun to hypothesize builds for her.

The details about her kit are still subject to change as Layla is still in testing, but I think I have a pretty solid build for her based on what I know from looking at her Talent descriptions and seeing her gameplay in action.

General Considerations

There are a few important things about Layla that you should consider when building her: she uses a shield, wields Cryo, scales with her HP, and her burst costs 40* Energy. So we know that Layla wants us to build HP for her shield and damage and she won’t need much, if any, Energy Recharge.

Outside of that, we’re free to do as we please. Layla isn’t a healer, so we don’t need to worry about stuff like Healing Bonus and we can focus on building up her shield and damage. With shield characters you want to make sure their shield is strong enough to not break and after that you can focus on improving their damage.

Layla has 11k HP at level 90, which is about average for a 4-Star character and is notably higher than Thoma and Diona, two other shield characters of the same tier who scale with HP. Her shield also has higher base DMG Absorption, lasts longer, and gets stronger with one of her Passive Talents as well as her first Constellation level.

What all this means is that Layla’s Shield is quite tanky and will probably be sufficiently strong with just a +20 Flower of Life and +20 Sands of Eon with %HP, since she also gets %HP from her Ascension. Put Cryo DMG Bonus on her Goblet of Eonothem and CRIT Rate/DMG on her Circlet of Logos and you should have a pretty strong Layla build.

*This is changed from an initial value of 60 when I first wrote this post

Artifacts

There are a few good artifact sets for Layla, the best of which depends on how you intend to use her. Most of them are support sets but there are some options for a damage-focused Layla.

Instructor - This is a 4-Star set, so you’ll be losing out on stats and it’s also tricky to use. But you could use this to buff a Melt carry like Xiangling. As long as you can consistently trigger a reaction with Layla and apply enough Cryo for Xiangling to consistently Melt, the team buff to Elemental Mastery can be very powerful.

Noblesse Oblige - Yes, you’re probably tired of hearing about this set but there’s no denying its power. If you don’t have any other characters using it in your party, Layla can be a good holder of this set, and the 20% burst damage bonus is definitely good on her.

Blizzard Strayer - Without a doubt Layla’s best DPS set if you plan to use her in a Freeze team. Cryo DMG Bonus and CRIT Rate buffs the damage of her whole kit, and you won’t find a better set for raw stats.

Tenacity of the Millelith - I think this will be a great set for Layla. Her Elemental Skill hits often enough that you can reliably trigger the 4-Piece set effect, buffing the Shield Strength and ATK of the whole party and the 2-Piece effect buffs her damage and her shield. Probably her best support set overall.

You can also mix and match 2-Piece sets of Blizzard Strayer, Noblesse Oblige, and Tenacity of the Millelith and still be quite effective. As for Energy Recharge, I wouldn’t worry about it, but if you’re struggling to cast her Elemental Burst, maybe give her 20% or so. Layla’s burst seems to have a good chance to spawn particles when it hits enemies, so as long as her skill also generates some you shouldn’t need more than that in most teams you would use her in.

Weapons

Most swords don’t synergize well with Layla, but there are a few good options and one amazing option:

Key of Khaj-Nisut - On the off chance that you have this weapon and aren’t using it on its intended wielder, Nilou, the Key is quite appealing. You get a whopping 86.2% HP and Layla can easily trigger its passive effect to buff party Elemental Mastery and take further advantage of her large HP pool.

Mistsplitter Reforged - You probably wouldn’t use this on Layla, but it’s an absolute powerhouse of a weapon even if she can’t take full advantage of it. 44.1% CRIT DMG and up to 28% DMG Bonus make this stat stick one of her best options for raw damage.

Freedom-Sworn - Layla doesn’t exactly benefit much from the Elemental Mastery here but she can use this weapon to provide a very strong team buff. It’s a great option if you have it and aren’t using it in your team already.

Primordial Jade Cutter - This one’s a little weird because its passive effect doesn’t really work with Layla. Still, 44.1% CRIT Rate is incredible and 20% HP isn’t bad either.

Summit Shaper - If you’re running Layla as a main DPS for the memes, this weapon will make her normals a lot stronger by giving you a ton of %ATK. Outside of that though, I can’t really recommend this one.

Sacrificial Sword - The Energy Recharge on this thing is overkill, but being able to reset the CD of Layla’s shield has a lot of utility. It lets you produce extra particles and it keeps you protected for comfier gameplay.

Favonius Sword - This is a weapon that gets recommended on pretty much every support character ever. As long as you have the CRIT Rate to back it up, Favonius weapons are busted and can singlehandedly solve the energy problems of your entire team.

Harbinger of Dawn - One of a few exceptionally good 3-Star weapons, Harbinger of Dawn is also fantastic on Layla. It can be refined effortlessly and maintaining its effect is incredibly easy with either a healer or a shield. 28% CRIT Rate and 46.9% CRIT DMG let this weapon rival and even exceed 5-Star options in damage and it’s my top pick for Layla.

Suggested Build

Having explored what Layla’s equipment options are, I think this will be Layla’s best build for most players:

Weapon: Harbinger of Dawn

Artifacts: 4-Piece Tenacity of the Millelith or 2-Piece Noblesse Oblige/Blizzard Strayer/Tenacity of the Millelith with %HP, %Cryo DMG Bonus, and %CRIT Rate or %CRIT DMG, prioritize CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, and %HP on secondary attributes

This should be a solid generalist build that will be optimal in some teams while still being decent in others. Blizzard Strayer can be better in Freeze teams but since Layla isn’t the strongest damage dealer you still get more out of running 4TotM on her.

Harbinger of Dawn is by far Layla’s best weapon for the investment, I can’t recommend it enough. Unless you have one of the 5-Star weapons I mentioned, it’s easily her best in slot weapon.

Teams

Layla’s place in the meta is something that needs to be thoroughly tested, but I have some general ideas about where to put her.

As I mentioned before, she’s a good option for Freeze teams, but may be a bit extra as her shield isn’t that useful when freezing enemies prevents you from being attacked anyway. Still, she can function as a Cryo battery and as a burst support for some damage.

The same goes for mono Cryo teams, where Layla’s shield is also a bit more relevant. She can probably replace Diona in these teams unless you’re going up against Rift Wolves and need a healer.

Layla’s best application might be in Physical DPS teams with either Eula or Razor. Her strong shield coupled with the effects of her Elemental Skill/Burst getting extra Night Stars when your main DPS uses their skill gives her great synergy in these teams, and if you can unlock Constellation level 4 on her, she buffs team Normal Attack DMG.

Some final thoughts before I wrap this up:

It’s still a little unclear how strong Layla is compared to existing 4-Star characters, but I think the innate sturdiness of her shield and the resulting freedom to invest more in her damage output mean she could be one of the better 4-Star Cryo supports. She won’t out-DPS pure burst supports like Kaeya and Rosaria, though. I think she’ll be at something of a midpoint between their damage and Diona’s, and that’s probably all she needs to be viable since Diona’s sheer utility keeps her relevant despite her pathetic damage.

Layla’s damage may have been nerfed since she was first added to the beta test but since she also received several buffs at the same time, I think she’ll still turn out pretty well.

#genshin impact #genshin impact leaks #genshin impact spoilers #theorycrafting #analysis #genshin impact layla #layla genshin impact #genshin impact 3.2 #long post

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cafeinthemoon · 4 years ago

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Tobirama, Madara and Izuna with s/o who’s the last of the clan 💔

I was so excited when anon requested this one that I regret taking this long to finally write it! This time, we have Tobirama, Madara and Izuna with a s/o that reveals to be the last of her clan and besides infertile, which means that her lineage would be over with her, as well as their own. Let’s see how they would react!

To give this request a context, let’s imagine that they’re married for just some months and she never revealed this secret because she was afraid that they would leave her after finding out about it. Sm tension! Poor s/o 😭

Oh and Izuna's part ended up longer than I thought to be possible omg

Fandom: Naruto | Tobirama Senju, Madara Uchiha and Izuna Uchiha

Symbols: ◻ | 💜 | 💛 | ▶▶

Warnings: angst, not exactly happy endings, depression, tension, infertility, grief

Tobirama

It’s not like Tobirama didn’t notice something was wrong since you started living together: he did

He trusted you with his life, but he sensed you were keeping something from him, though he had no idea of what it could be

Maybe you did something shameful or something about your past has been haunting you since then, but you didn’t know how to tell him

Whatever the case, he never questioned you or tried to make you talk

He wanted you to take your time and only speak when you felt prepared, the best way for you to show how much you trusted and respected him

But months and months passed and your silence persisted, and it was hard for him to ignore it

One day, the answer to this mystery came in an unexpected way, during a casual conversation at home

Tobirama pointed out your circumstances were favorable: your routine together was settled, your house had enough space and he finally finished to work on some jutsu he has been developing for a while

You agreed and asked why he was talking about this now

It was when he said he believed that you both had proper conditions to have children

When you heard the word children, you couldn’t control your reaction: you started to tremble and covered your face to hide your tears

It took like one hour until you were able to speak again, and when you did, you begged Tobirama to listen to you until the end before thinking of what to do

You revealed that you weren’t lying when you told him you were the last of your clan, but that was not the whole story: you also discovered you were unable to get pregnant, which means your lineage would end with you

And if Tobirama kept married to you, the same would happen to his lineage as well

You explained you were scared to tell him the truth because you didn’t want to disappoint him or to see him leaving you

You also said you were sorry for destroying the trust he had on you and that if he wanted to step away from this marriage that wouldn’t bring him any benefits, you would understand

That was the moment when without a word you were remembered why you loved that man so much: he pulled you to him and involved you in a hug so tight that you thought you were going to suffocate

When he spoke, was to ask how you could think he would give up on you because of a child that you couldn’t bring to the world – a person who didn’t even exist

He married you because he loved you, not your bloodline

But you know, Tobirama is a man of actions and not just words, so once he understood how important this was for you, he started to work

He spent hours, days, weeks in research and tests with your genetic material to find the exact cause of your infertility, because with this information he could develop a cure

He also included the principles of chakra in his studies, which resulted in the cure being a type of healing ninjutsu

Tobirama didn’t like to speak about his techniques before he had proof of their efficacy, so he never talked to you about his discoveries. He was wise in not giving you false expectations

But one day, the jutsu was finally complete

He explained that he tried to improve the chances of success as much as he could, but they didn’t even reach 90% (an acceptable number according to him), so that the chances of failure couldn’t be ignored

You said that if the technique failed, you would learn to live with it and that all the effort he put on it was enough for you, for it was the greatest proof of love you’d expect to receive

Tobirama then explained how it would work and helped you with the preparations

You would take the healing treatment from him during a few sessions; after that, you would try a few times

All the procedure would take months, so you would have to be patient and reshape some of your habits: the healthier you would get, bigger were the chances of success

It’s been some time since you started the experiment, so there’s still hope

But you decided to use your time not just to rely on hope, but also to prepare yourself to whatever the future would bring to you ❤

Madara

Something unexplainable, a kind of sadness, were always present in you, in your voice, your gestures, and specially when you were quiet, distracted with your own thoughts

Since Madara met you, he had this strange sensation about you

Maybe it was a painful memory or something about your clan

You told him you were the last of it, so he was the only family you had now

He could say he understood part of you pain, for he lost his siblings when they were little, as well as his parents: he knew what it was like to be alone

But there was a part of the story you still hadn’t the courage to reveal to him: you were infertile, so you’d never be able to give him children

And you knew he wanted to be a father

Besides he was the clan’s head, so he needed an offspring

He noticed your used to get particularly quiet when children were mentioned

But he never questioned you about it

You, on the other hand, always knew that sooner or later, this would be discussed seriously in your house, yet you pretended it would never happen

But one evening, when you were sitting together, talking about the life you were building there and the future, Madara spoke again about his dream of becoming a father

This time, you couldn’t take it anymore

You said sorry to your husband, but you would not be able to make his dream come true

He didn’t ask how, or why: he just stared at you in silence, wondering what you were talking about

Then you finally confessed everything: you were not just the last of your clan; you were also unable to get pregnant. Having children were always a difficult theme for you, both because it was a dream you’d never reach and because of your lineage

You told him how you discovered your infertility, how your clan reacted to it, how you were rejected because no one would want a wife who wasn’t able to have children, how the world made your life gravitate around this instead of just let you live in peace

When you lost your family, your feelings were mixed: on one hand, you felt free from the burden of being infertile; on the other hand, you never felt so alone

You were determined to live only for yourself until you met Madara, who convinced you to do differently. And now things were about to get ruined because this shadow of your past

Your husband’s first reaction was to ask for a moment all by himself. He wanted to process everything he just heard before taking any measures

You gave him time and spent the rest of the night without seeing him

(You barely closed your eyes on the bed)

The next morning, he came back to talk to you

He said he was going to travel to seek for a solution and that he was not coming back until he found out something good enough for you two

You asked for details but he refused to give them. Sometimes he was so enigmatic that he would scare you

But you had to trust him, so you let him go even not knowing when he would be back

During his travel, Madara met some elder, wise people and asked for a jutsu, a medicine or anything that could help. He would pay any price for it

And they named their price, which wasn’t low. Still he paid

He would never speak about it with you, though

After weeks, he came back home with scrolls and artifacts and finally explained what he had in mind

You’ve never heard about those jutsu and didn’t trust those types of medicine

But you noticed he wasn’t the same man who left the house, so it was understood that he made some sacrifice to obtain those things

So that for your husband, you would try anything

If they would work, you weren’t sure

But you wouldn’t let all his efforts be in vain 😭

Izuna always had this positive, almost euphoric confidence in the future, in your love, in your success together, and didn’t accept anything that could contradict his vision of things

Izuna

The issue in this case started even before you got married

But to be honest, this was what first thing caught your attention when you met him

After living alone for years since you lost your family, he was the first person who convinced you to change your ways

He made you believe everything was possible, and to try and live happy again

Yes, even you, despite everything you’ve been through, felt the flames of hope waking up again inside your heart

Sometimes, you felt like Izuna had enough vital energy for you both

The sensation was such that after every meeting with him you needed some time by yourself to recover: his company was almost suffocating

He was also a man used to make important decisions quickly: he hated wasting time with deliberations, stating that this was a habit of old people

(Wasting time in his words, let’s be clear lol)

The idea of the marriage came from him, as expected

Of course you said yes: you loved him as much as you loved yourself, so the idea of being by his side forever was everything you could expect

And with your positive answer, Izuna has been more intense than ever

He made plans for you: the house you would share, the memories you would create in it, the life you would build there

Everything was fine, even when he forgot to ask your opinion

Until the moment he mentioned the children he expect to bring to the world with you

You knew that once Izuna got attached to an idea, it was impossible to make him change his mind, so things weren’t different with the fatherhood thing

In a short amount of time, this became the central theme of his dreams and his favorite thing to discuss with you

Well, to speak about with you, because you barely said anything during these conversations

Instead, you tried to appear as positive and supportive as you could

But as the days passed and the marriage came closer, it was getting harder for you to hide how much this was making you suffer

Because yes, Izuna knew you had no clan and no family, then being the last representative of your lineage, but you never had the courage to tell him about your infertility

And now that he seemed not to think of anything else than having kids with you, you couldn’t dream of ruining his happiness

(Fortunately Izuna was used to your quietness, so he never questioned your silence when he spoke about this)

You stayed strong until you could during the following weeks, but the day before the marriage had pushed you too far

You couldn’t – you simply could not ruin the life of the man you loved revealing that secret to him

So you decided you had to make a sacrifice, for the both of you

Early that day, before the sun appeared, you packed your things and left

You left no apology letter, no message of goodbye, nothing. You just left before anything could stop you or anyone could see you

You traveled alone during a couple of hours

You had no idea of where you were going, or what you were going to do when you had to stop at somewhere to rest, but you forbade yourself to think of coming back

At some moment, you looked at the sky and noticed the midday was close and felt hungry

You stopped under a tree and was about to unpack the food you brought with you when you saw you had company

You raised your eyes and, when you recognized Izuna standing there, staring at you with a look full of questions, you lost the last drop of balance you had in you

You cried so hard you thought you were going to pass out

He approached you was about to involve you in his arms, but you begged him not to touch you, claiming that you couldn’t marry him and that he must have not followed you

But Izuna was a persistent man, and after an hour trying to calm you down, he managed to make you speak

There was no point in hiding anything from him now, so you just told him everything

You explained that you’d marry him and make him the happiest man alive if it wasn’t for this dream with which you couldn’t help him

And that you couldn’t be so cruel to the point of bound him to you and deny him of this at the same time

When you finished your story, it was Izuna’s time to remain in silence

You could feel the rush of feelings stirring inside him as his eyes would go from one side to another, trying to assimilate all of that

You didn’t know if he was going to leave you there, to kill you or to burst in tears, and that was freaking you out

It was when you begged him to say something, anything, but not stay that quiet

And he spoke. But when he did, there was nothing but a restored passion in his tone

You didn’t understand that until he explained that he thought you were kidnapped or something worse happened, but he was glad that it was nothing like this

Before you could stop him, Izuna caught you in a tight embrace, telling you to never do that again

And that he was sorry for not letting you at will to take off this weight of you chest and that if he knew about this he would have never pushed you this far

You came back with him and the marriage happened as planned the next day

Some time later, you found about about a kid of an Uchiha couple that just lost their parents

You talked to each other and with the kid’s remaining family and came to the conclusion that they would live better with you

The family talked to the kid, and when you had your first meeting, you almost forgot about all the past suffering 🌹

#naruto requests #tobirama #madara #izuna uchiha #tobirama x reader #madara x reader #izuna x reader

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journey-to-the-attic · 3 years ago

Note

What if Ik arrived AFTER a war with genshin celestia????

(I have a small theory that we are gonna have a battle with celestia at the end of the game, but there are a few other good theories too)

So when Ik meets the Celestia realm students she has to physically restrain herself from pulling out her sword, so there's a bit of a strain here but she gets along with them soon so we're good.

Omg and finding out the celestial war. Ik sits there for a few seconds, gets up and pulls out her sword.

Lucifer : ik what are you doing???

Ik : going to destroy another celestia. I did it once, I can do it again.

the Brothers : Wait, what do you mean again-

Ik : Paimon?

Cue Paimon explaining what Ik did prior coming to devildom. The brothers silently sit in dread and shock while Ik goes to fetch her artifacts.

(personally, i think genshin celestia is stronger than om celestia. Yes, the Celestial Realm seems more grand and commanding, but based on the magic we've seen through the game, and the unknown god's power, and the archons power, im lead to believe the Genshin Celestia is more powerful in terms of magic and abilities. But OM Celestia stands a good chance as well.)

i'm a big fan of the building-up-to-a-war-with-celestia theory too, if only for the amount of cool archon moments (and angst) it has potential for - and WOW a traveller ik after a war with celestia would be way different to the original. just a lot more serious (though that's not to say she's incapable of having fun), probably much stronger and battle-hardened too

paimon and dainsleif survived the war with her because i say so, and dain is actually more light-hearted than before - partially because his painful curse is alleviated, partially because he feels like he needs to act as the source of sunshine that ik is currently unable to be. paimon is still much the same as well, but there's always a sense that she's putting up more of a facade....

they get summoned to the devildom not long after the war ended, while all the trauma is still pretty much fresh. when diavolo introduces the angels to ik as 'members of the celestial realm', and before he finishes the rest of the sentence the entire room has been obliterated by an explosion of fire and light. luckily ik didn't kill anyone but she got pretty dang close, it's a good thing she learnt plenty of vision-related healing from her fellow fighters in the war

there no long-term damage to the beings involved, but everyone is a little bit terrified of her after that... so slowly she relaxes and befriends the others, and there's some neat bonding where the brothers and ik help each other heal over their war-related troubles! when she's told about the full extent of the celestial war by simeon, who also relays his concerns about the realm's high council and society as a whole, she gets up, pulling out her sword and calls for dain

she is literally ready to wage another war and put herself through even more battles - this time WITHOUT other vision holders and archons on her side - because she will NOT allow the celestial realm here to become what the celestia in teyvat did. luckily simeon talks her down before she can get serious about it, but he does wonder - if he introduced ik to some of the angels back home, had them and the council listen to her stories about her celestia, maybe things would begin to improve....

#answering asks #sunlightocean #traveller ik #genshin impact #teyvat travelling trio #jtta aus #there'd be a fair amount of tension between luke and ik for a while bc luke can't forgive her for getting him and simeon hurt #while ik is still very traumatised by all she endured during the war with celestia and has difficulty separating it from the celestial realm #dain has explained things to everyone and ik has given little snippets of her own feelings on the subject #which makes simeon very sympathetic so he forgives ik pretty much as soon as she apologises #but it takes luke a little white longer #they get there eventually though #dain would be so protective of his two best friends in this au #like he already was in the base au but it's turned up ten fold here #poor ik i really can't put her in an au without sprinkling in angst to spice it up

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thefirstknife · 3 years ago

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The Fall of a Pyramid Ship

Besties, I have a thought. Many of them actually.

I recently went on a long tangent about how there is a possibility that some time during Season of the Lost a Pyramid will appear in the Dreaming City and we will be bringing it down. That Pyramid will then end up in Savathun's throne world which is where we will be going into it for the Witch Queen Raid. Post with the details here.

The rest under the cut because it's long:

The original post was mostly spurred someone asking about Sjur's dream from the lore on Sleepless. The relevant parts:

"I was dreaming," Sjur says, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. "I saw you on a great black triangle. You split it in two with your bare hands."

"Mm."

"And I was dead, I think." She cracks her neck with a deliciously loud pop. "Or… trapped? Like in a maze. But pretty close to figuring my way out."

"Mhm."

Sjur stands up to stretch. She does not mind that Mara is not listening. Let her read. "And there was another woman with you."

"On the triangle," Mara murmurs.

"Mm. Yeah. She was helping. Then your brother showed up, and…" She shakes out her arms, frowning thoughtfully. The dream is already fading. "He said, 'Tropaea.' Or maybe it was, uh, 'Tropical.' Anyway."

I bolded the most relevant sentences. The original post really wasn't about the whole Pyramid business, but I had to add my thoughts now that we know more than we did back when this lore was released. Not only the stuff I mentioned in the post, but also now we know that Savathun is (allegedly) trying to help us defeat the Black Fleet and the same was said about the reason why Mara wants her Techeuns back.

And I was just re-reading lore, as I do, and I remembered something. The lore book Stolen Intelligence details some of the records made by Ikora's Hidden and other Vanguard agents. Specifically, the page Fragment is what caught my attention. In it, an agent FEN-092 (most likely the one, the only, the man, the legend: Fenchurch Everis) reports a strange incident on the Moon:

2. Around 1900 hours yesterday afternoon, I began to experience a crushing headache and excused myself from patrol to recuperate. Though I originally intended to lay down for a nap, I fell asleep instead, and experienced multiple vivid dreams over the next 11.5 hours. In all of these dreams, I was trying to catch up with agent ERI-223 in a crowd. She was always out of reach, whether by 200 m or 20 m. I had the sense that I needed to speak to her.

3. When I woke, I found that my headache had not improved. I prepared my armor and exited my bivouac to find a single stationary Thrall crouched nearby. It stood as I approached, but made no motion to attack me. I fired one shot, killing it immediately. Upon stepping forward to examine its corpse, I saw a solid black fragment of an unknown material embedded in its chest cavity. The fragment resembled a flake or a shard of some larger object, not dissimilar to a high-gain photovoltaic panel.

ERI-223 is Eris Morn. The fragment was peculiar at the time this was released (Forsaken), but now post-Shadowkeep and post-Beyond Light, we can definitely identify this artifact as a piece of the Pyramid. Fenchurch's Ghost also reports:

5. I requested that my Ghost attempt to contain and transmat the fragment for quarantine on my jumpship. He was unable to establish a Light link with the object, describing the fragment as "slippery" and "tiring" to try to catch hold of.

To me, it is most likely that this is literally a shard of the Pyramid, like those little pieces you can see on Europa when a Pyramid scale ripples. But more important is what follows:

8. At this point, I broke protocol and did not request additional backup. Instead, I picked up the fragment by hand and immediately experienced a vivid hallucination: I stood over VIP #0704's shoulder as she dressed a seven-inch gash on agent ERI-223's thigh. Both #0704 and ERI-223 were dressed for combat. Hundreds of fragments of the unknown material hung in the air around us, apparent shrapnel from the wreckage of a nearby ship of unrecognizable make and model. ERI-223 looked directly toward me and said, "Патетическая."

Obviously none of this made any sort of reasonable sense at the time. But now?

"Hundreds of fragments of the unknown material hung in the air around us, apparent shrapnel from the wreckage of a nearby ship of unrecognizable make and model" is a pretty clear hint at what we now know is a Pyramid ship. Specifically, a wreckage of one.

As we've established, ERI-223 is Eris Morn. Who is VIP #0704? As of now, it is undecided. I've done a bit of a search and most of the guesses are 2 years old and they usually settled on it being Eriana-3 OR Mara Sov. I think it's pretty obvious that it's Mara, if we pair it with the Sleepless lore tab.

But there's another link. The lore book The Dreaming City has a page called Letters. This lore book in general is kinda all over the place and details some lore that doesn't really have a place elsewhere, but it generally revolves around the Awoken and characters adjacent to them. There is a lot about Mara, including information about how Eleusinia and the Oracle Engine were created, as well as her relationship with Riven.

Anyway, in Letters, we see several letters written by Eris to various people, but never delivered. We kinda have to assume a lot here because nothing is explicitly named, but we can for sure say that these letters were written by Eris. To whom? It's up to debate. Some of these seem to be for Mara, one is most certainly for Asher and one is most likely for Ikora. The one I want to focus on is one I can't decide where to place but it features a word we've seen before:

Undelivered, burnt.

Патетическая. The swelling of strong sentiment in your chest even as you mourn the world that is and was and will be. I did not go to Mars. I will not go to the Dreaming City. There is only the plan.

"Патетическая" is Russian and it means "pathetic." I'm thoroughly lost on why this is repeated twice as coming from Eris in two different instances. Truth to Power claims that Eris was born during the Golden Age in Russia, but Stolen Intelligence disproves this. Hm.

Either way, there are several things that seem to fit together in all of this:

1. Destruction of the Pyramid ship (Sleepless, Fragment) 2. Eris and Mara involved with some sort of an ongoing plan (Sleepless, Fragment, Letters) 3. A battle that involves a Pyramid, Eris (who ends up wounded), Mara and Crow (Sleepless, Fragment) 4. Eris saying the same peculiar word seemingly completely out of context (Fragment, Letters)

I want to point out something about the Letters entry. It's not chronological. As in, the entries in that lore page aren't all from the past or current plot from when the lore book was released. Observe the final part of Letters (which released in Forsaken):

Delivered.

I have been inside. I have nothing but beautiful and violent words for my report. I will meet you at your throne.

Lore book Letters from Eris, from Shadowkeep, page Regarding the Pyramid:

[DELIVERED, RECONSTRUCTED.]

It's coming, my Queen.

It's coming for US.

We have been manipulated. We are right where it wants us. The Darkness orchestrated its plan magnificently; the Nightmares were so impeccably calculated to draw us in, make us vulnerable, and leave us exposed.

The Darkness plans to use us. We are to do its bidding. I don't know how to stop it.

I detect no fear on the part of our nemesis. We aren't even a concern. We pose no threat.

The Darkness needs a reason to fear our Light, and I intend to provide it.

I have been inside. I have nothing but beautiful and violent words for my report. I will meet you at your throne.

This makes the entire Letters lore page entirely up for debate.

I believe these entries are connected and that both Fenchurch's hallucination after touching a piece of the Pyramid and Sjur's dream are telling us about the same future event that involves Eris, Mara and a destruction of a Pyramid ship. And I absolutely believe that we will see this at the end of the season, considering there's a downed Pyramid ship in Savathun's throne world. Other connecting details are very confusing for now and may have something to do with Savathun's involvement. After all, she also claims to be interested in fighting back the Black Fleet and ends up in possession of the Pyramid.

#destiny 2 #eris #mara #savathun #pyramid #witch queen #lore vibing #long post #besties help. lol.

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