#the machinist was more fun to draw | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

biot08 · 3 years ago

Text

FFXIV Character Sheet

with love given to @bluespiritfire (original here!)

Name: Zoissette Vauban / Zo

Age: High 30s

Pronouns: She/her

Birthdate: I forget, but it’s on her in-game paper doll

~~PLACE OF ORIGIN~~ Race: Ishgardian Wildwood Elezen Hometown/city: Ishgard Current residence/popular haunt: Work for the Maelstrom, so has barracks space in Limsa Lominsa. Works for Gage Acquisitions, so sometimes crashes on the couch at their HQ in the Goblet. Her parents still live in Ishgard, and so she can also couch-crash there

~~APPEARANCE~~ Eyes: Brown Hair: Black with purple highlights Hair type: Straight and thinnish Hair style: Short undercut Body type: Athletic, the wiry kind; muscles of steel cable Height: Tall Skin: Light brown Facial features: Nothing notable Body features: Shortish ears for an Elezen

Favourite/commonly used clothes: That beautiful skirt and jacket combo that Tataru made for her when she is being casual. The heavier dark jacket and sabatons that Tataru made when she has serious business knight work to do.

~~SKILLS~~ DoL/DoH Dabbles in the entire list of DoL/DoH skills for self-sustainability purposes, but has no real talent for any of it

~~COMBAT~~ Main discipline Gladiator/Paladin (she will never refer to herself as a Paladin; her training is that of an Ishgardian knight); her other main discipline is arcanist/scholar

Secondary/Tertiary/Extra Classes Red mage and machinist (in-game, she also has NIN, but that’s more because I like the class and less because it’s appropriate for the character)

Fighting style She shifts between hard-and fast and defensive/protective as a knight. She appears reckless to the inexperienced, but she very much knows what she is doing. As a scholar, she is tactical, and very wait-watch-and-see.

Any difficulties with magical/physical disciplines? Red mage is the only magical discipline she is extremely good at, because it relies heavily on her physicality (channeling with precise rapier work) and on her personal mana pool. She is awful at drawing in external aether. Her magics as a scholar also lean heavily on her ability to work with the summoned fairy construct to do the bulk of the aether work while she performs the necessary manipulations and calculations. As a result, she was merely a middling arcanist, but is a very good scholar.

~~PERSONALITY TRAITS~~ Analytical, cunning, curious. She can be impulsive, but it is not because she is not considering the consequences, but often because she is very interested in what they will actually be. She is very self-assured in general.

~~LIKES~~ Environment: A warm home with a warm fire. She does find Ul’dah’s dry environment endearing after the snowscapes of Coerthas post-calamity. She tolerates Limsa. Weather: Warm days Flavours: Nuts greens meats and fruits Textures: Cotton or wool Favourite Dish: Meat pot pies of any sort. They can be well made, and that’s great. Or the can be mediocre, but easily portable and reheatable on the front lines, and that’s also great. Favourite Colour: Purple Favourite Sound: The utter silence of the soundscape during a lull on the front of the dragonsong war provides her with strong mixed feelings that have turned nostalgic. The way snow dampens sound and makes for a particular kind of quiet night is eerie, but dragons tend to be very loud; as a result, the eerieness was overridden by the knowledge of a promise of a good night’s rest Favourite Smell: Hot meat pie straight out of the hearth Favourite Place: The little fort outpost she was ‘in charge’ of and responsible for for a great deal of her adult life. She can’t go back, but she has fond memories of the place Favourite Holiday: The new ones they’re inventing celebrating the end of the dragonsong war and the beginning of a new promise of peace

~~DISLIKES~~ Environment: Snowy environs. She’s had enough of that for several lifetimes. Weather: Snoooooow Flavours: Gamey. You get a lot of gamey meat on the front. Textures: Weirdly, finds silk to be entirely too slippery Least Favourite Dish: Ishgardian knight hardtack. It’ll feed you, but you’ll regret it the entire time. Least Favourite Colour: White, though she has no strong opinion here Least Favourite Sound: Bells. Too many alarm bells in her life. Least Favourite Smell: No strong opinions here Least Favourite Place: Coerthas. Even though her most favourite place is there Least Favourite Holiday: Doesn’t really have one, though she ignores several; this is less dislike and more apathy

~~HOBBIES~~ Reads voraciously, both for research and as a hobby. Finds working out invigorating. Does not skip leg day. Never saw a mountain that didn’t need someone to at least attempt to scale it. Pretty fond of fucking around (and often finds out, which is also fun)

~~RELATIONSHIPS~~ Parents/Legal Guardian/Parental Figure: Mother and father. While no longer Ishgardian nobility, the Inquisition merely stripped them of house titles and colours, but did not excommunicate them. They live in the repaired parts of Ishgard now, as commoners Siblings: Second oldest of seven Children: Nope Romantic: Single, about to be complicated (for tax and guild fee purposes) Friends: Picks up acquaintances easily enough, thanks to an easy going personality and willingness to just generally roll with things. Has few truly close friends, though, due to having a tendency to keep a bit of a distance. Loyal for life once past that point, though. Rivals/Enemies: No rivals, but there are definitely people among the noble families of Ishgard who she would count as enemies. Not enough to truly go after or do anything about, but people who she is, at best, cold towards if she ever has to interact with them. She gets on well with Alphinaud, as the two complement each other, his diplomacy making up for her lack of it, and her foresight making up for his frequent naivete. She snarks with Y’shtola and the two often banter like old maids. She merely has a working relationship with Thancred, but it’s not cold; it’s just not a close friendship, either. Tataru finds her vexing. Estinien and her have a deeply shared understanding that comes from both being front line participants in the dragonsong war. Krile and her do not understand one another, and tend to settle for just being cordial. She finds Urianger likeable, and gently needles him at times, and doesn’t always realise when he’s doing it back.

Any special gestures of affection they have with people in their life? She will, without fail, ask Lennier if he’s been working out, and will swoon when he performs physical feats (squats, pushups, etcetera) nearby.

~~HAVE DEALT WITH/IS DEALING WITH~~ Definitely has some PTSD. Also, her entire family has gone from lesser nobility to commoners with a status that, until recently, left a bad mark on their name (their status as a minor house was lost when the inquisition found evidence that some members of the family, cousins in relation to Zoissette, were hertetics). She keenly feels the disruption of life in Ishgard due to the end of the dragonsong war, but does not quite know how or what to feel about it.

How are they dealing with the most prominent of the above? How does it affect their in day-to-day life, if at all? She sleeps lightly and poorly and generally pretends she doesn’t have a problem

~~ODDS AND ENDS~~ Notable Weapons Not really. Any sword is still a chunk of metal made with lethal intent

Notable Mounts An Ishgardian raised Chocobo, of course, for the most part. If she is travelling into danger, the Magitek armor, while defanged, is still a walking tank. If she has to fly somewhere, the manacutter from the Ironworks is just plain fun to fly

Notable Minion/s She has come to value Midgardsomr’s council and will travel with him as he is willing

Keepsakes/Mementos ... the Fortemps Shield.

Chronic Illnesses or Disabilities None

Education Level The same schooling most Ishgaridan noble family knights get to enjoy. She did a lot of self-study, because she found it interesting, but it was also part of a continuous bid to try to be accepted in the astrologian guild; however, due to House politics, she was never accepted. Fortunately, when she left home due to the situation after the inquisition investigation, the Limsa Lominsan arcanists were more than happy to take her on and guide her studies further. Generally her studies started with things she thought would be helpful for the war effort; history, strategy, logistics, and tactics. Since then she has dabbled in any of dozen different subjects, learning few of them deeply, but being at least conversational in a great many of them

Habits I should probably come up with some!

#202109-05 #ffxivwrite2021 #character sheet #ffxiv #zoissette vauban

9 notes · View notes

elizabethrobertajones · 4 years ago

Note

Saw you've been sucked into the MMO life in the form of FFXIV and I was wondering if you had any input into the debate I've been having about what class archetypes tfw would play. I think Sam would be most likely to tank because it requires a reasonable amount of leadership and is also more of a quiet, backbone type role compared to dps. Dean seems more the type to be singularly focused on the big damage hits tbh. He also tends to take more of the charging in and fighting role in their normal life with Sam being the one reading up on everything more carefully and being his backup. Which leaves Cas as healer which may just be me projecting because I play healer/support at every opportunity but literal angel healing aside I think that sorta fits too, he cares a lot for them and tries to keep them safe and shield them as best he can in their adventures? Idk half formed thoughts please completely contradict me if you want I'm genuinely curious about other people's opinions here

Heyooo :D It is less sucked into and more like I’ve returned to the warm cushiony nest of MMOs lol

If you’d asked me back when I was a WoW player I’d have fully agreed because you could only have one class per character and these are definitely the snap decisions that the fam would make when on the character screen. Dean would grab the sexiest DPS, Sam the stoutest tank especially as he’s the one who has read into the classes and strats beforehand, and Cas would ask what to do and be given the healer role because the other two in this scenario would know better about the game and sort of lump it onto him like, oh, we need a healer and you can do this.

(In my own gaming journey, this is what my friends and brother did to me, as they needed a healer to round out their party... I took druid because it was spoopy, and discovered in WoW that while you can’t change classes you can pay gold to respec your character’s role within that class... Promptly re-specced to a melee dps/tank feral druid instead of the healer one, and had a lot more fun :D)

In FFXIV you can take all the classes on your character (which I have done, natch) and it’s a much more interesting levelling approach, especially seeing how my friends playing the game have gone when it comes to taking classes as they level and why they claim to have tried and then rejected others. It’s an enormous personality test, even for peeps like me and my brother who have all the classes up at max level, which ones we prioritised and which ones we sort of struggled with or found a bit meh.

Hm so in the scenario that Charlie comes bursting into the Bunker demanding that she needs some friends for dungeons and raids and they’re all sitting on their asses scrolling the internet between a case, they can bloody well play final fantasy with her for a bit, let’s go for some headcanons :D Long because FFXIV has become my current obsession and I have the same in-depth feels about it as I do about SPN but I just never get to write about them with anyone...

First off, Sam of course has deep nerdery about it and will ask Charlie a ton of questions about what the right class to play is and do the same thing as we’ve already discussed and go for Paladin (which starts as gladiator), and also take all the crafting and gathering side classes because he’s a nerd and you learn nonsense lore while doing it. He’s also in the same starting zone as Thaumaturge which transitions to Black Mage and I BET he’d be tempted to have a little safe witch!Sam emotional release on the most un-Sam class. It’s the big unwieldy spell caster whose literal class quests and stuff make fun of how you’re small and squishy and will be standing in a very bad spot debating whether to finish a long-cast spell and get hit or stop DPS and run for safety. I think he could do with the perspective and learning to be selfish either way to blow off steam from tanking and also learn to prioritise himself IRL :’D Also the paladin quest is WEIRDLY pro-cop from 30 onwards for some reason until the writers saw sense and just. stopped. doing paladin stuff and went back to the Gladiator storyline for the class quests, so idk if he’d enjoy that or start to question other things. Whatever it is he’s getting challenged XD

At 60 he grabs Gunbreaker because it sounds more cool and is thankfully way less emotionally stressful tanking as it’s entirely about being a badass bodyguard and sick flips. This is far more aspirational for Sam, especially as he could just tie a knife to a sawn off shotgun and do these moves for real in his day job. He won’t, but like with black mage, the thought that he COULD is very emotionally satisfying to him.

He might also have decided to check out scholar to see how healing is but idk if he would be able to handle Dean teasing him for having a fairy follow him around so he’d only dabble with the nerd class on the side :P

Now, Dean can’t take ninja until level 10 or machinist (gun shooty DPS class) until 50, so his start point as DPS would either be pugilist (eeeey brass knuckle class!) or the other DPS classes to start with are Thaumaturge/Black Mage, Arcanist/Summoner, Archer or Lancer. Now. He’d probably think the first two are sissy because magic is for girls/arcanists literally only have a book as a weapon. Archer becomes bard and I think is ultimately a place he’d be very happy as it is a very supportive class to the whole party and basically the mom friend class. But I would love if he went lancer/dragoon because the level 50 class weapon is (folklore inspired name) “Gae Bolg” and every time I equip it I can’t help giggling at the name even though I know it’s a real thing and I shouldn’t. But. Like. It’s the class about waving enormous lances around. It’s got Implications, and Dean is drawn to those.

He’d probably, however, take rogue/ninja as soon as he could because stabbing things with knives, and the class trainer is the kinda guy who’d have wild gay tension with him while they both try to boast about women to each other, were they to meet irl. Ironically, the rogue trainer (a womanising charmer) and the ninja trainer (an intense, honourable guy bad at social cues even among his own people who ends up falling from grace and choosing to stay in the vicinity of said rogue trainer) are an interesting pair of NPCs to teach Dean about where to stick knives. :)

He’d go back and power-level dragoon once he starts Heavensward though, because Aymeric is also super intense with messy dark hair and big blue eyes that see right through you. :D He’s getting that gae bolg for him, you know?

If they’re going to bully Cas to be their healer, he’d probably get really dedicated to the discipline especially as he can stay up all night to play and doesn’t need to take breaks to pee so he’d probably level conjurer/white mage (nature healing) and scholar (ancient book lore with a class quest which mixes ancient curses on a whole people, family drama and a bit of interspeciesish love) and then also pick up astrologian, which is good because it’s spooky star and making your own fate magic. The storyline for that is garbage in the sense that it’s really weakly written, but my favourite character randomly picks up AST in the latest expansion, and has an absolutely fucking wild subtextual romance with another character, including SPN level adopting of a random child who matches Jack in many respects, with said character. And in many respects emotionally they’re Cas and Dean but without any of the personal baggage between them specifically so they really are just chill and married, whatever else they’re stressed about (I say, dreading the next patch is going to finally bring up some questions about what is going on with them as it’s getting weirdly conspicuous while still utterly unsaid). So I would hope if Cas started projecting onto an astrologian character it would be him :P

Cas also would get into summoner as the other branch of scholar because honestly those two classes are about as close to the random sigil drawing and reading things from books etc analogy to his own occult magic, except you can summon cool dragons and elementals to fight for you.

they’d buy Jack a boost to 60 and he’d pick up dark knight and white mage probably just to subtly fuck with Dean

(I am still not over Dean trying to test him to see if he was evil or not by whether he chose devil or angel cake)

#Asks #ffxiv #pfft #I'm sorry #I'm like #in the rabbit hole #I'm so in deep in the rabbit hole I've memorised all the lore #I did every quest #I am as forensic about it as I am about SPN but it's all just in my head!!#AAAH why is the fandom for this game small and uninterested in talking about subtext!#[edit to add: if you know where the fandom I'm seeking is and it's on reddit #I'm not going there and you can't pay me to for all the thancred headcanons in eorzea]

12 notes · View notes

biteyourcrush · 3 years ago

Text

Oooh, Aaravi headcanons time? Yes, Aaravi headcanons time:

- High dexterity tank build; as in, she is VERY good at drawing aggro and avoiding getting hit in the first place. Her whole schtick operates halfway between Zelda and Final Fantasy XIV, so if I had to give her a default job it'd probably be Warrior. Definitely has picked up Paladin, Dark Knight, Thief, and Machinist too.

- (Honestly she's probably got most all of the combat jobs to 80- including the crafting ones. Gathering a little less so, she just trades stuff on the market board. Also probably hasn't touched magical DPS or healing jobs either.)

- If I had to nail down her abilities on a DND sheet, she'd be at least 7 levels of hunter ranger, and 3 levels of (drumroll please).... hexblade warlock! She's gotten Hex to be able to turn into a sword at least once here, it was fucking dope.

- Somehow both an excellent cook who can make delicious home made meals and brew some tasty fuckin coffee, but will ALSO just fucking slam raw potatoes in her mouth in the middle of a fight. Somebody stop her.

- Those scars on her back aren't from a monster. Her mom put her through a lot of tough training from a very young age- and when you're training with weapons... accidents happen.

- Her grandma is the slayer who was active before her mom was- she's a badass old lady, and honestly a lot more chill than Aaravi gives her credit for.

- She has a glamour for visiting the human world- rounds out her ears, whitens up her sclera- though she doesn't visit often. Just to see her grandma sometimes, really. She lives almost entirely in the monster world, now.

- Speaking of, her monstrous side of the family comes from a noble of the winter court. If it weren't for the resemblance to revivifying fairies, Aaravi would have been MUCH more wary of Norah.

- Dungeons are one part naturally occurring magical phenomena, and one part tourist attraction. The wellsprings of magic in them generate, reanimate, and mutate the local wildlife which would *probably* overrun the city if not kept in check- so folks with a lot of pent up aggression and more than a little knowledge of how to swing a sword band up and just have fun kicking a lot of ass, as monsters are want to do. Some of these dungeons have been kept in check enough for so long, they've been effectively built into an interactive theme park experience- the low level, newbie friendly dungeons. Others are taken over by some villainous prick who wants to use the magic for some nefarious scheme or other- Aaravi tends to go for those ones.

#ooc #the chosen one : aaravi mishra #headcanons #worst roommate ever : hex

5 notes · View notes

sundayswiththeilluminati · 5 years ago

Photo

Trinity Ghoul

“I couldn’t afford to miss. Not when it was his life on the line.” —Marin Mansanas, Tangled Outrider

Type: Bow

Slot: Kinetic | Energy | Heavy

Element: Arc | Solar | Void

Perk: Split Electron - Fires an arrow that splits into three when released. Aiming down sights and fully drawing the bow both decrease the spread.

Trait: Lightning Rod - Precision kills grant the next shot chain-lightning abilities.

Masterworked Trait: Forked Lightning - Lightning Rod now triggers from any Arc damage final blow.

Ornaments: Tangled Outrider, Tertiary Objective, Spark From Bone, Three Glowing Dawns

Origin & Description: Trinity Ghoul's another weapon like Graviton Lance where its power lies in the trait, not the perk. Its exotic perk Split Electron makes every arrow fired from it split into three, which sounds cool but doesn't do much in practice. I guess if you did it right you could nail three red-bars at once, but enemies are rarely polite enough to line up with their crit spots horizontally aligned. It's more useful to ADS and put all three arrows into the same target, which also isn't that different from a normal bow but at least leaves you with the hilarious sight of a Hive Knight staggering around with a set of chopsticks sticking out of its chitin.

But once you do land a precision kill, though, Trinity Ghoul gets a lot more fun. The Lightning Rod trait sparks up the next arrow you nock with a miniature AoE-attack thunderstorm. When you fire it'll chain lightning bolts to nearby enemies from wherever it hits; you can even fire it at the ground to catch multiple fast-moving targets. Lightning Rod is a lot more user-friendly than many exotic perks that proc an extra damage round such as Polaris Lance's Perfect Fifth or Ace of Spades' Memento Mori since it never times out and stays through weapon switch/reload. Your thunderbolt arrow will sit primed and ready to fire in Trinity Ghoul until the time is right.

Despite its cool trait Trinity Ghoul didn't see a lot of use after its launch. It's too slow-firing to use as your everyday crowd-control weapon but not heavy-hitting enough to use as your anti-major weapon, and even if you dodge both constraints when you reach for your exotic bow rack you'll find Le Monarque is right there. Bungie finally solved this in Season of the Worthy by giving Trinity Ghoul a fantastic catalyst with the new trait Forked Lightning: Lightning Rod now triggers off of any Arc damage kill, including its own. So you can keep firing Lightning Rod arrows till you run out of ammo or enemies as long as you get at least one kill with each one. Lightning Rod's AoE has a surprisingly large A and an intense E, and the ability to chain arrows turns it into a great option for dispatching large crowds. You don't even have to worry about picking a target in the mass of small, running enemies; just fire at the ground in the middle of them and let the lightning do the work. Sudddenly you can rip through a wave of thralls with a few well-placed shots, or fire at a larger enemy and zap their weaker ads at the same time. It's seen a huge resurgence since the catalyst launch and is now a solid mainstay of the Energy slot.

Trinity Ghoul itself is the famous - or at least Reef-known - bow of Marin Mansanas, called the Tangled Outrider. An outrider is a mounted individual who rides alongside a vehicle or convoy acting as a scout, guard, and/or general attendant, and the "Tangled" refers to the Tangled Shore; Mansanas only shows up in a couple lore pages, but seems to be a Guardian, likely a Hunter, who prowls the Tangled Shore for loot and intel - Cayde-6 references a report from Mansanas in a message to Petra Venj. The lore tab for the shotgun Dust Rock Blues describes Marin hiring a renegade Awoken former Corsair named Errol Mayz to help her steal back Trinity Ghoul from the Scorned Baron Elykris, known as the Machinist. The good news is, the next time we see Mansanas, she has Trinity Ghoul back; the bad news is, she's using it to line up a shot on Mayz himself, who's been captured by the Scorned Baron Pirrha, called the Rifleman. The Rifleman, who probably doesn't care for Mansanas disputing his title as the finest deadshot on the Shore, makes a "wager" with Mansanas by tying Mayz up 700 meters away with a canister of Ether balanced on his head and daring her to make the shot. Just your everyday dose of Tangled Shore dramatic bullshit. Don't flinch, Errol.

Destiny 2 Compendium Armarum Exoticarum

#Destiny 2 #Trinity Ghoul #Marin Mansanas #Errol Mayz #Lightning Rod!#lightning bolt! lightning bolt!#SO HAPPY THEY MADE IT GOOD #I loved this bow before and I REALLY love it now #Destiny Compendium Exoticarum #this is the wager of existence #Destiny

14 notes · View notes

weaselandfriends · 5 years ago

Text

Hymnstoke XV

GC: TH3Y 4LL THOUGHT 1 W4S CR4ZY GC: BUT H4H4H4 1T TURN3D OUT W3 4LL W3R3 1N OUR OWN W4YS GC: TH4T H3LP3D US R34LIZ3 TH3 P4RTICUL4R D3ST1N13S THE G4M3 PUT TOG3TH3R FOR US GC: 1N TH3 VOC4BUL4RY OF L1K3 GC: TH3 HYP3R FL3XIBL3 MYTHOLOGY 1T T41LORS TO 34CH PL4Y3R GROUP

Bildungsroman.

I think the term "bildungsroman" (or its less-pedantic equivalent "coming of age story") is over-employed in contemporary critical analysis. It's a lot like the term "deconstruction," which can be draped atop a wide variety of stories to ostensibly make a critical statement without saying anything.

Hussie himself, in one of his old Formspring posts, described Homestuck as a "coming of age story." But who exactly is the one coming of age? Obvious answer is John. The story opens with him on the cusp of adolescence (thirteenth birthday) and ends, at least in one Epilogue, with him reconciling with his estranged wife and child. Obviously some coming-of-age has occurred, even if only literally. But in what way has John developed as a person? Is that development stymied by the existence of a parallel Epilogue in which he unceremoniously dies, or does even that branch of John's existence feed into who John becomes as a person?

I've only read the Epilogues once, so my thoughts on that part of the story probably won't be fully realized until I reread them at the end of this blog. Rooting myself purely in the current moment of Act 4, however, I can still discuss certain aspects of John as a character. I mentioned in previous Hymnstokes his beginning as a naïve, blank slate reader-surrogate who blindly fumbles his way through uncertain situations. His trajectory has been away from this initial naivete toward cynicism—or "irony" if you will—a more cautious, guarded approach to his understanding of the world around him. The main moment of development so far has been his foray into his Dad's room, which revealed to him that his Dad "isn't all that into clowns you guess." But I don't think it's until John's interactions with Vriska in Act 5 Act 2 that he's going to reach the done-with-this-shit, rolling-my-eyes attitude he possesses throughout Act 6. (And it's funny, because even when he takes on that attitude, he still serves as reader surrogate—as if the reader, too, sees what was once novel and wonderful as obnoxious and stupid—but that's for a discussion of Act 6 as a whole.) So that's John's coming-of-age "arc."

Which feeds into a larger discussion about duality, because as I mentioned previously Dave is moving in the opposite trajectory, away from irony and toward sincerity. Rose is moving away from scientific analysis and toward occult spiritualism, while Jade—well, Jade never really gets a "character arc" because she's more of a plot device than a real character. But Jade, functionally, begins as a spiritual prognosticator whose seemingly supernatural facets all eventually become explained by rudimentary technical features of the SBURB game.

The reason why I think describing Homestuck as a "coming of age story" is reductive is because while these young characters do develop (or at least change), these developments crisscross one another, lead to innumerable dead ends, and fail to satisfy the characters themselves. I would argue that almost all of the characters are more insecure, or even more immature, at the end of Homestuck than at its beginning. The thirteen-year-old versions of these characters speak with the vocabulary and understanding of a reasonably well-read 30-something dude, employing witty barbs and clever sentence constructions left and right as they empirically sort out the unfamiliar game world of SBURB to satisfactory results. They have "problems" with their parental figures, they don't "understand" themselves, but they are competent people capable of progressing despite immense challenges hurled their direction. The major failures of the B1 SBURB session are caused by the meddling of the trolls, not imperfections in John, Dave, Rose, or Jade. In fact, the kids' concerted, Herculean efforts to create a clockwork Cascade of perfectly-placed mechanisms are what salvage an otherwise hopeless situation.

Yet in B2 it all goes to shit, and John and pals wind up being totally useless despite having far more advantages than they did in the B1 session: three years to prepare, foreknowledge of the game's mechanics and even the specific situation of the B2 SBURB they are entering, being literal gods, retcon powers, et cetera. It's almost as if, rather than "coming of age" and "developing into adults," the kids undevelop, unmature, regress, fall apart, decay...

Kind of like entropy.

So if the characters themselves are progressing in these crisscrossing dualisms, irony versus sincerity, science versus faith, then the development of the characters as a whole is crisscrossing the development of the plot: Degeneration versus regeneration, destruction versus creation. In a way, these characters are relics of the world they left behind: that saturated, useless Earth. They are products of its cultural detritus, and while their aim is to create a world from its fragments, they themselves are among those fragments. In the Epilogues, their intrusion into the world they created hurls that world into chaos, and the Meat epilogue ends with them extracting themselves from a place in which they do not belong.

GC: 4CT1ONS TH4T COMPL3T3 LOOPS 1N TH3 T1M3L1NE GC: COGS 1N P4R4DOX SP4C3 TT: Paradox space? GC: OH H3LL GC: L1ST3N TH3 UN1V3RS3 W1LL 34T P4R4DOX3S FOR BR34KF4ST GC: 4ND SO W1LL TH1S G4M3 GC: G3T US3D TO 1T GC: BY NOW YOU SHOULD R34L1Z3 TH1S WHOL3 M3SS W4S 4 B1G S3LF FULLF1LL1NG CLUST3RFUCK GC: A HUG3 ORG14ST1C MOB1US DOUBL3 R34CH4ROUND

Or are the linear tracks of character development I described actually part of Homestuck's favorite structure, the mobius loop? Is the duality between irony and sincerity, science and magic not actually a duality, but two sides of the same one-sided shape?

Because the path of Homestuck might also be read not as a linear rise and fall, but a series of loops. John and pals degenerate in early Act 6, only to renew again after GAME OVER when Vriska sorts everything out and they have a huge pow-wow before the final fight. Yet they degenerate again in Epilogues, falling apart at times even more pathetically than they did on the three-year plane ride to the B2 session, only to finally reach a semblance of resolution at the end of either one Epilogue or the other. But even the ends of those Epilogues suggest a lack of finality, a way for the story to continue, more development upward or downward to be had.

A series of Ascents and Descents. It fits the naming structure employed for many key moments in Homestuck. But what does it mean? Why does it matter that Homestuck is structured this way?

Thomas Pynchon, that nefarious postmodernist, was a writer overtly concerned with entropy, given his background in science and engineering. He once wrote a short story about another one of his favorite interests: parties, bro. In this story, a group of young people are partying in a house. Having fun, drinking, all that young kid stuff. But as the night draws to an end, the energy disperses, everyone becomes tired and lazes about. The closed system of the party has succumbed to entropy. At the end of the story, someone opens a window and a breath of fresh air revives everyone so that the party can continue.

On a universal level, entropy is irrevocable. Eventually, millions or billions of years in the future, heat will disperse throughout the universe; no more stars, no more solar systems, only a cold expanse of space. But in a closed system, entropy can be easily overcome by opening the system and letting in energy from outside, the way it worked in Pynchon's party story.

In an earlier Hymnstoke, I exuberantly declared that Homestuck overcomes entropy. My argument was that, by making meaning out of meaningless cultural detritus, Homestuck resolves the problem of societal decay famously put forward by T.S. Eliot in the poem The Waste Land. That conclusion may have been overeager, especially in light of how Homestuck ends both in Act 7 and the Epilogues. But I think viewing Homestuck through this post- or post-postmodern lens of entropic decay sheds some insight on what exactly those tricky Epilogues mean.

Paradox Space appears to be a closed system that overcomes entropy. It can go both up and down despite being closed. It continually chews up and recycles its own parts to continue its progression, similar to how Hussie brings back seemingly irrelevant details to create meaning later. As characters state innumerably throughout the story, everything in Paradox Space is a "S3LF FULLF1LL1NG CLUST3RFUCK," designed with the sole intention of continuing the existence of Paradox Space.

But Paradox Space cares nothing for the existence of its constituent parts beyond what they can do to further itself. And because of this, the characters, while trapped within Paradox Space, cannot truly progress. They go up every time they go down, down every time they go up. Every state of maturity breaks apart into a state of immaturity, every revelation or self-understanding is later reframed as a shortsighted false epiphany. Eventually, like John at the end of the Meat epilogue, they are unceremoniously mulched so that Paradox Space can continue.

Where's the escape? In a world where the worth of an individual is only how much use can be drained out of them until they break, how does the individual "come of age"?

I think, moving forward, I'll keep a closer eye on how each character interacts with Paradox Space, that unseen clockwork machinist putting all its cute pieces together for the sake of continuing itself. If Homestuck is a "coming of age story," I do not believe it has an altogether positive view on the ability of children to mature and develop. Hussie may have intended it to at an earlier stage of Homestuck's creation, but that was PAH, Past Andrew Hussie. It has been, what, seven or eight years since that Formspring post?

TT: I'm starting to see that. TT: So the exiles are on Earth? Does that mean our goal is to get back there too? To resurrect it somehow? GC: NO NO NO GC: S33 1RON1C4LLY TH3Y G3T TO DO TH4T GC: 4FT3R TH3YR3 DON3 H3LP1NG YOU TH4T 1S GC: YOUR JOB 1S OF GR34T3R CONS3QU3NC3 TO S4Y TH3 L34ST GC: BUT P4RT OF TH31R JOB 1S TO R3BU1LD L1F3 4ND C1V1L1Z4T1ON TH3R3 GC: 4ND 1F TH3YR3 SUCC3SSFUL 1N THOUS4NDS OR M1LL1ONS OF Y34RS TH3 T3CHNOLOGY 1S UN34RTH3D 4ND TH3 PL4N3T 1S R1P3 FOR S33D1NG 4LL OV3R 4G41N

Oh hey, rebuilding and reseeding. Even the dead planet gets recycled so that another session of SBURB can begin.

(End of Meat epilogue, 2010 colorized.)

GC: 1M MOT1V4T3D BY S3LF 1NT3R3ST GC: TO H3LP YOU 4DV4NC3 MOR3 QU1CKLY GC: B3C4US3 1V3 GOT YOUR WHOL3 ADV3NTUR3 R1GHT H3R3 1N FRONT OF M3 EB: do you have a braille screen or something? GC: SHHHHHHHH! GC: 4NYW4Y TH3 PO1NT 1S GC: 1TS LONG AND BOR1NG GC: 4ND YOU COULD ST4ND TO SK1P SOM3 ST3PS

Vriska will eventually take on the role Terezi is performing here, but this exchange hearkens back to what I was talking about in the previous Hymnstoke about "skipping to the end." Doing it here gets John killed, because of course this skip is meant to "FUCK UP TH3 T1M3L1N3." At other times, screwing with the timeline is exactly what the timeline requires, so it is allowed in that instance (and it's even allowed in this instance because the doomed timeline created here allows the main timeline to progress in a necessary way). The concept of temporal causality, introduced in the Intermission, becomes more explicit in this episode with Terezi and John and the jetpack. Where Spades Slick and the Felt played by temporal rules, John will not, and the consequences for those actions will be revealed, as well as the harsh truth: the individuals within the system have no choice; the system commands their actions.

GA: I Just Would Like To Gather GA: Some Means Of Gauging Her Sincerity TG: ok well its easy TG: for everything she says take her to mean just the opposite TG: see not everybody always means literally what they say the way john and jade always do GA: Maddening GA: How Do Humans Forge Meaningful Relationships Using Such Communication Patterns GA: Perhaps It Is The Human Riddle That Is Truly The Ultimate Riddle

While this quote touches on the irony versus sincerity angle as it pertains to the kids, the reason I bring this passage up is: What the hell was the Ultimate Riddle? I completely forget if it was ever meaningful whatsoever. Did it get answered? Does it even show up after Act 5? Act 5 (and Act 4, its prelude) is so divorced from everything that comes before and especially after it. Act 6 gleefully forgets anything that happened in Act 5, and the Ultimate Riddle is only one of its many casualties.

I guess if you slap something into a story called "the Ultimate Riddle" you're going to provoke people to try and answer it, even if the riddle lacks any substance whatsoever.

GC: TH3 HO4RD CONT41NS SO MUCH MOR3 GR1ST TH4N YOU COULD 3V3R US3 1N 4N 4LCH3M1T3R GC: 1 M34N YOU COULD 1 GU3SS GC: BUT TH4TS NOT TH3 PO1NT GC: 1TS FOR TH3 ULT1M4T3 4LCH3MY EB: what's the ultimate alchemy? GC: 1TS NOTH1NG FOR YOU TO WORRY 4BOUT NOW

I think the Ultimate Alchemy also doesn't matter? I don't remember it, at least, although maybe it had more of an answer than the Ultimate Riddle. I think SBURB as a game doesn't matter all that much, that a lot of it is, eventually, skipped Vriska-style. (Maybe the Ultimate Alchemy created Caledfwlch? I seriously forget.)

JASPERSPRITE: Rose im just a cat and i dont know much but i know that youre important and also you are what some people around here call the Seer of Light. JASPERSPRITE: And you dont know what that means but you will see its all tied together! JASPERSPRITE: All the life in the ocean and all the shiny rain and the songs in your head and the letters they make. JASPERSPRITE: A beam of light i think is like a drop of rain or a long piece of yarn that dances around when you play with it and make it look enticing! JASPERSPRITE: And the way that it shakes is the same as what makes notes in a song! JASPERSPRITE: And a song i think can be written down as letters. JASPERSPRITE: So if you play the right song and it makes all the right letters then those letters could be all the letters that make life possible. JASPERSPRITE: So all you have to do is wake up and learn to play the rain!

God damn, we are just going on a tear of "shit that is introduced like it's important but turns out to be not important at all." I recall in particular several people were annoyed that Rose never "played the rain," that it was a point foreshadowed but never acted upon. But rereading this story from the viewpoint of knowing what is and isn't resolved, I think it's no accident that all these game concepts (Ultimate Riddle, Ultimate Alchemy, play the rain) are introduced in such rapid succession and all wind up not being that relevant. The quantity of these esoteric terms undermines their ostensible quality; when faced with Ultimate This, Ultimate That, the reader fails to affix narrative importance to all of it. And because all these things do, in fact, wind up being barely relevant (if relevant at all), this stylistic presentation turns out to be entirely appropriate. Of course, these pointless Ultimate Whatevers are framed against the backdrop of John "skipping to end," so the concept that certain things might not be important should already be implanted in the reader's mind.

Does that make Paradox Space not as efficient as it seems to be? That's one interpretation, but here's another, based on a point I made previously: What is important for Paradox Space is not important for the characters. Paradox Space can put forth an Ultimate Riddle, and to Paradox Space that riddle may, in fact, be important. But it's only more jumbled detritus to the protagonists, a collection of obscure terms that are ultimately less important on their personal paths than, say, Con Air. And this fact might suggest that creating your own path ("skipping to the end") might be more important than following the preset path laid out for you, the path created by the system (society, biology, your parents, the government, whatever you consider the "system" to be). John's jetpack excursion fails. But it wasn't his idea to skip ahead anyway, it was Terezi's. He wasn't following his own path. Hence, his failure.

However, in this Jaspersprite instance, "irrelevant" is not a completely fair assessment. A song that can be written down as letters? The letters can make life possible? Jaspersprite also says this:

ROSE: Jaspers, the message you gave me years ago before you disappeared... ROSE: What did you mean? JASPERSPRITE: Meow. ROSE: Sigh... JASPERSPRITE: :3 ROSE: I don't understand.

M, E, O, and W are the four letters that represent GCAT and become essential later in Act 5 for creating Becquerel (if I'm remembering correctly). I think it's those letters that Jaspersprite refers to when he tells Rose to "learn to play the rain," meaning this mystery, at least, is not only relevant but was resolved long before things in Homestuck stopped being resolved.

#homestuck #hymnstoke

12 notes · View notes

jolienjoyswriting · 5 years ago

Text

Mortem In Contumeliam, Ch. XI

Chapter 11 of "Mortem In Contumeliam Final Fantasy VI," a Final Fantasy VI fan fiction story.

Now, here's a fun fact for you. The person that interacts the most with Wedge, in this chapter? That wasn't planned. I mean, it's not to say that I had a plan for this section of the story beyond "that scene…" but, I think it ended up being pretty cute.

Word count: 4,108 – Character count: 23,417 Originally written: July 26th, 2019

Familiar strangers arrive in the wake of chaos. Is Samasa saved?

Final Fantasy VI, Wedge, Biggs, and related characters, scenarios, and properties created by Square Soft, Inc. and © Square Enix Co, Ltd.

[ ← Prev. Chapter | Next Chapter → ]

“Hee-hee-hee, ha-haaah!!” Kefka insanely laughed as the huge pile of crystals jingled and clinked in his arms. “With all this beautiful Magicite, I should have no problem getting through that pesky seal! Then… then… The treasure will be mine… all mine…!!” He gave another laugh… then, he hiccuped. “Un-belieeeve-able!!” And, with that strange thought… he walked right out of the town, leaving it to burn.

“Oh, gods– oh, gods– oh, gods– oh, gods– oh, gods…! Be okay, please be okay!”

When he was sure that the power-mad man was truly out of sight, Wedge finally came out of his hiding spot… though, with serious difficulty. He was completely drenched in sweat from the impromptu steam-bath, freezing-cold from fright, and still mildly panicked from what he’d seen and heard. Despite all that, he knew he had a duty to fulfill… checking on his friends! But, that would have to way because… “Stop right there!!” As he noticed when he spun around… “It’s you guys!!” He wasn’t alone.

Standing across the way from him was a rag-tag group of people that he recognized from the dinner at Vector: a royal figure and a strongman, both of which looked similar… a heavily-armored man with a stern gaze and sharp blade… a wild child, a well-dressed man, and even a moogle, for some reason! Yes, he recognized them all as friends of the Returners and, though he was extremely relieved to see them… it didn’t seem like they were too thrilled to see him.

“Thank gods you’re here…” he sighed with a smile. When he took a step forward… he had to jerk back. A handful of shafts had pierced the ground, landing right where his foot had been. He looked at them, then looked up… only to slowly raise his hands over his head. The man in green trappings had an odd device leveled at him… a device that looked like a crossbow with a number of additions, such as a belt full of bolts hanging off it. It didn’t take much guessing to figure out what kind of weapon that was…

“O-okay, I know what this looks like, but–” “You have exactly five seconds to explain what happened here,” the man shouted as his companions angrily glared and made various threatening gestures. “The next volley won’t miss.” Wedge wasn’t sure how to summarize everything, so he just blurted out the first thing he could: “K-Kefka!!” Luckily… that seemed to be just the word to get the group to calm down. “Explain,” the man ordered, keeping his weapon aimed at the soldier’s head. And, under threat of becoming a pincushion… the soldier told the group everything that had happened.

Shortly after his explanation, Wedge was shoved aside and told to leave. He walked some short distance away… but, he didn’t want to exit the village. In fact, he wanted to help with the situation in any way he could! So, as they tended to their unconscious friends, he walked over to the well, pulled up a water bucket, then hurled some hot water at the nearest building. It wasn’t until his third toss that any of the Returners noticed what he was up to, and… “Gau… help armor man?” It was a child with wild hair and torn clothes, seemingly there to help. “Not… sure what you can do. There’s only one bucket, but–” “Gau, Gau!!” he shouted before closing his eyes. “Gaauuu… Blizzard!”

The soldier went wide-eyed as the scruffy youth stood up and cast a storm of snow at the building. When he did it, again, Wedge wasn’t sure what to say… Then, when a couple of others started doing the same to the nearby buildings, he just rubbed the back of his helmet, feeling kind of useless. His little bucket was no match for the power of magic…

Once the fire had been quenched, he was among the first to search the ruined buildings for signs of life. Thankfully, there were plenty of citizens who had kept themselves safe and out of harm’s way. The rest of the morning was spent helping them recover, dousing what fire remained, and generally trying to undo the damage that “his people” had done to Samasa.

As the sun rose up and held itself high above the land, Wedge found himself leaning on the well and thinking… only to look to his side. “Gau?” Once again, the strange youth had come up to him. He seemed to be offering a small portion of jerky to the soot-covered soldier. “Thanks.” He smiled as he took it. “Ya know… you’re a lot nicer than your friends.” “Gau…” He looked away. “Others not trust armor man. Armor man hurt others.” When Wedge tilted his head, Gau immediately corrected himself. “Other armor man hurt friends! Armor man bad. But…” The boy looked up with a bright smile. “Yous armor man seem good!” “W-well, I try…” he said as he ruffled the kid’s hair, much to his appreciation. “Hey, you!” Both he and the child looked across the way. The burly man – who looked similar to the guy with the mechanical crossbow – was walking toward them.

“Thou!” the wild child greeted as the muscle-man drew closer. “Yeah, yeah…” was the man’s chuckling response. “You. Soldier.” Wedge hesitated… then, he looked right at the man with a neutral expression. “I came over to say… thanks.” “Huh?” The soldier gave a blink. “I saw you tryin’ to put out the fire with your dinky bucket.” The other man laughed. “Got Gau all fired-up!” “Not Fire, Thou! Blizzard!” Gau corrected. “I didn’t mean– bah.” He shook his head at the laughing kid.

“Anyway… I don’t know what your game is, red-suit, but…” “Gau, Gau!!” the rambunctious youth suddenly shouted as he hopped up onto the well. He made an odd, purring noise as Wedge ruffled his hair, shortly after. “You got Gau’s trust, so I guess you can’t be all bad.” “Thanks… I think?” “If you really wanna help us… maybe, you can tell us anything else you know? Like, how’d Kefka get outta jail? Why’d he set the town on fire? And, where’s–” “General Leo!!”

A horrified shriek ripped across the town square. Both men, as well as the child, recognized the voice and, immediately after hearing it, ran over to see what was going on. What they saw when they arrived was… absolutely heartbreaking. Tina and Lock had recovered from their unconscious states and, unfortunately… the latter had managed to find what little of General Christophe that Kefka had left behind.

“No… no… nooo…!!” she howled as she sat on her knees, visibly sobbing into her hands over the loss of her new friend. “Tina…” Wedge was about to crouch and comfort her… only for Lock to stop him. “You stay away from her,” he said with a cold gaze and a threatening tone, pushing him away. “You’ve done enough, already.” “I didn’t–!!” he started to shout before catching himself. With a controlled tone, he explained, “I didn’t do anything…!” “Exactly.” The man in the bandanna angrily scowled. “You could have saved him… you could have saved Tina from seeing this.” “What the hell would I have done?!” the soldier growled, growing angry. “Between all the soldiers and his freaking death balls, Kefka would’ve ripped me apart! As it was, he tossed me in the well before he got bored with me!” “Maybe, you should’ve stayed down there,” the other man coldly told him. A second later, he found himself staring, wide-eyed, as the soldier threw him against a nearby mound – not incidentally, causing both the machinist and the retainer to draw their weapons.

“Look, you sonovabitch!” Wedge snarled as he pinned Lock against the rocks. “I’m not one of them! Those were Kefka’s soldiers! I serve… served… under General Leo!!” He gave a blink as the Returner spun him around, shoving him against the hill. “And, where were you when he was getting shanked?!” he yelled. “Where were you when Kefka was burning the village?!” “I was in the gods damned well! Unconscious!!” the soldier told him. “Leo was–” “More like, hiding!” Lock slammed him against the slanted ground. “You could’ve saved him! Coward!” Wedge wanted to say something. However, he noticed that as angry as Lock was… “Some soldier you are…” He seemed more frustrated with the situation than anything – something he could relate to.

The Returner sighed as he finally let Wedge go, then took a few steps away. As he did that, the people who were aiming at the soldier stood down before returning to Tina’s side. A moment later, it was Lock who knelt beside her, letting the girl cry into his shoulder.

“Armor man…?” Wedge glared at Lock… then, he looked to his side. Gau had scurried up the hill beside him and was staring with bright eyes full of concern. “Armor man sad…?” he asked with a small frown. The soldier hesitated… then, he sighed, “Armor man sad…” “Armor man want meat?” “Armor man…” He paused, again. “Wants to disappear…” At that, Gau opened his eyes and gasped. “Armor man like spooky black man?!” “‘Spooky black…?’” Wedge had to think about who that could be. When he figured it out… he just laughed. “No, kid… I mean, I just want to leave. Go home. Get away from… this mess.” “Want friend? Gau come?” “Gau stay,” he said as he offered a brave smile. “Your friends need you more. Especially Tina.” “Want go with armor man,” he insisted. “Armor man more sad.” “I… I really doubt that. I just lost my favorite general… Tina, though…” The man crossed his arms, looking toward the group. Tina had gone quiet, but she was still clinging to Lock with her face against his body. “She lost her new friend. Guess she really liked him, too…”

“Magic girl hurt outside,” Gau told him. “Armor man hurt in here…” He gave a blink as Gau thumped his chest. “Armor man no cry. Armor man strong, outside! Strong like Gau, awoo!! But, armor man feel bad inside. Drink ‘happy water?’ Write book? Not sure. But, Gau know armor man feel sad. Face sad. Heart sad. And… Gau sad… ‘cuz new friend sad.” He frowned a little more, looking even more concerned. “Armor man go, Gau go, too! Be beast! Make armor many happy!” Wedge couldn’t help but smile. Gau was absolutely determined to cheer him up… “Gau know hug?” he offered.

Almost immediately, the child jumped into his arms and gave him a tight squeeze that made his borrowed Magicite poke into his chest. He didn’t mind, though… he was just happy that Gau wanted a hug and, honestly? He kind of needed one, himself… though, he would have preferred it to be from a happy Tina, if he had his choice.

“Armor man be okay?” Gau asked as he dropped to the ground and sat like a dog. “Armor man be okay… eventually,” he told the boy as he ruffled his hair. “I have a lot of thinking to do. Today’s… been one for the record books.” –––––

“General Leo…”

The air was somber as the group gathered in a clearing just east of the town. It was there that they decided to give the general a proper burial. Once it was done, Tina stood near the freshly-overturned dirt, having placed a bouquet of colorful flowers on it. Everyone else stood a small distance away, giving her space.

“Everyone wants power…” she said to herself. “Do they want to be like me…?” She paused before looking at the blank headstone placed at the head of the gravesite decorated with flowers. “I wanted…” she whispered as she felt sadness find her, again. “I wanted you to teach me… about so many things, General Leo… I was hoping that…” The girl had to look away and compose herself. Lock took a step her toward her… only to be stopped by the man in green – Edgar, the king of Figaro. When he shook his head, the other man settled back down. Not long after, they both heard Tina give a sniffle, then a sigh. “You were taken before your time… taken for no reason other than a mean, cruel man didn’t like you. I barely had any time to know you, General Leo… but, you seemed so wise and so kind… It’s not fair… It’s not fair…”

After another momentary silence, Tina finally turned away and walked right over to Lock and Edgar before returning to her place on the former’s shoulder. She was done crying… but, she clearly had more grieving to do. As that happened, the elder of the town walked up to the grave and made a couple of gestures. “Ashes to ashes,” he said, “dust to dust. May he fly with the angels.” With that, he walked out of the clearing, leaving the group to their business.

“Gau…” Wedge blinked. He’d been standing there without his helmet, quietly taking everything in… when he noticed that Gau was tugging on his pantleg and looking at him. “What’s up?” he asked as he knelt to look at the kid. “Armor man like magic girl?” he asked. The soldier hesitated. He’d asked that so innocently… “Tina’s… my friend, too,” he quietly explained, “but Lock is taking care of her. It’s okay. I don’t really like him… but, if Tina trusts him that much, who am I to argue? Heh.” “Armor man still sad?” was the child’s next question. “Heh. Yeah… armor man still sad,” Wedge said with a nod. “General Leo was great. He let me and Biggs goof off, all the time, and–” He paused… then, he deeply frowned. “Biggs…”

Gau was left giving a confused look as Wedge suddenly left the clearing, then quietly followed on all-fours. It didn’t seem like the soldier was going to stop walking and, in fact, seemed like he was heading out of town. But, as he got to the south entrance… “Fight lady!!” He was stopped by the appearance of someone he definitely didn’t need to bump into.

“Wedge!” she called with a look of distress. “What is going on…? Another Imperial ship docked next to ours, then I heard the rumble of Magitek Powered Armor units… When I saw the Blackjack fly over, I finally worked up the nerve to come here… but, everything’s scorched and ruined! Plus…” She paused, looking down. Both Wedge and Gau followed her line-of-sight to see… “I found Shadow’s dog…” Interceptor was in her arms. And… he looked like he’d found one-or-more armored units, himself, judging by his injuries.

“Kefka betrayed us,” was his simple response. “K-Kefka…?!” she exclaimed, accidentally disturbing the sleeping dog. “A-ah, sorry, Interceptor… Kefka…? Here? Why?” “Take a wild guess.” She grimaced, then she shook her head. “Gau, where are our friends? Are they here?” “Gau, Gau!” the child barked. A second later, he trotted back toward the center of town, followed by the lady general. “Yeah… Go find your friends,” Wedge said to himself. “I–” “Armor man!” He blinked, then turned around. Gau was looking out from behind a building.

“Come!” he said. “No, I–” “Armor man friend!” the boy interrupted. “Armor man friend of magic lady, armor man friend of Gau! Armor man come back or… or Gau drag back! Grrr!!” There was no reasoning with the little wild child… So, despite his better judgment, he followed Gau and Celes back into town, then into the clearing.

“W-what’s wrong with Interceptor?! Oh, geez… bring ‘im here!”

Shortly after Celes arrived at the grave, Lock ordered her to bring Interceptor over. He was quick to remove his bandanna and, with a combination of a Hi-Potion and that makeshift bandage, he treated the poor dog’s wounds.

“As if General Leo wasn’t enough…” he muttered as Interceptor weakly resisted. “Seems like even hired help like Shadow isn’t safe from those bastards. Damn the Empire!” He sighed, shaking his head. Then, he re-focused on the slender hound. “That’s the best I can do, for now. Thanks for not biting me, ‘Ceptor.” “Poor doggie…” Lock looked over and noticed that the little girl in the beret had walked over. After audibly sympathizing, she sat next to the beat-up pup. “Don’t worry,” she told him as he settled next to her, “Lilum will keep you safe!” Surprisingly – at least, for everyone but Lock, Tina, and Stragos – Interceptor seemed… relaxed around Lilum. So much so that he put his head on her lap and even let her pet him. It was kind of sweet.

“General Christophe… He… he’s really…?”

Celes stood in front of the fresh grave, her hands over her mouth and her eyes staring at the fresh dirt. She couldn’t believe what she’d been told… “Kefka…” But, rather than stay sad about it… “He’ll pay for what he’s done!” She grew angry!

“The Empire betrayed us all, it seems…” After Celes paid her respects, the entire party – including the Imperial Magitek Soldier – quietly left the clearing and met in the square of the town to continue their conversation. As they settled, it was the man with long, white hair and nobleman’s clothing that spoke up.

“What do you mean, Setzer?” Tina asked, despite knowing better. “Heh. We were this close,” he explained as he lit a cigarette for himself, “to being caught in a trap, ourselves. That’s why we’re here, in fact!” “We managed to escape, ere,” the black-haired man with a pencil-thin moustache explained. “King Figaro’s information is to thank.” Lock smiled. “Using that royal clout, huh?” “‘A little kindness goes a long way,’ as they say…” the king said with a grin. “My kindness toward a tea maiden allowed her to open up and share some interesting information about the goings-on in Vector. She was quite well-informed… and, quite lovely.” “So… you flirted the info outta her…” his brother said with a disapproving frown. “My dear Macías,” Edgar said as he waved a finger, “don’t misunderstand my intentions. Yes, my actions could be misinterpreted as idle flirtations but, I assure you: it was a simple courtesy. Cour-te-sy! It is my kingly duty to make the fairer sex feel… appreciated!” Macías rolled his eyes with an “Uh-huh…” “That aside…” the young king said, changing the topic, “I believe we need to rethink our tactics. Let’s return to the airship, formulate a plan, and stop the empire from entering the Eidolons’ World.” “May I come with you?” Both Edgar and Macías blinked, then turned to face the source of the new voice.

“And, you are?” Edgar asked as he looked at the old man who stood more-than-a-head shorter than him. “That’s Stragos,” Lock told him from a short distance away. “He’s from here.” “He’s descended from the magic-users of this land,” Tina added. “He can help us!” The young king gave a puzzled look between his two friends… “Magic-users, you say?” “I can’t just let the Empire abuse the power of the Eidolons like they are!” Stragos suddenly told them. “I aim to stop them in their tracks!” “Lilum, too!!” All eyes fell upon the old man’s granddaughter. She had spoken up from behind and was hopping in place with her arms over her head.

“No,” was her grandfather’s flat response. “Stay here.” She made a noise and pouted… something that got a laugh out of Macías. “What’s funny?” she asked him with a pout. “It’s cute that you wanna help,” he told her, “but, a kid would just slow us down!” She threw her hands up, putting on an angry face. “What the hell, muscle-man?!” That just made him laugh even harder! “Well, you’ve sure got a lot of spunk, missy! But–” “Grrrr…” He stopped, staring as she reached under her hat and whipped out a paintbrush. “Hold still…” she told him in a vaguely-threatening way. “I’m painting your portrait!” “Whoa! No, stop!” As she twirled the brush between her fingers, Tina and Lock both ran over, pulling their friend aside. Meanwhile, Stragos snatched the painter’s tool away from her, much to her further annoyance. All that… just seemed to confuse the ox-of-a-man.

“Lilum…” the old mage sighed, “you simply won’t take ‘no’ for an answer, will you?” “Nuh-uh!” Lilum said with a shake of her head. “Bless you for having your mother’s temperament…” He paused before telling her… “If that’s the case, then…” The mage politely handed the brush back with a smile. “You can come.” “Oh, yeah!” The girl leaped up, triumphantly throwing her fist into the air. “Thanks, Gran’pa!” “Just, behave yourself. Okay?” “Okay, Gran’pa!” she told him with a bright smile. “Lilum promises!”

“Well, that settles that!” Macías gave a nod to everyone, looking satisfied. Then… “Let’s head out!” He headed the pack as they headed out of town. Not long after… “Hey, perv! You comin’?” Lilum walked back, getting the attention of the man who’d hesitated to leave.

“E-excuse me?” King Figaro asked, being drawn from his thoughts. “Lilum said, ‘you comin’?’” She offered a smile as she said, “C’mon, Kingy! If you’re niiice, you may get a pooortraaait from The Great Lilum Arrowny, Mistress of the Long Stroke! You do wanna pose for Lilum, don’cha?” There was an awkward period of silence as Edgar stared at the girl. She just stood there with her hands behind her back, cutely shimmying and happily smiling. “You… uh… have quite the spirit.” “Thanks, Kingy!” she said with a wink. “Lilum thinks you’re alright, too!” He rubbed his cheek before awkwardly asking, “Sssay, uh… how… old are you, exactly?” “Why, Lilum is ten-and-a-half years old!” she proudly proclaimed. A second later, she gave him a suspicious look and asked, “Whhyyy…?” “N-no reason!” he exclaimed, sounding flustered. She narrowed her eyes… then, she gave a shrug. “Whatever!”

As she spun around and started skipping away, she told the king, “Better hurry up, Kingy! Lilum won’t wait for you, forrreeeverrr!” And, as she walked out of town, Edgar had to take a minute to catch the breath that had left him and adjust his cloak. “Pull it back, Edgar…” he quietly told himself. “She may act grown up, but she’s just a kid. A real cute kid…” Almost immediately, he slapped himself. “J-just focus on the mission! Gods… The last thing my kingdom needs is that kind of publicity! Uh… wait, why am I talking to myself…?” All-at-once, he called to the girl before running after. However, as he left… “Armor man!” Someone else came back.

“What? Gau? What are you doing back here?” Wedge was stood near the well of the town – his new favorite spot, apparently – and hadn’t been paying any attention to anything that was going on. “Armor man come! Join friends!” the wild child said as he walked over, standing upright. “Fight bad man!” “N-no, that’s okay…” was his response. He figured that Tina and her friends had everything under control and, despite his newfound distaste for the Empire… he couldn’t see himself being any use to them on their quest to dismantle it. But… “Join friends!” The kid who had befriended him seemed as stubborn as the little loudmouthed girl…

“Listen, Gau…” he started to tell the blond boy in animal hides, “I really don’t think your friends need my help. I mean, up until today… I was part of the people they’re about to go fight! So–” “Fight lady was bad! Fight lady good, now!” he interrupted. “Magic lady was bad! Magic lady good, now! Armor man good… Gau know, others learn! So, come!” “No… no, it’s fine.” Wedge gave a soft smile. “I’ll just… stay here, where my best friend and favorite officer died. Maybe, in time, the nice folk might even forgive me and let me stay here in town! Yeah… yeah, I could see myself being happy in this town…” “But… Gau like armor man… If armor man stay…” The boy deeply frowned, his eyes looking right into Wedge’s. “Gau be sad…”

Wedge narrowed his eyes – forgetting that Gau could see them, since he was still holding his helmet. He knew – and, couldn’t believe – that Gau trying to manipulate him, like that! Still, there was something about his words… something in the way he was frowning and staring… something genuine… that made him eventually say… “O… o-okay. Just… gimme a second?”

The soldier met up with Gau some short time later. When asked what he was doing, he wouldn’t say… but, in actuality, he’d decided to leave something of his own on General Leo Christophe’s grave…

A tarnished sword… and, a beat-up, red-orange helmet with a lightning bolt on it.

4 notes · View notes

eorzeasntm · 6 years ago

Photo

ENTM Tumblr Cycle 11

Round 3 Results

Hi everyone! Last week I challenged our models to go out into a dungeon and find a Boss Monster, inspired by one of my favorite card games. While all of the models fought their monsters valiently (or ran away screaming as is the case with our winner), the best shot this week belonged to

Ni’ko Shae

The votes were actually quite close this week but the community tipped it in Ni’ko’s favor. The judges loved the unusual choice of the filter as well as the unconventional pose, since for once “visibly engaged with the monster” was not a battle requirement.

Our guest judge this week was Misia, the new host of ENTM Instagram Cycle 2. If you are interested in auditioning for IG cycle, please hit up our Discord channel and join in the fun! IG Cycle 2 auditions will end on March 24th.

For all the models, we have judges feedback below the fold.

Judge Terrini

Adam: I quite like the framing and elements of this shot. The effects aren't obscuring anything important and the boss' pose definitely looks like it's responding to your blow, so it works well. Your glamor however doesn't pop all that much and while all the elements work well together, I'm not getting a lot of excitement from the shot. A closer zoom would have given more drama here I think.

Bria: WATCH OUT! Haha I love how it looks like you avoided the dragon's breath weapon by jumping on it's nose and the filter giving the pink tinge is actually really cool! You've framed the boss really well and being in full dragoon armor says explicitly that this is your job and it's all in a days work. I have no complaints but only a few nitpicks. While I love the more classic dragoon coloring and you do stand out in some ways, it might be nice to use spotlights to give you a bit more outline.

Haila: The effects of this shot are fantastic! They make this fight look very epic and I love your style and flare for this satisfying image. I do think that the portrait view gives a nice frame of the effects but it does feel a bit cramped horizontally and too tall with empty space at the top of the picture. I know how these things can be hard to capture just right though and how hard it is to get the enemy posed just right with the right animation fram and the right angle. Still great work!

Kota: I love this shot... you have this perfect framing with blocking that darn jester from stepping on you and him being just ever so slightly out of focus but still up close and personal is a really nice effect. The only thing that might be nicer is if your outfit popped a bit mor, particularly the bust area seems a bit lacking in shades of brown and it would be nice to see the light coloring and white continuing there to contrast with your opponent.

Luma: I am a bit underwhelmed by this shot. It's a lovely framing of the boss, but your hair is blending into the background and your framing is weak. You are not in a strong action pose so I'm not getting much of a sense of interaction between the two of you besides that you're a bit wary of this great big ape... and for a scenic shot, being perfectly centered is not getting the most out of the background (I would recommend shifting the camera to the left to monopolize a bit more of that nice sunset peaking behind that cabin and cut out the boss gate barrier).

Ni'ko: Oh wow, I'm quite impressed by this composition and I can draw a lot of emotion from your posing and effects, it's like you're fighting off the demons in your head. I actually really love this shot a lot. My main nitpick is the filter makes the actual boss monster particularly undefined and it's a big risk in a round meant to highlight him, but I think you managed to pull it off with artistic integrity in having it tell a story.

Peaceful: Your skill is really nicely framed and I love the effect of the bright light arcs from the arrows streaking towards the boss. Your pose is dynamic and expressive which is really satisfying as well. The weakest part of the shot, in my opinion is that you've managed to mostly obscure the boss monster in effects, so in a round called "Boss Monster" this is risky as we are expecting to see both of you as features to the shot. It's not an automatic bad thing, sometimes the risk pays off, but since this is a smaller boss at a distance from you and obscured by effects, the result leaves me wanting.

Yojimbo: I'm not completely sure what you are trying to accomplish with this shot. The limb darkening and ability both blur and obscure most of the interesting features of the background so it's not much of a scenic, and what we can see clearly is rather uninspiring and empty. The action of the shot is also pretty tame and even as a glamour shot you're also rather out of focus. Being up close does make you really stand out overall and I actually quite love your glamour, the red in the clothes matching the stripe on your face is an awesome combo and I think the pose is great.

Yomu: This is a very strong shot, like an exchange of blows and waiting to see who came out on top. I like the theme of being a dark knight versus the angelic statue, and the high contrasts of the angel's darkened bone white, reds of abilities, blacks on you and with the blues and greens in the the background is an interesting effect. I know quite well the trouble of framing, but I would have like to perhaps have been a bit more up close on you, looking up from a little below and getting more of a sense of the angel looming above you.

Judge Wulf (Kusuh)

ADAM I have some serious stressful memories from this dungeon, so it’s pretty satisfying to see Siren being taken down a few pegs, honestly. My favorite part of this is the red line created by the DRK skill, it creates a nice line to follow, crossing through Siren and passing the tip of your sword. The way you’ve captured siren leaning back also adds an amazing sense of action to the shot as well! My note for you this week has to do with zoom and framing. It’s small, but I think this shot would do well to be just a bit more zoomed in. There is quite a bit of empty space behind you and behind Siren, and I feel like that is what makes everything seem smaller, and therefore less impactful. I feel like just raising up the camera a tad and zooming in juuuust a little bit would alleviate this problem! With all that said though, I am very much loving this shot, keep it up!

HAILA This is 100% my favorite Machinist skill! I’ve always wanted to get a a good shot with it, and I’m glad you were able to make the opportunity! Going vertical for this shot was really a stand-out unique choice for this shot, and it’s not an unwelcome one. The way the lights are flashing out from the monster really creates a sense of impact and the roaring makes it seem like the hit hurt! A note for this picture, and it’s a small one: The way you’re angled plus the direction you’re looking really hides your face and from what I can tell, you’re eyes are open and staring downward. I feel like the image could be made a but stronger with you looking directly at the boss’s face/neck area. Keep in mind, though, that’s just a small suggestion, this is a wonderful shot overall!

YOMU Please allow me to get a little bit silliness out the way really quick, The frown on the boss is an absolute MOOD and I would use it for reaction images forever. With that out of the way, I’m gonna come right out and say that this is easily one of my favorite shots this week! One of my favorite things is to follow the lines that effects create in battle shots, and you’ve made excellent use of the DRK effects to make my eye follow across you and right through the boss. The way that line cuts through the center of the picture is an excellent use of framing as well! It gives a very nice “split screen” effect that divides you and the boss, therefore creating conflict. If I had to give a note for this week (and I always try to!), I’d say that if you moved the camera up just a smidgen, then the boss’s head wouldn’t be caught off just at the tip. That’s it though! Amazing job on this shot.

KOTA The first thing that sticks out to me about this shot is how I can feel the impact of the foot crashing down onto the shield, and the very nice sense of action this creates. There’s a lot of discussion in the ENTM community when it comes to the use of a dutch angle, but I think it works for this type of shot. Also, I enjoy how your outfit fits together with your weapon choice as well as with how it contrasts with the boss’s dark coloration! Here’s my note for you this week: I feel like some of the impact is lost with the boss being blurry due to the DoF effect. Try messing around with the DoF settings, or try a similar shot with it off all together, I think having the boss in full focus would have a greater impact. I can’t wait to see what you have next week, and every shot has shown excellent improvement!

Judge Ona

Adam: While I am personally partial to Siren, I am a little disappointed that this image doesn’t let me see her face and that magnificent hair of hers. The image is not as strong as others you have submitted in this cycle to date. Your face is hidden in the shadows and obscured by your hair. The main light source is directed onto Siren’s chest and not the action below. You are not looking at the enemy, however it could be the follow through to the massive sword swipe. The colors in the image are also very similar and tend to blend across elements.

I do love the angle of the image. The Dutch angle you used here is a great way to draw the eye upward to the enemy. I love the background as well. It is a beautiful space and backdrop for this fight scene. The colors, although tending to cause elements to blend together, are fitting to this scene. I also love the elements from the bottoms of the pillars casting a hint of light upward.

Don’t forget about you light source next week Adam, and take notice to let the viewer see your face, and more of Garuda’s as well.

Luma: While you have definitely added a light source to this image, I think you over-implemented it. You can definitely see the ape’s face and your glamour, this strong of a direct light source now casts a shadow too hard on the rest of the image. Ape-man’s arm has now become the mountainside.

I think this is an interesting location for this image, the background of tropical huts adds a jungle flair, and the banana tree is perfect for a battle with a giant ape. The use of the pencil filter creates a unique texture to the buildings. The unfortunate thing with pencil, is that when it is applied to overly pixelized graphics it can create a more noticeable distortion to them. I also want to point out that the sky in this image is gorgeous. Those colors are beautiful!

I love how you are engaged in this battle with the ape, but I can’t see your face. Change the angle of the camera and essentially reverse the image so that your face shows and the viewer can see your expression. I can see the boss’ expression, but not yours, and no offense, I am sure your Cat-boi face is prettier than that hair ape. I am looking forward to seeing your image next week!

Peaceful: I love your expression! You find pure joy in destroying that monster and landing the final blow! It is without question that no one wants to find themselves on the other side of your bow! I love the juxtaposition of you to the monster, causing you to be the largest thing in the image, without overtaking all the elements. The battle effect is interesting in this filter.

I struggled to see which boss or enemy this is on first look, needing to really zoom in the see the Gobby feet and armor. I also wish you could have somehow angled him, or had placement of him that obscured the purple battle zone line. It is interesting that it remained so bright of a purple with the rest of the elements of the image all becoming a sepia type tone. Try to capture enemies with less of a battle effect so that they are more identifiable in future rounds.

Your glamour is a perfect fit for fighting an armor encased enemy. Steam punk outfit and bow work well in this arena too, I just wish I could see your entire foot at the bottom tip of the bow. The lighting along the walls fills the room and leaves little dead space for the eye to find. I look forward to seeing what future images you bring to the table!

Yojimbo: Red ninja mask, rhinoceros enemy, green oozy glow… Please tell me this was a TMNT cosplay! If not, it is definitely something you can just pretend you tried to do!

I love the red in your glamour! The mask and the red on your arms is enough to make you stand out without distracting from the entire image. With the green glow throughout the image, the red draws the eye to your character and makes you the focus of the image. The slight blur to the image slightly causes the image to lose some clarity, but I would assume that the intent was that this would be like looking through the smoky haze. It is initially difficult to discern the enemy upon first glance, however, because of that same blur. I do like the intent here, however, and applaud you for your creativity in using this effect.

I like how the background is non-descript allowing for the focus to be on the battle, and it may have done some benefit to the image if you were slightly closer to the rhino. Another suggestion may have been to throw a small light source to the right of the rhino, putting some definition on it, without taking away from the overall feel of the image. I look forward to next week’s submission!

Kota: This shot feels very neon. Very vivid, while still being void of being bright. The color palette reads heavy and aggressive, but is still attractive to the eye. I love the edges and how they seem to glow throughout the image.

I would have liked to see a different hairstyle on you so that your face was not obscured by it. The angle of your body position in the image seems a bit out of proportion as well. From this angle your foot looks to be the same size as the boss. Obviously this is not the case, however, it is something you should keep in mind when having such extreme angles.

I absolutely love how the boss is slightly blurred, and you are the main focus of the image. You utilized the rule of three here perfectly, and balanced the image out well to include minimal dead space in the background. Your glamour definitely suits your tank in this image as well! Don’t forget to add a small light source to your face in your images as well. Even with the hair across your face, a small light may have helped to highlight and provide definition to your expression. I really enjoyed this image from you!

Judge Nadede

Bria: I do have to say that this week’s image from you is your strongest one so far. With that said, it was not easy trying to spot you in this shot because you blend in with the surrounding colors. It might have helped you if you had zoomed in on yourself a bit more so than having the dragon in its entirety being seen. YOU should be the main focal point, not the dragon. Other things that might have helped would be getting lights on you a bit more and maybe wearing something that had colors that are complementary to what is around you. In your case, something along the lines of yellows and oranges (complimentary colors are opposite of each other on the color wheel). I also feel that you should be facing the dragon instead of away, especially with the spear end of your lance is pointing downward as if meaning to attack. I will say that this boss does present a challenge when working with lighting and finding ways to stand out. I say that as I used him during a theme we had last cycle. Keep on improving and can’t wait to see what you come up with for the next round.

Haila: Not too bad of a shot this week. It is somewhat growing on me after seeing it zoomed out to see the whole image at once instead of scrolling up and down (that is on the site hosting the images, not you). With that, it still feels like there is still a bit of space above and below you and the Zu. I wonder if either having the shot horizontal or even zoomed in more would have given your shot even more tension than what is already there. You also blend in a little bit with the background of your image. Some back lighting and lighting on your face would have helped that as well as maybe wearing something that has colors complimentary to the background (like the orange seen through the ceiling windows). Keep up the good work and can’t wait to see what you bring to the next round

Ni’ko: First off, thank you for the laugh. It was really needed *hugs* It is one of those “What do I do, what do I do??!” moments when seeing all those mobs coming right after you. The diagonals radiating from the main boss helps move the viewers eyes from the center of the shot outwards and back again. All the angles that are being used within your image (including the direction the eyes and faces of everyone is facing) gives the scene a much sense of action being taken place. The only thing that I’m finding distracting is the color filter you used within the image. I appreciate the old comic book feel your image has (dunno if that is what you were going for) but I wonder how the image would have turned out using a different filter. Overall good job this week, and again, thank you for the laugh.

Yojimbo: Yojimbo, sadly this is my least favorite of the images you have taken so far. Your mount one from last week is my favorite so far. One thing that I have noticed amongst all of your images thus far is needing to work on your lighting. You have some interesting ideas in your shots that would be further enhanced. Play around with the light settings from up close to far away along with playing with the light intensities and color sliders. I would even urge you to ask for advice from Katarh or other former models/judges with your images as a second set of eyes never hurts. I know you can do an awesome job and waiting to see what you will bring to the table next week.

Judge Misia

Peaceful Ursa: I just love the sepia tone you picked for this shot, especially with all the lights you have that frame the picture. It’s easy to pick you out and know what is going on. Your Roe is the star and you are kicking major booty from afar! Only thing I would say is careful with the coloring. My eyes were drawn to the purple behind the enemy. Make sure if you have a color tone to keep it throughout the picture. Also the boss is very hard to make out so either you dismembered him or he just never existed. Otherwise, beautiful job!

Luma Lee: Your picture is a beautiful shot, and the colors pop out very well. I feel there were a lot of miss opportunities here though. My only thing with this picture though is there doesn’t seem to have very much going on within the picture. The gorilla seems to be the star and you are the co-star to the role without much of a face. This also might be a personal preference, but the purple dungeon blockage also takes away from the beautiful colors you have in the picture.

Yomu Kazul: I am so in love with this shot, it brings me back to the trailers for Shadowbringers! What I love about this shot is that I feel I am watching a battle scene, going toe to toe with an enemy twice your size (And you are already a huge character!) The effects don’t drown you out and the colors pop in so many ways, I want more and more from it .If I have to nitpick something, maybe nudge the camera up a bit to get rid of dead space and see more of the boss but that is me trying to find something. Keep it up! You did an amazing job!

Bria Rirsa: An epic battle against a dragon! How can you pull that off? You surely did! What I love is that you created a scene that shows us exactly what is going on. It even looks like you landed on his head, ready to give the next strike! Watch out dragon! One thing I would work on would be to be careful with colors. You almost blend in with all the purple and light blues. If you are a small part of a picture, make sure you are standing out more so you don’t get lost in all the action. Great job though!

Adam Evershot: A battle with the harpy herself and it looks like you got the upper hand here! I do like how you were going with this shot, especially when it looks like your knocking the snot of of her with your sword. I was a bit disappointed though that I couldn’t see you face very well and your glamour choice didn’t seem to fit the theme very well with what you were going with. You almost blend into the background and the villian seems to really steal more the spotlight. Try something more of a glam that contrasts from the brown so that you shine brighter as the star! Good job though!

Haila Wetyios: Interesting approach on this theme, I love how you are in the battle with the boss and obviously giving it more then it can handle. I feel there was many miss opportunities here. Though you picked portrait for your picture, I feel it cut off a lot of the action and created more dead space in your picture. I love the action and effects but they drown out the boss and your character in general. If you are creating a fight scene, bring more of that action by maybe zooming out from the fight, or showing more of the boss in the picture. In the end, you are the star, so don’t blind yourself out from the fight. Good job otherwise though!

Ni’ko Shae: Great job this week! This picture reminds me of my first time in dungeons when I had no idea what to expect! The face expressions were priceless and the monsters were so easy to make out. I will say that the filter threw me off though with how blended the colors were but they make sense in a almost comical scene you have here. Only thing Ill point out is the line you have going straight through your character. I believe that is one of the filters but it didn’t fit well with the theme you did. Beautiful job though!

Kota Tumet: Man! I would have you protect me any day for you are just a shining warrior in battle with a foe that might just kill us all. I love how you created something that shows what is exactly going on. The boss has thrown a mighty blow and you have blocked it with ease. Your face shows how in the moment you are and I feel I’m right there with you. One thing I will point out that I feel would have made this picture so much better is that you blurred half the boss. If you are in battle, make sure to fully commit to what you are fighting, you are the star, but make sure your co star isn't almost blended into the background. Otherwise, you did wonderful!

Yojimbo Kasai: This boss better watch out cause there is a ninja in town! I will be honest though, this picture was very hard to look at. The edges blurred out so much that not only were you captured in that blur but the boss as well. The dark edges were also not needed because it adds so much darkness to a already dark picture. I would next time take advantage of the environment and let the fog create the ambiance for you, no need to add to an already beautiful backdrop to an epic picture. You want to stand out and not blend in with your effects for they have stolen the show. You have so much potential, keep it up!!

#ffxiv #ffxiv screenshots #entm #entm tumblr cycle 11 #eorzea's neo talent management

2 notes · View notes

bellatrixobsessed1 · 7 years ago

Text

The Gliding Dragon

Day 1 of @avatarworldweek‘s summer love event: Unconditional love.

I haven’t seen any fics at all for Azula/Teo so I wrote one. Because why not?

She was there strictly on business, or she was supposed to be anyhow. The Fire Nation needed new machines, but creativity wasn’t exactly an area of expertise among Azula’s people. Not in an era where dancing had been banned. The Fire Nation needed an inventor. Apparently, it was her job to find one, as Zuko busied himself with other matters. Frankly she believed that she should be the one fussing with foreign affairs back at the palace as opposed to making another journey to the Earth Kingdom. A place where she left empty handed, with only a small lead. None of the machinists in the Earth Kingdom impressed her well enough for her to request an alliance. But she heard tell of a machinist who dwelled in the Northern Air Temple after being displaced by a flood of sorts.

This tip had her on her way back to the Fire Nation to retrieve an airship, and then right back in the direction she had just come from. It had been so tedious. But she would only accept the finest for the Fire Nation, for her nation. Azula sighed, the things she did for it.

She supposed that the hassle of the trip was all well enough in the end. The mechanist was highly skilled, almost beyond what she had hoped. And with the offer of a place to stay for he and what remained of the others in his village, he would put his skills to use.

Azula had accomplished her mission, with seemingly no personal gain—something Zuko was annoyingly proud of; “finally you did something out of the kindness of your heart!” She vowed that if he kept it up, it would be the last selfless thing she did.

Azula fell onto her bed, she was exhausted. Travel was losing its appeals, she felt as though she was spending more of her life in the Earth Kingdom than in her own home these days. She didn’t know how she let herself be drawn into it. She had a strong feeling it had to do with something, something along the lines of, “a change of scenery will be good for you.”

Right.

In the days to follow she began to see more of the mechanist’s son. She would see him in the halls, observing the Fire Lord portraits. She would run into him while on walks in the town. She would find him dining in the same restaurant as she, and never with any plans to meet up there. Beforehand she didn’t pay him much attention, her goal was to strike a deal with his father and that was it. In her time at the air temple the man had been absent most of the time, whizzing about on his glider. She had been meaning to ask him about that. Perhaps, that’s what compelled her to finally strike up a conversation with him. If she was going to be seeing him around so often, she may as well make him less of a stranger. Naturally this is when she stopped seeing him around so frequently.

She didn’t see him again, in fact, until a week or so later when she found herself sitting on the rim of a fountain in the center of the Capital’s shopping ring. Azula wasn’t much of an artist, it was a hobby she had just taken up. It was something that seemed to be coming naturally to her. In current the princess was sketching one of the dragon statues that rested before a weapons vendor. Though it was hard to work with someone eyeballing her unfinished work. She turned the sheet over with a purpose.

Shamelessly the man inquired, “whacha drawing?”

“Mind your own business.” Azula muttered, before looking up to see who was addressing her. Just like that she realized her chances of finding out more about the man’s glider had just diminished some. She turned to him and mumbled something akin to, “your father’s inventions are quite innovative.”

“Yeah, he comes up with some neat stuff.” The man wheeled himself up next to her.

“Did he make that wheelchair glider for you?”

The man smirked, “mind your own business.” She had half the mind to push him into the fountain. “Yeah, he made it for me a long time ago. I was always kind of stuck, ya know, watching the other kids chase each other around. I was invited but never had much fun.” He motioned to the wheelchair. “I couldn’t go as fast so I always lost tag. So my father gave me a way to see the world. I kind of think that it’s better than walking.”

“What happened? Where you always like that.” She asked, pointing to his legs. She turned away abruptly with the faint feeling that it was rude to have asked so bluntly and in the manner that she had. Why was she so dreadful with words when she wasn’t speaking politically? If she could smooth talk into getting the better end of a deal than she ought to be able to hold up a more simplicity conversation. She muttered a quick apology for the ignorant wording of her question.

But the man didn’t seem phased. “I’ve heard worse.” He waved it off. “But no, when I was a really young child I was able to walk. I lost the ability during the flood that destroyed my village.”

“I promise we, here in the Fire Nation, don’t condone flooding.”

The man laughed, “I’ll hold you to that next time it rains hard enough.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

“I’m Teo.” He held his hand out.

Azula took it. She assumed that her name was more or less common knowledge and she couldn’t imagine that he didn’t recognize her, but she returned the introduction anyhow. Better to be formal in forming relationships. It would be her first friendship since Mai and TyLee. She didn’t have any enemies at this point, but she didn’t allow anyone to get particularly close either. No, the princess liked to keep to herself. It felt safer, more comfortable.

But Teo had an air about him, a laidback air. She couldn’t see him offering her any sort of drama and she had no prior connection to him. No abundant and questionable history, only a very vague memory of seeing him among those at the Western Air Temple when she’d attacked it. It hadn’t been personal, not in the way it was with Zuko. She wondered if she should bring it up at all.

Instead she turned her page up again and handed him the sketch.

He held it up to the actual dragon statue. “Not bad.” He noted.

“Not finished.” She reminded. He handed it back. Rather he tried to. “It’s yours.” She didn’t know why she had given it to him, he hadn’t requested it. But if felt like a good thing to do at the time.

“Thanks.” He grinned. “I don’t think anyone has given me a drawing before, especially not a lady. I’m not exactly a hit with the ladies.”

“I’m not exactly a… ‘hit’ with anyone.” Azula muttered.

“I don’t know, I like you.” He replied. “You’re…eccentric.”

Azula concluded that, that was rather well as far as first encounters went. It hadn’t been as smooth or seamless as she wanted it to be, but she hadn’t ruined anything yet. The truth was she wanted a friend again. She needed a friend, especially one that didn’t come with a messy history.

She spoke with him many times after that. Each time he treated her very well, better than perhaps most people treated her. She came to know his habits and those little quirks he had; such as pushing on his aviation goggles when he was bored or trying to distract himself. She wondered if he had picked up any of her habits. He enjoyed sightseeing, Azula came to find. Teo constantly requested to see new places, and so she began showing him lesser known spots. Sections of the Fire Nation that she’d come to know because she had lived there for so long and explored it so passionately.

One day Teo asked her if she had ever flown before.

“Many times.” She replied. “On warships and on the back of a bison.”

“How about with a glider?” He asked.

“Once.” Azula replied thinking of the mishap where she’d thrown herself off of Appa in a poorly planned escape attempt. “Well it wasn’t exactly flying.”

“A while ago I dated this village girl named Li-Roa.” Teo started. “Before we broke up she wanted to fly on my glider with me, so my father invented a glider big enough for me and my chair and for Li as well.” He explained. “I haven’t used it since…”

“And you want to use it with me?” Azula filled it.

“If you’re interested.”

Somehow Azula felt honored, which wasn’t an easy thing to make her feel. But she was conflicted; she’d seen Teo on his own glider and it never looked stable. He boasted that he’d been using the same glider wheelchair since he was a boy, only changing it when he out grew it. Azula was no aviator, in fact being so high up with nothing to hold onto made her somewhat queasy, but she would never admit it. Yet there Teo was, vowing to teach her to fly. The princess didn’t know if she wanted to fly.

Not until she allowed him to slip in and convince her.

He took her hand and helped her into the chair.

“We won’t go too high at first, not until you get the hang of it.”

“The hang of it?” Azula frowned. “You’re steering.”

“Yes, but you have to do some peddling also.”

“Wonderful.” Azula grumbled. But she wasn’t one to shy away from a challenge, even if her belly was fluttering and tied in all sorts of knots. Teo walked her thought the basics; as it would turn out he neglected to tell her that she would be in charge of steering the rear glider. He explained it much like sailing, all she had to do position the glider-piece so that it would catch the most wind. As long as she did that and distributed her weight evenly the flight would go smoothly. “If you can beat us during an eclipse where we have the disadvantage, you can do this.” Teo declared.

“Well I suppose you’re right.” Azula agreed. Rather she pretended to. She still had her doubts.

She had expected him to reassure her, to tell her that she’d do just fine on more time. And he did. What she didn’t expect was a hug. She could remember the last time someone had initiated one with her. But it was probably a time when she and TyLee wee close. She let him hold her for a moment before she finally returned the gesture. The nervousness that, that ignited within her pushed out the fluttery feeling brought by the anticipation of flight. She hoped that her cheeks weren’t any shade pink. He let her go and with a smile asked, “are you ready?”

Actually, being in the air was a different matter altogether. It was exhilarating. To have her hair tossed about and her robes fluttering so wildly. She felt like a real dragon. Flying with Teo was much different than the airships and much different than the bison. This time she had some navigational control and it was fantastic. She felt so free. On top of that, she’d never had such a splendid view of her nation. Once or twice Teo called back to her to tell her that she was doing great or to ask her which way she’d like to go next. That was the thing though, in that one moment, she wanted to go everywhere.

In time, wanting to go everywhere became wanting to go anywhere. Teo had a sense of adventure that she didn’t, not until she talked to him more. Teo kindled within her, the ability to express herself, to truly decide what she wanted to do. And she found that she was rather fond of the notion of seeing the hidden corners of the world. She took him to Ember Island and to Hira’a. Hira’a where she revealed things about herself that she kept concealed from most others. Things that concerned her poor relationship with her mother. She didn’t ask for it and she didn’t think that she had displayed any particular signs of distress, but he took her hand anyways and he held it for a long time. That night she had sketched a picture of a bamboo mask; one of the many things that adorned the town stage. She found herself answering Teo’s inquiries more than actually watching the play.

In return he took her to the place where his village used to stand. That had been a very raw moment. One where he rubbed at tearful eyes and told her about how he’d lost his mother there and how that was the moment he’d become a freak. The princess wasn’t good with words of comfort and gestures of it came hard as well. But she had assured him that he was no more of a freak than someone who heard things that weren’t there. She noted that he probably wouldn’t be Teo without the hardships and lessons that the loss of feeling in his legs had given him. Anyways, she was slowly learning that the perfection that she had once coveted was overrated anyhow. It was odd to admit it and if felt wrong coming from her lips. But apparently, she had done something right. Because that day was first time he kissed her. She wasn’t a graceful kisser to begin with and trying to find the right position around the wheelchair was a bit of a task, she felt a tad flustered for it. Eventually he coaxed her into sitting on his lap, from there pressing her lips against his came naturally. For some time he held her with her head against his chest and his hand over brushing over her hair, watching a few stars begin pop up over one of the many ruined houses.

A quick sketch of the ruins and the stars above, found a place among her other drawings.

Eventually, spending so much time with her, Teo would see sides of her; the darker, rougher ones. The wilder ones that most people feared. The ones she went out of her way to bury deep and hide from him. He was the only person who didn’t seem to fear her nor to be weary of her and she wanted to keep that. Teo had been spontaneous from the start so she shouldn’t have been surprised at how readily he accepted and worked with the more dangerous of her moods. He was patient and somehow unphased by the worst of her threats, until her temper dulled again.

Azula found it very well to know that at least one person seemed to love her in spite of her worst self. To know that at least one person was accepting of that part and didn’t demand that she make any abrupt changes. For the first time she felt at ease with someone. For the first time she felt as though she had someone who didn’t expect anything of her. Someone who didn’t love her power nor her brains, but loved the person shaped by these qualities. The person who possessed them. She just hoped that he felt as comfortable around her. That she conveyed just as much care.

She must have if he was still traveling with her.

If he still unfolded the drawing she’d given him when they first talked.

“You still have that?” She asked one day as the sat at the edge of a dock. Jang Hui was a gem so close to home she wondered how she had never been. Last she heard, the place was a sludgy mess. The river looked rather pristine to her.

“Of course I still have it.” Teo replied.

“It’s a terrible drawing.” She muttered.

“I don’t know, I think that it’s better than that lion-moose you tried to draw.” He shrugged.

She gave his arm a swift punch. “My lion-moose looked better than you ever will.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Ouch.” He muttered.

“Here.” She said suddenly, handing him an assortment of pages. She and Teo found themselves on one of the Fire Islands. It was close enough to home for Azula to know their trip was coming to a close. It seemed like it had been such a short time, had it really been over a year? It must have been; each drawing in that collection had been dated. And there were hundreds of different sketches, one from each day—a little something that meant something to her. Some were quite dismal, the ones that she had painted in some Earth Kingdom bayou for one. That part of their trip had been a mistake, it was a part that had thrown her terribly off and sent her right back into a place where she couldn’t decipher the real from the false. On those days she had drawn her hallucinations, horrifying swamp beasts and the taunting face of her father as it molded in with the scenery. The only thing that kept her from going completely under was Teo admitting that he’d been having visions of his own. The swamp had been alive with spirit energy and it had, had them both on edge.

“What’s this?” He asked.

“Sketches, from each day since we started this journey.” Azula replied. “I wanted to make something for you.”

Teo flipped through the pages. Many of them were adorned with flora, trees, and other plant life—most of which were the ones he’d pointed out to her. She also had a few buildings, artifacts, and people. The one that stood out to him was her rendition of the elaborate door to the Southern Air-Temple. There was something very Fire Nation to her version of it, he thought that this was how the door would look if made by Fire Nation hands. Her latest drawing was of a very old man named Doc…or was it Shoo? He seemed to use them interchangeably. Each and every one seemed better than the next, her skill was flourishing fast, not that he expected anything else. “They’re gorgeous.” He sighed, “but I didn’t make anything for you.”

Azula shrugged. “I didn’t ask you to.”

“I should have thought of it though.” He pointed out.

“You gave me the opportunity to draw them at all.” She replied. He watched her kick her feet at the water. If he could draw, that would have been an image to capture. She looked peaceful, her hair let loose and rippling over her shoulders.

“I guess that that’s true.” He agreed. “I wish I could do that.”

“Draw?” Azula asked.

“No,” he pointed to her swinging feet. “I’ve never dangled my feet in the water before.”

Azula looked at him for a moment, contemplating something. Without so much as a warning, she lifted him from his wheelchair. The woman was stronger than he had anticipated. Carefully she set him down, took his shoes off, and turned him so that his feet finally met the water. He was overtaken by a sense of glee, it was such a simple and stupid thing to be delighted over. And yet…

“Well? Is it everything you hoped for.”

“Yeah, I think I can see some fish under there too!” He exclaimed.

“A few have brushed by, yes.”

He wished that he could actually feel them rushing by. Feel the sensations of the water. But it was enough for him, to be able to have his feet in the water at all.

“Thanks.” He beamed up at the princess.

She shrugged, “you act like it was hard to do.”

“It still means a lot. People don’t realize that I like this kind of small stuff…” he trailed off. “It’s always Teo the bold and adventurous. Teo the independent and daring. No one seems to think that sometimes Teo could use some help.”

No one seemed to think that of Azula either so she nodded in understanding. “I take it you don’t like to ask for it either.”

He rubbed the back of his head with a goofy smile. “Not particularly.” And then he added, “I don’t want to bother anyone.”

“You didn’t bother me.” She rather liked having someone to help, actually.

“Would you mind helping me back into my wheelchair?” He asked.

“Now that’s asking too much.” Azula smirked. She gave a small pause before scooping him into her arms. She was going to fufill his request, but decided that she liked holding him more than she fancied helping he right back into the chair. Anyways, he didn’t seem to mind it any. With him in her arms and the late summer sun dazzling her skin, Azula decided that she liked this much more than she would have enjoyed the throne. There was a sense of imprisonment that came with the throne, Zuko couldn’t very well just leave on a year-long sabbatical as she had just done. She rested her chin on the top of his head.

To think, it began with one irritating political quest and one ridiculous moment at a fountain.

#awwsummerlove #Azula #Teo #TeZula #Avatar #Fanfiction

12 notes · View notes

lepus-the-bun · 7 years ago

Text

Fire and Brimstone

(Fun short story I made to go with http://garlean-nonsense.tumblr.com/post/173941922086/garleanscum-to-the-last-we-have-been-ordered ! Just a fun not canon story!)

“FORWARD, NOT ONE STEP BACK!”

Mortar and cannon fire mixed in the air with the command, the shrieking of the shells landing amidst the legionnaires, followed by the ear shattering boom to follow as cannon balls pierced through man and cover both. Aedwen stayed pressed to her cover, a large tree of the shroud felled early on in the conflict... This mad gamble to disrupt the Eorzeans. Perhaps, to the Legatus, it had seemed a simple gamble... The lives of two cohorts, infiltrating to Baelsar’s wall, to attempt to retake the castrum. If they were successful, they’d be able to hinder Alliance air traffic, and cut off land based supply routes, as the reformed legions swung back down into Ala Mhigo like a mighty hammer... If they failed, they’d have tied up the Eorzean forces for as long as their lives could buy... it was her damned fate that the mission was assigned to the third, and her worse fate that she was given promotion to Optio shortly before this ill scenario came to fruition.

The shrieking sound of a falling mortar shell caused her to duck low against her cover, cringing as dirk caked over her and shrapnel dug into the wood from the mortar’s blast. She could almost smell the blood mixed with the powder, and as if heralded soon followed the panicked wailing of a poor unlucky legionnaire. She couldn’t help but frown as she gripped the hilt of her blade tightly, deep rapid breaths rising from her as she looked out with but one good eye, on a field of slaughter before her. Men and women laid out like children making macabre snow angels, in the stretch of open space between the edge of the forest and the wall proper. They had expected a good deal of casualties from this initial assault, but it had been assumed at least the first wave would have made the wall proper before surprises was lost... But she knew the truth. The Eorzeans had known, they had known the entire time, and had laid in wait before them.

The moment the first man had charged from cover, he had been cut down by fire from Ishgardian Machinists, and the next in line turned into a pillow for the arrows of the Adders. Their flanks had then been challenged, and pushed back onto them by the combined forces of the Maelstorm and Flames... In but a few breaths from the first shot, they had been caught in the midst of their foe. Two cohorts, butchered down to a few dozen left fortifying the position around her, their Centurio and Decurion dead amidst the slaughter, having valiantly attempted to fight back the flanking forces before being overwhelmed. All that were left in command now, stood Aedwen herself, and a single Optio whom managed to somehow not get blown apart as he stood attempting to rally the legion’s remains around himself.

“The damned fool doesn’t realize we’re already dead...”

She muttered the words to herself as she watched another legionnaire and his hastily found cover were turned into little more than a pink mist and shrapnel of wooden splinters from one of the Ishgardian cannons. Their only survival would lay in breaking the encirclement, and seeking shelter in the shroud, A prospect she knew would be doomed to fail. She could -feel- the anger from the Elementals, their outrage at this battle in their lands... No, if they retreated into the shroud, they’d be dragged to it’s depths and ripped apart for their hubris. They held no route out, and had not even accomplished their objective. She grimaced as another mortar landed close to her, separating a woman from her legs before sending her flying through the air.

“MOVE DAMN YOU ALL! MOVE AND ASSAULT THEM!”

Was this the price of her sin? The price of her treason against her home, and the home of her parents? Her fate for denying the forest what it desired, and spurning it’s gift? She frowned as her counterpart’s voice carried among the cannon and mortar fire, in a futile attempt to organize a charge... None would charge on his order, not while so far exists between them and the enemy. Even the Flames and the Maelstorm had done little to purge their position now, instead setting up to keep them contained for the artillery to bury them in their new tomb.

Her gaze turned to a group of Legionnaire, huddled in the crater formed from a nasty mortar shell. She could see the fear in their eyes, how it paralyzed them, how it robbed them of their senses so long as it held reign over them. Her hand moved to draw her blade in a single motion as she took a shaky breath, and grabbed the discarded staff from the ground, left from a deceased Medicus.

“Not like this.”

“... Not like this...”

Slowly, she moved to stand fully before raising the staff and focusing on the aether of the chaotic field, and with a brilliant light a barrier formed before her, shielding those behind her as she began to walk forward. Over broken bodies and churned earth she stepped as arrow and bullet broke against her shield. The men whom had cowered behind her soon found their stomachs, and ran for her, a defiant cry in their throats that broke her heart... A cry which spread across their line, as men and women climbed from their cover, weapon in hand, and with herself and the remaining Optio at the head, charged for the lines of artillery.

“TILL THE LAST MEN, LET US MAKE THEM CHOKE ON OUR BLOOD IF THEY THINK WE WILL DIE LIKE CATTLE!”

Her voice rang out as she ran, the words little more than a defiant lie upon her lips as the shield cracked before her. Yet still, they ran on... Even as a cannonball broke through, and three turned to mist of red, they ran on now coated in such gore. Even as the Optio fell, his words dieing in his throat from an Adders’ well placed arrow, they charged... They charged, and charged these few dozen men and women, against a position fortified and planned to repel them. They charged, not for the belief of a righteous empire, or for them to find rank should they somehow survive. No, they charged so that when they died, those that killed them may at least know they fought men and women who would not fade quietly into the night...

... And as her shield cracked and shattered into countless glittering pieces, not a man was quiet as a cry of rage roared forth from their throats. As arrow and bullet pierced their rank, and blooms of fire came from the Thaumaturges, they charged with that primal roar of fury and defiance... And for those sweet few moments, she felt more alive than any moment before. Even as her chest was shattered by a bullet from a Limsan officer, and thigh pierced by an Adder’s spear, as they descended upon the lines for that last final melee... She felt alive, as the life drained from her.

#ff14 #garlean #aedwen #non-canon #balmung #short story

14 notes · View notes