#this is a main plot point that will be covered in legacy

[stargazing-sapphire2]

Ghosts 2 where Hesh constantly tries to emulate Elias, down to every little action and gesture

Ghosts 2 where Hesh rationalizes ever decision he makes with "I have to do this because it's what Dad would do" "I need to do this because it's what Dad would have wanted" "What would Dad do if he was here?"

Ghosts 2 where Hesh feels "I have to save Logan because it's what Dad would have wanted" and not because Logan is the last living member of his family and he doesn't want to lose his little brother

Ghosts 2 where Hesh struggles with self-doubt and feelings of worthlessness because he feels he's unable to live up to the standards Elias had expected of him; feeling like he failed him because he was unable to protect Logan

Ghosts 2 where Hesh realizes he is more than what his family molded him into, that the only way for him to become a better version of himself and move on is to remove the shackles of the past; that he realizes he cannot hold himself to the same standard as those who came before him

Ghosts 2 where Hesh becomes his own person, and his actions are his own.

[chillbusinessax]

The Role of Sarada Uchiha in “Boruto: Two Blue Vortex”

The importance of Sarada Uchiha in the series has undergone significant changes throughout the series, and it is important to highlight three key stages in the development of her character.

These three stages have been outlined by the two main writers of the series, Kishimoto and Kodachi.

1st Stage: Kishimoto's Introduction

Let's remember that Sarada and Boruto were the first two characters of the new generation whose foundations and relationship were established by Kishimoto. He presents both characters as a duality that marks the beginning of the series. Through their childhood fights and encounters, a complex friendship is shown that reveals the true character and desires of both characters, who carry important legacies on their shoulders and have big dreams in their hearts. This stage covers from...

The last chapter of Naruto Ch. 700; Boruto: The Movie; Boruto: The Movie (Novel); Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring; the 5 novels of Boruto: Naruto Next Generations; Sasuke Shinden: Shitei no Hoshi; Naruto Shinden: Oyako no Hi

2nd Stage: Kodachi's Era

Kodachi takes control of the manga and begins its serialization based on the foundations established by Kishimoto, respecting his canon and, at the same time, incorporating his own script into the story. We continue to see Sarada's important interactions with Boruto, as well as her own development. Her climax comes during the fight against Boro, but suddenly her role is relegated to simply being Boruto's team mate until she disappears from the manga, becoming a recurring character. Sarada's last appearance under Kodachi's direction is in Chapter 44 of the manga.

3rd Stage; 2nd Era of Kishimoto:

Starting from Chapter 52, Kishimoto takes over the complete writing of the manga, closing Kodachi's storylines and introducing characters that would change the direction of the story. It is from Chapter 69 where Kishimoto reintroduces Sarada and gradually restores her importance as one of the pillars of the plot, thus regaining her initial relevance in the development of the story.

It is important to highlight that Sarada is reintroduced into the narrative with a clear desire: to be an important support for Boruto, someone he can trust and rely on. Sarada doesn't want her best friend to bear all the burden on his shoulders and longs to be capable of protecting him. From a young age, they have always been there for each other unconditionally. Kishimoto presents us again with the duality between both characters, and it is in Chapter 79 where everything finally makes sense. Sarada is destined to save the protagonist, breaking Momoshiki's prophecy and giving Boruto a second chance, putting herself in a vulnerable position within the village. Sarada, the daughter of the traitor (she is the one who begs Sasuke to save Boruto), is seen as a rebel who supports the enemy. Combined with the history of her clan, Sarada is excluded and degraded to a Genin.

By now, you may be wondering: Does Sarada's character depend on Boruto? Well, the answer was mentioned before: Kishimoto set up Sarada and Boruto as a duality, two characters that feed off each other and whose individual storylines have points of connection, basically an analogy of Yin & Yang. The franchise makes many references to Japanese folklore tales and Shinto and Buddhist mythology of Japan, so it shouldn't surprise fans.

"Boruto & Sarada Their eyes tell a story that the most powerful jutsu even couldn't erase… A love story"

Its Sarada's POV that opens the story of "Boruto: Two Blue Vortex." Sarada is immune to omnipotence because that's what Kishimoto needs for the writing. Sarada is the only living witness (besides Eida and the own Boruto) to the entire life story of Boruto. They grew up together and have formed a very complex but important bond of love. Boruto reappears to protect Sarada from Code without her asking him to, he came and stood in front to take care of her because both would give their lives to protect each other. And take note that this will be a critical point in the plot and something that has been building since the beginning of the series.

On the other hand, Eida and Daemon begin to suspect Sarada and Sumire due to Sarada's insistence on uncovering how to reverse the jutsu and understanding Eida's powers. We know how dangerous Daemon can be if he considers them a threat to his sister, or if Eida personally asks Daemon to kill them.

We must not forget that Sarada is an Uchiha. This conditions and enriches her character, making her a user of one of the most powerful and legendary dojutsus in the series: the Mangekyou Sharingan. Although the Mangekyou does not reach the level of shinjutsu or karma, it is a dojutsu of divine lineage that can bring about significant plot twists. It can grant space-time abilities, high-level genjutsus such as Kotoamatsukami and Tsukuyomi, the divine weapons of Susanoo, and even partially alter reality. It may not reach the level of karma or shinjutsu, but she has a very dangerous weapon in her hands that will eventually be decisive in the narrative.

We must not forget Sarada's psychoemotional context; she is intelligent, cunning, determined, is a leader and highly educated, she wants to be the Hokage, she wants to protect the people she loves & Konoha, but she is still an Uchiha. Her bloodline carries a great weight in her emotions, making her irritable and reactive. She is deeply affected by everything that has happened in the past three years: Sasuke is being hunted, so her family is separated again, Boruto is unjustly condemned as a criminal and deserter because of Omnipotence, the seventh, her role model, is presumed “dead”, and she has been ostracized. She lives in a world blinded by a false reality, the perfect cocktail to build a story of drama, power, and love, befitting the heir of the Uchiha Clan.

[anamelessfool]

Talk Shop Tuesday Q: What are the main source(s) of inspiration for your vintage AU? The breadth of references you cover is honestly incredible, and I'm always curious what initially kickstarted big AUs like that one!

I used to wonder why a medievalist like myself suddenly became very interested in the 1970s. And it has to do with I believe my primary hobby is Reasearch. I am always researching everything. I like figuring out what people do, and the objects they interact with and the places they go. I like spending time in a place in time or amongst a subculture.

The main inspiration of my current fic set in the late 70s.... Honestly? It was Copia’s car.

I was like, huh, I wonder if that’s Primo’s car. A guy that chill has some serious secrets. Like wouldn’t it be funny if Primo was a hitman for the ministry. Yes, Hitman for the Ministry started as a JOKE. It’s not a joke anymore.

I then made a timeline with general milestone dates. I used 2018’s Terzo’s kidnapping as a starting point. Then I added to the timeline and I started to see interesting parallels. Terzo runs away? Oh, Papa Camino dies in 1984 and they go to this funeral in NYC, that’s a good time for Terzo to run away. Oh, Secondo/Marian/Sandra polycule serendipitously fizzles out the same year Secondo’s son by Sandra is born. Hmmm…and on and on I went. It helps to have a basic timeline in your brain. I personally love legacy films aka plots with lots of family drama and honor. (I guess it ties into my interest in medieval stuff like chivalry) Like The Godfather series or Road to Perdition or Gangs of New York. Generations striving.

It helps to have a basic location too, even if you don't express it explicitly. You can describe things better. People behave in certain ways based on their location or time period. Plots come from that behavior.

I had just finished an amazing podcast about Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground by No Dogs in Space and I loved Nico. I felt Nico would be such a good Papa Emeritus figure. And so I started watching everything about Nico and Lou Reed that I could. And I listened to more and more music that influenced them or was inspired by them.

I watch a LOT of footage on YouTube. Lots of home video, live concert footage, tutorials, everything. If I want to write a noir I watch noir movies. I loved Boogie Nights and I put that in there too. V & G is Boogie Nights meets Goodfellas meets The Omen I guess haha. Pinterest is great for photos but be careful about accurate sources if you're doing actual research. It's better for figuring out a "vibe" if anything. Watching this footage or listening to this music helps me get a feel for a place. I sometimes watch it all over and over and it's how I "prime" myself to get back into a WIP.

Thanks for the ask! Feel free to ask me anything, anyone!

[golvio]

I’ve been digesting the video essay Orientalism & the Gerudo over the past couple of days. The first half of the video is a basic, consolidated summary of arguments I’ve seen people make about SWANA representation and Black representation regarding the Gerudo that also includes more academic sources to try to explain to newcomers or people unfamiliar with the term “Orientalism” where these points came from. I’m hoping this opens up some discussions across the wider fandom.

My only criticism is that, sometimes, the points can meander a bit between each other without clear boundaries between which talking point is which, leading to occasional moments of “Huh? How did we get here?” or “Wait, what about that other point you just made?” However, I think that’s a symptom of there being just so much to talk about regarding the broader umbrella topic that this video is trying to cover that it’s hard to know when/how to fit stuff in. You could make a whole essay about only how Arab men are depicted as aggressively misogynistic threats menacing Arab women to justify modern imperialist invasions of the Middle East by Western powers and how that ties in to the way Nintendo refuses to show Ganon having a more humanized, complex relationship with his own people. Even after a whole hour it feels like we’ve only just scratched the surface.

However, I also don’t think this “meandering” is necessarily negative because it sometimes ended up leading to great points that I hadn’t considered before. For example, I was initially confused about why the essay started focusing on Rauru and the plot of TotK after the halfway point, but it ended up not just being a useful example of how Japan reproduces Western tropes from pop cultural influences for fans who weren’t quite convinced about the essay’s arguments in the first half because they assumed Japan was in a cultural vacuum where racism doesn’t exist, but also gave me a totally new perspective about Rauru’s character beyond my initial Shintoist reading of his role as a divine ancestor that legitimized the royal family’s rule.

Rauru and Mineru’s designs and backstory borrow visual and literary tropes from depictions of indigenous peoples in American media to legitimize him as “indigenous to Hyrule” and therefore an important founding figure in its revised origin myth, but these tropes reproduced without awareness of their original cultural context also serve to “unperson” him as a character within the story. He’s sequestered into a distant past where he can’t really interact with characters in the present, not even truly “owning” the kingdom he founded, which instead passes to the Hylians, who coopted his legacy of unification for their own ends but completely forgot about him. He and his sister are treated more like “resources” for Link/the player to take advantage of to achieve their goals than characters in their own right. And, emotionally, the Zonai siblings are so distanced from the main cast and each other by being treated more like concepts of “nativeness” than people in their own right that their own descendant feels like a stranger visiting an exotic land instead of long-lost family reconnecting with her roots.

Like…it’s a really clever way to introduce two equally complex points that people should keep in mind when examining the Gerudo. First, that you can’t really treat Japan’s depictions as the exact same as Western depictions, because while Japan isn’t “the West,” it has its own complicated history with racism and imperialism born out of the “pan-Asian” nationalism of the early 20th century. At the same time, Japan doesn’t exist in a hermetically sealed cultural vacuum totally isolated from Western influences that makes Japanese creators incapable of learning about cultural nuances regarding racism, despite what fashy weebs personally invested in the myth of Japan being a magical exotic fairyland where “woke” doesn’t exist want you to believe.

I hope this video essay inspires other people to look into this topic further and maybe contribute their own works to the discussion.

[iridescentoracle]

So, I talked the other day a Whole Bunch about how I’d rewrite Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney to make it actually good. Obviously, I’ve thought about the subsequent games too. It took me a lot longer to figure out what I’d do with Dual Destinies, and I’m still not sure about Spirit of Justice, but one thing that made a lot of stuff click into place was thinking about the original trilogy, and how it ultimately can be boiled down to three main themes/plotlines:

Satire/Critique of the Japanese legal system

Generational Trauma Surrounding the Kurain Channeling Legacy

[gestures at Phoenix and Edgeworth’s relationship]

There’s a lot of reasons the so-called “Apollo Justice trilogy” games all feel wildly disconnected from each other and also mostly the original trilogy, but I think a lot of it comes down to how the themes/plotlines from the original games get lost or are irrelevant because we’ve got a new cast of characters, but there’s nothing tying the new games together but a shared (and much more dramatically expanding) cast of characters.

So for this proposed rewrite project, I’m fixing that. The Apollo Justice trilogy is going to be a trilogy, and that means shared/extended themes and plots that tie all three games together, and tie this trilogy back to the original even though most of the original cast, in this version, have even smaller roles (see: Apollo’s shitty mentor in my rewrite of AA4 being a separate person from Phoenix, who we barely see, etc).

So:

The legal system satire/critique stays consistent in rewritten DD & SOJ, instead of getting completely forgotten about/undermined in DD and doubled down to the point of losing all meaning in SOJ.

Generational Trauma Surrounding the Troupe Gramarye Legacy

honestly i haven’t figured this part out yet but it involves apollo somehow. this rewrite project is a work-in-progress and i’m mostly figuring it out as i go

I’m going to get to each of these in turn, starting (more or less) with the legal system critique, although it’s about to look like I’m mostly complaining about bad writing (in the form of character actions that seem to have been written without any thought actually put into making them make sense from the perspective of the characters in question), which is fair because I kind of am; bear with me, though, I promise it’ll be relevant and I think it’s a pretty solid illustration of how the thematic issues are inherently also narrative/characterization issues and vice versa.

So, let’s talk about Edgeworth and Blackquill’s plan and why the hell they thought that was a good idea. I swear to god, I cannot figure out how that entire plotline makes any sense, unless Edgeworth worked out that Blackquill thought he was covering for Athena and also that the real murderer was probably the Phantom purely via considering the parallels to his own life.

Because, like, the thing is. “this convicted murderer is allowed to be a prosecutor in the last few months before his execution (for murder), thanks to the machinations of a man who has dedicated the last like eight years of his life to being Staunchly Anti-Prosecutorial-Corruption” is just. completely nonsensical. So Edgeworth has to have some reason to think he wasn’t actually the murderer. But the canon trial makes it pretty clear Blackquill was the only suspect thanks to #1 nobody checking the security footage carefully #2 Blackquill making sure Athena wasn’t one, so why would Edgeworth think that? But for that matter, how did Edgeworth even know Blackquill, like, existed, let alone learn about the Phantom? Like, maybe he heard about Blackquill from a third party and got curious and looked into things, or was, like, looking through records of Prosecutors Found Guilty Of Crimes for some reason and found a case he and Phoenix hadn’t been involved in (for once) and had Questions, okay, but he wouldn’t have found out about the Phantom either of those ways, so even if he also somehow learned about him separately, why would he think to connect the two? So he has to have learned about Blackquill’s information on the Phantom from Blackquill, but why would Blackquill confide in someone else like that?

The only way I can make any of those pieces fit together in my head is if Edgeworth figured out Blackquill was attempting to cover for a kid who set off all of the Parallels To DL-6 alarm bells in Edgeworth’s head, and Edgeworth’s two mental options are “just fucking leave. run for it now. never think about this again” and “okay but what if neither the kid nor the other adult in the room was actually the person who murdered the kid’s parent. maybe there was a secret third adult who killed them for mysterious reasons” and he picks metaphorical door #2 (rather than leaving through literal door #1 and going home) and man do i want to see what that conversation/logic chess sequence looked like. At what point did Edgeworth contemplate the possibility of watching Phoenix cross-examine the defendant’s pet hawk

Also, crucially when i say Edgeworth picks #2, I mean he says that out loud, bc I really don’t buy that Blackquill would have just casually confided in him (or anyone) about the Phantom, but Edgeworth working out that Blackquill was trying to protect Athena (who he thinks really did it) and immediately going “okay i see why you assumed it was her but have you considered: what if there was secretly a third party who was the real murderer all along” does seem like the one thing that would actually get him to talk.

And tbh? I think everything makes more sense and is even more compelling if Edgeworth and Blackquill’s plan isn’t just to lure out the Phantom bc he’s a ~super spy with nefarious motives etc, but to lure out the real murderer, now that they’ve realized he probably exists.

To be clear, i don’t think that’s what was intended to have happened in canon, but i think it’s what would have to be true for Edgeworth’s involvement not to be hopelessly stupid and counterproductive.

And this is what I mean about the problems with the characterization/narrative choices being intimately intertwined with the thematic issues, because Edgeworth’s whole deal is fundamentally tied up in the legal system satire of the first three games (and Investigations 1 & 2, for that matter) and so it’s incoherent/inconsistent/nonsensical on a character/narrative level and a thematic level both at the same time. If we’re supposed to believe he did something as stupid as “letting a convicted murderer be a prosecutor without a reason to believe he had not, in fact, committed any crimes” then it undercuts his entire arc up to this point. Still, even that proposed backstory/context, while it would at least provide an understandable motivation/train of reasoning that would actually be in keeping with what we know about Edgeworth up to this point, is ultimately rooted in the Phantom plotline as it exists in canon, which I think is fundamentally flawed on three different levels, and genuinely fixing Dual Destinies requires completely rewriting it.

The three central problems with the Phantom plot, IMO, are actually pretty simple:

The legal system critique that ultimately was part of the heart of the first four games gets completely forgotten about.

Ableism

The stakes are too high and not personal enough, which undercuts the emotional impact and weakens the audience’s emotional investment.

To elaborate, because I’m not sure all of those are equally evident at a glance:

One of our main antagonists is a prosecutor who’s also a convicted murderer and… the worst thing he actually does is be mean to people. No evidence tampering, no forgery, no witness suppression, no actual murder. He’s just kinda scary-looking. The ultimate main villain of the game is a cop! He spends most of the game being nice and friendly and helpful but at the end of the day he committed a whole bunch of crimes, Dual Destinies says ACAB oh wait no never mind he’s actually an imposter and the real police detective he’s impersonating was probably genuinely a really good guy.

The whole “the Phantom has no emotions and therefore doesn’t really count as a person I guess so it’s okay to prove his identity even though the very explicitly established consequences are He Will Be Assassinated Right There in The Courtroom, Which Is Exactly What Happens but everyone’s pretty okay with that because hey, he didn’t have emotions, it’s fine, he’s exempted from, like, deserving basic human rights I guess???” is uh. you know. sure a choice they made

It sounds ridiculous to call the original games “grounded” or “realistic,” but like… at the end of the day, the culprits in the first four games are all just… people? The most powerful people who turned out to be murderers were, like, the CEO of a company, a chief of police, a popular actor, etc. Those are real kinds of people who do normal crimes in real life. The characters are ridiculous and over-the-top but at the end of the day the stakes mostly felt high because they were personal. Even when there’s magic involved, the actual crimes are ultimately things that could have happened for mundane reasons too! All the drama with spirit channeling and at the end of the day, half the spirit channeling-related crimes in the original trilogy come down to someone trying to kill or disgrace her sister and niece so that her own kid will inherit, or a teenage girl dealing with emotional abuse/neglect trying to escape and then trying to cover her tracks or get revenge on people she felt had personally hurt her. But now our stakes involve international espionage and a super-spy who can look like anyone? Absurd as it is to say, Dual Destinies doesn’t feel grounded the way the original trilogy did, and outside Athena’s trial, the personal aspects of the cases mostly come down to “the victim and/or suspect are cared about by the characters we care about,” which isn’t enough to bring the absurdly high stakes back down to something it’s easy to genuinely be invested in.

So. Let’s fix all of those. Conveniently, they all have the same solution: Bobby Fulbright is genuinely a cop. He’s exactly who he seems like up until the canon reveal. He is good-natured and cheerful and energetic and mostly pretty helpful to our protagonists. He’s also the man who murdered Metis Cykes and Clay Terran.

Instead of international espionage, he was engaged in corporate espionage. He was a security guard at GYAXA who got bribed to steal some of Metis Cykes’ research, but got caught and panicked and stabbed her. Even after Simon Blackquill was found guilty, he still felt too nervous to keep working at more or less the scene of the crime, and quit the private security guard gig in favor of becoming a cop. Seven years later, new Chief Prosecutor Edgeworth continued his whole signature anti-corruption deal, going through records of convictions of past prosecutors & law enforcement officers, and something about Blackquill’s conviction didn’t sit right, so he arranged to meet the guy in person. Hearing the story from Blackquill’s own mouth, Edgeworth saw some parallels between UR-1 and DL-6, figured out out that Blackquill had falsely confessed under the belief Athena Cykes had accidentally killed her own mother, and (mostly for DL-6 reasons) theorized that there could have been a third person on the scene who managed to escape undetected. Investigating the evidence, he found the security footage of someone in a security guard uniform and Metis Cykes’ jacket leaving the scene of the crime, and met with Blackquill again with that information and a record of Athena testifying at Blackquill’s trial that she’d seen a stranger in her mother’s lab before Simon arrived. At the time she’d been written off as lying or confused due to the trauma, but with the security footage proving her right, Edgeworth and Blackquill realize that she (unlike the security camera) likely saw the security guard’s face, and so would be the only person who could potentially identify him as Metis Cykes’ real killer—thus putting Athena in danger, if they ever happened to meet.

Without actual evidence linking the unknown security guard to the crime, though—no unidentified fingerprints had ever been found, and the footage didn’t show his face, so there was no way to figure out which of the security guards employed at the time was the real killer, if any records even still existed seven years later given that none of the security guards had been seriously considered as suspects at the time—the new evidence wouldn’t be enough to re-open Blackquill’s case, let alone overturn his conviction. (I have no idea if that would be true IRL, in the US or Japan, but this is Japanifornia, it’s fine, that’s how it works here because I say so. The burden of proof is on the defense and defendants are guilty until proven innocent.) Worse news: this whole discovery happened right after Blackquill’s execution date was finally set, severely curtailing their ability to investigate in any kind of normal sane way because Oh Boy That Time Limit, so: time for an absolutely terrible insane plan that would absolutely ruin the anti-corruption reputation Edgeworth has spent the last ten years working very hard to develop if it didn’t pay off. Also fuck it, Edgeworth says: let’s get Phoenix Wright involved, this is exactly the kind of batshit gamble he thrives on.

(Note: this game rewrite is set post–my Apollo Justice rewrite, in which Phoenix was never disbarred, and he and Edgeworth got together within a year of T&T. See here for elaboration and, like, a lot of complaining about how AJ should have been amazing and wasn’t.)

As in canon, the plan in question is, essentially:

Let Blackquill return to prosecuting crimes again while still a convicted murderer on death row

?????

The real murderer of Metis Cykes is caught and Blackquill is proven innocent after all

Profit

I have no idea what step two is supposed to be but given that step three of the canon plan seemed to be “the Phantom turns up to steal back the psych profile which he somehow finds out Blackquill had all along” and I didn’t understand step two there either, I don’t super care.

Blackquill agrees to the whole crazy plan, but only on the condition that both Edgeworth and Phoenix swear they won’t tell anyone about the real plan without his permission, and in particular they absolutely will not tell Athena specifically.

Phoenix, who just hired Athena like a week ago, and has definitely connected the dots to figure out she became a lawyer to save Blackquill and is seeing some parallels of his own:

…But Blackquill’s life is the one in imminent danger (his execution date has just been set) and the whole plan relies on his cooperation, so ultimately (after a lot of arguing), Blackquill wins and they agree.

It’s not easy; after 1-5 and 3-5, Edgeworth and Phoenix were not going to be easily convinced not to tell Athena. They have seen how Complicated Scheming With The Goal Of Protecting A Young Woman But Without, Like, Telling Her Anything goes before (not to mention the more general Bad Associations with the possibility that someone out there might be plotting the death of a kid for the crime of being inconvenient in some way, see 1-4 and 2-2 and arguably 3-1), but I absolutely do believe that Blackquill would listen to all their arguments and still be like “my only priority is Athena’s safety; if she finds out about any of this she will try to investigate and will not prioritize her own safety, I don’t care what you think, if you tell her anything I’m out,” so ultimately they’re stuck.

On a side note, Trucy (when she does turn up in Dual Destinies) is a delight, but her role is bizarrely tiny for someone who’s hands-down the best new character of the trilogy, so in this rewrite she actually spends most of the game investigating with Apollo and Athena. She’s not actually super happy about it, though, because she wants to be investigating with Phoenix but he won’t let her, or even tell her about what his current case is. She feels like he doesn’t trust her and she’s pretty hurt though she doesn’t want to talk about it, etc, and in general there are canon-typical levels of hinting at deeper issues without actually directly addressing them.

In the end, things get more or less wrapped up by Phoenix (and Edgeworth) being like “look we wanted to tell all three of you what was going on but we were sworn to secrecy, and it was Blackquill’s life on the line so we couldn’t risk breaking his trust,” with the implication of further discussions to be had off-screen/post-game abt the deeper insecurities and anything that still feels insufficiently well justified, but just like that, here’s Trucy in a larger role with a new emotional conflict/interestingly complicated relationship that nevertheless doesn’t require/get much screen time bc Phoenix isn’t there for her to be actively having this conflict with.

There’s also a whole new case added between 5-3 and 5-4 that revolves around the Gramarye family legacy, in which Trucy, Apollo, and Lamiroir all learn who they are to each other, but I’ll get to that later.

In the meantime, back to the Fulbright thing! As in canon, he’s both Blackquill’s assigned police detective and his parole officer, which definitely secretly kind of terrifies Fulbright because oh god oh fuck he was a suspect specifically because he used to hang around the space center with his sister & mentor back when I worked there, what if he recognizes me, but hey, keep your enemies close, right? Especially when they’re definitely planning something, and also the only person who knows they didn’t actually commit the murder they were convicted for that was actually your doing. So.

(If Athena notices that despite his cheerful demeanor and attempt to be casual about the whole thing, he actually sounds terrified of Blackquill, it’s ironically very easy to brush off bc like. Look he tries to be cheerful and good-natured but Blackquill’s a scary guy, okay, just look at him, etc.)

So, with Fulbright secretly there all along, not in on the investigation/unaware there’s new evidence that could help point at his guilt but still close enough to keep an eye on things, no further progress is actually made in the luring-out-Metis-Cykes’-real-killer project, and time starts growing short.

Meanwhile, GYAXA is preparing for a manned rocket launch. Time to rewrite some more backstory.

A bit more than seven years ago, Solomon Starbuck worked for a private sector rival of GYAXA, but their secret use of sub-standard materials nearly proved deadly for him, and upon returning to Earth, he quit and joined GYAXA instead. The rival company’s reputation took multiple massive hits (from the near-failure of the mission, the subsequent exposé about cost-cutting measures at the expense of employee safety up to and including materials used in rocket ships, and the newly-famous Starbuck’s resultant departure for GYAXA), and they promptly resorted to attempting corporate espionage (via bribing security guard Bobby Fulbright), leading to Metis Cykes’ death.

Seven years later, when GYAXA starts gearing up for Starbuck’s next trip into space, their rival company attempts to cause the launch to be canceled via phone calls claiming the rocket will be sabotaged otherwise. The hoax partially works: the director secretly arranges for the launch to be faked bc he believes better safe than sorry but he doesn’t have the authority to just straight-up officially cancel it, and meanwhile the police are also alerted of the claimed bomb threat, and a team is sent to ensure everything goes fine, which would’ve been fine, except Fulbright is on the team.

That would also be fine, except Fulbright is already concerned because Blackquill’s execution date is closing in so there must be something big going on that he doesn’t know about but even being Blackquill’s parole officer/detective hasn’t let him figure out what. (Ironically, he’s probably wrong; Edgeworth and Phoenix and Blackquill are all getting pretty stressed about things getting down to the wire, but don’t actually have any more concrete way to lure out the real killer or they already would’ve arranged it, and mostly what’s going on behind-the-scenes is arguments about getting more people (including Athena) involved in the investigation.) When he then learns about the bomb threat to GYAXA and (correctly) guesses that it’s likely the doing of GYAXA’s rival company who’d bribed him all those years ago, Fulbright is super paranoid about the possibility that the bomb threat might be real, and if it is that it might be the work of a new security guard, and if it is and they get caught, that the already-raised suspicions regarding Blackquill’s innocence will be basically confirmed, and Fulbright himself will finally be suspected of the murder of Metis Cykes.

As a result of his paranoia, Fulbright goes poking around in areas he wasn’t actually supposed to be, accidentally runs into Clay Terran, and (in a panic) kills him. Solomon Starbuck is deemed the primary suspect, Apollo takes the case, and a bomb squad specialist (disappointed the threat to GYAXA turned out to be a hoax) gets bored. The Cosmic Turnabout and Turnabout Countdown commence.

Things actually mostly go as in canon, just following on from the differences I’ve already established. The final major change is that while the hostage situation still happens, we’re lowering the stakes and making them more personal: it’s not a dozen people conveniently-for-Aura including Trucy, and there’s no fake robot uprising. Trucy is the hostage and Aura’s pretty open about it being her doing from the start.

Again, this is a sequel to my alternate version of AA4. Phoenix never got disbarred and he and Edgeworth have been together for years. It is common knowledge that Trucy is the daughter of Phoenix Wright + the new chief prosecutor. Since she’s Blackquill’s sister, Aura might even be one of the few people who knows Edgeworth found new information about the UR-1 incident (although she either doesn’t know about or doesn’t buy the security guard theory), and that this whole weird letting-Blackquill-prosecute-cases arrangement is part of some sort of plan to prove his innocence, so hey, win-win, right? Phoenix and Edgeworth try Athena for her mother’s murder, they prove Blackquill innocent just like Edgeworth was already trying to do anyway, and their daughter doesn’t get hurt.

Also there’s still room for an “oh no the robot uprising!” joke in there, potentially. The robots all start acting weird, someone’s like OH NO THE ROBOT UPRISING! CURSE YOUR SUDDEN BUT INEVITABLE BETRAYAL, I GLADLY SURRENDER TO OUR NEW ROBOT OVERLORDS etc and then via the nearest robot Aura is like “oh my god shut up” and it turns out all the robots are acting weird bc they’re all looking for Phoenix or one of his associates to let him know his daughter’s being held hostage and he better listen up.

Aaaand that’s about all I’ve got on that front. I know the culprit not being a super-spy and there not being actual bombs at the HAT-2 fake launch creates some plot holes but while I’m a life-long mystery fan, I’m not a mystery writer and that’s not really the part of this that I’m good at coming up with solutions to, although if anyone’s got ideas I am All Ears.

It’s not the most hard-hitting critique of the legal system, and I’m still working on figuring out how to improve it more; in particular, I’m honestly torn about Blackquill even turning out to have been completely innocent because it very much was a Whole Thing that all the prosecutors used to start out as corrupt and the ones we like had to become better, or, you know. go to jail for the crimes they very much did in fact commit. So it actually feels like a real step down, having the prosecutor in this one be a straight-up convicted felon who… turns out to have done nothing wrong and been a good guy all along actually, surprise! But I can’t figure out how to change that without undermining the whole resolution of the game and turning him into a fundamentally different character, so for now that part is what it is.

Meanwhile, at the end of the day: ACAB, including Bobby Fulbright who is actually genuinely a cop, and used his position to avoid being found guilty for crimes he’d committed (up to and including forging evidence to frame someone else). Which is to say, what the game almost said, without the haha nope nvm he was an imposter and the real Bobby Fulbright was probably a great guy actually of it all. Also in this version Fulbright casually tazing Blackquill is like. actually treated as fucked up and a reminder that oh right cops still suck and even if one seems friendly he will probably absolutely abuse his power over others given the slightest excuse, and also no one deserves to be subjected to police brutality. And while Edgeworth winds up being ethically in the clear in that he didn’t actually pull strings to let a murderer prosecute other people’s crimes bc he did know Blackquill was innocent all along, at the end of the day someone was in fact able to pull strings to let a convicted murderer etc. Which on the one hand requires a lot of suspension of disbelief, but on the other hand, like I just said about Blackquill: idk man I had to change this much just to make Fulbright work, I’ve only got so much to work with here and I’m not actually good at coming up with grand sweeping changes.

Also it occurs to me I haven’t actually established this yet but “the Dark Age of the Law” is stupid and we’re completely dropping that whole concept because if two relatively new lawyers apparently turning out to be bad people was enough to kick off a whole ~Dark Age~ and make the general public lose faith then where the hell was everybody during the reign of Demon Prosecutor Miles Edgeworth, Chief of Police Damon Gant and Chief Prosecutor Lana Skye, and the forty-year win streak of Manfred von Karma. And so forth. There’s probably room for something interesting to be done with like, the ways in which public perception of a situation doesn’t always reflect reality and large populations can be slow to consciously react to major trends and sometimes one small incident can be turned into a symbol of something it isn’t really even an example of anyway or whatever but like… I have no idea how to do that in the format of an Ace Attorney game so personally I am simply ditching that plotline wholesale.

So that’s that. Now let’s talk about Troupe Gramarye. In canon, Apollo Justice sets the Troupe Gramarye rights up to be a major plotline, but then it gets completely forgotten about in Dual Destinies, and sort of half-heartedly continued but not really resolved in Spirit of Justice. In this rewrite, the Troupe Gramarye legacy is more or less what the Kurain Spirit Channeling legacy was to the original trilogy: a nominally magical element that at the end of the day is mostly the catalyst for a story about greed and complicated families and the trauma and destruction they create.

So, the Gramarye-related cases in my rewritten Apollo Justice go as established (i.e. actually basically like canon except Phoenix escapes unscathed), except with a couple more tweaks: Lamiroir’s face is hidden way better, and neither she nor the audience learn who she is to Apollo and Trucy yet.

That gets saved for Dual Destinies’ brand new Gramarye rights-centric case.

While it could probably go earlier, I think it would fit best between Turnabout Academy and The Cosmic Turnabout. I’ve already covered the latter, so some notes about the former: plot-wise it remains unchanged, but a lot of the dialogue is different because I would have thought it was unbearably preachy and condescending at age nine and this game was rated M. We Do Not Need The Lecture, Thanks. Also Aristotle Means looks slightly more human/less like an actual straight-up marble statue because that was so unbelievably distracting. There’s weird character designs and then there’s By The Way, This Literal Marble Statue Is Sentient I Guess.

The rest of the difference is that (following on from my proposed Apollo Justice rewrite) Klavier Gavin gets to be an actual human being with feelings and not 60% of a lovingly-painted cardboard cutout of a person. He shows up with a re-design—possibly a slightly different outfit in general, I don’t have strong feelings about that, but the important thing is that he’s gotten a haircut. In my head he’s got roughly the same style from the flashback portions of 4-4, but that’s partially just because I’m not good at picturing things like that. What matters is that his hair looks nothing like Kristoph’s anymore. Also it’s established in passing that he and Trucy and Apollo have had a whole bunch of conversations in the last year and are all on good terms now, despite [gestures at 4-1 and 4-3 and 4-4], and that Klavier is doing more or less okay. Emphasis on “or less” once his beloved mentor gets murdered, but in this version he actually gets to be part of the post-case denoument conversations and establishes that he’s pretty devastated (despite the return of his professional facade) but Apollo and Trucy and Athena are all well aware of that and are, so to speak, on the case, and with their support eventually he’ll be okay.

So. With that out of the way, here’s a new case about the legacy of Troupe Gramarye.

We start off by learning that Lamiroir is in town again and Trucy wants to go see her, because last time they saw her perform live things went pretty badly and it kind of soured the whole experience in retrospect, but she really did have such a beautiful voice that Trucy wants to see her again (hopefully with nobody getting murdered this time). She talks Apollo into going with her pretty easily; he might put up a token resistance, but he’s actually not really opposed since she’s performing solo this time and he likes her music a lot when the Gavinners aren’t involved. They go to the show, and it’s everything they could have hoped for and more, including that as it turns out, she’s working with Valant Gramarye again, and the effects are, again, super impressive.

But gasp, betrayal, after the show (possibly the next day, at the Wright & Co. Offices?) it turns out that Valant sucks even more than we thought (though, you know, framing his friend/in-my-version-brother for murder and abandoning the child of the woman he loved who had just also been abandoned by her father wasn’t exactly a great start): he’s suing Trucy for the Gramarye rights, based on the premise that she inherited them under false pretenses, because he’s discovered evidence that suggests Thalassa’s death was due to active negligence on Zak’s part, and he’s arguing that while Zak was the better/more talented magician, and thus Magnifi liked him better than Valant, Thalassa was Magnifi’s beloved daughter, and there’s no way Zak would’ve been given the first shot (so to speak) at earning the Gramarye rights if Magnifi hadn’t been blinded enough by grief to believe it was an accident, and while Trucy inherited the rights fair and square from Zak, he should never have had the rights in the first place, and Valant is the rightful inheritor.

I have no idea where the rest of the plot goes because I’m not a mystery writer and I don’t know how to come up with actual plots and red herrings and clues, but eventually there’s a dramatic reveal that there was active negligence involved, which Valant knew all along bc it was his fault.

…but that reveal is ultimately secondary to the one either shortly before or shortly after, that [drumroll] Thalassa wasn’t actually dead anyway

Which, again, I’m not a mystery writer, I don’t know if or how this would actually fit, but in my head there’s a great dramatic moment where the reveal happens for the audience—Valant, Trucy, Apollo, any Troupe Gramarye fans in the gallery, and the players—but not, for the first few moments, Lamiroir herself.

For whatever reason, she removes her veil/scarf, or they slip somehow, and so she’s there on the witness stand with her face visible around other people for the first time in years. The whole gallery (and Apollo) kind of collectively draw in a breath, while Valant says her name, genuinely stunned

And in almost the same moment, Trucy (who would sound five years old, if this bit was a cutscene) says “…Mommy?”

Cue discussion, Lamiroir learns who she is, the realization that Magnifi must have known she wasn’t really dead and the real cover-up was his doing all along etc, everything gets resolved, and Valant gives up on suing Trucy for the rights.

(The “hey that’s an awfully familiar-looking bracelet” reveal probably doesn’t happen until after the rest of the case is resolved, but I don’t have particularly strong feelings about that one way or the other.)

Everything winds up reasonably happy—Apollo and Trucy find out they’re half-siblings and their mother’s alive, Lamiroir resolves to get the surgery to restore her eyesight (and in the end credits we find out it helped restore her memory too), and Trucy gets to keep the Gramarye rights bc Valant’s suit was built on two different fundamental lies (that Thalassa’s death was Zak’s fault/that it wasn’t Valant’s, and that she was, you know, actually dead), and relatedly, in a shocking twist for the series, no one actually gets murdered, and there isn’t even an accidental death!

…but any hope of Trucy and Valant reconnecting/Valant becoming a positive figure in Trucy’s life again is pretty solidly destroyed, and there’s another two blows struck against the Troupe Gramarye legacy, bc not only was Thalassa’s accident actually Valant’s fault all along, Magnifi knew she wasn’t dead and abandoned her.

In a very direct parallel to Maya at the end of 3-5, Trucy spends most of the case uncertain whether she even wants these rights anymore—she ultimately decides the answer is yes, but it’s in question from basically the moment she learns Valant’s argument for why the rights should belong to him, and even him admitting the whole thing was based in lies and the rights are hers fair and square doesn’t convince her entirely right away.

Aaaaand then The Cosmic Turnabout kicks off and we’re back to the previously-established plot!

[verdemoth]

i got invited into @skies-seas space headworld a while back and offered my beloved immortal space captain from spore 2008. and then it took me several months to finalize a design for them/their species

Captain Sondetten was once just a guy, but is now a spaceship puppeting around a clone of their old body. This is because they made the mistake of captaining the first expedition beyond their home star, and the first to encounter sapient alien life. Now they are not a person to the empire, they’re a living symbol progress and expansion and conquest and they can’t be allowed to die. So when they did, solutions were found. [more under readmore]

Several centuries later, Sondetten is still kicking. The same mind, more or less. They’ve accumulated so many memories that after a certain point, it was easier to transfer their mind into servers aboard their ship. Easier for the empire to maintain digital backups for when the ship is destroyed and needs to be rebuilt. Easier to filter out extraneous data that would only take up valuable space.

Son’s none too thrilled with their lot in life. Everything they do has political consequences that can make or break an alliance. Despite their influence they can’t do anything to change their situation. They don’t recognize the world they were born on. They can’t remember the names or faces of their countless dead friends. They’ve mostly stopped making friends, as no one else can understand fully what they’ve experienced. They’re a ghost haunting their own ship, which is more their true self now than the flesh they wear for the sake of being presentable.

In this shared setting, Son finally snapped and went rogue. They broke into a memory bank to hastily download a big file of that old ‘extraneous data’ (not a clean install, it’s not totally coherent or chronological but they’re glad to have the chance to invite old ghosts back in), then they made their exit and wrecked some shit on the way out, vanishing off to the other side of the galaxy. Son may have been a pacifist once but they’ve long since grown desensitized to violence.

There’s nothing stopping the empire from making another Sondetten, and becoming even more selective with what memories are returned to them to prevent this from happening again. But that’s a problem for that Sondetten, not this one. This Sondetten finally got away, and is for the first time in a long time somewhat mortal. They can make another body clone given enough time if the current one is killed, but if their ship is destroyed there will be no one to rebuild it and restore these memories. This Son will end if the ship dies, which is a novel experience.

In the meantime they’re trying to figure out how life works now in a place where they’re not being strangled by their own legacy. They arrive into the plot as just the ship with severe hull damage and some very atypical technology. They find themself put up as a grand prize to be won in some competition, which is not exactly what they were hoping for. They decide to play along for a time in hopes of getting free repairs, and only reveal themself as a sapient being when some folks try snooping into their memory servers or cloning process.

~ Anyway i made this species in spore in like 2012 or something? they were one of my main playthroughs and Sondetten is my go to when i’m playing the space stage :]

the original Maaydes + Sondie in game

i’ve been trying to draw/design the species but it took me sooooooo long to settle on what i wanted! the initial concept was marsupial + bird but it evolved past that. there’s plenty of thylacine in the jaw range of motion & general posture/body anatomy, but also some rodent proportions and upright posture. head cones from great crested grebe and austroraptor. wing anatomy and proportions are pterosaur, a single long digit supporting a membrane. with a wing covering of moth like scales. also a bit of pangolin but it’s more obvious on some subspecies than on Sond here

the idea is that the predecessors of this species had some kind of fur like covering, which over time changed into fused structures somewhere between a scale and a feather? they’re primarily equipped for insulation and ornamentation (colourful) but the wing scales help to provide lift, and there are larger variations that provide effective armour. stomach ‘plumage’ is more similar to the original ‘fur’

[hazelcephalopod]

Alright here some of my thoughts for the beginning of Preacher season 3 -still insomnia posting.

What the hell is wrong with his Granma? Also this whole family sucks -except Jesses mom it seems.

Episode one- Jesse deals with things with violence and making questionably deals -worse than usual. Also. Half dead woman’s dark magic to bring back the dead.

Tulip backstory- it’s fucked up and sad! She just wanted to eat her cereal.

Cass is very done and tbh very fair at this point.

Protip. Don’t eat things a weird mean old witch gives you. Don’t do it. (No idea how that’s gonna pan out tbh but I’d wager on it being bad)

…or give them your spit. Don’t do it.

So. I don’t think the resurection spell really worked? She really was ready to go “fuck this asshole” until god sent her back. (Hilarious.)

…if she has to choose one of these men I’d advise on Cass tbh. (Based off the spoilers I have I believe it now gets even more love Trianguly and tbh I’m still on horses the ot3, the messiness makes it more fun)

Episode 2: Jesse tries to salvage things. Unfortunately he also makes very bad choices

Hey they sent him to school! Oh no this vice principle is the fucking worst. “She’s a junior” and your an adult man, with a wife. Stop it.

Oh it’s the soul extracter! For the family soul extraction business.

Don’t worry Tulip sure god will send you some horrifying visions. (Srsly he’s more interested in you then… seemingly anyone else looking for him)

“Who’s Jenny” -this is why they were leaving you Jesse! Truly paying no attention to them at all.

Tbh. My main feeling whenever the Grail or Star show up at this point is “these guys again really”? Yes I get it they are part of the plot as the antagonists and whatever but… do we hav to see this much of them? Doing whatever this is supposed to be? (Imagine if the Hare Krishna’s had managed to just take them out.)

Yes Jesse, Tulip is fine other than you are now captives of you’re frankly evil Gran’ma who doesn’t seem keen on letting anyone go

What the hell is happening with Cass and the smaller uncle? I’m not opposed I’m… I’m weirdly curious. (Later me- well. That’s not good. Avoid that uncle)

Yup and there’s the god visions coming back. (For all the sense they make)

I must admit from what I’ve seen of the uncles… Gran’ma just desperately trying to make Jesse her heir and legacy I get it. It’s not much but… we’ll I get it. Still evil.

I’m sorry it’s so funny that this show has a vampire and they are just like “wear covering clothes an carry and umbrella in broad daylight. That’s works!”

Oh right the fucking grail idiots are here. Also. You wait to shoot them right beside the swamp so you don’t have to carry them.

Lmao. Tulip has not gotten the memo about Jesse and Cass really breaking up hard.

Does the Grail teleport?! How the hell is Starr here?!

Welp. This is all going to shit.

Well Jesse is gone again. This time leaving the other two in an even worse situation! (Lol. Tulip and Gran’ma have foiled that in record time.)

Ill be the first to say people can change but they have to take the first step and demonstrate a willingness to do so and… so far there is not sign that’s gonna happen anytime soon with Jesse unless someone actually introduces a consequence he can’t easily overcome.

Great a weird clean murder dungeon.

[jeongyunhoed]

As seen on my FF.net Also seen on my Ao3

Following the events of fifth year, a new adventure awaits for Norah Lee. Boys, exams, school events, common room parties, and old foes outside of Hogwarts. Even battling pensieve guardians was easier than this.

Main Pair: OC/? Genre: Adventure/Angst/Fluff (it's a little of everything, tbh)

KEEP IN MIND: Characters are aged up (even if the story's got them in sixth year) to make it more appropriate. Time period is leaning towards the modern day so in case you might find anachronisms in the dialogue or references, this is why. This may also be quite a lengthy fic too.

BE WARNED: Social anxiety, mentions of blood and injury, grief, drinking, kissing but nothing more than that, death (this is Hogwarts Legacy, after all)

P.P.S: The more I write this, the more anxious I'm becoming because I usually write 10-chapter fics, but I'm kind of challenging myself to let the plot, the story in itself breathe a lot longer compared to before. I hope I'm doing okay though. I also referenced a spell that in the game canon, wouldn't exist until decades later. But whatever.

And I also kind of lied with this being the party chapter, sorry. We finally know who Nick is!

Masterlist

Chapter 10

As Norah learned, the secret passageway to Hogsmeade would be packed with students on the days of house parties. Prefects provided some cover, along with Gladwin Moon, who would assist in bringing in barrels of butterbeer to the school. If there were teachers that questioned, the cool Hogwarts caretaker would only brush it off as acquiring some flesh-eating slug repellents instead. After all, the One-eyed Witch passage was the only way they could bring in several other drinks and food from Hogsmeade back to Hogwarts without Black or any prissy student, prefect, portrait, gargoyle, or nearby house elf noticing much.

Hufflepuffs were lucky when it came to their parties. They need only take food from the kitchens nearby, with the house elves happily obliging, sometimes even to the point where they happily demanded they bring back more than what they needed.

She was on a little day trip to upper Hogsfield, noticing the old goblin encampment nearby had turned into a wide space where many of its residents held picnics, painted the scenery, and flew kites. After what was happening the entire week, she needed a little break from wandering about the castle. In a span of a year, so much had already changed.

"Ah! Norah! How have you been? Up to your ears with NEWT subjects?" Claire Beaumont, a local merchant whose brother she helped locate, greeted her when she approached. "People are still talking about you taking down Ranrok and his loyalists. You've become quite a heroine."

Norah smiled. "I've been alright, Ms. Beaumont. Just spending my weekend as usual. And yes, I've been up to my ears with all the homework," She said. "How are things?"

"Ah, well, relatively peaceful as usual. Since you took down the loyalist encampments and Ranrok, no ashwinder nor loyalist has set foot in these parts," Claire explained. "But, I do fear now that Harlow's back on the run, growing his followers, that things might go back to the way they were before you came in."

An opportunity to get back on the path to catching Harlow once again, she thought. With all the fuss over Professor Ronen's secret summoners and homework, she nearly forgot she was on the hunt for Harlow since his escape from Azkaban a month ago. "Ms. Beaumont, I don't suppose you haven't...heard of anything else regarding Harlow, have you?" She said, quietly enough that hardly anyone around them heard.

Claire seemed to get the idea of where Norah was coming from. "You're still so young and you're already having to do something no girl your age has to," She sighed. "But, I would advise you to stay away from Horklump Hollow and Spinners Cavern. I heard he's assembling some of his men and women in those places."

"What?" Norah knew of those two places, having ventured into both during fifth year. "Quite risky, assembling in there. They could've easily been killed."

"That's what I thought too," Claire nodded. "I reckon they've turned everything in there upside down and formed their own fortresses. It's too dangerous for you. You should just let the authorities take it from here. You've done enough, you needn't concern yourself with Harlow anymore."

She smiled and shook her head. "He will be after me regardless if I go to him or not, Ms. Beaumont. But you didn't hear it from me."

As she purchased a few potion ingredients, it was now making her think of what to do with Claire's information. She suddenly thought of what Sebastian and Ominis might be up to at the castle. They knew where she was, since she told them before apparating. Did she want to ask for Natty and Poppy's help? Could she get Amit to get down from the Astronomy tower for a moment?

Not wanting to attract too much attention, and also to keep anyone from getting suspicious about why she was there, Norah went to the small coffee shop a little past Claire's. It reminded her of Steepley & Sons, with the cozy interiors, flowery wallpaper and decorative plates. She ordered herself a coffee, thinking that by waiting, she'd come up with a plan.

Before leaving the castle, she finally took the chance to reply to "Nick." He was all she could think about since figuring it out. But even as she was sure it was him, anxiety crept in, questioning if she was certain it was who she thought it was. There was still a chance that it was someone else entirely.

Norah brought all the letters "Nick" sent with her during this little outing. The thought of possibly confirming her suspicions at the Gryffindor party that was going to happen in the night ahead seemed to make her anxious. Anxious in a way that she was looking forward to meeting the very boy who was giving her riddles and leading her to the secret dating spot in the Forbidden Forest she discovered in fifth year.

After paying for her drink, she left the shop. She didn't want to pull anyone else into what she planned to do while she casually left the hamlet. Yes, she was certain she needed to go at it alone. Until the nagging thoughts of what Professor Weasley told her, and of Sebastian, of Ominis, and of Natty, what the three of them have told her off for. This time around, she needed a reminder that she couldn't face everything on her own.

Especially when it might lead to her risking her life once again.

Norah groaned, torn between what she planned to do and what she also had to do. Taking another step forward in the direction of Horklump Hollow, she was still contemplating on whether or not to tell anyone she knew, at the very least, Claire and the widow Dorothy Sprottle. She needed to return in time to get ready for the party at the very least. They had all agreed to meet Natty by the Faculty Tower entrance.

Still undecided on whether to go alone or tell someone, Norah went ahead anyway, walking in the direction of the entrance of Horklump Hollow. She wondered how Harlow would manage to set up a base in there. It would be nothing more than an old troll dwelling, since the last time she ventured inside. As for Spinner's Cavern, however, not every spider was killed there. She wouldn't be surprised if the grounds of Spinner's Cavern would remain littered with more dead poachers and Ashwinders from spider bites and entanglements.

Maybe this could be her chance to continue practicing non-verbal spellcasting, especially after learning more spells in the past week. Including a few seemingly unsanctioned spells with Sebastian, one of which was quite bloody if cast correctly. The thought of using newly learned spells in a possible battle with more poachers and Ashwinders occupied Norah's mind the closer she got.

Unsurprisingly, there were some poachers keeping watch at the entrance of the cavern aptly named for having an abundance of horklumps. An Ashwinder ranger, known to be skilled in casting petrificus totalus, flanked by two others dressed in their yellow jackets.

She was about to take another step forward when she felt a hand grab her shoulder. Norah nearly yelled in surprise when she saw the faces of none other than Sebastian, Poppy, and Cressida. Sebastian and Poppy in particular, were looking at her as-a-matter-of-factly. "Bloody Merlin, you almost gave me a heart attack," She slapped Sebastian's arm.

"We couldn't let you follow a lead on your own, you know," Poppy pointed out, although the wide grin on her face seemed to suggest she was unsurprisingly preoccupied.

"A lead? Are you following Harlow?" Cressida questioned, making the three of them shush her. "Sorry," She whispered. "If you were wondering, I accidentally summoned Sebastian's name. I was supposed to summon someone else."

Sebastian looked incredulous, while Norah bit back a laugh as did Poppy. "That was mean, but I appreciate the effort, I guess."

"Sorry," Cressida mumbled. "So, how can I help the three of you?"

"You're just as brilliant at non-verbal spells anyway. I'm afraid we're up for a little game of cat and mouse," Norah explained. "Ever been to Horklump Hollow, any of you?"

"You told us about that," Poppy said. "You had to take down a troll in there. But what's so special about Horklump Hollow? Aside from all the horklumps?"

"Claire Beaumont told me that Harlow and his cronies are turning this and Spinner's Cavern into their own forts, out of sight so no authorities can raid them, probably," Norah explained, looking back at the entrance. "Why would they want to take over two places that are undoubtedly so dangerous? I reckon there are still hundreds of spiders being bred in the other cave."

"Spiders?" Cressida looked horrified. "Trolls? Harlow? We could be killed in there."

"You think it's time to bust inside that cave?" Sebastian asked. "Say the word, Norah."

Norah wasn't sure. "We're just going to take a better look, see if what people in Upper Hogsfield have suspected are correct. I don't think anyone's been inside Horklump Hollow for a while."

The four of them quietly went down the path towards the cavern. A pack of dark mongrels were wandering nearby. Not wanting to deal with those, they obscured themselves with the disillusionment charm, doubled with the invisibility potion Norah handed each of them. Fully unseen, they approached the entrance. Sebastian and Norah led the way, petrifying everyone standing by until they fell to the ground, completely frozen.

They entered the cavern, hearing a commotion coming from the light at the end. The closer they got, they saw that the suspicions were correct. It wasn't clear how long, but the open space, where the troll cage used to be, was cleared out and turned into somewhat that of a headquarters. Trunks of treasures and other sorts were strewn around, and the mound of concrete and debris Norah remembered having to climb over to get to the passage going out was cleared out, with makeshift stairs and ramps in place.

The gap that Norah remembered having to jump over was since covered with planks. "How oddly considerate," Poppy muttered as they pressed on, walking over the planks until they approached the slope. "This place used to be a dungeon, from the looks of it."

"Yeah," Sebastian agreed, sticking close to Norah while they led the way, "Nature seems to have a way of taking what's theirs, from how run down everything is."

"There's no other way to go but down," Norah told them. "If we want to move forward, we'll be surrounded by these poachers and ashwinders. We'll need to find out more, we can't do anything just yet. Let's go back."

"With Victor Rookwood gone, how many other Ashwinders left are now working for Harlow."

They heard someone say from above. The four of them stopped. It was a group of Ashwinder scouts, most of their faces obscured by the masks they wore, with exception of their eyes.

"That child ruined everything we've worked for. We could've had it all. We could've had all the galleons in the world," Another one said, making Sebastian and Norah exchange looks. "Children should be seen and not heard, Victor Rookwood always used to say that."

"We'll be back and running soon enough, once we've cleared out this stinkhole of a place. Drain the waters, and maybe connect this to the other cavern," A third Ashwinder scout said, only to be met with slaps. "Ouch!"

"Once we recruit more to our cause, we'll have enough firepower to restart our empire. Breed dugbogs and kappas or something like that. And then, maybe kidnap a few people as an insurance policy. If that child knows what's good for her, she won't dare do anythin' to them."

"Why take those when we can get the child herself? Those seem like a waste of time."

"Yeah. Show her the meaning of pain. Inflict a cruciatus curse or two, torture her until she goes insane, that one."

Norah, Sebastian, Cressida, and Poppy quietly backed further into the entrance of the hollow. Removing the disillusionment charm, they went to what was once the loyalist encampment near the stream. "Bloody hell, they're after us, they're after you," Cressida panicked.

"They're planning on breeding more dangerous dugbogs?" Was what Poppy took away from the conversation they overheard. "And what else? Continue Horntail Hall?"

"They're planning on kidnapping people," Sebastian muttered. "Especially you."

Norah studied their expressions. All of whom looked worried, concerned, and in Sebastian's case, a little annoyed at what they had just overheard. If they planned on doing those things. As far as they knew, Harlow's army would connect Horklump Hollow to Spinner's Cavern, perhaps through the use of goblin-made drills or even bombs. It was unclear whether she, Fig, and the teachers succeeded in taking down every last goblin loyalist in the caverns of the school.

There seemed to be one way to find out. "If they plan on doing what they say they're doing, then we're in for quite a search," She said.

-

When it came to common room parties, it was an excuse for the girls to show up in less than formal party attire. Norah, as well as Natty and Poppy all decided to get dressed in the Room of Requirement, which also provided them with some makeup to put on, out of wanting to really enjoy the night. As Norah was more familiar with what muggles tend to do at house parties, from the movies she had seen, she helped Natty and Poppy with their looks, while they changed into their outfits.

"Andrew says he'll be meeting me at the Transfiguration courtyard," Poppy said excitedly, stepping out from behind the changing partition in a yellow dress, in keeping with her house colors.

"Henry and I agreed to meet there too," Natty added, sporting a simple red blouse and jeans. The red blouse was part of her traditional wear in her home country. "We can go there together. What about you, Norah? Did you meet 'Nick' yet?"

Oh right, Nick. Norah was dressed in an emerald green high-neck blouse under a black leather jacket and a denim skirt that went a little above her knees. Her wavy brunette locks were tied in a ponytail, some parts of it curled thanks to a spell Natty knew when it came to styling hair. Parts of Poppy's light brown tresses were also curled while the Gryffindor herself let some strands of her hair fall in front of her eyes.

"I haven't, I'm sure he'll make himself known to me at the party itself. He might even be helping set up the party, don't you think?" Norah grinned, putting on very light makeup in front of the mirror.

The two girls giggled, going off into a conversation about the two boys they were to meet. Norah smiled to herself. Looks like sixth years in the wizarding world weren't that different from muggles in the same year. Especially when it came to possible romance. It was almost as if they didn't risk their lives in Horklump Hollow earlier.

Once they were ready, they left the Room of Requirement, already seeing some of their fellow students dressed much casually, passing by every now and then. Amit, in particular, had just come down from the Astronomy tower after a few hours of stargazing. He too, was also dressed to enjoy the festivities that lie ahead in the common room.

"Wow, the three of you look great," A blush appeared on the Ravenclaw's cheeks. "Andrew's already at the courtyard waiting for you, by the way, Poppy. Shall we go? Where's Sebastian and Ominis?"

"Probably back at the common room," Norah replied, although she knew Sebastian would be in the Undercroft. As for Ominis, she wasn't sure. Having heard him talk about gillyweed earlier, she suspected he might be in the greenhouses trying to see if Professor Garlick kept some. She wasn't even sure if Ominis planned to go to the party, in the midst of getting preoccupied with what was in front of her.

The four of them walked down the staircase, passing by Arthur Plummly along with the girl he had secretly summoned. Nevertheless, Norah went with the three of them all the way down to the Transfiguration courtyard. Henry and Andrew were caught up in conversation until they stopped upon seeing Natty and Poppy. Both boys had the biggest smiles on their faces, something Norah was happy to notice.

"Don't be surprised if you see Poppy in your common room, Amit," She teased, and the blush reappeared on his cheeks at the thought, making her snicker.

"Hello Norah, Amit," Henry and Andrew acknowledged their presence. "You look beautiful, Hogwarts heroine."

The sudden compliment took her by surprise, and she just shook her head. "I tried," She said.

"She's always been so humble," Natty pointed out with a chuckle. "Even when she won Crossed Wands."

"Beginner's luck?" Norah shrugged, making them laugh. "Well, I guess I'm off to find Sebastian and Ominis. Amit, we can go to the greenhouses, there's a chance Ominis might be there as well as Samantha," She said.

The assertion seemed to make Amit's already ruddy cheeks even ruddier. Not wanting to say more, he gave a wave to the four before following Norah to the Central Hall. They passed through the crowds of students gathering by the fountain and sitting around, some of whom were waving at them as they went through the doors that led to the greenhouses.

"You haven't met your summoner yet?" Amit suddenly asked as they climbed down the staircase.

Norah shook her head. "Haven't received a letter from him either. Perhaps I'll see him at the party itself."

"He's being mysterious until now, eh?" Amit chuckled as they looked around for a sign of the two. He easily found Samantha, who was sitting on the nearby bench. "Wow, you look beautful," He sputtered.

Samantha grinned. "You look just as dashing yourself," She said. Catching sight of Norah, she waved. "See you and your "Nick" later."

Norah smiled. "Have you seen Ominis?"

"Oh, he's downstairs over there," Samantha pointed to the tree at the very end. "Watch your step. We'll see you."

As the pair walked off, Norah climbed down the stairs that led to the room where several othe plants and weeds were kept. There Ominis was, waving his wand around trying to find the gillyweed she remembered him talking about. But Ominis looked quite different, a little more casual especially when a lock of his blonde hair went a little out of place, sticking out over his forehead. With a dark green dress shirt under - to her surprise - a leather jacket. He looked especially handsome.

"Feeling rebellious, Gaunt?" She teased, making the blonde stop looking, his sentient wand pointed at her.

Ominis tilted his head. "What do you mean?"

"Did Sebastian put you up to wearing a leather jacket?" She continued. "This isn't something the rest of us see everyday. Especially of you, a Gaunt."

"O-oh," He sputtered, cheeks turning pink from embarrassment. "I thought I'd try something new for a change. Parties didn't seem to interest me much, but I am willing to give it a go now."

"Well, you look really handsome," Norah paused. "Nick."

There it was. She said it. Ominis froze. He felt his heart skip a beat at the name she called him. "...At last, you've figured it out," A smile crept up on his lips.

"I had a feeling it was you, possibly from the very first note you sent me," She said. "The only other person who would know about that secret date spot in the Forbidden Forest would be someone the likes of you."

"Family secret, I'm afraid. Goes back to when Apollonia Black and Richard Jackdaw first dated," Ominis explained, slowly gaining some confidence. "Another secret aunt Noctua told me about before she ventured into the Scriptorium."

Norah smiled. "And the riddles always seem to mention eyes, seeing, or not being able to see, or telling a close friend the answer to those riddles. It kind of led me to think maybe you summoned my name."

Should he tell her? Should now be the time? Ominis needed to make a decision and fast. "Well I didn't want to have to spend the entire week writing to someone else," He blurted out.

"Well, I didn't know you wrote poems," Norah teased. "How did you come to learn about Nick and Nora Charles? Aside from me telling you?"

That was a detail she was curious about him knowing. "One time in the library, Sebastian noticed a book that fell out of your bag."

"Oh," She mouthed. "You remembered that, huh?"

"Hasn't Sebastian told you? I have the memory of an elephant."

Norah laughed at the comparison. "No he hasn't. I guess we haven't talked enough to know those details."

"I suppose not," Ominis said quietly. Not wanting to let a silence ensue over them, he cleared his throat and looked aound. "I was actually here looking for gillyweed."

Norah went up to him, linking her arm with his, taking him by surprise. "I can tell you all about what I saw from the merpeople in fifth year."

Ominis looked flabbergasted as he allowed himself to be led back up the staircase. "You what?!"

[worldburnrp]

HALLOWEEN, 2023.

AS PRESENTED BY FAUX FOLIE

PART TWO

In New York City, friends are easy to come by — and enemies, even more so. In media, government, or even the mundane pathways most citizens find themselves walking. Now, law and crime multiply them by the tenfold. With each street-corner, comes a new conflict. They live, die, and even kill for it. Down in the underworld claimed by crime, a tournament of sorts takes place. At the Arène, gang members fight one another — defending all that they're loyal to, with a lively audience to watch. What is usually a verbal discussion of turf politics, turns physical; decades of pent-up rage boiled down to a single moment in time. So pick an adversary, and make sure your fists can withstand the pressure. After all, in the ring, there are no weapons allowed. (Yet no one said anything about cheating...) Make your name a legacy, and your affiliates proud — while other guests party upstairs, unassuming, though bathed in just as much carnage. Theirs just looks a little different, is all.

OOC INFO

Part Two. To read up on Part One, please see the main for /tagged/wb.event

FROM THIS POINT ON, GANG MEMBERS CANNOT START THREADS OUTSIDE OF THE ARÈNE. If they already started threads outside of the Arène in Part One, said gang members should be aware that they must walk away immediately from all Faux Folie/Gentille Fille interactions and join their fellow gang members downstairs — ASAP. Affiliates may make their own choices.

We encourage members to plot out any conflicts that happen between characters! Given the nature of the event, your admins only ask that members let us know of any serious/long-term injuries by checking in through messages so we're aware and can incorporate it into our plot, or guide you through the process if needed.

As always, should there be any questions or need of assistance with any plots, please feel free to contact the admins and we’ll be happy to help you!

CHALLENGE

The same challenges from Part One are still active, with the addition of exclusive Part Two challenges as well.

COSTUME CHALLENGE: Show us what your character’s Halloween costume will be! Be as detailed as you’d like, and feel free to get creative. [ You will be awarded 100 points for completing this ]

OPEN STARTER: Write an open starter! [ You will be awarded 100 points for completing this ]

RESPOND TO AN OPEN STARTER: Respond to an open starter! [ You will be awarded 300 points for completing this ]

WRITE A MULTIPLE-CHARACTER THREAD: Write a thread where three or more characters are interacting together at once. [ Each character involved will be awarded 200 points for completing this ]

NEW CHALLENGES:

PICK A FIGHT: Your character engages in an ARÈNE fight with an enemy. Please tag your posts WBFIGHT if your character engages in this. Open for gang members & gang affiliates only. [ You will be awarded 500 points for completing this. If engaging in mutilple fights, you will be rewarded 500 for each fight. ]

PICK A FIGHT, 2: Your character engages in a regular, good ol' fight with an enemy. This can be verbal, physical, you call it. Please tag your posts WBFIGHT if your character engages in this. Open for non-gang members/affiliates only. [ You will be awarded 500 points for completing this. If engaging in multiple fights, you will be rewarded 500 for each fight. ]

STORE

So you've accumulated points. Here's how you can spend them!

MEDIA SCOOP. [ PURCHASE FOR 1500 POINTS ] (2 AVAILABLE — 0 CLAIMED)

Can be purchased by any member of the media. This person gets to put out a plotting call for their character to overhear some hot tea during the event and report on it. Whoever purchases this slot must publish an article (or other media-oriented piece, depending on their character. For example: a TV host may write a self para of a live report, etc) on dash. COVERS MAY NOT BE BLOWN — to name any characters, consent must be received by the involved muns. Otherwise, it shouldn’t feature names. AS AN INCENTIVE, THE MUN WHO VOLUNTEERS TO HAVE THEIR CHARACTER BE THE SUBJECT OF THE REPORT WILL RECEIVE 1500 POINTS. Plotting for this slot may go as far as the muns decide.

THE MAGIC KEY. [ PURCHASE FOR 2500 POINTS ] (1 AVAILABLE — 2 CLAIMED)

Can be purchased by any character. With this purchase, your character can jump into any event thread on dash of their choosing, no matter how private. The interaction will then automatically become a three-way thread. The only way to ‘reverse’ a Magic Key is by purchasing ‘Not So Fast!’, which is always available in our Burnie Bucks store.

AND THE WINNER IS [ PURCHASE FOR 3000 POINTS ] (2 AVAILABLE — 1 CLAIMED)

Can be purchased by any gang member or affiliate in a fight. Members are welcome to plot amongst themselves who gets the upper-hand in the fight — but by purchasing this, one party guarantees their win. The only way to ‘reverse’ this is by purchasing ‘Not So Fast!’, which is always available in our Burnie Bucks store.

WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME [ PURCHASE FOR 3000 POINTS ] (0 AVAILABLE — 1 CLAIMED)

Give your non-gang member/affiliate character access to the Arène, by making this very expensive purchase. Be aware, that they are very much unwanted there... if found out.

HAVE FUN!

[mha-grievances]

I wanted to say that Izuku attainting OFA was a good idea, because Izuku's quirkless nature should have helped him understand Hero society in a different light unlike his classmates with few exceptions (Shouji, Shoto, etc.) who take the status quo for granted. But Hori can't stop whitewashing Bakugo's actions towards Izuku, this never gets explored to Izuku's detriment. Not to mention AM past being quirkless, how much did OFA warp his perspective before Izuku reminded him again about the true meaning of being a hero.

If I had my way, I would have Izuku have little to no struggle mastering OFA, of course build up his strength overtime. But Izuku would be the OverDog, someone powerless thrusted with an immense power. Kind of like One Punch Man only more dramatic because a teenager with mental issues and heroic nature effectively has the power of Superman. Now Izuku would have to ask himself some serious questions about what kind of hero he wants to be and why. Does fighting as a hero mean upholding hero society for all its flaws or does it need to be teared down for something better. How much is a hero still a hero before he is a vigilante or even a revolutionary? Which should be a good lesson for kids and young adults reading this story, because it's not enough to covet an important position of power like Naruto wanting to be Hokage, Luffy being the Pirate King or being Number 1 hero but what are you going to do after attainting this position? They need to understand the burden of responsibility rather then putting a fancy title on their resume.

But Hori wasted this opportunity by having Izuku as the fake underdog, struggling with mastering OFA as his main focus in the story. Izuku spent his time worried about mastering OFA rather then thinking about the flaws and ways to fix things. Its also a waste of world building potential because if Izuku is self-reflective like he supposed to be, then he could have been sympathizing with villains or view certain heroes as no different than bullies like at his middle school. Suddenly what was once black and white has become grey, even All-Might can't give him any good answers because the Hero Society he has built is the legacy that he fought so hard for and doesn't see anything wrong with it yet. We could have disagreements between Izuku and All-Might about these issues and what kind of purpose should OFA be about before and after AFO was revealed to be alive and ready for revenge.

This is why I hate the Quirkless Hero Izuku stories because the way Hero society is structured, it would never have allowed for Izuku to succeed in the first place. Eraserhead would have expelled him, schools would firmly reject him and people would just laugh at him for being arrogant to think he could provide any value in the field besides his smarts which could be suited elsewhere.

A quirkless Izuku would require a change of personality and plot armor for him to prevail. These stories become all about the Struggle rather then how twisted and unfair the system. Even compensating with technology devalues Izuku's character because he loves studying quirks! It makes him a great leader helping him bulid teams for the right scenario and placing value in everyone's quirk no matter how useless or villainous it may be. Having technology to compete with quirks would become impossible without changing the setting entirely.

A quirkless Izuku would also seem self-centered at this point because yes he wants to be a hero, but he could be a Police officer or firefighter to satisfy his heroic impulses. It could even be a point in the original story, which is partly why i think many people still feel that frustrated about this subject because Hori failed or was reluctant to explore this topic with Izuku and covers for Bakugo's BS. Man I sound like a broken record, it always leads back to Bakugo lol.

I definitely agree with the first half.

With the second half, I think a quirkless hero would definitely work, but you’d also have to place limits on what can be achieved. As a hero, Izuku would be street level. Think Batman, DareDevil, and Punisher. He wouldn’t go after people that can shatter buildings with a punch. He’d go after people running drug cartels and involved with gang activity. About 85% of people in the MHA world would die to some bloke with a gun, so have him fight those people instead of the ones that can’t. He doesn’t have to be a line light hero because that was never his goal to begin with. He just wanted to help people. He can also use technology to fight people since the tech in MHA is extremely advanced, but keep in mind that Izuku doesn’t have the funds to create all the things he might want to, so he’d have to stick with some more basic stuff until he can afford the materials to build something better.

[allstartrekgames]

Star Trek Legacy

Original Release: 2006

Developer: Mad Doc Software

Publisher: Bethesda

Platform: PC, Xbox 360

Star Trek Legacy is a space combat game that covers all the main eras of Star Trek (at point of release), with a plot that weaves its way through Archer, Kirk, Picard, Janeway and Sisko – all with their original actors voicing – involving a mysterious Vulcan (although strangely, a lot of the backstory is in “extras” and not revealed though the game).

The combat is simple but fun, you fly around, locking on targets and firing phasers from all angles. The movement and camera works well. You can balance power between systems and there’s a radial menu for more options when you hold on a target. You control a team of up to four ships, switching between them or controlling them together.

There’s a tactical menu with a top-down view of the level, where you can also issue commands form, such as moving to a location or attacking an enemy. It has a lot going for it, but has one major flaw: your team’s AI is flat out broken.

Your ships don’t move as a unit. Tell them to warp to a location and they’ll head off at different times, sometimes one of the ships will just give up and head over on impulse. When controlling individual units – which is quite often as a lot of levels require you to spread out – the ships you aren’t directly controlling will either just stop or start doing their own thing, even if you’ve ordered them to a location.

There’s one mission where you have to disable an enemy ship and tractor it to a base. For this, it makes sense to have the ship towing it to head straight for the base, then control the others to protect it. But whenever you control on of the other ships (or even go to the tactical map), the ship doing the tow turns around to go back towards the enemies. It makes the game incredibly frustrating – your team’s AI is more of a threat than the enemies. There are instances where you need to take over starbases by beaming over an away team – but sometimes your team continues to blow up the station. One time I tried setting one a different target, but they went back to killing their friends.

Legacy had the potential to be a fun – although short -game, but this one issue completely destroys the experience.

[foxgloveinspace]

Please always ramble in the tags 😭🫶🏼✨ reading tags are some of my favorite things, esp yours tbh

I hope your weekend was good dude! And I hope your migraine fucks off quicklyyy!

I’m trying to get some studying done today, it’s not working yet, but I’m trying!

PS link for your 14K FIC?!?! FUCKIN DUDE THATS AWESOME IM SO PROUD AND SO HAPPY FOR YOUUU!!!

@a-little-lynx

Good Luck Studying!! I hope you find your groove, and it goes really well!! This is my favorite rain noise video on youtube if you like those, I put it on when I need to drown out the rest of the world for reading, haha.

My migraine is already going away a bit, I turned off my headphones, even tho I was listening to The Summoning as a little, 'its been one year since i heard you' celebration, but I can do that later too.

I would link it, but its not posted yet🙇, I'm waiting till it's done before I post it, cause I have discovered through trial and error that that is best for me (*looks sadly at my now mostly abandoned Dune fic that I will finish one of these days but I don't know when it'll be.*)

I don't even know if I'm half way done with it even, I don't even know if I'm gonna post it as chapters? or post it as a really long one shot (but from what I hear, it's best to do it as chapters cause if you get passed 50k you can't edit it after posting, oof. I always forget tags). I think if i do, do chapters, I just finished the first one, haha. It's like, a dream come true though? cause SamTron/SamRinzler is one of my longest running ships (I'd go as far to call it my rare pair otp, haha) and Tron: Legacy is my favorite movie of all time, and I've wanted to write a long as fuck fic for them for years and years and years, so now that I'm finally doing it!!! Ugh. I'm just. so giddy about it, and I hope I am getting their characters right (even tho I've watched the movie about 50 times at this point and have the freaking.... script memorized at this point.) And!!! Yeah.... I'm so happy about it... I'm also being so so self indulgent with it (for me this means adding in little details that don't really matter, like the fact that Sam keeps body armor drinks in his fridge instead of like Gatorade, or that Quorra is a picky eater now that she can, ya know, actually taste things besides Energy on the Grid...... I am uhh, assuming you've watched Tron/Tron: Legacy Cass, if not its a-ok, I just realized some of this makes no since haha.) I am just.... really getting into it?

I'm also trying to keep the main plot under covers until I post it, cause I feel like the anticipation of keeping it sceret will motivate me to beign able to finish it!

[keenerkey]

RIRI AND HARLEY PLEASE GODD

And also celestial trio 👀👀👀👀

OOOO okay. (Hi Sarah !!) I have been so busy so I haven't been able to write much but I got back on my Riri and Harley fic and cleaned what I did have up at little just for this <3. It gave me a boost of creative energy so hopefully I'll have some free time soon cause I'm in love with this one again.

ANYWAY, context. It's a one-shot of a larger series called "The Marvelous Misadventures of the Young Avengers" that I have started planning out. It is completely canon-compliant BUT it does take place in 2029 so I have room to say some things are different from how they last left off in canon. I LOVE Riri and Harley's friendship and it's definitely a teasing, fun friendship where they both can clock each other's moods very quickly. Riri is also the first friend Harley made up in New York/Massachusetts! They shoulder Tony's legacy together. The Iron Legacies <3 <3 <3

Here is a little snip of it:

He missed Tony. If Tony was here he could give Harley some tips and he wouldn’t be failing miserably at taking on Tony’s mantle. He wouldn’t be disappointing the old man. Iron Mechanic was a joke. The Iron Legacy was a joke. He was a fucking joke.  “You know the goal is to not follow Icarus’s example.” A familiar voice rang out behind him. Harley sighed.  “Really? I thought the point was to live life fast and recklessly.” Harley responded, pulling himself together as best he could before getting up and turning around to face her. She stood behind him, her pink and yellow helmet in her arms, black hair braided back and sweat covering her skin.   “You’re lucky Peter had a big test to study for tonight and asked me to patrol for him. You would have been calming him down from a panic attack if he had been here.”  “Yeah, ‘cause I almost just killed a bunch of people and destroyed a building. I’m surprised you aren’t yelling at me.”  Riri eyed Harley for a second, like she was deciding whether or not to say something. “Sure, but it’s different with you. He doesn’t like when you get hurt.”  Harley eyebrows scrunched up and his heart thumped a little faster in his chest. It always did that when Peter was around. Or mentioned. “He’s protective of everyone. It’s his nature.”   Riri sighed, before walking over and sitting on the ledge of the building. Harley stood, staring at her. He didn’t fully understand why he was so nervous around Peter, but he suspected jealousy might have something to do with it. Envy. All his time with Tony, his talent, his ability to never fail like Harley just did-  Riri looked back at him, her eyebrows raised in expectation. “Get your ass over here and sit with me.”  Harley snapped out of his thoughts and walked over to sit beside her. They sat there for a minute, watching the skyline. 

annddd as for the Celestial Trio, which is a very vague name cause I don't have a title, I'll just tell you the basic idea run down: (I'm still bad at explaining it, exactly, so stick with me. I don't have a description figured out yet since it's still new )

Alright, so, years ago this group of heroes banded together as it was foretold by prophets and oracles and written in the threads of fate. They were destined to defeat the desperate and violent grab for power by the mad king of Hilacha. Except- they fail. Utterly. The leader, Kaius, escapes and hides himself away in shame. Years later, When her adoptive dad falls ill, Tera reluctantly followers her sister, Solara, out of the city to find a cure. They get wrapped up in a plot long planned by Theo, the mysterious guy who just so happens to be living with the disgraced hero Kaius, to get the band back together and right the wrong that happened years ago while unraveling what exactly caused them to fail in the first place.

(so basically, it's mystery, a little politics, betrayal, friendship, redemption, and the whole Celestial trio ties into world building, their deities, and the main three (Solara, Astera, and Theodore Aylin, all have names in reference to a celestial-type deity.)

[thekaijudude]

It feels like the Ultra series has been in serious decline after Z, storywise imo.

My opinions sorta differ from you as what I covered in the annual series reviews

Personally Z was great as it raised the bar on the quality of fight scenes for later series but it had a very simple and self-contained plot and roughly had the same issues with Geed's plot. The keywords here is that the plot settings were very simple and self-contained

Trigger had a ton of potential to have an amazing plot (Trigger-Carmearra, Dark Giants interactions and history) but it was limited to being a kids show, so they weren't able to go into said mature and darker themes and storylines. Not to mention recall that 80% of Trigger's original script was changed due to covid or sth. My expectations for Trigger were through the roof as I had hoped it'll correct the same issues I had with Tiga, that being the expansion and in-depth exploration of the Dark Giants.

Decker as said before it even started, its harder to make a legacy series out of Dyna than it was for Tiga cause there are really no loose ends left from Dyna that Decker can expand upon. Therefore they were "forced" to create a new story based on the established plot points that Dyna had achieved. So I had low expectations for Decker to begin with and in the end, the series met it. Therefore I frequently mention that Decker was truly a mid series for me.

Blazar I don't even wanna talk about it too much at this point. There isn't even an overall story to talk about. Not to mention 2 of the main arcs were very obviously rushed and botched as a result (Brood Gevalka and Valaron arcs). I was literally rewatching other New Gen series while it was airing just cause it was just so uninteresting. My personal expectations was for Blazar to shed more light on his own character and origin rather than whatever the hell was going on since this was more or less a generic episodic series (everything gets concluded by the end of the epsiode with nothing interesting to carry forward and nothing to really look forward to)

Arc seems to be following more of X's route than Blazar's (since Arc is treated as an actual character based on the plot synopsis) so I at least hope we can get some interesting lore additions, dialogue from Arc and fight scenes out of this, especially since Tsujimoto is the main director this time around

Unless when the actual trailer drops and blows everyone's minds so there's a teeny tiny hope for that still left in me for now

[rainmono]

Interests: Books

Point Horror collection/Goosebumps and all the others: Best book collection(s) I own, collecting them over the years really shaped me as a person, I love the chilling stories told by such amazing writers and don't get me started on the book covers..

The Mediator series by Meg Cabott: I love so many different trilogies Meg has written but this one in particular realllly is my favourite😍, she is one of my favourite writers and I love how detailed and badass her main characters are especially Suze in the mediator, every single book of the Meditator series is amazing and I hope to god it never gets adapted into a show because nobody could do this series justice.

Interview with the vampire trilogy by Anne Rice: I love ALL of Anne's books and was so upset when I heard she had passed, she has left a legacy behind and I simply loved the unique adaptions that have followed the books including this year's show. In depth characters and deep deep plot just my kinda thing.

The Sandman by Neil Gaiman: Neil is a legend and has countless of amazing books but the sandman book/graphic novel is 10000% my favourite of them all. The characters, the lore, the art. Just beautiful.

Keeper of the lost cities by Shannon Messenger: A much lighter carefree fantasy trilogy that I stumbled upon and accidentally became obsessed with, usually fantasy isn't my thing but this one is AMAZING I recently just got the newest book in the series and can't wait to read...

Virginia Andrews books.. A LOT of ppl criticise her works and I can understand why.. she has veryyyy dark books and I probably started reading them WAY to young but I can't help but love them and her writing style was incredibly unique and I will never part with my collection.

The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde was such a beautiful book and I felt so speechless by the end it really made me think deeply and its Oscar Wilde, who was a master of literature and poetry. What more is there to be said?

Jacqueline Wilson THE OG, the first books I ever read were hers and to this day my collection of her books grow, her books remind me of my childhood whilst also touching on the issues young teens face, she will always have a special place in my heart.

that is most of the most influential books I have read/own. I hope you enjoyed this brief analysis, please do reach out if you have recommendations or opinions to share :))))

[theozilla]

Alright, after having slept on it, here are some of my (basically spoiler free) thoughts on base Dawntrail/7.0.

First thing I want to clarify, when I said that base Dawntrail is tied/almost tied with base Heavensward, I mean that more in terms overall game/expansion experience/enjoyment, if I was just talking about central plot engagement, I can more easily say I prefer base Heavensward (though I would also say Heavensward is also more dependent on its 3.1-3.3 patch MSQ to make it a complete story than the other expansions), but the age of Heavensward and some of its more tedious gameplay-story linked elements makes the overall enjoyment closer to a tie with Dawntrail. Now this isn’t to say that Dawntrail’s MSQ isn’t good or even great at times, but I also wouldn’t say it’s amazing and regularly great like ShadowBringers and Endwalker were more regularly, though Dawntrail also certainly isn’t trying to reach the same heights as the previous two expansions either. Anyways the first half of Dawntrail is relatively simple but it still has a good story and pathos and does some great worldbuilding in general. Wuk Lamat is most certainly the main character of the story, with the WoL playing a supporting role, which largely works. Wuk Lamat’s English voice acting is also pretty good and fine all around. I wouldn’t call her performance amazing, but it is in no bad or even mediocre. The English voice acting of the entire cast in general I’d say is par for the course in terms of quality, so I don’t agree with some of the sentiments I’ve seen that it is worse than the previous expansions. It’s not trying to reach the same emotional highs of the previous two expansions, so the vocal performances reflect that, so maybe that’s what some people have meant when they felt the voice acting wasn’t as good. Dawntrail’s plot gets much denser during its last third and is where the tension and intrigue really get going, and I’d say it largely works. While I do agree that Dawntrail has some similarities and some degree of repetition to the previously covered concepts and thematic thrusts of ShadowBringers and Endwalker, I would say that there still distinct and unique enough to stand as its own thing (while also having some blatant inspirations and homages to Final Fantasy IX). The only time where I felt the similarities felt overly repetitive was when the final MSQ dungeon ended up being another "traveling through memories" dungeon. Which to be clear, I am not opposed to that type of dungeon being a regular genre of dungeon in FFXIV, but I don’t think it should always be used for the final MSQ dungeon of a base expansion. On the topic of dungeons, the difficulty spike of Dawntrail’s duties was definitely noticeable for me, I don’t think I have ever wiped so much to dungeons bosses since when I  was first starting out with FFXIV in the ARR MSQ (I first got into FFXIV when the Stormblood expansion came out to be clear), though I don’t know if doing them on Trusts/Duty Support  makes them more challenging than if I did them with the duty finder. Now to be clear, the difficulty spike was not a bad thing, it was just right amount of increase in difficulty where it was more challenging/punishing than before but still fun to play and improve with, if the difficulty spike was much more it might have gotten to the point where it might have gotten a little too frustrating for me personally, but as of now it was just the right amount off difficulty increase to still be fun for someone like me who rarely does savages/extremes (at least not since the Heavensward content). I figure Dawntrail being the lowest rated FFXIV expansion (not counting 1.0 Legacy) is largely due to it coming off and after the extremely strong story showings of ShadowBringers and Endwalker and seeming more comparatively lesser in quality than it actually is, as it is definitely better than ARR’s story (and I say that as someone who likes ARR and its story overall, like it is a solid -B levels of enjoyment) and at least as good as Stormbood’s (and I personally find Dawntrail solidly better than it).

Just finished base Dawntrail/7.0 this evening. I will post some more in depth thoughts tomorrow. But for now I’d say I liked it more than base Stormblood/4.0 & it’s tied/almost tied with base Heavensward/3.0. (ShB & EW are still my top favorites, with EW slightly edging out ShB).