#the artifact is just something he can use to boost his powers a bit but not that important

[ancha-aus]

Ghosts & Medium AU Drabble - Moon Ritual

Not the drabble idea i mentioned before but one I wanted to write quickly :3

I am sure you can guess who this one is about :3 It is time for the gang to summon and meet Nightmare.

*----------------------------*

Dust checks the circle he had been drawing before leaning back. Still not quite right. Damnit. This is a hard design to get right. He rubs some of the chalk away and starts with making the design again.

Cross, or well Killer in Cross's body, leans over his shoulder "Dusty!! I am bored! are we done here yet?" and he leans against Dust's back.

Dust freezes and notices that Killer is letting a hand wander. Dust hits backwards and hits the other in his face. Killer backs up wiht a groan and dsut glares over his shoulder "Stop trying to molest me every five minutes." and he turns back to his circle.

He fucking hopes this works. Otherwise Dust is not sure how to get Killer to unsync from Cross's body.

Cross floats near him. still hiding his face "I am so sorry." Dust just shrugs as he keeps working on the circle.

Ash glares at where Killer lays holding his skull groaning "You are a disappointment and a waste of life force and soul energy." Ash nods and floats towards Dust's side.

Dust tries to focus on the circle but hears Horror gently tell Killer to not bother Dust when he is working. That distracting Dust could end up getting him hurt.

Dust checks his notes again before looking back at the circle. It seems right...

Cross looks over his shoulder and tilts his skull "It is unlike any demon summoning circle i have ever seen before..."

Dust hums "It shouldn't." It wasn't a demon summoning circle at all after all. All the symbols and texts he had found decribed this being as a Fallen. Which can be read in different ways.

But Dust reasoned a demon wouldn't be called a Fallen. especially not a powerful demon. So he skipped the whole standard set up and worked from scratch.

Whichc is why it took him a while to get this one ready but it should work!

Of course Dust hasn't been able to test the ritual he made just yet and it isn't like you can really practise rituals safely. The whole summoning a being makes that a bit complicated.

Dust sighs as he steps back from the circle and nods. That is the best he can make it with his limited supplies.

Dust walks to the side and starts making a larger containment and shelter circle around the ritual circle. Best to make sure that whoever he summons is protected. It would be useless to summon someone only for them to die or get destroyed by say the very air.

Ash frowns as he checks the circle himself "You didn't specify which type of being you are summoning."

Dust shrugs "I don't know for sure what it is." He has ideas but if he puts in the wrong species he may just make the circle blow up on him. He can know, it happened before.

Ash frowns at it before floating to his side again "Make sure to add a desummon symbol just in case you can't make a deal and need to get rit of it."

Dust nods "Will do." He makes sure to put the desummon sigil between the containment circle and the shelter circle. Making sure the shelter one is the most outwards one and the being can't reach through the containment one to mess with the desummon sigil.

Once finished he checks all the marks and sigils before nodding as he walks back to the spot he had been preparing for himself. He checks his own protection circle and makes sure to prepare an antimagic shield as well. Ready to be activated when he wants it to.

Well. That is all the preparations he can do for this.

Well...almost. he turns towards the ghosts and actual person following him around "I am going to do the ritual. I need everyone, ghosts included, to stay within this circle." It will be a bit snug but he didn't feel like it was a good idea to experiment with hsi protection circle right before summoning an unknown being.

Horror frowns at him "Will you be okay? Takes a lot of magic."

Dust nods "I am fine."

Horror still looks deeply unhappy "But you skipped breakfast and lunch for this... shouldn't you eat before doing this?"

Dust shrugs as he walks towards the safe spot "I will be fine." and it isn't like he got the fonds to buy something at the moment. He needs to make the little he have last longer for as long as he can.

He just does not want to try to do another job and have Killer invite another ghost along. Nothing against Horror, he is very nice and behaves while being helpful, but he does not want another ghost anchored to his soul. There are already three now and Dust does not want to figure out what happens to a soul if too many beings use it as anchor.

He enters the circle and a moment later Killer is hugging him from behind. Dust glares "Killer!" fuck Cross's body is very warm and solid. That guy may be a priest but you would think he is a soldier or fighter or something with how strong he is.

Killer just hums as he tugs his skull and face right by Dust's neck and shoulder "What is wrong my bunny? I am in the circle aren't I?" Dsut can hear the grin in his voice. Then Killer hums happily "mmmh.... so warm and you smell so nice."

Dust glares and wiggles a bit but he is very stuck "You are fucking weird. Let go now. I need my arms for this."

Killer moves his arms around and he is now hugging Dust's lower middle and has his hands on his hips.

Dust uses his newly freed arm to hit Killer in the middle wiht his elbow. Fucking hell what the fuck does Cross EAT?! That guy's body is fucking all muscle and that is fucking impressive for an actual skeleton. How much trianing does it take for a skeleton's passive magic to be that strong and trained?!

Killer groans but finally lets go.

Dust glares at him "Back of the circle or so help me I am kicking you out and let whatever i summon do whatever with you."

Cross yelps and flaots closer "wait! Dust! Please don't! That isn't Killer's body remember!" he looks begging at him.

Dust sighs and nods. He knows. Which is why he hasn't done much more damage to the stupid flirt.

Talking and thinking about that stupid flirt. Killer lays on the ground by his legs and winks "I don't mind you on top of me Dusty. Just had to ask and I am happy to provide~"and he winks again!

Dust swears he sometimes wonders if there is just something in Killer's sockets which makes him wink this much!

Dust sighs and checks if all the ghosts are near as well. Everyone seems fine so he holds up his hands and concentrates. He knows that the blue in his eye light lights up. colouring all the circles first blue.

Dust lets his magic explore the circles and what to do where. Once he has a good feeling for it he concentrates and any blue turns a violet colour.

Dust mutters some old spells from long ago. They don't do anything but they help him concentrate his magic. Ways to make it easier to use the magic.

The summon circle lights up purple and Dust waits. He knows Ash is holding his breath.

Then it turns bright cyan and flames seem to rise form the circle. Dust pulls his own magic back as the summoning circle has been activated.

Ash shudders as he glides close to Dust's shoulder "that.... is very powerful... what exactly are you summmoning again?"

Dust feels his soul fill with anxiety. Maybe this was a bad idea... He glances around and sees that everyone seems troubled. Killer is shaking and has taken to holding Dust close against his front. Arms locking him in place but this time Killer doesn't even seem to be trying to sneak a feel. Just holding him close. Dust can feel Killer's soul shivering and shuddering agianst his own back.

Horror seems close to hyperventilating as he seems to hold his own middle. Staring in front of him and his other hand seems to be worrying his headwound.

Cross is straight up shaking and muttering things to himself. looking close to a panic attack.

Then Dust remembers it, something specific in the notes he took. he grabs his notebook and starts searching for the right pages.

A being that brings negativity. It finds your weakness and exploids it for its own amusement.

Is this being causing this?

"Dust?"

It has to be right?

"Dust!"

But then it would be strong enough to already affect people without really having to be present!

"Dust!!"

Dust glares at Ash "What I am thinking." Obviously!

Ash points and Dust turns only to freeze.

There is a being made of someking of black goo. It is dripping in the circle and staring right at them with one shining glowing cyan eye.

Staring.

Waiting.

Dust quickly checks his notes. It isn't a fae so the fact the others said his name shouldn't matter. It is a being which thrieves on emotions and-

oh.

Dust closes his sockets and takes afew deep breaths. Mind over matter.

He is fine.

He prepared for this.

This thing can't hurt him.

He is okay.

His soul calms downa dn with it so do his emotions.

He looks at the others "Calm down. They won't be able to get to us." his feet is right by the activation symbol for the magical shield. HE doesn't think this is magic and so won't waste it right now. "It gets its powers from negative emotions. probably is causing them too. chill."

Ash looks at him and nods. He concentrates and obviously calms down. Dust knows his brother well and his brother knows him. Ash knows Dust wouldn't say that unless he is very sure.

Cross looks unsure but floats closer to Dust before calming a bit. seemingly trusting Dust to know what he is saying.

Hah. Dust hopes so.

Killer frowns at him and just pulls him closer. He clearly still doens't trust it and that is fine. as long as he remains calm and collected... which Dust knows is too mcuh to ask of Killer because it is Killer but Dust puts that out of his mind.

horror is harder to calm down just because Dust doens't know Horror that well but it seems Horror had been watching them already. Dust speaks calmly "Nothing you feel is what you feel really. It is just them doing this." Dust hopes. He isn't sure if this being can actually physically make their fake pains real but his shielding should protect them from it. It is too protect against harm after all.

Horror frowns but nods and pulls away from the wound and his middle.

Okay. Okay. He got this.

"Impressive. Waht gave it away that it was fake?"

Dust is shocked by this being's voice. It is deep and calm. The eye seems amused but Dust isn't sure how to ready this being just yet.

His growing and forming migraine isn't helping either. It is getting almost painful to concentrate on them. And Dust knows it is because this is a strong creature. Almost like his body tries to warn him when he gets near something too powerful for him to handle.

This being is much too powerful for him to have summoned. Oh shit.

The being tilts its head as it continues to look at him.

Right! It had asked a question.

Dust considers not answering them but if he wishes for them to break the bonds keeping Killer stuck in Cross's body he needs to have abit of a positive standing.

So. Chitchat.

Dust shrugs "Looked through some stuff... it mentioned you are connected to emotions and bonds made with those. Not specifically harming others at a distance."

The being nods as it looks abck to the circles "Interesting circles. I never seen any like them before. Usual people try the more..." they smirk "Traditional circles to get me. You know the ones. sacrifices."

Dust frowns as he looks to the side "Fucking idiots is what those people are. Why use does something that uses emotions have of something dead?"

The thing's smirk grows and they nods "Very true. Rather unimpressive and does not do well to impressive someone. For that matter. You have my attention. What did you wish of me... Dust was it?"

Dust nods "It still is." he rubs his notebook "I want to make a deal."

They grin and purr as they speak "Of course you do. What would you need of me?"

Dust points with his thumb over his shoulder to Killer "There is a poltergeist in this body that should not be in it. I want him out of this body so the original spirit who the body belongs to can enter it again."

The being tilts his skull again before focussing their sight on Killer. Dust can hear Killer start to growl and feel his grip on himself tighten.

The other looks amsued "You sure? He seems very fond of you."

Dust makes sure to look unimpressed and keep his voice deadpan "That is the problem. As spirit he is a lot easier to ignore. Now he is mobile and can cause property damage."

The being chuckles as they look at them all. Their magic glowing and reaching but the shield does its work and keeps them out. Dust raises a brow and the other smiles innocently "Can't blame me for trying." then a moment later as he looks thoughtful "huh... interesting."

Cross sounds nervous "what is?!"

The other looks amused "What exactly caused you to.... have your body... borrowed?"

Cross looks embarrassed as he crosses his arms. Yeah no. Dust does not have time for this. "The spirit was first anchorred to me. I asked Cross to remove said anchor. His ritual went wrong and this is the new situation."

The other chuckles as they shake their head "Of course it didn't work. You did a trade ritual."

Dust stops. So THAT is why the ritual circles had looked weird! Cross looks panicked "waht is that?! It can't have been... I used a ritual from old priest scrolls!"

the other nods "Yeah that would do it. It used to be the only way priests could get dmeons and spirits out of the victims bodies or away from them. By offering a trade. instead of just feeling parts of alive or temporary possessing they would offer their own bodies for the spirit. Giving the spirit a much better place to reside and live instead of the victim." more amsuement "of course... the priests using this also made sure to eat and drink holy to make sure that while their body was a free ride it also became a deathtrap."

Cross looks beyond alarmed "I didn't know that! Dust!!"

Dust holds up his hands "You came to me with that ritual. How was i suposed to know what it did?"

Cross waves his hands "You always know stuff about rituals!"

Dust groans but looks at the other being "Can you fix it?" because that is the real question.

The other seems to think for a moment. tap their chin before making a so-so motion "I may have a solution but it isn't what your friend probably wants. I can not undo the ritual completely but i can change it. I can make it that the poltergeist is no longer the holder and owner of the body."

Cross is already nodding but Dust frowns "What would happen if we did that route?"

They look amused "It means that his body? Becomes more of an... open territory, at least temporary. It means that if the spirit is strong enough and stubborn enough they can claim the body for a while to inhabit. the exact limits depends on the spirit and the body."

Cross sputters "You mean! My body becomes like a... a... rental?!"

the other stops and seems to think it over before nodding "In a way. Eventually your body and spirit should recover enough themselves to make it so you are anchored to your own body again. That is usually how the priests regained full control themselves after destroying the being they trapped. They would stay on holy ground to make sure no spiritis challenged their claims over their body. but that is all i can do."

Dust frowns "would cross need to be the only one in his body for that to work?" if that is the case they would need to get to the chapel real soon after Killer got evicted.

The other shakes his head "Not specifically. He would get his claim over his body back faster if he stayed on holy ground but even on neutral ground as someone else possesses him his body would know this is not the spirit that is suposed to be in it. and eventually kick it out. again, when this happens depends on the spirit and body themselves."

Dust frowns. meaning. Cross will eventually regain his full body control but it would take time. Killer, or any spirit for that matter, could possesses him and gain control over Cross's body. Leaving his spirit out of it. This would stay this way until either Cross can repossess himself over the spirit's control, or until cross's body realises the problem itself and kick out the uninvited guest.

He looks at Cross "Can you live with that?"

Cross seems to think before nodding.

Cool. at least this ritual and the near mental or emotional breakdowns weren't for nothing. Dust turns back to the being "What would you want in return for payment?"

The being hums and grins "a favor?"

Dust glares "No."

The being sighs but doens't sound disappointed or surprised "Can't blame me for trying." then he looks at them again. clearly in thought.

They nod and smile "I want a very specific thing. An artifact I lost a while ago. I want you. To find it and bring me to it so i can reclaim it."

Dust raises a brow "So you wnat me to find it and summon you near it?"

The other smirks and shakes his skull "I want you to make haste to find it. So i will remain here in this realm as you search it. the deal is completed as soon as i have it back in my possession. and then any debt is repayed."

Dust stands there and groans "Are you fucking kidding me!?" he covers his skull as he just hangs his head in his hands.

Killer holds him clsoer "Dusty? what is wrong?"

Ash however is cursing as well as he figured it out too.

Dust glares "I already HAVE three spirits stuck to me! Two of which who werne't invited! Why would i add another one to that!?"

The other smiles as he crosses his arms "that is my price."

Dust glares "I am not even sure if i can savely make another anchor. This is too high risk." not to forget he doesn't even know if this being needs a stronger connection or takes more magic to be here. Dust only has so much energy and magic.

The being waves it off "I wouldn't be anchored to you. I would be anchored to the very concept of our deal. The reason I would be here and be able to stay would only be because of the deal. the deal is completed? I will return to my realm and you would be debtfree."

Dust frowns as he thinks it over. okay at least not another anchor. he frowns "What if i can't get the artifact?"

The other being smirks "the debt would remain. but i am not unfair. sometimes people can still complete tasks from beyond the grave and i am patient."

Dust frowns "what is even the artifact?"

The being smiles "Why would you need to know?"

Dust glares "I would need to know if i need to find it."

the being considers it before nodding "It is an artifact normally used for rituals connected to the god of destruction."

Dust thinks for a moment before his sockets widen. He may have a clue... He knows that the cults have been obsessed with a god of destruction.

Dust nods "Okay. you break the bond now. and in trade i help you get to that artifact." Ash looks unsure but clearly trusts him tom know what he is doing.

The being smiles as he holds out a hand. it glows cyan "So. we have a deal?"

Dust nods "We have a deal." he exits the protective circle and goes to the very edge of the containment circle.

They stare at each other.

the being smirks as they hold out a hand "I. Nightmare. King of negativity agree to the terms of the prediscussed deal. which consists that i will remove the spirit stuck in Cross's body and remove the claim it has under it. In return Dust will assist in the search of the artifact used in rituals of the destroyer. once this artifact is foudn the deal is complete and will be done."

Dust takes a deep breath as he raises his hand and covers it with his own magic aura. only a soft weak violet light compared to the fluorescent blue that the being, Nightmare, gives off.

They shake hands and Dust can see the magic settle on his own hand and a small cyan mark on his hand. it is shaped like a moon.

He takes his hand back and Nightmare steps out of the circle "Very good circle work. I look forwards to working with you." Nightmare walks right over to Killer in Cross's body.

Killer glares but Nightmare does not look impressed. He grabs the soul and motions towards the soul. the soul turns cyan blue and Nightmare pulls his arm and hand back.

Dust watches as the soul is forcefully removed ffrom Cross's body and Kilelr's spirit follows it.

Cross's body goes limp as Nightmare holds Killer away from the body. a small line of red connecting the two. Nightmare grabs the line and snaps it.

Cross gapss and dives back into his own body.

Ngihtmare releases both Cross and Killer and crosses his arms.

Cross taps and checks his own body before falling to the ground "oh fuck... fuck i am me. Dust! Dust thank you so much!"

Ngihtmare looks amsued "It will take time before spirits can't easily possess you anymore. I would skip making or doing rituals for a while."

Killer pouts and floats over to Dust and pouts at him "But dusty. Now i can't join you in bed anymore."

Dust glares "You weren't welcome to begin with."

okay.

okay!

Cross's body situation is mostly sorted or will be sorted over time.

Which just leaves. getting Killer and Horror disconnected from him.

Maybe after this deal is complete he can discuss with Nightmare about other deals to unanchor both of them.

For now! Best repay the debt before he adds to it...

Time to do some more reading and research on this cult of destruction.

[vonehrenfest]

Theory: The Crown of Fire has no special power boosts, but it does give you special abilities/magical authority.

When Vlad goes to take the Ring of Rage, he says “Here I am, with all his [Pariah’s] power in the palm of my hand.” Which implies that the stuff that lets Pariah blow lairs to bits is coming exclusively from the Ring. Whatever constitutes “raw power”, the Crown isn’t contributing to it.

The Crown clearly isn’t just an empty key though. As Skulker exposits “Only he could control the energies contained within the Crown of Fire and Ring of Rage.” We know from Vlad that the energies in the Ring is “Raw Power” but there is also clearly something powerful and important in the Crown too.

The final hint is what Fright Knight says when he pulls the entire town into the Ghost Zone- “By the authority vested in me by my lord and liege, I claim this town now and forever under the weather of Lord Pariah- The King Of All Ghosts!” He very specifically mentions Pariah’s title and that Pariah has given him the authority to do this. How I interpret this is that the Crown allows Pariah to share his power with the Fright Knight, if it isn’t also what’s allowing Pariah to do something as reality-defying as teleporting a whole town into a different dimension.

Like with the Ring of Rage, there may be other powerful artifacts in the Ghost Zone that can only be used if one has the power of the King given by the Crown.

[powdermelonkeg]

So, BO2W Breakdown

Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.

Here we’ve got Ganon’s...energy taking over Link’s arm. Ordinarily, I’d call it Malice, but based on what it turns into, I’m just going to be calling it corruption. We don’t get much information from this scene besides this expression:

Link’s grabbing the corruption with his other hand, and wincing. It looks painful. I personally think it’s for cinematic effect that it was included, but it COULD be a gateway into a Phantom Hourglass sort of mechanic--Link has to function on a time limit, or using the corruption’s power could drain his life.

Next we’ve got a closeup of Ganondorf. F in chat to the rehydration theorists.

And the closeups of his jewelry. The only significant thing I can see is his necklace, which looks like a cross between the Gerudo symbol and a Fleur de Lis:

But what I’M most interested in is this tie on his belt:

For one, it’s WAY bigger than it needs to be, and that’s deliberate. Ganondorf’s got a jewelry aesthetic he’s already hit above; everything else is gold, why not this bit?

Most importantly, you can barely make it out, but the designs either look Sheikah or Zonai--they’ve got that same kind of swirly busy pattern to them. The red tint and tan-ish lines in it makes me think it’s possessed Sheikah tech.

Next, we’re shown Zelda falling. This looks like it happens right after these two caps from the first trailer:

So we reach for her as the ground collapses, and evidently, we fail to pull her back up. So my next question for that scene is going to be what the in-game reason is for us not diving in right after her. Maybe we won’t get one, since the appeal of the original BOTW was that you could fight Ganon whenever you wanted.

Up next, we’ve got a skydiving shot:

The first thing to notice is that Link’s pose while skydiving is just about identical to his pose in Skyward Sword:

Second is that, yes, he’s falling towards a floating island, and that in itself is noteworthy, but he’s FALLING. There’s something either above him that he jumped off of, or a force that carried him high enough TO fall, and I doubt Nintendo’s encouraging magnesis flying.

So, there’s a few options: Loftwings making a return (which is unlikely, but a hope I have), something like Revali’s Gale boosting Link up for a cinematic shot, indicating that the corruption arm has that kind of power, or islands higher than the one shown here.

Now the island itself:

In Skyward Sword, Skyloft looks like this:

And (spoiler alert) we loose this island here over the course of the game:

Now, it’s not a PERFECT 1:1 match, as most things between games aren’t, but a quick rotate and overlay shows it’s got the same kinds of shapes between the two. The same “W” shape along the eastern side, the same tiny island off the northeast point, the same relative edges.

Now, I don’t know what happened to the plaza at South Skyloft, or the Knight’s Academy isle, but it could very easily be drift away from the central island.

The presence of other islands through the clouds seems to support that theory. Now let’s look at Link here:

The outfit is new. We haven’t, to my knowledge, seen one of this design in other games. My gut reaction to this image was “oh, we go back in time and we’re the first hero now!” because it’s vaguely reminiscent of Tapestry Hero.

But upon closer inspection, that theory’s null and void. Under Link’s tunic in the image above, you can see that he’s still wearing the shorts he woke up in in the first game. So either Sheikah boxers haven’t changed in 10,000 years, or it’s taking place in present day. Jokes aside, I’m curious to know if the outfit he’s wearing is modeled after Tapestry Hero.

Next thing to point out is the obvious:

Link’s arm here looks less prosthetic and more...withered, I almost want to say. The corruption here’s made his hand look frailer, and armored them up with Zonai patterns before it fades out at his shoulder. Based on how the tattoos look, I think they’re an artifact of the corruption taking hold.

Also, the belt here:

Aesthetic purposes, or specific function? The presence of the second, smaller one on the side reminds me of Skyward Sword’s adventure pouch, which could be how the new game handles inventory size:

Next we’ve got another flying shot:

It seems like he’s flying towards Ruined Skyloft, and you can see the bottoms of islands above it, possibly meaning that the sky serves as more than just a hub world like it did in Skyward.

Now let’s look at the paraglider he’s using. It’s new.

This is how the paraglider looks in the original BOTW. It looks like we still have the Rito symbol in the center, but other than that, there’s a LOT of changes here.

First off is the color. We’re now blue and gold. The shade of blue makes me think of the Kochi Dye Shop’s navy blue:

So, possibly a dyeable paraglider?

The new pattern surrounding the Rito symbol makes me think that it’s combining the paraglider with Skyward Sword’s sailcloth:

Other than that, there isn’t much else to say about the paraglider besides the handles looking like they’re made of bone. Craftable paragliders? God, I hope not.

Back to Link:

Here we have him in different gear than the last shot. He’s wearing the snow boots, he has a shield with a stylized Eye of Truth looking upwards, and he looks like he’s carrying a traveler’s sword and an unknown bow. The presence of the bow makes me think that the shield here is a lower tier item, rather than this game’s Hylian Shield equivalent.

Now, let’s get a better look at the horizon:

The trees here look a lot like the smaller trees you can find in Akkala, but there’s a distinct lack of red among them.

Then it looks like we’ve got some ruins at the furthest isle.

Whatever the rock formations are over there, they don’t LOOK natural.

Another thing I noticed is the bottoms of the islands.

These look a little too geometric to be natural, too. Now, this one, I’m a little muddy on, because it COULD be a stylistic choice. But it also reminds me of the Shrines if you clip out of bounds:

And a little bit of the dormant Gate of Time from Skyward:

My money’s on the cube-like nature of the islands’ undersides being deliberate, rather than just a far-off render.

And then there’s this thing!

What is it? It doesn’t look broken at all; look how nicely the roof(?) is kept. The ribbing on the sides makes me think it might be a Zonai thing, but the shape makes it difficult to figure out. A giant temple? An airship? A sloped coliseum? This thing haunts and vexes me.

Our next shot is presumably from one of the islands, based on the color. Here we can see that there are definitely ruins all over the place. Link is in the same gear as before, so I won’t touch on him.

This, however, has my interest. The design here has more geometric patterns--Zonai ruins?

We’ve got another one off in the distance here. Sky checkpoints, like Sheikah towers?

Now this guy here. There’s a LOT to look at. First off is the eye design, it’s the same sort of upward looking one that Link has on his shield in the previous shots.

The energy that’s pulling this thing towards its base looks like the same green energy that surrounds the arm holding Gan in place in Trailer One:

This stuff. That, plus the fact that the robot has to be pulled into its base rather than just existing, implies that either A: Link activates it himself, like a trial thing, or B: that the green energy here functions in the same way Malice does in the original BOTW.

This pattern at its base is intriguing, too. I don’t recognize the gold symbol in the center, but the green around it reminds me of the portals from Twilight Princess.

Which, yes, everyone’s already said that the Twilight Princess patterns look like Zonai things. But another thing this weird dial thing reminds me of is from Lanayru Desert:

On top of that, the color palette of this guy looks like that of the Lanayru Robots from Skyward:

BO2W robot on the left, Lanayru robot on the right. Given that Skyward is a lot more vibrant than other non-Toon Zelda games, I think this is a fair enough comparison to draw similarities from.

And then we get a closer view of the sky ruins from the last shot. I don’t know if the geometric pattern in the corner is a deliberate carving, or wear from time, but since the pattern looks ALMOST mirrored around the corner, I’m going to go with the former.

A better shot a few frames later. The robot has HANDS, which I do not like in any way shape or form. However, we get a better look at the sky ruins.

We haven’t seen this style of stairs before, to my knowledge. The pedestal out front looks like a light source, and it has the same floral egg thing the robot above has on each shoulder; the eggs could easily be a power source for Zonai tech. And at the top of the stairs, we see a pedestal, backing up the theory that these ruins function as our new Sheikah towers.

This is our next shot. Which...

Unikoblins. Can we talk about that? UNIKOBLINS.

Anyways, Link is here again in his old clothes. This is a very early game shot, because his right arm isn’t corrupted yet; this means we get to explore Hyrule before we embark on the main quest. Which gives rise to a question: Where’s Zelda?

The hopeful side of me wants to say that she’s a tutorial companion, like Navi or Tatl, at least for the beginning here. The pessimistic side of me thinks that she’s waiting for us at a predetermined location, and this is just part of getting to her.

Now the unikoblin structure itself is built on a Talus, meaning that the dev team at least intends to have more inter-monster interactions. But if you kill the Talus, does that mean that the base falls apart, or does it just drop down as a separate entity?

Also, what are these background ruins? The one on the left looks like it’s a distinctly different style than the one on the right. It looks almost like a giant guardian arm.

Our next shot is Link’s arm getting corrupted. Which, first of all, the effects look beautiful.

Now, we can see a corner of Link’s hip here, and we know that this is his right arm. So Link’s lying down here. Unconscious? Knowing how Zelda games like to start with Link waking up, probably. Although it looks like at least part of his shorts got an update.

We can see what looks like circuits here. It looks a bit like the electricity puzzles you can find in the Divine Beasts and Shrines in the original.

Then we’ve got these strange symbols.

Whatever this circular stone he’s lying on is, it looks a lot like the Zonai puzzle from the “A Fragmented Monument” sidequest.

This one that everyone thought was the Mirror of Twilight for years.

Our next shot is Link using the corruption powers against enemies:

The spike ball itself looks solid; the question is, is this a duplication power, or a visualization of how the spike ball is set into motion?

We see it barreling over a poor Unikoblin or two, but I’d like to turn your attention to the Moblin and the background.

The moblins here have helmets, and the bases, while they carry the same design, look like they have more cause and effect in mind. The left base’s rock, for instance; that’s a lot bigger than the rocks we got to play with in the last game, and it looks like we can barrel anything in the screen over with it.

The helmet, though, concerns me a little bit. It looks natural rather than forged; like it’s the moblin’s horn, just very much deformed. Does it mean a harder enemy, or is it just for flavor?

Our next shot is this strange flower thing. Note that Link’s right arm is perfectly fine in this shot, meaning that it’s still early game.

This is what Link’s flamethrower looks like. And this:

Is Zonai art.

So the question is, what IS the flamethrower? My first thought was that it’s either a new item in its own, or it’s a Sheikah Slate upgrade. The latter might sound a little far fetched, but Link in this game is right-handed, and in BOTW, he always held the slate in his LEFT hand when using it.

We have more of the weird faded designs that we saw on the Sky ruins:

And we’ve got some kind of pedestal or stage behind the ground flower thing:

It looks like it’s either an altar or a grave, from what I can tell. The stairs aren’t the same design as the ones in the sky, and there aren’t any patterns on it.

More importantly, though, is that this place is underground. This could be a part of the game you’re required to go through, in order to get to Raisin Gan.

A few seconds later, though, we get our answer to what the flamethrower is!

It’s a shield!

Off to the left side, we can see pillars with more weird scribblings towards the top. These match the Sky ruins’ pillar shape, with a narrow base and a wider top.

Our next scene is...weird.

We see a puddle splash in reverse. It’s hard to tell if it’s actually water or not, but the design on the ground implies that it’s either been there for a long time, or that that’s a dedicated splash spot. And the quality and zoom makes me think that this is part of a cutscene. Return of the timeshift stones?

We then see Link...surfacing out of the island? I don’t know how else to describe it. However, his arm is changed again, and glowing, meaning that this is a corruption power. And the “water” he rises out of here looks a lot like the puddle in the last clip.

We get a good look at the Zonai Lights:

A Sky ruin that looks like it contains a room:

And a glimpse of other isles’ ruins in the far distance.

And then as the camera zooms out...

We can place a location!

We’re right over Thundra Plateau!

We also get a mildly better look at the back wall of the sky ruin, which looks to be some kind of table:

The next scene is Hyrule Castle:

The ground shakes and it starts to rise up. However, notice that the columns surrounding the castle are now missing.

We’ve also got red sparks in the air, like we would have in a blood moon. However, due to the sky color, we can assume that this is a conscious decision by Gan himself, and that he isn’t drawing power from his surroundings.

We then see that power bleeding out of the ground. It’s MUCH more red than Malice is, which has always been a kind of burnt pink-ish color.

However, even though Ganon lifts the castle up, he doesn’t lift it very high.

The castle’s about triple the height it was. But since we’re talking Skyloft levels of floating islands, this is still pretty ground-level. What’s interesting to me, though, is that in this shot, despite the game now being about sky islands that we should be able to see from ground level...there aren’t any here. This, to me, means that there’s going to be a sudden appearance of the isles in the sky, rather than them simply being accessible now.

And that’s the whole trailer! I have many questions.

My blog! If you have any opnions/questions/theories, feel free to drop an ask!

Part 2 is up! We missed a lot!

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 5

Through a Glass, Darkly

Welcome back to the Temple of the Earth Defiant where the girls and their magical horses (and one pony!) have found refuge from the strange, twisted, fae creatures that have been chasing them. The statue of Asha Hammerheart that Ost animated last episode is still alive and wrecking house on the remaining harpies and beasts that are foolish enough to keep fighting and the rest soon get the hint and flee. 

Ost does some healing (boosted by the ambient Hallow effect of the temple which gives everyone a short rest) and then, seeing the damage to the temple caused by erosion, starts using Mending to fix things up. Her friends help out too with Sam and Yelle being most effective--Sam by repairing water damage and Yelle by creating tree cover and other druid-y tricks. But of course, we can’t overlook Katja’s crucial addition of carving “A Horse is a Home” into one of the walls of this sacred temple. 

Anyway, the girls are nesting super hard, the horses are having their scrapbooking reviewing club (an insane thing that was established last episode) and then Sam asks a question. Did y’all mention something about a photo of me going viral? Everyone’s like yeah, but don’t worry, you looked super hot. That’s not the part Sam was worried about. What she’s worried about and what all the girls except Zelda don’t really seem to know is that Sam doesn’t really have a social media presence. So like, 180k and climbing views (as decided by a dice roll) isn’t really what she wants. She scrolls through the comments really quick and sees that they’re not awful but one person is like, “Hey that girl looks a lot like that character from that old show”. Which Sam doesn’t love. She says that she’s fine but also that, even without an Insight check, she’s obviously not. 

Sam kind of looks to Zelda to bail her out and Zelda is like, “Hey, I’m gonna delete this video.” The other girls follow suit, even though they don’t quite know what’s happening. When they have to split up to investigate, Sam has Zelda kind of bail her out again and they split up to go check a nest outside--Zelda waving off Danielle when she wants to go with. Ant and Yelle decide to check out a cache of some treasure they saw earlier and Ost and Katja stay with the horses to keep fixing the temple up. Penny initially goes with Ant and Yelle but rushes back to be with Ost and Kat when Ost discovers a hidden lock while she’s fixing a wall.

So, the girls are split up, let’s run all these scenes.

Antiope and Yelle

Ant and Yelle go see the pile of treasure (near the statue of dwarven paladin Yvonna) which they learn is like a “take a penny leave a penny” situation for weapons and items. They were left by adventures who were similarly chased here and you can take what you need as long as you leave something to help others. Like, “Oh no I only have an ice sword and I need flaming arrows.” It doesn’t have to be equivalent exchange, you just need to leave something useful.

In this space, Yelle feels a weird melancholy and like they’re within the watch of something vast and powerful. She tries to check for TK’s presence but rolls low. Antiope leaves her Kalvaxus killing shortsword and takes some really nice, white feather fledged arrows with mirror tips and an ax Kat wants as a present for her dad. Danielle takes a bandolier of potions (3 healing and 2 mystery I believe) and leaves a bunch of mushrooms. Some of them are psychedelic and Ant takes one because this is probably a good time to be high, right?

It’s not messing with her competence obviously though because she rolls a 25 on Primeval Awareness and gets a weird sense, like something is closing in on this place. And like something very powerful is bleeding, which combined with the chaos of the mountains might explain the weird harpies and the cat/dogs. But she’s high so she explains this is a very spacey, stoner way. Probably a good thing she’s with Yelle.

Sam and Zelda

Sam can fly and Zelda can basically walk vertically with her goat legs so they check out the nest. Well, ostensibly that’s what they’re doing. Really they’re just having a heart to heart. Sam thanks Zelda for saving her ass and apologizes profusely for being so short with her. Zelda gives her a huge mid-air hug and says it’s not a big deal because she knows Sam is just lashing out because she’s hurting but Sam says it’s not a good enough excuse and she’s truly sorry. It’s been her coping mechanism for so long but she doesn’t want to be that way. She tells Zelda that the Everpetals are divorcing and that she’s living alone and Zelda says that any one of the girls would be happy to have her stay with them. Sam further explains that this is a big part of the reason she’s been so broken up about the possibility of their group splitting up and Zelda immediately takes out her crystal and texts her “I’m in” in the thread, breaking Sam again. 

Since they’re in heart to heart mode, Sam tells her that she talked to her bio-mom and an agent and she’s not sure what to do. Zelda says that she’s gonna be spectacular no matter what she does and she doesn’t have to do any of them but it’s cool doors are opening for her but also Antiope and Penny are gonna be PISSED that she’s out here making side plans after she gave them so much shit for theirs. Lol, well it’s a nice moment in the meantime and we cut to…

Penny, Ost, and Katja 

While Penny is lockpicking (and also trying to teach one of the horses to lockpick because sure) Katja and Ost go talk to the statue of Asha Hammerheart. It seems to be animated with at least some level of her true consciousness from beyond the grave and that she can kind of woge into her statue when she wants, which is cool. She’s been there for like 250 years so that’s a lot of history to see. 

Ost is maybe the most polite we’ve ever seen her talking to Asha (at least to begin with lol) and they ask her about TK. Asha says she saw TK show up 12 years ago but she never left, at least not through the front door. And then about 2 years ago (right around when they were in the crystals) that’s when the harpy queen showed up. At first they were normal and then they started mutating. Also, recently, Korra (one of the other statues/heroes) saw a woman in the mountains--not TK. 

Ost then takes a page from the book of one St. Kristen Applebees and asks, “Hey. What’s the deal with our god? He never talks to us, does he just suck?” Asha--who has never talked to him even though she’s a martyred hero and literally in dwarf heaven makes some excuses for the guy but Katja scoffs at them. “If people wanna take care of you, they do.” Ost then straight up asks if Logran Soulforger is even real which sets Asha off but Ost isn’t mad AT her, she’s mad FOR her. You go and do all this cool shit to the point where you have this cool ass statue, you fully DIE for him and he doesn’t even say hi? With a 21 Persuasion check, Asha admits that yeah, she would have liked some recognition. She decides she’s gonna go do some talking to some people and leaves after getting Ost’s number but before they can ask more about the woman Korra saw (who they think is Charity). 

OK, that’s all the small group stuff! Everyone comes back as Penny finishes up with the lock and they go down into this room that’s full of polished, precious stones. This is probably where people who were upkeeping the temple stayed. While everyone else is going down, Sam feels some powerful magical pull--much like her episode 1 Lightning Lure--calling her from the top of the stairs so she goes back up. We’ll get back to her in a bit. 

Penny rolls a high check to clock what’s going on down here. First off, she finds flintlock bullets and airship uniform scraps which makes it seem like there was a battle here involving some airship guys from the Baronies. Which is not just the place of origin of Riz’s imaginary Romance Partner. It’s a cluster of nations known for high rates of monarchical turnover and renaissance style intrigue. I’m picturing just a nation of [REDACTED]s from Crown of Candy. 

With all of this stuff, Penny finds an emblem of a billionaire airship mogul named Lord Talcidimir Tallbreeze who is a friend of her dad’s. Yelle is immediately like FUCK billionaires which isn’t plot relevant but it’s nice to know she’s always on brand. 

Oh also, Penny just casually finds the Legendarium so that’s neat. 

To be safe, Ost casts Protection from Energy on Ant (who is the one who knows how to use it) and brings out her Spirit Guardian (who is a combo of her mom, nona, and Asha, with her dad’s rings). Ant checks it out and sees that there are currently no A, B, or C quests in all of Spyre. While Penny cross references the bylaws to see if there’s a way to get around this, Yelle does some druid BS that I still do not understand to use the crystals in the cave to jailbreak this super powerful magical Artifact so they can just have copies on their crystals. While that’s happening, let’s check on Sam. 

Sam goes back up the staircase where she sees Ending who doesn’t look menacing at all, just extremely sad. She’s looking out the mouth of the cave and, when she turns, Sam can see she’s crying blood. 

“What’s wrong?” asks Sam, the acid-tongued but good-hearted. “Can I help you?”

With a 25 Persuasion check to get her to talk, Ending apologizes for scaring her and her friends before. She didn’t mean to. She sometimes forgets that her very nature can be frightening and dangerous to others. She says that when she escaped, she tried to rejoin her sisters but found their mirrors shattered and them gone. Sam thought they escaped but that doesn’t make sense to Ending. If they had, why wouldn’t they have freed her as well?

Sam asks who her sisters were and we finally get true names for Ending and her sisters:

Chrona, Terra, Pyrria, Nira, Zefira, Anima, and herself, Talura (which is what I’ll be calling her now that we know). Talura is the baby, the youngest. Sam realizes she’s talking about the Eidolons and Talura seems surprised and a bit pleased that Sam recognizes them. 

Sam asks if she can hug her and Talura hugs her tightly in a very cold embrace that doesn’t hurt. Downstairs, she hears her friends (Penny specifically) freaking about about the lack of quests but she doesn’t break the hug. 

“My own sisters are struggling right now but I’m gonna stay with you because you don’t know where yours are. But maybe we can find them.”

Talura clocks that the way that Sam is being is her true nature, not the bitchiness she often uses as a shield. Then she starts to talk about her history. That she and her sisters were sealed away when the gods were done with them (Sam can relate to being used and set aside) and the only way out was death. Talura has been crying and looking for her sisters to no avail. Her tears of blood leaking seems to be what caused the monsters to mutate which is in line with what Yelle and Ant were sensing. 

Talura doesn’t think anything could have destroyed her sisters so she’s very confused. Sam offers Talura her Mirror of the Past because it almost knocked out Sam to get god-tier information but Talura presumably won’t have that problem. Talura offers her a boon in exchange for this great kindness but Sam says she doesn’t need any quid pro quo. “This is just because you’re hurting.”

Talura is supremely touched and still wants to do something for her new...friend? Sam accepts the title and says that what she needs is some help on her GED quest. Once she explains what she means, Talura again recognizes Aguefort and is like, Oh, you need a quest? I can totally help with that! As we learned earlier, these guys are kinda genie connected so it’s not super surprising when Talura very happily goes full your wish is my command.

Downstairs, a Class A quest suddenly appears in Spyre on the screen. 

Back upstairs, Talura says that it’s been too long since she got to grant a wish and seems really happy about it. Sam gives her the mirror so she can check what happened to her sisters but when she does, she totally flips out and gets super angry--not at Sam, just at whatever she’s looking at. She can hardly believe it. Sam tries to figure out what’s wrong but she just gets super big and then disappears into a puff of smoke, leaving Sam's mirror on the ground, covered in frost. 

Downstairs, the Class A quest expands across the entire globe and then the Legendarium cracks. Ost’s spirit guardian disappears because of alarm bells ringing in the afterlife. And the girls learn that a Class A quest is a quest that affects the whole MULTIVERSE. Yikes!

So anyway, they girls go upstairs to check on Sam (on a bear that Penny makes because sure) and they see that something clearly just happened with Sam. Yelle asks if she’s good and Sam is like yeahhhh I don’t think ANYONE is good right now. Sam seems like she’s about to cry and Antiope instantly forgets all the petty bullshit going on between them and rushes to make sure she’s not hurt. 

Sam gives the girls a rundown of what happened and Yelle concretely puts together what I said earlier about Talura’s tears messing with nature. 

Sam wants to check her mirror to see what Talura saw and Brennan says she can do it the safe way with risk of failure of the surefire way with risk of personal harm. She, of course, picks door 2 and rolls a 13 on her con save which means she rises into the air like Storm from X-Men, eyes wide, and then instantly passes out and goes into shock. Antiope is there to catch her as she does. 

Also, she looks SUPER hot while falling on a 31. Honestly, it’s a shame she doesn’t allow herself a social media presence. 

Anyway, we’ll get to what she sees in a bit. Yelle and Ant make sure she’s OK (she is, but the has to be knocked out for this or she won’t be able to handle it). 

Penny tells them what she knows about each Eidolon from her earlier research which is what element each goes with:

Chrona: Time (Related to astral and elemental planes) 

Terra: Earth

Pyrria: Fire

Nira: Water

Zefira: Air

Anima: Life

Talura: Death 

They also talk about TK never leaving via the front door and all this airship stuff being around. Maybe she left out the top of the mountain on an airship? Katja has the hookup with this Tal guy (she’s met him when she was younger) so they decide they need to check it out once Sam is good. 

The girls fix the Legendarium and Ost, when she goes to pray for her spells for the night, doesn’t pray to her usual god. She prays to Asha. And not only does she get her spells, she also gets a new one--Commune. 

And now let’s get to what Sam is seeing in her Vision Coma. 

She was told by Talura that the only way out of the mirrors given to them by the gods was death. And what Talura saw that drove her to do whatever multiverse threatening thing that she did was every one of her sisters walking out of their mirrors and choosing death. I will specifically highlight that the oldest sister leaves almost immediately with a small, “Oh,” of realization and Anima, the closest sister to her seems terrified before coming to a joyful realization and leaving.

And that’s the end of the episode! Join us next week when apparently there is talk of a masquerade ball?????? Brennan, you shouldn’t have!   

Superlatives 

Sam: Most Likely to Accidently Snag a Brand Deal

Did you guys ever read the Greek myth of Cupid and Psyche? Where Psyche was born so hot that it was basically a curse and she was miserable because she was so hot that Aphrodite hated her? That’s Sam. She is incapable of almost dying in a non-aesthetic way. It’s like a Pantene commercial every time. This is my favorite running gag.

Random Thoughts

Man, I have so many feelings about Sam. She’s such a BITCH in so many ways but it’s so obvious that she has a good heart. Every time she has an opportunity to be nice with no gain--helping Lola find her dog, magically turning the pages for the horses during book club, fully refusing a boon from Talura--she does. And I’m glad she gave Zelda such a sincere apology and didn’t let the extenuating circumstances absolve her because she said some pretty uncalled for things. But at her core she’s so kind and I want only good things for her. 

Also those of you who know me from my FH recaps know I’m a messy bitch for sister stuff so Talura and Sam both referring to the other maidens as her sister had me dead. You can tell when something in this show is f’ing me up when I just start directly quoting instead of paraphrasing. 

Katja being richer than Helio but having no idea what any of the brands Ost is mentioning are is peak comedy.  

As is Ant’s response to the take and penny leave a penny translation from Ost, “No, Penny didn’t come with us.”

Ost: I get service in the afterlife.

You could really tell which of the players watched Sophomore Year because the Baronies came up and all of them went into fight or flight immediately. 

Very Elsa vibes from Sam during the top of the scene with Talura. (Sam is, of course, a better sister but we simply do not have time to get into my feelings on Frozen 2 right now).

I was wondering why this season was called just “The Seven” when it dropped initially. Like, was it snappier? Did they not want to use the word “maiden”? But they still call themselves the Seven Maidens in the show so it’s probably not that. Now I’m wondering if it’s just to parallel the 7 of them w/ the 7 Eidolons. 

So it seems clear based on the reactions of the first and sixth sisters that they didn’t just “go gently into that good night” as Ant would say and ditch Talura. It seems like they figured something out. Also Brennan isn’t really a “and then they all died, the end” kind of DM, you know? Credit to my friend @camwritery for getting here before I did but the gods said the only way out was death and she is death so you know? Those def seem like puzzle pieces that go together. 

The only crit rolled this episode is a 1 by Penny which she gets to reroll as a halfling. 

[mystech-master]

Hey there, just here to say that I think your Character Hero Artifact idea is cool, I really liked the Emiya post, and I hope you're emboldened to share more concepts from this project in the future.

Thank you, I have been trying to come up with design ideas for many other heroes.

The weapons can take aspects from as many parts of the Hero's past as possible (as my Shirou Emiya weapon is connected with his UBW, Avalon, and the Fuyuki Fire).

For example, if I were to make a weapon/artifact for Natsu Dragneel I would of course take something for his Fire Dragon Slayer Element, but he also has the Lightning Fire Dragon Mode, Hellfire Dragon from eating Atlas Flame's Fire in the Grand Magic Games Arc, the God Slayer Flames that he ate from Zancrow, and if you include anime-only stuff you've got the Dark Regulus from Eclipse Leo. There is also his E.N.D. Demon stuff as well as the Book of E.N.D. and his Dragonification from the Dragon Cry Movie. Maybe even the fire swords he wielded in the Edolas and Tartarus arcs. His Igneel scale scarf might play into it as well. The issue is he is a very hand-to-hand fighter, he isn't a sword user and I don't want to just give gauntlets or knuckle dusters to everyone who does that.

If I were to make an artifact for Ben 10 I had two ideas.

A sword in reference to him wielding Ascalon. Swords are a classic hero weapon, and it'd be a lightning sword based on the sword of the Japanese Thunder god Take-mikazuchi who participated in the first Sumo match. Thunder God because Ben has a lot of electric aliens, and you should get the connection with the word Sumo. But the issue is, Ben is more a hand-to-hand fighter and prefers the big strong dudes (FourArms and Humangousaur).

My other idea was inspired by Raiden Tameemon's Mawashi of Flesh and Bone from Record of Ragnarok. Just a sash that wraps around the limbs to enhance physical attacks. Maybe go into the concept of Ki/Chi since like Mana it is a form of life energy but it is usually used in more of a combat setting so it'd fit a physical fighter like Ben while keeping it separate from Mana b/c the Ben 10 writers like to scream in our faces and shake our shoulders that "BEN DOESN'T USE MAGIC!"

Giorno Giovanna from JJBA I already had an idea for him, a Scarab shield similar to Mata Nui's Scarabax Shield from Bionicle. Kind of playing into his power where anything that strikes his Life constructs gets the attack reflected back at them. It'd also enhance his life powers to where instead of just making inorganic materials into organic/living things, he can change a living thing into another living thing. Power boosts for Jojo characters feel a bit weird since that show prides itself on having its characters be more tactical and being puzzle bosses rather than just being powerhouses though.

I might post the list of protagonists I am using for this idea, as I am sticking with protags from media I actually know about/can talk about.

[freyayuki]

Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia Spheres Guide and Plans Part 3

In the Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia (DFFOO) mobile game, you get a Sphere every time you Purple an Ex weapon or get it to Ex+ 3/3. These Spheres increase stats like Attack and Max Brave. Each character has 3 Sphere Slots.

So far, I’ve given Spheres to a few chars. This post lists those Spheres and chars, including possible Sphere plans for other charas and potential new plans for those who already have Spheres. You can find part 1 of this post here and part 2 here.

Chars that appeared in part 1 and 2 won’t be mentioned again here unless I’ve made changes to their Spheres or something. Chars with only Refined Spheres or RF Spheres won’t be included either.

Ace from Final Fantasy Type-0

Decided to go all-in on Ace from Final Fantasy Type-0. Pulled for his LD and BT when they showed up and was thankfully able to get both for around 70k gems (his banner had a free multi-draw). I talk more about this in another post.

Anyway, previously, already had his 15cp, 35cp, and Ex fully MLB although his Ex was at Ex+ 0/3 only. Since I was able to get all of his weapons, fully MLB’d everything, including getting his Ex to Ex+ 3/3. Bought his Bloom Stone. Completed all of his Boards. He’s also got the following:

perfect Artifacts - triple ATK 108 with Spiral’s End Boost★★ (Raises ATK by 5% with 3 cards in stock)

High Armor upgraded to Blue

Burst upgraded to Green or Burst+ 3/3

Ace is the first char whose Burst I upgraded to Burst+ 3/3. Since I fully invested in him, also wanted to give him triple real Spheres.

Actual best or perfect Spheres for Ace:

Ace’s Sphere Slots are A, A, and D. He’s a magical DPS with a bit of party utility. He prefers BRV damage up (such as Cloud Strife’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Critical Power A Sphere which increases BRV damage by 10%) or ATK up Spheres (such as Noel Kreiss’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Breaking Attack Up Shorter A Sphere which increases ATK by 15%) but those that increase magical attack (such as Aeris or Aerith Gainsborough’s (from Final Fantasy VII) HP Magic Attack Up A Sphere which increases MAG ATK by 15%) can work for him as well.  

For his D Sphere, the best is Queen’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Break Hit Attack Boost All Shorter which increases the party’s MAX BRV and ATK by 5%.

Plans:

I want to give Ace either BRV damage up or ATK up Spheres, with a preference towards the former. But the problem was that I’ve basically already used up my supply of these Spheres. For instance, Cloud’s Critical Power A Sphere went to Sephiroth from Final Fantasy VII (#ad). I do have some dupes of some of these Spheres but that would mean having to spend resources to Purple a dupe Ex.

So far, I’ve only ever done that once. It was for Yuna from Final Fantasy X. Ended up giving her 2 of Paladin Cecil Harvey’s (from Final Fantasy IV) Full HP Break Hit BRV Gain All C Sphere which grants the party 5% of their individual max brave once per turn whenever Yuna inflicts break or attacks a target afflicted with break while her HP is at max.

Don’t regret doing that for Yuna, and I was actually thinking of doing the same for Ace since I do like him well enough. 

But then I thought, what if I just gave him Spheres that increase his magical attack stat instead? I actually have those Spheres available so wouldn’t need to Purple a dupe Ex. For instance, my Aerith is Purple so I already have her Sphere but haven’t given it to anyone yet so it’s just rotting in my inventory. Why not give it to Ace, right?

The D Sphere would require me to Purple a dupe though if I really wanted to give Ace one that increases the party’s ATK. There are only a few D Spheres that increase the ATK stat and I’ve already given those away. For instance, Queen’s D Sphere went to Yuna. Have dupes of her Ex though so could get another copy of her Sphere for Ace.

Another alternative was to settle for giving Ace D Spheres that increase other stats like max brave or initial brave. Have plenty of these Spheres because it seems like no one wants them. Or at least the chars I wanted to give Spheres to didn’t want these. 

What Actually Happened: 

In the end, decided to give Ace the following Spheres:

Aeris or Aerith Gainsborough’s (from Final Fantasy VII) HP Magic Attack Up A Sphere

While HP is at least 80% of MAX: • Raises own MAG ATK by 15% *Does not stack with same sphere

Papalymo Totolymo’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) Break Hit Magic Attack Up Longer A Sphere

When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break: • Raises own MAG ATK by 15% for 6 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Although I have copies of Papalymo’s Ex, none of them were Purple so had to Ex+ 3/3 one of them to get a copy of this Sphere.

Queen’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Break Hit Attack Boost All Shorter D Sphere

When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break: • Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns

Went ahead and got a second copy of Queen’s Sphere but I also opted to just give Ace MAG ATK up Spheres instead of getting more BRV damage up or ATK up ones.

Future plans:

Happy enough with my Sphere choices for Ace. Sure, his A Spheres may not be the best but they work well enough for him. The additional magical attack isn’t unwelcome and he does benefit from them. So far, pleased enough with these so I currently have no plans of changing his equipped A Spheres anytime soon.

Queen’s is one of the best D Spheres in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia so definitely no plans of changing this anytime soon, especially since I actually ended up Purpling a second Queen Ex for Ace. Absolutely no regrets about fully investing and going all-in on Ace though. Really very pleased with him and hoping I can use him for as long as possible.

Machina Kunagiri from Final Fantasy Type-0

My Machina is currently equipped with the following Spheres:

Oerba Yun Fang’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Break Hit Attack Up Longer (RF) A Sphere

When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break: • Raises own ATK by 4% for 6 turns

Yang Fang Leiden’s (from Final Fantasy IV) Critical Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When dealing critical hit: • Raises MAX BRV and ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Celes Chere’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Ability BRV Gain B Sphere

Increases BRV by 40% of INT BRV after using ability, once per turn *Also applies to abilities changed from BRV Attack, HP Attack

In part 1, I mentioned that I regret giving Yang’s A Sphere to Machina, and that I'm actually considering removing it from him.

Initially, I only pulled for Machina (his debut banner featured his 15cp, 35cp, and Ex weapons) because I wanted his Sphere (it’s an A Sphere that increases both the ATK and INT BRV stats by 10%) for Zack Fair (from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII). 

But I ended up liking him, so I don’t regret Purpling him. Even planned to pull for his LD and was thankfully able to get it. Finished all of his Boards. Bought his Bloom Stone. Even farmed for his perfect Artifacts - triple ATK 108 with Dual-Wielding Star Pupil Boost★★ (Raises MAX BRV, ATK by 5% while Awakening buff active).

Was all set to fill out all of his Slots with real Spheres which was why I’d given him Celes’s and Yang’s Spheres. Back then, couldn’t decide what other A Sphere to give him though so opted to go with Fang’s RF one for now.

The reason I regret giving Yang’s Sphere to Machina was because I didn’t get to use him that much. Was able to get Noctis Lucis Caelum’s (from Final Fantasy XV) and Ardyn Izunia’s (Ardyn Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV) full kits soon after getting Machina’s LD. This included their Burst weapons, and so I ended up using them instead of Machina.  

This led to me wanting to take back the Yang Sphere that I gave him but to do that without losing said Sphere, I would have to use 1 Reset Stone. Up to now, only 3 Reset Stones have been given for free. To get more, you need to pay real money. At the moment, haven’t found anyone else yet who I wanted to give Yang’s Sphere to so decided to leave it where it was for now.

Then, as I mentioned in part 2, I later found out that Machina got a Burst weapon in the Japanese version of Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia. Was so pleased when I heard the news because I do like Machina. Definitely planning to pull for his BT whenever it shows up in the English or Global version of the game. 

And now, after what feels like forever, the long wait for Machina’s Burst is about to come to an end. Soon, the banners that will feature his BT will arrive. Can’t wait! So excited and ready to go all-in on building Machina like what I did for Ace. 

Yeah, that’s right. Machina’s set to be the second char whose Burst I’ll Green or get to BT+ 3/3. While waiting, guess I’ll try to decide what to do about Machina’s Spheres. Should I replace Yang’s Sphere? Should I give him the real version of Fang’s Sphere? What are the best Spheres for him?

Actual best or perfect Spheres for Machina:

Machina’s Sphere Slots are A, A, and B. He’s mostly a DPS although he does inflict a framed debuff known as Spiral’s Lynchpin which reduces the speed of enemies by 30%. He does a follow-up attack against enemies afflicted with his debuff. This follow-up has a BRV gain based on the attack stat so A Spheres that raise ATK are perfect for him. 

Spheres that increase BRV damage dealt are also perfect for boosting the damage of all of his moves. So he could go for a combination of ATK up and BRV damage up Spheres or just 2 of each.

For his B Sphere, Celes’s is undoubtedly the best since Machina can take lots of turns. He’s not a tank so he can’t inflict Lock, which most B Spheres require as an activation condition.

Here’s a list of BRV damage up A Spheres that I could give to Machina:

Cloud Strife’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Critical Power

Raises BRV damage dealt with critical hits by 10%

Vayne Carudas Solidor’s (from Final Fantasy XII) Broken Power

When attacking target afflicted with Break: • Increases BRV damage dealt by 10%

Edgar Roni Figaro’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Debuff Power  

Increases BRV damage dealt by 10% while an enemy is debuffed

My first copies of these Spheres already went to Sephiroth. I do have dupes of Cloud’s, Edgar’s, and Vayne’s Ex weapons though so I can just Purple a second copy of 1 or 2 of these for Machina.

Yda Hext’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) Mighty Sneak A Sphere

When attacking enemy not targeting self: • Increases BRV damage dealt by 10%

Just Purpled Yda after recently getting her LD so I have a copy of this Sphere. The effect is the same as Cloud’s and Vayne’s but my issue with this Sphere is its activation condition. It’s way too situational unless I always bring a tank who can taunt or Lock enemies into targeting them. 

Even then, this Sphere will still end up being useless the moment an enemy starts targeting ALL. So I think it’s better to just Purple a dupe Ex as opposed to going with this Sphere.

Here’s a list of ATK up A Spheres that I could give to Machina:

Noel Kreiss’s (from Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII) Breaking Attack Up Shorter A Sphere

When attacking target afflicted with Break: • Raises ATK by 15% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

This is one of the few A Spheres that can increase the ATK stat by 15%. Another good thing about this is how its activation condition is so easy to fulfill that the char you give this to is basically guaranteed to always have +15% ATK. 

My first copy of Breaking Attack Up Shorter is already equipped to Noctis. But I have several dupes of Noel’s Ex that I can Purple to get more copies of this Sphere.

Ardyn Izunia’s (Ardyn Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV) Break Raging Attack Boost Up A Sphere

When inflicting Break: • Raises MAX BRV, ATK by 2% up to 5 times, once per turn *Does not stack with same sphere

My first copy of this Sphere went to Lightning (Claire Farron from Final Fantasy XIII). I’m eying this Sphere to possibly go alongside Yang’s Sphere so I can increase Machina’s ATK and MAX BRV by 20%. 

The only issue with this Sphere though is its activation condition. Machina won’t always be able to inflict break but then again, at least this Sphere doesn’t have a turn duration. If I’m understanding this correctly, it looks like Machina just needs to inflict break up to 5 times then the stats increase will just always be active afterwards. 

Hmm. Okay, just checked my Lightning. Ardyn’s Sphere only showed up on the upper left side of the screen the very first time Lightning broke an enemy. After that, it simply never showed up again no matter how many more times she inflicted break. However, the Sphere is always displayed on her Status Effects screen so it does seem to be in effect.  

Sephiroth’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Last Boost Attack Up A Sphere

Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10% if HP at least 50% of MAX at start of last wave *Does not stack with same sphere

This is another Sphere that could potentially go alongside Yang’s. The only problem is how this is only for the last wave of a fight. 

Nowadays, most endgame battles only have 1 wave but we do sometimes get fights with multiple waves. This is why I’ve yet to give my first copy of this Sphere to anyone. I prefer to go with Spheres that will always be active or, at the very least, will be active as often as possible.

Lightning’s (Claire Farron from Final Fantasy XIII) Break Raging Base Attack Up A Sphere

When inflicting Break: • Raises own INT BRV, ATK by 2% up to 5 times, once per turn *Does not stack with same sphere

Jecht’s (from Final Fantasy X) Critical Base Attack Up Shorter A Sphere

When dealing critical hit: • Raises own INT BRV, ATK by 10% for 3 turns

Machina Kunagiri’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Break Hit Base Attack Up Shorter A Sphere

When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break: • Raises own INT BRV, ATK by 10% for 3 turns

These Spheres are basically the same except they have different activation conditions. My Lightning Sphere is still available. But my first copies of Machina’s and Jecht’s Spheres both went to Zack. Have a dupe of Jecht’s Ex. No Machina Ex dupe but I might get some while pulling for his Burst.   

Machina’s Guardian Blades buff gives him BRV Regen that’s based on 70% of his initial brave so raising INT BRV alongside ATK doesn’t seem like such a bad idea. MAX BRV might still be preferable to INT BRV though.  

Oerba Yun Fang’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Break Hit Attack Up Longer A Sphere

Raises ATK by 10% for 6 turns when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break

Garland’s (from Final Fantasy I) Break Hit Raging Attack Up A Sphere

Raises ATK by 2% when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break up to 5 times, once per turn

My first copies of these Spheres went to Kadaj from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.

Tifa Lockhart’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Critical Attack Up Longer A Sphere

Raises ATK by 10% for 6 turns when dealing critical hit

My first copy of this Sphere went to Cloud. Got way too many dupes of Tifa’s Ex so can easily get multiple copies of this Sphere. Too bad it only increases 1 stat.  

Locke Cole’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Sneak Attack Up Longer A Sphere

When attacking enemy not targeting self: • Raises own ATK by 10% for 6 turns

The activation condition of this Sphere is the same as Yda’s which is why this has been rotting in my inventory for what feels like forever. I’ve had Locke Purpled since way, way back but I’ve yet to find a char who could make good use of his Sphere. 

Onion Knight’s (from Final Fantasy III) Critical Raging Attack Up A Sphere

Raises ATK by 2% when dealing critical hit up to 5 times, once per turn

Have Onion Knight’s Ex, but haven’t bothered to Purple it. Might have a dupe or 2 as well. 

The latest story chapter that featured him here in this game really made me hate him so I’m really not keen on Purpling him anytime soon, possibly ever. Also not keen on equipping his Sphere on anyone and having to see his face every time I look at a char’s equipped or active Spheres list.

Vaan’s (from Final Fantasy XII) Full HP Attack Up A Sphere

Raises ATK by 10% while HP is MAX

My first copy of this Sphere went to Aerith. My only issue with this Sphere is that it requires its holder to be at max HP. Have experienced fights wherein my chars weren’t always at full HP and wherein I couldn’t always heal them right away.

Aerith’s a healer so this Sphere isn’t so bad on her but Machina can’t heal himself so if I give this to him, he’ll need to wait for a healer to get him back to full HP.

Exdeath’s (from Final Fantasy V) Debuff Attack Up

While enemy is debuffed: • Raises ATK by 10%

Missing Exdeath’s Ex so can’t get this Sphere yet. But it could be good for Machina since he does inflict a framed debuff and I almost always bring Calls that inflict debuffs unless a fight is immune to them or something. 

Plans:

Machina’s equipped B Sphere is perfect for him already so not planning to change that anymore. As for his A Spheres, I don’t know yet. There’s way too many options and combinations to choose from. I could go with 2 BRV damage up or 2 ATK up or 1 BRV damage up and 1 ATK up Spheres. 

For BRV damage up, it’s easy enough to choose since they’re all basically the same except for their activation conditions.

There’s lots of options for the ATK up ones though - I could go with those that increase ATK and INT BRV or those that increase ATK and MAX BRV or those that only increase the ATK stat.

I could keep Yang’s Sphere and then go with either a BRV damage up or ATK up for Machina’s second A Slot. Or I could remove Yang’s Sphere and - argh! 

Yeah, there are way too many options to choose from here. Really not sure what to do yet. Need to think about this some more.

At the moment, am leaning towards leaving Yang’s Sphere alone so I won’t have to waste a Reset Stone just to remove it from Machina but that barely narrows down my choices. 

Since Yang’s Sphere increases ATK and MAX BRV, I could go with Ardyn’s Sphere or even Sephi’s Sphere to double up on those stats. Or I could go with a Sphere that increases INT BRV and ATK (Lightning’s, Machina’s, or Jecht’s), or 1 that increases BRV damage dealt (Cloud’s, Edgar’s, or Vayne’s), or just 1 that increases the ATK stat (Noel’s would be the best since his gives +15%).

For now, I’ve tentatively narrowed down my choices to either Yang + Vayne (have more dupes of Vayne’s Ex than Cloud’s or Edgar’s) or Yang + Noel (15% > 10% ATK). But nothing’s set in stone yet. I’ll revisit this again once Machina’s Burst weapon finally shows up. 

Update: the first banner featuring Machina’s Burst weapon is finally here. I don’t have his BT yet because I’m waiting for the other banners that will feature it as well to show up. 

As part of the currently ongoing winter campaign in Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia, we get 1 free multi-draw on each of these banners. If I don’t get Machina’s Burst from these banners, then my plan is to acquire it using 50 of my BT Tokens. Anyway, for now, I’m continuing to think about Machina’s Spheres. 

What Actually Happened:

In the end, decided to Purple a dupe Vayne Ex so I could give his Sphere to Machina. He now has the following:

Vayne Carudas Solidor’s (from Final Fantasy XII) Broken Power

When attacking target afflicted with Break: • Increases BRV damage dealt by 10%

Yang Fang Leiden’s (from Final Fantasy IV) Critical Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When dealing critical hit: • Raises MAX BRV and ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Celes Chere’s (from Final Fantasy VI) Ability BRV Gain B Sphere

Increases BRV by 40% of INT BRV after using ability, once per turn *Also applies to abilities changed from BRV Attack, HP Attack

I thought I’d just get the best of both worlds and give Machina both an ATK up and BRV damage up Sphere. He even gets MAX BRV up as well thanks to Yang’s Sphere.

Also, don’t have Machina’s BT yet but since his High Armor can now be upgraded, I decided to spend the resources to Blue it already.

Update: I finally have Machina’s BT. I talk more about this in another post but yes, I readily spent all the resources needed to get it to Green or BT+ 3/3.

So now my Machina is finally complete. Can’t wait to use him on a Lufenia+ fight.

Future plans:

For now, am happy enough with my Sphere choices for Machina. I think his B Sphere is the best so definitely no plans of changing that. Just Purpled a dupe Vayne Ex for him so don’t want to change that anytime soon. He’s had Yang’s Sphere for what feels like forever already so he might as well keep it. 

Garnet Til Alexandros XVII from Final Fantasy IX

My Garnet is currently equipped with the following Spheres:

Prishe’s (from Final Fantasy XI) Weak Attack Boost Up Shorter (RF) A Sphere

When attacking target's weakness: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 4% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Alphinaud Leveilleur’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) Buff Success Base Attack All Shorter (RF) C Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party's INT BRV, ATK by 2% for 3 turns

Hope Estheim’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Buff Success Attack Boost All Shorter (RF) D Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party's MAX BRV, ATK by 2% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

I talk more about this in another post but after getting Garnet’s Burst weapon, I decided to Realize it and upgrade it to BT+ 3/3. She also has the following:

Her High Armor’s Been upgraded to Blue

She has 3 ATK 108 with MAX BRV 330 Artifacts

She also has 3 ATK 108 with Princess’s Resolve Boost★★ (Raises INT BRV, MAX BRV, ATK, DEF by 5% if HP is MAX at start of last wave) Artifacts

All her Boards have been completed. She has her Bloom Stone. She’s now Level 90 and Crystal Level 90. Since I already basically went all-in on building Garnet, I wanted to give her triple real Spheres as well.

Actual best or perfect Spheres for Garnet:

Garnet’s Sphere Slots are A, C, and D. She’s a support with great buffs and auras. She can heal. She can battery the party. She can imperil enemies and enchant the party with the thunder and water elements. For a support, she deals pretty good damage when fully maxed out.

She has BRV gains based on her ATK stat and she can battery the party based on her MAX BRV stat and the HP damage she deals. So A Spheres that increase the ATK and MAX BRV stats like Prishe’s are perfect for her. Since she can also hit hard, A Spheres that increase her BRV damage like Cloud’s and A Spheres that increase her MAG ATK like Papalymo’s are also good options for her.

For Garnet’s C Slot, she can go with her own Sphere which increases the ATK stat by 10%, or she can go with Spheres like Alphinaud’s which increases the party’s ATK and INT BRV stats by 5%.

The best D Sphere for Garnet is either Queen’s or Hope’s since they can increase the party’s ATK and MAX BRV stats by 5%. Any D Sphere that can boost the party’s ATK by 5% such as Lyse Hext’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) can work as well.

Plans:

I want to maximize Garnet’s BRV gains and battery which means giving her an A Sphere that can increase both. So far, the only ones that can do this are the following: 

Trey’s (from Final Fantasy Type-0) Break Attack Boost Up Longer

When inflicting Break: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 5% for 6 turns

I have a copy of this Sphere but I don’t want to give this to Garnet because it’s so bad. It only raises the ATK and MAX BRV stats by 5% whereas most A Spheres increase a stat by at least 10%. The activation condition for this Sphere is also not that easy to fulfill unless a char has a rebreaking mechanic. 

Gilgamesh’s (from Final Fantasy V) Break Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When inflicting Break: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

This is a better version of Trey’s Sphere. It’s not good for Garnet though since she doesn’t have a rebreaking mechanic.

Also don’t actually have this Sphere yet because I’ve never gotten even a single copy of Gilgamesh’s Ex.

Ardyn Izunia’s (Ardyn Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV) Break Raging Attack Boost Up A Sphere

When inflicting Break: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 2% up to 5 times, once per turn *Does not stack with same sphere

This is very similar to Gilgamesh’s Sphere. As aforementioned, my first copy of this Sphere went to Lightning. 

IIRC, have like 1 or 2 dupes of Ardyn’s Ex so I can get more copies of this Sphere but, like I said, this kind of Sphere isn’t good for Garnet since she doesn’t have a skill that can rebreak enemies so there’s no guarantee that she’ll always be the one to break them.

Prompto Argentum’s (from Final Fantasy XV) Critical Attack Boost Up Longer A Sphere

When dealing critical hit: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 5% for 6 turns

This is basically the same as Trey’s Sphere but with an activation condition that’s easier to fulfill. I have a copy of Prompto’s Ex but haven’t Purpled it yet. 

Yang Fang Leiden’s (from Final Fantasy IV) Critical Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When dealing critical hit: • Raises MAX BRV and ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

This Sphere is perfect for Garnet. It has an activation condition that’s easy to fulfill. It increases both the ATK and MAX BRV stats by 10%. It’s only for 3 turns but since all hits are critical if an enemy is broken and enemies are almost always usually broken, this Sphere will nearly always be active. 

Unfortunately, I only have 1 copy of this Sphere and it already went to Machina so Garnet can’t have it. 

Kadaj’s (from Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children) Debuff Attack Boost Up A Sphere

While debuffed enemy present: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 5％

Garnet can easily fulfill the activation condition of this Sphere since she inflicts thunder and water resistance down debuffs. It’s just too bad this Sphere only increases ATK and MAX BRV by 5% so it isn’t good for her at all.

Yuri’s (from Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates) Full HP Attack Boost Up A Sphere

While HP at MAX: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 5%

Ugh, why do A Spheres like this have to exist? That 5% really should have been 10%. Sigh.

Sephiroth’s (from Final Fantasy VII) Last Boost Attack Up A Sphere

Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10% if HP at least 50% of MAX at start of last wave *Does not stack with same sphere

This Sphere would have been perfect if not for the fact that it only activates at the start of the last wave. 

Rinoa Heartilly’s (from Final Fantasy VIII) Low HP Attack Boost Up A Sphere

While HP less than 80% of MAX: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10%

This Sphere would have been perfect if not for its activation condition. Garnet’s a healer so she’ll almost always be at max HP. Even if she loses some HP, she can just heal herself so there’s no way she’ll be able to constantly keep this Sphere’s effects active.  

Prishe’s (from Final Fantasy XI) Weak Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When attacking target's weakness: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Garnet can deal weakness damage so she can easily proc this Sphere. My only copy of this Sphere went to Lightning so I’ll need to Purple a dupe Prishe Ex to get another. This and Yang’s Sphere appear to be the best for Garnet. Since I don’t have a dupe of Yang’s Ex, looks like I’m going with this one.   

For Garnet’s C Sphere, I thought it best to go with one that increases the party’s ATK since she is, first and foremost, a support. The following are the C Spheres  that can do this:

Alphinaud Leveilleur’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) Buff Success Base Attack All Shorter C Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party's INT BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns

Garnet grants a buff with basically all of her skills so she can easily proc this Sphere. 

Maria’s (from Final Fantasy II) HP Heal Base Attack All Shorter C Sphere

After recovering HP: • Raises party's INT BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns

This is basically the same as Alphinaud’s Sphere except with a different activation condition. Garnet can only heal with her LD, which can’t be spammed, and her Ex, which doesn’t charge that often so I worry that she won’t be able to keep this Sphere’s effect active all the time.  

Llyud’s (from Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings) HP Heal Attack All Longer C Sphere

After recovering HP: • Raises party's ATK by 5% for 6 turns

Llyud’s Sphere has the same activation condition as Maria’s but the ATK up lasts for 6 turns so it’s more likely for Garnet to be able to constantly proc this. 

My first copy of this Sphere has yet to be used so I could give it to Garnet. But it only raises the party’s ATK whereas Alphinaud’s and Maria’s raise 2 stats. INT BRV may not be that important but still. I think I’m gonna go with Alphinaud’s Sphere even if it does mean I need to Purple another copy of his Ex.

For Garnet’s D Sphere, I’ll give her either Queen’s or Hope’s. Have dupes of both and will need to Purple a dupe to get another copy of their Spheres.

What Actually Happened:

Purpled dupes of the following Ex weapons:

Prishe’s

Alphinaud’s

Hope’s

Then I equipped all of their Spheres to Garnet. She now has the following:

Prishe’s (from Final Fantasy XI) Weak Attack Boost Up Shorter A Sphere

When attacking target’s weakness: • Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 10% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Alphinaud Leveilleur’s (from Final Fantasy XIV) Buff Success Base Attack All Shorter C Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party’s INT BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns

Apparently, my first copy of this Sphere went to no one. I thought for sure that I’d already used up my first Alphinaud Sphere so I was really surprised and annoyed when I found out that that wasn’t the case at all. 

I only found out when I was trying to equip Garnet with a C Sphere. Argh! What a waste of resources. Should have double-checked and made sure which Spheres I currently had on hand before going off to Purple dupe Ex weapons. Sigh.

Hope Estheim’s (from Final Fantasy XIII) Buff Success Attack Boost All Shorter D Sphere

After granting buff: • Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK by 5% for 3 turns *Does not stack with same sphere

Now my Garnet is fully built and complete. No regrets. She is really good and useful.

Future plans:

I think Garnet already has the best Spheres for her. Maybe her own C Sphere is better for more ATK for herself but, eh, for now am happy enough with my Sphere choices and have no plans of changing them anytime soon.

Conclusion

So, how ‘bout you? Have you decided to use your Spheres? Which chars did you give them to? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging this post.

Notes:

screenshots are from my Dissidia Final Fantasy: Opera Omnia game account

[skellebonez]

So, I'm curious about something: What would a "Macaque possessed by WBS" au look to you? What would it be like?

I actually already thought about this a lot, you just gave me a really great excuse to put my thoughts down into one post! I've seen a few different takes on this idea, but my take on it is:

This is also combined with my Macaque immortality headcanon. Mac is nearly out of commission after his fight with MK and Wukong, maybe just barely able to pick himself up and move somewhere he can lay low for a while. Unable to really do much for the moment and attempt to get back to full strength as smoothly as possible. Probably in the same run down dojo, not thinking they would look for him in the same place he had been because it's so obvious (and he's right).

After WBS is driven out of DBK she takes a different path on the way to find a new host, sensing Macaque's diminished power. She doesn't know who it is, but a powerful but weakened host is still a weakened host she could take advantage of, temporarily at least.

When she sees it's Macaque this gives her pause, but then only fuels her even more. This is one of the most powerful demons she could think of ever finding like this. He is incredibly tenacious and mentally strong, and had he not been like this he would be far to strong to take... but beaten and bruised and quite frankly unable to defend himself from her take over? It's far too tempting. But she needs to be cautious. He may be weak now, but he wouldn't be weak forever. And not even for very long.

So she possesses his body but doesn't take over just yet. The icy coldness of the spirit inhabiting him shocks him before she offers him a bargain.

She will give him extra power, maybe just enough to even take down the Monkie Kid again, in exchange for hosting her spirit in safer harbor. She is too weak on the outside, but inside she could give him just enough of a boost.

He accepts after a while, knowing of her reputation and power but being completely confident in his ability to fight her off if he really wanted her out. And he decides, when she suggests working with the Spider Queen to get the artifact she needs for her plan, to keep her secret as a little ace up his sleeve. Can't have too many tricks stowed away now can he?

The events after go roughly the same as canon, Macaque joining forces with the Spider Queen and her knowing something is up but not realizing Macaque is possessed. He is much more annoyed and frustrated than WBS by herself is, however, and he takes great fun in tormenting Wukong while he is captured. Wukong asks why his scelera are tinted blue at the edges and his fur is patched with white in the shape of fighting scars but he ignores this. (The white fur is his healed patches of wounds, the fur growing back stark white instead of black.)

All the way up until Wukong is freed by DBK. Unbeknownst to Macaque WBS has been slowly encroaching on his mind while he is sleeping, planting little seeds to sprout so she can take full control. She's been using his body for short bursts when he is supposed to be sleeping, unlike wukong he actually needs to sleep eventually.

She takes over him completely for the first time while he is awake durring the final scene where she confronts Wukong, now with the added bonus hurt of being threatened with the face of someone he personally knows. (To Macaque it looks as if Wukong tried to punch him completely unprovoked this time, he just entered the room)

And of course the special finishes off like normal, and after Macaque starts to realize he is missing bits and pieces of his memory. A minute here. A few minutes there. The Spider Queen starts to look at him in even more fear than before.

Because WBS can't really physically hurt anyone with the body she has in canon, she has a normal human host. Macaque is everything different, strong, and she can lash out when necessary. And hurt. And destroy.

Just like with DBK.

It takes very little time for him to realize that the reason Syntax flinches away from him and has a slash of a scar that formed on his cheek, the reason Strong Spider moves in front of Huntsman when he steps too close, and the reason the Spider Queen keeps him at arms length is because they think he is turning on them. That he is lashing out at them for no reason.

When he tells WBS he is going to come clean to SQ his own hand slaps down over his mouth and WBS has learned how to take just enough control to move parts of Macaque's body against his will.

The next time he is seen by SQ days later he has a slash of white over his right, now icy blue, eye and a smirk that doesn't belong to him.

"Allow me to introduce myself properly, your Majesty..."

[mcrninqstar]

𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑡: 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑜𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑠

SUMMARY: Love is patient, love is kind…but love is also strong. Cupid gathers Lucifer, Levi, Zatanna, and Rachel together on Valentine’s Day to finally put an end to an awful curse placed upon Lucifer and Levi by God himself. TRIGGERS: Angst, Pain WRITTEN WITH: @ofcupidslove, @zztophat, @trigonsgem, @ofleviathcns, @mazikeenofmurders

CUPID, ZATANNA, LUCIFER: Cupid was nervous. She had all the ingredients and the back up that she needed, but this was the biggest expansion of her power and magic that she'd performed in well, ever. So many people were counting on her to get this right, and she didn't want to let them down. Belphegor had stopped by earlier to give her a pep talk and it really helped boost her confidence. They always believed in her when she didn't believe in herself. They had a lot of things planned for Cupid's birthday so she was excited to get the show on the road. Only, her confidence started waning a little bit as the preparation work for the spell dragged on for longer than she thought it would. Cupid glanced at her watch and then back at the bowl of ingredients she was mixing together.

"Hey," Zatanna nudged Cupid gently as she placed another bowl beside her. "We'll get you out of here as soon as we can," she promised the angel. It was Valentine's Day and Cupid's birthday. The magician was just as eager as the angel to push the spell forward. She and Michael had plans tonight. Their last date night had been crashed by his siblings. She was hoping this date night wouldn't be spoiled too.

Both Bells and Michael stopped by Cupid's greenhouse earlier in the day to provide some support and a few extra ingredients. After talking with Dean, Zee knew that Belphegor was planning a date night for themselves and Cupid. Planning was a rare thing for Bells and Zee knew Cupid didn't want to miss the date. She would do what she could to push the spell through, but the prep work that was required was extensive. Michael had brought in a few god artifacts that they had to dismantle and siphon power from. Even with Michael and Lucifer's help, siphoning all that power had taken more time than expected. They were finally reaching the end of the prep work and would be able to start the ritual soon.

"Are we ready?" Lucifer asked. He'd been a bit of a helicopter since the whole thing started. He wasn't sure what to do with himself or how he could help, but he wanted to help. He'd sent Maze back out to Los Angeles to keep an eye on Chloe during the ritual. He wasn't sure what kind of affect this would have on Chloe. More than anything, he wanted to give the Detective her free will back. If she chose not to come back to him, he would understand. And if she did come back to him, at least he would know the choice was hers and there was no god meddling to it. "Is there anything else you need?"

"I think..." Cupid glanced at the notes she'd written down for herself. "I think we're good. I, uh, I need you all to gather in that sigil over there." She pointed to the center of the greenhouse where a large sigil was drawn, in the middle of the sigil stood an alter. "Once you're in there, I'll need you three to drink this," she held up a flask full of potion that Zatanna helped her mix earlier. Lucifer took the offered flask and made his way over to the sigil in the middle of the room. After taking a swig of the potion (which was disgusting) he passed it off to his brother. "Bombs away, Levi."

LEVI: levi was ready for this whole thing to be fixed, being stuck in limbo like this had taken a toll on him and he could only imagine what it had been like for rachel. in an attempt to not cause her any extra pain he'd kept his distance, although he'd forgotten about the gifts and flowers he'd set up to be delivered to her... that had been an awkward conversation... but at least it was going to be coming to an end soon. since levi had been told that cupid was going to do her spell he'd been moving between being excited to finally have his angel back and worried that he'd really lose her this time. when he arrived at the greenhouse he'd kept to the fringes, speaking to lucifer occasionally and avoiding zatanna's glares. he didn't know if rachel wanted to speak to him but anytime their eyes met he'd give her a smile, letting her have the choice in speaking to him or not. hearing that it was ready he followed lucifer to the sigil and took the flask from him, taking a drink of it before grimacing at the flavour "angel- i mean, here rachel." he smiled awkwardly before offering her the potion

RACHEL: Rachel was beyond ready for this to be fix, she couldn't count how many times she'd almost let her rage get the best of her lately, talking to Zatanna helped but part of her knew that things would never be fixed unless this curse was gone. She felt it each away at her every single day something seemed to remind her of Levi which was almost too easy these days. It was like she was always fighting with herself when it came to being around Levi seeing how he wore his pain on his face she could see how much he wanted this curse broken yet at the same time she noticed his worry of losing her forever because that was always a possibility something Zatanna and her talked about in great lengths. She gave Zee a softly smile as she moved towards the sigil following Cupid's request she always hated this day especially given how lovely everyone always acted around this day made her sick. She could felt Lucifer's pain and Levi's nervousness when she got closer to them smiling softly at her once boyfriend. "I don't mind you calling me angel, snake charmer" She replied softly taking the potions downing the rest of it without issue before turning her attention towards Cupid.

CUPID, ZATANNA, LUCIFER: Cupid took a deep breath to steady herself as everyone made their way over to the sigils and drank the nasty, icky potion she spent three hours working on. She had to get this right. If she was able to break this spell, then that meant there was hope for breaking Belphegor's curse too. It meant that there was hope that they could undo what God did. "Can you draw this mark on everyone's palm?" Cupid asked Zatanna as she tapped on the piece of paper to show her the drawing. The magician nodded and obliged, taking care to draw the symbol on each individual's palm before making her way over to the alter in the middle of the sigil.

Cupid entered the sigil moments later and a shift in power happened. It was like a vacuum sucked the air in around them. They could all see Cupid's halo now, its shine almost blinding. "Sorry," Cupid apologized to them all as she tried to steady herself. The flow of power was nauseating. "The markings on your palm sort of act as a power share." Two fallen archangels, a half demon, a magician, and a whole bunch of God artifacts they'd siphoned power from. If this wasn't enough magic to break through a God curse, Cupid didn't know what would be. Her current form couldn't handle much more power. She made her way to the alter, holding onto it to steady herself.

"I don't know what the cosmic consequences of this spell will be," she admitted. "I don't know if it will hurt or not." The literature wasn't very clear on that. "But there is one thing you three need to know. If I break this spell, God will know. He'll feel it, just as you feel it." These curses were as much a part of God as anything else. "There's a risk he could come back..." she glanced up at Lucifer, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Then that's a risk we'll have to take," Lucifer replied. What was one more fight for free will anyway? Maybe this time when God showed up, Lucifer and Michael would be on the same side for once. Or maybe Lucifer was just being hopeful. He didn't care either way. He wanted his freedom back; he wanted those around him to have the right to choose to be around him. What was love, power, and devotion if not a choice of free will? "Go on, dove," he encouraged Cupid. "Give the old man a good old fuck you for us. He deserves it after everything he's done. What do you need us to do?"

Cupid let out a sigh of relief as Lucifer agreed to the consequences. She didn't want to be the one to make that choice. She didn't want to be the one to potentially call God here. But the devil gave her permission and she was going for it. "One fuck you, coming right up," she nodded. "If you could all please link hands...let's get this started."

LEVI: he smiled softly at rachel at least she doesn't seem to completely hate me he thought to himself "well, who am i to deny you what you want angel." levi winked at her before turning to face cupid "i agree with goose, let him come." his tone was steely and if anyone read his thoughts they'd get a peek at how furious levi was with his father, not only for what he'd done to him and rachel, but for what he'd done to bells... levi had plenty of things to work through with god. part of him was still worried about what this would do to rachel, levi didn't want her to go through any more pain but he knew she wanted to be in charge of her own choices and feelings so he'd do what he could to ease any pain she had to go through. "make him suffer." he held his hand out to lucifer before reaching over to rachel with his other hand "whatever it takes... right angel?"

RACHEL: She gave Levi a soft smile that didn't reach her eyes, she struggled to be happy lately, before turning to cupid taking a deep breath to calm her rage at  the mere mention of the name. "I'd make you all orphans in a matter of seconds, so best crack on with this." She replied a heat behind her voice she hardly ever used before watching the other. She could keep her cool, her years of meditation had helped her growing up and she wasn't about to mess anything up or though it off the spell. She sighed turning back to Lucifer and Levi taking both of their hands feeling butterflies swim around her stomach wishing this would finish quickly without too much pain but she could take anything thrown at her, she won't be controlled anymore by anyone. "Whatever it takes." she nodded her head at Levi taking a deep breath to calm her nerves.

CUPID, ZATANNA, LUCIFER: "I dunno about making him suffer," Cupid chuckled. "I'm strong, but not that strong." Even Rachel's threat of making them orphans was overstated. "But I can certainly knock him down a peg or two." As the three affected individuals connected hands another wave of energy swept through the building. Cupid nodded to Zatanna and anointed the magician's hands and then her own with a sort of herbal mixture. The two linked hands at the center of the alter.

The angel took a deep breath and the pair began to recite a spell in unison. "Amor animi ex amore et ex animo, et animarum illorum iam semet explicare." The wind around them picked up as Cupid and Zatanna chanted love from love and mind from mind, let their souls now unwind. The alter below their hands began to glow as if something divine was forming beneath them. Cupid smiled to herself, momentarily surprised that the spell was working. "Venite et partem animae, ut sit amor sui." The angel chanced a glance over at the party of three. She could see the outline of a red string forming around each of them. Levi and Rachel's met somewhere in the middle and Lucifer's continued onward for what seemed like forever, connecting him all the way to Chloe back in Los Angeles.

Cupid continued the chant and the glow from the alter crawled up her arm until her whole body was now glowing too. The wind was picking up speed, knocking the plans in the greenhouse all around like a mini tornado, but the effects of this tornado weren't felt inside the protective circle. As long as everyone stayed inside the circle, they would be unharmed. The same could not be said for her plants. Even the forever flowers were suffering. Cupid herself felt like she was being battered around as she continued the spell. Her energy was waning as she poured everything she had into this. "Ne liberi amore sit, non est in vincula! she finished, gasping as she let go of Zatanna's hands.

The glow around Cupid quickly receded back into the alter. As her eyes adjusted, she smiled. Sitting there on the alter was a pair of golden scissors that hadn't been there before. "Holy shit..." she grinned.

"Is that a holy shit it worked? Or holy shit we're in trouble?" Lucifer asked, as he glanced over his shoulder at Cupid. Based on the level of destruction outside the protective circle, he hoped it was the former and not the latter. Even with all the divine power given to them, he could see Cupid and Zatanna were in rough shape. They wouldn't be able to do this again.

"It worked," Cupid smiled as she leaned over the alter and took a shaky breath. Zatanna came over to steady her, but the magician was just as shaky. They'd both expanded so much energy into the spell, but Cupid knew the work wasn't done. "I'm okay," she assured Zatanna. The angel of love grabbed the Golden Scissors off the alter and made her way over to the trio. "The strings here..." she indicated. "They're called Red Strings of Fate. In order to free you, I have to cut them. I dunno what it's gonna feel like, but odds are its going to be unpleasant. So...that being said, who wants to go first?"

LEVI: when cupid and zatanna began the spell levi kept glancing over at rachel. he trusted the pair to be able to manage the spell, he'd gone on more than one expedition to fetch powerful objects at zatanna's behest so he knew that cupid had enough power to channel... so he couldn't help but worry about rachel not that he would ever not worry. when cupid finished the spell levi looked down, seeing the string between himself and rachel before looking back to cupid as she held the scissors "not that i don't trust you dear, cause i do, but i really hope those three sisters don't show up... they're a little upset with me after a party in athens." he chuckled before looking to rachel "well angel, shall we bite the bullet or let the silly goose go first."

RACHEL: Looked at the at everyone this ritual so far had gone well, she trusted Cupid to know what she was doing and even so the curse affect her realm if anyone could break it, she knew it was her. Part of her was shocked to see the red line come between her and Levi, she'd read many stories that talked about the red line of fate that linked people together and it always sounded so romantic but right now it was something that could be forcing her to love Levi something she hatred with a passion. "I'm not surprised your brilliant both of you" She looked at Zatanna and Cupid nodding her head before turning back towards Levi as Cupid came over towards them with the scissors shaking her head at Levi's silliness "I don't mind going first I'm sure everyone in this room wants this over as soon as possible." She took a breath squeezing Levi's hand for a moment before using her powers to send him a telepathic message. No matter what, hanging out with you has been a highlight these last couple months. You are worth everything in my eyes Levitation, try not to hate me on the other side of this. She mused staring at him giving his hand yet another squeeze. "Any advice about what will happen when these get cut?" She asked Cupid softly

CUPID, ZATANNA, LUCIFER: "Ah, your reputation proceeds you, Levi. Whatcha do? Sleep with them and then not call?" Cupid teased as she held the scissors. She felt a brief surge of power wave through her that she really couldn't control. The scissors in her hands shifted form and became a pair of daggers, then a saw, then a sword, before going back to their scissor form. Shit. She swallowed hard. Gotta stay stable. Deep breaths. Don't fuck this up.

"Cupid..." Lucifer called to her gently. They had visible threads but Cupid was hanging on by a string of her own. If she pushed too far...well, let's just say Lucifer would rather be damned for the rest of his life than deal with the aftermath of a dead Cupid.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she assured him. She stood tall and as self-assured as she could. Lucifer nodded, and pressed a button on the ear piece he had with him. It connected him to Maze who was in LA with Chloe. He was relieved that it was still functioning despite all the power radiating in the air. He figured it was due to the safety sigils they'd drawn around themselves and the alter. "Alright, Mazikeen. The red strings should be visible now. We're on the final step. Keep me posted," he requested.

"The lore wasn't specific about what's going to happen when I cut this string," Cupid explained apologetically to Rachel. "Whatever you do, stay in the protective wardings until I lift them," she instructed. She wished she could give Rachel more guidance on what was about to happen especially since she was the victim here. Forced to love Levi, what a tragedy. Cupid was still pissed at Levi for how long he kept this from Rachel. He'd come to Cupid for confirmation after Aamon's banishment and yet still at the Masquerade six months later, it seemed like Rachel was none the wiser about forced affection toward him. He hadn't told her until he'd come back from hell...almost 7 months since his suspicions of the curse first arose.

She took a deep breath and held Levi and Rachel's string. She felt the power radiating off of that string. Cupid nodded to Zatanna who was back at the alter now. The magician read off a line of text from Cupid's notes. The red color in the strings slowly started fading to pink. It all seemed to be draining into Cupid. Once the string was a stark white, Cupid brought the Gold Scissors forward with a shaky hand, she took a deep breath in, and on the exhale, she cut Levi and Rachel's string, releasing them from their bond to each other.

Cupid felt weak and nauseous and had to act fast. She looked over at Lucifer who'd been momentarily distracted by the pair's reaction to the cutting of the string, but then he turned to meet Cupid's gaze. It was now or never. He nodded quickly to Cupid. The angel grasped Lucifer and Chloe's string and watched the red color fade rapidly. Once it was a pristine white, Cupid brought the scissors down once more and cut Lucifer's string, freeing the devil from his binds.

RACHEL: She took a deep breath, she could feel her apprehension at finally ending this curse it didn't matter what happened so long as she was in control again. Rae hated feeling this way she couldn't even know her own mind linked to Levi like this, why couldn't anything in her life be simply. She kept her eyes on Cupid very thankful they'd been able to find a way to break the curse but even she could see the amount of power this was taking from Zatanna and Cupid combined. "I understand Cupid its okay, I can bare whatever happened so long as this works" he replied honestly giving the other a soft smile before taking yet another breath when she felt a tug as the other pulled on their string. Everything started to heat up as the the string turned from red to white but she could handle it, whatever was happening it simply was just a reaction to what was going on during the ritual.

When she felt the string cut she couldn't stop the scream of pain the fell from her lips as she doubled over gripping Lucifer's and Levi's hands tighter then normal. Her blood felt like it was one fire, almost as if a fever had taken over her body as punishment for daring to end the tie that God himself put there when she was born. She could feel spasms of pain shaking her cord as she tried hard to stay within the protect circle and not to hurt the others in there with her. She looked up at Lucifer sure there was worry written all over his face "its receding...she'l be okay...." She spoke taking deep breaths staying bent over on her knees just for a moment to catch her breath.

LEVI: as cupid worked her magic levi had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. being away from rachel like this had made him realise that it wasn't just her affected by the curse. levi had been shrugging off his duties and responsibilities because since meeting her his angel had been the only important thing to him... he'd been acting more and more like his father and levi hated that with every fibre of his being. he'd stopped talking to his family as much and had been putting off telling her about the curse, levi hated everything about how this had changed him and he'd started to become the one thing he didn't want to be.

when rachel's grip tightened on his hand he looked down at her, worry all over his features. he dropped lucifer's hand and knelt beside her, helping support her as the magic worked it's way through her. "i got you angel." he whispered to her. if he could, levi would take as much of the pain from her as he could but he'd promised her that he wouldn't do that so he just held her through it. he himself could feel the spell working through his mind, feeling ties he didn't even know were there burn away and the fog lifting from his consciousness. "i'm so sorry you have to go through this. i never meant for any of this to happen." he knew after this he had to go back to hell and let rachel be herself, as much as he wanted to stay he couldn't.

MAZIKEEN: This was a tense night for all of them, but Maze was glad to not be in the same room where they were trying to break the curse. She was just following Chloe from a distance, keeping out of Chloe's sight, but making sure Chloe stayed in hers. It was mostly boring stuff, but it was still important. She perked up a little when the bluetooth device in her ear beeped. She pressed a button, and it connected her back to Lucifer. "I see it," she told him. For now, it looked like Chloe didn't notice the red string attached to her, which was good. Chloe was focused on picking out groceries. She had no idea what was coming for her as Cupid cut the string connecting Lucifer and Chloe.

Chloe dropped what she was holding and screamed in pain. Maze rushed to her side. Chloe had fallen to the ground, and Maze was kneeling down with her, holding her hand. "Hey, I've got you," she said reassuringly.

"Maze?" Chloe asked. "What the hell are-" She clutched her own body with her other free hand as she remembered the pain she was in.

"Lucifer's working on breaking the curse you're under. It'll be okay soon." The pain was a lot for her, which had been obvious just by what Maze had heard from Rachel, but Chloe didn't have the fortune of being part demon. She was all human, and humans were so fragile. The pain became unbearable for her, and even after it stopped, she passed out. Maze checked her pulse, and she seemed fine. Maze guessed that she'd passed out more from fear than from pain. She'd be fine with a little sleep. Maze picked her up and slung her over her shoulder before talking into the bluetooth again. "Chloe's okay. She's just taking a little nap now. I'll take her back to where she's staying and watch over her over the night to make sure she's still okay. How are things on your end, Lucifer? Are you okay?" She didn't like the idea of him going through the same thing, but he was an archangel. He was probably fine.

CUPID, ZATANNA, LUCIFER: Zatanna and Cupid flinched in unison when Rachel screamed, but Lucifer didn't have time to react before Cupid was already cutting his string. He felt a burning in his core as if ties were rapidly stripped away. It didn't hurt necessarily, but it didn't feel good either. He felt naked. Not in your usual Tuesday orgy kind of way, but in a vulnerable kind of way.

He flinched when he heard Chloe's screams of agony on the other end of the line. He couldn't be there with her to check in on her and comfort her as Levi was doing for Rachel now, but he trusted Maze. Then the screaming stopped and his heart dropped to his stomach. He let out a sigh of relief when Maze replied that Chloe was okay. She must've just passed out from the pain. Lucifer himself was surprised Rachel was still standing, but she was part demon so that gave her some advantage. "We're okay..." he replied hesitantly to Maze. He looked around at Rachel and Levi for confirmation. They both seemed okay, but Lucifer didn't know if there would be after shocks.

Zatanna knelt down beside Rachel who looked pale and gaunt but was otherwise still breathing. Zee muttered a quick healing spell before nodding to Cupid to finish off the spell. Cupid returned to the alter and took a deep breath. She felt absolutely electrified and not in a good way. The curse was broken but a lot of the residual energy from it still hung within Cupid and she needed to dump it all somewhere. This meant she had to create a cursed object. She picked up one of the large, stuffed teddy bears that were commonly sold during this season and placed him on the alter. "Sorry, Teddy Roosevelt. This hurts me as much as it hurts you." Cupid placed her hands on the alter on each side of the bear. Cupid began to glow once more, this time a light pink. The pink glow drained out of her and into the teddy bear. Once the light completely disappeared, Cupid lost consciousness and dropped to the floor beside the alter.

Lucifer ran over to Cupid to check on her. She was still breathing, but she was weak. The final part of the spell had taken everything out of her. Lucifer glanced at the teddy bear and then back at Zatanna. "Don't touch the bear," she ordered. She walked over to the alter and put on a pair of enchanted gloves. They would keep her safe while handling the bear. Gingerly, she picked it up and placed it inside one of her top hats. She would be able to take it to Michael and have him destroy the remaining energy. "Is she okay?" Zee asked Lucifer as she glanced at Cupid.

"Physically, yes? Emotionally...she's about to miss her date." Lucifer used whatever strength he could muster (which wasn't much at this point, he was beyond exhausted) to pick Cupid up off the ground. "If you lift the protection wardings, I can get her back to Belphegor's place."

Zatanna nodded. "Alright, kids. Brace yourselves." Zatanna took a deep breath and held out her hand. Her eyes began to glow a soft blue as the sigils on the ground burned away. It felt like a bubble had burst around them the moment the wardings were lifted. The entire greenhouse was cluttered and in disarray as if a storm had blown through it while they were doing the spell. Zatanna staggered backward, but grabbed onto Lucifer's shoulder for support. She herself felt very weak now that the wardings were lifted.

"Not to be the bear of bad news, Ms. Zatara, but I think you're about to miss your date too. Levi..." Lucifer looked over his shoulder at his brother. "Can you get Ms. Zatara and Ms. Roth home or would you like me to call one of my demons?"  

RACHEL: Rachel heard Chloe scream almost in time with her voice she wasn't sure why she was still standing if anything she blamed her demon half, this took so much out of her she felt tired and weak. She barely register Levi or Zatanna coming down to her. She all but clung to Levi not trusting her legs or body to support her weight after what she'd been through. She watched the rest of things through a haze of tiredness laying her head on Levi's chest "its better this way" She whispered back feeling her head clean through the love haze that used to be there, it was a good thing this pain, it would help her in the long run.

Her eyes snapped open when she felt and heard the sigils began to burn away freeing them at long last, everything seemed different now but she could see how tired everyone in the room was moving to grab Zatanna's hand pulling her close to Levi and herself. "I'm sorry You both missed your dates for us, I really do appreciate everything you've both done."  She replied honestly turning an eye to Levi "I'd prefer if you took us...if you aren't too busy Levi....I don't wish to show my weakness to unknown demons.." She asked before shooting a wincing look at Lucifer "No Offense intend"

LEVI: he nodded "just hold on to that angel. it'll pass." levi kept rubbing soothing circles on her back as she worked through it. he looked over his shoulder at his brother meeting his eyes and giving him a nod that he was alright... well as alright as he could be given the circumstances. i'm going home after this... rachel needs to be herself without me around. levi thought to lucifer, not wanting to break the news to rachel with everyone around.

"i have nothing but time for you angel, i'd be happy to get you and ms. zatara home." he smiled softly at her before standing up and holding out his hand to help her up as well as offering one to zatanna "if she doesn't mind that is." levi joked and turned back to lucifer "i'll make sure they get home safe and sound. tell bells i'm sorry for stealing cupid away from their date."

CUPID, ZATANNA, LUCIFER: Lucifer nodded at Levi's message. He understood where his brother was coming from. He hoped for Levi's sake he didn't stay in hell for too long. It was easy to stay down there and try to ignore the impact of all of this. While the curse made Lucifer weary of all of his connections potentially being coercive, it had a different impact on Levi. It made him hyper focused on his relationship to the point where he forgot everyone else. Going to hell wouldn't fix the isolation he'd caused himself. It would just make things worse. When the dust settled, Lucifer would go down to hell and try to talk him out of it. 

Zatanna was disappointed she'd miss her date, but she didn't have energy for much else. Despite her exhaustion, she could see the resolute look on Levi's face. He wasn't coming back. That in and of itself was going to hurt Rachel in the coming days. "You can drop me off first," she told Levi as she took his hand. "You and Rachel probably need to talk." If he really was leaving, she wasn't going to let him just ghost Rachel. He needed to tell her he was going and Zatanna knew he needed to do that with some sense of privacy. 

"Safe travels," Lucifer nodded to the three of them. He watched as Levi teleported himself, Rachel, and Zatanna out of the greenhouse. Lucifer stood with Cupid in his arms for a moment as he looked around the mess they'd created. "I'm sorry, Cups," he replied as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He knew she couldn't hear him but he really was sorry. Not just about the condition of her greenhouse or her missed date, but about everything that had happened since she found about about Belphegor's void. The trauma was fresh for everyone in those days and the change in Cupid was gradual. He'd watched her innocence and softness disappear slowly as a result of Belphegor's curse. "We'll fix it," he promised. And with that, he teleported out of the greenhouse and took her back to Belphegor's apartment. / END

[radramblog]

Every Boros Commander, Part 1

Every one of these rambles is going to be longer and nerdier than the last, I guess. We’ll see how long I can keep that up for.

If you aren’t or haven’t been at least a casual fan of Magic: The Gathering, this post is going to be completely lost on you, sorry.

Oh also I’m having to split this in half since it took basically all afternoon to write and its still juuuust not done.

Boros gets a lot of shit for being bad and having bad generals for EDH until recently, and seeing as its my favourite two-colour pair I felt like exploring, well, every option we have for the combo. I’m excluding the new Commander Legends partner commanders in this, since I don’t have all day, and I’m also not covering Akiri and Bruse Tarl since no-one ever builds just Boros with them, and I’m not including 3-5 colour decks that just happen to have red and white in them. That’s not Boros.

Boros’s strengths are in manipulating combat, in tokens, and with Voltron strategies. It is the best pair for Equipment decks and top tier for Aggressive decks, to the point of being arguably shoehorned by WOTC into such strategies for a long time. Its weaknesses are mostly to do with card draw and ramp, possibly the most important things in a casual game of Commander, but the former is alleviated by many of red’s recent card draw options and the latter easily supplemented with mana rocks- if you have enough money, any deck can have good ramp, but enough budget options exist these days that it isn’t too bad even for the “worst colors”.

Anyway, enough beating around the bush lets get into this. Going in Chronological order.

Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran (29th most played as of writing)

…It seriously took until Ravnica to get a legendary RW creature? Heinous. Cool as Agrus is as protagonist of the Ravnica novel, his card simply does not hold up in 2021, let alone beforehand. He’s a Glorious Anthem style commander, except he works best only with creatures that are both red and white, and not nearly enough cards produce multicolored tokens for him to boost. Oh, also he’s a 5 mana 3/3 with no protection or evasion that has to attack to get his effect. Save it for the novel.

Razia, Boros Archangel (30th most played as of writing, the last place finalist)

Speaking of Ravnica. Razia is fucking cool, between the art and unique, if underwhelming, activated ability. She is also 8 mana and not green. She is the only commander to my knowledge that can redirect damage to opponents’s creatures, so if that’s the deck you want to build, go for it, though enjoy the distressingly small cardpool. God, they couldn’t have given her an extra power, could they?

Brion Stoutarm (6th most played as of writing)

Brion is the first actually viable commander of the bunch, being a pretty decent head to either a Fling deck with Ball Lightnings or Acts of Treason, or just Giant Tribal with his Lorwyn compatriots. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or played against Brion yet, but I’d be interested in doing so. Having lifegain in the command zone with a deck that likes throwing damage around is pretty nice. It’s surprising that he’s still so high, especially considering EDHREC (my data source) only now pulls from the last 2 years of decks, but I’m certainly not sad to see him there.

Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer (19th most played as of writing)

Spoilers: Jor is actually the best Anthem commander. +3/+0 is huge, and when most of your ramp and some of your draw is artifacts you’re not going to have a hard time getting metalcraft. 5 mana is a fair chunk for an aggressive deck but he turns the damage output up enough notches that I think he’s pretty good. Underrated in my opinion. How are there more Tajic, Legion’s Edge decks than Jor Kadeen decks?

Basandra, Battle Seraph (24th most played as of writing)

Basandra is the head of my current Boros deck, being a pillowfort/combat manipulation deck. She’s, uh, not ideal in that even, since she stops even you from casting removal and such during combat. Having an extra must attack effect in the zone is nice, though, and a flying commander can be nice for closing games out. Basandra at least has the gift of being fairly open-ended, but also, she doesn’t really do anything, so that’s probably got something to do with it.

On a side note, fuck you Terese Nielsen for turning out to be a cunt. No-one else seems to have drawn this character, so I can’t even make an alter. Fuck.

Gisela, Blade of Goldnight (10th most played as of writing)

Gisela has a lot of very attractive words on her. Unfortunately, 7 mana and that ability means that as soon as you drop her out of the zone, you better use her quick because she isn’t sticking around long. Obviously lends herself to group slug or Earthquake decks, but the former paints an even bigger target on your head and the latter is even mana hungrier than normal. I prefer her in the 99.

Aurelia, the Warleader (5th most played as of writing)

Aurelia was the “best” Boros commander for a long time, and it’s easy to see why- haste and an extra combat trigger add up to a lot of damage very quickly and it’s not like there was much competition for a while. She’s actually the only one of the top 5 Boros commanders that wasn’t printed in the last 5 years, so I guess she’s stood the test of time, much like Brion.  I’d argue she’s pretty boring though, seeing as she has the one thing she does, but she does it well and there’s no faulting her for that. She’s the closest we have to r/custommagic’s favourite “double combat triggers” legend. A lot of people seem to run her as Angel Tribal too, which of the available Angels in the zone I’d argue that’s a pretty good shout. The Red/Boros Angels are fun!

Tajic, Blade of the Legion (20th most played as of writing)

The first on this list I’d consider playing as Voltron, Tajic’s first card is indestructible which as a former Sapling of Colfenor player is fucking excellent in the zone for when you have to play defensively. He does, however, require other creatures in the deck to truly shine, and you do have to have those creatures attack, so it can be awkward to get the most out of him. He’s a cool dude though, much better than his other card imo.

Anax and Cymede (23rd most played as of writing)

The first draft I ever played was a Born of the Gods draft in which I splashed Anax and Cymede. Clearly, I had no idea what I was doing. Anax and Cymede look a lot like Tajic in deck, to be honest, since they’re creatures that like having buffs but also want other creatures around to benefit. Heroic is kind of an awkward requirement, however, and I suspect you’d be spending more time just having it as a buff for the royals themselves. Its nice to see a loving married couple as a Magic card, though, I’m sure things will be good for them always.

Iroas, God of Victory (9th most played as of writing)

Somehow despite it being common in the 99 of aggressive decks, I don’t think I’ve ever seen an Iroas deck in my local metas. I think it has the potential to be pretty powerful, since if you can meet his (admittedly harsh) requirement he’s an indestructible evasive commander with that magical 7 power making commander damage a 3HKO. And when he’s not ready to rumble, he’s nigh impossible to kill on account of the limited targeted enchantment exile people tend to play in the format. Otherwise, he makes attacking free and bountiful for other creatures, and so is just kinda good to have around- I can see running him for that alone.

Munda, Ambush Leader (27th most played as of writing)

Somehow more people are playing Munda than Razia or Agrus, despite being just the worst commander with Ally in the text (outside the type line, love you Zada) and not doing actual anything outside of that. Why the fuck doesn’t he draw the cards? Why does he just stack them? God, Munda sucks. Also I have like 3 of them, since I drafted a lot of that deck in that environment and people just pass him around. Anyone want one? Be my guest.

Kalemne, Disciple of Iroas (11th most played as of writing)

Precon face commanders always get a bit more love and a bit more power than the average legend, and Kalemne is no exception. Double Strike in the zone on a creature that gets bigger is just nuts, and it means she kills people astonishingly quickly. Even my non-voltron Kalemne deck that just wanted to play big idiots had her as a huge threat since even if she gets killed she stays big. Kalemne also happens to be probably better for Giant tribal than Brion, though he does at least get to yeet those removal magnets if they do get removed.

Anya, Merciless Angel (26th most played as of writing)

I didn’t think Anya would be this low. While she is another indestructible commander, it is conditional, and her abilities are self-sabotaging- if someone is in range of being killed by her, you’re probably not going to want to attack them just so you can keep indestructible and buffs, but you also, yknow, want to kill them. I can see her being political in this way though- keeping someone alive with her swords at their throat can have some fun implications. I think shes underrated despite her awkwardness.

Archangel Avacyn (14th most played as of writing)

(Her colour identity is RW since her other face is a red creature. It’s a bit odd, I know)

Avacyn was fucking unbeatable in draft and obnoxious in Standard (though one of my favourite magic stories involves her, so,), and since I never managed to get one for Kalemne when that deck was around I have no real love for her. She’s generically powerful without leading in a particular direction, but her flip ability is pretty cool as is her story in the set. It’s OK. Also why do people keep putting her in Angel decks? You know she doesn’t flip off those, right?

Adriana, Captain of the Guard (22nd most played as of writing)

Adriana, Adriana. I didn’t dislike Adriana as much as I did until I actually did the math on her. Typical commander games are 4-player, so she is a +3/+3 anthem at maximum assuming you have good attacks on every single opponent and that none of them are dead yet. I’m really not sure why you’d play this over Jor Kadeen, and it looks like people aren’t, so. Melee was a fun mechanic in draft, but I completely understand why it hasn’t crossed over, ever, to other formats, seeing as there are 7 total cards with it and most of them are draft chaff. CONTINUED IN PART 2...ANOTHER DAY. PROBABLY SOON SINCE IT’S 2/3 DONE ALREADY.

[cosmiceverafter]

Mission Not Impossible

Random 29 for Belmanes - "How is my wife more badass than me?" for @manesalex. We have both Belmanes and Malex in this ficlet. I hope you enjoy it, love. 🧲❤️️

Isobel hadn't seen them coming, but she had the moves that were required. All that training after Noah manipulated her and died prepared her for anything.

Half of the Scooby Squad was out visiting an offsite location after finding an artifact that wasn't exactly human. It turned into somewhat of a double-mission-date with Gregory, Alex, and Michael all ready for action.

When they arrived in the abandoned building, they had unfortunately been separated.

Her husband, Gregory, liked to stick by her side—it made him feel more secure. He knew she was a tough cookie, he told her that daily, but it was his peace of mind having her within his sight. And if she could do anything for her love, it would be to give him that sense of calm after a lifetime of Manes' misery.

So she could only imagine how he was feeling now that somebody had scattered the group with gunshots.

"Damn," she muttered as she saw the two men lying on the ground, unconscious. They had appeared to be fit like bodybuilders yet had gone down like bowling pins.

Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dumb.

They had made some crude remarks about her ass and had barely finished their sentence when she had shoved them against the wall with her mind, something she had learned over time. Then she had dropped kicked them with her ankle. Graceful, too. 

Humans. So predictable.

Except for Greg. He kept surprising her, over and over again. Her husband was one of the good ones. That concept had taken her some time to accept, but once she had, it had been happily ever after for them. No secrets, just love.

She had fallen in love so quickly it had been like falling asleep. Every day together, seemed to be better and better. He was her reason for being on earth. It all made sense now; the pain, the hurt, all of it. Gregory Manes was her everything. 

Finally, she heard in the distance Michael calling out her name, "Izzy? Izzy, where are you?"

Then she heard Alex yelling as well, "Isobel? Are you okay? I think she's this way, Michael." Oh, the two of them. Just like how she was with Gregory, that's how Michael and Alex were and always would be. Those two husbands were almost as cute as she and Gregory were, but she would never admit that to them.

Michael didn't need that ego boost.

"I'm here!"

They came running into the room, sweat and blood dripping from their faces.

Alex looked down at the two men, "Impressive." He then peered over at his husband, "I told you she could handle it."

Michael just shrugged, "I'll always be protective over her; she's like my sister from another alien-mama. I can't help it."

"And oh how I love you for it," she replied, taking Michael into her arms. "Now, would you two mind telling me where my husband is?"

"He ran in the other direction, wanting to cover more ground to find you," Alex answered. He shook his head, "You know how my brother gets with you."

"And they call me protective," Michael laughed.

"Hey, I act the same way about you, babe," Alex responded, ruffling Michael's curls.

"I'm not complaining. It's actually a turn-on," Michael added, as he bit his lip.

"Okay, okay, you two," Isobel said, rolling her eyes. "Let's go find my man."

They ran down a gloomy corridor, which became darker with every step they took. Isobel brought out her flashlight and shined it into an empty room.

She was about to call out for Greg, when Alex grasped her arm softly and whispered, "There could be more of them. Just keep your eyes open."

Alex had more training in this type of situation, so she decided to follow the excellent soldier's lead.

When they heard a shuffle and a deafening noise coming from the second room on the right, Isobel pointed, and the other two nodded.

Carefully, they made their way down, creeping as quietly as they could without bringing attention to themselves.

As they stood by the doorway, Alex counted down from three, and they burst into the room.

Sure enough, Gregory was being detained at gunpoint, and Isobel was ready to kill the son of a bitch who dared to hold her husband against the wall.

He wasn't the only one that got protective over the one he loved.

"Let go of him, right now," she warned angrily.

Gregory's eyes widened as he took her in; she could see the relief, and then the fear re-enter them. "Isobel, get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving you." She looked at the men, all three of them, "This is my last warning. Let him go."

"How about I shoot the bastard for trespassing, then all of you instead?" The tall man exclaimed with a toothy grin.

She glanced over at Michael, then looked around at Alex, who nodded at her. Their silent communication was code for ass-kicking time.

Isobel put her hand up, "Sorry, boys, that's the wrong answer."

The man with the gun flew into the wall, and Michael pulled the weapon into his now healed hand.

Alex moved so swiftly, he barely seemed human. He rammed his fist into the muscular man so powerfully that the man sank quickly to the hard surface with a grunt. The other man tried to take Michael out, but Michael flipped the guy instantly with his powers.

Isobel had one target to get to, and that target was her husband. The guy she slammed into the wall, tried to get up and she kicked him back down. What a nuisance. 

She rushed to Gregory’s side, kneeling next to him, and examined that his face was already swollen, "Are you okay, my love?"

Gregory caressed her cheek gently, and his cut lip turned into a soft smile, "I am now that I can see you're alright. I hate that we got separated. Did they hurt you?"  

"Honey, I took them all out easily. Truly, it was a piece of cake."

"She's right, she did. Two men, in fact, on her own," her brother-in-law replied proudly. Isobel winked at Alex, her now best friend.

Gregory glanced at the men on the floor, passed out, and chuckled, "How is my wife more badass than me?"

Isobel grinned, "It just comes naturally, I guess."

Her husband pulled her towards him and kissed her lips gently, "I'm in awe of you, Isobel Manes."

"I hate to break up this tender moment; as you know, I'm a hopeless romantic myself," Michael interrupted as he blew a kiss at Alex, "but these men are going to wake up any moment, and we should probably get the hell out of here. I'm not sure how much alien juice we still have left in us..."

Isobel groaned but pulled away slowly, "Dammit. We didn't even get the book explaining the artifact, though. It was the whole reason we came here. What a waste."

"I wouldn't say that," her husband murmured.

She looked over at him, as he reached into his back pocket, wincing, then holding up a small book. Isobel gasped and clapped her hands, "And you call me a badass. Well done, sweetheart!"

"Hey, being married to you, I've had to learn to keep up. Plus, I do have moves of my own, too."

Isobel helped Gregory to his feet, with the help of his brother. When he was up, she wrapped her arms tightly around him, "Don't I know it." She kissed Gregory’s cheek, hovering on his soft skin, thinking all about when she would have him home to herself. 

Alex laughed to the side of them, "I might have to agree with my husband on this one. You two rocked this mission, but we gotta go."

"Agreeing with Michael? I never thought I'd see the day," she smirked as they made their way out of the room; her hand intertwined with Gregory’s.

Alex grinned, “You’d be surprised. It happens from time-to-time.”  

"Hey! I know what I'm doing," Michael replied with a playful frown as they ran down the hallway.

"Sure, Guerin!" They all laughed.

Mission accomplished.

[auradonians]

𝐅𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘

Quick Facts: Location - Olympus Royal Family - King Ramsey Valois, Prince Alexander Valois Population - aprox. 300,000 people

A town that is often overlooked on the grand map of Auradon, Felicity is a quiet city that has, for the most part, kept to itself throughout the decades of its existence. Its people close and its traditions strictly followed, it’s a town that has a cozy and homey feel despite its rapidly growing population. It’s long been hailed as a spot to settle down at and a perfect town to raise a family in due to the relaxed and easygoing nature of its citizens

Overview: Founded by King Gabriel Valois, the city of Felicity has been a source of agricultural prosperity since long before the formation of Auradon and today remains one of the largest suppliers of crops to the rest of the world. What began as a rural farming town has since grown into something much larger, its once small yet stable population transforming into something bigger than most could have ever imagined. With rich soil and successful harvest, much of the prosperity was attributed to the goddess Fortuna, who was worshipped by a pair of farmers within the outskirts of what was then just a village. Gabriel was quick to notice this and declared Fortuna as the patron goddess of Felicity, erecting a statue in her honor in the center of the village. It’s a statue that remains there to this day. 

At its formation, there was little more than a cluster of homes and bountiful fields but everything changed with the discovery of the network of crystal caves underneath the town, a discovery that would change Felicity for good. A man by the name of Theodore Butler Carr came to King Gabriel with the request of attempting to mine in the dangerous caves on the edge of town, and with the understanding that all materials discovered would belong to Gabriel, the request was granted. It was a long and arduous process but eventually, he broke through to an entire underground network of caves, the walls lined in crystals that seemed to be almost alive. Theodore brought news back to the King and upon further inspection, it was determined that the crystals were a versatile source of magic that could be harnessed and used. The crystal was dubbed Vanarite and while nearly nonexistent throughout the rest of the world, there was an abundance of it to be found beneath Felicity. Thus, the crystal boom began.

The Crystal Boom: When the discovery of a rare yet adaptable resource hit the world, spreading largely by word of mouth, Felicity went from a small town to a bustling area. People in search of prosperity and opportunity flooded the town in the hopes of starting anew and beginning their lives in a town filled with magic. With Carr at the forefront, he led expedition after expedition into the caves, retrieving the resource and bringing it back to the king, who offered Carr a slice of wealth in return for all he had done. Quickly growing to become one of the richest and most prominent figures in the city, the Carr name holds weight even today and is still closely associated with House Valois. However, it quickly became clear that the caves were seemingly endless and nearly impossible to accurately map, but the deeper one went, the more crystals they would discover. For generations the caves, along with the ample crop production, boosted Felicity into being a prosperous area where all people had food on the table and a bed to sleep in at night.

This only grew as the magic that had been harvested was eventually applied to furthering technology in ways it never had before. Over time, it reached a point where everything in Felicity ran on magic in some form. The lights in all the homes, the machines used for harvesting, the power source behind every little thing could be traced back to Vanarite. Magic was accepted and even encouraged within the walls of Felicity and when King Ramsey married Magdalene, a well-known and powerful sorceress, it was only encouraged further. 

A New Age: By the time of King Ramsey’s reign, the caves had still not been fully explored. There had been a few setbacks over the course of centuries and some monarchs had pulled people out of the caves entirely, stopping expeditions due to fears of stripping the caves completely and putting the focus on further agriculture production instead. Ramsey believed in both, putting resources and time into all fields with the belief that for true prosperity, a city must pride itself on a multitude of aspects, not just one. Under his instruction, the crystal caves were mapped with further detail and it was discovered that they led directly into the Forbidden Mountain and to Maleficent’s castle. Due to fears of Maleficent discovering them, Ramsey put a halt to the search, forbidding anyone from stepping foot onto or beneath the mountain range that was occupied by the villain. Shortly after, the United Kingdoms of Auradon was formed.

The way of life in Felicity had to change completely. With the new laws surrounding magic and its use, the focus was pulled away from the caves and instead put towards entering a new age, that relied less on magic and more on science. Many of the inventions and technology that relied on Vanarite has since been retired and it exists as nothing more than relics of a different yet recent time. While it was not always easy to make the change, Ramsey thought the city better because of it. Being part of Auradon meant growing in ways that would have been impossible before and with the Isle of the Lost, they were now safe from any harm that could have come to them as a result of the villain that resided so close by. If agriculture was large before, it was massive now, exporting crops of all kinds to all corners of Auradon.

The Fall of Queen Magdalene: Vanarite was still harvested, but slowly and with less focus on it than there had previously been. Efforts were made to make an appeal and prove that the material could be immensely useful throughout all of Auradon, but with a country that was still in its early years, it was an issue that didn’t take precedence. It was something that didn’t sit well with Queen Magdalene, who had grown up seeing the beauty in magic and all of the wonderful things that could be accomplished with Vanarite. She had seen how people would light up at the amazing things one could do with magic and all of the good that could be achieved with it. She didn’t think it fair to strip it away from everyone, but she and Ramsey failed to see eye to eye. She thought that they should continue to do as they wished, that no one would notice or care enough if there was still a bit of magic everywhere, but Ramsey feared what would happen if they did. He saw opportunity with Auradon and he didn’t wish to destroy that chance.

Magdalene believed that she just had to show her husband what she meant. They had recently had a child, and she didn’t want to raise their son without magic. They had always intended to train him just like she had been and it felt like a betrayal to lose that opportunity. Knowing that there was an abundance of magical artifacts just through the caves, she traversed to the Forbidden Mountain, finding her way to the castle that now sat empty. But she was unprepared for what might be inside and she didn’t take as much care as she should. She found herself pulled in by a dark magic and the power it granted her was overwhelming. When she returned to Ramsey and told him what she had found, he was horrified and believed that any pathway to the mountains should be destroyed so no one from Felicity could access the evil with ease.

Filled with anger at the idea of destroying such knowledge, she retaliated, swearing that she would do anything to make sure that never happened, that she would steal their son away and raise him in an environment where he wouldn’t be stifled or shut down. Fearful of the safety of himself and his child, Ramsey had Magdalene sent to the Isle of the Lost and shut down all operations in the caves, ceasing any efforts to dig into the Forbidden Mountains to retrieve more Vanarite. Mining of crystals was halted and the projects completely abandoned before any entry to both the mountains and the caves became strictly forbidden. Due to the sudden shutdown, most supplies and equipment were just left behind and forgotten about, leaving pieces of history forever buried in the caves to be discovered by any souls brave enough to disregard the law and enter into the caves.

Today: Now Felicity remains mostly adjusted and things have settled down. It’s been around sixteen years since Magdalene was banished to the Isle and both access to the mountains and the caves are still prohibited. The city has grown to have a bustling downtown center and is surrounded by massive fields for farming. Scientists that previously focused on pushing the limits of Vanarite have shifted their focus, and there’s a budding industry in taking the current technology of Auradon and improving it in any and all ways they can. While still having a moderate population, residents of Felicity tend to be quiet folk, remaining extremely close with their neighbors but often finding little reason to interact with those from outside the city.

[monochromemedic]

The amount it took me to write this while my mind was blanking is astonishing.  So take this shit story.

Ever since a strange accident involving the Black Dragon, an artifact called the Shatter Dagger and me; I’ve been shoved into the hell that was the world of kombat. I’ve been training with Earthrealm forces, trying to save my world from all sorts of bullshit I couldn’t imagine in my wildest dreams. Not to mention my own personal struggles dealing with the fact that if I wanted too I could create that Omen scene with the glass pane at anytime on anyone. Sure it was cool but it hasn’t been exactly easy to say the least. Hell, It’s been down right torturous at times. But even then I’ve manage to crawl out of bed every day, work my ass off with people 10 times more talented and experienced then me, and go back to sleep just to do the same thing in the morning. I mean that weird dagger chose me to be a warrior for some reason... so either that thing was wrong and the placebo effect is real  or there really is something more to me then a shy, chubby idiot that can barely talk to a cashier. Not like I could go back to normal life now, my life was different. I was sought after for what was in me, what I could do. If I didn’t learn to fight, everyone I knew and loved would be killed at the hands of anyone that wanted to get what was inside of me. And there happened was a lot of those as of late. But I had to admit, even through all the weird shit that i’d been through, I didn’t expect being at the filming of a new movie to be a ‘strategic move’. I mean that’s what Sonya called it, but I think she just wanted someone to look after Johnny while he was away. Not that anyone would go after him but, it never hurt to be cautious now adays. Outworld was getting bolder, looking for openings to take down the people they saw as threats and weirdly enough, Johnny was one of them. Just one at the bottom of the list. A low priority target. So why not send a low priority person just incase shit hit the fan. Hell if something did happen back at home, two people that weren’t much of a threat in the enemies eyes wouldn’t be a total lost. They still had hard hitters to protect what was important. I would’ve been more heartbroken knowing I was basically a crisp 5 bucks on Outworld’s most wanted list, but I was 20 feet away from like 4 major celebrities, and sitting in one of those fancy actor chairs with Johnny’s name stitched in it. I wasn’t too torn. “Excuse me, miss. Who are you?” One of the runner’s asked, a nervous look on his face. “People don’t seem to recognize you, and I just want to make sure you’re suppose to be here.” I paused, panic beginning to rise in me before remembering what Johnny told me to say. “I’m Mr. Cage’s plus one.” I dug in one of my pockets and pulled out a belt buckle with Johnny’s last name on it. “He said this should be proof enough.” “Ah... yeah.” He took a pause, observing the very gaudy engraved buckle, “ I’ll inform security then. They were getting a bit antsy.” The runner stumbled off without another word towards a large, menacing man blocking a door, whispering something to him before being called elsewhere on set. The large security man rolled his neck and nodded towards my direction, picking up his walkie-talkie to talk to presumably, the other security members. I turned back around, sinking into the rather uncomfortable chair. So glad to know that I was just mere inches away from being beaten to death by security and the only thing that made them stop was some belt buckle worth more then my life. “How’s my favorite Glass Slipper handling Hollywood?” A familiar voice rang out from the dark corner of the set. I turned my head and watched as a rather oiled up, shirtless Cage bounded over, a half drunken cup of iced coffee in hand. “Did you show them the belt?” “Yeah they were 2 minutes away from throwing me out so... “ I paused, staring at his chest for a few seconds. “You... look like someone dipped you in a fast food grease trap.” “Yeah, the audience goes crazy for oiled up guys. When the lights hit your body and the camera catches the glare just right? Cinema gold baby. You don’t wanna know how many fancams are just me drenched in baby oil and fake blood.” He gave a flex of his bicep before grinning wide. “Hell you seem like the type to make those things. You a secret fan?” I raised an eyebrow as I got up from the chair, cheeks staining pink. “No, I’ve probably only seen about 3 or 4 of your movies.” “Makes sense why your not freaking out more. You’re in the lap of luxury! Do you know how many people would kill to be where you are? Not the glass stuff... I mean here on a movie set, next to me, next to other actors! You’re gonna be watching the next big blockbuster in the flesh!” “I... I mean I am freaking out. This is alot I’m just not fangirling. I’m more just... alert.” I muttered, beginning to trail off as Johnny grabbed the script from under his chair, muttering to himself softly about ‘not respecting the art’ or something akin. Johnny was interesting to say the least. An actor turned fighter for Earthrealm all because of a misunderstanding. Even when he found out that it was a fight between realms and not just some fighting tournament that was way too into roleplaying, he stayed, finding out in the process that he had been from a long line of warriors with powers. And even though all of that happened he was still... him. Cocky, rude, arrogant. You’d think that something that life changing would... well change you but not Johnny. Ever since, everyone’s just sort of put up with him and his antics, even though I could see how close they were to decking him the face when he spoke. Most of the time, I was one of them but other times I could see something else in him, something more besides the douchebag he presented himself as. How suddenly nice he could get, how protective, serious. But those moments were few and far in between, especially when they were paired with moments like this. “Can you hand me a highlighter? Just over by the food table.”  I nodded, getting up and avoiding people with large bulky equipment that would easily put me into debt if I even thought of scratching it. I came back, handing the highlighter to the man. “Here you go Mr. Cage.” He raised an eyebrow as he grabbed the highlighter, a small laugh leaving his lips. “Mr. Cage? What are you my agent? You can call me Handsome, Sexy... really any adjective to describe a really good looking guy, Adonis maybe?” I could feel my cheeks get brighter, unsure if he was flirting with me or just trying to boost his own ego. What was I talking about, he wouldn’t flirt with someone like me. It was just him being an ass!  I turned my face away from him, beginning to feel more and more uncomfortable the longer I stood there. “Oh come on, that was funny! Don’t get your panties in a twist.” “A...are you serious? My panties in a twist? I’m not going to call you those things, especially here, someplace I’m not comfortable in!” I hissed under my breath as a passerby gave us a questionable look. ”Why? I’ve been called way dirtier things on and off the stage. These people are all use to it! I think that boom operator has even seen me get hot and heavy with a few actresses between takes. Honestly, I’m just trying to help you out, make you fit in with the crowd instead of looking like a little lost puppy like you always do, Hon.” He huffed, lowering the script on to his lap to highlight a few of his lines. His eyes didn’t meet mine once as he spoke, more focused on the movie then the insults and remarks he was slinging at me. “W-What the hell is wrong with you! Do you talk to everyone this way or just the people you see lower then yourself?”  “Trust me you aren’t as special as you think you are.” I felt a pin drop in my stomach as he spoke, a rage boiling deep inside of me that I had suppressed for far too long. I was never confrontational, always avoided verbal arguments if I could but having to deal with seeing him do this to everyone, to do it to me when I saw something in him. In a place surrounded by celebrities, by people who worked for him, in a place I felt like I didn’t belong. It felt like one straw too many for the camel’s back.  ”I can’t believe I ever saw something deeper to you then some shallow fuckboy with an ego the size of Mt. Everest!” I snapped, my voice echoing around the suddenly still sound stage. Even with the rest of the crews eyes now on us, Cage didn’t look up. Didn’t even flinch from what he was doing. His only response was a slow lowering of the marker in his hand as the eyes of hundreds of workers bore into my soul.  I couldn’t stand it. I dipped my head away, walking past the security guard that blocked the sound stage door to the outside. No one tried to stop me, to slow me down. Even before I reached the door I could hear them all return to what they were doing, like it was a normal occurrence there. I suppose it probably was when it came to people like him. Didn’t make it hurt any less though, to find out I was just another person on the long list of people he upset. I paced in circles outside the door, tears pricking the corners of my eyes. If I went back in there I knew I’d be stared down, both by Johnny and the movie crew, but if I stayed out here it could be just as bad. Besides wasn’t I suppose to be watching him? Suppose to have his back in case of any danger? Hell even if I hated his guts I wasn’t so petty to leave the guy in a dangerous situation where he could get killed. Or I could get killed. Not like I had a ride, I’d be walking the streets of Hollywood like an idiot. No map, no money. It was dog eat dog world out here even if there wasn’t dangerous mercenaries wanting to rip me to shreds. As I turned around for the umpteenth time, my eyes caught something at the other end of the building, something familiar slipping through the door frame before being blocked by the large metal door. I stopped in my tracks, face furrowing as I tried to piece together where I remembered that kinda clothing, that face. Big boots, something like knives strapped to his body, shaved head. I felt a chill run down my body as it finally clicked, the words of Sonya echoing in my head. ‘See this guy? I’ve been tracking this piece of human garbage for a while. He goes by the name Kano, and he’s the head of the Black Dragons, the same ones that brought that artifact to Earthrealm that changed you. If you ever see him, run. He plays dirty and even if you think you have a chance, you aren’t because he’s got a squadron of goons not far behind.’ “Johnny...” Without thinking I ripped the door open, sprinting into the sound stage only to be confronted with my worse fear. The crimson spray of blood from Cage’s mouth splattered across his body, droplets falling to the floor as Kano readied another punch.  “Johnny! No!” My voice was shrill, and harsh, as I ran towards the enemy, the one I was told to run away from. All to save some ass I told not 10 minutes ago that I saw no good in. As I closed in, I readied a punch, aiming for the cybernetic eye to hopefully bash in with a single decisive strike. I didn’t need to beat him, I didn’t need to win. All I needed was a small advantage for me to get Cage out of danger. My fist was stopped by Johnny’s hand, his face frantic as he stepped into my sight. “ACTING. ACTING, WE’RE ACTORS. LITERALLY ON A SOUND STAGE. DON’T DECK THE GUY TRYING TO GET A PAY CHECK!” “W-what? No that’s- your-” “Blood capsules. Fake blood.” He hissed, letting go of his tight grip on my hand to wipe the red dye from his face. “And that guy, isn’t Kano. He’s a guy I made the director add to movie BASED on Kano.” I felt my hand fall to my waist, turning to face the surprised actor I was mere seconds away from decking. My embarrassment flooded my body, stumbling back a few steps before the director began to scream from off set. “What the hell is going on?! This crazy broad walking on set, nearly hitting my stars, Johnny, baby, what the hell are you bringing to my set? Ya know I thought this bitch would be way more calm the the usual models you bring here but at least those don’t do this shit!”  The older man got up from his chair, megaphone in hand as he approached the actor. The rage emanating from him was palpable, making the air heavy and thick. I moved closer to Johnny, shamefully looking to the actor for guidance. I saw his eyes flicker down to me before giving a cocky look to the old man. “Excuse me? Are you... questioning the people I bring here? Me. Johnny FREAKING Cage? Award winning actor, multi box office record setting STAR... of who he brings on the set? Do you WANT a goddamn strike?” The director’s tone completely flipped at the boisterous words, slinking back into the shadows of the set. “Johnny, baby please-” he began. “Don’t you BABY me. You know my name!” “M..mr. Cage.” “That’s right. And you will address me as such as long as you wanna keep feeding that family of yours with this fat paycheck your getting from working with ME. So you keep your mouth shut about whoever the hell I bring here. I’ll bring a fucking live tiger if I damn well please and you just point your stupid little megaphone, give a big bright smile, and play along. GOT IT?” “Y...yes sir, Mr. Cage. Of course.” Johnny flashed a smile to the rest of the crew as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pushing me into his chest. “Now how about you all give my friend Jenna, a great big ‘Sorry’ and we can get back to working huh? Come on don’t be shy! ‘Sorry~ ‘come on, SAY IT!” He screamed, face turning red as the sound stage went hush. Slowly but surely a wave of monotone, ‘Sorry, Jenna’ erupted from the darkness of the sound set, culminating in the most unenthusiastic, forced apology from a group of grown ups I’d ever heard. It if wasn’t for the fact I could see them, I could of sworn that these were elementary school kids being yelled at by a principal for being too loud at lunch time. Johnny’s arm gave me a small reaffirming shake as he turned me toward him, a lip curled in smug pride. “There, ain’t that just the best medicine?” “What are you doing?” I whispered, hand going to touch his still oily chest. “It’s called acting. I figured if I’m the asshole, no one will shift the blame on you and the fact you just tried to bitch slap a B-list actor. After all if I’m a prick, might as well play the part.” He whispered back, giving a quick wink toward me as he patted my back. “Also, you called me Johnny. I gotta admit, that’s got a nice ring to it.” He placed another small pat to the small of my back and led me back toward his chair, giving the stink eye to a few people that glanced in our direction. “So. How bout we take it from square one huh? Come on, let’s get going people, hustle hustle, hustle! I ain’t getting any prettier! ” He began to clap his hands feverously causing the others to begin to run around for another take of the scene. As I reclined in the chair, watching the chaos beginning to start up, I couldn’t help but overhear people begin to bitch under their breath about how much of an ass Johnny was, completely forgetting about what just happened with me. At least Johnny was right about what would happen, making himself the target to absorb the hate. Who would care about some no name when everyone could tell their friends and family how shitty a guy Cage was for bringing the girl in the first place and acting like it was no big deal after all? He wasn’t an idiot, he used his arrogant nature to play people like a fiddle and people were none the wiser. All except for me, who saw the kindness break through the mask. Maybe I was too cruel, or maybe he was just doing it to prove he wasn’t a complete jackass to me. Either way, I was grateful. He didn’t need to do that, but he still did, much like most of things that happened with him.  I watched a makeup artist clean the blood off of Johnny’s chest, reapplying any patches of oil or foundation that had been ruined by the fake blood. Our eyes met from across the stage and with a cocky grin he flexed an arm, throwing a finger gun at me before barking an order at the makeup artist to further reassure his status of a dick. Jeopardizing his status in his inner circle all to make me feel better. What a guy.

[saintheartwing]

Invader Zim: The Pigshit Troll, Part One

Dib didn't like Zim's creative writing stories, and he made that clear to everyone. Now everyone is sure he's the troll going around blasting other people's work and writing horrible, awful things. With his reputation cratered and people despising him...what's to be done? 

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Creative writing! One of the best, easiest ways to express yourself in the school setting. It would be a nice and simple way to boost one's grade point average, too.

But it also told people a lot about the sort of person you were, and that was as clear as could be when it came to the "student" called Zim. Dib was very well aware of that. He scowled a bit as he looked through some of the stories Zim had written, all of them were made available on the school's website just like his was or Zita or Sara or his own sister Gaz's, and there were distinct personalities shining through. Dib had spent a long time reading them in his room, his black, scythe-like hair slicked back a little, adjusting his glasses, wearing his usual black jacket as he looked the stories over.

Gretchen had a lot in common with him. She too liked to write mysteries or science fiction tales. Stories of the fantastic. One particular story had a distinct "Carrie" esque influence, a rather homely-looking girl finding out she had psychic powers and was trying to learn "how to blow shit up with my MIND" as she kept saying to her friends and family around her. It actually ended up working, a Poop cola can shaking about on the table to a pineapple and a watermelon getting blown apart to, at long last, the principal's car going up in a glorious bang right before his eyes, thereby ensuring that she would never, ever again get sent to detention or his office for anything.

Sara's stories showed her strict Catholic upbringing, there was much emphasis on guilt, forgiveness, redemption and religion. She had, however, also shown a clear talent in action schlock, FUN action schlock. Dib was surprised to find himself enjoying her tales of the Saints that she'd adapted into stories for others to read, Saint Sebastian taking more arrows than Boromir in Lord of the Rings, Peter racing for his life to escape a hostile city that wanted to kill him, ducking down every grimy alley he could find, and, of course, her magnum opus was on Saint George, the famous "dragon slayer". Not only did she detail a fantastic fight, but George's refusal to renounce his faith, terrible torture sessions, being sliced and diced on a wheel of swords that STILL didn't kill him before finally being decapitated on a city wall. Sara had clear talent for gripping your attention.

Gaz however, loooooved to write horror stories. One particular story stood out. He was in it. Investigating a haunted house, Gaz had written that Dib had heard a grandfather clock chime when the house had been abandoned for over a hundred years, and the clock couldn't still be working. All of the parts were long since rusted and broken down. Then, he was chased by an axe wielding ghost, cracking through the floor, down into a big dungeon…where even more axe wielding ghosts laid in wait! The ending was a horrible twist one too. He woke up in his bed, all of it had clearly been a dream…until you saw the "OR HAD IT?" at the end, with a special illustration she'd made of Dib holding his own severed head up above his body.

But then it came time to Zim's stories. And were he not wearing that black fake hair and fake contacts, Dib knew the little alien invader would be grinning his zipper-toothed grin with a dark, smug light in his ruby/maroon eyes. That little green-skinned piece of crap.

Zim's stories had serious grammatical errors. Zim's stories had him winning all the time. Zim's stories had him doing disgusting, horrible things to humans and especially to Dib, and to his family. Zim seemed to relish in getting to write all of this down and he LOOOOVED seeing the look on Dib's face when Dib was looking at his smartphone, because he knew, he could tell when Dib was reading one of HIS tales. Dib had a unique mixture of disgust, anger, irritation and revulsion that blended together like a bad smoothie, and Zim was drinking it aaaaaaall in…and loving every second of it.

"This doesn't even begin to make sense!" Dib proclaimed, reading the latest story Zim had written. "Why would I ever, EVER help you…YOU…conquer the galaxy? I've spent my whole life trying to keep you from conquering Earth! Literally, years of my life! You expect me to just do a personality 180 and be like "Irken tyranny is fine"!?" He remarked aloud at Zim, giving him a dark glower. "Oh, and then there's this one, this one here…" He pointed at his smartphone screen. "This one just comes off like a torture porn. How did the teacher let you get away with it? It's just you torturing me for no good reason and rubbing your face in winning. And THIS one expects me to be HAPPY that you're conquering the universe using demonic artifacts so the Irken empire reigns supreme! And then you...kidnap my sister? And you murder people in front of her yet expect us to overlook all that awful stuff because you had a sad past? My childhood has sucked, I didn't grow up to be a megalomaniacal sociopath like you!"

"Bully for you." Gaz remarked with a grunt. "Dib, it's just some fanfics and stories, it ain't a big deal."

"Yeah well maybe not, but it's still gross to me, okay? And if he wants to write about it, I get to complain about it. That's my freedom of speech." He grunted back as Zim smirked and stuck his tongue out at Dib. He had a nice, easy way to get under the human's skin and there wasn't anything he could do.

Nobody had any idea how bad it was going to get.

The next day, their English teacher Nick called the students to pay attention at the front of his class as he walked in, his expression solemn, quiet and disturbed. "I found some…very insulting, horrible reviews put up on the school website, reviewing the stories. I would like whoever wrote them to come forward." He intoned, the rather hairy-armed and hairy-chested young man sighing as he folded his arms over his green t-shirt, Dib looking from him to Zim, then to the rest of the class as they immediately took out their phones to check.

Sure enough, the reviews were astoundingly cruel. They weren't even competently put together.

"THIS STORY IS PIG SHIT! THIS STORY IS PIGSHIT!"

"PIGSHIT FUCK YOUR PIGSHIT NARDS YOU DERPIN PAN!"

"THIS STORY IS PIGSHIT!"

"REVIEW MY STORIEZ! u/3211346 REVIEW MY STORIES OR I WILL FIND YOU IN REAL LIFE AND FORCE YOU!"

"Sheesh." Dib frowned. What the heck was all this? It was all in caps. And it had been left not only on stories done by his classmates, but on other classes too. It was odd…nothing linked them at all. After all, the classmates in the grade older than him were super focused on that silly show "Moon Sailor". And Gaz's class, except for her, had all written tales about "Nakuro the Ninja", they were reeeeaaally into anime and manga lately.

"I don't want to believe anyone in my class wrote these reviews but all of the English teachers are asking their students. So…whomever may be behind these? Step forward."

And that's when some of the kids looked right at Dib, murmuring and muttering amongst themselves as Dib glanced back.

"Why are you all looking at me?" He wanted to know, frowning.

"Your stories didn't get that many bad reviews." Sara remarked.

"I still got some, though!" Dib protested. "Besides, that's not a good enough reason to think I did it!"

"But you're always complaining about ZIM'S stories really furiously and being all pissy." Said Zita.

"Why would I leave an anonymous review complaining about his stories when I've always been open about the fact I hate him?" Dib inquired. "I'm gonna all of a sudden decide after years of complaining about him to hide my complaining behind a mask because…why?" He wanted to know. "Furthermore, all of the "pig shit" reviews are advertising someone ELSE'S stories, not mine! That's not my account he linked! And I'm not even interested at all in those ninja stories or those silly Moon Sailor tales, look at the ones I favorited or left signed reviews on, none of them are in those fandoms. I'm not interested in them, so why would I leave any kind of review, even a raging, hateful one on them? Wouldn't I leave one on something I actually care about enough to get angry or furious over?"

"Yeaaaah, but there's a LOT of hatred in these reviews, and you're the only one in class who gets THAT mad about Zim stories." Gretchen confessed. "It does look kinda bad."

"But whenever I complained about Zim's stories, it was because they were so mean and cruel and misanthropic and Zim was just getting away with being a jerk! I laid out all my points well. And I sure didn't just write in all caps and with bad grammar!" Dib added. "You can't just assume I did it!"

But the kids murmured and muttered amongst themselves as Dib frowned, turning away, Zim sniggering at his misfortune. "Yeah, real funny, Zim. Real funny."

The rumor spread through the school. Poor Dib kept getting really insulting messages left for him on all of his work. Even when none of it even MENTIONED Zim, he got the horrible reviews, accusing him of being a troll, of being "Pig Shit".

"Look at this!" He told the guidance counselor, Mr. Thildari….before he remembered the man with soft white hair and a soft yet dark voice was literally blind and couldn't see it. He wore a white long-sleeve shirt and white pants and sat next to Dib on bean bag chairs in the nice "safe space" he'd set up in his office.

"Could you read it aloud?" The man softly inquired.

"Yeah…sure." Dib sighed. "Heh-hem. "you bash stories all time about Zim, tbh and you bully authors here. you are just as bad as any villain you're bitching about so get the fuck over yoself you preachy hypocrite. if i see more writers quit their storys because you a sneaky, evil person karma will come for you. i hope you believe in Jesus because yo gnna need him and the good Lord to save your sorry ass from going to hell".

"My, my, how very rude of them."

"It gets worse. Some garbled nonsense here too. "nvkdfjsl:Derpin pig shittin h*** humpin nards suckin pan!" And THEN there's " You big fat white nasty smelling fat b*** why you took me off the m*** schedule with your trifling dirty white racist a** you big fat b*** oompa loompa body a** b*** I'm coming outside and I'm going to beat the f*** out of you b***". I mean really?! Oompa Loompa body?! Racist?! Where's all this coming from? And then this guy calls me the q word! What is WRONG with these people?!"

"There has to be some way to stop it." Mr. Thildari remarked softly.

"I don't know HOW. How am I supposed to convince them it isn't me?" Dib groaned, burying his face in his hands as Mr. Thildari gently stroked over his back, and quietly sighed. "What could possibly be good enough for them?"

"I wish I could tell you." The guidance counselor told him. "All I can do is promise you, I'll be here to talk to you. To be as a shoulder to cry on."

"I'm glad you're so good at it." Dib confessed softly as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve, sniffling a bit, trying to fight back tears. "People don't realize how…how fuckin' SHITTY it is. It's this daily grind, waking up every day to see nothing but shit flung at you just for having an opinion they don't like, for trying to make the world a better place, for trying to hold people accountable for the awful things they say and do."

"Well Dib, remember, Zim has the right to write stories, even if you think they're awful or dark or cruel."

"Yeah…sure. Doesn't mean I don't get to complain about them!" Dib muttered. "Everyone forgets that. They just want to be free to post anything up with no critique. But this? This isn't critique I'm getting, this isn't like me pointing out character inconsistencies or how meanspirited a story feels, this is just bashing, this is just trolling, this is just swears and vulgar crap and yelling. That's not free speech, that's like…HATE speech. So what am I gonna do…" He murmured, burying his face in his hands. "…what am I gonna do…"

…what indeed.

Author's Note: Every single review you see from "Pig Shit" and quoted by Dib is literally word for word either what I've received, or what I've been accused of writing. And Dib's views are my own. And that's all I will say for now.

[wyrmmaster]

I started granblue recently on large part because of your posting about it. What happed with Yuel thata got you so upset?

Okay, I’m tempted to point you to some of my other posts but I’m not gonna do that and instead I’ll use this ask as a place to lay everything out, both for my sake and everyone else’s - sorry, this might get long.

Right, so. In the beginning you have Yuel. Unusually for an Erune, she has a massive tail on top of larger than average ears.

Yuel’s a bumpkin, a hyperactive goofball, and generally just all around a nice person. Yuel, bless her heart, is on a quest to discover artifacts that belong to the ancient royal family she serves to return it to glory but is a bit scatterbrained and can’t focus on one thing for too long so really she’s just On an Adventure™. You learn that beneath that ADD is an incredibly perceptive woman that can deduce the exact emotional state of everyone around her and cleverly cheer them up or offer them support without ever seeming to actually go out of her way to do it. She gets people to loosen up and enjoy themselves, even if they’’re miserable.

Later, you have Societte. Like, Yuel, she has a massive tail and larger than average ears.

Her introduction to you is freezing solid a small army of monsters that had you cornered. Societte is grace given physical form but, bless her heart, is shy to the point where even after that display of power she can’t actually talk to you. You guys just patiently interpret her mumbles and slight gestures until you get the gist. Turns out Societte’s the princess of that ancient royal family, and Yuel’s nominal master. You learn that the earlier freezing wasn’t a fluke: beneath that shyness is solid steel. Societte is powerful, brave, and fiercely protective even to her own detriment.

Through Societte, you learn that this ancient family ruled an empire lost to time under a benevolent nine-tailed fox goddess that gave them her power.

They meet in your crew, on your ship.

Yuel discovers that Societte is The Princess™ - this shocks her. She knew that Societte was Important, the local village ojou, but not the level of quasi-religious importance that she actually has. Yuel gets angry that she wasn’t told. They’re old friends, you see. More than that. Even this early on it doesn’t take much reading between the lines to assume they’re actually a romantic item. 

Societte starts sobbing because she wanted to tell Yuel everything, she wanted to go with her when she left the village. But the knowledge that she’s the princess is dangerous. There are a lot of murderous people that are after her, to try and get rich. Some of them murdered her parents while she watched.

Turns out the tails and bigger ears are signs of the lineage, and massive red targets. This has given Societte a complex about her ears and tail, and in some of her homescreen lines she outright asks if they bother you and says she’s doesn’t want them.

So, to protect Yuel, she doesn’t say anything and lets her go far away. Then she leaves the village, to try and find out why all this is happening and to protect them from any more roaming bandits that come after her.

The two reconnect and Yuel gets Societte to calm down and look at her journey through a different lens: Societte’s not guilty of anything, she’s not on her miserable quest out of penance or obligation, the cruel world that’s taken so much from her and made her so scared isn’t all bad. They’re together now, and they’re gonna get to the bottom of this - together, as it should’ve been.

Now, enter Yuel’s 5-star fates.

This story obviously focuses on Yuel, and how she feels about Societte and her own role in the grand scheme of this situation. Yuel loves Societte more than anything, but she’s a bit jealous. Societte as mentioned is grace given physical form. Societte is gorgeous, extremely powerful, and a flawless dancer with natural talent that Yuel will never compare to. 

However, we learn that Yuel is also a princess - and heavily implied to be the real heir over Societte. Remember: the ears and tail are signs of the heritage.

So, Yuel’s found some ancestral weapons of her own. They’re hers, and they give her memories of a dance, and she does it flawlessly - once. This unlocks her true power and massively boosts her magic.

But she can’t do that dance again. Just can’t. Societte tries to teach her, but again, Yuel does’t have her talent. She fails over and over again and gets angry.

That nine-tailed fox goddess doesn’t approve. Thinks Yuel’s a failure, and useless. Unworthy. So she turns that increased power back on Yuel and starts cooking her alive with her own fire.

This is alleviated when Yuel stops trying to follow an ancient dance and just does whatever comes to mind. Channel herself into the dance, yeah? And she ends up with something more special and beautiful than the traditional dance. Ninetails approves, and stops trying to kill her.

Moral: Yuel is special and talented in her own way; not lesser than Societte, if not exactly equal. They set out anew on the journey with the knowledge that both of them have much bigger roles in this than they assumed.

Then you have Societte’s fire version.

This story focuses on Societte’s trauma. She goes back to where her parents were murdered in an attempt to remember the dance they were doing there and do it herself to finish whatever they were trying to accomplish.

We learn that there’s more to this whole thing than there appeared to be - a fragment of Ninetails’ power is sealed in a stone, and it’s pumping out extremely dangerous poison gas. And it’s spreading more each day. This is not the only stone. And the gas will spread from all of them until the world dies.

Turns out Lady Ninetails ain’t so nice. They’re given visions their ancestors - Societte’s foremost among them - using the ritual dances in front of Ninetails, and channeling her power.

Here, Societte finds her true motivation and overcomes her grief. She will do what she must for the people she loves. She’s got to do what she needs to do, to save everyone. The journey continues on a very solemn but no less hopeful note.

Interlude: Summer Yuel.

We see how close the two are. Yuel follows a Societte who’s grown mostly out of her shyness and can apparently go out and meet people, sparking conversation herself. The change in behavior is so marked Yuel’s flabbergasted, and assumes she started dating someone.

 But no, Societte was just doing that to find out where the best vacation spots in the area are and to commission swimwear for the two of them. They enjoy a fun evening with each other and the crew.

The fate episode ends with what amounts to a love confession.

Now, where it could’ve been great but starts to fall apart.

Their first event, Forgiveness and Gratitude.

Enter Kou.

Through him, we learn there were nine royal families, ranked from first to ninth.

We learn that Societte is the scion of the First, and Yuel of the Third.

Turns out that the empire was built around these families sealing an evil Ninetails away and stealing her power to bring about a golden age.

Kou for his part is of the Ninth. This family was mistreated, and basically used as nigh worthless servants by the other eight. In a bid for power, the Ninth betrayed the other eight and sided with Ninetails. The legends about her being a benevolent goddess and the royal families having a shitload of treasure were fabricated by them in order to set bandits after the heirs of the other families as the empire eventually fell apart, so the Ninth would be the only ones left.

Kou was supposed to Ninetails’s vessel so she could return to the world and conquer it. 

But…. Now there’s two better candidates. One of them is super gullible and kind. 

He tricks Societte into throwing herself on the chopping block instead. 

This is important: Ninetails is ecstatic over this. Using Kou was like finding a broken, rusted sword. Getting Societte? The Scion of the First? Finding a fucking chaingun with fifty belts of rounds. She is by far the superior vessel, because again, Societte is just that talented and powerful.

This is solved by Yuel being Yuel, and using her bond with Societte to save her from the possession. Yuel, the freed Societte, and an apologetic Kou work together to defeat the apparition of Ninetails’s power.

That? That’s good. Don’t like how quickly Kou was forgiven, but it’s serviceable.

The bad part? The event is stuffed with onee-chan /ss/ jokes. And people ate it up.

So, we get the event that never should’ve happened.

We get Kou and The Hollow Existence. An event with a character’s name in the damn title.

This event, as you’d guess, focuses on Kou. Turns out the little dude’s actually the FInal Boss for Ninetails. He knows everything, and is inexplicably the most talented and powerful now. He’s the hero. Remember: he’s supposed to be the failure. The spare. The “I’ll take what I can get” for Ninetails. Not so anymore. With zero setup or explanation.

Then we get You. You is a cheap knockoff of Kou, but a Girl This Time, both in and out of story. It’s an actual plot point. You’s being tricked by Ninetails, who’s using her resentment to fuel a revenge streak. Ninetails is gonna use You as a vessel when she’s strong enough. Kou saves her from Ninetails and helps her out of her funk. By himself.

Yuel and Societte’s impact on this event is nonexistent. The major players and main characters don’t do shit but get jobbed and have extremely skeevy shotacon bait moments with Kou. There’s an entire scene dedicated to Yuel intentionally making him uncomfortable by trying to get him in a bath with the two of them.

Yuel goes from emotionally perceptive and kind to a near molester. Societte’s character development is scrapped entirely and it’s like she’s who she was in her first fate episode.

This event quite literally invalidated everything that came before it. Everything was scrapped to make Kou the hero and pander to shotacon fans.

That’s the end of their story.

It’s bullshit.

[twitchesandstitches]

Dragonrezi Gets Even Bigger Comm

A commission for @alt-hammer, of the Dragonrezi from one of my earlier fic concepts of a fantasy AU that featured Vriska as a conquering giant sorceress and Terezi as a dragon monster girl she tried to wrangle into being her familiar,and Karkat as a plaything to placate Terezi; comm-er wanted to see some elaboration on it and Terezi getting even bigger! (A link to that earlier story!)

Featuring some implied JohnVris, this round!

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In the most magically scarred continent of the world, recent wars in the homelands of long-gone troll empires had left the whole place a chaotic mess, filled with ruins, warlords and all manner of danger. From one perspective, it was a bad situation; monsters formed from magic and taking shape from the most powerful spell-users around regularly came out of nowhere, most cities and towns didn’t last more than a few days, and it wasn’t uncommon for people to immobilize themselves by making themselves too busty to move with the wrong application of magic, which tended to have consequences for their villages.

But to those intent on putting some kind of order on the world, it was an opportunity. To build new empires, to uncover the mysteries of the old ones, and to grow strong.

(Terezi Pyrope felt it was best to bide your time, and steer the course of things. All of these things, she would do in time, but she would work with things first.)

Now, consider one of the more stable lands in recent times: the Cerulean Kingdoms, the Serket lands. Statues across its beaches, floating sea-cities and cliff-side realms portrayed the image of a sorceress queen, as impossibly curvaceous and busty as only the strongest of magic users were. In truth this sorceress and her friends, and rivals, were a hidden society and adventuring party when the times were right, and they all shared her distinctive figure as a consequence of sufficient magical power and expertise. Kanaya, scion of the vampires, her belly swollen with converts to vampirism… Aradia of the Megido necromancers, her own body eternally pregnant with the countless souls she gestated new bodies for in a form of resurrection. And the others, equally huge and curvy in their own unique ways, from Feferi the life-crafting witch to Jade the wolfish witch of the wilds…

And Vriska Serket, who hoped to be the biggest and most powerful to make her mark on the world, and trying so very hard to outdo her own dragon familiar, Terezi Pyrope.

The boundaries of her lands were easy enough to make out, as her magical palace flew over her lands. A grand construct of sapphire gems grown with her powers, black metal and shimmering stones imbued with raw magic, the gigantic citadel was unbelievably massive and it eclipsed some mountains as it flew over her lands and seas, though never past her boundaries, unable to move past the limits of her power. And, somehow, it was even bigger on the inside. Statues of herself stood at attention on the elaborately carved exteriors, a mirror to the ones in her towns and cities.

The statues did not quite do her justice; capturing the incredibly stylized robes, jackets and web-themed skirts of Vriska’s regal attire was a tricky enough affair, but to get across just how… buxom Vriska was? That was really not doable. You started with something shaped like a violin, made the wide bits as large as you possibly could, and then you made then even bigger than that… and by this point you gave up, because mere stone tended to crumble underneath the weight of such curves. She was thick, even by the standards of magical users.

To hear that Vriska Serket, queen of the sea-lands, might feel inadequate, was laughable. Who would she possibly feel skinny next to? And for an answer, they would point at the far, far larger statues of Terezi, which were not attached to the Citadel. They were the Citadel, at least its walls.

Within the Citadel, Vriska’s latest plan was coming to fruition.

Smirking in a way appropriate to the mightiest sorceress this side of the universities frequented by the Maryam Clan in their oasis on the other side of the known continent, she waved a hand at the twenty thousand undead soldiers carrying the artifact. She didn’t need to speak to command them, but she instinctively felt that there were some things you just had to do. “Put it down here.”

Zombies, mechanically-reinforced skeletons, the occasional feral ghost and a few enthralled mindless vampires (unrelated to the Maryam Clan, though possibly spawned from a similar process) all moved in a great mass and lowered the ancient arcane battery into a special pedestal. In a wave it clicked down, and they flowed away, their thousands of steps briefly obscuring the potent ritual patterns encircling the relic.

Here, in her floating citadel, Vriska was at her strongest. This was her place; arcane geometries channeled the power right into her, specially carved spires collected magic from the air and diverted it into the mystical foodstuffs that would be fed to her; the air itself rumbled with potential, and it discharged into her.

She smiled, fangs dimpling her thick lips, and strode off. Her undead minions (a gift from a friend, a necromancer called Damara Megido, who Vriska had helped with a serious academic question) trailed after her. It was difficult to tell if they could feel anything, but as her hourglass-shaped body moved, robes tightly conforming to her massive hips, their gazes were fixed on her. She went through a door shaped to permit her gigantic hips and breasts, and the undead followed, as did a small human all in blue.

Vriska stopped, and leaned down. Three hundred feet of troll leaned down, and her breasts hit the ground before her knees did. The human, John Egbert, stopped as a genuine valley of cleavage appeared before him and he peered up into the mightiest sorceress alive; famed for her ruthlessness, her limitless hunger for power, and so it might have been surprising for her rivals to see the indulgent look her face.

Vriska’s face softened even more as she picked him up, apparently on impulse; he didn’t seem to mind being held captive in a metallic prosthesis of magically resonant metals. Lips as wide around as a street to him pressed on him in a soft kiss, and he smooched her back as best as he could. Vriska put him down, and spoke. “John, gonna need you to stay here for a while until the ritual is complete.”

John nodded. “Okay, ma’am!” he saluted her, in the fashion he thought was expected of an apprentice to a magical teacher. “So… what do I do?”

Vriska made a grumpy noise. “Keep Terezi out of here! I just know that pain in my splendid ass is gonna show up and try to hog all the power boost for herself. So when, not if, when she shows up to, I don’t know, try to eat it or something, get her out!”

John saluted with a slightly worried expression. “I’ll… do what I can!” Vriska grinned, and left. Her building-sized heels clicked against the ground and her undead army followed. The door closed, with an appropriately satisfying bang. He had spent some hours weaving drama spells so get that sound just right!

He waited, dutifully, and marked the way the word-spells around the magical battery slowly increased. To pass the time, he tried to recall just where the thing had come from. Unfortunately history was not really his expertise; it was apparently a troll artifact from one of the bygone civilizations that hadn’t survived the sorcery wars of ancient times. He knew it stored magic (a truly horrific amount of it, and Vriska’s intentions were to deprive enemies of the chance to weaponize it, AND to also enhance her powers and beauty). And he knew that it looked a little bit like something he’d like to put on a stick and smack monsters around with. It had a cool look to it. It’d probably make a funny sound, too!

There was a small, teal lizard on the ceiling that had come there when he had been distracted. Privately, the lizard mused that maybe Vriska had a bit too much confidence in her human.

John contemplated the pros and cons of using it to make a magic hammer that would absorb magic but put some of that magic into making comedy sound effects whenever you hit something with it. The word-spell around it and all over the room were well along by this point, and they shone the liquid blue of Vriska’s magic.

He did feel the swell of enchantment, and he stepped back in surprise. The swell blurred his magical senses, and he experienced the mystical equivalent of something going ‘???’; all his more mystical senses went blank from overload, and he desperately stepped back as light flooded from the relic, briefly materializing into solidified wild magic. Fortunately, before it could erupt into any number of hazardous monsters or destructive disasters, it was grounded and safety channeled into the Citadel.

No, he thought, with a smile. Into the word-spell, and thus, into Vriska! He thought of all this power going to her… into her, and he goggled at the thought of when he’d see her next, at her full size!

She was three hundred feet now, and already such an hourglass-shaped beauty; he couldn’t imagine what she’d be like, but he did his best.

Thus distracted, he did not notice the lizard descending downwards and changing shape, expanding to a much larger form. He did hear, behind and above him, a very soft noise. He glanced up suspiciously, a faint suggestion of titanic movement drawing his attention, and saw nothing more. The walls and ceiling of the magic room vaulted high up, with many curving supports that would be ideal for strong claws to punch right into.

He paused. He didn’t recall that particular bit of ceiling looking so… leathery.

It unfurled, and the ceiling came down.

The world crashed about him, and as a looming force reached lazily for him, John squeaked as claws plucked him up. The ceiling hadn’t fallen down! Something really big, on the ceiling, just dropped down!

Or, to be specific, a really, really big someone.

The feminine form now filling up a good portion of the room was built on similar lines to Vriska but… bigger. Vriska had an hourglass body type, counterbalanced by her massive mane of hair, while the humanoid dragon, her gorgeous face a pleasing mix of troll and dragonish features, was… motherly. Girthy. A huge pair of wings swept around her, along with an enormously thick tail. Scales and golden shapes studded her body, from toe claws to horns, so that every inch of her shone, armored in her own splendor. A big belly propped up a pair of breasts even bigger than Vriska’s, and she had a lot of very solid muscles underneath the softness.

And oh yes; if Vriska was three hundred feet tall, than her dragon familiar, Terezi Pyrope, was… bigger. So much bigger, indeed. Terezi grinned at John, and around her the chamber telescoped outwards. There were potent enchanting spells to make rooms bigger to fit anyone who might be in them, but Terezi had a talent for pushing them to their limits. Her red eyes stared down at him, dull and blinded in some ancient paladin’s oath, but her smile was full of sharp teeth, and very snidely aware.

“So,” she said, as he realized too late that the little lizard in the room had been the exact same color as the teal monster girl sitting in the room right here. “You’re gonna stop me, huh?”

John wasn’t particularly scared, even in the grip of a dragon woman known to devour entire castles whole. Over five thousand feet tall from claw to horn bases, she looked very much like a troll; scales instead of chitin, her black skin tinted a vibrant shade of teal, and a thick dragonish tail sprouted from her massive backside just as a pair of huge wings furled around her so much like a fancy cloak. There were other signs; the crackling pathways of power along her throat and chest, where her breath weapons were powered up, the digitigrade legs just like a bird’s… and the big claws on her hands and feet. Bit funny to forget that, considering that he was pinched between them.

It was a bit like having some very pointy buildings hugging you into compliance. John wriggled politely. “Uh… yeah, absolutely! Let me up so we can have our fight!”

Terezi grinned at him. Leaning WAY over so he could see her. A truly buxom monster, she had to adjust herself so that her gold-studded breasts could shift out of the way, propped up on her big belly so they looked even bigger. Those boobs were huge, sticking out over five hundred feet out, the scales studded with the contents of an entire hoard to decorate her maternal body. She had to lean over just so he could see her, and his heart skipped a beat as she spoke, her enormous blue-green lips shaping so perfectly around her words. “Nah. Be a good boy and hold still so I can go do the thing.”

“Uh.” He lowered his fist. “Um. First, what are you planning on doing…?”

Terezi inclined her head at the artifact. “Guess.”

“...No way!”

She just grinned in reply, a clear ‘yes!’.

“Terezi, no!”

“Terezi yes!”

“I’ll stop you!” he cried valiantly.

Terezi smirked. “Vriska’s tiny hero rises to her defense! Honestly, I love it. You’re probably a great influence on her. Buuuuuut…. I don’t really wanna deal with that right now.”

She breathed out, and her breath was infused with the magic inherent to dragons. She cast a spell, not with lore or divine connection, but with her innate connection to the forces of magic, and her breath became a bubble. It flowed around John and he floated up into the air, yelling helplessly at her. The bubble contracted and twist as his wind magic tore at it from the inside, it bounced as he turned momentum into super speed and flight, but all his power wasn’t enough to overcome the micro-fraction of her power that she put into the bubble.

If she wished, she could have burned the continent to the bedrock without much effort. Sealing away an apprentice boy, even one in service to a living goddess-sorcerer, was hardly a challenge. But she liked to give herself something to test herself against later. “Tell ya what. As a present for standing up to me, I won’t just eat the damn thing. I’ll leave Vriska a TINY something. But all this,” and she gave one enormous hip a healthy, lusty smack, making various pats of her body jiggle enticingly. “Is a much better destination for its power than stroking Vrisky’s ego!”

“Kind of hypocritical for YOU To be talking about ego!” John said as Terezi lightly batted him with a finger that was, to him, larger than a building.

A claw bigger than a walkway smacked into him again and again, thoughtfully. “Okay that’s fair,” Terezi said, and then snorted. “But I don’t really care~!”

With a cheerful swagger, her tail smacking a few pillars around in such a way that she somehow carved her name into them like a signature, Terezi stepped right into the circle, so large that one toe filled up the whole thing. John beat and hollered at his little prison, and summoned forth the wind magic that was an expression of his fundamental tendency for powers of movement and direction both physical and abstract.

The bubble flew, at incredible force, right towards a patch of scales. Unfortunately that patch was on her butt, which was very well padded, and so he bounced off harmlessly. With such force that he impacted into the wall, cracking it, and there he was stuck. John’s powers just didn’t work if he was stuck!

Terezi’s thick, muscular tail waggled at him tauntingly, and swung up to slap her own butt. First the left side of one massive hip, and then the other, making it wobble and jiggle in hill-sized ripples; John blushed, angry and aroused at so much titanic butt. You could build a castle on all of it! And so, he was a bit too preoccupied with her dangerous flirting to realize that the blue magic lines were turning teal.

Magical colors were a personal thing. They indicated the influence of a magic user, the literal color of their soul as it entered the world. Reality WAS magic, shaped and codified into substance, concepts, forms. And color? Well, that was just light, but people saw color, and it meant things to them, and perspective was really all that counted in magic. So with magic users, the color of your soul shone forth when your power waxed mightily.

And when Terezi bothered to put even the slightest smidgen of effort, her magic made her shine like a sun.

Intricate patterns appeared on her scales and hide, mirroring the spell runes around her. (above her, Vriska on her interface throne froze up as she felt the trickle of magic being pumped into her assets dry up, and then only scraps being fed into her. Everything was teal.)

Terezi tilted her head back, a giantess big enough to destroy an army of demons with a single step or firm press of a finger’s claw, and breathed the power in. The artifact wobbled and then was violently tossed out of the magical circle as its power was promptly sucked out of it. Possibly by coincidence, it was flung right into John. It didn’t hurt him, just bounced off his bubble without any harm, but it was still loud and surprising enough that he was compelled to complain about it. He beat his hands against the bubble and yelled, but Terezi wasn’t listening.

(Upstairs, Vriska fumed as her body continued to grow, already five hundred feet tall by now, with boobs twice their original size… but she wasn’t getting as big as she expected. The power! The precious, delicious power… what had been river was now just a tiny stream, and where she should have been scraping against the clouds in her citadel’s magical environment, she was growing bigger so slowly that she could actually perceive things around her getting smaller. No! It was supposed to be bigger!

It was only through great force of will that she didn’t jump off and race downstairs to yell at Terezi. Who was absolutely, obviously behind all this! It was ALWAYS HER.)

Terezi was well aware of Vriska’s thoughts on the matter thanks to the magical link between familiar and sorceress that gave Terezi an insight into her thoughts. Unfortunately (from vriska’s perspective), this meant that Terezi could passively read her mind pretty much all the time, no doubt a reason how Terezi kept commandeering all her plans and sucking up her power gains. So Terezi ‘overheard’ Vriska’s complaints, and she gloated over Vriska’s shock at losing out on massive bust gains.

She blew a mocking kiss at John’s protests, and by sheer coincidence she started growing bigger, swelling upwards as her wiggling claws waved away the kiss. The magic flowered into her blood, bone and the core of magic at her center, and it flooded her with such power, so much that the only way to express it - was to grow!

The chamber rapidly got a lot more cramped as she expanded, slowly growing upwards. Already so large, Terezi grew right in front of John’s eyes, the magic pouring into her. Her tail slapped against the walls and cushioned her as her shoulders rose into the ceiling, despite the ceiling magically growing so you’d always fit into it; she was getting so big, so fast, she was outstripping it!

Four hundred feet, and upwards, her growth steady but very, very rapid. Her butt swelled up so that her fat tail was propped up, and several pillars were broken beneath its weight. Her butt kept swelling out, along with her hips, keeping pace with her expanding height; the expansion charms of the room were soon exhausted, and John could no longer see anything behind them but the lashing of her tail.

The magic flooded into her as she kept growing; another thousand feet piled on in a brief size burst, and by now it was plain to see that she was not funneling most of this tremendous potential into her size. Sure, she was growing larger, but… the growth was petering out surprisingly fast. As John watched, she wasn’t getting taller, her height getting more staggered. Where was it going.

The answer lay in her chest’s sudden explosive growth; her breasts swelled out faster than she was growing upwards, new scales growing to cover acres of new flesh between the patches of gilded scales. In moments, her breasts doubled in size, and she kept getting taller, her bustline not only keeping pace with her height, but surpassing its growth!

And they just kept growing; all the immense magic of the ancient battery, potentially to be used in war or some terrible misuse, now being pumped right into her bustline. Enough power to blow a country off the world was forced into her chest and milk production. Terezi cooed as her breasts hit the floor, rapidly growing so big that they were taller than she was!

The weight of her expanding bustline pushed her against the wall, her body rising up on her own bed-tier bustline. And since she was still growing physically more gigantic, this pushed her into the roof.

Terezi kept getting bigger, growing taller until she crashed into the floor, her wings and back cramped into the roof and too big to fit properly now, but she was still growing largely. Her breasts kept growing more rapidly by the second; John squeaked as a tide of teal filled up the room, a sloshing sound as if of an approaching sea getting stirred up as they smacked into place.

The walls creaked. Terezi and her boobs were still growing.

And though John could now see nothing, absolutely nothing at all but teal-tinted darkness, grow bigger she did. But now the last of the magic was greedily swallowed up by her magnificent body, her height finally stabilizing. Her breasts continued to grow in a few more shakes and wiggles, apparently hopeful for more, and at least they stopped. The room was now as good as a bra for her massive breasts, and Terezi sighed in contentment as her new body settled. Her butt pushing out behind her, her breasts big enough for her and a couple others of her to sleep on… a fitting temple to her glory.

Teal magical signs appeared all over her body, in languages no longer written anywhere in the world (so far as they knew). These two faded, and with that, the spell was done. The absorbed magic faded away, into Terezi’s rune-streaked body. She smacked her huge lips and licked a few scraps of quintessence off, patting a swell of breast bigger than some kingdoms. She kept growing, but in bits and bumps, not the smooth (if very fast!) expansion she had done before. About seventy-five hundred feet tall by now, and shrinking a bit as she willingly suppressed her power for the sake of it being really funny to spring on Vriska at the first opportunity, she cleared up some room.

Thusly, John was now able to see… well, not much, still. All he could see now was one toe-claw dominating his view of the universe, but he could feel her presence. In any case she picked him up, the tips of two claws neatly pinched his bubble and wrenching out of the wall.

“Well, check me out!” Terezi said sweetly, holding him like a little marble against the ceiling so he could see all of her. “How’d I do, huh?”

John saw nothing but… a sea of such massive, scaley, huge busty goodness… he clammed up, turning red. He loved Vriska with all his fierce heart, but… not even she was that big and gorgeous. He’d never admit it, but… he couldn’t lie!

Terezi giggled, and blew him another kiss.

The door slammed open and out came Vriska. With some difficulty, and at first there was a hint of massive breasts and a shoulder trying to force their way through the doorway, and then the doorway was magically transformed to allow her through, and through it came Vriska.

She was significantly bigger, John judged at once, with love in his heart and desire in his hips. Almost… a thousand feet tall, now! More than twice her original size, but compared to her original goal of approaching Terezi’s size, she still looked distinctly puny. Though it was hard to say that, when she now had a figure with hips that left the door way a ruin, and breasts with lower hemispheres around her hips. You couldn’t even see anything of her body above the waist, just two massive bouncy globes. They swelled up as Vriska drew in breath, and wailed: “TEREZI!”

Terezi flicked John right into Vriska’s cleavage, and somehow moved. In a flash she transformed, becoming a small lizard. With a cheeky slap of her tail she scurried away into the suddenly open hallways, leaving Vriska spinning head over horns with the impact of the John-projectile. “Thanks for the snack!” Terezi said, just to be cheeky. “Hope you don’t mind staying so skinny!”

Vriska howled in fury, and Terezi’s cackles echoed throughout the citadel as she exited it, and then her shadow eclipsed it, and all the kingdoms of the Serket was in awe as her buxom glory was revealed to them.

Dragons do love to show off their hoards, and Terezi’s body was a hoard for her!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Hello I really loved your big long response to someone asking about your thoughts on Viren and I hope you don't mind me throwing some thoughts your way that it stirred up in me. All your talk about how he doesn't love himself, is constantly seeking to be validated, be useful, and can't see anything past if something is useful or not got me thinking... Is this why he seemed to trust Aaravos so easily once Aaravos was actually able to start Talking to him? Seriously, Aaravos starts talking to (1/2

him and his first words are "how may I serve you", that has GOT to be an ego boost to him with his fragile values towards himself. I haven't rewatched the season in a bit so forgive me if I get details wrong, but Aaravos is a force that seems to really grab onto Viren’s weakest points (his lack of self love and desire to be useful/powerful) and just use them to Aara's full advantage. Sorry I want to say so much more but the dang word limit on asks is annoying as heck. Just food for thought! (2/2)

Hi yes you want to talk more about Viren and Aaravos? Well, my good anon, I am very here for that conversation. 

I think you’re touching on the critical nugget of Viren and Aaravos’s relationship right here: 

he seemed to trust Aaravos so easily once Aaravos was actually able to start Talking to him

“Seemed” to trust him. Viren is a genius pragmatist. He craves what Aaravos says he’s offering--and what Aaravos himself represents--so badly he can taste it. But he reins himself in and take precautions. He literally walks away from the sparkliest elf on the planet because he wants to do things his own way if he can, and he only comes back when he’s failed to be useful by uniting the Pentarchy. Viren gets really thirsty for power, but only if he’s the one controlling it.

Viren saw this mirror in the Dragon King’s lair, and he recognized it as a magical artifact. He absolutely looted that place for everything magical he could carry, because, as I mentioned before, Viren just wants to be useful, and power lets people be useful, so he collects useful things. He’s been said to collect Primal Stones. His creepy dungeon lab is nothing but useful magical items that he may one day need. 

Aaravos’s mirror began as nothing more than another stolen relic from a fallen king--but that made it very important. Did the King of the Dragons use this mirror to hold onto his power? To gain more power? To punish? To extend his reach? Viren doesn’t care what the mirror can do. It’s enough for him that Thunder seemed to have found it useful. To Viren, the mirror is a talisman of Thunder’s power. But he still needs to figure out how to use the thing to feel better about himself.

After Thunder killed three human queens in the span of five minutes, Viren is Very Motivated Indeed to making sure he and his allies are never handed such a crushing blow ever again. One way to do that is to kill Thunder--directly eliminating the threat. Another is to take all of Thunder’s magical stuff and figure out how to use it--indirectly preventing future threats. (Another is to grab his egg while no one’s looking, hatch it, and train it to fight on your side, all of which Viren was absolutely trying to do, because pragmatism)

Viren may or may not have anticipated that there was a person on the other side of the mirror before he turned it on. However, Viren gets people to do what he wants (almost) all the time. It’s one thing to find a way through the mirror and spend ages studying all those books in the library. It’s another entirely to find someone familiar with their contents, actively engaged in research, and claiming to be interested in a service role. He absolutely does not trust Aaravos, but he wants what Aaravos is offering so badly that he keeps ooching closer to him (metaphorically) until he’s perched on Aaravos’s finger like a tired bird, exhausted and needy but ready to fly if he must.

Viren needs Aaravos (or so he believes). But he does not trust Aaravos. Not yet, anyway. They’re both using each other for their own ends, but only one of them is foolish enough to say so out loud (Viren I mean Viren). Every step of their relationship is unbalanced, but it shifts in circles as a kind of drunken dance. Well, VIren shifts around Aaravos. Aaravos is standing perfectly poised in the middle, highly entertained at Viren’s antics as he reels around him. Run away, come back, beg, demand, threaten, comply, growl, smirk. Slowly, slowly, Aaravos is drawing him closer to the center, to his point of balance, instead of allowing Viren to step back and find his own balance. Aaravos wants Viren in his arms as a willing dance partner, but he’s got to teach Viren the steps first. Luckily, Aaravos is endlessly patient and Viren is a motivated learner. 

It’s an entertaining dance, but it’s still a toxic one. There is no trust in their relationship at all. But that could change--Viren is only human, after all. I think S3 may very well give us a moment where Viren finally breaks. Where we may get a glimpse of his backstory, his hurts, his deepest motivations, and where Aaravos will get to choose whether to crush him or protect him. I think Aaravos will choose to protect Viren, and Viren will finally, truly trust Aaravos, as he’s never trusted anyone in his life. Not even Harrow--Viren’s first powerful friend can’t hold a candle to the sparkly power that Aaravos wields.

But Aaravos will have to step up beyond being the most impressive person Viren have ever met. He’ll have to truly show compassion for Viren in a weak moment, or Viren won’t understand the lesson. Aaravos can probably level entire armies, sure. But make him soft, make him whisper words of worth in a broken mage’s ear, make him truly believe them, without smirks or teases, and Viren will fall utterly in love. Mostly with Aaravos, but also with himself.

TDP, managing this “two negatives make a positive” story arc would blow my mind. In my other ask answer, I mentioned not being sure if Viren would choose to be redeemed in his character arc. I think the only person who could convince him to do it would be Aaravos. And only once he trusts the Star Touch with his life and soul.

Just look at this totally trustworthy face, Viren. You know you want to.