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thefirstcourtesan · 3 years ago

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Misha's Choice Replays Rating

I have decided that since I am doing an alphabetical replay of Choices books, I will rate them as I go along. My overall score is based on the combined scores from the other categories. I can share my ruberic if someone wants as some categories hold way more weight than others (LIs and story are both 20%, art is only 5%)

A Courtesan of Rome

Story: A+ (the ending might have been a tiny bit rushed but the story is still excellent and so layered)

Art: A (beautiful outfits, beautiful backgrounds and the chilling Triumph art)

LIs: A+ (the LIs all occupy different roles in this book and they are all really interesting characters with their own motivations)

Romance Scenes: A+ (the romance scenes in this book are excellent and offer a lot of character insight and relationship progress, I have done the majority of the scenes with all the LIs and enjoyed each and every one)

MC: A+ (this is my #1 MC in all of Choices and I like that the Mc can be played in different ways with different motivations, also the only time I have really enjoyed multiple MC 0oVs, mainly because Victus and Delphina’s POVs were staggered well and there was no side romance).

Friend Group/Side Characters: D+. (This is the major flaw of the book, there is no friend group, most of the side characters are under developed and Xanthe’s treatment is abhorrent, a few of the side characters are charming but outside the LIs and the MC’s family, no one gets any depth which is a shame. I do love Euthymios though.)

Villain/Antagonist: A- (i think the story might have been a bit better if there had been a book 2 and we got a clear ‘book 1’ and ‘book 2’ villains with some other side villains and Caesar didn’t get enough time but I think overall the book did well building up the villains)

Paywall: A (I’ve played this with and without diamonds and it plays well either way, you just have to work harder with timed choices without diamonds and you miss out on some of the flavour/character arcs, but that is typical of most Choices books)

Overall: A. I adore this book. It is not perfect, but it is overall such a good and enjoyable story with so much detail. It is one of my all time favourite Choices books.

Previous Ranking: 1/50

New Ranking:

Across the Void

Story: C (it had potential, but the war is badly executed and confusing)

Art: A+

LIs: B (points taken away for the misuse of Zekei and Pax's LI's)

Romance Scenes: B+ (generally they were well written)

MC: B- (I actually really like this MC but the three POVs is a problem and I felt took too much of the story away from MC.)

Friend Group/Side Characters: B-

Villain/Antagonist: C- (there were some interesting possibilities there but bad execution and a last-minute reveal that fell flat)

Paywall: D- (characters literally die if you don't spend diamonds, several of them including LIs)

Overall: C+, so much potential but it falls flat in many ways.

Previous Ranking: 37/50

New Ranking:

Alpha

Story: A (It is a pretty solid story, with good world building and steaks, my only complaint is the main conflict could have been introduced earlier and handled a little better.)

Art: A+ (this is a pretty book. The characters are gorgeous, the outfits, the background, the CGs. All of it.)

LIs: A (An A is the highest grade I will give a single LIbook but damn Channing is awesome. He is a great character and shows actual growth and vulnerability.)

Romance Scenes: A (These are really good. They are spicy but there are also moments of vulnerability and emotional connection and they do a good job of building the bond between Channing and MC.)

MC: A+(I love this MC. She has a strong personality and while there are a few questionable moments, she is way less annoying than many MCs and her personality balances Channing’s well.)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (I always says a series lives and dies by its side characters and the extended cst is one of the best things about this book. I was worried after the first few characters that Kala was going to be an annoying jealous female type but they swerved away from that and I loved the bond between her and MC. I also adored the rest of the pack),

Villain/Antagonist: C+ (Marcus was definitely evil and I like the fake out they did where they made it look like he wasn’t the problem, but… He has no depth, we know nothing about him or his motivations and it makes him kind of flat as a villain.

Paywall: B (Honestly, compared to most modern Choices books, this one isn’t too bad. There are no collectables or locked bonus scenes, there is some lore and Pack bonding that is missed out on, but it is not nearly as bad as it is in some books.)

Overall: A (I really loved this book and I am really excited for book 2. It has a solid story and world building, great character and a red-(95 romance, what’s not to like?)

Previous Ranking: N/A

New Ranking:

America’s Most Eligible

Story: B+ (it isn't spectacular but it is enjoyable and it delivers what it advertises)

Art: B

LIs: C+

Romance Scenes: B- (not bad, but nothing stand-out either)

MC: B (it would have been better if the personality types had actually meant something)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+

Villains/Antagonist: B+

Paywall: F (the paywall is why this book is in the top 10, you had to pay to win)

Overall: B. AME isn’t spectacular, but it is FUN.

Previous Ranking: 23/50

New Ranking:

A Very Scandalous Proposal

Story: A

Art: C- (nothing really new, worst use of a recycled face ever)

LIs: A (Simon is incredible, would be A+ for him, but points docked for being a single LI book)

Romance Scenes: A (they did a really good job of building the romance and the tension, the bed sharing scene is excellent)

MC: B

Friend Group/Side Characters: A, I love the characters in this book.

Paywall: B (your book isn't as good and you miss out on the bonus but I don't think you are missing anything major by not spending, I had a glitch the first time and it didn't recognize some of my purchases and it didn't really effect my outcome).

Villains/Antagonist: A

Overall: A-. This is overall such an enjoyable book. I love the romance and the story. It is also a really easy read.

Previous Ranking: 4/50

New Ranking:

Baby Bump

Story: (The book was generally cute but the plot itself was a little frustrating at times)

Art: A

LIs: B+

Romance Scenes: B- (I enjoyed them a lot, but I think they are pretty much the same between the two LIs after a certain point, which takes say points)

MC: B-

Friend Group/Side Characters: B+

Villain/Antagonist: B+ (I struggled with this one because Craig is kind of the worst but also super realistic).

Paywall: A (I played a low diamond run through the first time and it was still enjoyable and you don't lose out on any major knowledge or info).

Overall: B. It is a fun, sweet story. It doesn't have any high stakes but it is easy to play and overall, really enjoyable.

Previous Ranking: 32/50

New Ranking:

Bachelorette Party

Story: C+

Art: A+

LIs: D+ (I liked the LIs, but the men were so badly shoe-horned into the plot and the romance just felt awkward,)

Romance Scenes: A (the LIs might not have fit into the plot, but the romance Scenes were well done)

MC: B (she was fine, but Courtney was more interesting)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (the bond with the girls is the best part of the book and Courtney is amazing.)

Villain/Antagonists: D-

Paywall: B+ (there is a bonus ending you only get for diamonds but I feel like this book is weird enough to enjoy without diamonds)

Overall: B-. It is weird in a fun way but it definitely has weak points.

Previous Ranking: 33/50

New Ranking:

Big Sky Country

Story: B

Art: B+

LIs: B (no stand-outs but all good, solid LIs)

Romance Scenes: A (I did some for each of the four LIs and I think that they did a good job balancing romance and character development)

MC: B+

Friend Group/Side Characters: A (I fell in a little in love with the Oakley family, especially Brooklynne)

Villain/Antagonists: D

Paywall: B (you miss out on getting some characters together and you get the backstory in pieces, missing some details)

Overall: B. This is not a super high stakes book but it is fun and cute and I genuinely enjoy it.

Previous Ranking: 34/50

New Ranking:

Blades of Light and Shadow

Story: A (This is a great adventure story. I like RPGs, I like fantasy, so it was easy to get drawn into the world and the epic quest. I actually thought the overall story of book 2 was even better than the story in book 1, which is rare in Choices books.)

Art: A+ (This series is just gorgeous. So many beautiful backgrounds and character arts, plus gorgeous CGs.)

LIs: A+ (I love all the LIs in this series. They are all strong characters who all add something to the story, the two added in book two just add to the story, which isn’t always the case and actually bumped my rating up from an A to A+. I am a sucker for a good villain romance and Blades delivered),

Romance Scenes: A+ (they were really good and helped build the relationships in book one and deepens them in book two, allowing the characters to be vulnerable, the romance to build and there was a good spice level).

MC: A+ (I love a chaotic MC who will flirt with literally anyone)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A- (Thus is one of those categories that definitely improved in book 2 because the sid characters got more depth and it wasn’t just MC and the LIs.)

Villain/Antagonist: A- (This went down a little bit from book 1 to book 2, book one’s villain was superior and was layered into the story, there was a lot I felt we never really knew about the villain in book 2 and she didn’t have quite the same impact).

Paywall: C+ (I have never played this without diamonds but I know you can't get max level without diamonds, but you can flirt with a bug monster, which you can't if you buy a specific scenes and there was a free skills options for a lot of the choices.)

Overall: A. (No wonder the fandom loves Blades so much, it really is a spectacular story. I am not as emotionally attached, which impacted by rating but on replay, my opinion of it rose dramatically and it is near the top of my overall rankings).

Previous Ranking: 31/50

New Ranking:

Bloodbound

Story: A- (Book 2 loses points for bad retcon and book 3 for a slow start and a truly terrible plot decision near the end but all 3 books are still incredibly enjoyable)

Art: A+ (this was one of the first books with truly spectacular art)

LIs: A

Romance Scenes: A- (the LI scenes in this book are actually great, but they definitely lose points for the sheer number of threesomes and orgies 😂 but there are some really great character moments).

MC: A+ (one of my top 5 all time favorite MCs)

Friend Group/Side Characters: B+ (Bloodbound has the same problem as Blades that the LIs are the friend group, but at least Blades has several other supporting characters and a much rounder cast over all).

Villain/Antagonists: A+

Paywall: C- (there is so much of the story that is hidden if you don’t spend diamonds on the book, Back in book 1, I figured out the villain but all the clues were in diamond scenes and you miss a lot of the flavour of the story without those scenes, plus people die).

Overall: A. I love this series but it does have some flaws. I struggled a bit with the ranking because I do love it so much and in the end I decided since it is my ranking, that counts for something.

Previous Ranking: 7/50

New Ranking:

Crimes of Passion

Story: A+ (I am not a huge mystery/action story fan, but this book blends a really satisfying slow burn romance with a great mystery plot).

Art: A+ (a lot of new art, including some really creepy murder art, new backgrounds)

LIs: A (I love Tristan so much, but like AVSP, only going with A instead of A+ because it is single LI)

Romance Scenes: A+ (the building sexual tension and emotional connection was perfect)

MC: A+ (MC is competent! A professional! She is the one in charge)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A (This is a book with a stellar cast. The crew in New York and then the crazy Drakovian Royals. The supporting cast really enriches the story.

Paywall: D (I haven’t played without diamonds, but all the evidence is paywalled, so….)

Villains/Antagonist: B+ (Book one gets points for creepy cult and I liked the twist and turns but the actual antagonist wasn’t as big of a player as they should be for me to care, while in book two the killer is so obvious and yet so overlooked that it feels a little anticlimactic when it is finally revealed, but at the same time they still male a great villain.)

Overall: A (I really love this book and I think book 2 did a great job of following up on the storyline of book 1 and I can't wait to see how it is resolved).

Previous Ranking: N/A

New Ranking:

The Crown and The The Flame

Story: A+ (TC&TF is a truly cohesive story where the plot builds well and each book ads to the overall journey)

Art: A- (It is no comparable to some of the newer books, but for Old Choices it was definitely a stand-out and some of the backgrounds are truly stunning and the details on the sprites, for example Rowan’s tattoos, show care despite the limitations of the platform at the time)

LIs: A+ (not only does this book have one of my favorite LIs ever, it also has the first LI I ever fell for and I remember how truly torn I was. Honestly all the LIs I this game are excellent)

Romance Scenes: A+ (my first Choices fanfic was expanding on a diamond scene from book 2 and then the airship cent in book 3 is my favorites diamond scene ever, so obviously I love the diamond scenes in this book).

MC: B+. (I love Kenna, I don’t care that she isn’t customizable but my book 2 I was getting a little sick of Dom and I did not love all the multiple POVs in book 3 and I am salty Annelyse is the only major character not to get a POV scene)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (this is the best group ever. I love them all.I)

Paywall: B+ (for early Choices, this book was expensive but the basic plot was never paywalled and the big choices relied on playing smart, which is awesome. Spending let you get more scenes, more allies and definitely enriched the story, but you could still get a satisfying story without them)

Villain/Antagonist: A+ (Luther Nevrakis is the best Choices villain ever IMO and the other villains are also really, really great)

Overall: A+. (The first Choices book I ever played and still one I love so very, very much)

Previous Ranking: 2/50

New Ranking:

The Cursed Heart

Story: A (I liked it. I enjoyed the mix of romance and fantasy).

Art: A+ (beautiful background and outfits, gorgeous art scenes. I mean I wish Kieran was more attractive but everything else was just stunning and it just got better with the second book).

LIs: A- (the angry at the world LI took a while to grow on me, but I did end up liking Kieran)

Romance Scenes: A- (I thought they did good a job building up the relationship and there was a lot of heat plus a lot of vulnerability, although they were kind of repetitive by book 2).

MC: B- (not my favorite MC. I found the MC very naive and a little dumb and that frustrated me a lot. She vastly approved in book 2 though.)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A- (a smaller cast, but Longclaw and Sir Monty are precious and Leaf deserves the world).

Villain/Antagonist: B (Radiance was so obviously the bad guy from the first chapter and it irritates me how incredibly obvious it was 😂 but it was a good foil to the dark and brooding hero. Book 2 did a better job because Jack had layers but Oppulance was so over the top bad guy, with no layers or subtly.)

Paywall: C+ (I played with diamonds, so I can only guess but I feel like it was a lot of stuff that gave extra flavour or made it easier, however a lot of the lore/backstory locked which is always an issue.)

Overall: A- (it took me a while to finish this book, but I did enjoy it. It is a good blend of romance and fantasy).

Previous Ranking: N/A

New Ranking:

The Deadliest Game

Story: A- (Honestly as far as the mystery goes, it was pretty solid. The clues were all there, although I had the killer figured out about halfway through because they didn't do a great job at setting up a red herring, but it built well and it made sense. Art: B+ (it’s not bad, but you can tell that they have started leaning into AI art and there is a lack of consistency) LIs: B- (None of them were awful, but they are all boring and there is nothing particularly unique about any of them, except maybe Farrah. They feel like poor copies of previous LIs.) Romance Scenes: C (Very forgettable, I did most of them and none of them stood out to me and they didn't really build the romance or let us know more about the LI) MC: B (This was not a bad MC, they never annoy me like some do, but it was very much an insert MC. The MC is there to be the detective, not to be a real character and there is nothing unique about them). Friend Group/Side Characters: C+ (Meh. I normally like ensemble books, but while this book had a large cast they were all pretty one-note, very caricature and none of them had any real depth). Villain/Antagonist: B- (The villain fulfilled their role. The motive was solid and the crime was executed very well, but they were definitely not fleshed out and the reveal felt cartoonish,) Paywall: D. (Almost all the evidence is behind paywalls and so is what little character development this book contains). Overall: B (This book wasn’t bad, but it was underwhelming and forgettable) Previous Ranking: N/A New Ranking:

Desire and Decorum

Story: A- (I surprised myself with this because I had overall negative memories of books 2 and 3, but when I was actually playing them it was quite enjoyable, occasionally ridiculous but an enjoyable story)

Art: B+ (there is nothing really extraordinary here but the outfits are nice and the backgrounds are pretty)

LIs: A (this is one of the best casts of LIs, they are all very different, unborn the story doesn’t treat them equally, but that is not a new problem and the LIs all add something to the story)

Romance Scenes: A (the book does a pretty good job of balancing out choose your LI scenes, group scenes and time with the individual LIs, book 2 stumbles a little bit but book 3 is actually pretty decent at this)

MC: A (this book has a great MC, she has a distinct personality and I like that there are different ways to play her)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A.+ (This is actually a great extended cast. I love Miss Sutton and Mr. Chambers. Miss Holloway becomes a fun frenemy. The brothers, etc. Briar. This book has an excellent cast)

Villain/Antagonist: A+ (the villains in this book are excellent because they are all awful but other than perhaps Gideon, they are awful in believable ways and I also like that society is sort of painted as the background villain

Paywall: C+ (I did diamond heavy runs of book 1 and 2 and a diamond light play of book 3. The book paywalls backstory and you are more accomplished the more you spend, plus there is the really awful option of having to pay to wear black to your father’s funeral, it is not as bad as some books but it is not great)

Overall: A-. (Honestly, I did not expect to rate it so high but despite everything I really enjoyed the series. I think this is a really good example of how characters make or break a series).

Previous Ranking: 27/50

New Ranking:

Distant Shores

Story: A (honestly when played all at once it flows so well and it does s a good job of wrapping up the story and leaving potential for more, which is sadly not followed up on, but it is a great story).

Art: A+ (I honestly think this might be the prettiest book in the entire app. It is just outstanding. Plus, there is an actual song! Usually I don’t rank music, but I love the pirate song and music is art)

LIs: A+ (Charlie is probably my favourite female LI in the game and I was truly and utterly torn between her and Edward until the very end. The LIs all have compelling stories and beautiful art)

Romance Scenes: A+ (the connection, the flirting with Charlie, the tension with Edward, it is excellent. I only did one Oliver scene, but I enjoyed the cat and mouse quality of it)

MC: A (Actress turned bad ass pirate captain. The MC annoyed me once or twice, but generally she was fantastic and I liked how quickly she adapted to life as a pirate)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (I love this crew. Especially Maggie and sweet Ginny. Even the rival pirates were fun. This is definitely high on my list of best casts)

Villain/Antagonist: A+ (the admiral is properly despicable and Robert is a delight as a foil, he is an incredible well done character,)

Paywall: D (you have to pay to keep Ginny, which is criminal, and it is a book that locks the lore hard. I love it, but it is definitely paywalled)

Overall: A (this is a solid book that deserved a sequel)

Previous Ranking: 22/50

New Ranking:

The Elementalists

Story: B (the premise was good but I felt like it never quite connected and that it missed that something special)

Art: A

LIs: B+ (the LIs are all likeable and the mechanics are neat but for me it’s not a top tier group)

Romance Scenes: B- (the LI scenes were pretty good, but the balance was truly awful and I say that as someone who romanced Beckett)

MC: A+ (while I am not as attached to this MC as I am to my other top MCs, I do really like her and I love that the attunement customises the dialogue you get in certain situations)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A- (It is mostly LIs but this is a still such great group with some great supporting characters)

Villain/Antagonist: B- (while the villains in this book were powerful, they weren’t particularly compelling and the transition from the book 1 villain to the book 2 villain was meh)

Paywall: C (it is better than some books and book 2 was better than book 1, but book 1 had two separate collectible sets, it’s not the worst paywall in Choices but it is definitely expensive)

Overall: B+ (I enjoyed this book, but not as much as others and at times I had to really push myself to continue)

Previous Ranking: 30/50

New Ranking:

Endless Summer

Story: A+ (the story is basically perfect. It is a mix of sci-fi and adventure and found family)

Art: A+ (one point taken off for the cartoonish character design, which takes getting used to, but this book is truly stunning. So many CGs and they are animated!)

LIs: A+ (I love the LIs in this book, I just wish Sean’s story had tied more into the main story and that Estella and Quinn are given more to do, but the LIs are such great characters and they all have distinct personalities),

Romance Scenes: A (the romance in this book is well done, a little tame but there is a lot of depth to the ocnnection between MC and the LIs)

MC: A+ (I love this MC. This MC is one of the best in Choices, a born leader who is also fun and charismatic: the glue of the group but also the strength).

Friend Group A+ (Probably the best friend group in all of Choices. I adore this group, the only mis-step was the weird addition of Kele in Book 3, but every other character fit so well)

Villain: A+ (Rourke is actually an excellent villain and it a a slow build in the first book where he is off screen, but I still the force that brought everyone together and it just keeps building until the climax)

Paywall: F. (This series is crazy expensive, there are 102 collectible items over the course of 3 books, while some are free many are not and without the clues and the bonus scenes, large parts of the story do not make sense).

Overall: A+ (the only complaint I have about this book is how expensive it is/how confusing it s if you don’t spend, otherwise this book is practically perfect. I honestly forgot how much I love it)

Previous Ranking: 12/50

New Ranking:

Foreign Affairs

Story: C+ (ok, the story is actually pretty bad. There are a ton of plot holes, the ending is super rushed and the premise is shaky a Hell)

Art: B+ (There is nothing spectacular but the background is pretty, characters are attractive, and the outfits are nice)

LIs: A+ (The LIs make or break a book for me and in this case, they saved this book. I am a sucker for Romeo + Juliet romances [although not the actual play, that I have issues with lol] and Blaine is one of my all-time favorite LIs. I also really like both Tatum and Ayna and I really enjoyed the banter between Tatum and Blaine).

Romance Scenes: A (again these were really solid, a great mix of romance and character development, although a little more depth would have been nice).

MC: A- (This MC grew on me a lot and I actually liked how she dealt with parental pressure and became her own person.)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (this is a really solid cast. I liked the classmates, I love Dionne and Murphy as a silent but expressive character was amazing. The cast of this book saved it from being mediocre)

Villain/Antagonist: C- (My love of the cast does not apply to the villain. The villain was so obvious, but also so terrible done and the reveal was rushed and anticlimactic. The sleazy reported made a better villain)

Paywall: B (you would have to sacrifice a bunch of diplomacy points on a free play and I bet you couldn’t get all the countries to sign but I feel like there were some decent free moments with the friend group and LIs).

Overall: A- (this is not a great book by any means but the cast makes it a fun book and I really wish it had gotten a book 2 Becuase weak plot aside, there was lots of potential here).

Previous Ranking: 16/50 (apparently I always liked it 😂)

New Ranking:

TF: The Freshman

Story: B+ (this story is cute but it gets frustrating at times, especially in book 3 and the fact that they have to have MC equally involved in each LI’s story even if she isn’t dating them makes for some really frustrating situations)

Art: B- (this is early choices and you can tell, there isn’t anything really revolutionary here and the most effort seems to be in the backgrounds, which do change with the seasons and are quite pretty)

LIs: B (I like all 3 LIs as characters but in TF they are definitely all over the place and they all stop talking to you at various points and there are some very frustrating behaviours)

Romance Scenes: B- (the romance diamond scenes in this book are short and undescrpitive, plus you don’t really learn about a the Lis as people in these scenes. Although there were some cut/funny moments in those scenes, so they weren’t a total loss)

MC: A- (This MC is the mom friend, but at least in TF it hasn’t gotten super old yet and it ties into the plot, which is exploiting her friends and meddling in their lives for her scholarship and in this series, she is messy in her own right and has lots of drama. I have a soft spot for this MC)

Friend Group/Side Characters: B+ (I thought I would rank the group higher, but there is a lot of drama and some of the characters irritated me with some of their personality traits. I wish we could have seen less of the roommates and more of the side characters)

Villain/Antagonist: B+ (Other than The Junior, The Freshman series has antagonists not villains. Book 1 started strong with Vasquez and Becca, but as they lost their antagonist roles and Sebastian took over as the main antagonist, it went down because he really does border on villain in a cartoonish way)

Paywall: A (This is actually a pretty inexpensive series. Well spaced diamond options, cute free outfits, and diamond scenes that mostly just enhance the plot instead of hide key information. It is a little annoying that spending diamonds on the book 1 romances doesn’t actually impact the story and they get together anyway, but in general this is a pretty good series in terms of free-play)

Overall: B+ (I like The Freshman. It is not a gripping story, but it is enjoyable. It definitely gets a little much at times, but I enjoy the college drama).

Previous Ranking: 21*/50 (The previous ranking was for the whole aeries)

New Ranking:

TF: The Sophomore

Story: A (honestly, book 1 starts out slow but book 2 is actually pretty strong. Plus the Halloweeen special is the best of the TF side books).

Art: B- (Art is not the Freshman Series strong suit)

LIs: A- (the LIs benefit from the locked in nature of TS compared to TF and they get to thrive as individuals and the relationships get to evolve).

Romance Scenes: A- (the romance scenes definitely picked up in TS and started adding more personality and variety)

MC: A (I have a strong soft spot for this MC and she really came into her own in this book).

Friend Group/Side Characters: A (it is really the side characters that make this book special instead of the main friend group, but this book did a better job of balancing the friend group, other than the annoying Abbie and Tyler storyline)

Villain/Antagonist: A- (I take back my antagonist comment because this series had villains, Dorian was a little cartoonish but Manny was all too realistic)

Paywall: B (this is where the series goes downhill cost-wise, you have to pay for side relationships, to support your friends, for makeovers, etc. But the actual plot is still pretty accessible)

Overall: A- (this was actually a very enjoyable read and a more even series than The Freshman)

Previous Ranking: 21*/50 (The previous ranking was for the whole aeries)

New Ranking:

TF: The Junior

Story: C+ (the story is batshit crazy, I will give it that, but it is also not good, however, I do like the overall idea of breaking the good girl but they could have done so much more with it)

Art: B+ (art is not this series strong suit, but the litteral house on fire art was cool and there are some cute outfits and new backgrounds, so this one fairs better than most of the series)

LIs: A- (The LIs actually fare fairly well here, they continue to be separate characters and I enjoyed the switch to living together and the various problems that popped up)

Romance Scenes: A- (Romance scenes are one of the things that keep improving in this series, tbh)

MC: B+ (this is not this MC at her best, but it is on brand. She is a meddler and she loves to help others but refuses to take it, so actually this book is fairly on brand for her, but this is also her at her most annoying)

Friend Group/Side Characters: C+ (this is not the best outing for the side characters. No Madison or Tripp, barely any Edgar or the band. The Kappa Girls hate us and Tyler is once again the worst)

Villain/Antagonist: A+ (Nathan Sterling is the best part of this book, especially in a single play, and he does make a good villain who is playing the MC and using her very nature against her)

Paywall: C (this is when the series veers heavily into pay-to-play as there are different endings depending on how much evidence you unlock)

Overall: B (This book is definitely not good, but it has some saving graces like the fairly strong romance and the excellent villain. I think it is probably the weakest instalment in The Freshman series but the bad plot is unintentionally hilarious and that also helps elevate it)

Previous Ranking: 21*/50 (The previous ranking was for the whole aeries)

New Ranking:

TF: The Senior

Story: A (The Senior has the strongest story of the whole series because it is centred both on MC and in reality, the idea of change and transition and figuring out what comes next when literally everything around you is changing, this series is strongest when it’s lets MC be the focus).

Art: B+ (as I said this is not a series known for its art but I do like the cover montage at the end of the series adn the fact they have everyone in caps and gowns)

LIs: A (The LIs in this series do much, much better after TF once they are allowed to be individuals, they are all strong characters and the romance feels real).

Romance Scenes: A (this is one area where the series gets better and better and this book was really great at bringing the little moments from the diamond scenes back up through the book and building on them).

MC: A (the MC is at her best here, because her story is about her. She is supporting the people she loves but she is not cantering her life around them)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A- (again the series faltered in The Junior but this book brought back the characters we loved and let us interact with htem in meaningful ways, like Edgar helping with James and MC’s play and Rachel having a pet raccoon was pretty amazing)

Villain/Antagonist: B (this book does not have traditional antagonist, but that is ok because the villain of this story is time and change and it does it really well)

Paywall: B- (there is a lot of paywall and the strength of your s thesis depends on buying diamond scenes plus the bonus scene for th the memory collection is pretty low key)

Overall: A- (This is the strongest of all the TF series’ and a really solid ending to the series. This books lets the characters shine and focuses on how scary change can be. I really enjoyed this one).

Previous Ranking: 21*/50 (The previous ranking was for the whole aeries)

New Ranking:

Guinevere

Story: A+ (The story of this book is really solid. It is the stand-out of the Early Access era. It is the only boook that had me playing every week. This is the kind of story that PB does best, the mix of adventure and romance).

Art: A (this is a really pretty book, the outfits, the backgrounds, the tapestries at the beginning of the chapters and it also does a really great job of re-using old assets and making them feel like they fit, unlike a lot of books)

LIs: A (Arthur and Lancelot are both great characters and they compliment each other, they both have depth and their romance routes have great pay-off)

Romance Scenes: A+ (the romance scenes build well, play off the two different romance types and they reveal information about the characters)

MC: A+ (love, love, love this MC. She is new to Camelot, but not to Royal court. She is figuring out her powers, but she is not helpless or naive. I adore her).

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (I love all the knights of the round table and how they play off each other, I love Morganna, I love the townspeople. This is a book with a fantastic cast and it makes the story so much better).

Villain/Antagonist: A+ (this book has an excellent villain because it takes a character who is generally seen as good and makes them the bad guy but does it by still keeping him in character. It is such a good interpretation of the legend and ai love the twist so much).

Paywall: B- (I did a full diamond run, but I don’t think this book is too bad. You miss out on a lot of romance and bonding and a few story moments would be harder, but I think overall it’s not nearly as bad as many books).

Overall: A (this is a very good book and a book that was deeply satisfying as a stand-alone).:

Previous Ranking: N/A

New Ranking:

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor

Story: A. (I am not a horror fan but this is a very well crafted ghost story)

Art: A- (The faces, like all early Choices faces, are busted but the rest of the art is beautiful and so is the animation)

LIs: B-ball (both LIs are fine, but this is not a romance and it is super short, so the LIs are under-developed and romance is not really a major part of the book)

Romance Scenes: D- (this is not a romance book and the LIs scenes reflect that, I have a friend who did the sleep with Eleanor scene and didn’t even realize it was a love scene 😂)

MC: A- (I like that she has the guts to face her problems head-first and that she will boldly walk into a haunted house. But again it’s such a short book that she doesn’t really have time to develop a personality)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A- (The Waverly children are adorable, but it is a short book so we don't really get to see any development)

Villain/Antagonist: A- (As a mother, I actually find the villain of this book very traumatic, but overall the story is well done)

Paywall: B- (I have played this many, many times without diamonds and you get a pretty good story either way, the diamond scenes just add a little extra detail but you can't have any romantic relationship at all without them)

Overall: B+ (This is a good book, even if it is not really my thing, but the short length stops it from really being great, as everything is just a little under-developed)

Previous Ranking: 43/50

New Ranking:

Hearts on Fire

Story: A (The story is actually pretty solid, aside from the romance. Helping two merging fire houses bond while trying to catch an arsonist. The plot mostly makes sense and it builds well and the romance fits into it well).

Art: C+ (The art didn’t blow me away and the MC choices were seriously lacking.)

LIs: B (The grumpy boss doesn’t really do it for me. I mean, Phoenix is mostly fine and there is some actual growth which I appreciated, but his whole attitude got tiring after a while.)

Romance Scenes: B- (There was some weird fade to black happening at certain points and efen from an emotional standpoint, several of the hte scenes felt like they were lacking in substance,

MC: A (I like this MC. She is confident and generally makes pretty decent choices, she has mom friend energy but not to her own detriment and I like that her solution to her career rift was to go out and change things herself. She was a lot of fun and rarely annoying).

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (Ok, I love this group. They were fun, they were relevant to the story and we got to spend time with them and build relationships. Just how I like it.)

Villain/Antagonist: B- (The idea of the arsonist was great, execution was not ideal, although it did make sense and it played out well.)

Paywall: D+ (This is one of those books where the diamond scenes adds to your overall score and outcome and there is a diamond scene to influence the future of your firehouse and keep your friends together, which always sucks.)

Overall: A- (I enjoyed this book. I thought it had a solid story and a great cast. The romance was actually my least favorite part of the story.)

Previous Ranking: N/A

New Ranking:

The Heist: Monaco

Story: B+ (it is a good heist story, I will give it that and it has a lot of endings and variables, but it was also missing something) Art: B+ (there are a couple cool CGs but this book is not super art heavy and everything is pretty but I wouldn't remember this book for it's art) LIs: B- (the LIs are fine, with Sonia being the best/most developed of the bunch, but there isn"t much romance or development) Romance Scenes: C+ (the romance scenes in this book are definitely lackluster, except for some of Sonia's) MC: B- (this MC is competent, I'll give them that, and very experienced but also dull without much backstory or defined personality traits) Friend Group/Side Characters: B- (I like all the characters but the book is more concerned with being able to customize your team than giving them any real depth) Villain/Antagonist: A (Ansel is actually a great villain ) Paywall: C+ (you can get good endings for free, but it is a lot more work. Plus 3 team members are premium locked) Overall: B- (this isn't a bad book and the multiple teams and different endings but it did not draw me in at all and it is hard to get attached to the cast of characters) Previous Ranking: 48/50 New Ranking:

Hero

Story: B (The story isn’t bad, the premise is actually good but it is rushed and it definitely suffers from the lack of book 2 because now it feels incomplete and not just because of the clffhanger but because MC’s whole identity was a last act revelation that was never followed up on)

Art: A+ (the cartoon style works better here in Endless Summer, as it is very much going for a Comic-book feel and I love that the character art draws from that traditional colour palette and this book has 18 CGs, which is insane)

LIs: B (I like the LIs, but Grayson is on the outside of the story and Eva isn’t properly introduced until chapter 10, so it’s hard to really get to know them and Kenji doesn’t fare much better. The LI interaction is pretty shallow)

Romance Scenes: D+ (they are too short, very little character development happens and they are very fade to black)

MC: A- (I like this MC, they take the “hey I have superpowers” revelations fairly well. I would have liked a bit more personality, since the default is kind of dull, but I like that this MC is pretty competent)

Friend Group/Side Characters: B+ (the romance subplot between Dax and Poppy is annoying, but they are otherwise strong characters and supportive friends)

Villain/Antagonist: B (Silas isn’t a bad villain but he’s not a top app villain either, the fact that his motivations are barely hinted at, except maybe once or twice in Grayson’s diamond scenes, is a problem. He is not a terrible villain, just underwhelming)

Paywall: C- (Three super suits that you have to keep paying for, backstory behind a paywall, extra crew members, this book pulls out all the stops to get you to spend money, but it’s not as critical as it in some other books)

Overall: B (this is a good book but not a great one, it had a lot of potential, unfortunately with a cancelled sequel that potential is unfulfilled and leaves a lot of gaps in the story).

Previous Ranking: 29/50

New Ranking:

High School Story

Story: A- (this story isn’t particularly deep and in book 2, it pushes the level of plausibility, but for the most it is a solid story about teenage drama that feels like a story about teenagers and it is sweet and heartwarming)

Art: A (this book has some pretty solid art, especially for being a relatively early release and the yearbook in book 1 is a fun little extra)

LIs: A (the LIs in this book are great and they are all different from each other with established personalities and they all add something to the story)

Romance Scenes: B (they tend to be on the short side, but they are sweet and they do that first love thing very well)

MC: A+ (this MC is a sparkly ray of sunshine and I adore her.)

Friend Group/Side Characters: A+ (I didn’t play the original HSS c game so I didn’t have that attachment but I love this cast. It is a friend group that works so well and all the characters are well developed )

Villain/Antagonist: A- (grifter principal stretches the realms of plausibility a bit, but “over-privileged white boy who won’t take no for an answer” is a pretty solid and believable villain)

Paywall: B- (the stakes aren’t as high in other books and you don’t miss critical information but certain tasks, like winning Homecoming Queen/King, are a lot harder and most of the yearbook photos in book 1 are locked).

Overall: A (This book is super cute and it is fun)

Previous Ranking: 19/50

New Ranking:

High School Story: Class Act

Story: B (The story isn't bad but a lot of the times, thing happen around MC instead of to them and it's hard to get invested and in the first HSS, you saw the whole school in ways that doesn't happen in Class Act as it focuses on one group, so that also limits the story IMO). Art: B- (nothing ground breaking here, no super cute CGS or super impressive backgrounds or outfits) LIs: A- (it took me a while to warm up to the LIs but I liked all 3 of them and I like that they are very distinct characters and that they all have a place in the story and get time to shine) Romance Scenes: B (these were good, but a little short and in the first book, it felt it was hard to get to know the characters but for the most part the scenes were sweet and advance the romance in an appropriate way) MC: B+ (This MC is cute but a little too timid and awkward for my taste and a little too much of a passive player in the story). Friend Group/Side Characters: B+ (I love the MC's twin and there are some great side characters in this book, but overall I find the friend group a little lacking as it often just the LIs + Erin and I think they could have used the extended cast better) Villain/Antagonist: C+ (Class Act did make me miss "grifter principal" as a villain, so there is that but generally the books villains were awful. Book 2 didn't even really have one except politics and high school popularity contests 😂 but I preferred that to the overdone jealous girl trope for book one and the weird Stayton storyline of book 3, Skye's abusive parents did make for a heartbreaking story though) Paywall: B- (I've played this series without diamonds and diamonds make the goals easier to achieve and there is also a lot of added content you miss out on since this series calls back to diamond scenes a lot, but I think it is still a cute and enjoyable story without diamonds and you don't miss out on anything major) Overall: B (this series is cute and enjoyable but it is not nearly as good as the first HSS trilogy) in Previous Ranking: 36/50 New Ranking:

Home For the Holidays

Story: B+ (This is a Hallmark story in Visual Novel form, it is not particularly deep but it is sweet)

Art: B+ (this is fairly early Choices and the art is simple but the backgrounds are beautiful)

LIs: A- (I like the LIs in this book and they all get their own, Hallmark-like story),

Romance Scenes: A- (the romance scenes are most “choose an LI”, so you don’t get a lot of time with the LIs you aren’t romancing but you get more time with your LI)

MC: B (this MC is not particularly memorable, but she’s not annoying either and that is a huge plus)

Friend Group/Side Characters: C+ (I like Mc’s family and the town, but other than the matchmaking plots we don’t really see them and it is just the LIs)

Villain/Antagonist: C+ (I was trying to figure out if this book had an antagonist and really it’s Nick, so I guess he is our first villain LI 😂. His grumpy boss stick is fine, but gets tiring)

Paywall: A (you miss out on pairing two side characters and you might lose a few contests, plus have less time with your LI but the main story is unaffected, I think this book would still be cute on a free play)

Overall: B+ (playing this book at Christmas was the right call, because it does give me warm and fuzzy Christmas feeling, it is actually super cute).

Previous Ranking: 42/50

New Ranking:

Hot Couture

Story: C (this is the third version of “unknown becomes overnight sensation and then risks losing it all and has to fight to regain her glory” that PB did, except this time with fashion instead of music or acting and it’s boring. There is nothing that sets this story apart from the ones that came before it),

Art: A+ (the art in this book is really pretty and the sketchbook is a really cool addition)

LIs: C+ (they are boring and are never really fleshed out, even in diamond scenes they aren’t really given much motivation)

Romance Scenes: D+ (they are short, the romances themselves have no real depth and you don’t ever really learn much about the LIs and not one of them stuck in my mind after)

MC: C+ (like most of this book, there is nothing memorable about this MC, she is just there, she is not particularly annoying but she doesn’t have any stand-out qualities either)

Friend Group/Side Characters: D+ (this book doesn’t have a real friend group, it has a few side characters that we see occasionally but no real team mentality and the bond feels shallow at best)

Villain/Antagonist: D (Bridgette is a bad villain, she hates MC for no reason and is never given any kind of motivations, no attempts to flesh her out or even make her truly despicable and Otto is over-the-top cartoonish level)

Paywall: C+ (the best outfits are paywalled, in a book about fashion that matters, and there are a lot of advantages and interactions that are locked, plus the whole mood board feature is tied to diamond scenes with characters, so you may have to buy a scene for a character you don’t romance)

Overall: C (This book is the definition of mediocre. It is basically a poor copy of previous books.)

Previous Ranking: 46/50

New Ranking:

This list is getting too long and awkward to update (plus I still have to eventually go back and add The Duchess Affair, Getaway Girls and First Come Loves) so starting with I, I will be starting a new list and linking back to this one.

Misha’s Choices Ratings Part 2

#playchoices #misha replays

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butwhatifidothis · 3 years ago

Text

Shortened Lifespan: Edelgard vs Lysithea

Now, technically, I’ve already made a post like this before, but I wanted it to be it’s own thing (brought about by a mutual tagging a post of mine and me wanting to go more into depth with it lol).

It’s been very widely accepted by the fandom that Edelgard and Lysithea both go through the expectation of living a shortened life due to the blood experiments done to them, with this partly being used as part of the defense/reasoning for Edelgard going to war instead of doing something more peaceful. She thinks she’s on a timer, like Lysithea, so she hard-starts change to work around her short-lived clock. Makes sense, on the surface.

But like I’ve mentioned on here before, I personally just can’t buy it. Nothing besides the immediate connection of “Edelgard and Lysithea both went through experimentation” suggests that Edelgard has the same shortened lifespan that Lysithea is suffering through.

More under the cut

One thing that immediately stands out, to me, are the differences between their stat spreads and growths (focusing on stats on this post).

Here are Edelgard’s (note: Statues not applied - add five to the stats if you want the true max values):

They are extremely good, especially for a default armor unit. Str and especially Mag are very high, average Dex and Spd (though notably good for an armor unit), good Def, amazing Charm. Her Luck and Res are the only things that are even kinda bad - it’d more accurate to say they’re below average, tho again, 47 Res on an armor unit is fairly high. In fact, of the units that lean towards armor, Edelgard has the highest Res, and even beats out some units that aren’t armor-leaning such as Claude and Felix. Even her seemingly low HP (for an armor) is mitigated by the fact that it’s still some of the highest for a female unit overall (the fifth highest, beat out by Petra, Rhea, Manuela, and Hilda)

What are Lysithea’s, in contrast? (blacked out everyone above her for easier reading):

...Uh. Yeah. In contrast to Edelgard’s far more even spread, Lysithea’s are skewed to fuck. The best Mag in the game and the second highest Dex (losing only to Claude’s 89), and some nice Spd, sure, but everything else takes an extremely large hit. 48 HP is the lowest in the game, pitiful Str and Def, and mediocre Luck, Res, and Charm. This girl is held together by toothpicks, Elmer’s glue, and God’s mercy.

So right off the bat, there’s a huge difference between the two of them in this regard, but I decided to go even further; just how off are Lysithea’s stats, actually? Some things make sense, like low Str and Def, so how different is she compared to others in her class type (magic users).

The magic users of the following factions have the Str stat underlined. First, BE:

BL:

GD:

CoS:

From what we can see, 30 Str isn’t actually out of the norm for a female magic user. The outliers are Rhea and Manuela with their Str in the low 50′s being not just the highest of the women, but of all the main magic users period, though part of that could be contributed to their age (vs Hanneman who is both older - in terms of physical age at least - and who does not focus on physical strength like someone like Gilbert) (Rhea being an older Nabatean could also attribute to this - notice Seteth’s stat spread which also has notably high Mag for a Wyvern Rider unit and Flayn’s, who is younger and who also had only recently woken from a centuries long sleep that she fell into after nearly dying, more odd spread). Following them for the women is Annette, who as we know lugs around a giant axe (Crusher’s weight is 11, making it heavier than most swords and bows and a good few lances - fun fact, it’s heavier than Areadbhar!) which likely lends to her having above average Str for her gender and unit type combination

Now, here’s the fun part: let’s look at the same unit’s Res stats

BE:

BL:

GD:

CoS:

Here’s where an interesting pattern shows up that’s fairly consistent: if a magic unit has bad Str, they have good/great Res to compensate, and vice versa. Annette’s above average Str (remember, for what she is) coincides with her bad Res, same as Manuela’s, and all the magic units with their ass Str have at least a respectable Res to go along with it. The only ones who break this rule are Rhea, due to her Str and Mag being fairly even with a lean towards magic (and also not being playable lol)... and Lysithea. Who has both a shit Str and shit Res stat. Even amongst her magical peers, Lysithea still stands out as particularly fragile and physically weak.

HOWEVER

Do note, for all of the above in terms of going over stats, that they aren’t necessarily the best indicator of anything in particular when it comes to a character; there is no version of me in the multiverse that will ever believe Manuela is stronger than Rhea or that Lorenz has the same amount of stamina as Dimitri, for example. But it is something to note when looking at Edelgard and Lysithea, due to them going through the same experiments and yet one is very clearly doing better in terms of damn near everything and the other very clearly lagging behind in damn near everything

Moving on, we have their Banes and Boons. Edelgard’s Boons are Axes, Swords, Heavy Armor, and Authority, with Banes in Faith and Bows. Of note, Edelgard will say in a Study Request that she believes it is her specifically having two Crests that allows her to be able to shrug on armor like it’s nothing, and her defaulting to an armor class with an axe as her default weapon makes her the literal heaviest she could theoretically be. On top of that, her Banes point to nothing about her physical health hindering her ability to do physically laborious feats.

Lysithea, on the other hand, has Boons in Faith, Reason, and Authority, with Banes in Swords, Lances, Axes, Heavy Armor, as well as Clearing Rubble as a Group Task activity. She has a budding talent in Swords - the lightest of the weapons she’s bad at and some of the lightest weapons in the game - that gives her access to a Combat Art that lets her use something other than Str to give Mt to her sword-based attack. Lysithea, in terms of Banes and Boons when compared to Edelgard (or anyone, really), is very clearly unable to do physically demanding things very well - it’s something she’s actively bad at doing and is a consistent fact about her that crops up in not just her stats and Banes and Boons, but also her supports. Edelgard’s situation is the same.

Edelgard has her supports with Ferdinand, as well as Ferdinand’s supports with Byleth, that showcase her being exceptionally good at combat in terms of physical fighting (as in, no magic, and having a talent in doing feats that would require a good amount of stamina). She beats Ferdinand in combat with one strike, and she is able to take on a Demonic Beast by herself while still fresh in the academy. There are no mentions of her being winded or tired from fighting, and she is more than once praised for her battle prowess.

Lysithea, meanwhile, has at least three supports (Byleth, Lorenz, Cyril) that indicate less than stellar stamina, health, and strength (she straight up faints in Byleth’s supports). While characters looking out for her health can maybe be somewhat attributed to her being one of the youngest students in the cast, the difference between and, say, Cyril, who’s even younger than her, is that she genuinely shows signs of ill health when she pushes herself too far, vs Cyril who is fine even with how much he works. When talking about her prowess in battle it is only ever in regards to her magical capabilities, not anything else, and she is seen constantly working on those capabilities.

And then lastly, there are their endings.

Edelgard has no endings that mention needing to be rid of her Crests - save one, which will be looked at in a bit. In particular, she has an ending with Hubert that indicates she lives on to her “later years,” which is usually attributed to a fairly old age. It is not, in this case, referring to Edelgard’s specific later years (for example, a person who lives to 30 can say their mid-twenties was the later years of their life), because it specifically says that she and Hubert live to their later years, which more likely points towards a longer life.

Lysithea in contrast has multiple endings that either has her and/or her lover actively looking for means to get rid of Lysithea’s Crests, or explicitly say that she dies young. There’s... not much more to add to that lmao

But! There is one ending with Edelgard that mentions her getting rid of her Crests, and it even says they restore her lost time! That’s proof positive, isn’t it?

Well, funnily enough, this is her ending with Lysithea that mentions this, and it... appears to be straight up incorrectly translated. As has been pointed out by others, the JPN ending doesn’t specifically mention restoring their lifespans, it simply says Edelgard and Lysithea “discovered a way to exchange the crest’s power for the restoration of a lost lifespan.” While, if we look at the surface level “Edelgard and Lysithea both had Crests implanted into them” similarity, it makes sense to attribute this restoration to the both of them, looking at everything else leans towards this statement mostly being for Lysithea. Which, given that this is the only ending - or really, the only place period - Edelgard has that even mentions her wanting to be rid of her Crest, let alone actively working towards it, it makes sense that this isn’t for her.

Now, all of the above isn’t directly pointing towards anything - it’s a lot of speculation, since nothing about Edelgard herself having a short life is ever explicitly said in the game. But when looking at all of the differences between Lysithea and Edelgard, when looking at how badly Lysithea stacks against everyone else vs how amazing Edelgard stacks, at how often dying young is mentioned with Lysithea vs Edelgard, at how much Lysithea focuses on her lifespan vs Edelgard, I personally just can’t believe that they’re similarly afflicted with a shortened life.

There’s almost nothing in the game to suggest that other than the one thing they have in common, which is the experiments themselves - if they do, then Edelgard simply doesn’t care as much about it as Lysithea, and/or it isn’t nearly to the extent of Lysithea, to the point where she feels no need to mention it anywhere. And this is the same character that brings up her ten dead siblings in the first support with the player character, so something as big as “oh yeah and I’m going to die relatively soon and young” feels like something she would similarly mention as something one should know about her, which she doesn’t. This seems, to me, to be just a popular fan theory that isn’t really all that supported in the game itself.

#Lysithea #Lysithea (fire emblem)#Edelgard #Edelgard (Fire Emblem)#exqueuese me princess #can this be considered meta?#to be 100% clear: this is my opinion based on what's in the game #all good if you don't agree!

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famedexclusive · 2 years ago

Photo

15 AUGUST— The seventh episode of the Base x Mnet competition show CROWNED aired on August 14.

The episode began by recapping everything that happened in the second round. Clips of rehearsals and stages were shown with reminders of penalties and rewards and notable moments.

The rankings from the second round were then revealed to the groups. Ultraviolet’s #11 ranking was revealed first, and then the ranking proceeded up to Catalyst’s impressive rise at #3. Calypso, Quantum/phase, Polaris, and Titan were left as the top two and bottom two. Calypso was revealed at #2 and then Titan’s large drop to #12 was revealed. Finally, Polaris and Quantum/phase were revealed as the #1 and #13 of the round respectively.

Talking head reactions to the rankings were also shown. Some were happy with their results, such as Calypso’s YENNY (“Ah, we did well did we not?”), Candy’s SUN ( “After the ranking from the first round, placing five feels more like we placed number one.”) and YERIN ( “After the ranking from the first round, placing five feels more like we placed number one.”), and Polaris’s TAEYONG (“We ranked first, so I’m obviously proud of our result.”).

Other reactions shown were more grim, such as those of Titan’s HARU (“I don’t know many people who would be happy to end up second to last in the rankings.”) and DURI (“It’s disheartening and stomach-dropping when you end up at the bottom, right? I’m trying not to be a little sad, but I think I am a bit.”), Ultraviolet’s JAEIN (“I think, more than anything, our fans will be disappointed to see our lower ranking.”) and LUCIA ( “I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a little bit disappointed.”)

It was then revealed that Calypso won the most votes from other groups as the strongest performance while Titan earned the most votes from other groups as the weakest performance. The final unit rankings were also revealed.

The mission for the final round was then revealed: each group will be preparing and releasing an original song for their final performance.

The episode then immediately cut to lowest ranking Quantum/phase and highest-ranking Polaris, who are labelmates. Rehearsals from each group were shown that captured the feeling of each group’s songs, but not much of the songs themselves. Polaris’s TAEYONG, who is revealed to have worked on Polaris’s finale song, gave a teaser of what to expect from their song: “I hoped to capture our various different charms we’ve shown since our debut, as well as our individuality and our determination for the future.”

The episode then focused on the runner-ups to the second round winner, Calypso, Catalyst, and Selene. Each group conducted rehearsals in their own way and seemed to have songs very unique from each other for their final performance. Calypso were shown rehearsing a energetic and bright song (on which member YENNY said, “It’s summery and upbeat and fun, perfect for Calypso. Also, I got to help out with our costuming! That makes me a little bit extra excited too.”, while Catalyst took a more bombastic approach, and Selene’s rehearsals were focused (and member KAMI, who worked on the song, gave her input: “When you first hear it play, from sound alone, you’d be able to say ‘ah, that’s Selene’ and that’s something I like, having an defined sound. I’m proud that I was able to work on it and capture Selene.”).

Next were Candy, Andromeda, and Equinox, groups from three different companies who found themselves ranking in the middle last round. As the members of Candy rehearse, the members tease something unexpected from them (YERIN: “It’s a song that embodies Candy’s charm, but carries a bit of maturity that speaks of an intention towards our growth as a group.” / SUN: "[CENSORED] is a song that reminds me of Candy, but in the way we’ve matured over the last four years. To me, it’s another mark in our growth as a group, and I hope it can be a positive one.” Andromeda and Equinox’s rehearsals are shown as well, with a hint on what to expect from Equinox from member MINJUNG (“Compared to our last few comebacks, I feel like the song is more reminiscent of the earlier Equinox days, and almost brings back a lighter throwback that we haven’t been able to show our fans recently.”)

Cloud, Lily, and Platinum were then shown in rehearsals. Cloud appeared to be focusing a lot on their dancing during rehearsals, and a producer for Lily was shown hinting that Lily’s stage will show that they’re capable of many different images. Platinum was shown preparing many props for an elaborate stage, but member HAON didn’t seem to be optimistic about their chances (“I’m satisfied with where we stand because I didn’t see us going anywhere up from there.”).

The segment then moved on to Ultraviolet and Titan, both of which saw drops in their ranking from the first round. Two members of Ultraviolet shared their takes on their finale song, and they seemed to be in agreement (JAEIN: “It’s very Ultraviolet.” / LUCIA: “I think it’s empowering and confident — very Ultraviolet.”). Titan got a large segment to themselves, which focused on their dramatic fall in ranking. They were shown hard at work practicing for their final stage and talking heads from the members established their determined states of mind. HARU shared, “Challenge-wise, I don’t think there’s anything that Titan can’t overcome at this rate. We have some… tricks up our sleeve when it comes to the choreography that I’m very eager for our Gaias to see.” and DURI’s optimism shined through, “I think everything has been going swimmingly, and we’ve really been able to practice hard, making sure we’ve got everything on lock! I don’t think I have any worries currently!”. Leader DAEWON was shown remaining cool-headed through the surprising result, “ You can’t be too optimistic with these things, but I’m not one for pessimism, either. I try not to think of rehearsals as anything more than works of progress. They’re supposed to be messy, they’re supposed to be markers of improvement.”

The episode ended with a cut back to the panel of experts that had been missing from the previous episode. They discussed their predictions for the final round as some more select clips from rehearsals were shown. The former music show producer put his bets on Lily to win: “They haven’t shown everything they’re capable of yet, but they’re legends for a reason. If they bring it all in the final round, I can see them sweeping everyone’s hearts and bringing a surprise win.” The former idol manager chose Titan as his prediction. “Their fall has no doubt motivated them to do even better and they’ve already shown they’re capable of nabbing that number one spot.” The choreographer voiced his support for Calypso, “2022 is Calypso’s year, and that would only be topped off by them taking home the crown.”

The episode ended with the host letting audience know they could visit Crowned’s website for hints on the titles of the original songs that will be released. For each title guessed correctly, voters can earn extra votes for the live finale.

#tag: crowned #tag: yenny #tag: sun #tag: yerin #tag: taeyong #tag: haru #tag: duri #tag: jaein #tag: lucia #tag: kami #tag: minjung #tag: haon #tag: daewon

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katehuntington · 4 years ago

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Title: Ride With Me (part twenty one) Fandom: Supernatural Timeline: 2008 Pairing: Dean x Reader Word count: ±5850 words Summary series: Y/N is a talented horse rider who is on her way to become a professional. In order to convince her father that she deserves the loan needed to start her own farm, she goes to Arizona for six months, to intern at a ranch owned by Bobby and Ellen Singer. Her future is set out, but then she meets a handsome horseman, who goes by the name of Dean Winchester. A heartwarming series about a cowboy who falls for the girl, letting go of the past and the importance of family. Summary part twenty one: It’s Dean’s turn to make an entrance in the main arena. The rides lead to an interesting business proposal by a new client, but brings a lot of doubt too. Warnings series: NSFW, 18+ only! Fluff, angst, eventually smut. Swearing, smoking, alcohol intoxication, alcohol abuse. Mutual pining, heartbreak. Crying, nightmares, childhood trauma. Description of animal abuse, domestic violence, mentions of addiction. Financial problems, stress, mental breakdown. Description of blood and injury, hospital scenes, character death, grief. Music: Watching From A Distance - David Ramirez (opening scene) Follow ‘Kate Huntington’s Ride With Me playlist’ on Spotify! Author’s note: Prepare for cuteness and a bit of angst! Thank you @atc74, @manawhaat and @winchest09 for helping me. Also a special thanks to @jules-1999, who has offered me her knowledge about rodeo events like these, and @squirrelnotsam, who knows Arizona like the back of her hand.

Ride With Me Masterlist

Saturday morning has started early for the crew of the Gold Canyon Ranch. Before the crack of dawn Benny has mucked out the stables and fed the horses, making sure they had time to digest their pellets before the show starts. Together with Jo, Y/N has hand-walked the animals who are competing today, letting them stretch their legs and graze a bit. She took extra time for Meadow, who always seems to need a moment to adjust to new surroundings. The mare was fresh today, the brisk air only fueling her feisty temper. Her owner couldn’t help but snigger when she lifted her tail and started jogging next to her instead of just strolling along, showing off to anyone who would look at her.

It’s 8 AM when Dean puts his foot in the stirrup of the saddle, swinging his right leg over the back of the Bon Jovi, the light catching the fringe of his chaps. He pulls his hat a little tighter on his head once he’s seated, while the well-behaved stallion waits patiently for his rider to give him an aid, which he does, after adjusting the length of his reins.

With the sun only just peeking from behind the horizon, rays break through the leaves of the trees next to the warmup area, adding to the still peaceful surroundings. The commentator isn’t blaring through the speakers yet, the ring isn’t full of other riders trying to find a spot to train without running into each other. It’s the calm before the storm, a bit of peace and quiet both horse and human appreciate. No distractions, no sensory overload for the inexperienced stallion. It’s the perfect way to introduce him to the element of competition.

Y/N has just finished filling up the water buckets in the stables and rests her arms on the fence of the small arena. She watches Dean slowly start up the beautiful palomino, its coat seemingly made from gold in the morning light. Her boyfriend is wearing clean dark jeans and a navy button up, a black Stetson to match his show outfit. Never will she get tired of watching that man ride, but dressed like he is now, she can’t take her eyes off him. Y/N sighs deeply, swooning at the sight. She really did land the most handsome cowboy in Arizona, didn’t she?

The head wrangler seems composed as ever, not breaking a sweat over having to ride into the ring in thirty minutes, something that she admires and envies all at the same time. She wishes she could feel relaxed right before a test, instead of being the nervous wreck that she usually is. Meadow will not make her entry until later this evening and already Y/N dodged breakfast, well aware that she won’t be able to swallow a bite, stage fright blocking her throat. Just thinking about the premiere of her freestyle makes it slightly harder to breathe, but Dean takes that away when he rides past, breaking his concentration for a second and shooting her a wink and a soft smile. She chuckles as they keep a hold of each other’s gaze for a few seconds as his horse walks by. God, she wishes she has his confidence.

Other competitors join Dean and Bon Jovi in the warm up area, but the stallion only murmurs at a mare once, its rider gently yet strictly reminding him to keep his head in the game. Before they know it, the same voice that did the commentary on last night’s barrel race competition sounds from the amplifiers.

“Good mornin’, folks! It’s another beautiful day here at the Flagstaff Horsefair. We’re getting ready for the first class of the day, the Standlee Forage Reining Competition for four year olds. Highest overall score wins five bags of high quality horse food.”

The commentator continues to promote the sponsors of the event, Dean giving his horse a little scratch on the shoulder when he tenses slightly as the loud voice sounds from the speakers. Aware that it will soon be their turn, the rider allows himself to enjoy the atmosphere as he casts his gaze over the other competitors. He isn’t too worried about the fixture, confident in his own skills and those of his horse.

“Dean Winchester, two minutes!” A steward announces, looking down at his clipboard to double check the line up. The cowboy nods in acknowledgement, directing his gaze to Y/N as he waits for her to catch up. He watches as she puts down the grooming bag next to her on the sandy arena footing, attending to the bell boots that Bon Jovi is still wearing. She unbuckles the leather clasps, putting the leg protection away. “Would you like some water?” she offers. He shakes his head, casually, taking in the arena. “Nah, I’m good.”

Y/N looks up at him, trying to read what he is feeling. To her, it is strange how he doesn’t seem nervous. He’s relaxed, collected; reminding her of the still waters at Canyon Lake, where they swam together for the first time on the trail that changed everything. It is as if he can’t register the pressure that should be resting on his shoulders. Maybe he truly believed he is that good. “Break a leg,” she speaks, fondly. “Don’t wish that upon me, Yankee,” Dean chuckles. “Kinda need them to do my job.” She laughs and pats him lovingly on his denim clad thigh. “I don’t know how you can be so calm.” “Well, I have my good luck charm with me.” He lays his hand over hers, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. “C’mere.” She steps closer to Bon Jovi, tiptoeing to reach up while Dean leans over to level with her. His lips brush over hers softly, his nose nuzzling hers in a sweet gesture. She smiles into the gentle kiss. “Go get’em, cowboy.”

The wrangler straightens himself in the saddle, while his girlfriend picks up the groom bag and steps back. He guides his horse into the tunnel under the bleachers towards the arena, concentrating on the gates in front of him, waiting for them to open. The reigns feel smooth between his fingers as he drowns out the noise around him. With his free hand, he encouragingly strokes the side of Bon Jovi’s neck, his pearly white manes contrasting beautifully against his flaxen coat. He has grown accustomed to these kinds of events, his nerves not bothering him anymore. He finds solace in his work, seeing it more as fun than as a chore. He enjoys the challenge the youngsters bring him, from the initial moment of putting on a halter, to getting in a saddle, to showing them all for the very first time. In less than a year, the horses go through such growth, and it’s always a pleasure to be a part of their journey.

“First competitor of the day is Dean Winchester, riding Bon Jovi, a stallion by Renegade. This horse is bred by Victor Hendriksen and owned by the Gold Canyon Ranch in Phoenix, Arizona.”

Y/N watches as the palomino calmly comes through the gate, not batting an eye at his new and impressive surroundings. Submissive and willing, the stallion responds to his rider’s aids when he’s asked to halt. To witness how trustful each and every horse is with the trainer, surfaces some kind of gratification inside of her. The way Dean schools the animals isn’t based on authority or rank, but much more about collaboration and respect. It’s something she admires about him from the get go.

Dean leads Bon Jovi through a precise pattern of figures, spins and stops. Reining is all about the athletic abilities of the horse, and the rider controlling every movement. The horse demonstrates attitude and willingness, while the signals given by the rider are nearly imperceptible. The run is evaluated by a panel of three judges, who mark each pattern individually. In this youngster class, speed isn’t key yet, but correctness is. Every stride must look effortless and relaxed, as if the animal and rider have become one. That’s exactly what is on display in the arena right now.

With a smile of adoration across her face, Y/N leans her forearms on the steel fence, watching the head wrangler. A small crowd that got up at the crack of dawn have occupied the first rows on the bleachers and by the fence, encouraging shouts and whistles rallying the first competitor on. The young horse is so fixed on his rider, that he doesn’t even pick up on the sounds. Bon Jovi isn’t fast in the spins yet, but that’s okay, because his footwork is close to perfect. After three well executed sliding stops, Dean gives the palomino the signal to back up, his spur not even touching the horse’s flank. Submissively, he reverses until his rider drops the reins and rewards the stallion, who blows out a purr through his nose, looking up at the stands curiously when they applaud the performance, much like the commentator.

“Well, if that ain’t setting the bar, I don’t know what is. What a solid ride from Dean Winchester and Bon Jovi!”

While Dean exits the arena, he searches the people along the fence and on the bleachers. He’s looking for Bobby, who he finds on the sidelines. His uncle holds his gaze and gives the head wrangler a nod, telling him so much without using actual words. They haven’t spoken about the elephant in the room yet, today’s pace being far too high to squeeze in the awkward conversation, and so both men have decided for themselves to let it rest. Besides, they might have sold a number of horses yesterday, that doesn’t mean they can lean back now.

The cowboy leads his horse back to the warm up ring, meeting his girlfriend half way. “Good run!” she compliments, taking Bon Jovi’s reins after Dean swings his right leg over the saddle and dismounts. She shoves the water bottle in his hand this time, knowing if she had asked, he would have declined anyway. “I had a little wobble in the second roll back, but yeah, the rest was good.” He twists off the cap and takes a swig, thirstier than he likes to admit.

Since Dean is competing two separate horses in the same class, he’s both first and last to enter the main arena. It’s going to be a race against the clock, and he looks around the warm-up area in search for his next four-legged dance partner. “Where’s Jo? Ringo is up in thirty minutes.” “Better get off your high horse, Mister, otherwise this is the last time I’ll tack up for you,” his cousin replies snappily, appearing from behind with a bay gelding named Ringo Starr in tow. Dean is about to counter her, but he bites his tongue, knowing she’s not kidding and will never do him a favor again if he gives her attitude. And so he mutters a ‘thanks’ under his breath when he takes the Quarterhorse from her.

As swiftly as he got down from Bon Jovi, he now mounts Ringo, the next four year old for him to compete. As he does so, his score is announced over the speakers, but he can’t quite make out the numbers. When he glances at the scoreboard, he’s pleasantly surprised. “218.5 points!” Y/N cries out, delighted. “That’s fantastic!” With a content smirk adorning his features, Dean nods satisfied; that is indeed a good score. Good enough to put Bon Jovi on the podium. Good enough to ask a high price when the buyers come calling. He doesn’t have time to settle on a high cloud, though; he needs to ready Ringo for his run.

Y/N hoists the groombag on her shoulder and takes the kind palomino stallion to exit the warm-up arena. This is her job after all, she might be dating her supervisor, she’s still the intern. They made a deal when she arrived at the ranch that Dean would not treat her differently, so she intends to do the work she’s come here to do. Jo, however, seems to have a different idea, and nudges her. “I’ll take Jovi. You go cheer on your John Wayne.” The blonde cowgirl winks at her friend, taking over the load.

She chuckles, handing the petite blonde the horse. Grateful to be able to see more of Dean’s horsemanship in action, she finds a spot by the fence. The sun steadily rises, casting out what was left of the night’s coolness, the light radiating down on her much warmer and brighter. Wishing she had brought a hat, the cowgirl takes off her jacket and puts it away in the groombag. She watches her boyfriend warm up Ringo, who seems a little bit more nervous, now that the ring is more crowded. His rider does a good job reassuring the young animal, though, giving the bay gelding some light exercises to keep his mind of the commotion around him, rewarding the Quarter every time he shows a sign of relaxation.

“Beautiful day to be buying horses, isn’t it, darling?” Y/N startles at the sudden gruff voice, snapping her head to where the sound came from. The supposedly kind words to start conversation are pronounced with a English accent, by a stranger dressed in black. The rather short man who she guesses would be somewhere in his fifties leans on the steel rail, his fingers laced together while he watches riders in the arena.

“Y - yeah, I suppose so,” Y/N stammers, unsure how to respond. “My apologies, where are my manners.” The man turns to her and offers his hand. “The name is Fergus. Fergus MacLeod.” The cowgirl frowns at his introduction. She has heard of him, but has never met the owner of the MacLeod Studfarms in person. “Y/N Y/L/N,” she returns, slightly hesitant. “Oh, I know who you are. I’m an admirer of your work. You’re quite the talent,” the Englishman admits. “That run at the State Championships was spectacular.”

Slightly creeped out, but not trusting her instincts entirely, she stays quiet for a moment. This is a man of great influence in the business, so she does want to hear what he has to say. “You saw me ride?” she replies. He nods, an amused smirk resting on his thin lips. “I did indeed, love. Talking about talent, that horse is something else as well. Meadowsweet, is her name, isn’t it?” “Yeah...” Y/N returns, somewhat suspicious. “Tell me; are you the owner of that lovely mare? Or are there parents and sponsors involved?”

Her stance becomes a bit more defensive, not just because of the rapid questions that are fired at her, no matter how charming this gentleman is trying to be. No, it’s his assumption that she’s too young to own such a horse that gets to her. “I am the owner, as a matter of fact,” she states, a new found strength in her voice. “Good to know I am talking to the proper person then.” Her company chuckles, apparently pleased by her feisty counter. “Because I have a proposition for you.” Before he can make her an offer, Y/N intervenes. “Meadow isn’t changing owners, if that’s where you’re headed, Mr. MacLeod.” Fergus takes her in, narrowing his eyes slightly, but the pleased little smile remains. “I can make it worth your while.” “I believe you can, but no matter your offer; she’s not for sale,” the cowgirl makes herself clear, a sternness in her voice that should tone the horse trader down. It doesn’t. Instead he chuckles dryly and takes a little booklet out of the inner pocket of his black coat; it’s a cheque book. Not taking no for an answer, he pulls out a pen and writes down his signature. “Everything is for sale, love. All one has to do is pay the right price,” he says, wisely.

Fergus MacLeod rips off the sheet of paper, handing her the cheque. Not wanting to be downright rude, she takes it, staring at the empty line; it’s blank. “You may write down whatever number you seem fit. It’s up to you,” the Brit elaborates. “Now that I’ve got your attention, would you happen to know where I can find Bobby Singer? I would like to have a little chat with my old friend.” “He’s by the main arena.” She points in the direction of the entrance. “Wonderful,” he quips. “It was a pleasure meeting you, darling.”

A shiver runs down her spine as MacLeod walks away to find her boss. She’s highly aware that he is a very influential and important person in the industry, but he has got some nerve. Y/N might look like an innocent and timid girl, but there is no way in hell that she would ever give up Meadow, no matter how large the figure.

She stares at the cheque, crumbling it in her hand before she stuffs it in her pocket, angrily. She has never met someone as brazen as Fergus Macleod at a show before, and she has been to enough to know. But she doesn’t want to waste time and think about the confrontation now. The cowgirl would much rather focus on her wrangler boyfriend who is wowing the judges.

Dean’s run with Ringo Starr is another great one, and with him being the last contestant of the class, the rankings are decided the moment the score comes in. With 215.5 points, he secures the third place, behind another rider and Bon Jovi, who has held on to the lead. An impressive result, one that he knows his uncle is going to be very pleased with.

When the Dean exits the arena, he is met by his girlfriend, who is smiling widely. “You nailed it!” she chirps with enthusiasm. “They did good,” Dean says, rustling Ringo’s black mane, more than satisfied with the performance of both young horses, but not taking the compliment upon himself.

The cowboy gets down from the saddle, noticing that the gelding is tired from all the first impressions and new sensories that come with the first show. Ringo’s coat is damp, a shade darker because of the perspiration; he gave it his all. Intending to hand-walk the horse back to the stables to shower the animal and give him his hay, he strolls to exit the warm-up area, but Bobby stops him. “Dean?” his uncle calls out, beckoning him to come over. Y/N glances up, following Mr. Singer’s voice. Noticing that Fergus MacLeod has found who he claims to be his ‘old friend’, her face falls slightly. She wonders what the Englishman would want, and why Dean has been invited into the conversation. Questionly, she looks back at her boyfriend and takes over Ringo from him, reckoning she should leave since it’s none of her business what will be discussed, but the man in black has different ideas. “Y/N, do join us, and bring the horse as well, love.” The hair on the back of Dean’s neck rises; what did he just call her? Unable to prevent his jaw from clenching, he steps towards the two ranch owners, trying to keep his cool. Who the hell is this dickhead? “That’s Fergus MacLeod,” Y/N whispers, as if she just read his mind. “He’s the founder of some of the largest stud farms in the country and even has stables in Europe. Owns at least two dozen licenced stallions.” The wrangler nods in acknowledgement. Great, some snobby bigshot. Very much aware that this new face might have something to offer Bobby, he keeps his mouth shut.

“Ah, the one and only Dean Winchester,” Fergus’ grins mischievously. “Nice work there in the ring. Your uncle here told me it’s the first time those two horses are competing.” “That’s right,” the cowboy confirms. “Macleod is the name. Pleasure to meet ya.” The Brit extends his hand, which Dean shakes a little firmer than normal. He’s not even sure what he’s trying to accomplish with the display of his own physical strength.

“Fergus here is interested in buying the four year olds,” Bobby explains, apparently noticing his head wrangler’s suppressed hostility, shooting it down with a piercing stare, warningly. Dean’s demeanor changes instantly as he raises his eyebrows. If this horse trader is going to bring the big bucks, he knows he needs to keep himself in check for the sake of the ranch. “Mind if I have a peek?” Macleod asks, gesturing at the horse. “Go ahead.” Dean steps back, making room for him to inspect the horse.

Fergus circles the horse, taking the bay gelding in from several angles. He feels the hindlegs for any swelling or abnormalities and does the same with the front legs, after Y/N has removed the bandages Ringo wore in the ring to prevent any injuries. The horse trader then proceeds to look Ringo in the face and check his teeth. After a satisfied nod the man turns around, straightens his impeccable suit. He then takes a tissue from his breast pocket and wipes his hands. “It’s a fine looking animal you’ve got here, Singer,” he compliments. “You may take the horse away, my dear.” Even though she isn’t fond of the degrading way he is talking to her, Y/N obliges. Taking care of the horses when she’s not riding herself is her job after all. “Oh, and Miss Y/L/N…” She halts the horse next to her and turns around. The Englishman has his hands in his pocket now, twinkling hazel-colored eyes looking her up and down. “Bobby here tells me that you’re a well-educated woman. A master degree in Business & Economics? Impressive. Someone as smart as yourself has to acknowledge that it’s a good deal. I assume you will consider my offer on your horse,” he pauses, more intrigued with every detail he learns about the woman before him. “I would like to point out there’s room for six figures on that cheque. What numbers to fill in, is your choice.”

Dean wants to snap his head at his girlfriend, but keeps his posture. Did this man just offer her several hundred thousand dollars for Meadow? Eyes wide in astonishment, he exchanges a look with his uncle, both trying to keep a straight face. “She’s not for sale,” Y/N makes clear one more time, pronouncing the words slow to prove a point. Amused with her stubbornness, the corner of MacLeod’s mouth twitches upward. Cocky, he holds her gaze, but eventually yields. “Very well, then. Let me know if you change your mind. The offer stands.”

Without responding to Fergus’ tenacious reply, she turns away, nudging Ringo to follow her. The three men watch her leave, Dean knows her well enough to be able to tell that MacLeod has her blood boiling. He’s not surprised Y/N didn’t think twice about shooting the bid down. Meadow means the world to her, more than any amount of money could ever buy. But holy shit. Six figures! Realisation hits him; it would be enough money to save the Ranch.

The Brit who made the generous offer pulls him from his thoughts. “Alright, lads. Let’s talk business, shall we?” The three walk away from the few people that are lining around the warm-up area. A little further down, on a crossing of two paths, they stop. The little square is still quiet at this hour. Safe from lurking eyes and eavesdropping ears, they gather around one high table near a drink stand. Even though it’s a non-serve area, the influential man calls the bartender to take their order. The young guy comes back with a coke for the rider - who still has a run later this afternoon - and two bourbons. Dean didn’t even know they served whiskey at this event, let alone this early.

MacLeod cuts right to the chase. “I will offer you thirty grand for the four year old Quarters, and I will take them off your hands right away.” Dean doesn’t flinch, being in these kinds of conversations before. He can maintain his poker face, no matter how amble the offer. It is a negotiation after all. The owner of the two horses thinks about it for a second, but then comes with a counter. “Forty.” “C’mon, Bobby. Is that how you treat an old friend?” Fergus clicks his tongue, shaking his head slightly after which he takes a sip from his drink. “Now, I know times are tough and that you’re experiencing difficulty staying afloat, but do realize I am already doing you a favor here. Thirty thousand dollars is more than fair.”

The head wrangler is taken aback by the Englishman’s comment. How would he know the ranch is struggling? Did people in their close circle spill the beans? Apparently MacLeod spots the unpleasant surprise on the faces of the men opposite of him, because he comments on it without missing a beat. “It’s a small world, lads. People talk. You should know that by now, Singer.” Bobby moves past the comment rather quickly and ponders about the sum. Fergus isn’t wrong; it’s not just a decent offer. It’s a generous one, one he isn’t going to decline. The Englishman across the table knows it too; the owner of the Gold Canyon Ranch is desperate for money. “Cash,” he demands, accepting the original offer. The dark haired man strokes his neatly trimmed beard. “I can arrange that.”

The head wrangler might not like the horse trader, but he did just make this weekend ten times better. He gulps down the last of his coke, crumpling the can before he dunks it in the trash on the side of the crossroads. The cowboy figures the deal will be sealed with a handshake before they go separate ways, but MacLeod has a second matter to settle. “I have another proposition for you.” Having their attention, the middle aged Brit observes their reaction, his eyes full of mischief. The two members of the ranch near Phoenix share a look. “We’re listening.” Bobby says.

Fergus swirls his whiskey, studying the amber liquid in his glass. “I own a stallion,” he starts off, putting the drink to his mouth in the short pause. “I bought him at the Derby Quarterhorse Auction for over a million dollars. He’s licensed, one of the best pedigrees I’ve ever seen, not to mention his conformation and movements. He already covered four hundred mares this year. I expect great things from this horse, he is supposed to bring in the money. There is one slight issue, however.” Dean listens, intently, wondering where he is going with this. “And what would that be?”

“The horse has some… behavioral issues,” the stud farm owner claims, careful in his choice of words. “It has quite the temperament, one his former trainers haven’t been able to use in their advantage, my advantage.” Slowly the head wrangler begins to realize why the price MacLeod is willing to pay for the two Quarters is so steep; he is playing a game of give and take. The way the owner of this stallion is talking about money and business, calling the animal ‘it’, doesn’t sit well with him either. Where is the horse’s well-being in all of this?

“What’s his name?” Dean likes to know. Fergus frowns at that, clearly not understanding why it would matter, but he answers anyway. “You might have heard of this horse; his name is Cain.” Dean has heard of the horse. The whopping 1.2 million that was paid for the talented Quarter made headlines in the industry.

“What are these behavioral issues?” he needs to know, not taking the bait just yet. “Typical stallion behavior; dominance is the main problem. The horse has character, what can I say?” MacLeod laughs it off. “Anyway, I am looking for a capable horseman. Someone who can actually break him in.” The owner of the horse in question shifts his penetrating gaze from Bobby to Dean. The cowboy realizes they are at a verge of a possibly very important business deal, but he cannot stop himself from commenting on the peculiar choice of words. “I don’t ‘break in’ horses. I teach them to trust and to cooperate,” he states firmly. “Potato, potahto,” Fergus dismisses. “Are you up for the job, or not?”

Dean exchanges a glance with his uncle, a silent conversation happening between them, only possible by years and years of working together. When Bobby rights himself, he has a crucial question. “What’s in it for us?” Again that small smile on the Englishman’s face; he knows he’s close to persuading them.

“A thousand dollars each month, paid in advance, and a fifty grand bonus when Cain successfully completes the stallion performance tests in April. Plus, five percent of his earnings in coverage for the coming year. After he passes the exams, we can set up a contract in order for you to remain his permanent rider,” MacLeod sums up.

Bobby analyzes the offer. It’s tempting in many aspects. Fergus just mentioned that the stallion already covered four hundred mares this year. With his stud-fee being at least a thousand dollars, they are looking at twenty grand cut already. Then there’s the regular income, not to mention the bonus. This deal might be the lifeline his family business was frantically fishing for. It’s up to Dean, though. He is the one who is going to work with this horse, and the only one who can make an educated guess if it’s achievable in five months' time.

“We would like to see Cain first,” Bobby decides, wanting to offer his head wrangler a moment to evaluate the animal. “I’m afraid that will not be possible at this time, but I tell you what.” The Brit finishes his bourbon, setting the glass down on the high table. “The horse will be delivered to your property and you will have a week to decide if you want to take on this job. If not, no hard feelings.”

Dean glances aside, spotting the slight nod of his uncle. Seems like they can’t go wrong here; if Cain turns out to be more difficult than Fergus leads on, they can always send him back. “You got yourself a deal,” Bobby concludes, extending his hand to the man in black. “Splendid.” The horse trader smirks, delighted with the arrangement they agreed on, shaking their hands. When he grips Dean’s hand tight, he looks him deep in the eye, as if he recognizes something in the handsome cowboy.

“You’re John’s boy, aren’t ya?” he realizes. “I bought a couple of horses from that Winchester back in the day. How is he?” Tension grips Dean’s body, the sound of his father’s name on Macleod’s tongue sending a shiver down his limbs. He tries to breathe in without it being too obvious, finding it difficult to keep his mask on. “I wouldn’t know,” he answers curtly.

Fergus furrows his brow at that, clearly curious as of why the two aren’t in touch anymore. He allows a silence to linger between them, their handshake holding on to the apprehensiveness. “Hmm,” he responds at the peculiar answer. “Well, you are just like your father. I could’ve sworn it was him when I saw you in the arena earlier; spitting image. You have his ways.”

It’s like MacLeod is deliberately trying to get under his skin, and no matter how hard the young cowboy fights it, the man he’s making a deal with is succeeding. The words spoken with that distinct English accent ring in his head, much louder than they were pronounced, cracking like a whip on his back. You are just like your father. You have his ways.

Dean releases the stallion owner’s hand, quickly slipping his into the back pockets of his jeans, drying his clammy palms on the denim. He hopes neither of the men in his company notice him shaking. He inhales through his nose, squares his shoulders and stands tall, pushing down the anxiousness that is stirring in his stomach. Disappointed in himself, he chews on the inside of his cheek in search for distraction. He can’t let a simple comment get to him like this.

Now that he has shut down the attitude the ranch hand was giving him, the Englishman looks down on Dean with a sinister smile on his lips. He keeps a hold of the Winchester’s gaze, until he averts his green eyes. Only then MacLeod steps away. “We’ll stay in touch. I’ll have my men pick up the two Quarters this afternoon,” Fergus announces, his long, dark overcoat swaying slightly as he turns around once more. “A pleasure doing business with ya.”

With those words, MacLeod walks away and leaves the two men in the middle of the square. The sun is suddenly uncomfortably warm to Dean. He sniffs and takes a few steps from his uncle, as if the two or three strides would actually be enough to walk it off. He places his hands in his side and dips his hat forward when he faces Bobby again, making sure the older man can’t sense how unsettled he is. But Bobby is no fool. He knows his nephew better than the boy’s own father did, and that’s exactly what’s bothering Dean.

“You alright?” he checks. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Dean returns just a little too rapidly, shrugging it off. “Just…” His uncle is careful not to address the subject directly, yet at the same time he needs to offer the opportunity for the wrangler to vent. “With what he said about John--” “Don’t.”

The simple word comes out harsher than he meant it to leave his lips, the darkness in his eyes when he shoots his father-figure a glare soon replaced by regret. Dean knows Bobby is trying, like he and Ellen have for the past fifteen years. But no matter how much time passes, he can’t bring himself to talk about what happened in the past.

His uncle isn’t mad, nor is he disappointed in his surrogate son. He just nods slowly at the dismissal, before he begins to make his way to the stables. Dean remains in the middle of the crossing, his hands still firm on his hips, closing his eyes for a moment as he breathes out. The deal they just made should bring much needed relief, but the meeting leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.

He gathers himself and follows after his Bobby. They have more showings to prepare for, but nothing can cast out the words spoken by Fergus MacLeod. Not the rhythmic thumping of hooves in the dirt, not the chatter and laughs produced by the growing crowd, nor the music that comes from the main arena. All he can register is the painful message, which reopens the deep scars on his heart every time they bounce off the walls inside his head.

I am just like my father.

Thank you for reading. I appreciate every single one of you, but if you do want to give me some extra love, you are free to like or reblog my work, shoot me a message or buy me coffee (Link to Kofi in bio at the top of the page).

Read part twenty two here

#Ride With Me #Cowboy!Dean x Reader #Cowboy!Dean series #Dean Winchester fanfiction #Dean Winchester AU #Supernatural AU #Dean fanfiction #Supernatural fanfiction #SPN fanfiction #Dean angst #Dean fluff #Dean x reader #Dean Winchester x reader #Dean Winchester #Jo Harvelle #Bobby Singer #Ellen Harvelle #Benny Lafitte #Kate Huntington

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radiantresplendence · 4 years ago

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The Dancer Class - Fire Emblem Three Houses

The Dancer is our second special class and is the only one that is not exclusive to a specific character. Any student character, including the Ashen Wolves can be made into a Dancer when the White Heron Cup event comes up in part 1. Unfortunately, only one character can be made a Dancer in each playthrough of the game. Hopefully my analysis can help you make an informed decision.

The Dancer certification works a little different than the qualifications for other classes. You select a student contestant to represent your house and come the dance contest, the house with the representative with the highest charm stat wins. To increase the player’s chance of victory, the game allows you to give your student dance practice. This grants the would-be Dancer a permanent +5 charm. I’ve never lost the contest, but from what I understand, it is possible.

Analysis

The Dancer offers no boost to your base stats, but you could consider the +5 charm from dance practice a boost to your bases, even though it’s a flat increase that doesn’t care where your stats sit beforehand. The class offers solid stat boosts, however granting 1 strength, 3 dexterity and 3 speed. It also grants 2 additional charm on top of the already considerable boost to your bases. These are good stats for a unit that’s not necessarily suited to combat, and the exceptional charm makes a Dancer a powerful user of offensive gambits. Despite being a sword class, the Dancer also has access to magic, which is arguably the better choice for a Dancer in combat.

Dancers have high mobility for an infantry unit, boasting 6 movement. This allows them to keep up with your mounted units, to an extent, so long as you relegate yourself to backline support, which is what a Dancer excels at.

Dancers have a robust skillset, starting with the skill and Combat Art that are permanently available once you qualify for the class: Sword Avoid +20 and Sword Dance, respectively. While in the class, a Dancer gains the Dance skill. Upon mastery, a Dancer gains the Special Dance Skill.

Sword Avoid +20 is an absolute beast of a skill and acts as a premium ability for high evasion builds. It’s not the most useful ability to keep on a Dancer, barring Levin Sword shenanigans, but it’s extremely powerful in other classes.

Sword Dance is a powerful Combat Art which is not locked to Dancer. It may only grant 1 additional damage, but it adds like 30% of your (already boosted) charm to your damage as well. It also grants 20% evade and only costs 2 weapon uses. It may not be the most powerful Combat Art, but on a unit with weak Sword Combat arts, it can be a notable choice.

Dance gives access to the “dance” action, which allows them to refresh an adjacent unit, granting another turn. This is the biggest draw of the Dancer class and is extremely powerful. You can grant your most powerful combatant a second turn and take out a second enemy. (This is stupid good in tandem with a unit buffed by a Stride gambit and Canto.)

Special Dance boosts the “dance” action, giving it rally traits to boost dexterity, speed and luck by 4. It’s good, but not great. Usually, Dancers try to use the “dance” action as much as possible and if that’s how you’re using them, it’s a good skill to equip. The biggest boon is potentially allowing a unit to double and crit. It pairs well with units using gauntlets or brave weapons, especially so if you don’t have a dedicated rally unit. At the very least, it does have good action economy.

Dancer growths are bad, granted a 5% detriment to strength, defense and resistance. The only meaningful boon it gives is a 10% boost to charm growth. From a stat perspective, boosting a high-charm unit to astronomically-high charm is the only real benefit.

Good Dancers

Dorothea (and to a lesser extent, Constance) make the most obvious Dancers due to them being magic-specialists with access to long-range magic for linked attacks. (Hilda can do this too, if you want to be cursed... she even has high Charm...) Dorothea is probably the best of the three due to her sword skills and her Songstress Personal Skill allowing her to heal without taking an action, she’s also the only one of the three with a budding talent in faith and Physic. (I should note that Hilda has a special linked attack bonus with Balthus and Claude, making her arguably better at this than Constance. Basically, I recommend Dancer Hilda, but please don’t do it.)

Dimitri is the best high evasion build unkillable god type in the game. Ferdinand can do it too, without being locked to a specific route, making him the arguably stronger choice as Sword Avoid +20 can be unlocked by previous Dancers in NG+. Dimitri has his main lord charm though, can combine the Crest of Blaiddyd with Sword Dance for monstrous damage without chewing through your weapons as hard and his Royal Lineage+ gives +5 more evade than Ferdie’s Confidence. Basically, you put either of these boys on a wyvern. They’re not strong as a Dancer necessarily, but they work better than any other unit with what you gain by qualifying for the class.

Edelgard is notable for having the highest charm in the game, a strength in swords and decent magic, including a really interesting spell list. I don’t think that Dancer Edelgard is the best mage Edelgard build, but the possibilities are interesting enough to be worth noting. If there’s a build where you’d want to actually use the Authority skill, this would be it.

Marianne and Ingrid make notable Dancers due to respectable charm, access to Thoron and a strength in swords. Marianne is probably the stronger choice, due to being more magic-oriented and her Hero’s Relic being a magic sword, however Ingrid’s Personal Skill, Lady Knight boosts her gambit effectiveness which gives her a niche to not be overshadowed. They also both have access to Physic.

Yuri makes a really solid Dancer because his Hero’s Relic, the Fetters of Dromi gives him Canto and Movement +1 as an infantry unit. Yuri also has a strong spell list, and main lord stats, boasting huge charm and the ability to not be as hampered by Dancer’s bad growths over time.

Flayn is my last recommendation. She joins late, has good Charm and her Caduceus Staff gives her bonus range on offensive magic for linked attacks, she also has a special linked attack bonus with Byleth and Seteth. She lacks Physic, but if you want to use her and haven’t decided on a Dancer, it’s a good pick for her that can compensate for her being a little behind the rest of your army.

The honorable mentions are Sylvain, who I was originally going to include, but decided against it when I basically convinced myself to make him a Dark Knight instead and Anyone who’s Getting Statscrewed and You want to Use. Dancers are going to be using the “dance” action a lot of the time anyways, so their not as dependent on the randomness of level-ups as other units.

Conclusion

Dancers are really strong and losing out on fielding the class for Sword Avoid +20 isn’t really worth it unless you’re really going to capitalize on it. Sure Felix and Petra can use it, but you lose out on a lot in the process. In my opinion, once you get the late game dance of the goddess battalions and roll them over into NG+, you really get the freedom to experiment with the class without feeling like you’re missing out.

I’ve got more of these, see the rest here.

#fire emblem #fire emblem 3 houses #fire emblem three houses #dancer #guide #review #dorothea arnault #constance von nuvelle #hilda valentine goneril #dimitri alexandre blaiddyd #ferdinand von aegir #edelgard von hresvelg #marianne von edmund #ingrid brandl galatea #yuri leclerc #flayn

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be-not-afeared · 4 years ago

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Jaime Lannister and John Silver: of arcs and endings

Or, herein follows a possibly niche comparison between the character arcs of Jaime Lannister (Game of Thrones, HBO, 2011-2019) and John Silver (Black Sails, Starz, 2014-2017), in which I will argue that Jaime’s character arc fails not because of Jaime’s actions, but because of the way his story is framed to the viewer throughout the series, using Silver as a springboard to explore the requisites for a tragic yet satisfying ending.

(Yes, this is 5K words long. No, I am not sorry. Spoilers for Jaime’s and Silver’s storylines in their respective shows, and while I’ve tried to stay vague about the Bigger Picture, read at your own risk.)

Okay, so. I was, and still am, to an extent, a huge Game of Thrones fan. I’ve pored over the books, been to conventions, and spent a good couple of years while I was at uni discussing fan theories on message boards into the early hours of the morning. Jaime Lannister has been one of my favourite fictional characters for over a decade. Yet I certainly wasn’t alone in watching in horror as years of hopeful build up was thrown away in the span of one and a half episodes during the final season of the show. There are *many* things that hurt about season 8 of Game of Thrones. But the swift 180 we see in Jaime, from aiding the Starks in the Battle of Winterfell and finally choosing Brienne, to abandoning her to return to Cersei 20 minutes later, was, for me, one of the deepest cuts.

When I started watching Black Sails this August, I was immediately compelled by Silver – unsurprisingly, as someone who has exactly one favourite character type: Traumatised and Morally Grey Anti-Villain. Watching Silver’s character develop over the four seasons of Black Sails was an absolute joy, and his ending in the finale, though *incredibly difficult*, was nuanced and in character and satisfying. (Am going to try and keep as vague as possible on details here, because Black Sails is an incredible show that more people should watch and I don’t want to completely spoil the ending). Silver and Jaime are two characters with a lot of similarities and their characters arcs appear to run in direct parallel with each other: both selfish and arrogant men who become more empathetic and invested in others as the series progresses, in large part prompted by the loss of a limb. However, the gulf in reception of their overall arcs can be pinpointed to one huge disparity between the way both storylines were framed to the audience, and that is difference between redemption and tragedy.

“I was that hand”

But first! Let’s start with the more obvious stuff.

When we meet Jaime Lannister and John Silver in the pilots of their respective shows, they are both introduced as arrogant and self-serving – yet charming – men, who place the needs of themselves (and Cersei, in Jaime’s case) above all else. Silver kills and impersonates the cook on the merchant ship Flint’s crew captures, and has no qualms about lying his way onto the crew whilst simultaneously planning to sell the Urca schedule to the highest bidder. For Silver, his own survival comes before any sense of moral code. We are told stories about Jaime before we properly meet him – that he killed the previous king, Aerys Targaryen, that he has no honour – but nothing that we see first-hand contradicts this; at the end of the pilot he attempts to kill a child to cover up his and Cersei’s incestuous relationship. Silver is certainly supposed to be more likeable than Jaime, but both men, despite their lack of morals, are presented as charming, clever, and good with a one-liner. As we move through the early seasons of both shows, they are consistent in these traits, although Jaime is presented as an outright antagonist whereas Silver from the outset is a morally grey unknown entity, keeping viewers on our toes wondering if he’ll turn against Flint, against Billy, against Eleanor. Things change, for both men, however, with the direct lead up and fallout of the loss of a limb: Jaime’s hand and Silver’s leg.

The introduction of Brienne of Tarth as Jaime’s foil kickstarts his path towards becoming the honourable man he once dreamed of being. During their roadtrip across Westeros, she challenges him and is able to get under his skin in a way we haven’t yet seen before. This comes to a head when the duo are captured, and Jaime intervenes during her attempted rape, lying about her ransom worth and saving her from an awful fate. The result? The immediate amputation of Jaime’s sword hand, representative of Jaime’s identity (“I was that hand”). Jaime is punished for the first selfless act we see him commit on the show with the loss of the source of his power and self-worth.

Silver, in a similar fashion, finds himself in a position to save the crew he has spent two seasons disparaging. When he is offered the opportunity to betray his crew for an escape route, he refuses (the reasons for this refusal never outright stated, although I imagine Flint’s “where else will you wake up in the morning and matter” and Billy’s “that’s our brother you’ve got there” both factor heavily). Again, the result of this refusal is the brutal torture and eventual amputation of Silver’s leg – a man who in his own words is “not a joiner”, prone to taking what he needs and leaving, to reinventing himself, to always having an escape route. As actor Luke Arnold says: “He's a guy who's always had one leg out the door, and then they cut it off.”

What is interesting here is not only that we have two characters who are *punished* for moving beyond their selfishness, but that that punishment is specifically catered towards their defining characteristics. Jaime is left unable to fight, unable to defend himself, unable to uphold his reputation. Silver is left unable to run, unable to leave his past behind him, unable to remain without attachments. Both are left vulnerable. The loss of Jaime’s hand forces him to reinvent himself in a world ruled by swords; as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, father to Tommen, and an honourable man working to uphold his oath, through Brienne, to Catelyn Stark. The loss of Silver’s leg, however, leaves him *unable* to reinvent himself; forcing him to rely on his crew and paving the way for the growth of his relationship with Flint and Madi. In losing their limbs both Jaime and Silver are set on paths towards gaining empathy, and are able to become invested in those around them.

“Defined by their histories, distorted to fit their narratives”

Game of Thrones and Black Sails both engage heavily with ideas of myth-making and storytelling. Stories are woven into the mythology of Westeros; a world with thousands of years of history revealed to us slowly over the seasons to suit the narrative and the teller. We are told the story of Rhaegar Targaryen’s kidnap and rape of Lyanna Stark in the pilot, and at first this serves to provide a tragic landscape for Robert’s unhealthy relationship with his wife and his crown. It is only as the show develops and we hear more about Rhaegar and Lyanna that we realise there is more to this story; in season 5 Littlefinger recounts the events of the Tourney of Harrenhal to foreshadow the reveal of Jon’s parentage later that season, that Rhaegar and Lyanna had a happy and consensual relationship and that it is Robert who could be viewed as the villain of this sequence. We are taught through watching the show to never assume that any given story is true. Black Sails similarly plays with the idea of the power of the storyteller, combining historical pirates with fictional pirates and an origin story for Treasure Island, and going to great lengths to show that history is in the hands of the victor. Most of the primary sources of pirate history are from the perspective of civilised England, and in the process of watching the show we come to realise the bias inherent in these histories; much like in Game of Thrones, they are stories, and should not be assumed to be either true or accurate. As Jack says in the finale: “a story is true, a story is untrue […] The stories we want to believe, those are the ones that survive”.

Jaime Lannister and John Silver are both characters defined by stories that are forced upon them without choice: the Kingslayer and Long John Silver. We meet Jaime as the Kingslayer; our opinion of him is immediately formed by the story of him stabbing in the back the King he had sworn to protect, and cemented by the fact that our protagonist, Ned Stark, a man we like and trust, is the one telling this story. The Kingslayer’s presence is so strong in the first two seasons of the show that Jaime becomes nameless, reduced to this one defining act. It is only after the loss of his hand, and through his developing bond with Brienne, that he is finally able to tell his own story and we realise our entire perception of Jaime’s character has been based on an incorrect interpretation of events: that in killing Aerys Targaryen Jaime was saving the population of Kings Landing from destruction via wildfire. It is only after the truth of this story has been revealed to us that Jaime is able to begin moving past the Kingslayer and forging a new identity.

We see this in reverse in Black Sails, for the story of Long John Silver is not introduced until the season 3 finale, but like Jaime, this story is not told by Silver. Billy creates the myth of Long John, commits the acts attributed to him, and uses him as a figurehead for the pirate rebellion all without Silver’s knowledge or consent. Season 4 sees Silver wrestle with this identity of King of the Pirates, surrounded by people who want to use ‘Long John Silver’ for their own benefit: Billy, Israel Hands, even Flint. As the power and influence of Long John Silver the story grows, John Silver the man is disregarded, and his value reduced to how he can further everyone else’s individual causes. Though he does embrace this title (for a time, at least) to further “Flint and Madi’s war”, a cause he doesn’t truly believe in beyond his investment in Flint and Madi as people, we come to realise that the ‘character’ of Long John Silver that we know from Treasure Island is only that: a character, a story, a collective created for a larger cause that Silver himself eventually betrays.

I have seen some criticism of this scene, but for me one of the few redeeming moments of the Game of Thrones finale was Brienne writing Jaime’s story in the Book of White. Despite Jaime’s less than satisfactory conclusion, with this act he is finally able to move past the Kingslayer; Brienne has rewritten his narrative, and he will be remembered as a Knight who “died protecting his Queen”. Silver is offered no such release. By contrast, the story of Long John Silver is all that will be remembered; the worst fear for a man who cannot bear for his own story to be known. Indeed, we learn that “those who stood to benefit most from [Long John Silver] were the most eager to leave it all behind”. While Jaime is able to escape the story of the Kingslayer, the story of Long John Silver is what will endure, “all that is left of [him] is the monster in the story they tell their children”. Hello Treasure Island.

“Reviled by so many for my finest act"

We can see here that Jaime and Silver’s narratives deal with similar themes, but often in contrasting ways. Just as with storytelling, Jaime and Silver’s backstories are key parts of their storylines in their respective shows, but operate with very different functions. (It is only as I am writing this that I’m realising how similar the themes of Game of Thrones and Black Sails actually are? If only Game of Thrones had the follow through of Black Sails... We were all rooting for you, etc etc).

Jaime’s backstory, and the truth of the act that earned him the title ‘Kingslayer’, is revealed to us mid-way through season 3. This comes at a very key moment for his character: Jaime has just lost his hand and is at his most vulnerable, and Brienne’s stubborn and persistent honour is clearly starting to affect him. “I trust you,” he says to her in the bathroom scene in 3x05, and we can assume that this is the first time he has said this to someone who isn’t a Lannister in quite some time, possibly ever. Essentially, the reveal of Jaime’s backstory comes at a moment where we are already beginning to soften towards him and are therefore open to hearing an alternative interpretation of events. While Jaime needs to be able to tell his story to begin to move past the identity of the Kingslayer, if this reveal had come too soon it wouldn’t have had the same dramatic effect, as viewers wouldn’t have been open to seeing him in a different light. All we saw of Jaime in the first two seasons was the “man without honour” that everyone believes him to be; by mid-season three we are already beginning to realise that there is perhaps more to him that meets the eye, so the reveal of his backstory has the most impact.

(This is exactly what Black Sails does with Flint’s backstory, and I firmly believe that if we had been told his story in season one as was originally the plan it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as effective. We needed to know more about Flint, and to see his uneasy partnership with Silver begin to develop as we delved into the backstory piece by piece, so that by 2x05 our hearts were ready to be broken. Buuut that’s a different essay.)

Black Sails loves a backstory. As we move through the show we slowly learn why and how our favourite characters came to be in Nassau , and universally these reveals add to our understanding of that character and their motivations: for Flint, for Billy, for Max, for Jack. We enter season four with Silver as the only character we don’t know anything about prior to the pilot. Surely then, we were about to get a ‘Jaime Lannister bathroom scene’ equivalent, a moment that will add depth and understanding to Silver’s character? Were any of the stories he has told about his past true? Who is Solomon Little? … Instead, what we get is one of my favourite sequences of the entire show, in which, after Flint realises that he knows nothing of Silver’s past, Silver reveals that Flint, and by proxy the viewer, knows “of [him] all [he] can bear to be known”. Silver is the ultimate storyteller, master of manipulating and deceiving others through the power of a narrative, yet he cannot bear to be the story himself. We never learn Silver’s backstory, and all he reveals of his past is that it speaks to “events of the kind no one can divine any meaning from, other than the world is a place of unending horrors”; he has chosen to repress his past, has rendered it unspeakable, and both Flint and the viewer are only left to wonder at what these “horrors” could be.

Although this lack of backstory adds nothing to our view of who Silver *was*, it is key to understanding who Silver *is*, and *why* Silver makes some of his more controversial choices further down the line. Silver’s need to repress his past is as key to his character as Flint’s need to define himself by his own backstory. We understand from this that Silver has experienced a level of trauma which is unspeakable, quite a feat for a show with plenty of other horrific backstories and especially pertinent given that Silver is one of our most gifted orators. Silver’s inability to process his past explains a lot of his actions in the early seasons; his coping mechanism has been to move through life without forming attachments, convincing himself that he doesn’t need (and shouldn’t need) other people. It is safe to assume that Madi and Flint are the first people he has let himself be truly vulnerable with, which paints his actions throughout season four in a different light; loving people is new for Silver, and he doesn’t know how to do it in a healthy or selfless way. The placement of this scene is as important to Black Sails as Jamie’s bathroom scene is to Game of Thrones; we needed to have already seen Long John Silver’s significance to the war spiral beyond Silver’s control, to have seen him become compromised by his love for Madi and the beginnings of the collapse of his partnership with Flint, for this scene to pack the punch that it aims for and to beautifully set up the culmination of his arc in the finale. How devastating, for a man who cannot bear for himself to be known, to be the one figure whose story will outlive them all.

Both of these scenes have stayed with me long past my first watch, and feel vital to understanding Jaime and Silver as characters. For Jaime, his backstory informs all his actions moving forward, his desire to transcend the Kingslayer, to become an “Oathkeeper”, or even “Golden-hand the Just”. For Silver, his lack of backstory informs all his actions up to this point in the narrative and prepares us for the choices to come. Just as Jaime is defined by his past, Silver is defined by his *lack* of past.

“This is not what I wanted”

So, we’ve tracked Jaime and Silver’s characters throughout the show, but how do they both end? The answer, of course, is… tragically. Jaime is offered a glimpse at what could be a peaceful life, in Winterfell with Brienne, before turning it down to return to Cersei’s side only to meet his end while the duo try to escape the collapsing walls of Kings Landing. Silver betrays Flint and Madi in a horrific fashion, ensuring that they both survive though knowing that in doing so he was destroying his relationship with Flint and that there was a chance Madi would never forgive him his actions. (Or, this is my chosen interpretation of the ending, in any case, although the point still works if you prefer one of the other readings). Just thinking about Silver’s ending in Black Sails makes me want to cry. Thinking about Jaime’s ending in Game of Thrones makes to want to cry too, although for a very different reason. Neither are the ending we would hope for these characters in an optimistic and ideal world. But Silver’s decision to betray Flint and Madi feels narratively satisfying in a way that Jaime’s decision to betray Brienne and return to Cersei never could. Why is that?

Jaime Lannister’s character progression from season 3 onwards was set up as a redemption arc. We thought we were watching a jaded and selfish man become an honourable man. The show, admittedly, takes its sweet time with this journey in comparison to the book equivalent, and inserts some *interesting* deviations which I won’t dwell on here (looking at you 4x03 and the entirety of season 5). But, ultimately, the journey that Jaime finds himself on from the moment he loses his hand seems to be heading for a triumphant ending. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t expecting him to survive the series. But I was expecting him to go out in a blaze of glory – fighting side by side with Brienne, perhaps, or protecting Bran, or one of the other characters he had wronged in the past. There was also always the chance that he would end up fulfilling the much subscribed to book theory of the valonqar, although this admittedly looked less likely as that particular line of the prophecy was cut from the show. When Jaime finally leaves Cersei at the end of season 7 it is such a triumphant moment – after years of struggling with these warring parts of himself, his toxic love for Cersei and his growing moral conscience, a decision had been made and a tie cut. We enter season 8 assuming that there is no going back. We don’t get a hint of any conflicting feelings from Jaime about this decision in the first half of season 8; we are focused on preparation for the Battle of Winterfell, and revelling in the joy of having Jaime and Brienne in the same place for longer than a single episode for the first time since season 4. We get the knighting scene (which, let’s be honest, is where the season peaks). We get the battle. We get the sex scene between Jaime and Brienne (which I… don’t love, for many reasons up to and including the weird virgin shaming jokes from Tyrion in the previous scene and their level of intoxication, but still gives no hint that Jaime is battling an inner war). And then later in that same episode, despite Brienne pleading with him to stay, we get Jaime’s snap decision to return to Kings Landing to attempt to save Cersei: “You think I’m a good man? […] She’s hateful, and so am I”.

The issue here isn’t the decision itself, or Jaime’s choice of words. We know that Jaime isn’t a good man. We know that he’s done awful things for Cersei’s love. And, if we think about it, it makes sense that he wouldn’t be able to leave behind a lifelong co-dependent and unhealthy relationship without looking back, and that he would be driven to return to Cersei’s side when the reality of her impending death hit. The issue is that none of this decision making is presented in the show itself; there was no build up, no foreshadowing. Instead of showing us why this decision was made, the show presents this scene as a shock twist, leaving the viewer with whiplash wondering how Jaime’s story could have taken such an unexpected turn so quickly. The redemption arc that we all thought we were watching was not a redemption arc at all, and don’t think I was alone in finding this revelation deeply unsatisfying.

Let’s leave Jaime for a moment and turn to John Silver. Even for viewers who entered Black Sails without knowing they were watching a prequel to Treasure Island (such as myself!), we can assume that most people have heard of the fictional pirate Long John Silver: the ‘villain’ of Robert Louis Stevenson’s adventure who embodies what it means to be a “gentleman of fortune”. When we meet clean-shaved, smarmy, two-legged Silver in the pilot most viewers will at least have an idea of the trajectory his arc will take – and that it won’t end with him and Flint skipping off into the sunset hand in hand. We know, because of history, that the pirate rebellion is doomed to fail, that slavery does not end in the West Indies, that Nassau does indeed fall back under English rule, and that piracy is eventually stamped out of New Providence. And we know, because of Treasure Island, that John Silver will end up hunting for Captain Flint’s treasure, while Billy Bones dies from a stroke at the very idea of a visit from Long John and Flint drinks himself to death in Savannah. In essence, we know that we are watching a tragedy.

The genre of tragedy dates back to Ancient Greece, and describes a narrative that presents an examination of human suffering while evoking a sense of catharsis. Aristotle defines tragedy as “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude … through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation [release] of these emotions.” In other words, in order for a tragedy to achieve this state of emotional release, we as the viewer need to both anticipate (or, fear) the resolution and feel sympathy (or, pity) towards the tragic hero. Black Sails does this masterfully. The pathway towards the destruction of Silver and Flint’s partnership has its grounds as early as season 2, before it has even really started to develop, where Silver talks of his fears of being “used and discarded” by Flint. In the finale of season 3 it is made explicit during their conversation before the battle, with Silver interrogating what he sees as the pattern of Flint’s loved ones dying “not just during [their] relationship, but because of it”. Silver finds himself “unnerved by the thought that when this pattern applies itself to [Flint] and [Silver], that [he] will be the end of [Flint]”. As they lock eyes across the water later on in this episode, the setup of their opposition, complicated by the genuine care between them, is complete, and we enter season 4 dreading the crumbling of their relationship. Season 4 dangles this dramatic irony over us; every time Flint mentions the indestructible force of their partnership, the things they can achieve when there is “no daylight” between them; every time Silver mentions that Flint has his “genuine trust and friendship”; every time they both speak of their partnership in the same terms as the love that Silver holds for Madi, “I’m committed to Flint, I’m committed to Madi” / “he is my friend, too”, we dread the moment where this will all change. We may not know how it will play out, but we know it is coming. The “fear” is very much present. As, indeed, is the “pity”. We understand why Silver makes the decision he does, even if we don’t agree with it. The show has taken lengths to track the development of Silver’s ability to care and make himself vulnerable to others; we believe in his love for Madi, and understand why he believes that he is doing the right thing. Silver’s tragic flaw is that in gaining empathy his selfishness moves to encompass those he cares about; he will do dark things to protect them without consideration of their own choices or agency. The finale of Black Sails is difficult, beautiful, and yes, tragic, but we end Silver’s story understanding and perhaps even empathising with the decisions he made, believing him when he says that “this is not what [he] wanted”.

Tragedy vs redemption

John Silver’s story is a tragedy. And I believe that Jaime Lannister’s story is also a tragedy; a deeply flawed man who tries to escape the inevitability of an abusive and unhealthy relationship, only to eventually fall back into this cycle and become consumed by it. The problem is that this wasn’t the story we thought we were watching. The ending of Jamie’s character arc has none of the fear, none of the pity, none of the catharsis of Silver’s, because there was no signposting towards this end. If Jaime’s arc had been treated as a tragedy from the outset then perhaps it would have felt emotionally satisfying rather than rushed and unexpected.

Admittedly, as Jaime is not as central to Game of Thrones as Silver is to Black Sails, the show could not spend as much time detailing his inner world as Black Sails does to the latter. However, if the show had framed Jaime’s story with a sense of tragedy rather than triumph, then his decision to return to Cersei in season 8 would have had the same inevitability as Silver’s betrayal. In season 1 of Game of Thrones, as in the first instalment of A Song of Ice and Fire, Cersei tells Ned Stark that she and Jaime “are more than brother and sister. We shared a womb, came into this world together. We belong together”. However, the show doesn’t include Jaime and Cersei’s later, darker ruminations, that “we will die together as we were born together” (Jaime, ASOS), and “we will leave this world together, as we once came into it” (Cersei, AFFC). Jaime and Cersei’s doomed fate in the books is entangled in a way it never is in the show, and doubly so when you factor in the possibility of Jaime actively causing Cersei’s end due to the valonqar prophecy. In addition to this, if we had seen Jaime leave Cersei earlier in the narrative and then grapple with this decision, showing him struggling to be the man Brienne believes him to be and overcome his past actions, then his failure wouldn’t have seemed so out of the blue. With very little effort or changes on the part of the show, Jaime’s *entire* arc could have been framed in a way that would have made his death a tragically fitting end to his and Cersei’s story.

Jaime and Silver both end their respective narratives in very similar places to when they were introduced, or at least they do on the surface: Jaime unable to leave Cersei even in death, Silver alone and eventually chasing treasure (yes, Madi is still in the picture, but I don’t think we are meant to infer that their future relationship will be a trusting one). However, for Silver, this similarity is only surface deep, for we followed his growth and development and understand the tragedy of his choices. Although Jaime goes through a very similar pattern of growth, the framing of his arc as redemptive means that the unexpected nosedive into tragedy in season 8 doesn’t have the weight or impact that it intends, and we are left without understanding *why* he makes his choices. Jaime’s arc is a failed tragedy that doesn’t fulfil the cathartic requirements of the genre, but with a bit of reframing it could have been as emotionally resonant as Silver’s.

Long story short: watch Black Sails.

#game of thrones #asoaif #Black Sails #jaime lannister #john silver #long john silver #black sails meta #game of thrones meta #also this is just my opinion and i am fully aware i have blind spots when it comes to both of these characters #this is just part of my new agenda to make everyone in my life watch black sails

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grailfinders · 4 years ago

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Fate and Phantasms #61: Elisabeth Bathory (Halloween) (rerun)

Yep, we’re doing this again. For those of you who weren’t here the first time I made a Bathory build, I went way too hard on making sure Elisabeth could fly, and made a lancer build with like 17 levels of sorcerer. I ended up redoing that build entirely, and shifting the failed build over to Caster Liz. She deserves better though, so we’re giving Elisabeth Bathory (Halloween) a full redo, top-down designed for Halloween!

This Elisabeth is a Bardlock, getting her power from the College of Creation and her Hexblade for plenty of treats and tricks alike!

Check out the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or build summary over here!

Race and Background

Instead of going the Dragonborn route, this time we’re making Elisabeth a Winged Tiefling, a race option I didn’t realize existed until I dusted off my copy of the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide. No, I’m not incredibly mad that I missed this option the first time around, why do you ask?

Anyway, winged tieflings get +1 Intelligence and +2 Charisma, 60′ of Darkvision, Hellish Resistance to fire damage, and are Winged, giving them 30′ of Flying speed as long as you’re not in heavy armor. Shouldn’t be an issue.

You’re still a Noble, which still gives you proficiency in History and Persuasion, and just like before you don’t have to have zero empathy for the lower classes, but why would you want to?

Stats

Your highest ability score is going to be your Charisma; that’s where the magic happens-literally. It’s also what determines your performance checks: you’re not always good, but you are always memorable. Second is Dexterity, those dance moves idols pull off require some skill. Third is Constitution, hour-long concerts can take a lot out of you. Your Intelligence isn’t great, you were locked in a castle for a lot of your childhood. Your Wisdom is even worse, because even under that costume you’re still you. Finally, dump Strength, you absolutely don’t need it here.

Class Levels

1. Bard 1: First level bards are proficient with Dexterity and Charisma saves, as well as any three skills. Grab Performance and Acrobatics for a stronger stage presence, and Deception so you won’t have to share your candy with anyone you don’t want to.

You can also cast Spells, using your Charisma as your spell casting ability, and you get some Bardic Inspiration, a number of d6 equal to your Charisma Modifier that you can hand out as a bonus action to another creature, letting them add that die to one attack roll, saving throw, or ability check.

For your first cantrips, Dancing Lights will help you set the stage for your big concert, while Mending will keep your fancy dress in one piece during adventures. (You should probably put on some armor though.) Since we didn’t go dragonborn this time, we’ll have to make some noise the old fashioned way with Thunderwave. Animal Friendship will keep your relationship with any deerlets you find along the way strong, and Cure Wounds can be you throwing some halloween candy to your friends (or eating it yourself, I won’t judge). Finally, Silent Image will help you decorate the castle with ease.

2. Bard 2: Second level bards become a Jack of All Trades, adding half your proficiency bonus to checks you’re not proficient in. Idols have a lot of talents, so you always need to be on the lookout for your next charm point! You also learn how to play a Song of Rest, adding a d6 to healing done over short rests. We’re not getting the chef feat this time around, but feel free to flavor it the same way.

For your spell, Detect Magic will help you find that cup that started this whole mess in the first place...

3. Warlock 1: First level warlocks get to pick their patron: yours might be a cup, but it’s still a sentient piece of metal with awesome power, and that’s close enough to a Hexblade to count in my book. When you pick this patron, you learn even more magic that also uses your Charisma. Unlike most spellcasters, warlock slots don’t mix with your bard slots, though you can use one for the other’s spells. This just means you have three slots that recharge on long rests, and one that recharges on short rests.

You can also lay a Hexblade’s Curse once per short rest. For a minute afterwards, you add your proficiency to all damage rolls against that creature, crit on 19s and 20s, and gain HP equal to your warlock level + your Charisma modifier when it dies. You also become a Hex Warrior, gaining proficiency with Martial Weapons, and more importantly, you can use Charisma as your modifier for attack and damage rolls with a weapon you pick at the end of a long rest. I’d suggest grabbing a Trident if you haven’t already. It’s pretty much just a spear, but it’s what you use in this form, and if you get stuck in the ocean you won’t suffer negative effects for using it. Don’t think about it too hard.

It looks like you may have left your candy out too long- you’ve got a bit of an Infestation on your hands! Throw that candy at your enemies to deal some poison damage and make them run around. Grab Minor Illusion for even more decorations, Hellish Rebuke for some small explosive pumpkins, and Cause Fear for some Halloween spooks.

4. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, giving you two new charm points to wow your fans! You can’t get one of them until next level, but make sure you pick up Armor of Shadows so you can show up to the fight in your fancy dresses.

For your spell, grab Comprehend Languages so you can understand all your screaming fans.

5. Warlock 3: Third level warlocks get a Pact Boon, a special gift given to you by your patron. The Pact of the Blade gives you a special weapon you can summon as an action. It counts as magical for resistance’s sake, and your Hex Warrior effects are automatically added to it. As is traditional, grab the Improved Pact Weapon invocation to add an extra point to its damage and attack rolls, and let you use it as your casting focus.

Speaking of casting, grab Darkness at this level to really set the mood for your big musical numbers.

6. Bard 3: At this level you finally graduate from college; the College of Creation sends you off with some Sweets of Potential, bonus effects added to your bardic inspiration. If used for an attack roll, it deals a burst of thunder damage in a 5′ radius from the target. Each creature in the area that fails a Constitution Save takes as much thunder damage as the original roll of the inspiration die. If used for a save, the creature using it can add a number of temporary hit points equal to their original roll plus your charisma modifier. If used on an ability check, they can roll the inspiration die with advantage.

Also thanks to Tasha’s changing things up, you can make a Performance of Creation at this level as well! You can spend an action to create a nonmagical item. As long as the item costs less than 20x your level in GP and is medium or smaller, you’re good. It lasts a number of hours equal to your proficiency bonus. You can use this once per long rest, or by spending a 2nd level spell slot, but you can only have one item at a time.

You also get Expertise in two skills, doubling your proficiency with them. Pick Performance and Persuasion to dominate the stage.

For your spell, Heat Metal will roast anyone silly enough to wear metal armor while fighting you. You are still Elisabeth Bathory, after all.

7. Bard 4: Use your first ASI to round up your Charisma and Constitution for more health and inspiration, as well as higher spell saves and better concentration. Grab Thunderclap for more thunder damage, and Locate Animals or Plants so you can start growing some pumpkins.

8. Bard 5: Fifth level bards see their Inspiration bump up to d8s, and you become a Font of Inspiration. This means you regain inspiration on short rests, rather than long ones. For your spell, grab Plant Growth to speed up that garden you started last level. This either turns a 100′ radius circle into super difficult terrain, quadrupling the movement cost within it, or you can cast it over the course of 8 hours, ensuring a bountiful harvest for a year.

9. Bard 6: Sixth level bards can perform a Countercharm, spending your action to give allies advantage against being charmed or frightened for the turn. For your spell, grab Speak with Plants to chat up those pumpkins you’ve been growing the last couple levels. You can also get them to perform little favors, turning difficult terrain into normal terrain, or vice versa. This doesn’t let them move around, though. For that, you’ll need your new Creation Bard feature, Animating Performance. As an action, you can bring an item to life, turning it into a Dancing Item, whose stat block is in the summary. You need to use your Bonus Action to command it, and you can only have one item dancing at a time. Also, you only get one free use per long rest- further uses require a third level or higher spell slot. More good news; unlike Animate Objects, this feature gives HP based on your level, not the item’s size. This means you can go for cuteness, rather than size, and still have a tough gourd to crack.

10. Warlock 4: Back in the warlock class, bump up your Charisma with another ASI for higher spell saves, stronger attacks, and more inspiration treats. You also get Eldritch Blast, because you can’t be a caster without caster balls, and Flock of Familiars. This lets you create three familiars that can function while within 1 mile of you, and you can still cast touch spells through them. Technically, these have to be a kind of creature you can get from the Find Familiar spell, but there’s got to be a homebrew SU Pumpkin stat block out there, somewhere, right?

11. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks get third level spells: grab Shatter for either one of your high notes or another pumpkin bomb. You also get another evocation at this level. Grab Lance of Lethargy to turn one Eldritch Blast per turn into a pumpkin that will wrap its vines around its target, reducing its speed by 10′.

12. Warlock 6: Hexblade Warlocks can make an Accursed Specter when they kill a creature. This creates a Specter (stats in the summary) with some extra temporary HP, and it gets an extra bonus to attack rolls equal to your charisma modifier. The spirit sticks around until you finish a long rest, and you can only make one per long rest as well. Ghosts are spooky-almost as spooky as being forced to listen to Liz’s practice sessions without corporeal hands to cover your ears.

Also, grab Tongues so you can be understood by anyone who knows a language, allowing you to become the true international idol you were destined to be.

13. Bard 7: Seventh level bards get fourth level spells. Hallucinatory Terrain lets you transform one natural terrain into another. This doesn’t change the physical nature of the world, but it will let you keep your pumpkin patch hidden to keep the teens from smashing them on mischief night.

14. Bard 8: Another ASI! Bump up your Dexterity for more AC, and grab Confusion-your music has that kind of effect on people.

15. Bard 9: Ninth level bards get fifth level spells, and their Song of Rest becomes a d8. This is the level you get Animate Objects, turning your pumpkin brigade into a true pumpkin army! You can animate 10 tiny or small pumpkins, five medium pumpkins, two-and-change large pumpkins, or one-and-change huge pumpkins. Most of your crop is probably in the small to medium range, if I had to take a guess. You need to use your bonus action to command them, but they’ll handle general commands over multiple turns, so you can have these and your Dancing Pumpkin up at the same time with just a little bit of difficulty.

16. Bard 10: At this level, you get another round of Expertise, doubling your Acrobatics and Deception proficiencies. Your Bardic Inspiration bumps up to d10s, and you learn Magical Secrets. These are two spells from any spell list, as long as you can cast them at this level. You also get a cantrip here. Grab Message to send notes to your manager, Fireball for a powerful pumpkin ball, and Contagion for more torture techniques.

17. Bard 11: You get your first sixth level spell this level. Grab Mass Suggestion for impromptu dance sessions.

18. Bard 12: Max out your Charisma for the strongest spells and trident pokes you can muster.

19. Bard 13: Your Song of Rest becomes a d10, and you learn a seventh level spell! Mirage Arcane lets you bring the Castle Csejte to life with real walls and everything!

20. Bard 14: For your final level, you enter your Creative Crescendo, allowing you to make multiple items at once, up to your charisma modifier. Only one item can be medium or larger, the rest must be small or tiny. You also no longer have to worry about gp cost. This means you can make the really fancy candy now!

You also get one last round of Magical Secrets. Use your Heroes’ Feast to stock your castle with some proper meals (or more candy, w/e), and Power Word Pain to welcome any party crashers.

Pros

Flight is good, especially when you don’t have to deal damage at a melee range.

You also have a small army of Pumpkins on hand to really spread out your battlefield control.

Speaking of controlling the battlefield, you can literally do that with spells like Plant Growth, Speak with Plants, Mirage Arcane, and Hallucinatory Terrain. Mess up the whole field, and fly over it all, raining down pumpkin-spiced death from above.

Cons

A lot of your spells require Concentration, extra actions, or both, so you’ll have to plan out your parties carefully.

Going a couple levels into warlock left you without 9th level spells. This definitely isn’t an issue compared to the melee classes, but you missed out on wish and plenty of other goodies.

Despite everything else, your Wisdom is really low, so you might end up getting charmed or mind-controlled by another bard.

Next up: She’s Tamamo, she’s Tamamo, she’s Tamamo too, wouldn’t you like to be Tamamo too?

#Fate Grand Order #fgo #Elisabeth Bathory (Halloween)#D&D 5e #Fate and Phantasms

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4dorks-1windmage-1shadow · 5 years ago

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The Links as D&D Characters, Part 2: Red Link

Inspired by a question I saw on @hauntinghyrule ‘s blog. My character analysis and thoughts on what character class the boys would be if they were D&D characters, and why.

@atinybitweird drew her interpretation of D&D Red! You can find it here

Green / Blue / Vio / Shadow / Vaati / FS Zelda

As a preface, there won’t be any doubles on classes except in the case of dual-classing, and in those cases the first class I talk about my justifications for will be the primary class (i.e. the class they would have chosen at level one). My choices will be based on the character theming and personalities, even though at a base level it would be easy to say “they’re all paladins, duh” because of the implied “holy knight chosen by the gods to eradicate evil” concept. Red’s class is actually kind of a tough one. Although its still an option for a dual-class, paladin is already taken as a primary class, and even if it wasn’t, it wouldn’t be my first pick for Red. Red has _oodles_ of charisma, and so he’s more fit for charisma centric classes like Bard, Warlock or Sorcerer. Bard could be a good fit, since he’s the metaphorical “heart” of the team- keeps morale up, always cheerful, always optimistic, but I’m having trouble finding a WOTC Bard College that works. As a result, bard could be a good secondary class for him, but that still leaves finding a primary class. I’ve ruled out sorcerer because sorcerers get their magic innately, meaning that they’re born with it. And although I really like the idea of Red being a draconic sorcerer (because of the connection to his Minish Cap element, Fire) I don’t want to contribute to the “weakest Link” idea by making him a class with the least amount of health (Sorcerers only get a d6 for health die). So that leaves us with Warlock. Which. . .actually works pretty well for a couple of reasons. Warlock is a high Charisma, high Constitution class. Like I said before, Red is very charismatic, so it makes sense to pick a class for him that uses that charisma in a more attack-based way- also, he’s so energetic and upbeat that I can’t imagine him not being healthy enough to have high constitution. I also think it coincides with is personal journey in the manga- becoming more confident in himself, and standing up for himself when it matters seems like a fitting story for a warlock. Warlock spellcasting is more limited than the other full casters like wizards, sorcerers, and bards; warlocks only ever learn four cantrips, and only ever have four spell slots, and can only learn up to 5th level spells. Through Mystic Arcanum at 11th level and up, they can learn one spell of 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level each, casting them at will without using spell slots, but most of their attacking and buff spells are 5th level and lower. Red is only shown using magic through a fire rod and ice rod, so his spell set is technically limited in the manga as well. However, the main reason boils down to the Otherworldly Patron. Warlocks are magic users that gain their magic through a pact with a super-natural being, and there are two viable options for subclasses here: the Archfey patron from the Player’s Handbook, and the Celestial patron from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. Red as a Celestial warlock would be fitting from the point of view of his role in the Four Swords story. Like Green, he’s trying to save a princess from a demon, and celestial patrons usually make their warlocks hunt down fiends and undead. Celestial warlocks are very much like more spellcasting oriented paladins or clerics (that last one is kind of redundant b/c clerics are spellcasting oriented but you get my point). They offer access to the Light cantrip and spells like Cure Wounds, Guiding Bolt, Flaming Sphere, Lesser Restoration, as well as a pool of d6 dice to heal allies, the ability to give temporary HP to allies (effectively giving them an HP boost), and bonus radiant damage at high levels. This sounds pretty good for him, until you think: man, that kind of treads on Green’s territory with the paladin class. You’d be right- most of the spells granted with Celestial Warlock are also on the Paladin’s list. Furthermore, we have less of an emphasis on arcane magic, like Red uses via the fire/ice rod, and more on divine magic. On the other hand (the stronger hand IMO), Archfey patron has a tangible link to the manga. Throughout the mid-story, Red travels around looking for his friends with a fairy- and if we pretend that the D&D story is separate from the manga story and Miss Fairy isn’t a product of the Blue Maiden’s magic, that would make her a pretty good patron (interesting even, that she travels around with him). Fey are known to be charming, beguiling, whimsical and mischievous, traits that Red shares with them. Archfey Warlocks gain access to spells like Faerie Fire, Sleep, Calm Emotions, Plant Growth, Dominate Beast and Dominate Person; they can make creatures within a ten-foot cube charmed or frightened of them, can turn invisible and teleport upon taking damage, and can become immune to being charmed themselves, reflecting enchantment magic on the caster. At the highest level, they can even plunge creatures into illusory realms. This doesn’t seem like a very Red thing to do at first glance, but he’s been shown to be vindictive at times (lighting Blue’s ass on fire, everyone?), and when the going gets tough he can and does stand up for himself. And the choice of a Pact Boon is much easier with this subclass: Pact of the Chain gives him Find Familiar as a spell and lets him get a pet to use for attacking and spellcasting. But there’s still one more thing I’m not really sure about. . . Red is an inspiring force on the team- while he doesn’t fall into the role of a natural leader, like Green, he’s undeniably a positive and optimistic force to behold. He cares so goddamn much for the others and inspires them to keep their spirits up, and that’s like the entire purpose of a Bard. But the problem I ran into- Bard subclasses not really fitting his character- puts a damper on that being his primary class. The great thing about multi-classing is that you can take what levels you want, when you want. . .and you only need to be a 1st level Bard to get Bardic Inspiration. I want this feature for Red because of his role as the “heart” of the party. Bardic Inspiration allows him to give his allies a d6 dice that they can use to bolster their attacks, defenses, reflexes, even their normal skill sets (like just being smart or acrobatic and shit). With a high Charisma stat, Red would have plenty to go around, and dual-classing one level in Bard would give him one skill of his choice (i would go with Persuasion for him, personally) and one musical instrument proficiency (ocarina ocarina ocarina-) His Warlock spell-casting doesn’t really get effected, and he’s got access to 1st level bard spells and bard cantrips- meaning he gets to roast bad guys until they DIE with Vicious Mockery. So my conclusion is this: Red is an Archfey Warlock with a Pact of the Chain familiar, and he has one level in Bard for access to Bardic Inspiration.

#four swords #dungeons and dragons #red link #character analysis #if there was a way of the yin and yang monk with a fire/ice motif that would also be a good alhtough superficial pick #but there is not #sadly

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imtheperfectvoid · 5 years ago

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I’ve had this class made for a good while but I finally decided to post it to Tumblr — here’s the cast of my fangan! The story involves a group of Hope’s Peak alumni being gathered for physical and mental examination under the guise of being eligible for a federally-awarded grant for graduates of Hope’s Peak. However, because it’s a DR game, they’re trapped in the facility they’re gathered in and are placed in a killing game.

You can read the bios of each character below the cut!

Hisahito “Hito” Kanbara ♂

Height: 5'6"

Birthday: Mar 16

Age: 23

Occupation: Shinist priest

Likes: Astronomy

Dislikes: Lying

(Note: his Name in Kanji is Written as 尚人 meaning “esteemed person” but he calls himself just “Hito” (Person) because humility is one of his largest virtues and feels it’s important to put the good of the world before himself)

The protagonist of the game, and quite honestly the perfect example of “lawful good”. A kind-hearted, genuine boy with a penchant for seeking the truth and attaining growth, he feels that this game is truly going to test his faith and his virtues while being tempted to bring violence and harm to his fellow classmates. His devotion to his “Great Mother” - Shinomoi, a goddess representing truth, faith, and luck - is what keeps him steady and strong during his time in the game, and through her divine power is he able to piece everything together and bring every trial to a complete close... at least, he believes it is her aid that allows him to do so.

Atsuko Kurishita ♀

Height: 5′1″

Birthday: Nov 22

Age: 24

Occupation: Interior decorator

Likes: Glitter

Dislikes: Grapes

A bubbly, excitable girl with a keen eye for decor and design, she’s responsible for refurnishing and garnishing the homes of hundreds of homes across Japan, even many celebrities and well-known figures. She is a very emotional person, and can quickly jump from one to the next - quick to smile, quick to anger, quick to cry. She is also an overwhelmingly positive force in the games, collecting as many “pretty” things as she can find and presenting them with kind words to anyone in need of friendship or care. Her ditzy nature can sometimes hinder trials’ progression, but she can just as easily provide many helpful clues with her 1.5 eyes for detail.

Vox Stratos ♂

Height: 5’11″

Birthday: May 1

Age: 24

Occupation: LARPer

Likes: Wind chimes

Dislikes: Sour candy

Being very soft-spoken and gentle, it’s clear that this delicate man is very deep into his self-assigned role as Vox Stratos, an Air Genasi bard that is set on a mission to travel the multiverse and bring peace to his own lands. He can be very dramatic and overzealous in his endeavors and mannerisms, but his intentions are pure and his words are always genuine. However, he tends to be quite dim in terms of piecing together the overall mystery of a trial, and will usually have to be guided by another’s explanations to fully grasp the situation. There can only be speculation as to what kind of person he may really be beneath the guise of Vox Stratos.

Noburo Himura ♂

Height: 6′8″

Birthday: April 25

Age: 30

Occupation: Gravedigger

Likes: Rabbits

Dislikes: Heavy rainfall

A quiet, scary-looking guy like him is definitely someone everyone feels wary of; in truth, it’s not like they have much to be concerned with. Outwardly, his appearance would not leave you surprised to know that he’s responsible for plotting mass graves in no time flat. Despite this, he can be quite the gentle force. His heavy spirituality and desire to keep the worlds of the living and the dead in peace make him a rather benevolent person behind the mask. He may be quiet, but he can offer some solid arguments and points during a trial, and it only aids his usefulness to the group.

Minoru Kurosawa ♀

Height: 4'5"

Birthday: Aug 31

Age: 28

Occupation: Dentist

Likes: History documentaries

Dislikes: Loud music

Despite her stature, she is renowned as a superb force in the dentistry community - having single-handedly performed dental miracles on even the most disastrous of teeth. She is quite like a stern mother figure of the group, always keeping everyone in line and providing herself as a means of support whenever necessary. Her mind is tough and she can be very no-nonsense, but she does mean well in the end. A rather neutral force in trials and investigations, she tends to shine more outside of them and in the element of simple social contact between murders.

Takumi Achikita ♂

Height: 5′7″

Birthday: Feb 8

Age: 25

Occupation: Keysmith

Likes: Sunflowers

Dislikes: Annoying people

Famous for his ability to craft keys that open any and all locks, this cold boy is certainly a foil character of the group. He’s cocky, arrogant, and manipulative - and his only goal for this game is to escape, whatever that may mean for him. His uppity, loner behavior is backed by cold outbursts and isolation from the rest of the group, with hardly any empathy or show of concern for others’ wellbeing. Despite this, he does provide excellent talking points and arguments during trials, making him an unfortunately helpful force during investigations.

Sayuri Akashi ♀

Height: 5′3″

Birthday: Jan 2

Age: 28

Occupation: Biochemist

Likes: Renaissance art

Dislikes: The ocean

This mysterious lady is one of the most analytical and logical minds of the group, her forward-thinking mindset being a key part in how effectively she’s concocted several “miracle drugs” that have successfully aided in the world of eradicating/improving mental health. Her sharp eyes are a blessing for investigations, able to latch onto any minute detail and provide ample evidence into a trial. However, her logic cannot help but cripple her in terms of social understanding and communication with the group.

Habiki Bando ♂

Height: 5′9″

Birthday: July 7

Age: 25

Occupation: Drummer

Likes: Frogs

Dislikes: Serious conversations

This upbeat boy has a passion for drumming and an even bigger passion for making people smile. He’s the drummer for a ska band so successful and well-adored, he’s considered as “The Boy Who Made Ska Actually Cool”. His joyful nature and his constant joking (despite the fact that his humor tends to fall flat and not work) creates a very friendly appearance for him. Unfortunately, his cheeriness cannot overshadow the fact that his usefulness in trials and investigations is less-than-admirable. However, some of his capabilities may have some sort of merit down the road, if he keeps his ears open.

Koya Hamasaki ♂

Height: 5′11″

Birthday: Oct 11

Age: 26

Occupation: Sea captain

Likes: Letter-writing

Dislikes: Clowns

This foul-mouthed guy has the capability to successfully and efficiently man the wheel of any sea vessel put in front of him, and this notability is something that has built up his status as the Ultimate Captain. He’s quite the loud, rambunctious party type, and his dirty humor and sly comments are a large aspect of his outward, confident appearance. This confidence also drives him to assert control and act as the head of the party, despite most everyone’s protest. However, this confidence is faulty in trials, leading him to be more hasty in judgement. Perhaps something lies beneath that confidence that he works to hide?

Tetsuya Yomohiro ♂

Height: 6′0″

Birthday: May 15

Age: 27

Occupation: ???

Likes: Gin

Dislikes: Insects

Waking up with little to no personal memory, he doesn’t let this sway him in his endeavors to focus on the game and protect himself from certain death. Although he may not know much of his own life, he certainly knows how to throw around wit and banter and talk his way around any situation thrown at him. He’d prove helpful as an ally, but he could become quite the bother as an enemy. Despite his quiet charm, it’s easy to see he harbors a lot of natural sadness and pessimism, always looking to stifle his emotions with a drink or a cigarette. Whoever he may be, he clearly has a lot on his mind, even with the amnesia.

Yama Ryumine ♀

Height: 5′10″

Birthday: July 24

Age: 28

Occupation: Rock Climber

Likes: Alternative music

Dislikes: Economics

Famous for scaling mountainsides in record times with relative ease, she’s cocky and brave, always needing to be moving and cannot sit still to save her life. She’s a bit dense in terms of putting things together, but her bravery is always much appreciated in terms of bringing others to justice and understanding. All about fairness and equality, she is quick to defend others and give the benefit of the doubt.

Masumi Ichino ♀

Height: 5′3″

Birthday: Sep 18

Age: 23

Occupation: Calligraphy teacher

Likes: Video games

Dislikes: Yelling

This studious girl has been deemed her talent based on her superior capabilities to mimic most handwriting styles and can craft the most eloquent-looking calligraphic wordforms, even being so skilled as to personally pen the lettering of notices from high officials of Japan (the irony is that her natural handwriting is garbage). She’s quite docile and easy to startle and fluster, but her good-hearted nature and her clever mind makes her a valuable ally during the killing game.

Riku “Rick” Ushinōka ♂

Height: 5′5″

Birthday: Mar 2

Age: 24

Occupation: Farmer/”Cowboy”

Likes: Origami

Dislikes: Dark chocolate

This quiet boy, given the official title of Ultimate Farmer, is largely responsible for creating one of Japan’s highest-grossing farmlands in the nation’s recorded history, producing mass quantities of produce and farm life that has kept Japan strongly powered. His entire life has been in moderate isolation, having been homeschooled up until being brought to Hope’s Peak, so his communication skills amongst people his age leaves a lot to be desired. Though he lacks a fair amount of common sense and intelligence, what he does provide is a sharp eye for detail and order, and his capabilities to notice details will prove useful in his time in the killing game.

Yuriko Iwasaki ♀

Height: 5′7″

Birthday: Oct 29

Age: 25

Occupation: Chess player

Likes: Sudoku puzzles

Dislikes: Working hard

This proud girl has countless trophies, plaques, and awards recognizing her as the world’s most proficient grandmaster of chess. Her mind is sharp and her tongue is equally so - she has quite the sense of self-importance, believing herself to be the strongest asset in the killing game and talking down to anyone who views otherwise. Despite her rough, callous nature, she does provide quite the analytical perspective and holds the potential to be incredibly useful during trials and investigations.

Rei Obara ♀

Height: 5′7″

Birthday: Jan 18

Age: 26

Occupation: Cutler

Likes: Horror films

Dislikes: Cuttlefish

This girl is cold and aloof, her notoriety as one of the most gifted knife-makers in the world certainly affecting this reputation; she holds the capability to craft a razor-sharp blade from nearly any material given to her (see kiwami japan). Her humor is dry and her wit is endless, and she has little interest in making friends or growing close with anyone, fully understanding the severity of the situation and knowing that her status as a cutler certainly paints her as a threat, pushing her to further distance herself from the group. Despite this distance and her lack of ability to pick up on the nuances of the game, perhaps she can still prove useful in defending the rest of the group from whatever ultimate evil their captor has planned.

Jato Wakashira ♂

Height: 6’1″

Birthday: Oct 1

Age: 26

Occupation: Fashion designer

Likes: Summertime

Dislikes: Rough textures

This vivacious, lively man is the creator of some of the most trendy, in-style clothing collections, achieving international success and fame early on in his solo career and attained a celebrity status and amassed a huge social following. His flirtatious charisma and cheery attitude make him incredibly amiable, and his passion for clothing is unrivaled. Though he works hard to try and get along with everyone and get in the good graces of everyone in the game, he can’t help but form a bit of a wall with everyone and keep people at arm’s length throughout the events - a natural distrust lying beneath the surface. He fears anyone getting too close and discovering what he’s really like behind all the charm and sweetness - not fear for himself, but fear for them.

Kana Jikiba ♀

Height: 5’5”

Birthday: Feb 27

Age: 25

Occupation: Ceramicist

Likes: Raspberries

Dislikes: Loud noises

This bizarre girl has a lot of strangeness and uncertainty about her character - not many people are sure of her background, her nationality, or anything of that sort. However, what most people do know about her is her incredible aptitude for crafting some of the finest porcelain pieces to ever be made; everything from plates to tea sets to decorative pieces to even her own mask has the careful touch of a genuine artist behind them. She may be proficient in the art of ceramics, but she seems to struggle to effectively communicate and connect with other people - her mannerisms, way of speaking, and overall demeanor radiates an aura that makes most people wonder if she’s even human underneath that mask. Despite this, she’s a pleasant force with a surprising amount of intellect that always tries her best to maintain the peace.

#danganronpa #danganronpa oc #fanganronpa #dr oc group #dr oc #void draws

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ngame989 · 5 years ago

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Starco Fic Recs

Disclaimer: This list is largely curated to my own personal preferences (minimal feelings angst, minimal AUs, character development >>> plot) and has a fairly high bar for quality in characterization, etc. There will likely be many popular/beloved fics that I really don’t think highly of at all and therefore don’t make the cut. Feel free to DM me things you think I should consider adding, but I make no promises.

And of course I’d be flattered if you gave my own works a chance - stop by my About Me section for links! Thus far I’m particularly proud of the post-canon series I just started in collaboration with an awesome team, The Greatest Gift.

(Updated 9/26 - I decided to redo the list since people might appreciate seeing it in the tags again. To anyone whose own work is featured here that I haven’t personally responded to - I’m a tough critic with a lot of strong personal preferences so PLEASE do not take my gripes as condemnations of your skills - if they make the list at all, I think they’re worth a read!)

See below for the very thorough list!

Bolded titles indicate must-read.

Italicized titles indicate work is incomplete (in the case of continuous stories).

Asterisks indicate new additions from last update (3 for brand new, 1 for status update).

I’ve VERY loosely organized the categories by personal priority order this time around, but read the descriptions and decide for yourself!

Must-Reads

Forevermore - A Starco wedding story (with a bit of Jantom as well). Simply one of the best fics I’ve read in the fandom. I have no meaningful criticism to give it, and that’s the highest praise I can possibly give something.

Monarchs of Mewni (+ Traditionally Lovingly Yours) - A series of chronologically disconnected oneshots set years after the show. The backstory is very dated given how long ago it started (Jarco was kinda serious for a few years, Tomstar v2 never happened, etc) but overall it’s lovely. Has a bit of plot, a bit of Jantom, a lot of other character interactions, and a boatload of Starco - plus a Starco kid who is a decently developed character but also doesn’t just take over and crowd out Star and Marco themselves! That alone deserves merit.

Ruined - Aftermath of a hypothetical return of Monster Arm. Angst with a happy ending (and one of the few angsty fics that gets my seal of approval), so read this extra early if that’s more your schtick than mine.

study buddies - Y’know what, fuck it, I’m putting this here. It’s a short ball of Starco fluff but it’s one of the sweetest and fluffiest fluffballs I’ve seen in a long time and it’s very emotionally immersive and y’all needa read it.

*When Two Worlds Collide - One of my favorite postcanon series thus far. I admit I’m really not big on “magic returns!” plots in postcanon (which this has), and the sections that focus on that are hit or miss for me, but overall it has some of the funnest and cutest characterization and gags I’ve seen in any SVTFOE fic, ever. Absolutely worth following (and it has a fair amount of art to go along with it!)

***Star Chef - Oneshot (two chapters, so twoshot technically?) set in the same universe as Starlight Justiciar (see below) and is just a day in the life of Star and Marco. Goes absolutely above and beyond at emotional immersion and little nuances and details to bring the world and characters to life, which elevates it to something special to me.

Light of the Sun and Stars - (Promoted to Must-Read!) One of the few heavily divergent AU fics I care for. Marco is an orphan raised by monsters, and meets Star after running away. Just finished its “first season” and I've loved the recent chapters, am very excited to see where it goes.

*Don’t You Let Me Go - Wonderfully fluffy post-Cleaved Starco, one of my favorite oneshot “epilogues”.

i want to tell you (but i don’t know how) - Post season 3 fic detailing the growth of Star and Marco’s relationship. It’s spectacular writing and shows off a lot of the true depth of Starco beyond just being cute.

Adult - NSFW warning, non-explicit (aged-up characters). It’s a story about the journey towards Star and Marco’s first step into adulthood together - it’s not graphic and way more focused on the emotions involved, but it still is definitely more explicit than your average FFnet rated-T fic. If sexual themes ain’t your thing, I totally respect that, but this is a charming and funny piece of writing.

Lawchan’s various oneshots - There isn’t a great compilation for them right now so the best I can do is give you her tag for it and you can comb through it yourself. I like some more than others here, but they’re all very well-written - my only gripes with some of them are my own tastes in subject matter, so have fun perusing this on your own.

I Will Always Be There For You - A really pure and wholesome Starco oneshot. Very well-written.

Post-Canon Series to Follow

I figured with the show being over, and so many people starting their own series, I should include a lot of them here even if I’m personally not the biggest fan just to help gather them up so people can decide for themselves. Little bit looser on judgment here.

*Life on Earthni A to Z - Non-chronological postcanon slice of life oneshots, Starco and some Globclipsa and Jantom. Overall really good so far, one of my favorites in terms of direction.

*When Dimensions Cleave (sequel - Unforgettable Getaway) - Another postcanon series hellbent on bringing back magic queen lore, but it has some solid Starco fluff still. Credit where it’s due, the “Star constantly freaking out over what a horrible person she was” bit that I called preachy in the prior rec post gets somewhat less preachy and does end up actually going somewhere as part of character development, but I’m left scratching my head at how they all act sometimes. The good parts are certainly good, though, and in terms of quantity of lovey dovey Starco, it really can’t be beat (especially the sequel) and that’s worth something by itself.

We’re a Miracle - Extra adorkable postcanon fluff. Lighter on the “but ACKSHUALLY MAGIC IS BACK” stuff compared to the others, but it’s there, like almost every postcanon fic in existence.

Star vs the Sands of Time - Heavy politic/lore postcanon fic, not my fav but if that’s more your thing then great. Has some casual Starco too.

Goodbye Isn’t Forever - More POV dives into Cleaved.

Fake Proposal - Some decent jokey but cute fluff

The Stars Above - Some exploration of Earthni

New World - A bit over-the-top meta, but fun fluff

The Starlight Justiciar - Four years after canon, some social change plot stuff and some decent Starco. Not the biggest fan of some of the plot stuff but check it out for yourself!

Starco vs the Forces of Evil - Another collab fic/art thing. Fair warning, I really am not personally a huge fan of a lot of the characterization and plot decisions here (see my notes on Sign of the Moon waaaay down below) but decide for yourself, don’t let my pickiness dictate your own preferences!

Ready For The Future - Technically a oneshot (with some Starco) but sets up some Mina plot, if you’re interested in more give it a follow/review.

Worlds Together - Some Starco and exploration of Earthni.

Epilogue - Some Starco and exploration of Earthni.

***A Dark Horse - Has a few really nice lovey dovey Starco bits but also lots of superdrama with politics stuff. There’s a lot of fics here that I honestly just windowshop the scene I like for a quick fix of dopamine every now and then and skim at most otherwise, and this is one.

Revolution - end of canon AU where Moon is as anti-monster as Mina, dark as fuck. Only putting it here cuz some of y’all angstlords might like it.

Shorter Works/Oneshot Collections

I’ll Carry Your World - Big ole’ ball of wonderful Starco fluff with an important moment between them (written before end of show so a bit divergent).

***LoveIsTheStrongestKindOfMagic - Very short and basic fluff.

Starco Week 5 (Hugs Included) - Some of it is postcanon Earthni oneshots and others are from the Light of the Sun and Stars AU (see above). Great author, fun as hell writing style.

Fragile - Star worries about keeping her boyfriend Marco safe.

Complete - An older Star reflects on her past and present. Short and sweet.

Knighthood - Simple fluff piece on if Star and Marco got together after Storm the Castle.

Too Hot to Move - Star and Marco try to survive a heat wave on Earthni. Also funny fluff.

Marco Make-out Mayhem - Star really likes kissing Marco. Funny fluff.

Cleaved Together - NSFW warning, non-explicit (aged up) - Star and Marco’s first time. Very very overly focused on the whole purity/sacredness of first time thing, but still pretty cute.

Like Us - Really nice, sweet casual reflection on her life with Marco from a future Star’s POV.Toothpaste Kisses - Short fluff about its title.

A Friend’s Memento - Starco fluff with some reflection on the results of destroying magic

Plum Pie - Some goofy antics and hurt/comfort.

Not Losing You - A little dive into Marco’s POV at the end of Cleaved. Also adds a kiss.

We Belong Together - More speculative slightly angsty comfort/fluff.

Enough - A nice study of the emotions and thoughts during the last scenes of Cleaved, adds some depth to it.

Heartless - A bit of angst over magic going away with some sweet Starco comfort.

Together - Post-Cleaved Starco megafluff.

My Prince - Starco fluff set in a world where they were together before Cornonation.

Dancing with a Star - Starco fluff from alt S4.

Love in the Time of Pancakes - Written hours after my last update of the list, another little ditty based on the pancake promo.

Pancakes - Fluffy S4-promo-based little oneshot.

Hers - Hurt/comfort/confession-y fic, has some really nice moments and shows off a lot of how much they care about each other. Nice to see after such a drought.

Someone to Stay - Another hurt/comfort fic, nice and simple.

A Viola, a Violin, and a Butterfly’s Sword - some nonlinear oneshots about Starco. Some kinda weird directions gone in with the “plot” but it’s pretty good overall.

Falling - One of many, many fics from throughout the fandom’s history about Star and Marco getting together. Short and sweet.

forget about white horses & once upon a time - Drabble collection of various moments scattered throughout Star and Marco’s lives. Cute fluff.

The One Where I Thought I Lost You - Post-BFM fic where Marco realizes his feelings for Star earlier. Very wholesome.

christmases when you were mine - Established relationship fluff.

lightning in your veins, thunder in your heart - Post-season 3 established relationship fluff (slightly divergent, written before 3B).

once upon a december - Established relationship fluff.

Flags - Alternate rendition of the episode “Flags” with Starco.

Spells and Hot Chocolate - Wintry fluff.

5 Ways to Say ‘I Love You’ - Post BFM with some events in Star and Marco’s lives.

You’re My Wish Come True - This is just indulgent Starco trash. I won’t even argue for the characterization/writing quality, this is just a straight-up guilty pleasure.

Wands and Nachos - ^

The Princess and the Safe Kid - ^

A Day in the Life of Starco - ^

A very Starco Xmas - ^

Could It Be -^

All the times Star wore Marco’s hoodie - ^

Protect Me, Squire - ^

Crushed - Star and Marco both get turned down by their respective crushes and find comfort in each other.

Stay - Cuddly fluff. There’s another Stay out there which I frankly can’t stand with will-they-won’t-they melodrama out the wazoo, so don’t get confused.

Longer Series

*The Inescapable Us - Really tropey miscommunication will-they-won’t-they type of thing. Not my fav, especially now that the show is over and finished that leg of Star and Marco’s story once and for all (I’m personally WAY less interested in things that redo something canon already did). However, where it’s at now has some really good Starco moments. Fully admitted that I hella skimmed most of it until the parts I enjoyed, but And if you’re more fine with that type of thing then you’ll probably really like it, it’s well-written otherwise.

Together We Fall - Throwback S2 AU fic where Star and Marco go to the dance together instead and Toffee makes moves earlier. Gets kinda dark but has a lot of nice Starco along the way.

Safer, Sorrier - A recent rewrite of an older fic, Better Safe Than Sorry, where Star has to leave early to become queen and Marco is alone for a few months before they reunite. A very dated premise (post season 1 ish) but quite good.

Sugar and Spice - NSFW warning, non-explicit (NOT aged-up characters). In this fic, Star and Marco have gotten together after BFM, and a spell gone wrong leads to Mewberty relapses with obvious consequences. This fic has adorable Starco moments, but what I love this for above all is the other character interactions (especially Glossaryck and Star’s parents). This is probably a controversial add-on to the list, but I stick by my decision - if the subject matter isn’t your thing, then by all means avoid it.

Beyond Dimensions - Plotfic + established Starco where some ancient sorceress has to trap Star to escape and try to take over Mewni. Maybe y'all are more into plot stuff than me but the Starco that’s there is quite good regardless.

Starfall - NSFW warning, explicit (aged-up characters). Probably the most popular one to make the cut. Star and Marco are forced apart and have to find their way back together. Very old fic, lot of dated stuff here, and the narration and plot itself can get kinda questionable sometimes, but it has a lot of good Starco and some interesting plot elements that make it, in my opinion, worth a read despite a lot of flaws. A few epilogue chapters contain rather explicit sexual content, so be wary of that (and the epilogue itself after Ep 6 kinda transitions into a nextgenverse, so maybe just skip that entirely).

The Star Butterfly Effect - The sole fic on the list that is purely plot-based, with very little actual Starco development whatsoever. I can’t even really explain it, just give it a shot and see what you think; I was rather engrossed by the plot, and that’s rare for me.

The Princess and her Knight, Return of the Empire The former fic in this series is way more character-based, while the latter is very heavy plot stuff. Pretty decent character writing with some fluff. There’s a third that I honestly can’t recommend because I completely dropped it because it was just a nonstop war story.

Experimental - REALLY heavy, dark AU where Star and Marco are tortured and corrupted. It’s pretty decent.

Blood Moon Blitz - Alt BFM fic of Marco going to fight Toffee with Star. unfortunately dropped without completing, but what’s there is pretty solid.

Read at Your Own Risk…

The Sign of the Moon, The Dance of the Stars - Starts post-3A, involves the growth of Star and Marco’s relationship as they take on foes in and out of the castle and learn more about the Blood Moon. This series is rather… melodramatic, and there were some chapters and character interactions I flat out did not enjoy reading. But some people aren’t as strict on character interpretations as I am and would love such a long plot-based Starco fic, so overall I still will at least list it and let you decide for yourself. There might be a third entry in this series now, but I dropped it before then.

Photos - I hesitate to include this one here because the “Tom is a perfect angel who must sacrifice his love for Star” thing pisses me off. But just skip all that (and ignore the random “a part of me will always love Tom” line) and it’s a really nice post-s3 confession fic.

#starco #svtfoe #star vs the forces of evil #fanfic #ngame

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sothe · 6 years ago

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I finished Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE and I liked it a lot more than I thought I would..so I tried to make the main cast into FEH units...explanations under the cut.

Itsuki Aoi - Everyman

Type - Sword Infantry

BST - 163

Stats - HP (43) Attack (34) Speed (36) Defense (25) Resistance (25)

Weapon - Idol Falchion (Effective against dragon units, Inflicts -7 Attack to unit on enemy team with the highest Attack until their next action, Grants Def/Res +3 to adjacent allied units)

Assist - Rally Up Atk/Spd+ (Grants Attack/Speed +4 to target ally and all allies within two spaces of target, excluding unit, for one turn)

Special - Aether

A Skill - Fury 3

B Skill - Chill Speed

C Skill - N/A

Explanation: Itsuki is an all-arounder type of unit. His stats look impressive, but that’s due to Fury’s +3 to all stats. Chill Attack in his weapon and Chill Speed as his skill give him a supportive niche...that I just realized Soren has with his tome. But whatever, Soren is a green mage and Lon’qu and Raven have the same refine so just let me have this. Rally Up Atk/Spd is something that i see coming since Ophelia brought the first Rally Up skill and it took a little bit for dual rallies to come out. Most of the Falchion users have some support based bonus granted by their sword so I made Itsuki’s help out allies instead of himself since in TMS he is usually helping instead being on the forefront. (Story-wise, gameplay wise he is force deployed whether you want him or not lmaoo) He doesn’t have his own show or song, but he’s always helping his friends with their show business jobs.

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Tsubasa Oribe - Dreamer

Type - Flying Lance Singer

BST - 150

Stats - HP (32) Attack (31) Speed (37) Defense (24) Resistance (26)

Weapon - Ethereal Feather (If Sing is used on an allied unit grants unit another action and heals unit 10 HP)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - HP/Atk 2

B Skill - Aerobatics 3

C Skill - Distant Guard 3

Explanation: So she could have just been a regular Peg Knight but since in TMS her main focus is becoming an idol I made her a singer/refresher. Her Weapon is supportive and not offensive because tbh...she doesn’t have the best offensive capabilities compared to Touma, the other lance user in TMS. He beats her in raw physical dmg, but she destroys him in the magic department, BUT Kiria takes the cake for best magic user so Tsubasa is best used as a support healer with some offensive moves thrown in. Distant Guard helps give her teammates some extra def/res and Aerobatics help her get to her teammates, but Wings of Mercy is easily another skill that could be there. IS hasn’t actually given a dancer/singer WoM so I figured it was just taboo for them and I was ‘trying’ to go for realism.

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Touma Akagi - Just an Extra

Type - Lance Cavalier

BST - 157

Stats - HP (42) Attack (35) Speed (28) Defense (31) Resistance (21)

Weapon - Brionac (Grants Atk+3, If units attack is greater than enemies attack then special cooldown -1 for each attack)

Assist - Shove

Special - Growing Flame

A Skill - Atk/Def Solo 3

B Skill - Quick Riposte 3

C Skill - N/A

Explanation: Touma is best boy. Ok, but he is my favorite of the cast and his whole journey as a character is him trying to become a hero people look up to. So I wanted his kit to represent that. His weapon has Heavy Blade built into it since he is pretty slow and he needs the extra cooldown reductions. He has Atk/Def solo to represent his want of being a hero on his own and he has Shove to get a nearby ally away from him so he can take advantage of his skill. Quick Riposte would have been his go-to B skill so I just gave it to him and it makes sense for the kit. TBH no one in this game is slow...besides Mamori so I put him in the high attack/def, low speed category since I didn’t want all the builds to look the same?

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Kiria Kurono - Poker Face

Type - Green Infantry Mage

BST - 140

Stats - HP (32) Attack (34) Speed (30) Defense (15) Resistance (29)

Weapon - Sharur (Grants Res +3, if unit is adjacent to an ally at the start of the turn then ally and unit granted Atk/Spd +3)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - N/A

B Skill - Chill Res 3

C Skill - Spd Ploy 3

Explanation: Kiria is another one of my favorite characters, her cool demeanor and hidden love for cute things is fun. (Plus her aesthetic is on point) She is the resident magic nuke of the bunch, and even though I gave her lower BST than regular mages I tried to represent that as well. Kind of anyways, she is already an established idol by the begining of the game so I made her a refresher. I wanted her to be supportive since a refresher’s job is to help teammates and give extra turns, but I also tried to make her a threat. Her weapon Sharur grants an adjacent ally, and Kiria herself, +3 Atk/Spd. The buff coupled with Spd Ploy gives her a decent offensive presence if needed. Chill Res is to help her and any other mages on her team, and Spd Ploy is just helpful all around.

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Eleonora Yumizuru - Rising Star

Type - Blue Infantry Archer

BST - 150

Stats - HP (35) Attack (32) Speed (38) Defense (23) Resistance (22)

Weapon - Pinaka (Grants Def +3, After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts status on target and foes within 2 spaces of target preventing counterattacks through their next actions)

Assist - N/A

Special - Blazing Thunder

A Skill - Mirror Strike 2

B Skill - Windsweep 3

C Skill - N/A

Explanation: So Eleonora grew on me since at first she seemed supper arrogant, but through her side missions and with her appearances in other side stories she shows a lot of character that would be missed otherwise. She’s like the groups big sister, and ironically she’s younger than most of the cast, but like Yashiro and Kiria she’s been in the entertainment industry longer than Itsuki, Tsubasa, Touma, and Mamori so she has the knowledge. So in TMS she has quite a few moves that inflict status effects like Charm, Poison, etc. I tried representing that in her weapon which acts like the healer stave Candlelight+. Blazing Thunder is because her affinity is electric imo since she learns more electric attacks than any other magic element. That’s also my reasoning for making her a blue archer since thunder mages are usually represented in FEH as blue. Windsweep is to apply the Candlelight debuff safely on physical units with DC, and Mirror Strike is to even out her defenses if she were to initiate on a Dragon unit or mage.

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Mamori Minamoto - Microwave Idol

Type - Green Axe Armor

BST - 175

Stats - HP (46) Attack (35) Speed (27) Defense (36) Resistance (31)

Weapon - Holy Axe (Grants Res +3, Allies within two spaces of unit are granted Def/Res +3 during combat)

Assist - N/A

Special - Pavise

A Skill - N/A

B Skill - Vengeful Fighter 3

C Skill - Close Guard 3

Explanation: So Mamori is the newest mirage master and she’s the most supportive of all of them. She literally protects her friends from attacks and takes them herself. So I tried to make her supportive in a defensive way. Her weapon Holy Axe gives her more Res and is basically Drive Def/Res for any allies within two spaces. Pavise hearkens to her Radiant Skill that reduces dmg taken when she protects an ally. Vengeful Fighter is just disgustingly good and she’s an armor who isn’t fast enough for Special Fighter and since she has the stats for defense instead of offense I chose VF. Close Guard is also supposed to be a callback to her protecting skills.

Something to note is that the cast is sort of split into singers and actors. All the characters cross into the other form of entertainment at some point in the game, and Mamori is more focused on becoming a singer over becoming an actor or something. BUT an armored singer would be weird so I just didn’t make her one...

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Yashiro Tsurugi - Cold Hearted

Type - Red Sword Infantry

BST - 149

Stats - HP (37) Attack (34) Speed (37) Defense (22) Resistance (22)

Weapon - Futsuno Mitama (At the start of the turn enemies within two spaces of unit receive -5 Atk/Spd)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - Spd/Def Bond 3

B Skill - N/A

C Skill - Spur Atk/Def 2

Explanation: Yashiro is a good representation for the ‘enemy becomes an ally’ trope. I feel like that’s a spoiler but it’s not like he does anything super important as an ‘enemy’ he’s just the typical angsty “I’m just measuring your abilities” guy for a while until he decides Itsuki and co are cool enough to hang with. MOST of the time I dislike those characters since if I was Itsuki I would have called bullshit and told him to screw off, but Yashiro has the best character growth throughout the game imo. He’s a myrmidon so high atk/spd and low defenses, but since I made him a Singer due to his established Idol status his defenses are...bad. His skills are offensive and defensive since I wanted him to be potent as a killer and decent as a support. His weapon is both supportive and offensive as well since it debuffs for either him or an ally to take out the enemy.

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Tiki - Mirage Uta-loid

Type - Green Infantry Dragon

BST - 150

Stats - HP (33) Attack (32) Speed (36) Defense (22) Resistance (27)

Weapon - Divine Songstone (Grants ally atk/spd/def/res +3 when refreshed, also if foe is ranged targets lower of the foes defense or resistance)

Assist - Sing

Special - N/A

A Skill - N/A

B Skill - Wings of Mercy 3

C Skill - Guidance 3

Explanation: So Tiki isn’t playable, but she does play a big part of the story and she’s well known in the FEH community so I made her into a unit as well. I keep saying the word supportive in these explanations but Tiki literally can’t help with anything offensive besides forging weapons for the main cast to use. So her Songstone grants the Uror/Skuld buffs, Wings of Mercy is taboo for a refresher to have by default but I don’t care, and then Guidance is to help ferry her team. In TMS Tiki exists as an Vocaloid like Hatsune Miku, but they call them Uta-loids(?) so she is also a refresher. This build was mostly for fun and had the least amount of thought put into it. :)

#tokyo mirages sessions #fire emblem #fire emblem heroes #tiki fire emblem #itsuki aoi #tsubasa oribe #touma akagi #kiria kurono #eleanora yumizuru #mamori minamoto #yashiro tsurugi #lol #pls dont roast me yall

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rkjei · 6 years ago

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˟ ▀ KNOWN VISUAL APPEARANCE + BASIC INFO

birthday september 5, 1995 height 162 cm weight 42 kg place of residence gangnam, seoul; south korea eye color dark brown hair black, long piercings typical lobe skillset dancing + charm

style often wears extremely high end brands, namely chanel. not above ordering one of a kind clothes if she can’t find exactly what she’s looking for at any point in time. her style is really expensive, even a simple shirt and jeans combo could run a high price tag. people will think that she’s extravagant, however this is just the kind of thing she’s used to - she truly believes that you get what you pay for.

NOTE * all of this information is known both through public appearances and was released through her mga entry form.

˟ ▀ KNOWN BACKGROUND

has an older brother who became her legal guardian after the death of her parents. he’s around 13 years her senior, so he often spoiled her ( as seen above. ) she and eric shared stocks in their parent’s company, but after jei came of age she gave him her stocks and made him the highest shareholder. all of this is known information given that jei’s a seoul socialite - if someone follows along with things like this, that is.

will often donate to various charities. she’s not a fan of volunteering or anything, but enjoys giving money and supporting various causes.

has two dogs and a cat. wrinkles is her pet pug and he’s often nicknamed prince. though it’s unknown, she bought a dog for hyun named jin who is featured prominently on her instagram so that hyun can see him grow up. finally, her cat is named meimei. hyun dropped her off and although jei didn’t want her at first, eventually she grew on her. meimei makes the least number of appearances on her instagram because she doesn’t like the camera.

˟ ▀ SIGNING INFO

this information is currently unknown to the public as she was signed as a private trainee. after her presence at the TRIPLE THREAT COMPETITION, jei was invited by tiger jk himself to a meeting in his office. there, she was personally offered a contract based on her experiences and growth as a performer.

˟ ▀ PUBLIC APPEARANCES

market o competition

though it isn’t well known what song she provided backup vocals to and the tape hasn’t been released to the public, it was said that she was involved with the competition via her mga entry form.

semifinalist on mga season 4, contestant #4011

the first contestant shown of the season, also had her martial arts skill featured on air. well received as a leader and choreographer by netizens, though her no nonsense attitude was often under fire for not being “ funny”.

sskt commercials

tried out for the kt commercials on a whim without realizing they were for kt. ended up landing a role as an extra even though in her mind, it was an entire waste of time. jei doesn’t think it’s very noticeable that she was even in the commercial, but fans may be able to recognize her in the background.

triple threat competition

basically being the petty bitch that she is, she performed myname’s tell me which is the song that got her kicked off the mgas. this time though, it landed her a contract. surprise?

˟ ▀ KNOWN CONNECTIONS

HYUN OF CONVEX - ( current ) ex boyfriend. probably the only man she’s ever truly been in love with even if she can’t quite admit it to him. broke up with him recently for a number of reasons, namely that she felt neglected but also partially because she felt as if she was holding him back and he didn’t want her anymore. none of this is known to the public, but it is apparent that they’re friends because he often likes pictures of jei on her instagram as well as pictures of one of her dogs, jin. jin is the dog that jei got for hyun as a congratulations gift for debuting with convex. UPDATE 06092019 - the day after hyun’s comeback preparations were over for very nice, he went to see her and they decided to give their relationship another try.

YIEN OF CONVEX - best friends ( known ), former friends with benefits ( unknown ). yien is probably the only person jei trusts fully. it often seems like she teases him which is unusual behaviour for her considering she doesn’t often interact with others in this way. it is a way of showing her comfort with him. she appreciates yien for a lot of things he did for her even if neither of them talk about what they are anymore.

MGA CONTESTANTS - it should be assumed that jei still speaks with some of the mga contestants she was in a group with. the following are more known connections:

HA SUNGWOON - he had a ( small ) crush on her during the mgas. they no longer speak but the public doesn’t know this.

HWANG HYUNJIN - her mga son, probably the person she’s closest to after the mgas.

KIM CHUNGHA - grew closer during their group work for instruction and still remain close friends.

˟ ▀ SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE

instagram / @ kimjeii ; public, updated often features pictures of herself and her hobbies or food that she’s eating, along with pictures of her pets ( mostly jin ). with her appearance in both the mgas + the trc competition, her follower count has shot up drastically in comparison to what it once was. she now has around 20k followers.

youtube / @ jeikimdance ; public, updated sporadically there’s not a lot of updates on jei’s channel - it was opened after her stint on the mgas to showcase some of her dance routines and choreographies. right now there are about three videos up, one of which is a video with team vista of the mgas doing the in my feelings challenge. the others are a god is a woman dance choreography and a cover of valkyrie by oneus.

˟ ▀ BONUS PRIVATE BG INFO

please note that this is information that shouldn’t be dug up unless the mun is asked!

attended university - studied business administration and fashion as majors; graduated in february 2018.

recently broke up with her year -long boyfriend, hyun ( yes, the one in convex ). they’ll be getting back together soon, but it won’t be found out by the public anytime in the near future. note: have been back together since 05192019.

lives in a penthouse suite in gangnam.

#; hc #; public info #tw: death mention

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emunenen · 4 years ago

Text

Makao Bora

New Post has been published on https://wp.me/paK8na-40U

Best hoods to stay if you are single and searching

Relationships are determined in large part by physical and functional distance, leading to a common phenomenon known as the ‘Proximity or Propinquity Effect’. You are more likely to fall in love with somebody you are physically close to.

Even in this era of online dating studies show, potential partners are likely to choose those that are within distance.

Neighbourhoods, where dating happens naturally.

1. Ruaka town, Kiambu County

In 2013, the launch of the Northern Bypass road opened Ruaka’s gates to exponential commercial growth and development, transforming it from a lowly settlement area to absolute prime acreage. Currently priced at a whopping Sh89.5 million per acre (the second most expensive piece of land in the country), the small but buzzing town 20 minutes away from the CBD has since then been luring professionals and young pioneers alike from all over the country.

“Moving to Ruaka was the best decision I ever made,” says Richie Waruguru, a 27-year-old Interior decorator. “Some people say that the most beautiful ladies in Nairobi live in Ruaka and I can attest to that, I’ve dated a good number of them,” says the single freelance designer.

“Having the largest mall in East Africa did us wonders.” Richie has lived in the Joyland area for a year and has no plans of relocating the township any time soon. “I find Ruaka to be the best place to live as a single man in Nairobi. A surprising mass of the people living here are single. We have plenty of social amenities, affordable housing, adequate transport, and plenty of clubs for great nightlife,” he says.

Not everyone agrees. “I moved there to find great (male) company from advice from some taken friends,” says Debbie Karungo.

With a full plate and little time to socialise, the 32-year-old bachelorette relied on location-based dating service Tinder to search for love in the buzzing locale. “After going on dates with what seemed like every single guy from the location, I realised the men who lived in Ruaka qualified as playboys.” The bachelorette explains, “Yes, there are singles there, but certainly not the type that a woman looking to meet a quality man to settle down with wants.

2. Westlands, Kileleshwa, Kilimani and Lavington environs

Following a three-year-long battle with online-bound philanderers, Debbie then decided to scout elsewhere. “I discovered most of my friends with rich dating lives lived in the Westlands area of town and waste makes haste doesn’t it?”

Better known as Westie, Westlands is a colourful, vibrant sector known to combine the efficacy and organisation of the CBD with the passions of the city. Acknowledged by a growing pile of headlines as Nairobi’s top tourism and hospitality hotbed, it just may take the collection’s crown. “I’ve lived in Westlands for the past four years and it has an impressively diverse bunch of individuals, so I would understand why singles flock here,” says George Mahuro, a 36-year-old marketing consultant and dad-of-one. “As a bachelor, I chose to be as logistically close as possible to places where I will meet stunning women, take them on dates, and bring them back home with as little friction as possible.”

Sharing the same leafy-suburb profile is Kileleshwa, Kilimani, and Lavington estates. But there is a catch. Commitment here is in short supply here.

“Not unless you want to get stuck at the ‘dating-but-unmarried’ rut for years and eventually getting dumped for the newest fresher catch,” George shares.

Here, the dating life is cut-throat. “It is very fast-paced, and many people I know prefer adventure to settling down. Such is ‘love’ in a metro area, very few are at home on weekends and in truth, how many go to raves looking for a future wife or husband? We’re out to have a blast,” George divulges.

George’s case is simply a barometer of geography and economics and their impacts on shifting cultural norms. A study by the Royal Society titled Social Class and Wise Reasoning about Interpersonal Conflicts across Regions, Persons and Situations suggests that people in higher social classes “are associated with a lower propensity of reasoning wisely in interpersonal relationships.”

In other words, research reveals that rich people are less likely to exhibit traits required for the navigation of a successful relationship such as compassion, flexibility, and empathy. Besides, ‘rich love’ commonly accompanies a sense of entitlement owing to privilege, more communication problems, and a ‘more money more options’ mentality.

3. Thika Road Area

Every year, thousands of optimistic sophomores and young hires move to Thika Road, lease rental units, and commence realising their dreams. A 50km-long stretch from Nairobi to Thika, Thika Road is a host to numerous estates, all known to house both the ultra-rich and the young and clamorous alike. Tony Ndungu reveals, “I’ve lived here for a year and a half. While I had a hectic academic life that called for undivided attention pre-COVID-19, I was still on the search for a serious relationship. Up until the pandemic, my love life was jam-packed, in an unruly way.”

For Tony, the juxtaposition of broke youngins and millionaires allows for places that serve both groups, so cheap recreation is in abundance for broke college students. “It helps us relieve stress and anxiety and we are delighted to meet other singles.”

4. Parklands Area

Imani Wanjohi a 46-year-old business owner, found the Parklands area ideal to enjoy life as an older divorced mom of two. “I love it here. The crowd is very mature and tranquilized.” According to the senior bachelorette, Parklands, a semi-affluent neighbourhood recognised for family-owned townhomes save for the odd brand new high-rise apartment, providing warmth.

“To my surprise, many builds were not as racially oblique as I was led to believe, and the zone turned out to be much larger than I imagined when I first started apartment hunting. The new homes are quite pricey, but that’s how I meet fellow accomplished age mates around to relate to.” Imani continues, “If you are a mature, successful person seeking a unique dating experience with the convenience of plazas, farmers’ markets, medical centers, and relaxing spots you should try this place.”

5. Kiambu Road

Rita Mang’oa, 28, has lived in many estates around the city, but she never felt like she fitted in as a single woman. Then a friend suggested she tries Thindigua estate, a hamlet situated in Kiambu road 15 minutes from the CBD. “I had to take my time with my decision lest I mess up again,” the lawyer in the city says.

Two months after taking up residence in one bedroomed flat in Thindigua, Rita is brimming with joy. “Everything, from the take-your-breath-away views, near-perfect weather, well-decorated chill joints, and shopping centers amounted to a top-shelf living for me at an exceedingly bargained price,” she beams. In 2018, thanks to the Northern Bypass road, Thindigua experienced a boom in the development of residential investment properties. Clusters of new builds now occupy the area, and hordes of taxpayers are still flocking in.

When queried on her dating life, Rita is confident of her prospects. “I have made so many new friends and attended several get-togethers since I arrived. I even hosted a house-warming party!” She coyly adds, “If you must know, I have been in a relationship for a week now, we are very happy but the partnership is still young.”

6. Lang’ata Area

For James Musyoka, moving to Lang’ata, a bustling middle-class suburb located in the southwest division 20 minutes from the CBD, was the revelation he needed. “I relocated to Langata from my maternal home in Nakuru as a young Event Planner and the experience opened my eyes. Chance meetings quickly became a ‘thing’ for me, and that was how I met my future wife in a matter of weeks!” The 29-year-old wistfully explains “As a freelancer in an unfamiliar environment, I was open to any experience. Sure enough, while aimlessly expediting, I met a great woman. Our courtship was a whirlwind.

With the first date spent meandering hand-in-hand around the iconic Giraffe Manor, followed by dinner at The Carnivore where conversation flowed as easily as the drinks.” According to James, he was hooked. “She showed me Langata’s rich and edgy culture and I never looked back.” The charming attractions, affordable housing, and bulk of leisure facilities (in other words, a concoction ideal for the spark of a captivating conversation with a stranger) the region is outstanding for those single and ready to mingle.

Other singles’ hotspots in other towns around Kenya

Eldoret Town- Kapsoya

Little over fifteen years ago, Eldoret struggled to find its identity but has since become one of the most desirable cities in Kenya, attracting immigrants from all around the country. Located in the eastern margin of Eldoret in Uasin Gishu County, Kapsoya is considered the perfect area for singles who love living in popular but affordable locations.

With restaurants, hotels, and newly built shopping malls, Kapsoya is well known to keep its inhabitants happy and well entertained. It also has a police station for ample security. Kapsoya has a population of 40,000 constituents, most of them young tenants, and rental properties range from Sh15, 000 for two-bedroomed homes.

– Matching spots- Pioneer and Action.

Nakuru City- Kiamunyi

The former capital of the Rift Valley Province, Nakuru regards itself as a large city with a small-town spirit. Although once a big-time colonial home ground, Nakuru is now an agricultural and transport metropolis, giving its residents the economic opportunities and cultural amenities of the big city minus the property costs and violent crime rates. For anyone looking to delight in rich dating life, the top area to consider is Kiamunyi. A well-run contemporary area nestled 8kms from the CBD, Kiamunyi ranks highest in its desirability and its ability to draw the city’s young working-class professionals.

Perhaps what is even more striking about Kiamunyi is that given its ‘posh’ reputation, you would expect it to be undoubtedly expensive, but a paycheck goes a long way here. Throw in a booming cultural and restaurant scene and Kiamunyi, a locale with an attractive median two-bedroom rent value of Sh15, 000 easily puts a winning case.

– Matching spots- Racecourse Estate, Langa Langa, and Satelite.

Kisumu City- Polyview

Kisumu has remained an attractive city for reasons that include a vibrant social scene, accessibility to Lake Victoria, and low cost of living.

Polyview. The name may not elicit images of a place worthy of a top entry on a list of over 50, but names count for little in Kisumu. Located 2km from Kisumu’s CBD, Polyview prides itself as a great place to caper and very much lives up to the tag. It is an incredibly quirky area and new single residents are sure to warm up to their new surroundings within no time considering the great camaraderie the community is keen to offer.

– Matching spots- Lolwe, Migosi, Mamboleo, and Bandani.

Mombasa City- Mvita

There are a few places in Kenya that are as stereotyped as much as Mombasa. Even a mention of the name evokes a certain image to mind. Bongo music. Loose-fitting outfits. A certain distinctive twang and drawl. Holiday. Well, county 001 is all that and much more, and if a single is looking to move here, chances are they will be interested in more than just stereotypes.

Tudor, located in Mvita a mere 3kms from the CBD, is one of the most diverse, culturally vibrant, and progressive communities in Mombasa. The majority of workers are either entrepreneurs, artistic creatives, or work in the service industry.

There is a thriving art and culture scene, with festivals happening every year and the CBD’s amenities are close, not to mention it borders Tudor’s creek. Generally, Tudor is considered exceptionally livable for the bold singles on a budget.

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