#this game has some of the character intros of all time tbh

[heraldofsomething]

Ghost of Tsushima (PC) Prologue - Yuna's Introduction

You climb roofs, scavenge battlefields... You're a thief. When I need something, I take it.

[chesie-blog2]

TGG analysis Part 1

Hi, this is part one of my analysis of the great game. In this post i’ll be highlighting moments which display Sherlock’s growing fascination with Moriarty and Moriarty’s undeniable obsession with Sherlock. I aim to (at some point) explain their dynamic beyond the romantic undertones already present in a lot of their lines. This is only an intro into my big theory - the analysis of pool scene.

*low k might be my fav ep

Sherlock’s obsession with Moriarty

Moriarty’s obsession with Sherlock

these may or may not be just shameless (intellectual) flirting

Here is what i wrote down while watching, might be a little sparse, but the important bits are all there. Also disclaimer: my formatting skills suck and i’ll be editing the post a lot post posting (now that’s a trippy sentence), because i can’t sleep at night knowing i don’t make any sense 💀

p.s. - every quote that's numbered is also provided at the end of the post (Moriarty's words said by the victims), they’re important as i think it’s Moriarty’s way of avoiding vulnerability.

There’s an explosion at Baker street. Sherlock is unharmed but gets a package. A pink phone replica. 5 pips = 5 bombs = five tests. On said phone a picture of 221C that Moriarty knew Sherlock’s seen before. in there Carl Powers’ shoes.

Sherlock gets a call (1): “Hello, sexy. I’ve sent you a little puzzle just to say hi.” Sherlock: “the curtain rises. i’ve been expecting this for some time”. He’s excited, and he’s been waiting for Moriarty to act ever since A Study In Pink. 

In the lab, right before Jim comes in. “Why is Mycroft trying to bore me, when someone else is being so delightfully interesting” ((ok not to be biased but that is literally sherlockese for “i have a crush on a boy 🤭” ))

Jim walks in, Sherlock looks at him(reads him in a fraction of a second). Jim looks Sherlock up and down. No but literally how did no one notice his weird fan behaviour around Sherlock?? Molly was invisible to him and he was speaking to John while staring at Sherlock.

(Also can i just mention how Sherlock says “tinted eyelashes” when proving why he thinks Jim is gay and the picture is of his eyebrows) 

Carl Powers, “it’s where i began” Sherlock’s first case - Moriarty’s first crime it's pink this time cuz this is so gay at the age of 14 (20 years ago). Tbh we don’t know if it’s Moriarty’s first crime but i just find it romantic to think so. Of course he could’ve committed that one just to get Sherlock’s attention OR his obsession with Sherlock started after that, because maybe Sherlock's involvement in that case led him to believe that they were “meant to be” rivals. Perfect opposites (i mean they’re like 80% similar but sure dude). Basically he felt personally seen by someone who had the incentive to dig deeper, beyond the standard practices of police work, someone who believes that there is more to see.

Sherlock solves the case, blogs about his findings, communicating with moriarty and making him stop the clock 3:“well done you, come and get me”. When alone Sherlock says to himself: “Elegant”.  “No, i can’t be the only person in the world that gets bored.” As one wise person has said: any emotion that is experienced by a character in private is real. (SHOUTOUT TO @asherlockstudy) This of course applies to truths as well, and here Sherlock is being as honest as possible. This line proves how much Sherlock truly needs Moriarty, someone who understands that inexplicable pain of being bored. Just by knowing that someone like that exists, Sherlock feels understood, freed from the loneliness of being estranged, from the discomfort of being a “freak”. This game is the highest form of entertainment, something that allows him to be himself and to be valued for it. But more on that in the pool scene.

Another puzzle, 8 hours. (5): “We were made for eachother Sherlock”*Sherlock smiles* and softly says “Then talk to me in your own voice”bro is cheezing after the call bro…

“Our friendly bomber. I am on fire!”(he’s having fun ☺️) 

(6):“you can come and fetch me” Sherlock is smiling like crazy again.

John: “It’s all meant for you”. Sherlock: “Yes, i know 😏” !!!!! (video 1 below for the face expressions) (btw I was literally just filming my laptop so sorry for the shit quality, I just want to have proof for my yapp :DD)

Like how special one must feel to have someone be willing to kill tens or even hundreds of people just to entertain you? It’s not even about the lives to be honest, just the fact that someone is creating these personalised little puzzles. Like, isn’t that hot? This is also one of the MANY moments when John expresses his disapproval for Sherlock’s involvement in this game, mostly the giddiness about it. This will be important later on (i’m edging y’all so hard with this hinting :Ddd but i’m writing this after everything else so oops).

Sherlock is kinda defends(?) Moriarty, when Lestrade asks why is the bomber doing this. Sherlock answers *shrug* “good samaritan”, Greg is all like ‘he’s a bomber, hello?’ Sherlock: “bad samaritan 🤟😗” (Idk what's with the emojis but I just wanted to show how relaxed and goofy he was about it all). Basically, Sherlock interprets Moriarty’s “game” as a personal service, despite it being morally questionable.(ok but bro can’t stay serious, like he’s smiling all the time “[we’re dealing with] something new 😁” )

Ok now that i’m going over everything for the millionth time i noticed that this moment here was one of the worst attempts of hiding his “intellectual crush”. Sherlock isn’t big for conventional morality, and i’ll touch on that later, but this was so unserious it almost seemed like he became more comfortable in himself. He began to see that saying out of pocket or perhaps cynical stuff like that is fine, however much of a crime against “preserving the social peace of normies” it seems to be. I made that shit up, hopefully y’all get what this means :D Having someone like Moriarty allowed him to question his own role in society and how he, despite often being against succumbing to what's normal(and boring), conforms to it, to society, which further strengthens his feelings of estrangement. We're getting kafkaesque in here, boys! (sorry)

“Novel” Sherlock realised Moriarty is a consultant criminal(he organises crimes but no one has direct contact to him). When John asks (again) why Moriarty’s doing this, Sherlock can’t help but smile. “i think he wants to be distracted” *says in a breathy tone(intrigued/touched)* (WAIT I didn't know I could only put 1 video omg I literally feel 80 years old, how does Tumblr work!? *crying*) So Sherlock was staring into space, his face lit up upon realizing that him and Jim are the same, that they experience the same things and blah blah blah he looks horny in this scene I legit don't know what to even say bruh. (I'm mad that I couldn't put the video in lmaoo)

No but fr John noticed Sherlock has an intellectual crush on Moriarty and was annoyed at how entertained (and fulfilled) Sherlock was by this morally grey game.

The golem was hired to kill the astronomer guy and his friend professor because they would’ve been able to expose that the painting was a fake based on the stars. Sherlock figures it all out: “Oh that is brilliant, that is gorgeous. this is beautiful. Love this!”. The gallery woman admits to the fraud. Sherlock learns that this is in fact Moriarty behind this. *smiles*. 

our baby boy solved everything and now is curled up, watching shit telly :( 

Sherlock was waiting for John to leave to write to (more like at) Moriarty *smiles*. He lied to John about having given the missile plans to Mycroft. Sherlock actively wants to keep John out of this, because of his disapproval, John finds Sherlock’s fascination with Moriarty repulsive. 

So to summarize the absolute randomness I spew out in this thing: the connection between Sherlock and Moriarty is quite vague, but ultimately based on their eccentricity(and in this case it doesn't really matter if(more like "how") it's romantic). I'll talk about it all in the big post I PROMISE, this is just the intro so you can follow my impossible thought process. Another important thing: John as the symbol of conventionality and morality. That's it, I'll post again in like a month because the feeling of responsibility paralyzes me LMAO. ok bye ;)

+

Moriarty’s words said by the victims:

“hello, sexy. i’ve sent you a little puzzle just to say hi.”

“12 hours to solve the puzzle, sherlock, or i’m going to be so naughty”

“well done you, come and get me.”

“clever you, guessing about carl powers. i never liked him. carl laughed at me, so i stopped him laughing. This is about you and me.”

“the clue is in the name “janus cars”[s:why’d you be giving me a clue] why does anyone do anything? because i’m bored. we were made for eachother sherlock”

“you can come and fetch me” 

“i like to watch you dance” 

“you’re enjoying this, aren’t you? joining the dots.”

“nice touch this, the pool, where little carl died. i stopped him. i can stop john watson too, stop his heart”

[feyrescourt]

This is a long and rambly discussion post for elriel nation btw so strap in

I want to preface this by kindly asking the elriel hive to not use any tags of #those ships if reblogged. I want to keep this in the elriel echo chamber. Please and thank u!

A huge part of fandom culture is to ship canonically compliant characters and crack ships. Everyone’s got them, and it’s totally normal, and it’s usually fun to engage with.

The majority of the time I have no issue with this (I am a wolfstar shipper and even though there is canonical evidence of them in the original HP books, they’re widely accepted online and balked at IRL usually due to homophobia and #that nasty, nasty woman’s bigotry), but over the last few years a certain group of crack shippers have taken it upon themselves to fly a little too close to the sun, and want to make it our (elriels) problem. I am talking about the Glees.

It’s late and this just popped into my head so I want to rant about it.

My friend who got me into ACOTAR gave me a breakdown of the ships (bc I read ToG first and went in blind. I became a doraelin shipper very early on and remained one halfway through QoS, it was a whole thing when I realized they were not end game lol), bc I asked her to after my ToG experience. She told me all the characters names and then told me about feysand and nessian endgames but didn’t mention az or elain’s situation. I asked her about it and she told me that she didn’t want to mention much about Az because “by the end of the series azriel has two options for how his story could go, elain or another way”. She shared some anti elain sentiment with me because she’s “boring and doesn’t do anything”. That went in one ear and out the other with me tbh.

When I started acowar, and feyre returned to the night court, I saw how elain and azriel were interacting and I concluded that mor was the second LI of az bc of acomaf. I was not apart of the fandom online at this point, so I was genuinely in the dark about everything around these two. I was just reading and talking to my friend about what I read. I also want to add that I still liked L*cien at this point in the series (it changed in acofas, I became apathetic towards him rather quickly when I finished reading that whiny ass convo with feyre…..I don’t play when it comes to her) but wasn’t sold on eluce because they had like one interaction and it wasn’t a great intro to a ship.

However this first meeting in acomaf….. :)

‘Can you truly fly?’ He set down his fork, blinking. I might have even called him self-conscious. He said, ‘Yes. Cassian and I hail from a race of faeries called Illyrians. We’re born hearing the song of the wind.’ ‘That’s very beautiful,’

“Rhys chuckled, Cassian’s wrath slipping enough that he grinned, and Elain, noticing Azriel’s ease as proof that things weren’t indeed about to go badly, offered one of her own as well.”

Well imagine my surprise when I finished acowar and it turns out mor (the person az has crushed on for 500 years) comes out to feyre before the book ends and she explains that she can never love az the way he loves her. After three books, and everything that happens in acowar it was clear to me that elain and azriel were being set up as each others love interests, despite the mating bond with l*cien.

After Acofas I was officially on the elriel train. I mean…

“Azriel strode to the lone window at the end of the room and peered into the garden below.”

“Azriel emerged from the sitting room, a glass of wine in hand and wings tucked back to reveal his fine, yet simple black jacket and pants. I felt, more than saw, my sister go still as he approached. Her throat bobbed.”

“But Azriel only took Elain’s heavy dish of potatoes from her hands, his voice soft as night as he said, ‘Sit. I’ll take care of it.’ Elain’s hands remained in midair, as if the ghost of the dish remained between them. With a blink, she lowered them, and noticed her apron. ‘I—I’ll be right back,’ she murmured, and hurried down the hall before I could explain that no one cared if she showed up to dinner covered in flour and that she should just sit.”

“Elain swept in, apron gone and hair rebraided. ‘Please don’t wait on my account,’ she said, taking the seat at the head of the table.”

“He [Azriel] was the portrait of relaxed, an arm braced against the carved mantel, his wings tucked in loosely, a faint grin on his face and a glass of wine in his hand. He slid his hazel eyes toward my sister without him moving an inch.”

“Azriel and Elain remained in the sitting room, my sister showing him the plans she’d sketched to expand the garden in the back of the town house, using the seeds and tools my family had given her tonight. Whether he cared about such things, I had no idea.”

(Damn the more I read elriel’s acofas moments the more I can’t help but conclude that they just hate/don’t understand introverts 😭)

Before I started SF, I decided to look at the online fandom and bitch……my jaw hit the floor with all the elain/elriel hate I saw on TT. And everyone was talking about a newer character in SF, and I was seeing the glee fan art and was like oh shit ok maybe elriel isn’t endgame.

Fast forward to SF……

‘What happened to Elain?’

“Nesta saw the blow land, like a physical impact, in Elain’s face, her posture. No one spoke, though shadows gathered in the corners of the room, like snakes preparing to strike. Elain’s eyes brightened with pain.”

……and I’m thinking ok, az obviously likes her. Then comes az’s BC. When I finished the elriel portion of the BC I was actually crying bc I was like oh fuck I really love these two….I knew it was over for me, and I was freaked out bc I thought I was going to get got with this “new ship” involving az. Plus I was thinking about elain being left alone in the dark without any explanation and feeling like an idiot for finally showing her true feelings towards him😭. It was like 3AM when I read it so I was hyper emotional lol. But then I read the rest of the BC and was still confused because I didn’t see any romantic subtext with g/wyn. I read it and saw a hurt male who couldn’t stand what he had done to elain the night before, was pissed at his brother for stopping it and making him feel bad when he was finally willing to voice what he’s been feeling for the past year or so and hating that he was shut down because we know he never voices his emotions, and couldn’t bear keeping a gift he picked out specifically for her. A necklace…..for solstice……Then I finished SF as a whole, and still, was confused as to why glee is a ship. Nearly all of their conversations were centered around training, and Sarah didn’t use any descriptors in their encounters that elude to any romance or mutual interest. (Btw I have a whole take on rhys’ part in that BC and I think a lot of ppl are dense and don’t understand what he was going through in that book but I can save that for another time)

Cassian and Feyre have more chemistry than those too lol.

I then talked to my friend about the these ships (elriel, eluce, and glee) ((i didn’t talk about eluce much in this post but that’s a lifeless ship too. I mean…..she can’t stand that red head anyway soooo)), and I said “I’m an elriel through and through. Idc that eluce are claimed to be mates you can tell she does not like him. also glee makes no sense to me.” Not verbatim but you get the point. My friend is very sensible so by the end of our convo, she told me that she’ll accept whatever way Sarah goes and that she’ll give elain a chance when her book comes out.

But isn’t that what all of this shit is about in the end: unjustified dislike/distain/hate for elain? That’s certainly how is appears to me. You cannot look me in the eyes and tell me that you love elain if you ship her with a male whom she has expressed, on multiple occasions, zero interest in AND becomes a shell of herself when he’s around because she just doesn’t want to interact with him. (I want to reiterate that I don’t hate L, I don’t think he’s awful or anything. elain just doesn’t want to know him. And that’s her right.) The glees don’t like her bc she doesn’t fit their stereotype for what they want in an FMC and therefore, for azriel. Which is why they have been chirping that the next book will be azriel’s. Not elain’s….WHAT??? You sound fucking crazy. The eluces (even though they claim they like her) dislike her so much that they go on and on about how she needs to grovel and apologize to the male they like because HE deserves to be happy……the same male who she associates with one of the most traumatic days of her life. Who also has not apologized to her for the part he played in that day, but I digress.

I say all that to point out that Glee specifically is in the crack ship category. No canonical evidence in the text can be used to claim they are ‘mates’ or endgame or anything more than acquaintances. And that’s fine, but don’t act as though they’re to be taken seriously as a canon ship when there’s no evidence to support it. Don’t boldly claim that azriel “has two love interests” when he literally doesn’t. He can’t sleep because of elain. He can’t stop thinking about her. He’s short with his family and others around him the days and weeks following solstice. His shadows threaten to strike nesta when she hurts elain and causes her pain. He doesn’t assign his spies to watch L*cien in acofas because he doesn’t want to know if he’s trying to court elain. He goes full lethal when he hears she may have been hurt. He follows the sound of her laugh to see what caused it. He goes on a suicide mission to save her. They communicate through looks alone when their family is around. Have you read an SJM book before? This is how she sets up her relationships. Like, holy fuck.

You cannot claim elriel is a crack ship because they have had background build up that both FMCs in their respective books have noticed and commented on. Cassian has noticed it too DESPITE not being hyper aware of what’s going on with az in SF. (referencing the scene in SF where elain tells everyone at family dinner about nesta’s love for dancing and the ball story from when they were human).

This ship war shit is fucking crazy because really this should only be between elriel nation and the eluces. Anyway, I’m over dealing with the fever dream brigade and their hallucinations. They’re going to come crashing down like Icarus when the elriel bible release day arrives and all our suffering will finally come to an end.

Then after that I’ll need to defeat the tamlin redemption arch threats, bc that is not a claim, that’s a fuckin threat and I won’t stand for it. But let’s tackle one problem at a time.

Pink: side notes/thoughts that give more context to my points

Blue italics: convos I’ve had being referenced

Purple: elriel moments <3

[savvthedate]

The Quarry x Stray kids Au

based on the game 'the quarry', I highly recommend it, It's such a cool concept and story. Just an intro will be a full story.

Characters

Chan

• Born to be the cool band teacher, forced to be the Supervisor and organizer of the Jype Quarry and summer camp

• a personal favorite of the camps owner

• without a doubt going to be the most missed counselor after summer is over

Lee know

• head of cooking class and helps out in the kitchen

• the kids are both scared of him and love to mess with him

• fist day of camp, kids locked him in his cabin (he almost quit and went home)

• kids aren't to big on his cooking class but they do enjoy eating

• tbh summer camp wasn't all that exciting to him

• scared to death of the possibility of bears in the camp

• camp mascot, Maize the cat, sleeps In his cabin

Changbin

• gym instructor, in charge of most camp activities

• High energy and always encouraging kids to push the selves

• first day of the job he was almost registered as a camper

• One of the counselors the kids were scared of the first day but quickly became the goofy fan favorite

• for some reason he was never in his cabin at night, if he wasn't doing anything with the other counselors he was just doing random things

Hyunjin

• Art teacher

• mainly does small crafts like pinecone bird houses, etc

• does majority of the designs for camp

• luckily for him he only actually has to do work once a week

• the first choice for campers to come to if they need something

• extremely trustworthy, funny, but still strict

• next to changbin, he's the only counselor the kids listen to

Han

• in charge of camp announcements, music, technical support

• practically hides from the kids

• they always find him though

• got in trouble one time for leaving his radio hut unlocked and someone stole the movie projector

• cried his first week at camp, mainly because he was supposed to aid Lee knows cooking class but got overwhelmed, so Chan moved him to announcements and radio duty so he won't actually have to interact with kids

Felix

• is he even a counselor tbh?

• just showed up a week late for the job and was assigned to be a fill in and assistant to anyone who needed him

• kinda just hangs around, he's practically one of the campers

• most hardest part of his summer was losing a kid he was in charge of on one of changbins hikes

• he promised to never join that class again

Seungmin

• supervisors assistant

• takes his job seriously half the time

• the only time he doesn't is when a camper says he's not really necessary

• just look at him wrong and he's like 'im not doing this anymore just to get disrespected'

• honestly just the embodiment of 'old man yells at cloud'

• honestly he was ready to go home after the first two weeks, but then realized he lived really far away

• longest 2 months of his life and he won't do it again

Jeongin

• head swim couch, main life guard when it's a camp beach day

• he had signed up to be the art teacher but since the position was filled he settled for swimming

• always has at least 3 assistants with him, there is no one way he's teaching all those kids by himself

• tbh wishes he showed up late like Felix to get a lucky job

• the campers won't let him breathe. Always makes fun of him and Lee know

• everyone feels bad for him because he always has the most complaints from parents, he really doesn't understand what he did wrong honestly

[hiwelcometothemonstersancturary]

Do you think sometimes Dogday tends to be woobified a bit too much in the fandom?

Okay so before I start working on my first devlog/a proper intro for NIGHTMARE FACTORY I feel like I NEED to talk about this, because like. Sometimes... Yes.

Everything that we know about DogDay is divided into two small categories: His Bigger Bodies version, who has one minute and a half of screentime, and his cartoon version, who has two minutes of screentime max. So in total everything we know about him is about four minutes total, which isn't a lot, but could be a bit worse.

BBI DogDay seems to be two things: 1 - Very Tired, and 2 - Giving up. Cartoon DogDay seems to be a charismatic leader who's also silly and sometimes a bit too much. With what we see of him during the game, it's understandable to assume that BBI DogDay was originally that cheerful cartoon DogDay before shit hit the fan, and it's also understandable how many people took him and went "okay, but what if we give some hope to this tired dude?", and assumed he would go back to being his delightful old self. Not because it's realistic, but because we as a fandom love that little guy and want to see him happy, which can often lead to making him just the cute guy who went through a lot of things but is now determined to make everything right again, forgetting that said guy could also be angry.

I'll be honest and say that I also woobfied him a bit before thinking more about him, but although I sometimes think it's too unrealistic how certain works portray him as just sunshine, rainbows and being a sad baby, I'm not annoyed by then, because honestly who doesn't want to see him happy? But also, it's a bit sad how little we have of portrayals of an angry and bitter DogDay. Is he our baby? Yes! Does he deserve to be angry and mad about things? Also yes! But we see so little of him during the game, and what we see is either him being cheerful or absolutely devastated. Combine that with him being a dog, and we have the right formula for accidental woobfication.

I think that with enough time we'll see more angry DogDay, and even angry DogDay who can also coexist and rekindle his relationship with a reformed/changed CatNap. Until then he shall remain as the Assigned Sunshine and Rainbows Baby as we all take him to fandom therapy. Tbh I'm more annoyed at how some people villanize CatNap and turn DogDay into a "pure" baby, ignoring the implied complexities of both characters in order to reduce them into very silly fandom archetypes, than at how some people just woobify the sun dog. But that's just me!

[st4rshiptr00per]

VNAs skip/read list (my opinion...) made based off my reading of my buddy Rachel's recommended skip/reads. putting this here so i can share it on discord easier lol

4 Timewyrm: Revelation - Paul Cornell

Stands alone pretty damn well tbh and the Doctor and Ace characterization makes me insane

5 Cat’s Cradle: Time’s Crucible - Marc Platt

Not required reading but its more Platt doing more of his Lungbarrow shit, first mention of looms, really great ancient gallifrey stuff

9 Love and War - Cornell

The romance plot isnt for everybody but I love it and this is a really important book to the shape of the series to come, especially for what happens to Ace and her relationships/characterization. PLUS: Benny’s very important introduction!!!

10 Transit - Ben Aaronovitch

Has a semi-earned bad reputation, but it introduces Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart and I think it’s good to read if u want the full VNAs experience, including a taste of all its flaws and the breadth of the genres the series contains. Also I just love the hard scifi world building

13 Deceit + #14 Lucifer Rising

HAVENT READ THESE ONES YET SHHH but these also contain important Ace character arc stuff

[ALTERNATE HISTORY ARC ZONE]

19 Blood Heat - Jim Mortimore

Beginning of an arc, very enjoyable (minus a couple slow spots) and has a great jurassic park/Inferno/the last of us setting. Post apocalyptic and hopeless, includes UNIT stuff (!)

21 The Left-Handed Hummingbird - Kate Orman

The ancient Aztec stuff is predictably clumsily handled, but this is where Orman starts and it already has some extremely good hurt/comfort shit going on. Undead color-out-of-space wizards, rogue alien-hunting UNIT employees, and Friendship.

22 Conundrum - Steven Lyons

This one wasn’t for me pacing-wise, but is very well loved. Very successful return of beloved concept from 60s Who…

23 No Future - Paul Cornell

Finale of the Alternate History Arc ft. A returning 60s Who villain. A big chaotic mishmash of a ton of different ideas in a Moffat-era sort of way but I think it pulls it off shockingly well, a lot of fun.

26 Theatre of War - Justin Richards

A Shakespearian space adventure romp… Benny in her element AND the first on-screen appearance of Irving Braxiatel and the Braxiatel Collection. A lot of fun.

27 All-Consuming Fire - Andy Lane

The Sherlock Holmes/Dr Who crossover special :) a lot of fun, with multiple unreliable narrators. Highly recommend.

30 First Frontier - David A. McIntee

Military thriller ft. The Master in the american southwest. I wasn’t big on the prose, but u gotta be excited to see the Master again…

35 Set Piece - Kate Orman

ORMAN BACK AT IT AGAIN. Ace’s big exit story, and the return of Kadiatu. They could not have picked a better author to handle this one. Very sweet, a must-read.

37 Sanctuary - David A. McIntee

A pure historical in 13th century france! Introduction of Benny’s beloved Guy.

38 Human Nature - Paul Cornell

Honestly the superior version of Human Nature. Scarier, sadder, and spookier. A lot more pared down and straightforward than a lot of the previous books to great effect. More of Cornell’s great fantasy-element writing in here.

39 Original Sin - Andy Lane

NEW COMPANION INTRO… Funky and gritty far future setting with fun world building, and our beloved Chris and Roz

40 Sky Pirates! - Dave Stone

This one is fucking bizarre. You just have to try it. Deranged Fritz Leiber pastiche that gets way more thoughtful about the source material than expected. No rating properly communicates the quality of this book. Really excellent eldritch Time Lord stuff in here.

43 Head Games - Steve Lyons

Sequel to Conundrum. A bit of a hot mess, but so much fun. Mel and Ace return(!)

44 The Also People - Ben Aaronovitch

PEAK aaronovitch worldbuilding fully harnessed here. A must-read for Roz characterization, and especially neccessary if you plan on reading the Bernice Summerfield New Adventures afterward. A cozy murder mystery beach episode full of summer romance…

46 Just War - Lance Parkin

Nazi-punching WWII historical. A grimy split-up-team story. Beautifully written and well loved for a reason, even if its a bit messy around the edges.

48 SLEEPY - Kate Orman

The beginning of the lovely besieged community stuff Orman’s going to keep coming back to in future books (see: Vampire Science, Intelligent Tigers). Just beautiful to read, as usual.

49 Death and Diplomacy - Dave Stone

Stone does a “normal” DW plot. Introduction of the very important Jason Kane, don’t read the next book without this one. Really entertaining tonal whiplash from the previous book, a lot of fun.

50 Happy Endings - Paul Cornell

THE WEDDING EPISODE… cameos from characters from nearly every previous book, a gigantic ridiculous slice-of-life with lots of anxiety about what the future will hold…

[ok after this point I haven’t read any of these yet lol]

53 Return of the Living Dad - Kate Orman

Important Benny lore/previous storyline resolution AND jason content

55 Damaged Goods - Russel T Davies

Much loved, very grimy and gritty. Now you get to see RTD without the constraints of an all-ages rating.

56 So Vile A Sin - Orman + Aaronovitch

VERY well loved. Was supposed to be #56 but ended up being published late, so it contains some references to the TV movie… Roz’s big exit. A tragedy.

57 Bad Therapy - Matthew Jones

A special TV companion return :) another book that takes place in a historical queer community

59 The Room with No Doors - Kate Orman

Supposedly one of Orman’s best in this series��� Chris Moment.

60 LUNGBARROW -Marc Platt

You know this one.

61 The Dying Days - Lance Parkin

Eight and Benny time :)

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s3 episode 19 thoughts

was thinking about doing other stuff tn but truly i can’t resist scully and mulder time. it calls to me. i crave it. (<- wrote that last night in order to post the recap today)

i had to think it over for a bit, but overall i thought this was a good episode! it wasn’t very character driven, we didn’t have a lot of scully and mulder moments, but i found the plot SUPER interesting. and obviously some msr content would have made it delectable to me, a fan who enjoys fan service, but the concept was well-executed, very spooky, and really interesting commentary on how vulnerable populations are preyed upon by those who claw power into their own hands just to wield it over other’s heads.

so let us dive in, to an episode set in california!

lion dance!!! so cool. a guy is sneaking into an alley. we hear popping like guns, but it is just fireworks thankfully. 

this dude sees paint on a door and he goes in. someone with a flashlight approached him. they’re talking in cantonese which i sadly cannot speak. yet. who knows what the future may bring…

oh! a stabbing. and then people with masks…?

scene change. teeny tiny little blackjack game!!!!! i need it sooo bad. this game is being played by a security guard at a funeral home. he hears a noise that was not the gentle beeping of blackjack and pulls out a flashlight. 

music is creepy as hell. GASP! more people in masks are here and they have lit something on fire!!! it appears to be… a guy? is it the guy from before? that did the stabbing!??

now what in the hell is going on here.

dana scully……. i’m cheering just seeing her ID during the intro 

OH! and now she’s here <3 investigating the body with mulder. this dude was cremated alive! the detective says it’s the third time this year, but mulder is like um no it’s ACTUALLY number 11. all chinese men between the ages of 20 and 40. good to know he keeps up with the stats on these things.

the prop body is soooo gnarly again... as usual, big shoutout to the props department!

GAG! she’s cutting into the eye and tap taps it! oh it's glass! well. the cutting motion was still gross.

they ask a detective if there are any leads on the crime. apparently there’s a bunch of immigrants trying to get out of hong kong before 1997 which raises the question: did this season take place in 1996? or is he saying that they HAD a big influx and are still dealing with it? no seriously, when does s3 take place?

(sometimes i think about how these two don’t even know about 9/11 because it hasn’t happened yet. quite often tbh)

((author's note: this episode aired in 1996! man, they sure were making these seasons fast... given how long it takes to make a season of TV these days, i thought for sure we would be in the 2000's by now... guess some things really were better in the past))

they call over detective chao to try and read some writing and i’ll say it. he’s hot. maybe you could read chinese if you studied, mulder. 

okay so the writing says ghost! well, gui, but translation. is this related to the qingming festival…?

mulder finds a little scrap of something and it’s called “hell money” used in the chinese festival of hungry ghosts. ah, the hungry ghost festival! which is NOT qingming. the tale of the monk feeding his mother who was trapped in hell. yes yes i recall.

scully and mulder are rolling up to the scene of the crime. she says the guy who was killed was a recent immigrant. they’re with detective chao, who sees some writing he can’t read, and says maybe it’s a code of some kind. yayyy nonsense phrases! mulder asks him to copy it down.

oh, they are sleuthing, and scully says that the scene has been cleaned up. and they find new carpet! in an otherwise dilapidated apartment. VERY suspicious!

NASTY! they lift up the carpet and blood is there. 

cut to the camera of a guy from the carpeting company, who we later learn to be named mr. hsin. bringing someone some tea and dinner. IS THAT LUCY LIU??????

IT IS!!!!! three cheers!

lucy liu is sick and the person who brought her tea (i presume her father? yes, her father, mr. hsin) says he needs to earn money so they can go to the doctor. noooo, she says the operation would cost too much money :( this is so sad... he tells her not to talk like that :(

so he goes to a big crowded event, until some people in suits holding pots come out and everyone quiets down. oh, a very big suitcase of cash is shown. ah, so this must be the prize that has brought them here. a raffle of sorts...?

mr. hsin drops a tile with some writing on it into the vessel, as do many other people. 

a name is drawn and called and this seems to be a good thing for this guy who has a glass eye. he wins the pot of money!

NO. i was very very wrong. he does not win the money. he draws a tile. and then they lead the guy out. i’m a little confused, but i think it was not good for him.

(yeah. past me, it was seriously NOT good for him... i may have been a little slow to catch what was going on but believe me i caught it eventually)

at a traditional medicine shop. detective chao explains that these are mostly roots they are looking at. yum yum.

turns out the victim johnny was taking painkillers. then, he asks the vendor what those characters from the door meant, and she says it was labeled a haunted house. is there a code word for haunted house?

oh! hungry ghost festival explanation, for us, the audience! they leave gifts to prevent angry spirits from coming by. and we see the dude who pulled the tile earlier getting his heart ripped out by a ghost. hard to say if that was euphemistic or not.

(it was not euphemistic, past me)

this chao guy fits in well with our agents. add him to the group.

(filed under statements that aged poorly)

a random guy is pulling up to a graveyard and sees the three people in masks there... doing WHAT?

“i still don’t understand what anyone would want with an empty grave”, scully says, as mulder hops right in. the officer asks what the hell he is doing LMAOOOOO yeah he is just like that :/

and he starts digging down there with his hands and!!! he finds a body!!!!!

scully doing an autopsy :D with her hair pulled back n the white coat... okay, i see you doctor!!!

gasp! this body is covered in surgical incisions INCLUDING OVER HIS HEART!!! but she says nothing seems wrong with him!! she thinks he was selling his organs and makes a stupid joke and i love her so bad and i love mulder for giggling at it

BLECK she’s cutting him open. and it’s PULSATING GAG GAG GAG but it’s just a FROG that comes out?

well. i think that was the best possible ending to that situation. 

back at the gambling event. more jars are being brought in by men in suits. they pull a name and it’s the guy who is trying to save lucy liu, mr. hsin! so now he must pick from the jar. and i gather that now it means he will either lose an organ or win a fortune? pulling for you to win, king...

it is unclear what his result is…..

scully brings detective chao the frog in a jar from inside the dude who was autopsied. a new pet has been unlocked. he is like, ummm idk, maybe it’s a symbol or something?

scully is LOCKED in. she senses duplicity. asking about organ removal. the autopsied man had his kidney and cornea removed BEFORE his heart was removed after death. detective chao seems very confused. mulder is watching him intently whilst munching upon his seeds.

oh! she found stuff in the body that is used for preserving organs for transplants!!! well this is starting to add up...

they think he resents their presence... ohhh interesting. or that he’s trying to protect the chinese american community. and he is pissed off by this because the chinese community sees HIM as an outsider for being american born chinese. he is very mad, and tbh i don’t blame him. and he storms off after shoving a paper with the name of the carpet company from earlier into mulder’s shoulders. i thought his anger was deserved at this moment... but little did i know the detective chao lore

they go to the house of mr. hsin, who has lost an eye!!!!!! he says it was a work accident. and he introduces his daughter. lucy liu.

he’s denying knowing about the carpeting for johnny's crime scene apartment, and mulder finds the tile he pulled earlier on the shelf. gasp!!!! a clue!!!

mulder says they’re done and he pocketed the tile for investigation. chao and hsin were talking and the agents are suspicious, but he says he was warning him about a fire trap. anyway, mulder shows chao the tile. and it says “wood”. this is not very helpful.

lucy liu asks about her father’s accident and notices that his eye was fine when he came from work. he explains that he is worried about her and he is afraid the ancestors are mad for them leaving home, and maybe that is why she is sick, and he blames himself. it’s so so so so so sad :( it isn't your fault mr. hsin

chao is walking home but finds something written in BLOOD on his door? he looks around. no, don’t let anything happen, i like him!!!

NO THE MASKED MEN ARE IN THERE!

mulder is pissed because people are throwing firecrackers near the car. he’s very jumpy and with scully, watching mr hsin’s house, but gasp! scully breaks the news that chao was attacked at his house. off they go to explore. while a man in a suit comes and knocks at the door of mr. hsin. and his eyeball socket is bleeding!!!

suit man is let inside and asks for payment. mr. hsin says he wants to quit the game. but the pit is almost 2 million dollars if he stays in…. still, he says he wants out. but he cannot get out…

BUT LUCY LIU IS LISTENING TO ALL OF THIS GO DOWN!!

the rules “cannot be broken, or it’s said that the Preta and the fires of Ti Yu will consume you” says suit man <- OHHHHHH so it’s serious. but also who says this? how old is this game. it can't be that old.

mr. hsin begs to be released from the game but suit man STILL says nope.

NO! detective chao is GONE from the hospital! not gone as in dead, gone as in missing!! allegedly he went to go to the bathroom and dipped. where to, though...?

mulder checks chao's blood type and it matches the blood type on the floor of the victim’s carpet. well, i mean, there are a lot of people with the same blood type so… idk they might be jumping to conclusions here?

but they are brainstorming. they go to find mr. hsin and ask more questions, and lucy liu answers the door. only now do we learn her name is kim but i’ve called her lucy liu for so long i don’t see a reason to change it.

oh! she has leukemia. it’s a treatable kind, scully points out, but they have no money to afford it :(

mulder is sitting next to her and asks if she knows what the tile is. scully is pondering. realllly pondering.

OH! the tile that means wood also corresponds to the eye!! so that makes sense….. 

and scully notices paperwork that says mr. hsin had just had his kidneys and liver measured…. oh no...

mulder realizes they are playing a game where they gamble their organs. and mr. hsin returns to the game….

they go to the organ procurement organization. and the lady there says that a lot of asian men come in to learn about their organ types, but when they find a compatible recipient, they are told by their doctor that the men have left the area or disappeared. do they have a phone number for the doctor???

back at the game, they call mr. hsin’s name again!!!!!!! the suspense is very very very high!

the agents roll up to the outside of the place where the game is being played, because that is where they found the doctor’s phone registered. and who is walking in but chao! is he doing a sting???

mulder gets up to follow him as mr. hsin is drawing a tile. the drawing was clearly not what he had planned because he’s trying to run away. chao is watching all of this….

oooo, the agents break the lock and get inside the restaurant to investigate. so far it is looking like a normal restaurant. but gasp! they find something that could be the sterile ice used in organ transplants!

open da fridge to find many many many organs. many eyeballs!! very gross. other organs too but a LOT of eyeballs.

back to mr. hsin, who is getting his remaining eyeball inspected. NOOOO :(

OH! chao is telling the men in suits who run the game to stop, but he says that he was “warned once before”. he asks for mr. hsin to be let go, and the suit man refuses, saying that chao is just as responsible because he protects the game from the foreigners. GASP! so he WAS involved with all of this….

BUT HE KNOCKS THE TABLE OVER!!!!! and he realizes that ALL THE TILES SAY “EYE”!!!! it was rigged. 

the agents hear the stampeding crowd above going wild at this revelation, while there is surgery happening to mr. hsin. he is covered in something. 

mulder comes into the game room as the people start to riot. and mr. hsin sees his daughter as a ghost figure, and begs for forgiveness. but it’s really just the surgeon about to make the cut. 

chao bursts in and SHOOTS the surgeon! as scully and mulder come in to take care of the other surgeon! partial chao redemption arc.

when the shot surgeon says that chao should have killed him, he translates this for mulder as “the game is not over” so again idk why we are trusting this man after so much lying... he had ME fooled!

scully is talking to a ringleader of this game. she says he cheated these men out of life, but he says he committed no crime, because death is merely transition, but life with no hope is living he <- OHHH WOW. banger line. terrible thing to say but banger line.

scully is GLARING AT HIM LIKE WILD... WOW... when mulder comes in and asks to chat. apparently mr. hsin is doing okay and his daughter has been put on the organ recipient list. this is good news! but also something is wrong.

OH! everyone who was at the game that night claims it was a social club, and chao is missing. so they have NO CASE AGAINST THIS MAN!!

WHY WOULD THEY GO ALONG WITH THAT IF THEY SAW THE GAME WAS RIGGED?!?

cutscene to chao, who opens his eyes while being placed in an OVEN!!!! ANOTHER ALIVE CREMATION!

woah. this episode was spooky. i’m spooked. and the ending implies that the cycle will just keep going on and on. 

WHEW! it’s the terrifying nature of humanity that is far scarier than ghouls and demons and fat-sucking vampires. in terms of spookiness, this is definitely up there in my ranking. i think only the s2 cannibals and the fetishist compare. this one had a pacing that had me at the edge of my seat. how you wanted mr. hsin to pull through so badly, how evil the leaders of this game were for preying on people with no hope.

yet again, WHEW!

i was really hoping chao wasn’t going to be an inside man because i thought it would be a bit cliche. and yet, he had me fooled. despicable! that being said, i did not expect a barbecued ending for him.

i was so invested in how other people saw this episode that i started googling it and reading the wikipedia (which taught me it aired in 1996!) and it seems to have gotten mixed reviews, one critic saying that if mulder and scully were removed, it would have had nothing to do with the x files at all. which- i guess? i mean, yeah. if you remove them from any of these one off episodes, yeah, it would be a different thing. but with these monster or the week episodes, i find myself disagreeing that it makes it an inherently bad episode. obviously not every episode is going to dive deep into the overarching lore- most of them don’t. most of them propose the question, “wouldn’t it be fucked up if (insert thing here)” and then dive into that. and we do learn about our characters along the way, sometimes more than others.

we didn’t learn a TON about mulder and scully here, so i suppose i agree with that observation- i would have preferred to learn more about them. but the premise was really interesting and i was at the edge of my seat. i guess you CAN have both, but in many cases just one or the other will please me.

[estcaligo]

Я пришла!♡ it's time for the ask game💚 !

Okok let's sort them out so 1 , 4 , 5 ( knows the 1st place) aannnd I'm adding a 17 do you have an intro for your yume or anything you want to share like a fun fact if you're ok with it?

Добро пожаловать! 💚

The time has come!✨️ 💃⚡️✨️

1. Which NRC Dorm do you think you'd be sorted into? (Be honest lol)

Mmm... I used this post for reference.

Based on the traits (both) and alignments, and general description it's Ignihyde :)

The only problem is I don't like how Ignihyde looks - no windows or nature :(

But at least there are lots of illuminations, so that helps! Also, I love how it looks at night!! (how do they even know when it's day or night lol)

I even designed my Ignihyde room a while ago!

(It's too early for Idia's BD, but I'm curious what the new BG will look like!!)

4. Who is your favorite Vice House Warden? (Ruggie is the unofficial Vice for Savannaclaw in this case)

Jade :)

Tbh, he irritates me so much with his keigo, but it only makes me like him more haha. Also, he's an absolute menace and likes watching the chaos unfold - just for the fun of it - and I respect it🤝

Plus, my Yuu is in his club, so I respect him as the club leader (no)

What do they do on hikes? Good question.........

5. Who are your Top 5 Favorite and/or Comfort Characters?

1. HAHA WELL SINCE YOU ALREADY KNOW

2. Rollo (not comfort lol, but just favourite)

3. Silverrr

4. Idia (help)

5. ACE OTL

(This list is so funny. Imagine them all in one room.)

17. Free spot - do you have an intro for your yume or anything you want to share like a fun fact if you're ok with it?

I technically have lots of material, but I only need to organize it (which, as we all know, is the hardest part 🥲)

Some basic info tho?

In general, she's inseparable from Sebek, the whole meaning of existence of this one is being a match to Sebek lol. Like salmon pink eyes? Yeah, completely random choice of colour etc.

Plus a fun fact. The name Yushka is Юшка in Russian, which means "broth"

Ace asked "is it connected to a brothel" at least once, in one version

I have a comic explaining why, but who knows when I'll finish it🥲

But in the real version, according to the comic Ace was the one who gave her this nickname!

That's it for now, thank you for your attention!

[3gremlins]

ahhhh i finished it last saturday night (11/9) (this will post from the q so after other q'd things)! it was really enjoyable tbh, i really liked it. it was good (if we don't get another da game, i am fairly satisfied) not perfect but few things are. def stick with it if you're not sure, there's a LOT at the end

spoilers for the end of veilguard- initial notes after the cut, not particularly organized

not me figuring out the varric reveal like 5 minutes before it was actually revealed tho XD tbh i was expecting him to die from the trailers and then he didn't and i was like "oh perhaps they're doing something else with him?" so they got me with the bait and switch and i was properly horrified. good job, you got me bioware. (as an aside, i still don't think varric was a strong enough choice as solas' friend for the intro section, like you never get the impression they are friends in dai at all. varric was stronger friends with anders than he was with solas, despite weird dai retcon about it. I wish they'd centered the narrative around someone else there- cole would have been a good choice? or cole and varric even since that's the most interesting interaction varric has with solas in dai) i'll def have to watch the cutscenes with him in subsequent pts. I kinda wish they'd done a follow up with him somewhere, maybe like the endings in that one fade book you find in trespasser (like at that fade bar with alistair/the warden/hawke/etc, would have been nice). got some solavellan conclusions, more than i expected and it was pretty good all things considered (i would have loved more, but also this was much more than we've gotten from other cameos of previous protagonists).

(is this the most awkward screenshot ever? possibly XD look she loves him so much, she'll even kiss his blight-y mouth and go live with him in the fade) i do wish they'd figured out a way to keep cole in (esp since spirit cole has that sad line about needing to help solas at the end of trespasser) somewhere. it was still pretty good honestly, i cried (this whole game made me cry at various points tho). I do think it could have resolved with them both living outside the fade and just his life being tied to it but i also get them wanting to literally tie up loose ends with this particular narrative.

it feels very mass effect 2ish (esp the end game section), i think most people will like it but i did find the end game section kinda stressful (where you have to pick the right person for things). Also for a dragon age game, usually by the end you have your team so having to break up the team so they live is not necessarily what i want in a DA game (i can appreciate it narratively while disliking it in practice lol) The format is also very mass effect-y in how it doles out companion stuff (esp romance stuff)- it's paced around the plot which is for the most part a good thing (but it also made it hard to tell where you were with things). I definitely like how they utilized the factions better than DAI or DAO tho- even tho only their rank mattered, having the characters in cut scenes and as npcs you can chat with at the end was really nice. I don't know if it's just lucanis' romance or all of them, but i kept thinking i'd missed something b/c of how long they make you wait for private time alone with your partner (the parts we get are really good, don't get me wrong, it just made me wait FOREVER to smooch him or get more than burning looks lol). 100% worth it tho. will romance many more times probably

(aside: getting to have a rook who's got a body like mine and a flat chest and have another character look at them desirously was just gender euphoria really. like okay actually their chest is nicer than mine -i have to do more pushups- but STILL. THANK YOU BIOWARE FOR INCLUDING NON BINARY PEOPLE SO MUCH IN THIS NARRATIVE and integrating us so deeply in all the bits, not just pronouns and basic shit) Like it wasn't even before the first "final" mission but before teh for realskies final mission ish (and i got more dialogue towards the end too). Real Return of the King BUT WAIT there's more vibes with the end (past the point of no return warning). I wish there was a little bit more romance partner time in act 2 even if it was just vibing? I did get a lot of good companion banter about it which i love (i live for banter and the banter in this was so good) i think my biggest note is i didn't feel the music helped it that much? idk i wish they'd just gone with one of their previous composers so it felt more dragon age-y (the zimmer score felt a little generic except when it did reprises of previous dragon age themes). Sometimes it felt too bombastic and sometimes there was not enough, idk, it just didn't have quite the same feel. i did like that they reused the bard music from DAI in the cities, made me smile hearing the sera song esp. i also wish the approval/tone system was a little more like dragon age 2 where you got unique dialogue choices based on which you chose more. Also sometimes the "sassy" answer wasn't that sassy or felt mean, there felt like a little bit of a disconnect between what i would have expected from the choice and what was said. The approval system was a bit weird too - like there were no approvals early on and then suddenly people reacted to things (but it didn't seem to impact their bonds). It felt like that could have used more tweaking or been more obvious anyway. It also felt like it required your character to code switch when talking to different companions since some of them responded to the different tones differently- which felt really weird and a little clunky. I def wished for more of the DA2 style where your companions just accept that you are a fun or kind or straightforward and you can rp that for the whole game.

i really liked the art direction (tho i did sort of miss the persistent splatter gore) and loved all the companions! the story was overall pretty good tho it suffered from a few pacing issues early on (you could sort of tell it had been reworked a little bit and bits were still a bit weird- but tbh all the games suffer from this a bit).

the combat was fun! i wish the targeting was a little better (as i've mentioned) and toward the end of the game, i got some stuttering when a lot of things were hitting rook at once (so it wouldn't register my dodges correctly). I played as rogue rook and it was super fun, glad i went with my actual fave class on my first pt (i always think i should be a mage and then want to be a rogue so im glad i can finally be like no no, i love knives and arrows!) The optional bosses were the most fun/challenging. Finished the game with the poison squad ofc but most of the companions felt reasonably balanced when I had to use certain parties (i'd say the warriors felt the weakest in their skills, have to see how player warrior feels, rogue rook was awesome). i loved that you could refund your skill tree at any point for no cost and also that it explained the bits of the tree (bursty, control, etc) so you could work out your own build for it. I wish the super special rune you get for beating the optional questline wasn't presented as your last ditch effort thing- i got confused by this dialogue and was a little afraid to use it at first (i thought i'd have to use it at a particular time in a fight, but nah it was just a really good rune with a normal cd) Obviously there's still more questions (the "secret" post credits scene) and i kinda wanted a post credit party scene? Maybe if we're lucky we'll get one like we did for bg3 i'm pretty satisfied, already started some more rooks and ready to make some fan art! [im also pretty sure my first pt had the most bugs since i started it on release date and didn't get the starter quest achievements until my 2nd rook, so we'll see how it plays with war rook and mage rook)

[mcjoebond]

So hear me out

I don't like that Bi-Han is perceived as an evil character (although I know he is probably designed to be evil). That's why I have a hobby of making up excuses for his bad actions and decisions

Please do not take this post 100% seriously, I understand clearly that I'm probably wrong (or the creators haven't thought over the character so deeply for it to be true for that matter). I just love Bi-Han and think he deserves better than to be a villain in every timeline

This is part 1

Bi-Han's ideas on the clan development are actually not that bad in the beginning. I mean, when they discuss it before the meeting with Liu Kang and before the invasion on the castle. His ambitions are really strong and all he wants, in my opinion, is to participate in making decisions, not to serve and obey. He says they could help to rule, not to rule on their own. Also he doesn't argue with their father's principles, he said that the principles should guide them, not that Lin Kuei should ignore them. I don't see anything bad in his desire to have more power and more respect for the clan. Even I felt bad when either Kuai Liang or Tomas said that they served not ruled. Lin Kuei had been working for Liu Kang for hundreds of years and although they had a loud name of 'Earthrealm protectors', they had to do not a very respectful job. We know that it used to be a very peaceful timeline before Shang Tsung intervened. And as Bi-Han, who was the clan's Grandmaster, supposedly the busiest person in the whole clan, participated in every Earthrealm's champions' trainings, we can assume that it was the most interesting event in their task list. Which, imho, is pretty small for the Grandmaster of a great and respectable clan. They even were not taken to the tournament itself! And I suppose they were never chosen to be its champions either. In the castle, after defeating Ermac, I believe, Bi-Han mentioned that he'd missed a real kombat. So while Liu Kang had a lot of issues to solve on his own, Lin Kuei were supposed to protect the Earthrealm from dangers which didn't exist, thanks to Liu Kang. It's actually a very common situation: when you don't see the person's potential and you don't help them to fulfill it, the chance to lose the person's interest or loyalty is extremely high. Tbh, it seems very weird for me that Liu Kang didn't think of anything to keep Bi-Han loyal. I mean, he put Shang Tsung and Quan Chi into such circumstances so they couldn't gain or even desire power without somebody's help. And Bi-Han? He wanted more power even before Shang Tsungs's intervention affected him. Liu Kang pretended he didn't notice? Or he just didn't care? Or why else he decided to keep someone like Bi-Han in charge of a powerful clan? There is a theory that he gave Hanzo's power away to Kuai Liang because he thought Kuai could handle it better and avoid destructions caused by Hanzo's anger. And if that's so, why would he do nothing about Bi-Han? He wanted to give him another chance like he did with Shao? Okay, he couldn't watch Shao all the time as they were in different realms. But Bi-Han literally worked for him!! And he didn't notice anything wrong and demanding attention? Either we don't know something yet or Liu Kang really doesn't care enough for Bi-Han. And if that's so, it shouldn't be surprising that Bi-Han would leave his side one day.

Bi-Han's attitude towards Tomas is rude and unacceptable, Tomas doesn't deserve it from the perspective we see. The most obvious reason - Tomas doesn't share Lin Kuei blood and makes him unworthy for Bi-Han. What if it's more complicated that just that? There are some hints in the game that Bi-Han has daddy issues. Johnny Cage presumes that during one of the intros (it was something like 'Your daddy issues are even stronger than mine'). And his whole bossy, 'Obey-Your-Grandmaster'-like attitude also may indicate that. Kuai Liang and Tomas respect their father a lot and Bi-Han obviously doesn't. I mean, I feel some respect there, which I cannot explain rn, but anyway there is not enough of it. I don't think this attitude came out of nowhere. Bi-Han is the eldest so he was most likely to become the Lin Kuei Grandmaster after their father. So the father could treat him differently from the younger brothers. Even if he sought peace, it didn't mean he was an excellent dad figure. Maybe he pushed Bi-Han too hard whereas Kuai Liang and Tomas got much more freedom and less trainings. Bi-Han could envy them. Of course, he didn't hate Kuai Liang as he was his little brother no matter what. But Tomas came out of nowhere and got love from Bi-Han's parents, his father especially, which Bi-Han didn't receive himself. It was his love! Why would some stranger come into his family and steal love that should have been Bi-Han's? Why was this 'nobody' treated better than their son and brother? An offended kid usually cannot understand other kid's struggles so as long as Tomas took something, which as Bi-Han believed belonged to him, he wouldn't consider that Tomas was an orphan. Nobody could understand Bi-Han's struggles, why would he try to understand others'? Maybe the father even mentioned something about Tomas not being the original Lin Kuei - for example, answering Bi-Han's question why couldn't Tomas become the Grandmaster, the father would say that. And little Bi-Han learnt that as a reason to hate Tomas and not to accept him as a part of the family. None of that is an actual excuse for Bi-Han, he should've visited therapist or something. But I doubt assassins, especially in MK, know what psychological help is, so there's not an option. Especially for Bi-Han, he is super cold and closed. And this also may have been formed thanks to the father's upbringing.

As I've already started on the father... Let's go to Bi-Han's confession that he let their father die. It's hard to speculate on the topic as we don't know what kind of accident had happened. But we'll try without it. I think the detail that he let him die, not killed him, does matter. I still suppose that the father used to abuse Bi-Han. Imagine the person, who has been bullying you for your whole life, happens to be on the verge of death and you're the only one who can save them. Of course there are people who would save the person no matter what. But a lot of them would think if the person deserved to die and they couldn't help but rely on the their own experience. The father's death would finally give Bi-Han the freedom, he would get rid of the chains of his father's control, he would become the master on his own and not only he could manage his life for the first time, he could manage other people too. People who used to lack power are most likely to worship power in the future. A bonus to this thought: the father could get killed because of his clan politics. Not to let this happen to himself Bi-Han got so obsessed with changing the rules. There's an upcoming question - why didn't he tell Kuai Liang and Tomas? Maybe there was something else he didn't want to share with them. Maybe for their own protection. Which, shall I remind, is just a theory.

To be continued in the next post...

[ace-malarky]

intro post 2024

sup lads, it's been like two years and I figured the pinned post probably needed updating

wait it has almost exactly been two years that's hilarious

Anyway. some things haven't changed. Name's still Ace, no matter what I write on the notes I send to my old library

I'm always up for tag games and random asks!! throw 'em my way as you like :3

pronouns are in flux! predominantly they/them, sometimes it, occasionally he. It varies on the bit, but you probably can't go wrong tbh

we're - we're going to say early 30s. it's not wrong and it's better than this being outdated in a little over three weeks when it all changes once again

no I did not plan this, no I can't do a basic formal outline, I have to ramble. what did you think i wrote for.

Other Places I Can Be Found include twitter & instagram under more or less the same username

~~~

Writing Focuses!

Everything is fantasy, everything is queer. Excerpts can be found under Writing Pieces

I'm largely jumping around between vaguely connected scenes and character work right now, but there's definitely a pattern!

mainly;

Soul of the Party - when a series of mysterious thefts sweep across town in the weeks before the annual tournament, Solaris is removed from the duelling tournament to avoid bringing attention to his cousin's family. Instead, he and his cousin and a band of Feral Mages investigate on their own and find a plot targetting one thief from Off-World (ft. four separate magic types, light crime, sword fights, mistaken (secret) identity, curiosity almost killing the cat)

Shapeshifter WIP - when things start getting tense between neighbouring countries, Syn volunteers to slip across the border and pass information back in an attempt to avert the looming war. They may have underestimated how hard it was going to be to go back when no one recognises them and their own best friend hates them (ft. pining, friends-to-lovers of the star crossed variety, hand wavy world building, questionable morality, questionable spying techniques, A Certain Level of Dumbassery, some Fucked Up Shapeshifting)

Dumb of Ass, Snake of Tits - a DnD story of a dragonborn monk who leaves their monastery to see the world, ends up with a Morally Dubious Courtesan for a travelling companion, gets cursed (twice), has a slight corruption arc, but somehow still comes out better than they started and with a boyfriend to boot (ft. travelling, fights, the unwillingness to wear a shirt in camp and making that everyone else's problem, other uses for bras when you don't have tits, revenge, What Sharp Teeth You Have, unquestioning kindness until it isn't kind, overthinking but eventually manage to communicate about it, slight pining, one vaguely horny dragon)

Time Travel WIP - a story about a pair of siblings that get separated when one of them gets. stolen? by the Original time-creature, so the other proceeds to graduate, take his own time machine and bail out into the past to try and find them (ft. history, hijinks, fair folk, swords, the insurmountable gulf between who you are and who a person still believes you to be, and a sidecast of superheroes)

and, you know, the usual. Fair Folk, Superheroes, Pirates, WereCreatures, Winged Folk, Storytellers, Dragons, Vampires, Curses, Even More DnD. All of the WIPS can be found on this page and some of them are in this definitely out of date post here

I'm always up for answering questions about any of them, even if some haven't been touched in literal years. They're still growing mould somewhere in there. Branching out in ways I didn't conceive of.

~~~

World Building

also a big ol' thing here, the main tag is world building but that isn't just my stuff in there, it's also a lot of reblogs

largely centered around the Mist Worlds which is where most of my WIPs are set. There is an Overview post, a Magic post, a bit on the Mist Itself, and also the Worlds (and a page where this is collated)

some bits are incredibly handwavy and made up on the fly, other bits I have been thinking Too Much about for Too Long

~~~

Characters

Oh boy we got 'em. Occasionally can be found via rambles on Sundays (Thursdays, under new management) under the tag So It Ends

Syn and Maverick are competing for blorbo of the year right now and if a wip or specific characters aren't mentioned, these are probably who I'll answer ask games for

Syn - a distractable and mischievous shapeshifter who volunteers to be a spy because "pretending to be someone else is what I do" no we're not going to unpack that right now. they/them, big fan of antlers. also goes by Vale or Lance

Maverick - a frost dragonborn who's a little bit naive to the ways of the world and prefers to assume the best of people if they can. Likes to help, doesn't question as much as they should. Not quite an "everything happens for a reason" mentality, but certainly thinks that they got what they deserved at points. they/them, has been known to act without thinking on a number of occasions

[the-gayest-show]

Review Bomb! (The Treble With Rivals - Potazel Hazel)

Hi, it's me again! I'm back with another review bomb bc i missed episodes at their airing times and watched some a bit out of order lol

I'm a bit more prepped this time so these reviews come with pictures! (Oooh! Ahhh!)

Enjoy!

The Treble With Rivals:

Mmm, music episode! Goes crazy knowing I can play violin and all but that's besides the point. The point is: we got a new fairy! And new fairy lore? THERE'S A MUSIC WORLD???

Seriously, this place fucks. I love it. I always love it when FOP A New Wish adds new fairies and stuff so music fairy is such fun!

LOOK AT HER DESIGN ITS COOL AF

I liked the OST of this episode tbh, the composers put some good moves into an episode based purely on music.

I also really liked the intro card this time, small detail I know, but the contrast yellow v blue was so fun!

I feel like this episode is *partially* a commentary on school bands/orchestras and how they interact with one another, even if unintentional. I say this because I was in my school's string orchestra this semester and I noticed that there's a whole community of music and little inside jokes (eg. viola slander in the strings community) and stuff so this sorta felt like that. Every band/group has their own little status (especially with size) and this episode showcased a bit of that relationship between music groups that I've witnessed (not that I've ever seen a whole ass rivalry but you get the point I hope).

My one singular complaint is that I felt the "erased music" plot was underwhelming? Like I read the description and thought it'd be a lot bigger in scale (I guess more action? More suspense? Takes up the whole episode?) but it wasn't... which I mean this was alright and all but somehow I thought it'd be a lot more adventurous.

Rattleconda Racers:

Peak episode! It's one of those episodes that likes to play around with setting and such, this time we were essentially stuck in movie style aspect ratio until the end when we went back to 16:9 (mmmm television proportions my beloved)

I liked the dive into the relationship between Hazel and her brother Antony! We saw a bit of them meeting up in The Treble With Rivals but not much of their relationship. I feel like it's super cute! Hazel still seems to be unable to adjust to how different her brother is and how he's got all those new experiences and it makes her feel disconnected and wanting everything to be back to the way it used to be, as shown through the game, where Hazel tries to get Antony to follow the game's path while Antony would rather go around the path and explore beyond.

It's a metaphor for change and excepting change, and how everything around both siblings changed so much (Antony going to college, Hazel moving to a new town) and how they both adjust to their new life.

I liked their little moment of making up with each other after Hazel gets increasingly mad that they aren't playing the game the way they used to, it's a sweet scene and I liked it.

Side note: ADORED Cosmo and Wanda's outfits this episode.

HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE THESE??!! THEY LOOK FIRE AS HELL!!!! Wanda especially with that dress it legit slays on her to be honest. Cosmo with the cowboy attire and "Cosmo the Kid" nickname is so funny

I also liked the side thing of Wanda really playing into her character but Hazel not letting her. YOU GO GIRL! BE DRAMATIC!! THE PLOT CALLS AND BECKONS FOR IT!!!!

Overall this was one of those fun episodes with a good message and character developments of Hazel and Antony (who we get a proper intro to as well!)

I remember many a people wondering if Antony shows up, then what? Since Hazel in the first episode really revolved around missing her brother and not dealing with moving to a new town, people thought she wouldn't need the fairies afterwards. At least, I think I saw stuff like that but I might as well clear this out of the way. I think Hazel has a lot of internal issues to get through, and she still needs her fairies, and it's pretty evident in this episode.

Dig A Little Deeper:

A fun episode that was basically Hazel having a special interest in geology and the lengths Hazel will go to make a perfect presentation about rocks. It's so rad! There's not really much to say about it. I liked the rock monsters and the adventures, it was quite fun!

The bedazzled wands were a hit with me tbh. I would totally own a bedazzled wand.

AND WE GOT PERI!!!!!!!!!! HE'S BACK!

Potazel Hazel:

[Me when I forget the name of the episode so it surprised me that this is the episode name]

I thought this was a cool as fuck episode.WE GOT ANOTHER NEW CHARACTER WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Mother Nature got that epic design and you can't argue with it. It's cooler than the music fairy' design and I thought she was neat! I'm ADORING the expansion to fairy lore we've been getting, the writers really know what they're doing. God I love this show

Overall this episode was really great! A good one about eating a healthy, balanced meal and such. Great for kids I guess

There was a great fucking song in this one too! I love how Hazel's VA sings, the songs are pretty damn good in this show!

[garzzum]

A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE: Arisen & Pawn(s) Edition

Tagged By: @fisherkn1ght

Thank you so much!!!!! 😊❤️

I have no one to tag so if you see this and you'd like to do it, pretend I tagged you 💀

Prepare for the overuse of parenthesis. This is gonna be long so 👇

Arisen: Crom

(I had to take all the screenshots in this post literally today cuz Xbox deleted all my old screenshots and I never saved them to my phone 💔)

Nickname(s): Probably Crumb. 😭

Age: I think 22-25 maybe. She's childhood friends with Quina and Valmiro, and personally I can't see them being any older than 25-ish.

Race: Human.

Gender: I wanna say she identifies as a woman but tbh gender doesn't really matter much to her. Like she doesn't think about it. She'd have no problems if someone referred to her as anything other than a woman or used pronouns other than she/her.

Orientation: Asexual/Aromantic (like me😋). I can't imagine her (or really any of my OCs lol) in a romantic relationship or having sex or anything.

Moral Alignment: I think Neutral Good.

Class: She started as a Fighter and later became a Warrior. She just wants to swing a big sword around.

Background: Literally just the intro in DD1 💀 She's childhood friends with Quina and Valmiro, though her and Quina are practically sisters as Crom was raised by Adaro most of her life after her parents died in a brine-related accident. She doesn't remember them much. She took becoming the Arisen pretty well actually, if you ignore the fact that some of her neighbors died 💀 She was stoked to see a real life dragon until it sunk in (idk how she can see when her eyes are closed 24/7 but y'know... it's a fantasy game, pretend 😭).

Interests/Hobbies: Fishing (ofc, she's Cassardi), she's always liked sword fighting (I can imagine her and Valmiro as kids enthusiastically whacking eachother with wooden swords until they both were all bruised up and Quina had to heal them while lovingly chewing them out), and crafting things. Like whittling or making necklaces and crowns out of flowers that Quina found (to her annoyance, she collected those for a tonic).

Language(s): Common. Is that what it's called in Gransys? Grasian? Granslish?

Height: Probably around 5'10. The tallest in the village. 😭

Colors: Blue, Red, and Brown. Those would be her fave if you pretend that she can see...

Fruits: Idk.. I don't think she can choose either. She probably has a new favorite every other day.

Alchoholic Beverages: I don't think she drinks very often. She's definitely gotten wasted on Cloudwine with Mercedes once or twice though. (Also just a little headcanon, I like to think that Madeleine and Mountebank are friends, considering their shops are so close by, and now I'm imagining the three of them having a night on the town while Affie follows closely behind them to make sure they don't get into too much trouble. Fournival's probably there too but he'll deny it.)

Smokes: Again, not very often, but she has smoked greenwarish with Quina and Valmiro a couple times (you can't convince me they haven't smoke before, have you seen Quina's room? I get that she's a healer but...)

Drugs: I mean, if greenwarish counts.. But no, she doesn't do drugs. She needs to have a clear head for all that sword swinging. 🤣

Driver's (Oxcart) License: Definitely not. She falls asleep on the oxcarts way too fast.

Ever Been Arrested: Besides the Aelinore quest, no. She can be kinda reckless but she's not a troublemaker.

~~~

Pawn: Affie

wow, great screenshots 💔

Nicknames: Affie is her nickname 😭 Her name is actually Afaenia but no one calls her that. (Affie and Crom's names are literally in-game monikers. For some reason I'm incapable of not using monikers as my characters actual names in DD.)

Age: About the same as Crom, 22-25. Physically. I guess if she was made by Crom she'd probably only be a couple months old. 👶

Race: Pawn. Lol. Crom has loved fantasy stories since she was a kid and has always wanted to see a real life elf, so she created Affie in the image of one (but now I'm wondering, do fantasy stories exist in fantasy worlds? What could possibly be fantasy to them? Modern day Earth? 😭)

Gender: Pawn. I'm kidding. I think like Crom she probably doesn't care much about gender. She's very fem presenting but if you referred to her in any other way she wouldn't really care.

Orientation: Asexual/Aromantic. I just can't see her in a romantic or sexual way lol. It makes me a bit uncomfortable personally.

Moral Alignment: Lawful Neutral? It was hard to pick. She really only answers to Crom. She doesn't think much for herself so you can be sure that she's not going be getting into any trouble (of her own free will lmao.) She is full of complaints though. 😭 I also kinda see her as a big sister figure to Crom despite being younger than her. Always looking out for her and having no problem chewing her out.

Class: She started as a Mage but later became a Sorcerer. Though I can see her switching back and forth depending on Crom's behavior. Like if Crom's been recently injured I can see Affie switching to Mage again to make sure she's ok in fights until she's got her full strength again.

Background: She doesn't really have one... She was made by Crom. If she had a life before Crom, she doesn't remember it.

Interests/Hobbies: I'm not quite sure honestly, but she's probably a throwblast dealer on the side. Something about explosives...

Language(s): Granslish (Common). If she were in DD2 I don't think she'd be able to speak elven. She's a fake. 😔

Height: I think about 5'7-ish. She's a bit shorter than Crom but not too short.

Colors: Purple and Orange.

Fruits: Grapes. I can't really see her enjoying a whole lot of fruits. Maybe? She likes bitter flavors.

Alchoholic Beverages: She has no time for drinks when she has a hard-headed Arisen to take care of.

Smokes: She may not drink, but she's definitely dabbled in little greenwarish before...

Drugs: Nope.

Driver's (Oxcart) License: Can she be trusted to drive a cart? Not sure, but I think she'd have a license regardless.

Ever Been Arrested: Can pawns be arrested? They're not allowed within castle walls... But no, she's a good pawn.

Some more pics lol

Sorry, they're honestly not that interesting 💀

[nyaagolor]

Nemona Team Tweaks

So while I may be ride or die for Nemona, she actually has one of my least favorite teams in SV. Figured it would be fun to talk about my thoughts on how her team was constructed, the finale of Victory Road, and my hypothetical tweaks for her team. All under the cut bc these things get long :)

While I love Nemona as a character, I don't feel like her team quite lives up to her personality in a sense. Unlike Arven and Penny, there doesn't seem to be a clear theme to her team-- or maybe there is and i'm missing it? Either way, Penny's team is a complete gimmick so revealing it all at once makes sense, and you get to watch Arven's team build over time and add to the really solid and obvious food motif. Technically you see Nemona build her team too but she adds so many seemingly random pokemon last minute that I'm just ??? ok nemona

The second issue I have with Nemona-- and the end of Victory Road as a whole-- is that they do absolutely nothing interesting with Tera Types. The gyms set you up beautifully to learn all about how fun and interesting tera types can be, but then you get to the Elite Four + champion(s) and suddenly everyone teras into the same type. It feels like a bizarre way to end things

anyway, here's the team and some reasoning behind the picks:

First, I wanted to center her team around the theme of friendship, specifically her friendship with the player. All the pokemon she has on her team are either representative of her friendship with the player as told through dialogue throughout her story OR evolve via friendship / smth similar

Midday Lycanroc -> Dusk Lycanroc: I like Nemona's Lycanroc because dog = man's best friend and Nemona is the player's bestie, but also it serves as a hazard setter. I'm pretty sure she is the only person to use hazards in this entire game, and the stealth rock was such a pain when I battled her that I feel the need to keep it. As for why I'm switching it from midday to dusk, I think the orange color matches her eyes... and her ability would be Own Tempo if she had one! This pokemon appears in the third battle just like in the games

Orthworm -> Paldean Tauros: Adding this here with a minor caveat that it would also require some extra dialogue. We see her using this pokemon in the intro which implies it's on her initial champion team, but I think she should state this outright during her dialogue with the player, explaining how this is her precious partner and one of the strongest pokemon she's ever battled with. This pokemon ONLY appears in the final battle, and because we know this is one of Nemona's previous aces, we can show through her team how she's pulling out all the stops against you and finally bringing her all

Dudunsparce or Cyclizar: Tbh i'm actually not sure about this one, I feel like it could go either way. A three-segment Dudunsparce could symbolize Nemona being able to (seemingly effortlessly) achieve things that others only dream of, but a Cyclizar is a better parallel to the player and symbolizes Nemona's connection with her pokemon and the player. They're both normal types which means there's still a fighting weakness, so honestly either could work. Still on the fence about this one, but either way it first appears in the fifth battle (either weaker or unevolved) and then at full strength in the final.

Goodra -> Palafin: The fact that no one in the game uses a Palafin is a goddamn crime and I intend on correcting it. Plus, it fits with her new friendship theme quite well! I know the AI would butcher the use of this thing but it's the thought that counts. Much like Goomy, Finizen would appear in the fourth battle with her, but doesn't evolve until the final fight. The form change serves as a fun surprise for unsuspecting player!

Pawmot: No changes here-- Pawmot is a perfect pokemon for nemona. It's introduced at a great time in the second battle, fits her theme of friendship and caring for others with Revival Blessing, and even has her hair!

Starter: I wouldn't change anything about this pokemon EXCEPT for the tera type. This time, she teras into the type strong against your starter-- it serves as a bookends from your first battle with her to your last, and shows that she isn't holding back against you anymore. You're TRULY battling her at the peak of her strength and she isn't fucking around this time

aaaaand that's about it! This team wasn't made for balance or to be an especially hard challenge (since Paldea is easy as hell anyway) but just to add a little more oomph to her team in terms of themes. If u have any ideas on how to change her team lmk I like hearing other people's takes on it too :)

[a-lonely-dunedain]

Ethedis for the LOTRO ask game?

(for this ask game where you send in one of my OCs, and I give you a synopsis of what it would look like if they were the main NPC in a tutorial quest)

o hmm, I think there's a way I could be a little mean about this heheh

so I think that I mentioned at some point that before the elf intro, Ethedis had actually befriended Amdir. I haven't fleshed out all that much of it up until now, but I'm thinking this could be a short adventure with Ethedis and Amdir where you could see them being besties (before The Horrors)

this will probably just have to be one instance, as it would flow best into the Elf or Human starting zones and we don't need to stack two entire intro questlines on top of each other lol

(under the cut bc How Did This Get So Long??)

I think it actually starts in Rivendell, with the Player Character (probably an elf/human only intro) preparing to leave on the expedition to Ered Luin, at which point you are introduced to Elrond's excited young apprentice Ethedis, and the Ranger Amdir who is going to tag along for part of the trip but plans to part ways in Bree.

Fast travel to somewhere in the wilderness of the Trollshaws, you Ethedis and Amdir are a little ways ahead of the group to make sure the road is clear. Surprise! wood-trolls! combat tutorial! After the fight Ethedis will remark that it was the first time she's actually had to put her combat training to the test against a real foe, which surprises Amdir, who says that he wouldn't have guessed it was her first real fight. One of them might ask the player character about their combat experience, which would allow you to pick from a few different responses (always a fun roleplay option and tbh I wish they would use it in more quests). I think if the PC says they're also inexperienced Amdir will mention that he's very glad you're both catching on quickly and didn't get hurt (bc he would not have fun explaining how he let two newbies get injured on his watch, and would feel very bad. classic protective Ranger moment)

Fast travel again to somewhere in the Lone Lands, you all are camped near Weathertop. Ethedis is talking about the history of the area (it sounds like she's been talking about this for a while now), and overall seems very excited to be here and see this historical site in person. Amdir smiles and says he's glad that she's interested in Dunedain history, as it brings him comfort to know that others still wish to keep his people's history alive. Your character might be prompted to give an opinion on Ethedis' loredump, either saying they found it boring (which Ethedis will simply laugh off and say that's probably why she's not a minstrel, but Amdir will just glare at you) or say it was interesting (which will prompt both her and Amdir to loredump even more)

Once you make it to Breeland, somewhere in South Chetwood, Amdir says that he must part ways here. Ethedis says she's sad to see him go but hopes to meet him again once the expedition to Ered Luin is done, and Amdir will tell her that he looks forward to it if such a meeting can be arranged, but tells you both to be careful in your travels (vaguely alluding to a growing danger in Breeland.

Then you can have two different outcomes depending on your race:

If you're a human, you part ways with the Ered Luin expedition at the same time as Amdir. He will bid you farewell and safe travels, and says that he has urgent business to attend to before disappearing into the woods without further explanation (as Rangers are wont to do). Your quest objective tells you to head to Bree-Town, but after you've been heading in that direction for a while you run into a large group of Brigands and get knocked on the head. Wake up in the Blackwold jail, human intro progresses mostly as normal from that point onward (but without the combat tutorial) although Amdir's quest dialogue would be different. If we want to get really mean, maybe one of the last things he says to you as himself is something along the lines of "I fear... I will not make it to see our friend again... tell... tell her that I tried"

If you're an elf, shortly after Amdir departs Ethedis will offer to explain to you the history of Edhelion as it was told to her by her mother before she left for the Havens. Then you get the old elf intro instance but cut down a bit and framed as a flashback, there will also be an elf woman there with a vaguely familiar face holding a baby in her arms (it's never explicitly stated, but that's Ethedis' mom and baby Ethedis), she will be there when Ethedis' dad Talagan brings down the library and she collapse to her knees in a sobbing heap when it happens. No one draws attention to her but she's still There. Anyway after that you arrive in Ered Luin, quests progress as normal but Ethedis is along for the ride. Like when you go to talk to the survivors of Edhelion, Ethedis will be in the ruins with some quest comments ("Even after all this time, I can sense the sorrow in this place..." "The land remembers it like it was yesterday, and I understand now why we still leave it abandoned" and "I think this may have been my parent's house. And to think, we all could have lived here together..."), she's also going to have Opinions about the Dourhand's borderline-worship of Skorgrim lol

After everything in Thorin's Hall is over with, she will disappear for a little bit but rejoin the story during the united elf/dwarf assault on Rath Tarag. When she hears that you're planning to go to Bree next, she will ask you to try to find Amdir and see how he's doing (surely you'll only have good news! surely!)

Later on you might run into Ethedis in Rivendell, and she'll have a short quest for you, talking about missing your fallen friend but finding comfort in your shared memories of him (very similar in tone to Gorwen's quest in Thornhad after finishing Before the Shadow) Amdir was the first mortal friend she knew, and she didn't realize how much this loss would sting. Overall it's a bittersweet reunion.

(man I really saw Ethedis and was like "the elf into didn't give her enough trauma. she's connected to the human one too!" someone please make me Give Her A Break)

[a-tiskit-a-tasket]

KIT’S INTRO !! 🐾

(For absolutely nothing !!)

Hihi !! I’m kit and tbh idk why I’m making but I can and I will, anyways I’ll get to the point !

My interests !!

- South Park (omg no shit really?? 🤯)

- creepypasta/slenderverse

- fallout

- cosplaying (slowly getting back into it !!)

- overwatch (I FUCKING HATE THIS GAME BUT I CANT STOP)

Not a whole lot but idc, moving on now !!

My hobbies

-listening to music (bands like the misfits, dead kennedys, mommy long legs, suicidal tendencies, nirvana, body count, slayer, cannibal corpse, rob zombie, the smashing pumpkins, weezer, the offspring, korn, and goreshit)

- drawing (I can’t draw for shit but I try)

- playing video games (overwatch has done me dirty)

- cosplaying (I haven’t started on anything yet but soon)

- sewing (I make some of my clothes, usually the more intricate stuff I can’t find anywhere.)

- write (usually x reader fanfics and it’s from time to time)

Some things abt me !!

- I yap a lot (if u couldn’t tell)

- I like ganja

- I love Sanrio (especially milk bro he’s so fucking cute !!)

- I’m very socially awkward but I try to communicate the best I can

- I’m dead (on a logical scale I’m not but I feel like I am)

- I make my own music on occasion

- I use very vulgar language and make bad jokes (it can seem mean but I swear I’m not trying to be)

- I love metal and any sort of punk (doom metal and Norwegian black metal are my favs)

- I listen to all different kinds of music

- I love to pierce and tattoo myself

- I love adam sandler movies and cheech and Chong (especially up in smoke)

- I’m great at making 3 gram blunts

- I scream a lot bc I have a lot of energy

- my fave sp character is Mysterion (so is Kenny ig, princess Kenny on top too)

- I’m 17 !!

- I love jumpstyle

I think that’s it for now !! I need me a ciggyrette now Sonny 👵🏼

Wait maybe I should explain why I’m making this? Maybe that’s smart? I need friends who like sp and other things I like !! I swear I’m nice I just don’t know to talk to ppl but I’m always willing to try !!

My dickcord is a_tiskit_a_tasket