#the quest wasn't the end of his arc (I HOPE) so there will be some mixed feelings

[harmonysanreads]

This post was a massive self insert, don't feed my delusions like this

If he turns out to be an INFJ I'll actually lose it

LOL

Our delusions are like little plants, we need to routinely water and fertilize them to ensure they can continue thriving ;D

Now, I'm not lucky like Aventurine to bet stuff carelessly and end up being the winner but, BUT, I feel it in my heart that he's an INFJ — just a very very very unhealthy one. Going through the reasonings would require a long character analysis now so I'll spare you that. Though I wonder how people will view him as now, Yandere or not 🤔

[shiny-jr]

Hi! I noticed that your requests were open and I love the way you write Malleus so I was hoping you would do yandere malleus x reader. where the reader knows twisted wonderland is a game (but not imposter au pls) and after they got isekia'd are trying to stop the overblots from happening and malleus is just terrified for them. Idk just an idea I've had for awhile but never found a fanfic like lol. Obviously it's totally fine if you don't want to do it or if I accidentally broke a rule. Anyway remember to drink some water and take a break if needed! Have a amazing rest of your day/night!!

Warning: Yandere (not really, not at all). Gender-neutral reader.

Characters: Malleus Draconia.

Summary: MC sees affection meters and it's not good.

Note: These are mainly thoughts and random words my mind spewed out.  

How did one claim victory at a game? Well, it entirely depended on the game, the mechanics and the options. It should've been impossible to lose a mobile game that was primarily composed of the gacha mechanism and visual novels.

When you suddenly found yourself in the series of twisted villains in a prestigious school of magic, you found that it was much more complex than it appeared on screen. Especially when only you could see these small bars occasionally floating above people's heads. Bars which you recognized as affection meters, nearly all of them stagnant at a dull gray 0% when you first arrived. This was the hurdle blocking your way to an easy victory. Because how else were you to escape the game, other than complete it?

Situations became messier, when you didn't have a dialogue options between two mere choices. Add making good impressions and keeping a character's favor, to the list of quests alongside avoiding death by inky overblotted characters. By some miracle, you had increased the affection of the characters you met and interacted with to a healthy 5% or 10%, sometimes more. At any cost you wished to avoid getting in the negatives, because you did not want to find out what would happen then.

Sometimes, the numbers would drop dangerously close to zero, mainly when an overblot was occuring. Never had you realized how the visual novel failed spectacularly at portraying the utter horror of the overblotted in all their wicked glory. The black inky darkness leaking from them like tears or blood with those crazed unhinged looks in their eyes–– was the stuff of pure nightmares.

And yet the one whose overblot you had been dreading the most, the dorm leader of Diasomnia, was surprisingly docile as you dealt with others. However, you knew even when conversing with him, that you would one day witness him overblot and look like some ethereal but deadly fallen angel. So mentally you prepared yourself, while taking on the task of keeping up appearances.

Malleus' affection meter, was a good 20% and a friendly pink shade, quite the accomplishment you were proud of, considering the majority of the cast wasn't even at 15%. The Draconia heir was certainly someone you never wanted to see reach below zero, so you did your absolute best to appeal to him, even if he was quite intimidating at first with the way he stoically watched you complain about the least of your worries, homework and classes.

By the time you spoke to him about your troubles with the Ramshackle dorm and Azul, during what you knew was the Octavinelle arc, the prince's affection had sprouted to a 22%. When you went into more detail of the potential loss you could face, it went to 23%.

The next time you saw him, you were weary and antsy since witnessing Azul's break-down. If the blot of his tears had the magic to gather, it would've been enough to drown, you were sure of it. Even by that maniac look in his eyes, you're sure he would've purposely drowned you if he got close enough.

Throughout that charlatan's chapter, his affection meter had slowly been rising, dropping during the overblot like the tides only to rise once again by the end to a good 45%. This was good!

But no matter how much you may have pondered, strategized, or try to predict each next action, you could've never guessed that the next time you saw Malleus after Azul's overblot, his expression taut with concern, his affection meter had made a jump to 55% and turned red. This entire time you had been avoiding the negatives, but you never once worried of the dangers and implications a red affection meter above 50% would mean for you. Or heaven forbid, anything close to 100%.

[avocadorablepirate]

What Do We Call This? - 04

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Pairing: Trafalgar Law x fem!reader

Summary: On a quest to find what you've been looking for, you acquire the help of the Straw Hat pirates, who've agreed to let you temporarily join them. There are however many challenges that come along with your temporary recruitment - an alliance with a certain Trafalgar Law being one of them.

Word Count: 2.2K

Warnings: fluff, angst, kinda slow burn, swearing, the occasional OP spoiler

A/N: I would be lying if I said I was happy with this chapter :\. Since this story happens during canon One Piece arcs, I wanted to try and stay away from spoilers as much as possible and also avoid changing the original plot, so the chapter kinda ends up feeling a bit rushed, which isn't great...but this is how most of the chapters that include scenes from the anime/manga are going to be like, so I apologise in advance if future chapters feel rushed as well...anyway I hope you still like it.

Challenge: take a shot every time you see the word blue orb/orb ᕙ⁠(⁠ ⁠ ⁠•⁠ ⁠‿⁠ ⁠•⁠ ⁠ ⁠)⁠ᕗ

—⁠☆✿☆—⁠

"(Y/N) are you sure about this?" Robin asked, pulling you aside before you disembarked at Dressrosa, "We might have to fight." She knew that you didn't like using your powers to harm people after what you had been through on Fishman Island. But you gave her a reassuring smile before the two of you followed behind Law, Usopp and Caesar, "I'll be fine Robin, thank you."

Suffice to say, you were not fine. It had all started when Doflamingo had attacked Law at Green Bit. You had managed to stay out of Doflamingo's sight, and had tried to help Law get away from him when he was cornered on the bridge, but before you could focus your attention to use your powers, Law's blue orb had you surrounded and transported to where the Sunny had initially been docked.

"Fuck, why'd he do that!?" you yelled, as you took in your surroundings, almost instantly running in the same direction you had taken when you first reached Dressrosa.

You had managed to get back into the city just as Doflamingo had covered it with his "birdcage", and you had been helping the citizens reach the centre of the island, healing anyone who got injured in the process, which wasn't great for you. The aftermath of using your powers had started to take its toll on your body. Still, you were desperate to keep going. Doflamingo had done some serious damage to Law on the bridge, and you were sure his condition would have worsened by now. You had to find him.

You had run into Usopp's group when Viola, the former princess of Dressrosa had told you that Law was with a pirate named Cavendish. However, when you had found him, the two of you discovered that Law was already gone. Now, you were back to running around the city helping the injured while also looking for Law.

That was when you saw Luffy - he was being carried on the back of a man dressed in gladiator-wear. You were just about to approach them when you saw the familiar orb appear.

You sighed in relief when you realised that Law was still alive. But when he appeared in place of the orb, you noticed just how much damage he had taken - there was a cloth wrapped around his right arm, but blood still seeped through it, there was blood spattered across his face as well, and he was covered in bruises. Despite that, he took Luffy from the man and disappeared even before you could show yourself.

"Where did they go?" you think aloud, and assess your surroundings, looking for the blue orb to reappear somewhere. A second later you see it, it's further away than you expected, but you're determined to reach the two of them. So, you run as fast as your legs can carry you.

Once you've reached the building, you start climbing up to get to the top, but when you're halfway up you see the orb come into view again.

Shit, why's he moving?, you think to yourself, but you can still hear the faint sound of voices at the top. "Law?" you yell out, but there's no response. Deciding to still climb to the top so that you could scout the area, you're relieved when you find Law still there along with Viola.

"Where's Luffy?" you ask as you rush towards Law, and kneel down beside him. His head tilts up and he's slightly taken aback by your presence.

"I switched him out with her," he answers, nudging his head towards Viola just as another orb appears, teleporting a girl with pink hair who you hadn't seen before. But Viola immediately runs to her aid which lets you focus your attention on Law.

"Did Doflamingo do all of this?" you ask as you assess his wounds, but he doesn't respond.

"Fuck Law, I don't know how much of this I can heal," you tell him while trying to be as gentle as possible as you remove his coat to get a better look at the bullet wounds he's riddled with.

"Don't heal anything," he firmly states, and your brow furrows in confusion.

"Don't be an idiot. You've clearly taken a lot of external damage, god knows how much internal bleeding you're suffering from," you say, as your hand hovers over his torso, but he's quick to grab onto it with his own - not completely wounded - hand.

"From the looks of it you've already used your powers to heal other people," he says, his grip on your hand tightening.

"What's your point?"

"My point is that I know how your powers work. Every time you heal or attack someone you hurt yourself." You somewhat lose your balance, falling back, stunned by his words because you were sure you had done well to hide it.

"H-how?"

"I saw you when you attacked Vergo," Law says, as he leans back against the wall and let's go of your hand, assuming that he had managed to stop you from using your powers on him.

Your quick to recover from the initial shock of his words, and before Law can comprehend you place your hands on his midriff to "work your magic". He tries to push you away, but this time you grab onto his arm with your free hand and hold it down.

"I ate the fruit, I deal with the consequences," you firmly state, and try to focus, to find which of his muscles and organs were damaged.

"Wait, is that why you teleported me from the bridge to where the Sunny was?" you ask, but he doesn't answer, instead objecting to your help, "(Y/N)-ya stop," but you don't relent, determined to heal his injured body.

You can sense the strain on your own body increase, but you push through when you feel Law slowly begin to relax under your touch, his protests fading along with his pain. Finally, after what feels like eternity, you finish your work, and withdraw your hand, the strain on your own body slowly starting to weigh down on you.

"I can't heal your bullet wounds until the bullets are removed, and your arm is still in pretty bad shape, but I was able to stop most of the internal bleeding," you tell him as you lean against the wall, letting out a fatigued sigh.

"You shouldn't have done that," he says, and you scoff in amusement, "A simple 'thank you' works too you know."

"Thanks," Law murmurs, when suddenly he feels your body slump against his, and he immediately looks to see what's wrong. Your eyes are half shut, and you mumble something incoherent, the exhaustion washing over you. But before you can succumb to the darkness (i.e., sleep), you let out a soft chuckle - now almost in a delirious state - and whisper, "Cora-san would be glad you managed to stay alive."

Law's body tenses at your words, and his eyes instantly dart to yours again, but your limp body pressed against him tells him that you're already unconscious.

_______________________________________________

When you awake you find yourself sprawled on the bed of a small house. You try to get up, but let out a loud groan because of how sore your entire body is. A pair of hands are quick to grab onto you, and you blink away the reminents of sleep to see Law sitting beside you. He helps you stand up and guides you to the table where everyone is seated.

"(Y/N), you finally got up! You almost missed all this food!" Luffy smiles at you as he chonks down on a piece of meat, and you look to see the spread in front of you, your stomach growling at the sight. You stretch forward to grab yourself something to munch on, but a hand holds you back by the arm. A blue orb instantly appears in front of you, and soon after in its place materializes a plate of food.

"Thank you," you mumble and Law responds with a nod of acknowledgement, his usual impassive manner softened by a subtle hint of concern for you.

"Oye Tra, can you pass me some food too!" Luffy yells, despite already having heaps of food in front of him, and Law lets out a, tsk, only giving a scowl in reply.

You're satisfying your hunger when the peacefulness of the moment is interrupted by the door to the house slamming open, and in walks a man with green hair and a nose ring. You had seen him during the battle, but you weren't sure who he was.

"Luffy-senpai! The Marines are going to come after you soon, even the former fleet admiral Sengoku is here! We need to leave!" he yells, and Law instantly jolts up from beside you, his composed exterior being replaced by a look of agitation.

The man, who you found out was called Bartolomeo, continues to explain the plan of action, but he doesn't hold your attention. Instead, you're observing Law. He seems to be deep in thought, and although he wears his usual frown, he exudes a sense of uneasiness that does not go unnoticed by you.

"I'll meet you all at the harbour," he says, and you look at him quizzically, but he doesn't notice. He strides out the door in a hurry, not waiting for a response, and despite your weariness in his change of attitude, your attention is now back on the rest of the group.

Robin had moved to stand beside you, and she gazes at you with concern, "(Y/N), you still haven't fully recovered, do you think you'll be able to make it to the harbour by yourself?"

"Um....yes...don't worry about me," you say, attempting to give her a reassuring smile, although you yourself doubt the truth behind your claim. Nevermind the harbour, you doubt you'd even be able to walk to the door by yourself. However, Robin picks up on the hesitance in your reply and is quick to offer her support which you were about to graciously accept when all of a sudden you're enveloped in a dome of blue light.

"Huh?" you freeze in your spot, confused by the blue orb that has you trapped within its confines. Robin chuckles at your bewilderment, already having a grasp of the unexpected change of plans, "Well looks like that's taken care of."

When you realise what's going on, you close your eyes shut, in fear of not knowing what to expect. It's the sudden feeling of weightlessness beneath your feet that draws your eyes open, and what you expect to be the harbour is instead someone's back - you're slung over someone's shoulder, an arm tightly wrapped around your waist. You look to see who it is and spot the white fur cap with black spots.

"Law what are you doing!? Put me down!" you yell, as you try to wriggle out of his grasp.

"You're coming with me," Law says, your fidgeting having no affect on his gait, "knowing those idiots, you'll only get hurt if you go with them."

"Fine at least put me down!"

He finally sets you down and you don't forget to shoot him a glare, "where are you going anyway?" His response is cryptic, leaving you with more questions as he grabs your hand in his and encompasses the two of you in his blue orb.

"Where are we-" you try asking again, but he's already transported the two of you, and you're cut short by the surprise that washes over when you notice the presence that sits in front of the both of you.

"Sengoku?" you murmer his name to yourself, the sudden shiver running down your spine instinctively making you seek refuge behind Law.

"Been a while, hasn't it (Y/N)?" Sengoku asks with an amused grin, yet you don't respond.

"Spit it out." Law ignores his remark, and on noticing your change in demeanour, takes a protective stance as he lets you hide behind him. Sengoku lets out an amused sigh this time, but does as Law says - narrating the story of a Marine from years go. You fidget nervously as he recounts the details, anxiously playing with your fingers as you hang on to his every word.

"He didn't save you for your name," Sengoku concludes, the weight of the statement prompting you to glance at Law to get a better look at his reaction. His typical stoic facade falters, a look of shock momentarily replacing it. It's clear that Sengoku's words have struck a nerve in him, but he remains silent.

"'Just keep living on', that's something he would have said, right?," Sengoku says as he turns away from the two of you, ready to walk away, "If you wish to do something in his stead - remember him."

He turns his head to look at you, and with a fleeting smile nods in farewell, "It was good to see you (Y/N)."

"You two might want to get out of here," he calls out as he continues on his way.

The shadows that form on the ground grab your attention, and you look to the sky to see debris flying above you, "What the-"

Law swiftly grabs onto you, encircling the two of you with his blue orb, "We need to leave. Now."

_______________________________________________

A/N: honestly at this point it's just the reader self inserting herself into the One Piece plot....also I think I'm being so subtle with the hinting when I'm really not ┐⁠(⁠ ⁠˘⁠_⁠˘⁠)⁠┌.

[crossdressingdeath]

Thinking about it having taken some time away, a revenge plot like Karlach's was I think one of the worst possible choices for a BG3 companion quest even before we get into what a half-assed fake drama story it is (why isn't her quest finding a damn Wish scroll, Larian, that would actually be fun and wouldn't cut into Wyll's quest or demand the player choose her ending if they want her to live, there are multiple spells that could fix this and we're given exactly zero explanation for why we aren't even trying to get one, you even brought Wish into the plot as a non-standard game over and then didn't bring it up here when it would be an ideal solution), because it really brings the massive double standard the game's got going on into stark relief. It's most obvious in contrast with Astarion. Like, think about it: the Gur's desire for revenge against Astarion is every bit as justified as Karlach's desire for revenge against Gortash; actually it's more so, given they have a real (though faint) reason to hope that they can actually accomplish something outside of his death, namely getting their kids back. But giving him to the Gur kills him and costs you a companion; it's a failure as far as his character arc goes, and in fact happens so early on he doesn't really get a character arc. All of that potential development is cut short and you have to see his corpse in the ritual and it is in general treated as a bad thing. The much better way of handling the Gur situation is to talk to them in act 3 and drag Astarion into atoning for what he did by trying to deal with Cazador and rescue the kids. This is good! Blind revenge solves nothing, having people pay for what they did by atoning and having to help the people they hurt as best they can is a much better solution! We love to see it!

Now you'd think the equivalent to that would be to dissuade Karlach from her revenge and instead get Gortash to fix the heart (either with his knowledge of the tech involved or—my personal favourite—his power and influence being used to acquire the use of one of the spells that could repair it or replace it with a normal heart because again there's more than one of those and it's stupid that none of them are even brought up as potential solutions), but... nope! Revenge is only bad when those outsiders do it, when it's a companion it's the only real solution! Like, yeah, she's got that thing where she complains that it didn't help at all but... we knew killing Gortash wouldn't help from the start. I don't remember if Karlach herself ever brings it up, but it's hard to miss that killing Gortash will not solve anything Karlach's got going on. And if you don't kill him you don't even get that much acknowledgement that revenge isn't a great solution. And also that's the most basic revenge plot outline, "revenge feels empty" is so fucking common as an ending. But it's just a moment that makes it so clear that Larian wasn't really interested in exploring the themes of the cycle of abuse and how aggressors can also be victims and all that with... anyone except the companions (and even then not always; see their complete unwillingness to ever engage with pre-amnesia Durge as anything but a heartless, crazy murderer despite the game itself including plenty of implications that that wasn't the case). It makes it seem less like a discussion on the cycle of abuse and more like good old-fashioned protagonist-centric morality, where the bad things the heroes do are forgivable because they had a hard life but anyone who hurts them is irredeemable no matter how hard their lives were. And it could've been avoided so easily (in a way that also gave Karlach's quest a more satisfying ending) by having a better ending to her quest that focused less on revenge and more on restitution. But no, heaven forbid we be allowed to engage with the act 3 antagonists in any meaningful way outside of killing them or acknowledge that the main thing separating them from the less moral companions is that no one helped them...

[raayllum]

Something I’ve been noticing a lot in my current rewatch is how Rayla and Soren are foils…Soren being the failed crownguard (“failed” in large part bc of his father’s choices) who ends up on a quest to kill his little king… Rayla trying to make up for her parents’ failures as dragonguards and going every extra mile to protect Zym but taking Ezran under her protection as well (sometimes FROM Soren)…, Soren runs Viren through for trying to kill Ez but he’s just an illusion, the real Viren is trying to kill Zym, and Rayla is prepared to die to stop that…then Rayla goes but Soren stays, and when she comes back he’s taken up her role as the moral center of the show, arguing points that she used to make

I tried to see if you’d written anything about these two being foils specifically but tumblr search is… you know lol. I would love it if you could point me to a relevant meta if there is one! If there isn’t, I hope my thoughts were interesting lol they make me emotional

Y'know funnily enough I don't think there ever was a dedicated Soren&Rayla from almost anyone (of course I could've missed it, but at least not from me) precisely cause from what I remember of early post-s3 arc 1 days, their foil relationship was just... a general fandom consensus of everyone going "Oh yeah that checks out" and kinda left at that.

After all, Soren is the princes' sworn protector who tries to kill them, makes his way back onto the right side, and then 'kills' Viren (his father) in order to protect them... whereas Rayla is their sworn killer who defects from her father in order to protect those same princes, and then she actually kills Viren (if Aaravos and Claudia hadn't intervened) in the same episode. More than that, they both leave behind their previous "hey kill these kids" roles in favour of being a Protector of their respective princes (Soren with Ezran, Rayla with Zym) respectively likewise in 3x09.

You're absolutely right that Soren and Rayla both rely a lot on their physical fighting skills, and this parallel in regards to failure always stands out to me in S3:

Soren: As crownguard, it was my job to make sure that nothing happened to him. No matter what. So when the Moonshadow elves came I did everything I could to protect him. But it wasn't enough. I just... don't want to fail you, too. Rayla: It's me, and it's all my fault. I failed them. I let them all down. They're right to reject me. I'm not good enough, and I never will be.

as does this one for Runaan-Viren, because Runaan may have brought his teenage daughter on an assassination mission, but she's never seemingly scared of him the way Soren is of Viren

even if both fathers take issues with 'fear born' weakness at least in theory

And of course there's some other parallels scattered throughout, which makes sense: 1x01-1x03 is basically Rayla speedrunning Soren's S1-S3 arc of perpetuating the cycle of violence to actively trying to stop it by joining forces with your previous 'enemy'.

I think in a lot of ways Soren was exactly the sort of human Rayla had prepared her whole life to kill -- he's proud, he lies, he's not a 'good' person (at first) -- but of course, now they're good friends and it's very sweet to see. Arc 2 has less direct foils, but it's still there, y'know? Just more quietly in the background.

For example, enough has changed since 2x07 that now in 4x05 their roles have virtually switched, since Soren is the one campaigning to save the dragon while Rayla, although not the aggressor, is saying to walk away. I expect S6 Rayla to take some of Soren's 'protector' quality on further in regards to "doing everything you can" when Callum gets possessed. Possible 5x08 parallels also stand out to me with the concepts of identities (names), ownership vs agency, and compassion against the enemy currently wailing on you through future possessed!Callum and Elmer parallels.

The two are also in for a real pickle since they're the most "these people are the bad guys, we're the good guys" in the show... and it's like sir your sister is evil and ma'am your boyfriend is going through a corruption arc, you're in for some rude awakenings. That said they do have their unbreakable bonds of love with Claudia and Callum respectively, so who knows. It'll all work out. (Eventually.)

On that note we can also see some parallels between 2x02 and 3x03 perhaps... Rayla accuses Soren of trying to kill Ezran but explains it poorly, so Callum gives her as much as he can but doesn't side with her in the moment (which to be fair it is Quite a leap so like Callum you're so valid) VS Soren poorly explaining Viren asking him to kill the princes and Claudia not siding with him. The difference is that in the face of more evidence in favour of Claudia + Soren, Callum still sides with Rayla, and in the face of more evidence against Viren ("You'll understand when you see the first to change" -> "Claudia, you're changing too"), Claudia still sides with Viren, but I digress.

I'd also argue that Ezran is the moral centre of the show (at least to me) simply because he's the only one in the main cast who hasn't entered the 1) you did terrible things in the name of love/protective relay and 2) he's pretty measured and compassionate 99% of the time (but I do love the 1% when he's not let me tell you).

I talked about it in this meta (which is 2+ years old jc) about how like a good moral line event horizon measuring stick is "how does this character treat Ezran" and if they're treating him poorly they're not doing the right thing, and if they're treating him well then they Are, but it doesn't go into S4 or S5 so like. Mileage may vary

Last but not least: I do have a Sorayla tag for headcanons edits brotp content in general so if you want more of them, that's what I'd recommend, with fics such as "flower crowns" (oneshot) and "if heaven and hell decide" (completed multichap, 60k) for their dynamic

[cloudmancy]

not to rekindle old discourse if you've moved on, but i was listening to you & @kindlespark's interview on the complicated women podcast / have enjoyed reading your fhjy posts and wanted to ask your thoughts on why the beginning of the season felt so promising to you? i enjoyed the premiere and the premise of the stresses of 11th grade/the rat grinders as foils, but as the season continued i started to feel disillusioned - it seemed less and less like an interactive/collaborative story (cassandra's death, fig's quest to rehabilitate ruben, the ratgrinders being really hard to find/interact with in general) and more of a tour through some unsatisfying callback easter eggs (i simply don't care about porter and it kind of felt like not even emily did). imo the ratgrinders were set up to fail as a narrative concept ever since the bad kids got mad at them for grinding and brennan just sheepishly grinned and shrugged at the camera, and while i share your disappointment that there was no coming together/addressing the root academic injustices that plagued both the bad kids and the ratgrinders, i don't think it was as surprising to me, as the season had already felt too filled with bits/joking around to be that dramatically tight - ironically, i think they got too bogged down in roleplaying scholastic tedium. i tend to come to d20 with a mindset of like, this is primarily a comedy and if they end up producing a satisfying narrative arc, great (and they certainly have achieved this in the past), but i don't think it's a coincidence that most d20 seasons are regarded as having unsatisfying endings - i think it's an incredibly hard thing to do in a ttrpg setting, even for professionals, especially so if their instincts are more towards comedy. they are great artists and improvisers, but evidently that doesn't mean they can't fail to cohere, and i think this season suffered from a lack of investment in narrative all around - brennan not being as flexible with the plot as he's been in the past, the players i think (some anyway) feeling a little tired of these characters and playing them as more chaotic/violent than usual (kristen's random nudism, fig's truancy, gorgug's hatred/bullying of maryann, fabian threatening to skin ivy). idk, i'm just rambling at this point - my overall message is that i'm in agreement that the finale was a letdown, but i'm curious as to how you thought the promising themes interacted with the story/performances in the earlier parts of the season, cause when i look back at it i don't see a unified vision, just some individually interesting pieces that never seemed to fit together, and i don't think i just feel that way in hindsight, but am open to other perspectives (disclaimer that obv this is all opinion and subject to debate)

here are sam's thoughts on it!

ok my thing is that 1) i love porter as a villain and i don't think the twist takes away from his character; i think brennan tied him to ankarna REALLY well and with genuine thought. the lore drop scene in the temple was genuinely chilling and very very cool to me and brennan clearly set up a lot of lore around it that was interesting and not just funny bc fig thought he was bad the whole time. i think porter is a great character and had the bad kids engaged with his philosophy of rage and not had ice feast completely nullify his threat he could've been a really compelling villain. 2) i genuinely had hope for the rat grinders because of brennan's insistence to make npcs like eugenia talk about them as foils, the fact that they used to be the high-five heroes, and the fact that he made them closer to unwilling participants than actual villains. seemed like genuine threads of complexity that the bad kids just didn't pick up on, but i also clearly was fooled bc that brennan didn't react to fig's attempts to convert ruben shows that he wasn't really prepared to have the final battle as anything but tbk vs trg 😭 i think the downtime system was actually really fun and effective at portraying both scholastic tedium while also embellishing the themes (rage tokens!!) 3) this probably wasn't made clear in the ep but i didn't expect d20 to write a perfect thematic story about addressing systemic injustices; i just wanted them to give me any kind of thematic acknowledgment in the battle at all and not just with ankarna. i am very aware that im always reading into the subtext of d20 seasons--that lament is more for the subtext that Could've Been. i agree with you about everything you've said wrt ttrpg settings and lack of narrative investment, but i had higher hopes because fhsy and tuc are so much better with their themes and the themes brennan appeared to be setting up seemed so… obvious to me…. it had me ignoring all the red flags 😭

[phoenixlionme]

Arcane S2 Theory: Caitlyn will be one to grant Zaun their freedom

This is a theory just came to me recently, but I think it would make so much sense to happen. Caitlyn will be the one to free Zaun in S2 and I have my reasons:

One of the co-creators, Alex Yee, stated in an interview that besides Caitlyn being his fav LOL fighter, he also believes she is the bridge between the two cities. What if that was unknowingly an early bit of hinting at this theory? Now, I don't have the link for that interview but if anyone can find it, please share.

"But she becomes the opposite of herself in S2!" - I can hear some of the fans saying to debunk this theory but that's the point of this theory. Look, it's clear Caitlyn is going to go through a dark arc with the trauma Jinx inflicted on her before and after murdering her mother (I know it hasn't been shown but come one, we all know it's a safe prediction). So, she'll be making some mistakes and even end up causing more tension between the two cities. But SOMETHING will occur that will let her see that the path of vengeance isn't worth it and she'll snap out of it.

The above pic -I believe this pic comes from Caitlyn letting go of her aforementioned vengeance (not her hatred of Jinx but not allowing it to blind her). Another part of the trailer with her in the same outfit is when she was in an apparently high position point with a new rifle. I think after she tries to shoot whoever or whatever, she gets caught or has to leave her hiding place and get injured in the above picture. She's injured as she's holding her stomach and is looking up in fear/anger at someone (i believe Ambessa). And given that it's out in the open, Caitlyn is most likely on the bridge.

She and Vi have reconciled - Don't know what split them up or how they got back together but they are reconciled. How do I know? The black Enforcer outfit; they are wearing matching uniforms. Which only could've happened if they met and reconciled. And when Vi is wearing hers, her hair is now more red than black, symbolizing her reclaiming her identity. One person on twitter even theorized that the black Enforcer outfit that Vi is wearing in the trailer is the same one Caitlyn is wearing. Maybe after Caitlyn got hurt in this moment she was saved by Vi and Firelights and taken to a more secure area and gave Vi her armor to protect her.

Why Caitlyn and not Ekko, Vi, or Jinx? - Now while Vi and Ekko have shown to want Zaun's independence, they have given up due to cynicism and lack of hope with them both only being concerned with their immediate circles (this isn't me shaming them, I am just noting this trait). And for people who think it might be Jinx? A hard no. She may be gaining followers in S2 but I can guarantee that she's going to end up causing more deaths and problems in Zaun and wasn't truly interested in Zaun's freedom, only interested because she wanted to help Silco and now presumably because she's around people who admire her. But Caitlyn? Despite her naivety and sheltered upbringing, when she sees how Piltover has failed Zaun, she is adamant on helping them in anyway she can, avoiding violence as much as possible. And now that she's going through a dark arc, and then realizing how she forgot her original goal would be perfect character development and symbolism.

Speaking of symbolism, it would make sense for it to be Caitlyn to be the key to granting Zaun's freedom and restoring peace between the cities. She's a Piltover Enforcer who comes from THE most affluent family and is presumably going to be the most powerful person (politically) in S2. And initially continue the oppression of Zaun in quest for vengeance before snapping out of it. Zaun's freedom being freely given from someone who always intended to do so and even directly apologize for being complicit in said oppression would be the beginning of healing. Because despite Zaun's faults, it was Piltover that unfairly oppressed and hurt them, so if a Piltovan was the one to grant them their freedom with no strings, it may be the start of a (very long) healing process.

But how would Caitlyn cause the explosion? Using one or a nice amount of Jinx's explosion placed in a way to specifically target the weakest part of the bridge. But why would she have one of Jinx's bombs? I can guarantee that in her hate-filled vengeance quest, she could personally keep some of Jinx's explosions in a way to remind herself of who she's shooting at in the future. But things have changed and she realizes she must uses them to help destroy the bridge.

Why is she destroying the bridge? Noxxians are invading both Piltover and Zaun and Caitlyn realizes that more of them are going to successfully invade Zaun unless she does something. So, she uses the bombs from Jinx, places them in a way to destroy the bridge completely. But she uses herself as bait to catch the Noxxians off guard and uses her rifle to set the match. But before she does, thinking she's about to die (she won't obviously), she uses some sort of radio or gets help from the Firelights to communicate to the people of Zaun - And she declares they are free before setting the match on fire. Causing the explosion and setting the bridge to collapse, killing a majority of Noxxian soldiers.

How she would parallel so may characters by doing this: Jinx caused an explosion that killed Enforcers and attempted to frame the Firelights; Caitlyn causes an explosion to save the Zaunites with help from Firelights. Marcus only dreamt of performing suicide murder on Silco out of fear and cowardice but couldn't do it; Caitlyn performs a heroic sacrifice (she doesn't die) to successfully protect the Zaunites. Vander lead a fail coup against Piltover resulting in many of people dying; Caitlyn works with Zauns (the Firelights), saved the Zaunites, and destroyed the bridge.

And speaking of Vander, what does Caitlyn have in common with him in this pic? She's injured in the stomach area. Just like how Vander was stabbed in the gut by Silco in S1 Act 1 before performing his own heroic sacrifice to protect Vi. And remember, Vander and Caitlyn, despite surface level differences, have much in common.

This shot of Vi reaching out to someone below her with an anguished face:

Now many fans believe this is Cait reaching out to Jinx; and honestly, I think could also be true, even with their extremely messed up relationship, you don't get rid of the love that easily. But I can also see this being Vi reaching out to Caitlyn after the presumed explosion. Could you imagine the angst - after reconciling with the woman she loves (possibly including a passionate and loving sex scene that is also Vi's first time) and reclaiming her identity, she is now forced to see the said woman she loves be caught in another explosion. Oh the traumatic parallels.

12. Oh crap, I just had a crazy thought (that is also another Vander and Caitlyn parallel) - Caitlyn also causes the explosion to save Vi from wherever she is AND stop more Noxxians from invading Zaun; I don't know how or if it'll even happen or it might be too much but again Caitlyn is very smart with excellent aim, so it could happen. Anyway, she (like Vander) would be performing a heroic sacrifice to protect Vi from whatever danger she's in. Is Vi in danger here? Maybe; she doesn't have one of her gauntlets and looks to held down (?). Look, it's more than likely Vi is doing this because of Jinx but I can also imagine it being Caitlyn.

[celestialspiritbabe]

Fairy Tail 100 Years Quest episode 10: thoughts + opinions

Uneasy Erza omake

I'm totally not shocked that Juvia has practiced kissing in front of the mirror at some point in time (she has to perfect it for her beloved Gray, am I right?)

but she's so adorable regardless

Gray's facial expression tells me this isn't the first time he's seen her doing it

Juvia the secret Jerza shipper ⚔️✨

J: ''Before I leave, I would like to encourage you to do some training of your own.'' E: ''Y-yeah, I'm okay, I think...'' J: ''Your kissing has to be up to snuff, or else Jellal will be displeased!''

I love how Erza is trying not to think about Juvia's words and is also trying to convince herself she's not bothered by that, although you can tell she's clearly disappointed she and Jellal aren't a thing yet (I know they aren't technically a canon couple, but they are canon to me because it's so obvious they have feelings for each other and have so much history together compared to the other big 3 ships) + I love how she starts practicing kissing as well lmao

Tattered Gajeel omake

aww, I love how Gajeel's been taking on more jobs because he and Levy are expecting a baby😭❤️

they look so cute snuggled up against each other + Levy's hand on her baby bump

Lily being a part of their little family, awww

Lucy's Leo x Virgo Star Dress Mix is soooo pretty😭😭😭

I love Lisanna's reaction to the Star Dress Mix lmao

wow, Lisanna getting one-shotted? geez, what a surprise🙄

Mira still standing isn't a shocker considering the fact that SHE'S A S-CLASS MAGE, but Elfman still standing did suprise me though

I LOVED VIRGO NOT SHYING AWAY FROM HER MASOCHISTIC TENDENCIES AND WANTING TO BE PUNISHED

AHHHHHH, A JERZA ENCOUNTER COMING UP! 🎉

I CAN'T WITH THEM

E: ''Why did you strip?'' J: ''Because you're here. Enjoy it.'' 😏😏😏 E: ''Wow, he's completely out of his mind! I've got to take him down before this goes any further.''

Gray vs. Thunder Legion rematch?

I LOVE JEALOUS JUVIA! // ''Has she touched him with the bare skin of her feet?''

nice logic Fried: turning into a demon when you're going against a devil slayer?

is this the same Thunder Legion that kicked ass during the Battle of Fairy Tail arc? welp, they pretty much all got their asses handed to them by Gray lmao

the whole ''stop it, he's already dead'' meme but Fairy Tail edition

they way Gray used Evergreen's and Bickslow's powers to beat them was really hilarious and smart!

aww, I love how Gajeel didn't want to lose yet another battle to Natsu and how upset he was over the fact that Levy joined the battle despite being pregnant; I also can't believe Natsu aimed for LEVY'S STOMACH, but as much as he can be dumb as fuck sometimes, I'm so glad he was hesitant about attacking her in the end

''Because no matter what happens, you are my number one.'' 🖤🧡

sillies🫶🏻

J: ''I almost forgot how strong you are.'' E: ''Stop, you're too close!'' J: ''I'm just trying to get a better look. Who could blame me?''

goofy goobers

sillies #2 🫶🏻

''Woah, looks like I'm interrupting something.'' // WELL LAXUS, YOU MOST CERTAINLY ARE

EVEN THOUGH HE'S BRAINWASHED BY THE WHITE MAGE, JELLAL STILL DOESN'T WANT TO HURT ERZA AND WANTS TO PROTECT HER😭

Wraith's one hell of a weird dude, idc

As much as I really looked forward to all the Jerza moments getting dubbed, this episode wasn't the best one to watch, mostly because of Jellal's VA change (I hope to gods this is just temporary, because no one can do Jellal's voice like Robert McCollum, period).

[acutecoral]

Anyways, that was a fun first day! Especially given my main povs are mostly in Red Team, which...well, I honestly did not expect them to have spiralled that hard the last half an hour? It was glorious to have witnessed though. Despite the frustrations and drawbacks, they really did claw it back?? Somehow??

I'm still sort of in a state of being overwhelmed, since I had like 14 tabs on and swapped between povs when I had to, and somehow that hit a level of stimulation that wasn't debilitating but just enriching for my brain which is one of the funniest things that came out from this.

We enjoyed seeing Charlie tryhard at being tactical??? We didn't realise until he mentioned it, that for a good 3 hours, he had not cracked a joke and went off being a spy and eavesdropper to help protect and give an advantage to his team. Like damn.

Carre was a GOAT?? HOLY SHIT???? And also, it was great that Cellbit managed to help bridge the communications between Carre and the rest of the team, after having gotten really great at spanish thanks to Roier. But man, that was unexpected but pleasant as they rallied with each other to fight back and complete the quests.

But my personal favourite moment is how BOLAS?!??!?! started fucking spiralling. The frustration had built up so much, the event pushed them SO HARD, that they threw out their Whole Ass character arcs out for EVERYONE IN THE TEAM TO HEAR. I am not sure if that was just them being meta so it's not actually a canon confession, BUT!! THE FACT THAT THEY DID!! THEY FUCKING TOLD ALL OF THEIR TEAMMATES THEIR DEEPEST SECRETS.

CELLBIT HAD KILLED THE WORKERS. FOOLISH HAD BEEN TRYING TO PROTECT HIM FOR THE ENTIRETY OF HIS INVESTIGATION. SLIME KNOWS THE FLIPPA HE'S HANGING OUT WITH WAS FAKE AND WAS CORRUPTING HIM AND IT FUCKING SCARES HIM. JAIDEN WOULD STAB THEM ALL FOR CUCURUCHO. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN CATHARTIC IN SOME FORM AT LEAST. THEY HAD JUST BEEN PUSHED THAT. FAR. TO SAY ALL OF IT IN THE OPEN.

It's funny!! Like MAN. WHAT A DAY.

Other fave moments:

-Etoiles being sad about killing Jaiden and Philza. Him wanting to be with Red and have fun with his broooosss. He kept apologising lmao

-Tubbo and Carre's beef, but Carre apologises and Tubbo forgives him, that was really sweet

-Etoiles and Roier!!! Yessss give me more interactions of their cubitos thank youuu

-Bad being BOLAS?!?!?!?'s enemy #1 LMAO

-Foosh fucking CRITTING BAD, JESUS THAT WAS SO QUICK??? He did not escape damn

-Carre being hunted by Tubbo and Niki, and Cellbit helping coach him on how to hide his name in the map and he manages to kill Tubbo and Niki instead, JESUS

-Charlie's rants, nuff said

-Charlie and Cellbit fucking doing a stick fight pvp (Etoiles would have loved it so much, please let the man chill with Red next time he misses his friends)

-Tubbo and Aypierre??? Team up??? Oh my goddd, I'm so happy to see them working on the same side, like reminded of the fact that Aypierre had wanted to adopt him when Tubbo was first announced to join LMAO

-FOOLISH AND PHIL BEING FUCKING IMMORTALS????? THEY HAD NOT FUCKING DIED FOR NEARLY THE ENTIRE STREAM, HOLY SHIT, BOTH OF THEM ARE CRACKED AT THE CRAFT AND WERE POPPING OFF

-KAMETO??? EATING A PUFFERFISH?? AND GOING DOWN TO HALF A HEART AND FREAKED OUT LMAOOO (and then he ended stream KEK)

-Fit reverting back to his good ol 2b2t self, my man is toxic, let’s go, it's good enrichment for him, probably reminds him of the Incursions he participated 🥰

-SPREEN AND DANTDM CANONICALLY DEAD??? I mean, I feel it's a bit of a sad reveal since that means they don't have plans to come back to the server, but at least their characters got some sort of closure...?

-RUBIUS???? LOGGING IN??? BEING TURNED MORTAL???? Too bad with issues on his game not working, that sucked, hope that works next time and the admins help him to fix it and he joins!!!

-ARIN STREAM??? THIS MAN IS SO CRYPTIC STILL WHAT’S GOING ONNNN

-Bad??? Stealing Jaiden's strawhat??? BRuhhhhhhh

-Charlie goading Bad to a battle?? I think that was hilarious, but then the Sun Became A Deadly Laser and Charlied dried

-Phil did the entire Casulones emote oh my god, they finally did it

-But!! Red chose him to be the leader, and I thought that awesome, that's so deserved

-THE FACT THEY PUT THE RPers AND ENIGMA SOLVERS IN ONE TEAM LMAO, THESE GUYS BARELY KNOW HOW TO MAKE A BOOK AND HADN'T HAD LVLS HIGHER THAN 3 OH MY LORDD

-The bonfire, live sacrifices, and planned descent to cannibalism 🥰🥰

-Charlie joining other peoples vcs near the end and just BROKENLY checking in on them and telling them the plans of BOLAS???!?!?! and literally giving them the coords to their base LMAO

-Baghera killing Phil, Phil waving her goodbye before DEAD

-FOREVER SAYING THE WORDS THE BLACK CUCURUCHO GAVE HIM???? Not sure if anything came of that yet, but OHHH BOYYY

-BAD AND TUBBO??? TEAM UP??? BAD WITH THE AXE AND TUBBO WITH THE SWORD?? HOLY SHIT WHAT A COMBO

-MISSA PLAYING THE KIRBY STAR ALLIES MENU MUSIC WHEN WE DIPPED INTO HIS POV??? THAT SCARED ME LMAO DID NOT EXPECT IT

-The post-event wind down where everyone is chatting and vibing and talking to one another, that was a vibe and was really chill as everyone played tetris and watched each other's streams, and complimented Tina's tetris skills

Honestly, I'm sure there was so many fun moments despite everything, my streamers had fun despite the frustrations and discouragement

I am ecstatic where they may change about things going forward! I trust Q and the Admins to listen to the feedback from people and see how they can shift things to balance it out. We'll see!

Until then! Back on the bus we go!

Remember to stay clear of the pvp! You don't want to find yourself in the way of an axe or a sword swing!

[dude1818]

Witch King

Last week I read Martha Wells's new fantasy book, Witch King. It was super good. A lot of the same authorial voice from The Murderbot Diaries came through: the main character is an unkillable but highly destructible fighter (which icks out everyone around him), is a snarky asshole to maintain emotional distance, but collects collateral humans to protect with his life. Plus there's weird gender stuff sometimes

I didn't expect the parallel story structure of this book. About two-thirds of the book take place in the present, following Kai and his best friend Ziede's quest to rescue their missing compatriots after they were all betrayed as part of a larger political scheme. The other third of the book takes place in the past and tells Kai's backstory, including the major war that led to the contemporary political climate and how Kai met Ziede and the others

The story arc in the present was very fun. Like I said, it had a similar vibe to the Murderbot books but with magic instead of robots, leading to a great action adventure story. There were at least three separate magic systems in play, plus a whole ton of wild worldbuilding details, and it felt like it could easily fill out a whole fantasy ttrpg source book. I'd play that system

The story arc in the past wasn't as much my thing. Like I've said in some recent reviews, I'm less a fan of time skip and downer stories, which is how it starts. Kai starts out a happy demon kid, and has to be broken by the genocidal war before he becomes the person in the present arc. At least you know that the past arc has to catch up to the present by the end, and it aligns in narrative tone relatively quickly, so after the first few chapters I warmed up to it

Overall the book was great. The amount of worldbuilding and fleshed out characters really makes me hopeful for a new series in this world

[telomeke-bbs]

OUR SKYY 2 x BAD BUDDY x A TALE OF THOUSAND STARS – INTO THE WOODS, AND WHO CAN TELL WHAT'S WAITING ON THE JOURNEY?

We're now at the halfway point of OS2xBBSxATOTS's four-episode arc, looking backward as much as forward. 😍

Because it's Khun Noppharnach in the director's seat, I think an uplifting ending for this little mini-series is a given (OS2 is ultimately a feelgood vehicle, after all). If he keeps to form he'll probably undercut it with something wistful and/or bittersweet at the end though (remembering how he closed off He's Coming to Me, Bad Buddy and Moonlight Chicken).

So with some reservation (caveat here: all predictions so far have been off the mark by varying degrees; you can never fully trust clues planted by Director Aof, as we all know) I think the following are likely:

There will be a play (I just don't know in what form); and

Tian will get Phupha down from Pha Pun Dao to meet his parents.

There are two tiny clips in the OS2 trailer that point to this.

The first, at timestamp 1.22, shows the red curtains opening and confirms in my mind that the play will have its premiere (unless this is from some OS2 eps that I didn't watch):

I'm not ruling out the possibility though that Tian will give in to Phupha and withdraw permission for Pran to use their story, because that would be a nice comment on how there should be limits around the way the BL industry packages and commodifies queer romances for public entertainment. But that might mean we get to see Korn in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, instead of a university version of ATOTS, and I'm not sure I'm ready for that! 😂

The episode slated for 7 June 2023 (I'm calling it Ep.3, though that may not be the official numbering) looks like it's going to be played around the "emotional growth in the wilderness" trope for both couples PatPran and PhuTian, with their struggles to find each other in the forest a metaphor for each couple's struggles to come together in agreement whenever conflict forces them apart, as they grow in their respective relationships.

PhuTian were arguing for most of Ep.2, and PatPran's mountain quest for signatures began in disagreement as well. So that's why they split up PatPran and PhuTian at the end of Ep.2 – it's going to be both a physical and figurative journey in Ep.3 to reunite these clashing personalities and move them to safer ground, both in Pha Pun Dao and within the context of their couplehoods. (And we the lucky viewers will get to see some of their relationship growth that wasn't in the original series. 😍)

Because of this, I'm convinced Phupha will relent and meet up with Tian's parents again. They're going to Bangkok for sure (or maybe Chiang Mai at least), since we see them in a clothing store (i.e., they're bound for an urban setting) at timestamp 0.27 of the trailer:

It looks like Tian and his mountain man have gone shopping for outfits to get prepped and presentable either for the stage premiere of their story at South Technology University, or for Phupha's meeting with Tian's parents as his official partner (or maybe both?). Though Phupha would have looked just as fine if they left him in his ranger uniform, in my opinion. 😍

As usual, nothing is confirmed so I'm not holding out too much hope that the above will actually materialize in said form. I'm also still sending out psychic entreaties to the universe for there to be a cameo from Director Aof and for Rang to appear. There's still time for these pleas to be heard! 😂💖

‌

[lostcauses-noregrets]

I know new AoT stuff wasn't going to be anything but still an artbook wasn't what I expected. I know it was never going to be about the Ackermans but I swear Isayama should do something about them one day because they are "weakest point" storytelling-wise in AoT. Kenny Levi and Mikasa are all my favorites but also they don't make sense and always feel like something Isayama only invented to explain how they are so OP in a more grounded story where ordinary people without Titan powers are just that, ordinary people. That ask you answered recently for example. They are just... It makes zero sense. Fandom, especially Eruri fans, did so much more justice to this side of AoT compared to Isayama. Because in no world it makes sense that they just discover 2 of their soldiers are literally super soldiers and there can be more out there when they are literally threatened by intelligent titans and a mostly unknown enemy. Don't get me wrong, I love that Yams kept it mysterious which gave the fans creative freedom when it comes to Ackerman stuff. Eruri fans are so creative with it. But he still acts like Ackermans exist in their own little world. No one reacts to them, no one is interested in them unless the story has to remind us they are special (again that ask you answered about ackermans being immune). You telling me Paradis, in desperation under the threat of outside world and their intelligent titans, didn't search for possibly more Ackermans? Erwin who loves things like that never questioned Levi or Mikasa? Hange, who is a science freak and loves titan science in the first place, begged Levi or Mikasa to give them their blood sample or anything? No one tried to weaponize them? Ackermans make no sense because it feels like their story is a side story, a side quest and completely seperated from the main storyline, not because they are a mystery. THEY MAKE NO SENSE ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY

I got this ask last weekend and we've had a lot more information about Shingeki FLY since then. We now know it's going to be a 200 page art book, a "top secret final draft", and "Attack on Titan Vol. 35 which contains the newly drawn manga Bad Boy". There's been a lot of speculation about who Bad Boy refers to with many fans holding out hope that the new manga or side story will be about Levi. (Though I did laugh at the person on twitter who said it might be about Armin and Annie.). So you never know Anon, you might get your Ackerman lore yet!

Much as I would love to know more about the Ackermans, I'm not sure I agree that they're the "weakest point" storytelling-wise". I think there are much more annoying plot weaknesses, particularly whatever the hell is going on with Historia! Personally I can live with the layers of ambiguity surrounding the Ackermans, particularly because they've proved such fertile ground for fic writers, as you rightly said.

The thing about the Ackermans is that, given the king's attempts to wipe them out, it's not clear whether anyone on Paradis knew anything about them. Erwin wanted Levi for the Survey Corps as soon as he saw his strength and skill, but when he recruited Levi, he had no idea he was Ackerman, or what that meant. Levi himself only discovered he was an Ackerman at the end of the Uprising Arc. We don't know from canon whether Levi revealed his lineage to Erwin, but I'm quite sure he did. He certainly doesn't seem to have been reticent about talking about his relationship with Kenny to Mikasa and Hanji in the cart, and with Nifa on the rooftop.

But even if Erwin did know by the end of the Uprising that the Ackermans were a clan of supers soldiers, as you put it, he didn't really have a chance to exploit that information; sadly he was killed barely a couple of months later. Hanji does appear to have some knowledge of the Ackermans later in the story, but again, by that stage they were all fighting for their lives so they weren't exactly in a position to go hunting for more Ackermans to support the Alliance.

Anyway, I can understand your frustration about the lack of information about the Ackermans, and I really would love to know more about them too. However, over the years, I've made my peace with the fact that they are likely to remain a mystery.

[lomappreciationblog]

A collection of dialogues you can get from Jumi in special circumstances, shall we say. This post turned out long, so I will focus on Rubens in this one!

This contains massive spoilers for the Jumi Arc in Legend of Mana as a whole - I highly encourage to only see this post if you've already completed the Jumi Arc!!!

I wrote this before my previous post, so sorry for repeating some points, but I think this post is clearer with those!

The special circumstances is...throughout the Jumi Arc, several characters die, these being Rubens, Esmeralda (my bby...) and Diana. However...if you go to the Underworld after their deaths, you can actually find them in separate rooms.

Which in itself is already a significant fact, because as Pokiehl explained in in Diddle's Had It!...the Underworld is not a place of rest, but a place for souls who "still cling to life." With that in mind, being able to find Rubens, Esmeralda and Diana in the Underworld meant that they are also souls clinging to life, and happily, their faith will be rewarded at the end of Teardrop Crystal.

Rubens and Esmeralda are able to perceive and talk to the protagonist, while Diana stays silent as a statue, but her core will respond if you talk to her. If you happened to bring along Pearl or Elazul, the dead Jumi can sense there is someone near, but they cannot see the living Jumi.

Pearl and Elazul can see them, however, and they have unique responses too, one of the reasons I love LOM so much - the devs actually took the time to put in unique responses for characters in certain scenarios that are often out of the players' way!

Rubens is the least spoiler-y since he dies in a very early Jumi quest, but Diana and Esmeralda especially are significant plot developments, and the best way to experience LOM' stories is to get in blind is what I believe, but here are the dialogues if you've missed them:

I feel like poor Rubens get the worst end of the stick for being killed so early, but as can be seen here, despite being killed, his death has only given him renewed determination. It's kind of heartbreaking, since in A Flame of Hope we only see Rubens as a broken man who can't care to live up to his title, and Sandra breaks him further (metaphorically and literally) when she accuses him of not caring any more for Diana when he couldn't bring himself to hurt a Sproutling for a possible cure.

But one of the themes of the Jumi Arc is that brutal violence is not a solution to an already ongoing cycle of tragedy and violence - for all we know Sandra was lying about the Popo Bug being a cure, so Rubens refusing to hurt the Sproutling wasn't a weakness, but rather an indication that he is still a noble, compassionate character, with the kindness the Jumi were known for. And though Rubens died to Sandra in the bleakest circumstances possible, he persisted in the Underworld and even believed that the Jumi will go on.

There's something poetic in that - Sandra stole his core, the Flame of Hope, because she deemed him worthless and only fit to fuel the Lord of Jewels, but stripped of his core, Rubens actually regained his hope. What I'm saying is Rubens deserved better and I wish the anime did him justice, though we at least saw a little more of him there.

If you brought Pearl along...you will find this extra conversation.

(I was gonna upload the individual screenshots but it's a lot, luckily I did have a video of it).

The first couple of things Rubens say didn't get included though, so here are screenshots:

There's something bittersweet in that Rubens recognizes the player characters and that he doesn't say any word of blame for us being unable to prevent his death, but does tell us to look after the other Jumi.

Also the fact that we actively can pass along Pearl's message of consolation...awwww.

Sadly I don't have records of Elazul's special responses, but I am replaying LOM HD with Shiloh as the protagonist this time, so when I find all Elazul responses I will collect them in their own post!

[rubberduckyrye]

Struggling to sleep but I've been seeing rumors that Dottore will be playable and get done kind of redemption arc like Childe and Wanderer.

Problem with that.

One: Childe never got a redemption arc. Hes just a very charming character who is a likeable antagonist. But also, as the 11th harbinger, hes still just a cog in the machine. Always has been.

Two: Wanderer's redemption is less about "redeeming" him and more about how this poor fucking guy couldn't catch a break and eventually he snapped, was manipulated and abused and tortured for centuries and is an allegory for abuse victims in general who acted out in horrible ways but are on the path to recovery after finding someone willing to let them have that safe space to do so. I see this less as a redemption arc because even as "Scaramouche", he HAD kind traits associated to him (like according to some lore he was kind to kids and elderly folk) so this story is about rehabilitation and recovery and less about redemption.

Three: While rehabilitation is overall the ideal for criminals rather than harsh punishment and imprisonment, when you have a character like Dottore--who, if Wanderer/Scaramouche is an allegory for an abuse victim in recovery--then Dottore is an allegory of an abuser. And not just any old abuser--a serial abuser. A selfish man who is arrogant and likes to hear himself talk who all lives in danger for his selfish aspiration for experimentation. A man who does not care for children or elderly people, only for himself... you can kind of see where I'm going with this. These are two very fundamentally different kinds of "bad"--Scaramouche was a bad person, yes, but he wasn't what I personally would consider to be "evil". Then you have Dottore who is evil, borderline a predator in behavior and in practice. I don't think he has any right or reason to be doing what he is doing.

As in. I havent seen a whole lot of redemption arcs for these kinds of characters done right. That's a big point of concern.

Another big point of concern is, I'm sure Dottore has his reasons for doing these things, it has yet to be revealed what those reasons are, aside from "Mad scientist wants to do horrible science" and for his own selfish gain.

His motivations don't line up for a redemption arc is what I'm getting at.

I really hope HYV doesn't. Try to redeem Dottore. Like I really hope they don't try. Just make him playable as he is people love a fucked up mad scientist you dont need to make every playable character the Traveler's friend PLEASE for the love of god.

And it's not that I dont have faith in the writing team to tell a good story (well... I dont exactly have full trust in them after the disaster that was the Sumeru Interlude Quest, but that's beside the point) but I have. Literally never seen a character who is a symbol of evil (i.e. the man has no redeeming qualities in personality, no apparent kindness or even willing to change his ways) redeemed in a good, tasteful, and thoughtful way. Like ironically I think the closest I've seen was... Teppei from Higurashi GOU/SOTSU. And that was incredibly muddied by the fact that Satoko herself became that kind of "evil" that wasn't truly redeemed by the end. Even that left a bad taste in my mouth.

So I just hope Dottore, if hes playable... idk. Don't try to redeem him, I don't think it's possible to redeem characters who symbolize the peak of humanity's "evil" so I don't want HYV to try. Like either keep him to be a terrible awful man or give us a fresh new Segment gone rogue who doesn't have anything like that attached to him.

It would be FAR more interesting of an allegory to me if they went for the latter route, actually. Kind of like, a family member of that "irredeemable evil" who now has that tied to them as a sin of the person they are related to but not themselves guilty of. It could be fun to see how HYV would treat such a character, and if done right, it could be a really fun way to explore how people (especially victims) often associate family members of abusers to the abuse they carried out but actually had no part of.

Anyway that's my 3AM rant of the day. I have Insomnia. Can you tell?

[astralartefact]

Placeholder Name for Atarase's Media Diary

Extra Entry 00a - Final Fantasy 14 Endwalker 6.X Patch Series

Synopsis

The Gang Solves a Demon Crusade

The Gang Learns of the Messiest Divorce in the Multiverse

The Gang Ruins their Academic Reputation by Absolutely Botching the Only Interview Humanity Will Ever Have With Their Gods (Gone Wrong) (Gone Blasphemous)

The Gang Does Side Quests at the Other End of the Universe

i wrote this ages ago before dawntrail came out and forgot to post it but i still agree with what i wrote so have fun experiencing some hindsight <3

How much did I know before playing?

I'm playing this game since the end of Heavensward.

Did I like it more than I expected?

As seemingly one of 5 people with healthy expectations in this community I actually did.

Except for---

Since I liked it, here's what I hated about it

Eulogia. Fuck Eulogia. Way to ruin, like, everything.

Who wrote this. I just have some questions. I want to know if you ever once thought, like at all. For your own sake, dear writer responsible for this shlock, I hope YoshiP never reveals your name to the public for you already have a spiritual nemesis that will badmouth you to his absolutely non-sizeable internet audience.

Also, I guess searching for a Pictomancer glam in preparation for Dawntrail also has made me once again aware that the designs for magic armor in this game suck ass, you know I enjoy the subdued but still magical vibe of the art design but to be quite honest I thoroughly dislike most of the armor aesthetic. How are you guys, especially male characters, maining magic jobs with only like 3 glams that aren't long, ugly and/or feminine robes, I knew it was a meme but it's really that bad.

The worst part really is that there's several dozen good outfits where you can literally see the line where the top should have ended - only for them to still extend the cape all the way to the ground for no good reason making the entire piece look like shit. pls yoshi p just loosen the glam restrictions so you just have to have the class unlocked at that level to glam it onto every other class q_q that would take a minimal amount of effort and it would solve world hunger i swear it would q_q

What did this game make me think about?

The place of Redemption, Accountability and Forgiveness in our current age and its relation to our relationship to Religion.

And just so you're aware it's not the fucking God Exodus Story Line that made me think about any of that, no, that shitty story line has not thought a singular second about any of those points.

Specific Impressions that will stick with me

As much as I hate the story of Myths of the Realm the presentation slaps as always, the raids are gorgeous and Soken does what Soken do. (I'm value neutral on the Raid's difficulty or whatever the community decides to care about these days)

The Left Ending of Sil'dih with the tea table surrounded by flowers (i think it's the left one?) that place is so fckin pretty q_q and i love nanamooo

Outstanding Audio

Basically all of Myths of the Realm except for the Final Boss theme which I hate on principle because Fuck Eulogia

hurts bc dawn of a new era is was my favorite ff14 theme q_q

Troian Beauty in D Minor i don't think it's d minor

Favorite Character

KRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIILE does she count she's barely in it

Nophica with a Gun (the Nophica that wasn't ruined by Myths of a Realm)

Paper Menphina

My Hrothgar Barbariccia OC I wrote to be my wol's shard of the void

And I did like Zero!

Favorite Arc/Story Line

I liked the Void Arc, I know People are big mad about it but I think it's fine! I only think it should have been optional, basically exactly like Stormblood's Four Lords, a Trial Series with a few Dungeons in between - then it wouldn't have had the burden of leading right into Dawntrail (a contrast so stark they couldn't even have tried to smoothen the transition) and people wouldn't have expected Zero to stay immediately relevant too.

Also some of the minor-ish quest lines were cute :)

Favorite Set Piece

I love Lymllaen's arena, it's kind of simple but so effective.

The final trash mobs in Thaleia :)))

Really cool Area with interesting mob design :)))))

A glimpse of what could have been :)))))))))) HOW IS THE FINAL TRASH MOB AREA PRETTIER THAN THE FINAL BOSS ROOM

Favorite Scene

Zero giving Golbez the chance to repent.

Best Performance (I played with JP voices)

AEGISU OBU HARUONE!!!!!!!!!

every single one of the gods was great, but not all of them, if you catch my drift (get it, fuck eulogia)

German Localization Notes

If you know me you know that I think the German FFXIV Localization is better than the English one and it still is and it will continue to be. I gladly pass on meme-y item descriptions if it means that I can expect the translation to not just write whatever it feels like at any given moment. (also, as I have expressed before I can't stand english olden speech writing, thank god the german tl doesn't do all that)

--- ENTERING THE PRETENTIOUS SECTION OF THIS ENTRY ---

What about this game gives me Hope for the future of gaming?

I have nothing really to say, I'm just so excited for Pictomancer you guys, every time I think about it I'm flushed with immense joy. I didn't think they would do it, but it's real. It's actually happening.

I guess what gives me Hope about that is that Yoshi P didn't get too lost in FF16's Fantasy Realism, because drab fantasy aesthetics is truly the worst outcome of lore culture.

What about this game makes me scared for the future of gaming?

You see, there is this thing that has happened since the common consciousness has deemed that Shadowbringers is indeed that good and it's that people kind of immediately turned around to say, that actually, FF14 - WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE BAD BAD STORMBLOOD WHICH IS BAD!!!! - has always been good.

After all Heavensward had that one quest line we all liked, remember, and the one dude died and we all really cared about him, right right right???

And while you are allowed to picture me dismissively pointing at your copy of Heavensward while I'm saying this I don't actually have that big of a take over Heavensward, mainly because I'm not particularly interested in reexamining it since I'm still not over how wildly that writer fumbled FF16's entire narrative point for 'emotional storytelling' or whatever that ending was about, the only thing I will say is that People always bring up the death as this big meaningful thing that's so impactful and how dare you not care about it as if Heavensward hasn't had two other pretty essential characters die for absolutely no good reason apart from conveniently getting rid of a character that would be a hassle to keep up with or setting up character development for another.

Anyways, the problem I actually have was that middle bit, the text in bold where people feel this insistent need to point out that they do indeed know that Stormblood's story is "bad."

But we all know that. It's one of those opinions everyone already shares with each other, because it's pretty obvious. Literally everyone, even and especially the ones who still like it, know that the story leaves at least a little bit to be desired - because different from what certain people online try to make you believe most people are indeed critical of the things they like. A lot of people just don't feel like loudly critizising every little thing they have a problem with, especially when overall they're still enjoying themselves. Some people call it being fun at a party. And if you're constantly nagging, you're not fun at a party - it's not a safe space full of snowflakes, you're just a complainer and that's why nobody wants to talk to you.

It's not that insightful to see that Stormblood didn't quite do it. If you were alone with him in a room even Yoshi-P would admit that Stormblood 'wasn't optimal' or whatever he would say, he's not that stupid, he's just professional enough not to throw his writers under the bus just to bad mouth his own product. And yet there's this certain subset of people that really really needs you to know that the expansion where they cried because that one guy they shipped their oc with died is really really good and yet the other one that's split in half for no reason is really really bad - as if it's something that's needed to be said. As if it's Insightful Commentary we all needed to hear.

I will make this sound more dramatic than I think it really is, but I think the critical reception of Shadowbringers has emboldened the FFXIV community to take their personal (emotional) reaction to a piece of media as proof that a thing is good. I think some link between "I liked it" and "It is good" has been strengthened in some people's minds and some of those people have started to use that for bad by using it as a weapon upgrade in the usual endless complaining about things everyone agrees is bad.

Basically, This thing is Bad has become This thing is Bad, unlike the thing which is clearly Good because I liked it (and look, everyone agrees with me)

Except of course you can like bad things. The Game Awards nominated FF16 for Best Narrative.

And that just makes for repeated situations where people will say shit like "but it's so good because it's bittersweet" about Myths of the Realm - which, great, happy you had an emotional response to all of that - but that's also kind of the bare minimum you should achieve when you decide to kill off characters that are so important to the setting you choose a diety for your character before you choose a name. The Twelve Leaving being sad is Basic Empathy, to me that's not some kind of writing success.

Sadly whoever mangled this sad excuse for a storyline also decided to make sure the exodus of the Twelve somehow left less impact on the game world than fucking YoRHa:Dark Apocalypse and there you people keep complaining about it despite it being a cross-over storyline where something like that shouldn't be expected.

What I want to make clear by pointing this out is that the problem with that isn't that people like something that's bad actually - you can like Myths of the Realm, it's fine - and it's not even something more profound sounding like 'people become "too attached" to a piece of media to the point of being personally insulted when it's critizised.'

Because to that point I say a) of course people feel weird when a thing they like is being bad mouthed that's just a normal human reaction (you know, one of the things art is about, you generally create something to be reacted to) and I don't like how that continually crops up as a rebuttal to people becoming "defensive" over "something meaningless" (nice way to refer to art btw) as if growing attached to a piece of art is something to be ashamed of - and also b): people on the internet overstate the value and necessity of public critique. (not saying it's not important but some people seem to think only their critique alone is the sole way a creator can grow which... i regret to inform you that unsolicited advice is rarely as helpful as you would like it to be, even if it is "correct".)

I think the problem is that these 'criticisms' don't come out of a genuine "empathy" for the thing they like - unlike some people seem to have convinced themselves - because if that was the case maybe we would actually get not necessarily a productive discussion - none of us is working on this game after all (and honestly it's okay to stop pretending that somebody who does listens) - but it would be a more interesting one for sure. I can't tell you what to like (as much as I would love to), but I can encourage you to have more meaningful introspections into what you love than to blindly accept those tired talking points everyone is repeating at nauseam.

And with more meaningful I don't actually mean 'deep' it just means being honest to yourself and your feelings, even and especially if it is something completely mundane.

Because I think a lot of this is the opposite - this is people parroting common points about the thing that is popular to be part of the in-group with as little personal stake as possible - and by punching down on the out-group you can strengthen your place in the crowd, your social capital. It's bullying masquerading as 'valid criticisms', or maybe even Nerd Populism. if only we had an alliance raid series about that.

The Ramble Section where I get to actually talk about what I thought about

I would love nothing more than to 'valid criticism' all over Myths of the Realm - but that would take 15 pages of a Google Doc and I think down here is really not the place.

It's just sad to see the Twelve, Aglaia, Euphrosyne and 3/4ths of Thaleia be absolutely wasted for a shitty resolution that spits in the face not only of our beloved made-up history facts known as Lore but also the entire premise of ARR to Stormblood. But hey, at least it's bittersweet am i right

Anyways, let's Ramble about Ancient Greek Pronounciation.

I haven't had Ancient Greek in School (I could have, but Latin was already old and boring enough for me, thanks) so I had to scrape together how to pronounce Euphrosyne just so I can be annoying about it and as much as I want to say Oi-pro-sü-neh (I think English Speakers don't have the german ü sound, it's basically the same as in the french word rue) because it's much easier to pronounce, Ancient Greek makes a difference between Eu and Oi and I fail to understand how the Eu sounds no matter how many times I listen to it.

By which I mean, you can pretend it's You-froze-a-knee as much as you want, it's wrong and you sound foolish.

[avemstella]

so that archon quest, huh. Would be absolutely thrilled to hear what u have to say about fontaine act V :] i love all your takes on furina & neuvillette & fontaine as a whole, and of course childe [pretty much an honorary fontanian with how he unintentionally got wrapped up in everything whoops]

Oh boy, I have so many thoughts. To start with some non-spoilerly stuff: I loved it so much. I'm not sure if I'll say it's my favorite Archon Quest yet (I think I would have to go through some of the older ones), but I think it's safe to say Fontaine overall as an arc is my favorite. Even its weakest part (the prison stuff, tbh it was a pacing issue) was still really solid and the ending, while not perfect, really landed. Genshin continued the trend from Sumeru of having the playable characters really take the stage and god there were some great standouts (Navia/Neuvi/Furina to name my favs, but I also loved my fatui and there really isn't anyone I've disliked). And well, the quest (and Furina's chara quest) made me cry like a baby, so that's a win.

Tbh, I think my biggest issue, wasn't even really an issue with the story but just a case of I had a very clear idea of what I wanted out of it (the woes of writing speculative fic pfft) and when it wasn't that I'm like "awww darn". Thats on me, and I genuinely really loved what we got, but it do be like that sometimes haha.

Spoilers below, oh boy (also my Furina fic spoilers too lol).

Eldritch abomination Furina I'll mourn u forever. I can't complain because Furina splitting herself in two to go fuck u to the heavens is such a boss ass move I can't haha. Okay, but I will say, even if I'm probably the only one, I do wish they brought some Remuria stuff up in the main quest. They had the perfect set up with Ajax being there with his Greek myth references and just ahhhh, one can hope they do something with it later. But yes, just know it's my silly headcanon that Focalors just lied about being an Oceanid to Neuvi and is one of King Remus's fucked up Primordial Sea experiments that maybe caused the Abyss rift at the fall of Remuria.

But yes, Furina, Furina, I'm crying. She really destroyed the girl failure accusations in the most glorious way possible. She literally didn't fail once (either of her), she plotted out a plan to trick the heavens, give back what was stolen, and save her people and she did it perfectly. As you're probably well aware, I'm a big fuck u Celestia gal, so it was just so satisfying to see her just obliterate the throne (even when I was crying haha). And honestly, super relevant to the state of the real world, but her giving back sovereignty to Neuvi in my mind is a very clear decolonization metaphor. Ages past descenders came to Teyvat, killed the dragons and created their own order, and now Focalors is returning that power back to said dragon (or well, the dragon's heir, it's a bit vague if Neuvi's literally the old dragon's soul reincarnated or just the body).

The entire scene between Neuvi and Focalors was great, though I will admit I have one issue with it (and even then I go back and forth on it haha). Neuvi in that scene doesn't have a big attachment to Focalors. What I mean is that ultimately Neuvi only ever knew Furina (which side note I'll get into this next, but I do view them as the same person, but still), and with Focalors' 'death' he's not technically losing anything, the person he's sad over will still be there. Like don't get me wrong, he's very empathetic and can be sad over this person who is dying for them, but I feel like it could have been even more heartbreaking if he had met Furina/Focalors before the split, or he had interacted with Focalors somehow in the past, and so in this moment he wasn't just watching Furina's sacrifice, but the sacrifice of someone he shares memories with. But that's me being picky haha and not really a critique on the writing.

But yes, Furina! Focalors! As I previewed before, I'm going to come out swinging with a possibly hot take. They are, and always were the same person. Yes, Focalors is the divinity, but as we see after Furina is allowed to rest her persona, Furina is also super mature and knowledgeable. In Neuvi's flashback quotes of Furina, it's her softly giving important advice about living with humanity, which is what Focalors was all about. And much like Furina, Focalors loves preforming, she loves humans, she gets all excited about Furina and her future, and is sad she won't get to experience it.

Not to remotely downplay Furina's suffering (because holy shit my poor girl), but Focalors too played her role. Unlike Furina who had Neuvillette and all her friends post this, Focalors was all alone in the Oratrice, waiting for the day she had to kill herself. Furina, has the promise of a future, despite all the suffering she endured to get there. She gets the reward of a happy life as a human surrounded by people who love her, and while it was touch a go for a bit, she was told one day her play would end. In contrast, while Focalors didn't have the same anxiety that Furina had, Focalors knew from the beginning she would never get to see her people saved. Technically she, like Furina, didn't even know if it would even happen. She put her faith in Neuvillette to follow through, and while she had the utmost faith in him, she could never know for certain. But much like her mirror Furina, Focalors weighed her suffering over the people of Fontaine's, and never once faltered. Furina was willing to possibly kill herself via primordial seawater in order to keep up her ruse, whose to say Focalors wasn't the same. Smiling at Neuvillette until the last moment because she couldn't risk him interfering, hiding away her anxieties and sorrow, so he wouldn't look so sad. Furina's performance ended, Focalors' never will.

Focalors was so certain she couldn't be human, but as we see from the Oceanids it was totally possible. And even more vitally, we see from the other Archons it's possible. They might fumble around a bit (some more than others, looking at u Ei), but they are learning and immersing themselves with their people. While not an Archon, it's the same with Neuvillette. Focalors should have had the same opportunities as Furina and the rest (mostly because she is Furina), but the world isn't kind, and that's why her sacrifice hurts.

If u can't tell I have a lot of feelings about Focalors/Furina and while I can appreciate a joke about Focalors giving Furina anxiety, I'm also like, they are literally the same person working together, she deserves the world (all of her).

But yes, I can go on and on about Furina, but for now I'll move onto our boy Childe. To get it out of the way, a little disappointed that we really got no answers about him. Poor guy didn't really have any lines. Also, not big on Skirk's design, mostly the outfit. Putting her next to Dain and uh, yeah (like don't get me wrong don't mind the color scheme and all, but could she not have gotten some kind of armor. Or look more like Foul Legacy or something idk).

But onto more happier notes, I'm so happy to see Childe finally getting to do well in a fight. I know it's a meme for him to get beaten up, but my dude is the Vanguard, let him win sometimes (he doesn't technically win here, but he was fighting an eldritch whale monster for ages and helped save Fontaine, I'm giving it to him). And Skirk, while her design is mostly less to be desired, I'm winning on guessing her hair and eye color haha. Also, while I'll always love my version, I'm liking her personality so far. Her yeeting Childe, while I admit took me out a bit (I thought she threw him farther into the Abyss and was like, "uh guys, yall worried about my poor boy here???" and then was a bit baffled at them saying he was fine) was so fucking funny. It's cool to learn "Foul Legacy" refers to a literal person, and I found the fact that Skirk's relationship with Foul is basically the same as her relationship with Childe very amusing. And it seems she's Khaenri'ahn, maybe? Also, I thought she was listing off her master's other names at first, so when she said Gold I got super hyped that I guessed correctly about the narwhal being Rhine's in my fic, but then they were like nope pfft. I'll take it as a win.

Sidenote, Alice and Rhine where are yoooouuuuuu.

Ultimately, while I enjoyed the Childe and Skirk stuff, it really just feels like a set-up for later stuff. Which isn't really a problem, but I was hoping we'd get something a bit more concrete. Like, I thought we were going to get answers about the "it" that Skirk saw in him, and it would have to do with the Narwhal, but now it seems those were mostly unrelated??? While I did find baby Ajax accidentally waking up a big world eating monster up kind of hilarious, it did feel a little incidental, if that makes any sense. Like, Fontaine's doom was an accident and not the result of anyone's choices. But that might just be a me thing. (and the quest needed more Arle, where was she??? my not really based on anything theory is that whenever we get Furina (or maybe Nevui's) 2nd character quest, Arle will be the boss fight. A reverse of the normal final Harb boss fight during the Archon quest)

Okay, because I really don't want to end on a downer (as I said uptop, I genuinely adored this quest haha), here are some minor spoilers from the Narzissenkreuz Ordo quest that have me by a chokehold.

I wasn't ready for a sudden Ajax. What does this mean??????

And this one just makes me laugh. Whichever Ordo member wrote this, I vehemently disagree with u and am on Khaenri'ah's side with this one. I'd much rather have bread then some higher power nonsense. In my fic I tend to write Khaenri'ah more akin to a modern nation than a fantasy one, and its nice to see me vindicated pfft.

Other random notes, enjoyed that the Fatui weren't just cartoonishly evil in both the main and world quests. I like some nuance. I saw that Sandrone hint, that was fun. Though it makes me wonder when we'll get Columbina lore (especially because if the theory about Harbinger boss fight order based on the Constellation circle is true, she should be showing up soon. Though also I half think that order will break because if it doesn't, it means Sandrone will probably be the final Harb boss which is an odd choice.) As revealed on Furina's weapon, Egeria being around during Remuria raises so many questions around the timeline of events. Genshin pls tell me when the Archon war takes place in all this pls (if they tell us in some lore I haven't read yet, whoops). (also on egeria, I mourn my version but hey, she exists in my heart and in my fics pfft. I can't wait to write her in smfwtwd and venti fic, though she's getting a new name for confusion and better symbolsism)

the contrast between Neuvi and Furina after the quest is so funny and sad. Neuvi "Furina is the best, I want her to be happy". Furina, "Everyone hates me, Neuvillette most of all, I can never face him again." And the other Archons, they are all like Furina, wow u are so cool (which just highlights Neuvi's utter disdain for them other than Nahida haha).

And most vitally, Furina and Venti should be best friends. Musically inclined performers who definitely aren't plotting to overthrow the heavens. I think they are neat (they also both have Latin names!).