#the hate-on for mercy by the devs continues

[bam-monsterhospital]

they...... deleted the fun out of mercy. again. y’know. instead of tackling sojourn’s one-tap and overall damage.

you can’t nyoom as mercy now. you can’t be a fighter jet.

WELP. time to not play mercy anymore i guess.

[jackietaylorsghost]

Cloti fandom still winning the misogynists of the year award! The insane shit you make me fucking read cus you hate a woman for deigning to exist. Sorry but aerith has always been one of the most important characters in the game, as stated by the devs multiple times, and she will continue to be. Play a different game if you don’t like it or you’re calling a brutal murder mercy killing bcus some pixels you’ve pretended weren’t important to the story are actually very important to the story.

A small rant

I've noticed that a lot of places that discuss the LTD are less focussed on analyzing and explaining final fantasy VII, and more focussed on throwing insults at either the characters, or the people who support them. I think I've done a fairly good job at making sure this place stays relatively matter-of-fact, and despite believing that "Cloti" is the only interpretation of the story that makes sense I am usually pretty positive about Aerith as a person, and more importantly, as a character. My stance tends to be that the only version of Aerith I think is fundamentally unlikable is the one presented by Cleriths. So permit me to slightly backtrack on that as I ask:

Am I the only one getting sick of Aeriths character?

And I don't mean "the only Cloti supporter who is sick of Aerith", I mean isn't the general fanbase of the game getting sick of her?

I ask this because I was watching the new Rebirth trailer, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes during the scenes where Aerith sings, or where it tries to survival-bait the viewer. In FFVII Aeriths death plays only a small part in the grand scheme of things. It neither prevents nor causes holy, holy was summoned before she died and is actually held back by the will of Sephiroth, which is the bulk of the external plot. And it doesn't cause Clouds mental break, which was an inevitable outcome of his history with Tifa, Sephiroth, and Nibleheim.

So why does the trailer make it feel like Final Fantasy VII is the story of Aeriths potential death? I thought the point of Aeriths death was that it comes suddenly and unexpectedly, without a large fan-fare, leaving nothing but a hole in its wake. I thought the point was to show a death that wasn't like "in hollywood". So why does her death now get it's own musical accompaniment and stage play?

Aerith was once a normal girl with a big destiny, one that she was as unsure of as any of us, she was just a person, just like us, with maybe a hint of something more. She got angry, she could be petty, she could be clueless. In another words, she was human.

But what is she now?

Aerith is now Jesus and Mary all in one. Fans got so upset at her death that Square-enix felt the need to include her in everything and every time Aerith became a bit less human, and a bit more idolized, until in remake she became a walking, talking, deus ex machina. In advent children she was presented as almost angelic, giving guidance to lost souls both good and bad and healing the children. But it was still ok because most of it was centered around Clouds psyche. The problem isn't with Aeriths death having importance to Cloud. The problem is square-enix trying to milk Aeriths death for all it's worth, making it into a soulless spectacle.

Aeriths death is now the horror monster that loses its terror once you see it. It's everywhere and everything has to revolve around it and because of it it's no longer a good story, but cheap emotional manipulation.

Within the remake Aerith is no longer the playful and innocent GIRL she once was. She's Gandalf the white, come back from the dead to pass down quests and wisdom from up on high. Step aside Cloud, this is Aeriths story, all you other side-characters are only here for back-up. Aerith is now a self-insert fan-fiction character. She has no flaws, everyone loves her, her death is more important than those of other people, the universe, time, and destiny will all bend to make sure the Mary-godessue doesn't die. Because everything has to revolve around her you know? So yeah, of course Aerith can sing! Who cares that there was never before any indication of this. Sure, Tifa will probably get to play the piano, but here is the thing….Tifa being able to play the piano has actually always been a part of the game! Since when is Aerith suddenly a broadway performer? Probably since the same time that she became a picasso at random wall art.

Years of fan obsession have deified away everything that once made Aerith interesting. The grand story of Final Fantasy VII, the quest to save the planet, and the internal heroes journey about accepting the past and the true self. Clouds backstory and struggles, it's all overshadowed by the once irrelevant plotpoint of "will Aerith die?".

Like with Sephiroth, fan obsession has caused square-enix to destroy all sense of mystery, magic, and restraint in order to "give fans what they want", even if it ruins the product.

While I think the cheap spectacle of hyper focussing the marketing and potentially early game around Aeriths death have already essentially poisoned the remake, making it into a mere shadow of what it could have been, I still believe that Square-enix has enough integrity left to actually kill her and move focus back on what actually matters. But I have to say, at this point it's not even just because I want the story of FFVII to be protected and experienced as it should be. But also because I am just getting sick and tired of what Aerith has become, and would now consider Sephiroth stabbing her as a mercy killing for what's left of her character.

[drethanramslay]

Letters of Love and Longing (6)

Book: Open Heart

Pairing: Ethan Ramsey x M!MC (Dev Lennox)

Letters of Love and Longing Masterlist

Requested by @sinner-chan- #75 & #84 

Author’s note: So I cried while I was writing this so just keep your tissues on standby. Also, I gained some inspiration form Heather by Conan Gray 

Year: 1943 Location: Kasserine Pass, Tunisia

Respected Dr Ethan Ramsey,

I can’t help but laugh at how I can’t get over this formal salutation when you are probably the only person who knows me intimately, both physically and emotionally.

It is true! Absolutely no one knows me for me… No one knows my fears… No one knows how foolish and deadly the words “be yourself” are to a person like me because that could be the very thing that could get me jailed or worse killed. Nobody knows me, Dev Aidan Lennox. Nobody but you.

At first, when I fell in love with you, I almost resented your intrusion.

I was okay with hiding my true self, a homosexual, do you know that? I had made my peace that I would be in a loveless marriage with a wife who will never be satisfied and with kids in a modest suburban in Boston. I had made my peace that this my punishment and that I was just born to suffer. I had made my peace that I would probably die unloved and alone.

But you changed that. And I hate you for it.

You read it right. I hate you. I hate you for seeing right through my misery. I hate you for making me open up to you. I hate you for digging out the part of me that I had kept under lock and key. I hate you for kissing me under the inky skies of Miami. I hate you for all the passionate lovemaking. I hate you for giving me the one thing that I was so afraid of-

Hope.

You gave me hope of a future. You gave me love and affection in a way I had never been acquainted with. You gave me a safe space in you, where I could be my truest self with you.

Your presence to me was like St. Peter’s shadow to those sick men; it healed me, but it made me long for more than the shadow. The thought that you would walk through other cities where I could not follow, filled me with emptiness. But you never once let me get drowned in that emptiness.

We were there for each other through the hardships, through the happiness, through the pain and through the love. For the two of us, home wasn’t a place. Home for us was not mortar, bricks and cement. It was blood, flesh and bones. We were each other’s home. You said those words to me.

But I should have known that you were a liar.

So here I am, back to square one. I am lonely, meant to die alone and go to my grave with my true self as a secret. The only thing different is that I am heartbroken and shattered with no hope whatsoever.

I will never forget that black letter day. The day when I walked into Donahues, to meet you for our regular drink before going back to your home on the hills. It was supposed to be a regular Saturday night. But how the turntables.

She was standing at your arm, looking up at you with similar adoration and starry eyes as I am around you. That would have still been okay because I knew whose bed you would come to and how you didn’t care about other women’s infatuation with you.

But she had a ring on the fourth finger of her left hand.

When I turned to you for an explanation, I saw the impassive mask rather than your handsome smile. The eyes which I could so easily read were ice cold and impenetrable. Your arm wrapped around her waist and you introduced her to me- your fiancée.

I have never been a person who hated anyone. I was not one for jealousy either but at that moment… I just wish she were dead. And I was at your arm rather than her. I wished the world wasn’t so harsh and I wished that you would man up and love me.

A part of me silently pleaded that you would leave her and come with me. I know you could see it in my eyes how I was two seconds away from getting down to my knees and begging.

But you didn’t. You didn’t say anything. It was your silence that broke me. It was your silence that completely and utterly shattered me.

Congrats Dr. Ethan Jonah Ramsey, you broke me. You will get over it, oh I know you will. You will stick that stony facade on your face as you say “I do” at the altar. You will convince yourself that you love her and those three special words which were meant for me will be your new mantra to keep her happy and unsuspicious. You will grow old, have three kids who have the same brilliant blue eyes like yours. You will continue to make major breakthroughs in medicine and probably get awards for it. You will be sad but satiated.

You will move on. But I won’t because I am catastrophically in love with you. And I am such a buffoon Ethan that I will never, not in a thousand tragic outcomes, ever regret loving you.

I have a serious affliction: loving you forever.

Guess that is one of the other things I will be carrying to my grave, eh?

I am stationed in Kasserine pass which people have dubbed as death’s doorstep. I don’t see much chances of survival since we are lacking in preparation and resources. So when you get this letter, I might be gone… forever. I think of it as a blessing because a life without you isn’t a life worth living. I see it as a mercy.

I have lived a good life. I have had the privilege to get your love so I am not afraid to die. So, thank you.

I honestly don’t know the purpose of this letter when I am never going to read your reply. But I guess it is better that way for they say, ignorance is bliss. Because if I were to hear from you, my hopes would escalate and I can’t bear that.

I won’t be able to survive that.

I have said my piece so I hope it can give me the contentment that I have craved all my life in my dying hour. But I want you to know that it is your face I will see and your lips that I will feel when I breathe my last.

I wish you the best of everything, my love.

Yours forever,

Dev.

See, I don't want to be a dick but Dev succumbed to his injuries and passed away😭😭😭 6500 Americans out of 30000 Americans passed away. It was a tactical attack causing Germany to win and it didn't help that the Americans weren't prepared AT ALL. 

And it it true that an homosexuals suffered during that time period. In Britain alone 49000 homosexuals died because of the sexual identity, be it imprisonment or chemical castration via hormone therapy. So you get it why it happened that way. 

This was something completely new for me and i hope you like it 💓 I would definitely wanna dive into Ethan x M!MC in the future 😊

Tagging separately

[vivifrage]

I posted 8,382 times in 2021

338 posts created (4%)

8044 posts reblogged (96%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 23.8 posts.

I added 3,002 tags in 2021

#hollow knight - 1326 posts

#destiny - 586 posts

#hornet - 227 posts

#pale king - 190 posts

#ghost - 180 posts

#thk - 179 posts

#jaxx writes - 98 posts

#transformers - 86 posts

#grimm - 66 posts

#hades - 64 posts

Longest Tag: 125 characters

#*rubs my grubby qa hands over the alpha builds to bless the testers with creativity and sharpness and the devs with patience*

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

I'm so friggin' excited for this it's all I got in me to keep from hooting and hollering all through the apartment.

I commissioned @chipper-smol for Haldegard in snazzy clothes and boy is she snazzy!! Really hit the blend of familiar and alien that Merciful Steel aims for, IMO.

138 notes • Posted 2021-07-11 02:16:30 GMT

#4

Y'know I'm glad I've been able to better enjoy the like, masc vibes of whatever gender nonsense I've got going on, and I hope I can further enjoy the overlap of it and my occasional more feminine moments as well as whatever else is in there.

It's so easy to fall into that hurtful trap of "men and masculinity are bad" especially coming from a lot of woman- and feminist-oriented spaces where critique of the systems that cause harm doesn't always translate in full. I think one time I read that SCUM manifesto that the TERFspotting post mentioned but the entire time it was like... There's no need for everyone to want to be a woman, or for masculinity to be some aberration upon humanity. It just... Is, like how yellow and green are both colors. Or like iron ore. You can forge iron into a weapon, but you can also make tools and containers and armor from it. Just because some people make it into a weapon doesn't make it bad. It just says they wanted a weapon, and made one out of what they had. You can make femininity and androgyny into weapons, too. Gender and sexuality are not inherently moral. Lesbian, bi, pan, gay, ace, straight, man, woman, agender, genderfluid, demigender, the list goes on... They're expressions of human variety. It's great we have all of them. The systems built around them are not the fault of the layperson.

And it's like, if you've fallen into that (I know at least one person getting this on their dash has, and I'm sure others have been there too with how insidious it is), I'm sorry you think you need to base yourself on hate. It's exhausting, it leaves you insecure, and it can drag you down such an awful tailspin. You should be able to celebrate your own human variety and that of others, too. Life becomes a wonderful kaleidoscope then.

142 notes • Posted 2021-04-06 16:56:56 GMT

#3

Hatchday

Ghost woke to their sibling's hand shaking them awake. Well, more like rolling them like dough, most of their body cupped in Hollow's palm.

They swatted at their sibling's wrist and when they tried to pull away, Ghost latched on, letting themself be hauled up to eye level. Hollow shook with laugher, bouncing Ghost as if to test their weight.

Even after Ghost dropped to the floor, Hollow stroked the space between their horns with a thumb and held one of their hands in their fingers to marvel at how small. Ghost's continued staring didn't bother them, but they finished with their game eventually and gestured for Ghost to follow them.

Rude sibling. Ghost smacked their ankle. They were clutchmates, excuse them. They were not a hatchling.

Something did smell very nice. A food smell? Yes, a food smell, and Hollow was leading them to the kitchen. Food was so fun. Midwife even let them help sometimes, when she cooked! All the siblings were learning, she said. Learning important things like not touching hot stuff, and using knives right. Knives were strange, like nails more than needles, but different even from those.

The kitchen indeed smelled wonderfully. Sweet, but not as sticky-sweet as the Hive. And there was baking smell, too.

They darted around Hollow and charged into the kitchen, shadows bursting around them as they dashed through the doorway.

Midwife curled up by the stove, all her long loops piled together, and she looked over at the siblings' approach. Her mask was all the way on, thankfully, and she didn't seem to be about to remove it. They didn't like how fast she was at that.

"Oh, hello dears! Sit down, sit down. The honey cake is almost done, as best I can guess."

Honey cake?

Ghost immediately disobeyed the command to sit down and launched themself onto Midwife's side, the danger of her teeth forgotten for the sake of honey cake. They stared at the stove and the chamber below, the glow of heat below it.

"Yes, dear." Midwife's voice was a little strained, and so Ghost let her move them back with one of her many legs. (They wondered if, for long things, legs and size were inverse? A wyrm had none, Bardoon had few, Midwife had many.) "I know you two like it, and I thought I ought to make something special. Why not?"

They cocked their head, Hollow doing the same behind them.

"Happy hatchday," came Hornet's voice from the doorway, all tired like she'd been running around too early. Which she probably was.

Ghost jumped off Midwife's side to run to her anyways.

She held out a hand to stop them, her other occupied with a small bucket. They strained to look up at it, Hollow loomed above to look down into it. She chuckled, let Hollow get a good look, then tilted the bucket to show Ghost a handful of little red berries. Small, plump, and overall very nice, but not many at all. Where did she find these?

"Hallownest hatchday tradition," she explained while Hollow nuzzled her, their mask bumping against and almost under hers. "The one who hatched gets a number of these berries according to how many years ago they hatched. I couldn't find many, though, and I don't know how old you two are anyways. Not that we know your hatchday, either, really. Today will have to suffice."

Hollow's arm looped around her for a brief hug. Well, Ghost didn't know this hatchday stuff, but if it made Hollow happy, then all right. Plus, Hornet must have had to go looking and looking for these! A caring sister. They stepped forwards to thank her with a hug of their own.

"Okay, if you two want these, you have to let me go." Even with her batting at them, the siblings were slow to let their little sister go.

Now Ghost sat at the table, watching Hornet as she produced those few berries and set them in front of Hollow and Ghost, one by one, until they had four apiece.

Ghost certainly wasn't four, but if they got the amount of berries that probably matched their real age, they'd not be able to eat them all.

"Go on," Hornet said, popping a leftover berry in her mouth.

Ghost and Hollow both picked up one; it was small even in Ghost's hands, and ridiculously delicate pinched in Hollow's fingers. But both ate them anyways.

Oh! They were sweet! Nice and sweet, with a little pop of juice and barely an edge of tartness. Ghost shoved another in their mouth as fast as they could, bursting it on the roof of their mouth before resolving to savor the rest. Only four this year, after all.

But... maybe five, next year. Five would be nice.

And maybe they'd know how to make the honey cake by then, too, to make it even sweeter.

156 notes • Posted 2021-02-24 13:15:15 GMT

#2

New Destiny season called Season of the Scribe but it's just Eido and Variks asking you to ferry a USB port with their drafts back and forth between them for editing with increasingly ridiculous reasons they can't just send each other the files via internet and even more ridiculous obstacles getting their drafts to them.

238 notes • Posted 2021-11-01 03:13:56 GMT

#1

Thinking about how Eido is named Eido and not Sjur (metawise probably because that would be very confusing) and just like

Misraaks: her name is Eido!! like you!! ::)

Sjur Eido: that's very sweet but uh i think i need to explain how last names work because-

Misraaks: ::3

Sjur Eido: ...no fuck it you're right the little vent baby is my family

289 notes • Posted 2021-09-20 11:46:30 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[nitewrighter]

if you still need an OBAB distraction would you be willing to continue your destiny AU?

Previous Chapters: 1, 2, 3

Mercy stumbled as they transmatted out of the ship and Genji-3 moved to help her, but she righted herself as McCree transmatted out with his hands on his hips. Mercy had opted for a mostly-white version of her Braytech robes with accents in black, gold, and rusty orange. Maybe to match the solar form her light seemed to lean towards? A poor choice for the EDZ, Genji thought, but then again, Warlocks tended to draw attention to themselves no matter what, so who was he to judge? Trostland was the same as ever–a city square long overtaken by nature with buildings only standing up to the ravages of time, the elements, and Fallen and Cabal squabbles by virtue of their golden age architecture.

“Good ol’ EDZ,” said McCree, taking an exaggerated deep breath despite his face being covered by his helmet.

“It’s beautiful out here–” Mercy started looking out over the woods with the Traveler looming moonlike over the pines tinted bluish by its light. But then she turned her head and her shoulders slumped slightly at the sight of the ruined buildings. “…so the city around the tower really is the last city…”

“I mean there’s still people–” McCree started when a blue energy bolt whipped past them.

“And Fallen,” said Genji, drawing his knife as several vandals crept out from the crumbling remains of one of the buildings framing the square.

“…Good ol’ EDZ,” said McCree with a bit more resignation this time as he drew his hand cannon in a smooth action.

Mercy, seeing both of them had drawn their weapons, went “Oh!” and quickly drew her sidearm.

They stood ready as the first few dregs rushed out into the square, but then there came a crack and the dreg at the forefront of their attackers head apparently exploded on one side. He dropped to the ground, the momentum from his run sending him tumbling. Mercy gave a ‘did you do that’ look at McCree but both McCree and Genji gauged the direction of the shot by its exit wound. Another dreg, bewildered by the sudden shot at his companion from the side, turned in the direction of the shot and the back of his head exploded. The other few Vandals rushed back into the shadows of the ruined buildings, one of them being taken out by another shot before they all disappeared into the ruined building.

Genji moved to pursue them, then stopped at the sound of a short, shrill, whistle. The three of them looked up in the direction of the sound to see a crumbling old church and the barrel of a rifle poking out of one of the topmost windows of the steeple.

“Devrim,” said McCree, “Of course.”

The three of them hurried over to the church and passed under the awning. There was a familiarity in Devrim’s church, and a tension in Genji’s stomach. The scent of earth, greenery and the dampness caught by the pines made Genji all the more aware of how much time he had spent hopping between Mars and the Tangled Shore.

“Wow…” murmured Mercy, phasing her helmet off to get a better look around.

The building was pre-golden age, the floors dense with moss and rubble and what grass could manage to grow in the patches of light shining through the church’s bones. Both Genji and McCree easily leapt up onto the high scaffolding that would lead them up to Devrim’s perch without a second thought. They started moving up the scaffolding, but Zenyatta suddenly nudged Genji’s shoulder, and Genji turned around to see Mercy still on the ground.

“How did you…?” Mercy said a little helplessly, looking up at the scaffolding.

“You’re a warlock, just glide,” said McCree as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Glide?” Mercy repeated.

“Yeah! Glide!” said Engel, materializing out from behind her, “Y’know, like I said earlier? Before you died?”

Mercy made a face and then looked nervously up at the scaffolding.

“Just jump and… uh… keep the jump going?” Engel suggested, its plates whirled with excitement,  “You can do it! You can do anything! You’re a guardian!”

Mercy gave a determined nod.

Genji and McCree watched as Mercy uselessly hopped and landed on the ground several times.

“…wow,” said McCree, with a quiet chuckle, low enough so that Mercy couldn’t hear them as she kept jumping, “She is definitely going to die.”

“You die all the time,” said Genji a bit bitterly, “Every guardian was new, once.”

“I’m just giving her some shit. Look at you all feisty!” said McCree with a smirk.

“I’m not feisty–” Genji started but cut himself off as Mercy managed to get several feet off the ground, letting out a surprised squawk and flailing her arms to try and maintain her balance in the air.

“Now you’re getting it!” said Engel.

“Just don’t overthink it!” McCree called to her.

“Try to feel the light guiding you through the air!” Genji called to her. McCree and Zenyatta both gave Genji an odd look and Genji cleared his throat and said, “But–uh–don’t overthink it?”

Mercy finally managed to push herself off the ground into a slow, graceful arc, not flailing her arms, but her eyes flicking around wildly as she tried to keep her breath under control. A giddy breathless laugh escaped her as she reached her apex and slowly descended. 

“Always thought Warlock glides were good for getting shredded by shank-fire in mid-air,” muttered McCree.

“Don’t be rude,” hissed Echo, materializing next to him.

Genji stepped forward to the edge of the scaffolding and stuck a hand out to her. They grabbed each others’ wrists at the end of her arc and he pulled her onto the scaffolding.

“Um–thank you,” said Mercy, pushing her hair back.

“You should–um… keep practicing,” said Genji. He realized he was still holding her wrist and quickly released it.

“Are you coming up or not?” a warm, rumbling British-accented voice spoke from above.

—

The three of them stood around Devrim Kay in his little perch up near the steeple. McCree was peering out of Devrim’s window, hand hovering over the hand-cannon at his side and hardly listening to Devrim as he spoke. Devrim Kay was a handsome man himself, with sharp blue eyes, squarish features, and no small amount of gray dappling his hair and beard. He had apparently taken more of a likening to Genji’s ghost than Genji himself, and both Devrim and Zenyatta seemed to be dominating the conversation more than anyone else in that little church. Genji’s eyes flicked back to Mercy. Despite all her disorientation in becoming a Guardian, she seemed to be listening to Devrim quite intently as he gave her a brief rundown of the area as her own Ghost eagerly bobbed between them. The light from one of the church’s last-remaining stained glass rose windows cast a rainbow onto her, all pinks and blues and greens splashed against the white of her warlock robes and orange catching in her flaxen hair. He didn’t realize he was staring until Devrim said his name and Zenyatta nudged his ghost shell against Genji’s helmet to get his attention.

“What?”

“The Winding Cove?” said Devrim, “As I recall you had quite the sortie with some pike-mounted Fallen there a few months after we reclaimed the City.”

Genji briefly wondered if being a guardian made all his memories blur together, “More Pikes, then?” said Genji.

“Well, as I was explaining to your lovely recently-awakened Awoken friend here, Lar Spurius, a particularly nasty captain of the Red Legion has shored up in the Weep. He’s causing quite a disruption in supply lines to the Farm.”

Genji gave a glance to Mercy. “Maybe we’d be best off running a few minor patrols before we headed after that kind of target–”

“But, your friends here told me you’ve been spending a healthy amount of time on Mars,” said Devrim, readjusting the scope of his rifle. Genji shot a dirty look at McCree and McCree just gave him a smug nod. “I’m told there are lots of Cabal on Mars,” said Devrim, looking back out the window, “And it would give our mutual friend here a chance to muddy her boots.”

Mercy looked at Genji with an earnest smile and Genji immediately felt self-conscious. As far as what she knew of him, he was a well-seasoned veteran and while, yes, he hadn’t exactly been a slouch in the Red War, pretty much every Guardian was flying by the seat of their pants—especially hunters. McCree was proof enough of that.

“Don’t you worry, Dev. We’ll take out this Larkspur guy,” said McCree, putting his hands on his hips.

“Lar Spurius,” said Mercy.

“Gesundheit,” said McCree.

—

“So…Winding Cove, huh?” said McCree, materializing his sparrow, “Hate getting my boots wet…”

“It’s not too far from here,” said Genji, materializing his own sparrow.

They both looked at Mercy.

“Is this a guardian thing?” said Mercy, “Can I just… make a bike?”

Both Genji and McCree looked at each other, then back at her. “You didn’t get a sparrow from Holliday?”

“Who’s Holliday?” said Mercy.

“Well what ship did you come in on?” said McCree.

“Genji’s?” said Mercy. 

McCree shot Genji a ‘Really?’ look and Genji just glanced off awkwardly.

“Oh I knew I forgot something!” Engel burst out, “I guess I got distracted after I saw you splat on that concrete. Sorry, Guardian.”

“It’s okay,” said Mercy, “I guess we’re both still figuring things out.”

“…we could go on foot,” said Genji, “Take out any fallen patrols on the way…”

“Nah, this Larkspur guy should take priority–” said McCree.

“Lar Spurius,” said Genji.

“Sure is. Y’know Merce, my sparrow’s got room on the back if you don’t mind getting close,” said McCree, gesturing at his own sparrow.

“I won’t slow you down?” said Mercy.

“Not at all,” said McCree.

Genji nearly blurted out ‘My Sparrow has room, too!’ but self-control, the fear of making things weird by making Mercy have to pick between frankly arbitrary options, and the fact that the first priority was getting to the Winding Cove managed to stay his metal tongue. “We’d better get going then,” he said, swinging his own leg over his sparrow.

McCree hopped astride his sparrow and Mercy clambered on after him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Genji took off on his own sparrow with them close behind.

“You know, your sparrow has room in the back too,” said Zenyatta, his voice barely audible over the sparrow’s whirring.

“I know,” muttered Genji before turning his engine up to full blast and blazing ahead.

[otherpeoplesheartachept-2]

Undercover

Carry On Countdown Day 25

Pairing: Snowbaz

Length: 1555 words

Genre: angst?, pinning?

AN: aka the one where Baz (once again) pins Simon against the wall asking what the fuck is up. aaka the one where Simon possesses Dev just as Baz decides to come out. 

-

I blink into the room, sitting on the floor with Baz and Nial. This must be Nial’s room. Before I can take in any more of my surroundings Baz says,

“I’m gay,” like it isn’t a big deal. (Even though it clearly is. How could it not be?!) Nial matches his calm energy, with a smile and a pat on the shoulder. “And…” He continues more hesitant (what else could there be??) “I- I think I’m in love with Simon Snow.” He swallows.

A look of confusion and slight disgust crosses Nial’s face. (what What WHAT WHAT!) 

“No,” He shakes his head and breathes in. “I know I’m in love with Snow.” He says, gray eyes closed. “I’m tired of not being honest with myself, and you guys.” It’s obvious this is a very vulnerable moment for Baz (One I should NOT BE A PART OF).

Oh shit. Oh shit! Penny said Dev should still be able to see (and act) in his own body, I’m just borrowing his perspective but, what if the spell went wrong? What if I messed up Baz’s coming out. Oh SHIT I was not supposed to know he’s gay. And in love...

WITH. ME.

I need to go. I don’t know how to get out of Dev’s head but Penny said she’d pull me out. I need to be pulled out right now. 

Nial makes some joke about plotting against me in vain but I’m too busy thinking “RIGHT NOW” as loud as I can. I have no idea if Penny will be able to get that. 

She was right. Penny is always right. This was a terrible idea. I just wanted to see what he was plotting. Not- not this!! I’ve ruined everything. 

By now Nial and Baz are looking at me (Dev) because he (I) hasn’t said anything yet. That’s bad, right? I have to think of something supportive and nice and Dev-like to say. A billion alarm bells are going off in my head. My mouth flops open like a dead fish but no supportive words fall out. Shitshitshit. 

“Uh-” I feel myself ripped from Dev’s body. Finally. Hopefully Dev, fully in control of himself, will say something nice to Baz. Merlin, I thoroughly cocked this one up. My head pounds and rings and then I’m opening my eyes, Penny sitting crisscross in front of me. 

“What happened? Did it work? Could you see, hear, talk?” When I don’t say anything she snaps her fingers in front of my inevitably shocked face. “Details, I need details about how the spell worked, Simon.” 

I try to clear my mind of Baz’s confessions and focus on what the spell actually did. “I um-’ I run a hand across my face and up into my curls “I could see and hear and I think I could talk but I didn’t have a chance.” 

Her face lights up with this information. Despite warning me against invading Baz’s privacy and Dev’s autonomy (I’m not even sure what that word means), she’s very invested in how this spell works. Penny’s furiously scribbling notes on a pad. “Interesting. I was hoping you could see and hear, but speaking through another person is amazing! Could you move Dev’s body?” 

“No. I don’t know. I didn’t really try.” I say. I forgot about testing the limits and abilities of the spell as soon as I got there. 

Penny rambles on about the spell but I can’t stop thinking about what Baz said. What I did. I know Penny warned me about this, but he’s evil! And plotting and I needed to know what exactly. I thought my life was in danger. But, it looks like I’m not in danger, and I’ve definitely invaded Baz’s privacy. Great Snakes, what am I supposed to do about this?

I try to be nicer to Baz. I mean, he’s in love with me(??) For the first day or two I thought maybe it was part of his plot but, he couldn’t know that I was going to possess Dev and even if he did, he couldn’t have known when. 

So, he was telling the truth. Basilton Pitch doesn’t hate me. 

He likes me. 

He… loves me. 

I stop picking fights with Baz. It feels excessively cruel. I don’t follow him to the catacombs, I even smile at him sometimes. I try not to let on that I look at him differently now, that I know something new now, but I can’t keep my eyes off of him. 

My every waking moment is filled with thoughts of Baz and what he said. I go through a flurry of emotions but I’m surprised to find disgust isn’t one of them. Then I worry it’s some perverted ego boost when I discover I kind of like the thought. I mean, it’s definitely gross to like the idea of your enemy liking you if you hate them, right? 

I notice he tries to antagonize me more, but I can’t engage. I’ve never been good at comebacks with Baz, but I don’t even get as angry when he insults me. My magic doesn’t rise as high, and I think he hates it. But I know he doesn’t mean most of what he says. Or maybe he does but he still doesn’t hate me. I can’t figure out why he says he does if he doesn’t. But I’m sure that me finding positivity in knowing he doesn’t is some kind of fucked up. 

I’m stuck with that until one day I start thinking about my feelings towards Baz and not just what he said. I mean, I don’t really hate him. Maybe I never have. He’s a total posh wanker, but he’s also smart, and bloody attractive, and shit. What if I like Baz?

-

“What is wrong with you?” He snarls, pushing me against the dorm room wall about a week later. I panic, but figure it’s probably best to come clean at this point. 

“I know.” Is all I say. His face drops but he continues to hold confidence in his body. 

“Know what, Snow?” I’m not sure how to answer. I really really shouldn’t know anything. He doesn’t want me to know. 

I look past his shoulder as I say, “That you- um- you’re gay.” He steps back from me and pulls his shirt sleeve down. “Which is totally fine! I mea-”

“How did you find out?” He asks flatly.

“Well, I temporarily inhabited Dev’s body.” My voice going higher with each word like a question. I can’t look him in the eyes and it seems he can’t look at me either. 

“When? What exactly did you hear?” He says like this isn’t a big deal. (It is, I know for a fact it is.)

“I uh, I heard the thing about me if that’s what you mean...” I can hear the guilt seeping in my voice. I stare at my shoes.  “And it’s cool, I’m not like grossed out or uh anything. I don’t want you to like feel bad, it just didn’t feel r-right fighting with you, knowing what I know. I shouldn’t know, I know, I- I’m really sorry, Baz.”

He scoffs but I could swear his eyes are watering. “I don’t need your fucking pity, Snow,” he spits with venom, arms crossed. “And I certainly don’t need your fucking mercy. Now The Chosen One feels bad for his evil, lovesick roommate, better go easy on him.” He lets out a harsh laugh. “It’s okay, Snow, my poor queer heart can still handle a few blows.” His infuriating eyebrow raises.

“Baz.” I’m not fully sure why, but I feel sad for him. Sad he has to pretend this isn’t hurting him. “It’s not like that! I- I like it better when we aren’t fighting. I’ve liked this whole week, of almost friendly existence. I- I think I’d like more…” I say before I can even think. But it’s true. I know it’s true. I like Baz, I fancy him. 

He looks like he’s about to fall apart and I wish more than anything I could stop making him feel like this. “You know I can’t.” He says lowly, dangerously. 

“Look.” I tug on my hair, desperate to make this okay, to explain myself. “I don’t care about the Old Families, or the war. And I know it’s probably not fair to you to say all this, knowing you feel more than I do right now. But, can’t we try? Can’t you give me a chance?”

“Simon.” He says it like a warning. Like a snake rattling its tail. I step close to him and gently place my palm on his cheek. He flinches from it, then leans into my warmth. “You’re-”

“I’m attracted to you Baz.” I say. Something flashes in his eyes. I lean in for a small, sweet kiss, trying to convey what I’m saying is true. “And-” I pull back “-If you can forgive me, I want to like you even more.”

He tentatively reaches a cold hand up to my face. Baz looks scared and vulnerable. The most vulnerable I’ve ever seen him. Slowly, he leans in and presses a soft kiss to my lips. 

It might take a while for us to figure this out but I like it so much more than fighting.

[kendrixtermina]

Someone finally uploaded a Kingdom Route run with everyone recruited!

So imma be doing a bit of reacting

Kingdom!Ignatz works a bit like Empire!Felix  - He wanted to go his own way unlike what his parents said and is thus following Byleth. In this case it’s of course somewhat less angsty ‘cause the Victors have the means to flee if necessary, unlike Rodrigue who was a prominent leader of the kingdom side of things

In an interesting parallel to how half the cast abandons the kingdom cause it’s a sinking shipload of kamikaze, on the other routes, Raphael complains about the instability and confusing politics of the alliance and how she should probably grab Maya and his grandfather and get them to Garreg Magh. I suppose a lot of people without connections or political accumen must feel this way. the monastery IS light javelin proof, so yeah...Raphael isn’t salty toward Claude himself tho. Then again he has little capacity for salt and in his paralogue it’s kinda shown that he makes a deliberate choice to live a low-salt lifestyle its not just obliviousness, he actively doesnt want grudges or awkwardness in his life

Leonie is also here to babysit Byleth and tells them not to let Dimitri push them around 

Hilda: “The Monastery is a mess. So is Dimitri. I’m only here because Byleth is competent and Holst is annoying“

Dorothea and Bernie have so far gotten identical dialogues to the church route

Lysithea is interesting and kinda morally ambiguous. She says outright that she cares nothing for the kingdom or anything other than a peaceful life for her parents. She wants to get at the slitherers for her own revenge and they’re in the empire so she finds Dimitri’s revenge obsession convenient. Also very ironic cause, are she and Edelgard gonna fight each other because they both want to get at Thales? Very interesting bc vanilla BL doesn’t adress the slitherers that much - of course Lysithea says she has beef with “the empire” and doesn’t elaborate. At the same time Lysithea is MUCH more logical and self aware than most of the kingdom crew bar Sylvain so yeah

actually,  Lysithea, like Felix, has TONS of route specific dialogue. I guess the devs expected those two to get recruited a lot since they are just flat out the strongest students apart from the house leaders. 

The Kingdom is arguably just as infiltrated but Lysithea doesn’t know... and at this point Cornelia’s cooperating with the Empire anyways

General trend of the Alliance recruitees not being all that attached to the Alliance as they hardly knew each other at the start and half of them had nothing to do with politics

Nothing to do with the recruitees, but so THATS what happens if you propose to go to Fhirdiad first. Dimitri is like “You’re supposed to lead the church! Go rescue Rhea!” ...he doesn’t know the whole thing with Byleth being experimented on by Rhea (neither does Byleth at this point) but it is kinda low. Mitya you have no leg to stand on here indeed the main reason I was sympathetic to you last playthrough is that you never ASKED Gilbert & co to put you on the throne and made clear that you’re not interested in that... so following you was on them to an extent. but you don’t get to say “Do your Bishop job” (that Byleth never asked for) if you’re not doing your job cause you’re too busy doing your kamikaze raid. Then again he’s probably too emotional and just plain done with everything rn to see the contradiction/look at this with perspective he’s probably physically incapable of chilling out rn

It just ends with Byleth doing a pointed sadface. daamn Mitya don’t be mean to By-By she still believes in you dude : (  Though it makes sense he’s big on obligation he’s doing this revenge trip because he feels he must. So it’s more a distortion than it really is a contradiction, as far as he’s concerned he IS doing his duty...to the fallen. I guess if you can’t handle him at his “Go be a bishop or something” you don’t deserve him at his “my beloved~” 

Still hurts a bit tho. Especially when Claude, though not without his own agenda, was distinctly a good friend on the topic, “Teach you’re in charge now be more confident~ the church doesnt run you, you run the church”

Before Aillel Dorothea says something about the Kingdom people also looking undecided of where to march, but she also wonders if some fighting/ victory will quell uncertainty 

Also she and mercie are standing next to each other! Ive said before that it’s weird how they don’t rly have a support though they are the two most popular extroverted ppl on the campus... they GOTTA know each other at least on a smalltalk basis

Alois is like “These kingdom ppl dont seem to know what they want... but hey this allow YOU to shine as a leader”... so basically Byleth is running this show but for all that they’re a good field commander and decisive when it comes to immadiate practical problems, as far as big picture direction goes, well, Sothis’ “boulder” quote comes to mind. They just never had big attachments on convictions, the Felix support chain is also salient here. They kinda just did whatever job they were given until they found a bigger cause/purpose after throwing in their lot with one of the lords or the remaining saints.

I wondered how this would play out as the Kingdom route is very kingdom-specific, whereas Claude, Edelgard and the church all have an universal cause for people to get behind. I guess how this plays out is that before Dimitri’s turnaroud there’s the kingdom faction and the Byleth faction and Byleth is kinda trying to run the show as they think Dimitri would if he were at his best

Caspar is still on the more unphazed side but also substantially more phazed than on the church or GD routes, he wasn’t particularly close to Randolph but he’s not unaffected by Dimitri going a tad over the top here - he also has the takeaway that Dimitri probably never trusted him much since he was born in the empire.

Sylvain actually alledges something about Dimitri not socializing much with any Adrestians even back in the academy days if you recruit him on CF so this does not come out of nowhere. Also kinda makes me wish they had a support - theyre both naturals at smashing things but they have very different attitudes towards it. then again i suppose it would go alot like the raphael one

Ferdie recognizes Myrrdin is a strategically better location but as Aegir territory is closeby he wishes we could have invaded through there so he could take it back... Would the citizens want him back tho? After the war its a no-brainer cause he helped end it, the peasants arent going to complain about too much peace and prosperity nor are they gonna feel nostalgic about anyone who started a war with their tax money and then lost it, but if he waltzed into an area that had thus far been far from the frontlines, following his fathers’s exploitative management and 5 years of semi equal rights under edelgard? he might have been welcomed with  pitchforks, through no fault of his own. 

He says something implying hed like to come rescue his relatives implying that some of them are still alive. of course the pm deserves all Edelgard threw at him and then some, but id be curious about Ferdie’s other relatives. His mom probably looks just like him, because he sure didnt get the looks from his dad... or anything else really, apart from the crest and hair color. - though i think the a support with bernadetta implies that shes no longer around

Lorenz bitterly remarking that of course Claude and his dad eventually made peace since they both only serve their own interests. (”So long as their interests are in allignment they will continue to cooperate”)   Says the guy we just rescued from his endeavors in turncoatery. Lorenz you’re pretty opportunistic too, and as for your redeeming features Claude has those too - but of course you’ll never find out in this one. Still, it shows that he’s painfully aware that his father - whom he would have died protecting if we hadn’t spared him - is a villain and a hack

Claude isn’t super trusting and knows that he gets percieved as shifty so he promises people to get them theirs so that they support him out of self interest. No need to take a chace. Of course by the end of this route he WILL take big chance on Dimitri 

That says Lorenz is not SO biased that he can’t tell that Claude might be interested in working with the kingdom army

Lysithea (who surprisingly has TONS of unique dialogue here, and I like that it’s a complex mature plot) is having her doubts and not trusting Dimitri for all that she finds him an useful idiot. By and large you get the sense that many consider Byleth the leader of this operation, she’s glad that Byleth is there to issue sensible orders. She tells Byleth not to tell anyone and worries about what will happen once the empire’s vanquished. No faith in team Kingdom... at all. Understandable of course

Hilda’s dialogue is largely the same as in the church route and at times kinda the same in all routes but I like how she’s like “Claude might’ve looked like a lazy bum but he’s smart! If he says he’s on our side he will defs help!” before the gronder fiasco

A lot of NPCs stir the suspicion here so it stands out how much she totally trusts him like hes any other friend

As with the other routes with the recruitees you get an idea of what’s going on in the other territories such as Lysithea deducing that Judith must be backing Claude in his gambit

One moment you think Lorenz is going to add some somber insightful commentary to the sincerity of Claude’s offer but then he’s like, “Granted Dimitri is much improved. He must be asking us for help cause he trusts ME” XD Like... no friend. You’re almost right but if there’s anyone here he was faith in its Byleth. And then he’s even like, “Well no choice but to save poor Claudesy” On the one hand it shows that there not just pure hate there on the other... lulz. 

apparently one of the first things Dimitri did after getting his act together post gronder is profusely apologize to Caspar for that ugly business with Randolph. Thats a worthwhile detail and i want fanfic of it. Caspar being Caspar he wasnt really keeping a grudge, they’re a warrior clan and they were at war

They had to move out so quickly that Hilda had no time to go shopping in Fhirdiad #Priorities XD

Meanwhile Ignatz, like a normal person,  hopes his folks will be safe

hilda does eventually remember to maybe save her folks and claude but only after making Byleth promise to go on a shopping trip with her. Someone should probably write that fanfic

Someone told me that Ferdinand had some prominent critical lines but it was really just one, and it’s as I suspected actually just a variant of the same “a king can’t be emotional” line he gets in all the routes, this time with the addendum that if he turned around and decided to go rescue the capital, he might be capable of reason/being a decent leader after all.  granted I guess compared to how most of the Kingdom people go along with everything it comes off critical? IDK.

Lysithea misses Rodrigue :( 

Lorenz and Ignatz standing next to each other was a nice touch they have a fairly wholesome friendship

Leonie’s just glad that ol’ Mitya is “back to normal” especially since she’s pretty sure that they don’t have enough soldiers to get to Fort Merceus let alone Enbarr

For obvious reasons, Petra is pretty sympathetic about the whole “retaking Fhirdiad” thing

Seeing Seteth and Catherine so certain that Rhea would want them to save the people of Fhirdiad first when you know that she wouldn’t hesitate to set the place on fire is just...OUCH. Though it does show the goodness in Seteth and Catherine themselves. 

Manuela wishes she could’ve moved her informary to gronder and save a few more peeps :(

It seems like to Leonie, Dimitri will always be just “Dimitri”, King or not. Figures she aaaaalmost adressed even Byleth by name XD You really DO get the sense that he interacted alot with the recruitees

All the house leaders shouldve had more supports. 

If you grabbed hanneman he’ll give you some extra backstory on Cornelia - apparently she was originally from the empire and an eminent scholar whose great work Hanneman was vaguely aware of. I would assume that was still the real cornelia. Judging by the timing it sounds like she might’ve smuggled Patricia out of Adrestia. Assuming both were still original at this point this might present a possibility for why she trusted/vouched for cornelia without being complicit / lend itself to a “she was duped” reading

But it’s still suspicious that she would end up courting the second most powerful man in the land right after number one. 

Some had suggested that Cornelia caused the plague in the first place but the thing is there was a perfectly credible  “mundane” explanation for it (the city’s sewers not being up to date technologically) that theres no reason to doubt

Assuming that all the replacements occurred 14 years before part one when Arundel stopped his donations/ thins being about the time when Cornelia’s personality was noted to have changed completely, that would mean both the “fixing the severs” thing and the soppy story about how Edelgards’ parents met would be real 

AAAA everything to do with patricia is just so ambiguous - if they were longtime friends wouldn’t she have noticed something “off”? Same with her brother actually. Lambert had his own country so its not like there was no one to protect her. 

Ahhh THIS is how lorenz gets iinto the midset for that prissy, hes pissed that Claude dissolved the Alliance and misses it XD

you DO get to call him out for being a turncoat himself tho. particularly hilarious since Byleth just blinks and asks a casual question there

He immediately changes his tune

oh lorenz dear, i love you but you, sir, are WEAK xD

Lysithea as always calls everything and notes how suspicious arundel was alluding to the hrym nightmare also mentioned in her paralogue

She also mentions that he was said to be good and just at one point suggesting that there was a real Volkhard von Arundel at some point. 

if the replacement took place when those donations ceased then Edelgard and Dimitri were 3, 14 years before part 1. Early enough that this could be around the time Patricia left enbarr, if this is when it happened then the romantic tower story might be real assuming that the Arundels were replaced at the same time - whatever arrived in Faerghus recomended patricia for a job so it probably had already happened by then 

Its all so ambiguos tho we can only speculate there are so many possibilities

Ignatz marvels at how Claude managed to minimize damage to Alliance lands throughout the war, as in CF only Deirdru itself got particularly thrashed. Ignatz’ folks are safe and sound! Leave it to him to wonder where Claude might have absconded to. He was always one of the insightful ones but not in the same way as the other clever ones. More intuitive I guess. Cant remember if it was indentical to what you get if you spare Claude on CF (Cue the lets player remarking that Claude is probably stuck in a washing machine somewhere... he hadn’t cleared the Alliance route at that point)

Lol HILDA “And then the whole Alliance descended into chaos...” or actually she is surprised that that DIDNT happen and how orderly Claude managed the dissolution. “But I Guess we’re screwed if Dimitri turns out to be a crazed despot... he’s not gonna go crazy again is he?” You of little faith XD But she says all this in her usual cheery nonserious voice like

this chapter has a lot of unique dialogue actually

Linhardt  impressed that anyone would have the guts to attack Fort Merceus directly and suggests looking for weak spots in the old walls

He shows up guarding it in SS and Vw doesn’t he? Guess he was visiting Caspar or something - or would have been familiar with the place from visiting the Bergliez clan in the past. 

Ferdinand is wowed by Claude bowing out giving him kudos for caring about the peoples wishes. He thinks Edelgard ought to quit at this point and he’s alot harsher on her here than in any of the other routes. (”Not reveryone with noble blood has noble ideals” - Coming from Ferdinand that’s an accusation ) Interestingly at this point hes sticking with Dimitri cause post character developement, lots of ordinary ppl support him at this point and hes popular with the crowds. He’s wholly on the Savior King bandwagon, and maybe that’s why he’s harsher. He’s partial. Says something about him actually, largely good things when you think about it. Dimitri is probably the closest to what Ferdinand’s (and Lorenz’) own beliefs were. He likes the existing order and living in a fancy palace but he thinks the rulers should serve the people.

Its kinda ironic and sad because in ALL the other routes he clearly thinks Dimitri is an idiot and a bad ruler, and says he should be more composed and objective. But Dimitri wasnt at his best there now was he? 

 now ill be sad everytime I get to those “Ferdinand disses Dimitri” lines. They couldve been buds! 

but i dont see this happening in any other route. According to something Sylvain says in cf Dimitri avoided ppl from the empire  at the academy so they wouldnt have cozied up pre-timeskip, and its only the version of Dimitri who has his shit together which appeals to Ferdie as a leader. 

really torn here on the one hand its a nice synergy to see lorenz and especially Ferdinand (who is waaay less arroganz than lorenz) sort of getting to win on their own terms with a ruler that jives with them and their Lawful Good fantasy classic thing. It’s not just a status quo thing its a protectors of the people thing. It’s heroic.  On the other hand it feels like they’re stagnating when they could have had growth. This is basically the same Lorenz and the same Ferdinand we first met except slightly more mature.  Notably lorenz is the same in the church route whereas Ferdie isnt as he still ends up rebelling fleeing and fighting against the empire. It helps that he practically winds up leading the remaining Eagles, albeit under Byleth and Seteth.  

He still gets that line about being kinda sad to see the empire go though he knows there must be an end to the chaos, i think a few lines are different, so, not wholly without doubt

Shamir muses about hoe the three countries were once one and the same, but wonders that even if we put fodlan togethere theres no guarantee that it wouldnt come apart again. i mean there isnt, and wether thats a bad thing would depend a lot on the circumstances but its also possible that theyll get used to being one and forget they wrere ever separate. no one controls the far future... and should they? After all its always possible that someone in the future will have unforseeable circumstances or better ideas

Caspar sighs with relief that they didn’t have to fight his dad, last second worry about him turning up in the capital nonwithstanding... right does he get to live in this? Carpar wonders what’ll happen to him if they win, but he’s not holding down Faerghus so he might not have died the way he did in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind. It’s at least possible that he was captured alive and pardoned somehow. 

Marianne’s adoptive dad sure smelled which way the wind was blowing; He was supporting Claude’s strategy to get the Cloucesters back under controll but sent Marianne to curry favor with the kingdom. Make friends with whoever wins I suppose. Ambitious politician indeed. 

When she doesnt her from him in a while she wonders if he forgot about her but says she wouldnt mind that much because at least she wouldnt have to do any more politics? I distinctly recall that in gd there was something about how they got along better after the timeskip. Sigh. 

she is real glad that Dimitri and claude ended up cooperating in the end

So does Dorothea but then she makes herself sad wishing that Edelgard was also there :( Me too friend, me too.  I think thats the one unique line she gets this route. I like how it’s consistent in the church route she’s also the one who feels the most sad about betraying her, they were pretty close pre timrskip 

as far as leonies concerned Dimitri is still just Dimitri even after taking back his kingdom. i like to think hed appreciate that. its also very typical of leonie. as with the “Caspar gets an apology” thing plenty of the recruitees get lines hinting that theres been more personal interaction between them and dimitri, kinda goes with how ppl in his own house follow him more out of personal loyalty than because they follow his plans like with the other two. hes kinda a very approachable sort of leader, makes the decisions with the group or follows whatever gilbert and Byleth decide, in the other routes theres always a distinct inner circle. Its cool how they incorporated the recruitees into that dynamic. 

Petra is dissapointed that they DIDNT do a sneak attack on fort Merceus contrasting her usual line about how she likes sneak attacks.  Dimitri naps both that an Enbarr head on doesn’t he? The Church has a smaller Army full of peeps who would rather not destroy Enbarr, and Claude agrees with Petra on the sneak attack thing and then Edelgard did that sorta shady but largely very gutsy thing where she didn’t sound the evacuation to restrict Claude’s movements knowing that there was zero danger that he would plow through the civilians (they don’t do this here cause last time they met Dimitri he was not feeling merciful indeed judging by huberts welcome lines and engage quotes he doesnt buy the turnaround), the AM ending narration also suggests that Enbarr wasn’t rebuilt, though Dimitri gave distinct “No pillaging!” orders, so they probably just couldn’t avoid wrecking the buildings and relocated the citizens. 

Ashe also speculates where Claude went. That’s one of the things i like about Ashe he consistently averts out of sight out of mind I particularly always loved how he consistently worried about Dedue. Someone ought to. 

Ingrid interestingly changed her tune here / kinda speaks positively of claude here - in CF she was like “I always though he was creepy”

Then again that was before fighting him I don’t recall If those two dont get the same lines if you spare Claude,  have to go back and check

id like to mention that the lets player put lorenz in the pyjamas/loungewear the whole time as “punishment” for being late to the reunion and poked fun at him throughout.

[ginnyzero]

SSO’s Problems are Gaming Industry Problems

The A lot of players of SSO want more story quests. And time after time, SSO keeps saying to players that doing story quests take time. To extent, this is definitely true. And to be fair, a lot of the story that we have been getting is repetitive, inconsistent and leaves a lot of threads hanging. And while working on a resume, I ran across the blog @askagamedev and he pointed out two very important things about the gaming industry that affect SSO. 1) Story takes back seat to game mechanics and 2) being a female and having games catered to females in the gaming industry is difficult.

A writer in the gaming world has very little control. A writer is at the mercy of the game designer, the level designer, the combat designer and basically everybody else. They are essentially given a bunch of characters and the restrictions of a fight and a word count. This is counter intuitive to almost every other industry that involves writing. The only other similar industry is television (and even there the writers have a room where they actually write and create the story with the show runners.)

Games are created in order for game designers to show off their shiny game mechanics. Not for game designers to tell an impactful and emotional story. Even in the MMO industry, especially in this era of sand box PVP focused MMOs, that would seem to be story driven, they aren’t. Despite the fact that the most successful MMOs, and I’m talking about Warcraft and Guild Wars here for the most part, and open world games like Assassin’s Creed, Skyrim and Red Dead Redemption are successful because of their story first and not their shiny game mechanics.

WoW is an interesting case study for an MMO. As the first successful MMO, it started off with 3 strategy games first and became an MMO second. Warcraft was originally conceived as a computer strategy game version of Warhammer. When Warhammer backed out, Blizzard continued with the project, kept the basic story and changed the names. Over WoW’s lifetime as an MMO, they’ve had a stable of six to seven writers for each game and expansion. (Honestly, more than that, you run into issues.) Even if these writers were at the mercy of the other game devs on the team and only doing dialog, that’s 7 more writers than SSO has credited right now.

Talk to a hardcore player of WoW. Talk to someone who wanted a movie. They don’t talk about shiny game mechanics. They talk about the story. They talk about the LORE. That’s the beauty of WoW. That’s not the beauty of SSO. We fans have made up more Lore than SSO has given us out of their supposed “huge game bible.” (Forbes talked about it, has seen it. It exists! Supposedly.)

Now, lately, SSO has been expanding their game mechanics to a degree. They’ve been adding cinematics. (Though not crediting a cinematics designer.) So, yes, anything that involves new mechanics does take more time. But they also don’t have an excuse when the old games of the seasonal star riders originally had virtually the same coding as SSO. They’ve used the dressage mechanic in their game. The only mechanics they have NOT used in the game from the old games are the Endurance racing and the trail riding mechanics. But we still don’t have dressage in the game. We don’t have a lot of showjumping in the game. And several of the game mechanics they have added to the game have been closer to one offs than anything that truly enhanced game play. (Throwing bottles at henchmen? Flying starter horse you can’t control. Riding on water! The crouching mechanic.) Or have been extremely buggy. (The race where the druids chased you. OMG was that buggy.)

It’s impossible to know what positions that SSO has filled exactly because they don’t credit more than 13 of their 100 odd employees. Sure, they have riggers and texture people and animators and those should definitely be credited. (Rumor has it that they aren’t looking to replace the animator that left, which is too bad.) But, the only game designers we know they have are the game and level designers. We don’t know if they have scripters (those who create the quest chain codes.) They have to have them. We don’t know if they have combat/race designers. (That’s the only thing I could think a combat designer would do.) We don’t know if they have systems designers. (Think about experience points and leveling and the pricing of everything.) Because these people aren’t credited. And that’s a real shame.

Of the 13 people credited with the design of the game, 3 of them are women. And we see in videos behind the scenes that there do seem to be a lot of females at SSO HQ. This is great. Most of them though aren’t in a position of power to say, “hey, maybe we need to do this to appeal to our customer of females of all ages.” Of the three credited,one is a Game/Level Designer (she designs the maps and places.) One is a graphic artist. (She makes things pretty.) And one is a Developer QA. And I have no idea. (Quality assurance maybe?)

SSO itself is a pretty huge anomaly in the gaming industry. When the CEO gives interviews (soon to be former CEO), and he talks about how no one has ever done this before and everyone told them that they were going to fail, he’s not exaggerating. Females do not have it easy in the gaming industry. In fact, they have it ten times harder than their male counterparts.

The gaming industry is like the dudebro group of nerds playing DnD, having live chats in WoW and basically putting up that “no girls allowed” sign. The top tiers are clique-ish and anyone female trying to breech that world is regarded with suspicion. The gaming industry happily wants to ignore 50% of their potential market just like the comics industry. Especially the AAA gaming studios for PC and game consoles. To most the gaming industry, gaming apps for your phone or little flash games don’t count. (And guess where you see a lot of games aimed for girls.)

Blizzard finally got the memo with Overwatch. Overwatch has been a huge sensation despite being a FPS with both males and females. Why? They made the cinematics and extra material and the characters face centric. They animated the faces well and made sure everyone had one and you could see it! Females relate better to that. This was a deliberate move on Blizzard’s part. It has paid off. There are a lot more female players willing to admit that they play Overwatch versus Halo or even the old Unreal Tournament. (Man, I hated that game. FPS are not my thing.) Females who don’t LIKE FPS like Overwatch and that is success on any level.

Yes, there are more females working on Overwatch. I follow at least one of the character designers on twitter. Blizzard has been making strides in their female character designs to make them more than anime waifs with balloons for breasts. They have different sizes and body types. This is progress!

SSO is a success in the way that it proves that games created and marketed towards girls can work. That is, if they don’t manage to sabotage themselves by believing in their own hype. But the upper management of SSO is still mainly MALE. The CEO, Lead Game Designer and Game Director are all male. If the 13 people have Chief or Lead in their title, they are MALE.

So to me, a lot of the content ends up being geared more towards a male audience than a female one or is written for the entirely wrong age group, inconsistent age groups or just doesn’t seem to fit. I include spiders, snakes, weird enchanted dolls/girls, and all the incompetent adults in this category. (Why in SSO is every adult completely incapable of doing their jobs?) The stereotypes of mean girl saddle club girls (without the nice club girls to balance it out), witches and horrible scientists (Einstein anyone) is downright insulting. The Baroness seems to be about the only competent woman in the game and she’s barely done anything since we sent that letter to Aaron about the GED oil rigs.

In a game that is supposed to be for girls to empower them, there are depressingly few empowering female role models. The men (Justin, Ricky) keep having to “save the day” while we, the main character, stand by and play the sidekick. And that’s not the way to have a good female targeted game.

Things are changing... but it might not be fast enough to save SSO.

[lifegoeson-wecarryon]

Like Waves Upon The Shore

Triggers: None Summary: Simon and Baz end up on vacation together near a beach. Based off of Waves by MandoPony. Set during the summer between Seventh and Eighth year. Genre: Fluff, Slow-Build(?)

“I close my eyes, Capture the moment Keep it inside, So I won’t forget The sound of the water, The touch of your hand Perfect weather, and a beautiful sunset …”

“You want me to do WHAT?” “Trick Snow into going on vacation with me.” “Why would I do that?” “Look, Bunce, You’re the only one I know who has the ability to get through to him. “Again, I ask: Why?” “Please?” “Why do you even want me to? So you can finally do away with him where there can be no witnesses?”

“I don’t want to kill him.” “You say you do almost everyday, and now you’ve suddenly changed your mind?” “I’ve… never wanted to kill him, actually. I just say that.” “And why exactly should I believe you?” “Look, are you going to help me, or not.” “You still haven’t given me an appropriate reason.” “I think… Well, in an ideal world, Bunce, Snow and I don’t… have to be enemies, and I want him to feel the same. About the enemies thing. I want him to not want to be enemies.” “You basically just went against everything you’ve said for the past seven years.” “I know.” “Is this really about being enemies?” “…What?” “Never mind, I guess I’ll help you. But if you hurt him-” “You’ll keep me locked in a coffin for three months, slowly depriving me of my sanity and the nutrients I need to survive?” “Crowley, Baz, no. What gave you the idea that anyone would do that to you?” “It was my first thought.” “You need serious help.”

[ Simon ] Penny tricked me. She said this would be a fun vacation with her, and then she ditches me and I’m stuck with Baz. In the same house. For a month. Yeah, sure, he’s my constant roommate at school. But we’re able to avoid each other then, for the majority of the day. What good did she think it would be to stick me with him? Is she expecting us to become friends? The thought makes my stomach turn, and I know it’s because I hate him. Why is he so chill with this anyway? All he did was shrug when I walked in. Shrug! We’re enemies, and all he does is shrug. I hate him. Penny keeps telling me I’m in denial or something, but what would I be denying? She never tells me that part, just says I’ll figure it out. So, I’m stuck here, in a beach house, with Baz, for a month. Three whole weeks. The upside is that I can make sure he’s not off plotting. Wait, what if he’s plotting inside of his head? It doesn’t look like he’s going to do anything, but I can’t put my guard down. I’m walking through the living room, when Baz looks up at me from the couch. “Snow,“ I tense up when he starts, but quickly relax and let him continue. “I’m going out.” “Out? Where?” I feel like it sounds more like a demand than a question. “To the water, what else is there to do around here?” He gets up, picking up a book from the table next to him, then he makes his way towards the door. “Come with me if you want, not like I care.” He gives me the same look he always gives when he’s about to attack, before sighing and walking outside.

[ Baz ] Wow, am I pathetic. I put so much effort in getting him here, and then I just ditch him to read my book. It’s not like he’ll ever take me up on my offer, I shouldn’t have expected so much. I’m surprised he hasn’t tried to kill me yet. So here I am, driving my dark red truck down a dirt road that leads to the ocean. I’ve always been fascinated by water. Not as much as Fire of course, the fact that I’m intrigued by both is rather ironic. I’m more open about my Fire obsession, considering my families history. I’m driving at a slow enough pace- I don’t want to hit any animals if they suddenly pop out, there’s a lot here. I used to visit this area with Dev and Niall, so I know it well. I’m half way down the path, when I see Snow in my rear view mirror. I stop the truck and roll my window down, confused. “Oi, Snow.” He looks over and scoffs, before walking over and putting his hands in his pockets. “Baz.” “Didn’t expect you to take me up on my offer, although you could have told me before I left.” “Shut up, I only decided to come so I can make sure you’re not plotting.” Honestly, what’s his obsession with the idea that I’m always plotting against him? I roll my eyes, leaning over to unlock the passenger door. “Get in, Snow.” “No.” “Why not?” “I’m not getting in a car with you.” “Truck. And it’s better than walking the whole way, isn’t it?” He sighs, defeated, before making his way around my truck and inside. “Seat belt, Snow.” “I’m not an idiot.” “You are if you honestly believe I want to kill you.” “…What?” I shake my head, turning on the radio and starting the truck up again.

[ Simon ] It’s become a routine. Everyday, actually. Baz has this weird obsession with the ocean, who would have guessed? He’s a pyro. And an aquo. Is aquo even a word? If not, it is now. I said so. Anyway, it’s a routine. Everyday he goes out, and I meet him half way down the dirt road, then he drives me to the water. Then, he pulls out a blanket and puts it on the ground. I smooth it out because the crinkles bother me, he rolls his eyes, and then sits. He either reads his book or stares at the ocean for hours on end. I mean, who does that? What’s so special about it? He talks to me, sometimes, like when someone says something stupid in his book, in which case he tells me it sounds like something I would say. Other times, when he’s just looking out on the water, he’ll make comments about how serene it is. He seems incredibly relaxed, and it’s actually kind of beautiful. He’s actually kind of beautiful. Well, he would be, if he wasn’t an evil vampire who’s out to get me. I catch myself staring at him, and quickly turn away. I feel my face heat up, I must be getting sick from being outside so much. Yeah, that’s it. “Snow?” Baz’s voice cuts through the silence. “What?” “What do you really think of me?” I don’t hesitate to answer. “I think you’re an evil git.” That gets a laugh out of him, and I smile. I don’t know why I smile whenever he laughs, I don’t know why I think it’s such a beautiful sound. I mean, it would be a beautiful sound, if he weren’t the worst living creature on the planet. “Baz?” “Yes?” “What do you really think of me?” He goes quiet, and turns back to look at the water. “I think you’re a fucking tragedy, Simon Snow.” I can only see half his face, but I can tell he’s smiling. Or smirking. It’s probably a smirk. I frown, lying down on the blanket, and then propping myself up with my arms to make myself comfortable.

[ Baz ] The month is almost over, it seemed to go by way too fast. I have no idea if I made any progress with him. He hasn’t given me the death glare this week, so I suppose that’s something. I decide that we’re going to go to the beach much later today- I really want to see the sunset. “Isn’t it a bit late?” He asks me when I make my way to the door. “Shut up, Snow. Sunsets are beautiful, and I want to see it.” “You don’t know how much of a nerd you sound like when you say that.” I groan. “Are you coming with me, or not?” He nods, running up next to me and grinning. I roll my eyes, opening the door. This is almost exactly like our fifth year, honestly. How he’s been acting this week and half of last week. Except now,  it’s a little… different. It seems almost like he’s happy to constantly be with me. It wouldn’t surprise me if we just go right back to hating each other as soon as this trip is over. For the past five days, he’s been riding with me in my truck the whole time, rather than just meeting me halfway. He’s always wearing that smile when he climbs in. I know this isn’t going to last. All I do is lose. Currently, I’m driving my truck down the path. He’s singing along to a few songs on the radio, and I’m snickering at how terrible he is. “Please, Snow, have mercy.” “THIS! GIRL IS ON FIYAAAAA!” “Crowley.” I refuse to turn off the radio however, no matter how badly I make him think I want to. This whole situation is just too cute. Unfortunately, it isn’t much longer until we get to our destination. We make it around 20 or so minutes before the sunset. We’re sitting on my blanket, and he’s smiling. I’m doing my best to hide my own smile, but I’m not sure if it’s working or not. He’s slowly been inching closer to me each time we come here- I’m not sure if he’s really realised. He’s so close, that if I move closer by just an inch, our thighs would be touching. “Snow, stop being an idiot and look.” I tell him. He obeys, looking over to the ocean. “Merlin. That’s beautiful.” ‘Not as beautiful as you.’ I want to say. “Yeah, I suppose it is.” I say instead. He punches my arm, playfully. “You’re the one who dragged me out here.” “Yeah, I suppose I am.” He giggles, and I feel my heart skip a beat at the wonderful, wonderful sound. I close my eyes, focusing on the soft sound of the waves as they crash against the shore. It’s really the most relaxing sound I have ever heard. Simon chuckles. Correction: The waves are the second most relaxing sound I have ever heard. I turn to look at him and see what he’s laughing at, when I suddenly realise that his hand is on top of mine. I just stare at our hands, and he laughs again, interlacing my fingers in his.

[ Simon ] I don’t even realise what I’m doing until I’ve done it. I’m holding hands with a monster. No, I’m holding hands with Baz. No, I’m holding hands with a boy. And I actually quite enjoy it. I’m comfortable, sitting here with him, looking at the sunset on the water. “S'peaceful.” “Yeah.” He hasn’t pushed me away yet. Is he going to? I don’t want him to. I like feeling his hand in mine and my hand is his. I like feeling him so close to me. Is this what Penny meant when she said I was in denial? I haven’t exactly figured it out, but I think I’m getting close. The sunset really is beautiful. This whole situation is beautiful.  I’m on vacation. With Baz. I’m sitting on a beach. With Baz. I’m holding hands, looking out at the sunset. With Baz. I think I might actually be in love. With Baz. My heart is racing when I squeeze his hand, and he squeezes it back. I’ve never felt like this with Agatha. Did I ever even actually love her? For seven years, I told myself that I hated Baz. I think I might have been lying, and if I was lying about that, then I must have been lying to myself about Agatha too. Maybe I only thought I loved her because I was supposed to. I’m a guy, and she is pretty girl. I’m not supposed to love Baz. But I do, I think I really do. Is this what Penny was talking about when she said I was in denial? I turn to look at him, his hand still in mine. I think he’s smiling. This silence is deafening. It’s peaceful, yes, and I think Baz is happy. But this is terrifying. I want to know what he’s thinking. Is he smiling because he’s figured out a way to kill me? No, he would have already killed me if he really wanted to– he’s had more than enough opportunities. I’m staring at him again, but I feel myself smiling. When did I start smiling? He catches me looking, and his mouth twitches. I want to kiss him. (Wait, where did that come from?) I quickly turn away, feeling my face heat up, and he laughs softly. It’s such a beautiful sound, and it makes me think that he might not be so evil after all. I want to kiss him. (There’s that thought again.) I don’t know how long I’ve wanted to kiss him, but it feels like a long time. I want to kiss him, very, very badly.

[ Baz ] I keep telling myself that this is a one time thing. Snow and I are never going to have a moment like this this again. Yet, it’s so romantic that I can’t help but enjoy myself. Maybe I did it. Maybe I actually got through to him.  I catch him looking at me, and he turns away. Maybe I shouldn’t get my hopes up. It’s getting late, and I know we should be heading back soon. I can’t bring myself to end this. I can’t bring myself to get up and walk back to my truck. We’re not getting a moment like this again, and I want so badly to make it last for as long as possible. There’s nothing that can get me to stop smiling. He’s so close. He’s so calm, and I could kiss him right  now if I really wanted to. But he’s still looking away, and I wouldn’t want to startle him. This is enough. Holding hands is enough. I sigh, resting my chin in my hand.  I want to tell him everything, I just want to let it spill out. But I know this is only a one time thing. Hand holding can be romantic, yes, but it’s also something that happens between friends. Does he want to be friends? Is that what this is? I’m not sure. I don’t want to ask, it would be a stupid question. My heart starts racing again when he rests his head on my shoulder. I shouldn’t get so worked up over such a small action. Bunce rests her head on his shoulder all the time. “…Baz?” His voice breaks our comfortable silence. “What?” For a split second, I imagine him confessing that he’s been in love with me for years. And then, I imagine turning and spitting on his perfect cheeks. Then, I’d lick the spit off, before moving to his lips. Because I’m fucking disturbed. Instead, he points to the sky. “Stars.” My gaze follows his arm, and I see exactly where he’s pointing. “I can see that, Snow.” “S’beautiful.”  “Yeah,” They are quite lovely. “You are.” “What.” I feel him tense up momentarily, and I realise what I said.  “They are.” I blurt out, quickly. “The stars are beautiful, Snow. Not you. You’re hideous.” He giggles softly, and I’m fairly certain there’s at least a faint blush on my cheeks. He relaxes again, but now I feel him hugging my arm. “Thanks, Baz,” He whispers. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

[ Simon ] “Thanks, Baz. You’re not so bad yourself.” I bite my lip as soon as those words leave my mouth. I just technically called Baz beautiful. To his face, nonetheless. After he processes it, he makes some sort of squeak, and I relax again, chuckling.  We fall into another silence, and the thought of kissing him enters my mind again. I want to kiss him. I want to kiss him and never stop. I’ve had these kind of thoughts before, but never all at once. And I’ve always ignored them. But I can’t ignore them when they’re bombarding my mind like this. And he’s so close, and his lips are so far. I wonder if he would let me kiss him, or if he would push me away if I tried. I’m still hugging his arm, and he hasn’t done anything to stop me, so maybe he’ll let me have one kiss. Maybe I will kiss him. Just a peck, I don’t want to seem as desperate as I am. (I don’t even know why I’m so desperate.) I feel like I’ve repressed… whatever these feelings are… for a long time, and it’s trying to come out all at once. I yawn, readjusting myself against him. “Are you tired, Simon?” Simon. He just called me Simon. I suddenly can’t form words, so I just nod, looking up at him. I want to kiss him. (That thought won’t stop.) He sighs, standing up, and pulling me up with him. “Snow,” He laughs a bit. “I’m not dragging you all the way back to my truck. Let go of my arm.” “Don’t wanna.” I want to kiss him. He groans, and I want to kiss him. He mumbles something that sounds suspiciously like “You’re lucky I love you,’ or maybe I’m just imagining it. I feel my face heat up again. He starts helping me walk towards his truck. It’s not that I’m lazy, I’m just tired, and confused, and overwhelmed by my own thoughts. When I get overwhelmed, I either go off or get super tired. I’m glad that it’s currently the latter. I’m confusing myself a lot tonight. Why do I want to kiss him so much? I’ve never wanted to kiss someone as much as I want to kiss Baz right now. Am I gay? Have the stars awakened something in me? Or was this just a long time coming? I don’t know. I’m too tired to think. I don’t really like thinking, it always overwhelms me. “S’pointless.” I say out loud without realising. By this point,he’s put me in the passenger seat, and he’s about to close the door. “What’s pointless?” He looks at me, and I look at him. I want to kiss him. “Thinking. S’pointless.” He cocks an eyebrow “What have you been thinking about, Snow?” My eyes immediately dart down to his lips. I want to kiss him. I can’t respond, I’ve lost the ability to speak. I want to kiss him. And then, he kisses me.

[ Baz ] I don’t know why I decided to kiss him then. It was short– I was too nervous to let it continue for much longer. I just kissed him. I just kissed Simon Snow. And then, I slammed the truck door in his face. Now, I’m sitting in the drivers seat. I glance over at him– he fell asleep shortly after I started driving. I kissed him. His face is stuck in my mind: a combination of tiredness, surprise, and confusion. But he hadn’t shown a hint of anger. I pull up to our shared rental– we only have it for about 3 more days.  I sigh, resting my head against the steering wheel for a moment. I kissed him. I sit back, glancing at Snow, before opening my door. Normally, I’d just leave him in the truck. Instead, I walk around and open the passenger door. “Snow.” No response. I gently nudge his arm. “Snow. Wake up.” His eyes open halfway, and it takes everything in me not to kiss him again. “What…?” He mumbles. I roll my eyes, shaking his arm. “Snow. We’re here. Get up.” He groans, before finally obeying. He unbuckles his seat belt before looking at me with tired eyes. “I’m not dragging you to the door.” I roll my eyes. He whimpers, and I sigh, giving in. “Fine.” I say, pulling him out of the truck and putting his arm around my shoulders. Crowley, how tired is he? He smiles at me, and my stomach churns in the best way. I clear my throat. “I’m only helping you to the door. I’m not your slave, Snow.” He nods, but I’m not sure if he’s awake enough to process anything. We manage to get inside in a decent amount of time. I stop dragging him with me, dropping him to the floor with a thud. That sure wakes him up. “Baz!” He whines. “What was that?!” “I told you, Snow,” I smirk. “I’m not your slave.” He pouts at me, and I chuckle at him. After some silence, he mumbles something, and I cock my eyebrow. “What did you say?” I ask, genuinely curious. His face turns red, and he looks away. “Snow. What is it?” He shakes his head, before running up to his room.

[ Simon ]  I rush to my room and immediately pull out my notebook. I feel like I’m going to collapse soon if I don’t get these feelings out. I jot down every thought running through my head. All the things I’ve wanted to do to Baz but never realised. The kiss, and how it was way too short. Whether or not it was a dream. The sunset we saw today, that beautiful sunset. How it felt to hold his hand, unafraid.The soft expression he wore as we watched the waves. The wanting to kiss him so desperately that it became overwhelming. How he kissed me first. Was he able to read my mind or something? Can vampires do that, read peoples minds? Writing everything down doesn’t help like it normally does. Maybe it’s because this isn’t school related. I climb into my bed, flipping through the notebook absentmindedly. I land on a page that Penny wrote on when she stole it a while back, in fourth year. My eyes skim through it.It’s a poem she wrote about books, of all things. Despite the subject, it’s actually a beautiful piece. I wonder if she still writes poetry. I’ve always been a fan, but I’ve never actually been able to write any of my own poems. Whenever I try, my mind goes blank. I prop a few pillows against the wall and lean against them, closing my eyes.This is exactly why I don’t like to think. Whenever I think of something, I can’t stop. Baz kissed me. (And I want him to do it again.) I look back down at Penny’s poem. Maybe I should try writing one again. It’s been years, and now I actually have something to write about. Penny has always told me that people use poetry as an outlet for their emotions, and I really need an outlet right now. I flip to a clean page, picking up a pencil from my bedside table.

[cordiformation]

Mercy Main, btw

“No aim, no brain, Mercy main.”

“I wish Mercy would be deleted from the game.”

“What a stupid hero.”

“Low skill hero.”

“It’s unfair that one button can counter an extremely high skill play.”

“Boosted.”

“Carried.”

“They have a top 500 and we have two Mercy mains, we’re going to lose.”

“Can you play anything not Mercy?”

“I hate Mercy mains.”

Anyway, this is just off the top sampling of conversation that happens pretty constantly if you’ve ever watched an Overwatch streamer who isn’t a Mercy player. The memes (ha ha, jokes) are permanent fixtures on the Overwatch reddits, of course and even make it into the “pro Overwatch” scene commentary (”And then Sherlockey swoops in from hiding and presses Q” -- which is related to the idea that “all Mercy does is Hide and then Press Q” which is the default ultimate use button on the PC). It’s a huge constant in any conversation on Overwatch (also seen in many of the popular youtube commentaries as well) and on the ladder a little less so but still “Can you play someone not Mercy” is fairly. . . well, common up until the most recent patch.

And I’m constantly fucking pissed.

There’s an interesting article here on Mercy but I thought I’d expand on it. The recent Mercy changes have really added to the conversation and just as people who played Mercy knew before, it wouldn’t really change the conversation.

A Lot of Arguments Against Mercy are that: 1. she doesn’t require aim 2. she’s very easy to play/low skill 3. she is too powerful 4. but on the other hand she’s not useful enough because she hasn’t been in higher tier conversation meta since like season 2 where she had a brief rein because of Pharmercy 5. ew grill gamers lol mercy main lol 6. I A DPS Main Feel Cheated When She Resurrects The Team Because My 5K Was So Impressive OH My God

One of the things I have liked and enjoyed immensely about Overwatch is that it isn’t Call of Duty 2.0. It isn’t the FPS only FPS can you FPS and only FPS game. It’s a game that to excel at requires a huge amount of map sense / strategy / game sense / educated guesses about the enemy so forth and so on. Every game is different because of your team and the enemy team and the map. You have to be able to predict who has what ults and what is going to be combo’d and what routes do you want to take on maps. It’s easily accessible but has a continual learning curve in what you can do.

Many characters who have ‘easy’ kits also have extremely high levels (in my opinion) of strategy involved. Winston is another example, of whom for a while was considered “low skill” because you don’t have to aim with his weapon, it does AOE auto-cleave damage. However, that has faded after the double Winston meta from like... season 1? And also because in Korea he’s seen as being one of the most important characters in the game. And it’s true. Winston is immensely powerful when used correctly. Just because his kit is “I don’t have to aim my gun to be effective” doesn’t mean anything in what ‘effective’ means. A good Winston needs to know engages / disengages, his own hp limits, other heroes cooldowns and ults, the bubble placement and how to block damage and ALSO enemy healing or LoS, how to utilize the jump combos to kill people etc. Another hero that the American (and I believe EU) sides of Overwatch had devalued for 800 years was D.Va but she had her revival in triple tank but only because “her defense matrix is overpowered”. However, it should be noted that while Winston has shaken off the ‘low skill’ title, D.Va has continued to keep it. Low skill, just needs 1 click (her defense matrix) to nullify everything! Low Skill! Awful Hero!

Strange how both D.Va and Mercy are female heroes and continue to get these comments repeatedly where similar male counterparts have been able to have that removed. Strange, isn’t it. A lot of other people have sort of spoken on the sexism in video games and the article I linked above also talks about it, so I won’t focus too much on it. But a real ha ha isn’t it.

The Mercy situation, I feel, is Damned if You Do, Damned if You Don’t. The only other burst healer in the game is Ana -- and Ana does have an extremely high skill cap. She requires fairly good accuracy and is also the only healer who can’t heal herself and the only healer with an offensive support ult, rather than a defensive one. Ana was op for a season or two and despite being thought of as ‘a bad choice’ for the first few weeks she came out, she became a ‘must pick’ and also a highly skilled character that was cool to play. She shoots people. And her ult enables DPS to do cool things. But outside of Ana, there is no way to heal quickly and consistently -- Lucio and Zenyatta both have much lower amounts of healing outside of bursts with long cooldowns (amp it up / transcendence).

For the longest time meta was just Lucio/Zen, if you ran anything else you were stupid. And then Lucio/Ana or Ana/Zen. This is with the top say, 20% or something of players, but Mercy has remained an incredible consistently high picked hero. For some obvious reasons -- tanks and DPS need healers to live. Even though Mercy has a high pick rate and many people making commentary outside of the pro players/streamers play with Mercys who save their asses... well, she’s still A Bad Hero to them. Some of this has to do with the echo chamber of these communities and the begging up after some dude says something and everyone else wants to repeat it. And, the sort of healer position in all games, as many people know, no one thinks healers have value, but they always need healers to heal them.

Anyway, people hated the rez. It brings people back to life. It means if you killed 5 people at once with A Cool Ult then Mercy could run in and rez them all. The idea often was that ‘Mercy hides and then comes out and rezes’. Which is honestly kind of silly since a good Mercy has always used rez for tempo and been with her team, since her job is... healing. But somehow the idea that Mercy Mains Are Good at Hiding And Doing Nothing But Rezzing and also that Mercys could Climb the Ladder By Only Rezzing Five People At Once spread.

Believe me, if climbing the ladder by getting 5man rezzes was possible, there would be a lot more Mercy one tricks in top 500 for the past few seasons.

But it stuck in commentary. Mercy was easy. Every Mercy player in the higher levels of play was boosted. After all, Mercy takes no skill, she just hides and presses Q. It’s ridiculous commentary and some of it has to do with the way that DPS players feel that all you need to do is frag harder, who needs strategy and whenever they get a ‘kill stolen’ from them they’re mad and Feels Bad. (Related, though, is how Trans and Sound Barrier can both nullify cool DPS plays as well, but no one complains about that... weird, huh....). I weirdly was watching a tank player’s stream where the exact problem was that all the DPS just wanted to frag harder and not follow strategy and shockingly they lost. Wow. It’s like Overwatch is a game that has more than just shooting to it??? Go figure.

Now, hilariously. While Mercy was too easy and constantly boosted she was also out of the higher tier levels because... she wasn’t that good. Why have Mercy when you can have Ana. Why have Mercy when you can have Lucio? So forth and so on. The only time Mercy was pulled out in higher levels for a very long time was “to babysit pharah” and even then you’d see Pharahs without Mercy.

Fast forward to now where Mercy got a rework because people kept complaining about how 5 person Rezes were unfair. The dev update is on the OW yt here. It should be noted that part of the ‘hide’ conversation is also your team telling you to hide when you want to stay and heal them. “Mercy go hide” listen don’t tell me how to play my character -- but it was pretty common at the elos I played at (gold/plat) and also the higher elos I watch streams for (masters/gm/top 500). People wanted her to hide because she is very easy to kill. Her 2016 Halloween victory pose is a gravestone with a hand reaching out going in for the rez and I’m never changing it because it’s Too True to Reality. Rez & die is pretty common. (example of both).

Now Rez is an ability and her ult is Valkyrie. When the changes were announced people who didn’t play Mercy were like Looks Cool and a lot of other people were like This wilL Take More Skill. A lot of Mercy players I know were... disappointed. Because what this change does is make Rez a single person rez (every 30 seconds) and Valkyrie lets her fly + shoot faster and resets the rez cooldown + her healing/damage boost beams connect to teammates instead of just one person. But what this did was take away her ability to save her team. So there’s no “I can save my team from an ult” ability she has anymore. Rez was the defensive ult she had to ‘team save’ like Sound Barrier and Trascendence.

But she’s been live for a while now and the answer people have now is: she’s too easy and too op. Her rez nullifies picks and it’s Unfair that Mercy’s Rez is So Easy and nullifies a High Skill Play Like a Pick. Her Ult is Too Good. She Does Too Much.  We Need a Mercy in Every Game or We’ll Lose. 

With that last one, let me tell you, I have watched all these top 500 DPS and tank/off tank players playing Mercy and they are so bad. Or having other GM players play Mercy because “we can’t win without one” but then the Mercy is so bad they lose. I mean, but if she was so easy wouldn’t she be able to be picked up immediately? Easy victory right? All Mercys up in higher levels have no skill, huh?

I won’t disagree that her ult is possibly too long or a little overpowered. Resetting the rez I think is fine. The 10 second cooldown is good. After all, that’s what makes her ... well, her. The rez. But her ult lasts for 20 seconds. They could cut it to 12 seconds or 15 and it would be much more balanced. Even that much would be enough imo, but if they needed further nerfs, they could also nerf the connected beams to teammates and have them have a drop off or something. I.E., main person gets the full heal, the connected people get less of a heal. But while people complain deeply about new Mercy ult... no one works too hard to counter it. As much as people complain about Mercy, very few people have ever tried to counter it. In fact, popular streamers have said: My team doesn’t know to kill Mercy, so I hate her. 

My DPS doesn’t know to kill the other teams support, so I hate the support. Thinking.

Mercy was given invul when she rezzed because it was too easy for her to die during rez. This has been removed for her current update and the rez distance is melee distance. So if you just killed someone and  Mercy goes in for the rez... you should also be able to kill her. It’s extremely valuable then. Her ult is easily countered by tac visor or deadeye. She herself is countered by anyone who can aim and Sombra. If DPS is so skilled, doesn’t it seem like they should be able to deal with a 200hp hero? Hm. At my elo (Plat/Diamond rn) you can still hunt her down with Pharah and kill her.

Now, the skill part of Mercy. When Mercys changes came through, they were extremely easy for me to adjust to. My friends have had varying experiences -- many have said she’s much harder. I feel that she’s much easier because the hardest part of Mercy is strategy. Which of your teammates are the most valuable to rez right now, will rezzing them be productive, what ults do the enemy have which cooldowns do they have, where are we with progress, where are the rest of my teammates, what ults do we have, where are we on the map blah blah. Tempo rez has always been good but before you had to balance it with “will i need a team rez later”. 8/10 of my rezzes previous have been tempo rezzes because team rezzes often just set your team up to get wiped again.

But with her changes, that has been removed. You can only tempo rez. That decision has been removed. The weight is more on who and when and why -- but honestly, it’s also relieving because instead of “my DPS loves feeding jesus christ stop dying now we have to wait for you to respawn so we can push again” the fights are a lot quicker to engage. You can make up for your teammates bad decisions with rez. If you’re good with it.

Who do you rez? Well, it’s a pretty easy answer for me which is “depends”, lol. It’s a nice place to be as a solo healer if you have 2 tanks, you can let one of them die and heal the other. You can continue pushes when people make mistakes. You can rez your DPS carry or second support. There’s so many more options to enable your team to do well.

You have to know your distance and teammate positions intimately so you can escape and go in. Her new Guardian Angel lets you slingshot around and it’s nice but also tricky to use (?). The skill part of Mercy has always been strategy and positioning, and this change hasn’t change it at all.

I suppose, people who were mediocre or bad at Mercy continue to be bad at Mercy.

I guess... this is the parting word here. I’m not exactly sure where I meant to go with this except I’m tired. I’m tired of people bagging on Mercy. Of complaining but wanting to be healed and rezzed. I’m honestly tired of maining who seems to be the most hated character in Mercy. The more people complain about aspects of heroes in Overwatch who clearly have a place and are generally not OP people just haven’t at all considered actually countering them the more it feels like the community never wanted you. And honestly, maybe they never did. I jokingly bag on Mercy all the time in hopes that I will become immune to it. It doesn’t work. I play fill in most competitive matches and often it’s support that needs filled. Or, say, a tank but there’s no support so playing tank will be difficult and suck.

I think I had more to say. But I’m sure anyone reading this can guess what. I’ve always enjoyed that OW isn’t just about fps. I wish the rest of the community would catch up with that.

[melodvc]

back @ it again with another sad white boy bc that’s what the world needs

DYLAN O’BRIEN, CIS MALE, HE/HIM — have you met devon finn waterbury ? the twenty-seven year old is known for being both observant and merciful, but also very cataclysmic and remorseful. born in new york city, dev now lives in greenwich, usually sulking.

WOW here’s more abt him (  tw for murder, gang violence, mental illness [hereditary], suicide attempt, hospitalization . god i hope that’s it )

grew up in a house with his 5 other brothers & sisters, mom, and dad

mom was a lil shaky at times bc of her mental illness (bipolar)

wasn’t rly revealed until he was about 18 that he was bipolar too when he was sent to therapy but his therapist sucked and he hated it, hated his meds, etc. and just ran like it felt like nothing was helping him and he was just forced into this shitty cycle of the same stuff

ended up going on like a perpetual aka 9-month manic episode when his mom tried to kill herself

got drunk & hella violent one night, picking fights everywhere n shit and got into it with two guys who ended up having knives and rip bc the tides turned and he was able to get a knife, aka stabbed one of the guys to help a girl get away .

the other guy took off running but he stayed to wait for the ambulance. ofc he got off on self defense however due to family history of mental illness he did have to do like a month in inpatient care

it was actually a little beneficial for him but he done fucked up man

anyway he came home to a big like surprise party from his family all pretending he wasn’t like this huge disgrace * ( 6 )

and literally the night he got home there was a home invasion by the guy’s friends & they killed one of his sisters and then, by accident, his dad and finally, shot him before they left

after that his family sort of just fell the fuck apart like death either separates or unites and in this case, his living fam members didn’t fucking want to talk to him . his mom still loved him tho bless her heart

anyway he took his dad’s life insurance money and moved to london . he bought a couple houses to invest and basically barely scrapes by by renting out one and living in the other

his favorite thing is to just get drunk and go to shows . he rly likes music but he’s more like the techie guy only he isn’t bc he has no experience lmao

he was good at math in school so he’s thinking abt doing something with that but it’s not rly going anywhere he’s sort of just directionless and damaged rip

doesn’t sleep  whole lot ? has night terrors somewhat regularly 

i do want one of his brothers/sisters to come into town or move in with him ? so WC pls & ty lol

SMOKE:AU6: 

continued from * ( 6 ) above. ( tw for blood ment., murder, torture )

uh the guy he killed’s friends, LITERALLY THAT NIGHT, lmao ended up killing him

this poor family honestly but anyway he was sent to hell pretty fuckin fast to be a demon. been one for a couple yrs now most likely

has a pretty big blood kink tbh tho it’s not usually sexual . more gratifying ? lol n bc he’s a fucker he gets that out now just by torturing ppl wow

um he def has killed again since but he’s usually careful 2 … not. not a fan of the feeling even tho the blood thing is a little lowkey so that he can see someone else’s blood on his hands n not think abt the guy he actually like rly murdered

LOL nice anyway the end ig

[charbookwyrm]

Children of Zodiarcs (spoilers ahead)

OK so…. I really liked this game for about 80% of the play-time. The game play (strategy rpg using dice and upgradable cards) was super fun. The character design for the protagonists is fab. The world building was decent; some dialogue pretty funny; and while there’s a pretty big “everyone is an asshole” vibe it’s done in a way that stays entertaining, until…

Well. Our main character, Nahmi, really hates it when people betray her. Considering this game leans pretty heavily on tragic dramatic irony, it’s not entirely shocking that, in the last Act, she decides to off everyone who ever wronged her, including one-time friends.

But here’s the problem: all but a few of the named characters are children and teenagers. Kinda says it in the name, right? And yes, I’d still be sad if I had to kill sympathetic adults. However, the age of characters is a really important thing to consider here, because as a player you are the person actively committing this act, and you have zero choice whatsoever.

Think about that for a second, because the medium of gaming is important. As an adult player, you’re interacting with a group of seriously traumatised children living a nightmare existence… then to continue the game you have got to kill those children, or witness a cutscene where it occurs. Maybe it’s because I work with kids, but there’s something utterly messed up about that.

Compounding everything, the protagonist gets to the final level and there’s a big show down with the man who’s been manipulating her through most of the game. Nahmi has killed everyone she knows to get to this point. But in the end, she decides to leave the abusive adult alive because… “family”? “mercy?” She’s killed friends (kids) to achieve escape up until this point, because “betrayal” (despite dialogue lines begging otherwise), but leaves arguably the worst of the lot alive?

I get that this is a game trying to utilise grey morality and so on, but pushing those choices onto a player is just not the way to go about it. The game was hugely promising but the way the story of the final levels was handled was beyond clumsy. There are plenty of arguments out there about how to handle serious issues in literature/film/etc (and whether they should be passively consumed as entertainment), but there’s also an extra layer of complexity to these issues when the gaming audience is actively involved.

The ending storyline as it is - even with the pretty art in the end credits that shows Nahmi is OK in the end - doesn’t make sense and is deeply troubling when you consider an audience’s complicity with in-game actions. I can think of so-many other ways that a master-thief could have dealt with these problems that didn’t involve knifing another kid in the back. It honestly felt pointless. Heck, maybe that was the point the devs were trying to make - but I honestly think they could have done so in a far more sensitive manner.

I can’t quite believe I’ve ended up thinking this, but maybe “how to handle deaths of children” needs to be added to the lost of Conversations People Seriously Need to Have About Designing and Writing Video Games. At the end of the day, ‘killing kids’ is not a topic where we should need reminding that 'this isn’t OK’.

[llaevateinn]

Overwatch Card Sprays

Okay, so @kryptonitanott and me were discussing this at length today. As you guys all know, with the Overwatch Anniversary, each character got a spray that assigned a card to the hero. A full list of which card was given to which hero can be found on a reddit post right here.

What I am going to discuss now is the fact that the devs clearly mucked it up, because aside from the Aces, the Jokers, and some of the Kings and Queens, none of this makes a lick of sense. So Kry and I came up with an alternate version, which goes as follows:

HEARTS: Ace ANA King REINHARDT Queen AMÉLIE Jack MCCREE Ten D.VA Nine WINSTON

SPADES: Ace JACK King ZENYATTA Queen SOMBRA Jack PHARAH Ten HANZO Nine ORISA

CLUBS: Ace GABE King TORBJÖRN Queen ANGELA Jack SYMMETRA Ten MEI

DIAMONDS: Ace TRACER King BASTION Queen ZARYA Jack GENJI Ten LUCIO

Now, hold on, you’re going to say ... What’s wrong with the way Blizzard did it, and why did you do it this way? Well, it’s easier to just explain why our version actually makes sense. Namely, the fact that each color now has a theme that unites the heroes! So what are the themes?

HEARTS: This might be obvious, but the heroes with Hearts cards are one way or another loving - passionate, protective, courageous (and maybe self-sacrificial?) Ana displays this not only through her role as a healer, a sniper who has her team’s back and protects them from harm, but also in that she basically died wanting to protect her daughter. I don’t think I have to explain why Reinhardt is THE embodiment of a King of Hearts? Okay. Now, Amélie is trickier, because she’s the heartless one, right? Wrong! Remember the Reflections comic, where she visited her dead husband’s grave? And also, just consider how actually tragic her backstory is, and holy crap if that doesn’t give you feels then I don’t know. Also, hers is maybe a story of finding back to this passion and love. McCree on the other hand is very obviously one who cares so much, and clearly wishes to do good in this world, but circumstances are opposed to him. D.Va then is the literal protector of her country, serving her people, stepping up and even making something as horrible as war approachable through her streams. Lastly, we have Winston, who we put here because he so clearly cares and wants to fix things, wants to bring Overwatch, his family, back together.

SPADES: Now Spades we summarized as “lawful, righteous, ideological”. In Jack’s case, this is expressed in his vigilantism, and previously we saw it in things like the Uprising comic, where he knew sending a team to King’s Row was the right thing to do, even if it went against orders. Zenyatta brings a different dimension to this, on the one hand with his and the Shambali’s connection to the Iris, as well as his severance from his brothers because of ideological differences. Sombra in this case we see as a seeker of Truth, a truly neutral force that believes her path to be the righteous one. And do I need to say it? Pharah is justice embodied (”Justice rains from above”), whereas Hanzo takes this and gives it another spin (”With every death comes honor. With honor, redemption”). Lastly, Orisa is like the police. True lawfulness.

CLUBS: This is a tricky one, but we boiled it down to acute intelligence, but at the cost of the weight of guilt and internal conflict. Reaper is a prime example. As Gabriel Reyes, he was described as a tactician, and able to defeat the wholly analytical Omnics in battle. But now he is torn with thoughts of revenge and bitterness (or is he?). This ties in very closely with Mercy, who we think must have had a horrible hand in the making of Reaper as he is right now, and despite her expert medical knowledge, she was not only unable to save Reyes, but actually twisted him into something murderous and dark and cold (or so it seems). Torbjörn’s hand in the Omnic Crisis was hinted at in canon as well, but now that he seems friends with Bastion, does he feel conflicted about his hatred of all Omnics? As their maker, does it not mean ... he hates himself? Symmetra is slightly speculative, as in current canon she has not yet broken ties with Vishkar, but once she realizes that she was used, I am quite sure that this will create a rift. Now Mei is an interesting one, because yeah sure she’s all smiley and “sorry, sorry”, but actually she is the only survivor of her research team. Everyone else died. She woke up, alone, surrounded by her dead friends, Overwatch gone, and no way out. I, for one, would be scarred for life, even if she seems like she got away fine, there might be some niggling survivor’s guilt.

DIAMONDS: The previous three categories were clear-cut, as they were headed by the original Trio (Ana, Gabe, Jack). This one Blizzard gave to Tracer because of obvious reasons. However, we labelled this one the category of the “free spirits”. Tracer, Zarya and Genji clearly do their own thing, and no one can tell them not to do something. Tracer continues to save people outside her jurisdiction, and Genji has learned from Zenyatta’s teachings. Bastion is a funny one, because he is still learning and exploring who he really is, but that means that he is also not bound to anyone or anything (except Ganymede). And Lúcio is the ultimate freedom fighter, who combats Vishkar with music and skates.

Obviously this is by far not perfect, so I’m welcoming any and all discussion about this. Maybe someone figured out what Blizzard’s sorting system was? Maybe you disagree with our conclusions?

[willreadforbooze]

Hello!

BIG NEWS PEOPLE! Our Will Read For Booze twitter account (formerly Sam’s personal account) is going to be dedicated to the whole blog! So go check us out kthxxxx. While that’s amazing, Sam has to start from scratch on a new account, let’s show her some love huh? Check out her new account TheBooktender_  She’ll love you forever and ever.

Ginny’s Updates:

Busy week, busier weekend. Short summary.

Currently Reading:

Wicked Fox  by Kat Cho: Sam heard good things about this book and picked up a copy at ALA. I’m not super far in but so far I’m enjoying the lore of it. I’m not particularly familiar with Korean lore so it’s interesting to try to pick it up. That being said, I’ve been moving further away from YA so I’m having a little trouble getting into the book. We’ll see how it goes.

Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time by Jeff Sutherland: It’s been a while since I read something for professional development. I received this book at a training a little while ago and decided to pick it up. This book talks about the best way to run a project. Pretty basic.

Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh: This if the 7th book in the Psy-Changeling series and at this point it should be very clear that I really enjoy this series. I’m a big fan of the various plotlines foiling serial killers. Right now, Dev, the leading of the Shine (an organization protecting children with Psy blood from the full-blooded Psy) has found a Psy woman with amnesia who clearly needs help. Cool.

Finished:

Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi: This was a fun read. The aliens who want to be introduced to the world look like humanity’s worst ideas of what aliens could be; amorphous blobs that speak through potent aromas. I liked the characters in this book, though it’s pretty easy to tell this is one of Scalzi’s early books. Still enjoyable. 3.5/5

The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite: Holy shit, this book was delightful. Lucy watches her GF/BFF marry a man and decides to leave. Goes to London to talk to the Countess of Moth about an introduction to the scientific society so that she can write a translation of the seminal astronomy work at her time (she worked as an astronomer with her now-deceased father). Both of these ladies have insecurities but reading them falling in love was wonderful! Watching they ways the worked (or didn’t work through) their problems was a ton of fun, always felt in character, and desperately hurt at times. 5/5

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells: This is the third book in the Murderverse series. Murderbot continues to work their way around the universe, this time going on a mission to an abandoned planet to prove some wrong-doing of their previous owner. They originally hide from the team doing the exploration but obviously that doesn’t go to plan. Watching Murderbot start to realize the various ways they need to change to fit in with society, and the way they want to live is (to steal a word from Sam) precious. 5/5

Branded by Fire by Nalini Singh: The sixth book in the Psy-Changeling series, this is the first book that involves a relationship between two Changelings. Mercy and Riley have crazy chemistry and drive each other crazy; figuratively and literally. They’re also working together to try to deal with a kidnapping attempt that involves both of their packs. The way this world continues to be laid out is magical. I love the way the characters, locations, and political landscape continue to change to adapt to each book. 5/5

Wanted, A Gentleman by K.J. Charles: This is an author I keep seeing mentioned by the people I follow on twitter and now I completely understand it. This book features a freed slave’s complicated relationship with their prior owners teaming up with a seemingly ruthless man who writes basically personal ads to hunt down the daughter of the family of his old owners to save her from a bad elopement. This book is wildly dramatic and yet makes so much sense. 4.5/5

Queen of the Unwanted  by Jenna Glass: This is the sequel to the Women’s War that came out last year. I also received an ARC of this book from NetGalley, and I’d prefer not to say too much but if you read and enjoyed the first book you’re going to enjoy this one. If you want complicated relationships, women in power, and diverse personalities, this book has them all! 5/5

Destiny’s Embrace by Beverly Jenkins: Yup, lots of romance novels this week. Logan Yates is a ranch owner who ends up with Mariah as his housekeeper. She’s been abused by her mother for years and decides she’s not going to let anyone step over her, and goes toe to toe with Logan at every turn. There are some portions of this book that kind of get a side eye mostly because I think a few sentences about posture or something would make them a little more palatable. That being said, this was a lot of fun and a good start to a series. I’m looking forward to the next book 4/5

Linz’s Updates

What Linz read:

My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing: Marketed as a cross between Dexter and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this contemporary novel introduces us to a married suburban couple who keep it spicy with a little bit of murder. I think it was kinda dumb they used Mr. and Mrs. Smith, when there are some good similarities to the Gone Girl genre, but whatever. I’m not mad I read it, but it was … fine?

The Good Luck Girls by Charlotte Nicole Davis: sort of fantasy version of Old West Texas, where Good Luck Girls (ie prostitutes) are kept trapped to their welcome houses with cursed tattoos and a really shitty government. I thought the concept was alright, the ending was very good, and I really liked the protagonist, but some of the world-building was clunky and I thought some elements weren’t really explained.

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: I would never have heard of this book if it weren’t for my book club, and I’m kind of pissed about it because it’s REALLY good. Why weren’t more people talking about this 1920s-era mythology-heavy book? I loved the style of writing and the weaving of old and modern worlds, reminded me of American Gods in a better way.

What Linz is currently reading:

Queen of Ruin by Tracy Banghart: The sequel to Grace and Fury that I’ve been itching to get my hot hot hands on. Loved the first installment about two sisters who are forced to switch places in a horribly run patriarchal society.

Middlegame by Seanan McGuire: Had to put this down to knock out some ARC reading by drop dates, but Ginny will probably be happy to know I’m picking it back up so she can have her copy back.

Sam’s Updates

It’s Nats World Series Week so I’m spending my days working through hell and my nights (late nights) watching baseball. I. Are. Tired.

What Sam read this week:

Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: This is our book club book for the month. Basically it’s the 1920s-ish in Mexico, and our main character Casiopea accidentally lets the god of death out of prison and he gotta put himself back together before he turns mortal and for a variety of reasons (including potential death herself) Casiopea goes with him. I’m not going to put too many thoughts here because book clube but I will be writing a follow-up drunk review to Minda’s sober one.

Aurora Rising by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman: This is the first in a new sci-fi series by our fave Illuminae duo. Tyler has it made, he’s gonna get the #bestsquadever. But then when he’s out practicing space stuff, he finds a ship that has a buncha dead people in cryopods, except one isn’t dead, she’s Aurora. Anyway he ends up with the last of the last crews and may have accidentally witnessed the start of an intergalactic war. So.. that. I’m really really liking the dynamic of the squad, everyone is a little odd and a little broken but they’re starting to get to know each other. We’ll see if my love for them overcomes the pace of the story (slowwww).

A River Of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy: This is a story about a girl named Eva, she’s a princess. She’s gotta compete with her sister for the throne, to the death. But the thing is, she can’t figure out her magic. So she tries real hard to figure it out all while someone is trying to kill her. This book was fine. I sorta figured it out early but I enjoyed it so that’s good I suppose. 3/5 Shots Drunk Review coming.

…And Other Disasters by Malka Older: This is a collection of short stories that are in the world of sci-fi. I loved them all, and that rarely happens with collections like this. Everyone go pre-order it right TF now. 5/5

What I’m currently reading:

Wild Beauty by Anna-Marie McLemore: So this is a story of a family that always has 5 girls, 5 cousins. The men that spawn these women disappear, so it’s always the women. 5 ladies, 5 mothers, 5 Grandmas (abuelas), when suddenly a boy appears. He has no memories. Guys I know I’m slow going at this but some stuff happened in the book and now I’m v v sad.

Girls of Storm and Shadow by Natasha Ngan: This is the sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire which i didn’t…. love… but also didn’t hate. We’ll see how this goes. I’m predicting a ton of miscommunication between romantic relationships so…

The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin: This is the final installment to the Inheritance trilogy. Seems to be about Sia. Listening on audio so we’ll see how it goes.

Minda’s Updates

No update from Minda this week.

Until next time, we main forever drunkenly yours,

Sam, Ginny, Linz, and Minda

Weekly Wrap Up: Oct 21-27, 2019 Hello! BIG NEWS PEOPLE! Our Will Read For Booze twitter account (formerly Sam's personal account) is going to be dedicated to the whole blog!