#when Aloy is in her box- do NOT talk to her

[fogsblue]

🎁Kotaloy Elysium Secret Holiday Exchange!!🎁

over on the Kotaloy Elysium server, we ran a gift exchange over the holidays, and now it's finished, time to share the works with everyone 💖

📝 Tenakth Customs (M) by @cotanerd (Aloy/Kotallo) A light-hearted Aloy/Kotallo love confession one-shot with Aloy struggling to deal with Kotallo being hot - and then there's only one bedroll!

🎨Marshal Aloy AU by @quiche-draws (A/K) Aloy wins the Proving but Rost leaves and she goes off to find him at the farthest reaches of the Forbidden West

📝Woolen Socks (T) by @r4d14t3lov3 (A/K) The perfect gift is a warm embrace

📝Cuddles (T) by TheArtseeWinks (A/K) In the midst of peace talks between the Tenakth and the Carja, Aloy runs out to the desert to get away from the stifling atmosphere of Meridian. Her Marshal joins her. What will they face when they return to the city?

🎨 Fashav & Kotallo sneak away (M) by @lanelacy (Fashav/Kotallo) Fashav and Kotallo sneaking away for some alone time.

🎨 Talanah trying Tenakth gear (G) by @setavvo (Aloy/Talanah) Aloy/Talanah - Talanah trying on Tenakth gear

📝How does the sparring end? (M) by @koteevna (A/K, Uthid/Vanasha) “They remind me of someone. Do you remember our first sparring match?” Vanasha turned her back to the railing, raising an elegant eyebrow. “How we avoided feelings for each other?”

🎨 A new Blueprint (G) by @hannahmationstudios (A/K) ARTEMIS got a new blueprint for the holidays! 🐾💚

📝Avalanches (T) by @murmeringwhisper (A/K) Aloy and Kotallo find each other on a miserable day. Miserable for more than just the rainy weather; something terrible has just happened.

📝Twas the (Snowball) Fight Before Christmas (G) by TheWayOfTheClam (A/K) Kotallo comes home to Sky Clan territory for the winter holiday and is greeted with an unexpected surprise.

📝The Memory Remains (T) by @little-box-of-wonders (Beta & Varl) Beta doesn’t know what HEPHAESTUS meant by a system reset, but any alternative—even destroying the Cauldron—is better than being subjected to the Zeniths’ will.

📝We'll Meet Again (T) by @goodvibrationsmp3 (Aloy/Nil) Two months after the Battle of the Alight, Aloy’s search for a backup of GAIA in the fringes of the Sundom brings her face to face with an old friend.

📝Game Night (T) by TinyBirds (A/K + Gaia Gang) The GAIA Gang is stuck in the Base during a snowstorm, so they decide to play some games to pass the time. The only game Kotallo and Aloy are playing, however, is with each other.

📝The Stars That Guide Us (G) by @dino-trash-kieran (Alva & Kotallo) Once more, Alva was surprised by Kotallo’s behaviour. Out of all her companions, she hadn’t expected Kotallo to be the one to ask to keep her company; usually that role was left to Zo, or on the rare occasion, Beta.

📝Winterlight Mistletoe (G) by @zyikic and @fogsblue (A/K) Aloy is invited to the Tenakth Winterlight Festival. While there, she watches the Tenakth custom of "Santy Claws", and learns about the cultural significance of hung mistletoe. --------------------

If you're interested in checking out the Kotaloy Elysium server, here's a link! (if it's expired, just hit me up 👋)

[rapifessor]

Initial Analysis of Kirara

After seeing some leaked gameplay footage of Kirara I think I’m a little higher on her character design than I was at first. Her in-game model looks quite nice and I do think she’s actually pretty cute. So I started looking at leaked details of her kit.

Kirara is a 4-Star Dendro Sword user who provides a shield and some decent burst damage. Her kit seems to be geared towards Aggravate/Spread teams, and although it isn’t particularly interesting there’s definitely some stuff to talk about.

Elemental Skill

This ability does a little bit of damage based on ATK and creates a shield based on HP. Yes, yes, I can hear you groaning, but we’ll get to that. The shield itself is pretty tanky and is comparable to Layla’s shield. But it can also stack its damage absorption, which means it can become even stronger, and the cooldown of this skill allows you to have 100% shield uptime.

Alternatively, you can hold the skill button to go Solid Snake mode and move around in a box. Running into enemies in this state deals a small amount of damage to them and a larger amount when the state ends, though it’s still nothing crazy. Also keep in mind that the hold variant DOES NOT create a shield without Kirara’s first Ascension passive.

Notably, while moving in the box, Kirara has increased movement and climbing speed and increased jump height. But she also consumes more stamina while climbing this way, which is dumb. From what I’ve seen she doesn’t move all that fast either, but this could still be a pretty useful Talent for exploration. It’s also quite humorous.

Elemental Burst

Kirara’s burst costs 60 Energy and deals a fuckload of damage. I’m not kidding, for some reason this ability has a higher scaling percentage than Zhongli’s meatball. Like seriously, why? I guess it costs more Energy and probably has smaller AoE, but it’s kind of wild to see this on a 4-Star character (inb4 HoYo nerfs it because they don’t want you to have fun).

After the initial explosion, you basically get a bunch of Dendro Jumpty Dumpties that explode on contact with enemies or after sitting around for a while. They deal very little damage, especially in comparison to the initial hit of this attack, so they’re meant more for enabling reactions I suppose.

Passive Talents

Kirara’s first Ascension passive basically just makes it so the hold variant of her skill creates a shield too, but at most 60% the strength of what you get from the press variant. This way you can still get a little bit of protection while using Kirara for on-field Dendro application.

Fourth Ascension passive gives you, wow, HP scaling on Kirara’s abilities! She gets 0.4% more damage to her skill and 0.3% more damage to her burst for every 1,000 HP she has. Unfortunately, her abilities still scale better with ATK so she essentially has the same problem Dehya has. Shocking, I say.

Third Passive Talent is identical to Aloy’s. Makes it easier to get meat.

Constellation

C1: Kirara’s burst makes more Dendro Jumpty Dumpties when she uses her burst, up to four extra if she has 32k HP or more. Should be very easy to do since she gets HP% from Ascension.

C2 is a weird one. Could be a mistranslation, but it seems like it grants shields to party members she hits in Solid Snake mode. In other words, this does nothing outside of co-op, but it’s kind of neat I guess.

C3 levels her skill, C5 her burst.

C4 gives you off-field Dendro application which Kirara pretty much doesn’t have otherwise. When you hit opponents with Normal/Charged/Plunging attacks while protected by her shield, she performs additional attacks.

C6 gives 12% more Elemental DMG to all party members when she uses her burst. Pretty straightforward.

Overall Thoughts

Kirara doesn’t look too bad. At a baseline she’s got a very sturdy shield for a 4-Star character and a nuke for an Elemental Burst, so I think she’ll find some use somewhere, assuming she doesn’t get nerfed into the ground. She really suffers from being unable to apply Dendro from off-field though. Dendro characters tend to live or die by their application, and since Kirara doesn’t deal very much damage outside of her burst she’s especially hamstrung by that. Constellation level 4 makes her a lot more functional.

I do think playing box trot cat will be fun in the overworld though, and I think it’d be interesting to see just how far we can push her Elemental Burst, getting those sweet damage screenshots. My guess is she’ll find her home in Keqing teams most likely, or other Aggravate carry builds.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Personal Relationships

Not mine. Mine are pretty okay. I mean, having to call my D&D session tonight sucks, but I am absolutely fragged and if I am going to do something fun, it needs to be something I can take a break from when necessary. Thus, a return to the Forbidden West. Having reassured myself that I wasn't going to have to deal with anything strenuous after returning DEMETER to GAIA the way I did when I returned the first GAIA kernel I found, I figured noodling around gathering campfires and things - not to mention getting that out of the way - would be a fun thing that also wouldn't be too costly spoon-wise. Also because I can take a damn break when I need to in a video game.

Right. I wanted that drone. Off I go.

Climbing climbing climbiiiiiiiiing...

Oh. Thought I could get it from here, and I might be able to get it from here, but over there is a lot more sure.

More climbing climbing climbiiiiiiiing...

And I got it first time! YAY!

Right. There's a shelter and a black box over there, so I'll get that--

Another Cauldron, huh? Well, that's for when I'm way less exhausted, probably.

Right. I've got one more black box to go. Where does my interactive map say that last one is?

...Exactly where I need to be for next stage of finding AETHER. That's convenient.

But first ... nothing like taking out a rebel camp to do some Zen.

Oh. Frostclaws in the way. Could be worse. POONK.

...Wait. It made a really weird noise and did very little damage. What the fuck?!?

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK--

There. Finally. Now what--?!? Oh. Oh I was using tear arrows, not my regular arrows. That explains a few things. Oh well. I have bits, anyway.

Right. Not quite close enough to scan that machine, but I think I can get that guy from here. POONK.

Okay, I can get a little closer aaaaaaaaaaaaand...

.........They have a Fireclaw?

...............They have an Apex Fireclaw?!?

Well. I have distance and stealth grass. So I win, motherfucker. POONK.

...That Fireclaw. Just. Exploded. And I therefore win at everything.

Good! Yes! Go check on why your Fireclaw just exploded. So I will pick you off one by one. Poonk. Poonk. POONK.

......I ... just cleared the entire camp before the quest ticked past "Go to the Rebel Camp". I was that far away and I got everybody. Damn I'm good.

There are Scorchers over there. I'll get a few of those. POONK.

Okay, no, seriously. Lemme go hand over DEMETER.

Oh, gods, Erend, why did you bring a Machine Strike board into this place? I have been avoiding that stupid mini-game for, like, weeks.

Here you go, GAIA. DEMETER? Welcome home.

Oh. Hi, Varl. Yeah, sure, I'll go down and talk to Beta. Just--

Wait. What's that door?

Yeah, hang on a sec; lemme just see what's behind this vent.

Huh. More bits of the facility powered up. Great! Now, hi, Beta.

No. No, Aloy, no. Give her five minutes to talk about her favourite holoshow. Please? C'mon. Beta needs to know that someone cares about her for her; can you not see this?!?

...No, you really can't, can you. You don't want to because the first person who ever did that for you is dead. And you don't understand why this person who is another version of Elizabet Sobek - another version of you - can be this much of a meebling mess. No one ever taught you nature vs nurture.

That's the thing that annoys me, and makes me understand both Aloy and Beta even as I want to shake them both. If they just sat down and talked about something other than the end of the world for five minutes, they could be of such help to each other in terms of their emotional scars. Both had exactly one person who seemed like they cared; both lost that person. More to the point, both blame themselves for that loss. Rost died for Aloy; she blames herself for that. Beta literally said, "I don't know what I did wrong" when she talked about Tilda refusing to speak to her anymore, so that's self-evident. They could easily build each other up, fit their broken edges together, but ... instead those sharp broken edges are ripping into each other.

Thank you for at least trying to get Aloy to start opening up to people, Varl. You're one of the good ones.

Right. No locked-in main quest bits? No? Good. Now I can stop at the nearest campfire, take a break, and maybe clear some more rebel bases or something later, if I have the spoons--

Oh. Rumour lady has a green exclamation mark. Let's see-- Oh. Oh, that could be an issue. Gets me to a settlement later, anyway. I have so much vendor trash...

Yeah. So now it's going to be bath, food, and then see how I feel. One thing, though - I did even have lunch today! I mean, it was salad and a couple of slices of salami on corn thins, but it was actual food! I'm trying to take care of myself, y'see. I ... guess I do kind of wish that there was someone around to take care of me, but I can balance "taking care of myself" with "too much effort will be counterproductive".

(Also I may have repotted like half my plants. My plant babies deserved my spoons, okay?)

[randomnameless]

If you could rewrite the church family (Rhea, Seteth, Flayn, Billy, Cyril, Catherine, Alois, idgaf about Jerry, and Shamir’s fans generally like Edelgard too much for me to vibe with them), how would you do it? I love your headcanons.

thanks lol

No Manu ???

I don't know if rewritting them is the word, or just, "using them", but it can range from anything like "summer AU" (like what FEH tries to sell even if Cyril and Alois will never be added and the lizards are in limbo) where everyone relaxes, to monastery hijinks like

Cyril's first day of class and everyone popping up to check if he's alright, like Alois passing by to say hello during class and cracking jokes as an excuse to see if the giant cookie stash Rhea gave Cyril is empty or not (if it's empty it means he shared some with his new friends!), Shamir being "suddenly ordered" to give archery seminars or Catherine inviting everyone to the training tower.

Alois's family sometimes visiting Garreg Mach and Flayn sort of befriends his daughter and loves to hear the story of how he and his wife met - Seteth, after many "hmph" and "maybes" finally accepts to accompany Alois to visit his family with Flayn (who wanted to talk to his daughter about fashionable stuff young people do nowadays and how normal people live!), but it ultimately became a trip to convince Alois not to buy the rumour that "there is a Great Sage living in Lake Teutates who can teach you how to master your fears" because 1/he knows his brother started this rumour since he was bored and wanted some company and usually it ends in a disaster 2/Indech loves to make magic ghosts/soldiers for fun, and if dropping kid!Rhea in a pond was supposed to help her "master her fear of water" he knows Indech is going to throw a hundred ghost soldiers at Alois to help him "master his fear of ghosts".

Rhea still gives the worst pointers to Billy on how to "people" correctly, to the point where Billy is the one who gives her pointers, but it doesn't really work - until Manu gives the ultimate advice to Billy, no one has to try to socialise with her, because everyone falls for her charm! So Billy tries to understand what "charm" is, which prompts Rhea to dust off some "subversive books" to help them.

Which of course spirals in a catastrophe, when Cyril who's starting to recognise letters, wonders what's "charm" to Catherine who tells him it's something like exchanging knight vows, like swearing your life to someone "a bit like a partnership then?", but it's totally not like that, so Catherine directs him to Manuela. Of course Cyril doesn't go and asks Rhea instead, who is very happy to tell him everything she knows about Great Emperor Wilhelm which leaves him completely puzzled, but he's too polite to point it out, so he nods.

Ultimately he asks Seteth when he returns "It's like swearing knight vows but not like a partnership and doing it like the First Emperor did?" and Seteth gives the longest sigh every, asking him to come to his office later to get a lecture about "romance and appropriate conduct", but Cyril replied that he was not interested in romance anyways, but the professor is, since they have books about it.

Of course, Alois volunteers to help Billy with their heart issues, and Billy spills the beans, they tried to make friends so they asked Manuela how to do so, and Rhea gave them those books.

It is rumoured Seteth's sigh echoed for days in the halls of the monastery.

Billy, while accompanying Seteth who pulled out one of his "straight to the Abyss" cardboard boxes to "cleanse the Archbishop's quarters" asked Cyril if he managed to make friends during his first day of class, and Cyril dismissed them saying they don't need friends anyways (which then made Alois confess he had been spying on Shamir's orders "But I saw your bag of cookies, you didn't share them with your friends?") the life at the monastery is more than enough for him.

Billy then said to everyone - who's reunited in Rhea's quarters because they were following first Seteth (who's hunting the "subversive books"), then Billy, then felt bad for Cyril (who brought fresh water for the flowers!) so followed him - everyone here is their friend.

Alois cried hugging them, Catherine called them stupid for saying something so corny but ruffled their hair, Flayn was so happy to hear it, Manu didn't hear anything since she was arguing with Seteth about "artistic licence" and "books of art" and Cyril still didn't see what was to great about having friends. Rhea returned from helping kittens (Duchess Whiskers the VIIth got a new litter!) she placed in Seteth's office seeing everyone hugging Billy in her quarters, who told her they have friends now.

Flayn then pulls out the "deluxe tea-time set" from Rhea's cupboard - she kept just in case hoping she would be able to have tea with a lot of people - and the "preserved thanks to Nabatean magic" cookies and everyone shared a cup of tea.

[asnowperson]

Hagio Moto's Onshitsu (1975)

As the crappiest translator of all times, even I want to do something to bring 1970s manga to a wider audience. I'm too scared to get into those long-ass shoujo epics, I'm not sure if I can last through not so long-ass shoujo manga, and some manga simply terrify me because I'm afraid I can't translate them with my language skills and lack of culture. For the time being, I tried my hand at translating this Hagio Moto one shot from 1975, and my lovely group, Decadence Scans, helped me get this out into the world <3 Click here or here to read it. I'd like to thank Kanedian, Roze and Attolia again for indulging me and working on this story. But I still need to gush over this manga a little bit more.

Hug the otouto. This is so beautiful that I can look at these panels for hours.

I've liked Hagio Moto ever since I read Zankoku na Kami ga Shihai Suru, and been meaning to read more of her. The problem is, I'm very lazy and have read so little so far. I'm basic and as I was looking through MU to choose a Hagio title to read, and Onshitsu piqued my interest. Because it checks two boxes: It's by Hagio, and it's BL. I've always read about the bishounen culture of the 70s, but I know so little about the actual BL works from that period. I checked Hagio-sensei's fan site, and this site in English that is full of old shoujo we'll never see, and bought the relevant one shot collection. (By the way, buying JP e-books is easy. Do it even if you don't speak Japanese and support the mangaka. How can you say you love them if you don't even buy their books?)

Onshitsu is basically about MC's cute step-otouto getting mindfucked by some weird-ass rose-spirit-thing. Onshitsu hits all those sweet 70s shoujo spots: European setting, blond bishounen, /fa/ bishounen, onii-san, bishounen tears, innocent kisses, creating drama while things could be solved through communication just so they can do dramatic poses, gratiutious references to Greek mythology, rich people, smart people, mystery,suffering, a shit ton of roses and other floral arrangements, bad ends, emotional conclusions... Couple that with Hagio-sensei's magnificent page layouts, and you get a very enjoyable read. This is not the best manga or anything, but I think it reflects pretty well the tastes of that time period. I mean, this is the kind of stuff I wanted to read to understand how BL tones became a thing in shoujo manga during the 1970s.

Later, I got Alois, the one shot compilation it was first published in too! I can't wait to read it. Here's the first page of Onshitsu with the dustjacket of the volume.

I can talk about every panel in this manga, but allow me talk about a couple panels/pages I really, really liked:

I had to stop and say "WOW!" on this page when I first read this manga. The way she drew Lange and the spirit's hair and bodies all entwined like that is very aesthetic and sensual. You can feel the intimacy, but no vulgarity. I particularly like those very thicc lines on the middle left part of the page. I feel so doki doki when I can see how the artist must have drawn something through the lines.

I think it's about José's straight, long hair and the way he holds Lange's head, but the kiss above is very cute. And the flare pants.

I like the despair-ridden José here very much. And these lines sound 2000% better in Japanese than I could do them justice. Seriously, I hope I didn't screw this up too much while translating, but no one ever touches this stuff. I felt like I had to do something.

My pilgrimage to the 1970s for more BL-flavored shoujo will be long and arduous, but I will continue. I hope this little contribution makes someone happy.

[franklywhelmed]

because hfw has consumed pretty much all of my thoughts since february 18 have some Beta headcanons (this got long which is why they’re under the cut):

After the end of hfw Aloy (and the rest of the GAIA Gang) help train Beta:

Aloy trains her in pretty much everything since she spends the most time with Beta. She teaches her basic stuff like how to swim and climb, hand-to-hand combat, and with a variety of weapons. Not to mention how to hunt animals, track, and other such survival skills

Outside of Aloy, Zo spends the most time with Beta. This is mostly due to the proximity of Plainsong to The Base. Zo teaches Beta meditation (Beta isn’t the best at this yet because she can never really get her mind to quiet down) as well as healing/medicinal stuff. Beta learned a lot about anatomy, physiology, and the like from her training modules but she lacks real world applications for this knowledge

Kotallo, when he stops through on his way to and from various Marshal assignments, trains Beta in close quarters combat and bladed weapons. Plus he gives her some pretty intense strength training workouts—which mostly consist of finding the biggest rock she can and lifting it above her head repeatedly. But, hey, Beta can’t argue with the results

Erend is always happy to spar and he teaches her a few moves that remind Beta of the Boxing holos she sometimes watched in Tilda’s data channel. He doesn’t have the finesse that Zo has nor the precision of Kotallo, but Erend is very sturdy and his years on the Vanguard ensured that he knows how to fight well

Alva spends most of her time at Legacy’s Landfall, so her and Beta’s face-to-face interactions are limited. However, the two spend quite a bit of time talking via their Focuses. Alva is more than happy to share all the data on the Ancestors she has, which helps fill in some gaps in Beta’s knowledge. Also, Alva is good at reading people just as she is reading data points. In fights she can see the slightest of movements as the biggest of telegraphs and  imparts some of this knowledge onto Beta when Alva makes it to The Base on occasion

Even though Aloy makes sure to train Beta in a variety of weapons Beta likes slings the best. They don’t require the same amount of accuracy as bows and can deal quite a lot of damage when done right. Beta also becomes really good at making and setting up traps. Eventually, she can fell a herd of machines just by planting traps and waiting for them to walk into her set up

It takes awhile for Beta to feel comfortable enough at The Base to move her room from the basement to the main level. She chooses to stay in the room that Tilda very briefly claimed ownership of and even decides to leave the holo-painting that Tilda left behind on the wall. When Aloy asks why Beta just says something like, “Tilda was a really terrible person. But this art isn’t.”

Beta’s room, slowly, becomes her own. Overtime, the once scant room that contained nothing but her bedroll and a few scattered plants becomes a space that is Beta’s. With the help of Aloy, she builds a serviceable workbench for repairing and improving weapons and traps (and occasionally tinkering with ideas of her own). She has a shelf dedicated to her growing collection of Machine Strike pieces. There’s a cubby that is exclusively for Beta’s snacks (after growing up on bland Zenith rations, Beta is all for eating anything and everything. That, and her new, rigorous training regiment means that she needs all the calories she can get)

Most of Beta’s education was hands off in the sense that she didn’t get to actually experiment or tinker. She learned modules and equations and formulas but never got to really apply them in the real world. So, once the Zeniths are defeated and most of her time is full of waiting for GAIA to fully reintegrate, Beta takes to finally being able to experiment to her heart’s content. Aloy (and the others) are more than happy to do their best to supply her with whatever materials Beta needs because it’s so nice to finally be able to see the girl come out of her shell, if only a little bit at first

Aloy helps Beta find more suitable clothes other than the ones the Zeniths gave her. It took several outfits for Beta to find something she liked. Nora clothes felt too heavy and hot, Carja silks too showy and flimsy, Tenakth ‘armor’ (honestly how was it army when seventy percent of your body was exposed) made Beta feel more vulnerable than protected, and Utaru clothing felt too stiff. Finally, Beta settles on an outfit made of mostly Oseram garb. She likes the loose yet sturdy fabrics along with the bright colors the Oseram often incorporate into their clothes

Kotallo teaches Beta Machine Strike and she is… scary good at it. After just a few months she’s as good as Kotallo and nearly all their games end in ties. The ones that don’t, Beta wins.

Aloy and Beta have a nightly ritual where, after dinner, they’ll try and find a new name for Beta. They have a few ‘baby name books’ that Aloy has found throughout her travels and will usually spend an hour or two a night going through different names to find ones that fit. Aloy will also throw in tribal names as well. They haven’t found one that fits Beta yet but they’ll keep trying until they do

Beta is not a fan of blood and gets very woozy when she sees it—especially when it’s her own. During one of her first training sessions with Aloy, Beta gets scraped up (training spears are still spears after all) and nearly pukes at the sight of the blood coming out of the wound on her arm. Once Aloy is assured that the wound is not bad, she laughs a little at Beta’s wooziness (I just love the idea of Aloy and Beta being the type of sisters that constantly give each other shit once they get comfortable with each other)

Beta has nightmares. Quite frequently. When she was first rescued by Aloy and brought to The Base, these nightmares were mostly about her being recaptured by the Zeniths. However, as time went on and she slowly formed friendships with each member of the GAIA Gang, and especially Aloy, these nightmares shifted to the Zeniths capturing one of them. More than once, someone at the Base would find Beta wandering the halls of The Base in the middle of the night, long after most everyone else went to sleep, and find the girl making sure that everyone was indeed still there

Beta finds data on origami and takes it up as a hobby. She really likes how something so simple and seemingly mundane can create such beautiful little pieces of art. Soon, the entire Base is scattered with origami figures. Most are traditional cranes and whatnot, but there are a few that resemble machines Beta has seen

[blackbutler-readerinsertsandjunk]

Ciel and alois ( not separate plz) having a crush and fighting over a reader that’s like a whole fetale that’s like considered a whole temptress ( what the queen calls her). But like they also work for the Queen so there consided a noble and a higher up? (I hope that’s not to much💀)

a whole temptress fdajflka I love it

these two tho HOLY SHIT!! ... but we here for it tho

Well, it’s… certainly bound to be interesting, given what these two are like. Sebastian and Claude are making popcorn as we speak.

All things being equal, there’s no way that the Queen would give any kind of authority to anyone who wasn’t a part of the noble class. So even with your reputation preceding you, it’s very clear that you’re still a refined lady who would be worthy to be claimed by either Phantomhive or Trancy. Who will you pick? The guard dog or the spider?

As it turns out, you’re quite good at reeling in the both of them. Alois is easy enough, to be honest; give him a parting kiss on the cheek as you leave and a genuine hug, and his touch- and love-starved heart is going to start chasing after you. After the first time, or maybe the second, he’s already hopelessly devoted to whatever you want of him. (It’s a bit sad, you suppose, but he seems ready to throw his whole self away for anyone who shows him the slightest bit of affection.) Ciel is a bit harder to get to, though certainly not impossible. He at least has a fondness for strong-willed people, and that’s a box you absolutely check. Your determination as you all go about your cases is what catches his eye more than anything. Just like him, in almost every single investigation you don’t stop until you get an answer. He’s more blunt than Alois about his intentions, though… he makes sure the other man is nowhere near when he talks to you about anything to do with romance.

Oh, the two of them might fight with each other. They’ve got issues regarding one another, only the most recent of which is that they’re both romantically interested in you. However… anyone else flirting with you? Or you flirting with anyone else? Well. Damn. Time for two very angry, very jealous earls reaching for their swords and only just barely stopped by either your words or somehow finding their better judgment. Of course, they realize you sometimes have to do so for cases… that doesn’t mean either of them have to like it! The good thing is that in these instances, it’s typically the only time the two of them put their differences aside.

They might have their butlers literally just. Duke it out to decide who gets the pleasure of your company for an evening. Either by fighting or by playing some game of skill or luck. There’s a Trancy ball and a Phantomhive ball on the same night? Well, flip a pound coin, and Alois gets to claim you as his dance partner for the evening. They both want to escort you to a ballet or an opera? One game of chess later, Sebastian has won Ciel the honor of being on your arm during the show. Eventually Claude and Sebastian are just going to get sick of it and insist that their childish masters settle it themselves like men.

The second the two of them realize that they could both take you out at the same time, it’s like both of their entire world views change in a fucking instant. “Wait, we can do that?!” As long as the three of you aren’t overly conspicuous about the fact that you’re on a romantic outing, then sure, why can’t you do that?

… They still fight, though. Possessive bell-ends, the both of them. But, at least maybe they know that you do care about them both, in some way.

[ramblingcj]

OK, there are a few things that bug me about HFW, though they're mostly nit-picking. But I like to ramble so...

- Why were most of the female characters you meet in Zero Dawn sidelined in favor of Erend and Varl? Like Petra and Talanah? Just like the guys, they were there for the battle of Meridian and, frankly, have as much content if not more than the guys. Erend especially seemed to be there just because. Don’t get me wrong, I like the guy but he felt really underutilized. 

- Where was Ikrie? Or those three Banuk you meet who want to head for the Sundom? Or Inatut? Aratak? Or any other NPC you meet in Zero Dawn? Again, why was Petra and Talanah sidelined like that?

- Also what the fck is Erend doing in Las Vegas? Oh, they're trying to get allies so he goes to a random location instead of back to the Claim or the Sundom? Back to Meridian? The excuse is that they will “spread the message”. First, someone has to go back to Meridian and let everyone know that its safe to travel into the west in the first place before any messages can be spread to people back home. Again, what the fck is Erend doing in Las Vegas? If it was just for endgame purposes, they could've put him back in the settlement where Petra is. Now it just seems like the dude went to have fun rather than actually doing something useful. Which was a character flaw of his that he overcame in Zero Dawn btw...

- Why couldn’t Aloy fix the damn shieldwing? Seemed out-of-character for her to be running around with some busted equipment that she could easily fix. 

- This is something that irritates me in every single game that has this mechanic. If I have to hunt animals to get skin or bone to use as an upgrade, I shouldn't have to fcking hunt 50 of them to get that skin or bone! Pretty sure every single animal has those things! Upgrading is already a chore, don't make it worse!

- Both Zero Dawn and Forbidden West excel in small moments of storytelling. Some of the best scenes are the ones where the past and the present blend. The black boxes were great if a bit annoying to get to at times. The scene with the message from Faraday was one of my favorites. However, there's too much filler in the map. The greenshine or the metal flowers were just kinda there. Would be cool if there was a mini-story attached to it like with the black boxes. Flesh out the world more since it has such interesting lore.

Random stuff:

- I know Aloy will mention CYAN at some point and it would be really cool if the DLC involved CYAN somehow. Like CYAN had to deal with Hephaestus so it would be cool if recapturing Hephaestus meant recruiting CYAN’s help. 

- I like how Aloy has gotten more and more comfortable with touch. To the point where she even mirrors it. One example is in the end when Erend puts his arm around her and pulls her towards him, she just kinda goes with it (because it's Erend and he's one of her closest friends). She then later mirrors that gesture by doing the same thing to Beta while talking to GAIA. Zero Dawn had hints of that as well. People would put their hand on Aloy's shoulder and she would start doing it to others (most noticeable in Frozen Wilds). It's a subtle detail, but a nice one.

- Aloy talking to herself. Some people seemed to find that annoying, but I didn't. This is a young woman who grew up with a man who wasn't the most talkative and is used to being by herself. Of course she talks to herself!

[gaiasnewdawn]

So, overall, I am loving Forbidden West. It’s been a really excellent second chapter to the whole story. That said, I do have a few minor complaints. Nothing that is ruining the experience for me and mostly stuff I hope will be addressed in upcoming updates. But still, a few small issues. And, just to be perfectly clear, these are only my opinions and experiences. You may well disagree. That is fine. I’m not trying to rain on your parade. 

- Free climbing. While it’s an addition I was looking forward to, the execution isn’t exactly perfect. I’m finding there are a lot of times where Aloy just gets stuck, despite having obvious handholds within reach, or at the top of a climb. She just... won’t go. Also, because there’s really no differentiating between climbable things and non-climbable things, I find I’m using the focus to find climbing surfaces so much, they might just as well be marked. 

-Glitches. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve been seeing a decent number of glitches. NPCs caught in mid-air, twitching dead bodies, hand holds that make Aloy’s hands freak out, and most recently in and around Cauldron Iota, there were several machines who’s bodies glitched out completely. I had a couple of Grimhorns armour running at me without any Grimhorn inside them. Same with the Rollerback inside. 

-Loot boxes. I can’t explain what it is that I’m not crazy about, but they seem so... out of place? I don’t know. It felt like they were a little bit more organically placed last game. Maybe it’s just me. 

-Rocks. Okay, I KNOW this is super petty. But, sweet lord, there are SO MANY FUCKING ROCKS. I don’t need them all marked. Who is using that many rocks? My screen is so cluttered with markers. 

-Plants. Again, I know I’m being petty. It does feel like there’s way less variety in plants this game. Especially medicinal plants. I liked being able to spot different plant species in different areas and learning where they grow best. The lack of the old plants seems very weird and the abundance of food plants is, like the rocks, a bit overwhelming. And they’re all the same thing. If it was a whole lot of variety, maybe it wouldn’t be wearing on me as much. 

-Watchers. I cannot be the only person missing the watchers. And don’t talk to me about redeye watchers. They are not the same and we both know that. 

-Alert times. Another “maybe it’s just me” but it feels like when a machine notices you, it stays on alert for an excessively long time. If you want to tank your way through, that’s fine. But playing stealth, it gets real old having to wait it out. Actually, there are a number of times I found myself thinking that they went out of their way to make playing a stealth style difficult if not impossible and I don’t like being forced into a play style for arbitrary reasons. 

-Recovery time. Sweet lord Aloy takes FOREVER to get up in this one. Honestly, there have been more than a few times it seems like she’s moving excessively slowly. But the recovery from being knocked down is painful. 

-Characters. Okay, this one comes with a huge disclaimer. THIS IS ENTIRELY MY OPINION. YOU ARE WELCOME TO DISAGREE. I feel like everyone is kind of grumpy and it’s weird. Especially Aloy. And I get that she is just fucking exhausted. I don’t blame her. But like... I miss the lighter moments and the humour. It seems to be a little muted this time. Don’t get me wrong, I love my girl with all my heart. She just seems... off? Also, everyone is being so mean to Erend??? Leave my son alone??? HE’S DOING HIS BEST OKAY??? 

-Seeker face paint. I’m gonna end on the pettiest one of all. They changed the colour of the Nora Seeker face paint and it’s annoying me so much. Does it really matter? No. Does it make my eye twitch a little? Yes. 

All right, that’s it. Like I said, you’re welcome to disagree. Please keep any comments civil. I’m not interested in fighting or drama. I’m just talking about my own feelings. I love the game a lot and I just want it to be the best game possible. 

[anawkwardlady]

2 for the writing ask

From

all of them : guidance (ciel & sebastian) tooth (alois & claude), dare/eyelashes (ciel/alois), comfort food (alois), in dreams (ciel/alois)

Got longer that I thought it would damn. I usually try to lean more on symbolism but even if I kinda did, I was really matter of fact about this one lol.

2. tooth

It should be strong as a bathtub

Right now he was cracking like a tea cup.

Alois was breathing heavily, nightgown damp with sweat. Blood strains in the sink soiled a tiny tooth he just spat out. His butler kneels down, trying to sooth the trembling boy.

"Young master, what are we panicking about ?"

"I'm rotting Claude... Look ! Look !"

Claude raised an eyebrow and collected the little piece, examining it in the palm of his hand. He then asked Alois to open his mouth and took a look inside.

"This ? Sir it might just be a baby tooth..."

His master huffed, calming down nonetheless.

"A what ? Claude do I look like a baby to you ? I lost them all a long time ago !"

"All ?"

Alois blinked. In fact he had no remembrance of such thing as losing baby teeth. He probably was aching for worst when it happened. He had no one to show that anytime one fell down. They just.. fell. A vague and uncomfortable memory of getting his mouth examined and treated in his early days in the Trancy manor messed with his train of thought. He tasted metal. Feeling a finger touching his gums he bite down in surprise as hard as he could, only to wince in pain. Claude barely broke face and simply took his finger out.

"No need to bite master, I was about done. My apologies if I have hurt you. I will call someone to look tomorrow but you can lose a baby tooth later in life, it happens. Some people have to get them removed because they can't fall at all, maybe they find struggle in the act of growing up. Who's to say."

Alois mumbled something and curled up against his butler, waited to be pat and comforted which he did none but holding him, probably waiting to be freed for the night. The child didn't acknowledge his maid who came sneaking in the room to clean the sink. Hannah gently washed and Alois looked. She made crimson turn soiled pink and made it disappeared to leave it pristine white. Did the same for the few drops on the floor.

"Oh master, you were lucky" Claude broke the silence, taking down his glasses, using it as a magnifying glass on the tooth.

"This one had a little cavity on it. You should be careful with sweets and eat them when presented to you... Not in the middle of the night."

Alois got up, pouting to avoid venom. "Shut up. You're talking nonsense."

"Do you feel better, master ?" Hannah intervened with a low voice.

"Oh I'm fine"

"Should... Should we keep it ?"

"Keep that ?" Alois chuckled,

"For what, who ? As far as I know, no one gave a shit before. I don't need you all to pretend you're oh so proud of me for growing. I don't need you to put this disgusting thing in a stupid baby pink box and let it die in a closet when I know you're all waiting for me to die ! The sooner the better right ?" He tried to suppress the sob in his voice but couldn't fight the tears.

"If... If I wanted you to keep it, you're years too late... And, and theres no reasons to start now... I don't need your fucking pity"

He wanted to end it all just thinking at the idea of a sad little memory box with an only sad little tooth inside.

"Get out before I get angry !"

She wanted to violently shake her head and hug him until he calmed down. She however did as told, not wanting to escalate the situation and left under the cold stare of the Trancy butler who stayed silent.

He wiped the child's face, fixed his hair and clothes which made Alois think he probably looked terrible right now. His butler picked him up, whispering something about going back to bed. They silently wondered inside the manor only lighted up by few candles. Once they got back inside the master bedroom, Claude lied him down on the bed and covered him.

"You had a troubling night, please rest for now"

"Sorry Claude... I know I'm exhausting..."

"I cannot be exhausted, Sir."

"Claude ?"

"Yes ?"

"I really.... I really thought I was rotting inside you know"

He looked at the boy buried under the covers, almost asleep.

"As long as I remain your butler, as long as I hold your life, you will not be allowed to rot away, your highness."

Alois took his word as he was too tired to fight it, he fell asleep, in one of many dreamless night.

[spn-fanfic-reblog-writes]

Blood in Heaven and Hell - Chapter 5

Summary: Birthday celebration. Alex makes Dean pie. Castiel gives Alex a gift with a surprise.

Pairing: None

Canon: Supernatural (AU), season 10ish. Bobby Lived. Charlie lived. Angels have their wings back/can fly.

Word Count: ~3.1K

Characters: Castiel, OFC!Alex, MOC!Dean, Sam. Mentions of OFC!Aggie and OMC!Aloy

Warnings: SPOILERS. Cursing. Possible show-level violence. Severe injury.

Author’s Notes: AU Spn. Possible spoilers.

Beta’d: @myloversgone

Feedback is gold.

Chapter 4 || Chapter 6

Bobby left early that morning to help out Rufus a few states over on a case. Alex stayed in her room much of the morning trying to figure out what she should do to help Dean.

Near lunchtime, she decided to make a pie and looked to see what they had for ingredients. She made a *graham cracker pie crust and found a box of vanilla pudding.

Dean came into the kitchen with a very audible inhale, “Whatcha making?”

Alex grinned, “Right now, just a graham cracker pie crust. Trying to decide on the filling.”

“Hmmm, graham cracker,” Dean said. He pursed his lips and tapped his chin in thought.

“Have a recommendation?” She asked.

“There are lots of choices,” he began almost as if a critic or something. “Chocolate, banana cream, pecan, fruit, and jam, um…”

“Let me see what I can scrounge up and I’ll let you know when it is done,” she said as she was grinning ear to ear. He was talking to her. Yes! Who doesn’t love food? She thought, trying to keep herself calm while in her head she was jumping for joy and punching the air excitedly.

Dean walked out with a smile into the library. She left the pudding box out on the counter and headed into her room making sure to close the door. She grabbed her purse and phone and put her boots on. On her phone, she looked to find where the grocery store that the brothers went to all the time was.

The sound of fluttering wings were left in her stead and her room empty. She popped in behind the grocery store and looked around to make sure no one was about before walking in to grab fresh fruit and vegetables. Maybe they’ll let me make dinner tonight, like a beef stew or something. Lots of veggies for Sam. Big ol’ hunk of meat for Dean. She chuckled aloud, thinking of the conversation Sam had with her about the things Dean likes to help make him more comfortable around her. So far, food seemed to be working.

Twenty minutes later, she walked out of the grocery store with two paper bags and walked back behind the grocery store. Another quiet flutter of wings is heard and she is back in the pantry. She put the bags down and started to unload the fresh food when her phone buzzed with a text message.

Sam: Alex, where are you?

She walked out of the pantry and called for Sam.

He walked into the kitchen to find her holding bananas. “Where were you?”

“Oh, I was in the pantry. Had Casi go get a few groceries for me so I could finish the pie and make dinner,” she smiled confidently while inside she felt shaky and nervous. Most people freak out when I tell them I can fly; though Sam and Dean do know Casi, so maybe they won’t? I don’t want to be a taxi service though. She felt mentally frustrated but went back to the kitchen counter to finish making the banana cream pie for Dean.

“You could have asked me. I don’t mind driving you to the grocery store to get stuff,” Sam offered as he looked around the kitchen. “What are you doing?” Sam asked as he approached the counter.

“Making Dean banana cream pie,” she stated as she made the vanilla pudding on the stove. “But don’t tell him it’s for him.”

Sam chuckled and nodded. He then leaned on the counter and looked at her, “Isn’t today your birthday today? Shouldn’t we be making food for you?” he teased.

She looked him dead in his eyes, “I want to make pie and make dinner. If you’re gonna play that game, Mr. Winchester, it’s my birthday and I want to make a pie for Dean and to make a sort of beef stew for dinner tonight. So, shut it and go away or help.” She turned back to the stove, and quickly she stuck her tongue out at him before going back to the pudding, not expecting him to do anything but walk away.

Instead, he went into the pantry and fridge to pull out vegetables and the roast that ‘Castiel’ got for her. Alex pulled out a large straight-sided pot.

Together, Alex taught Sam how to make *“stone soup.”

“That’s a weird name,” Sam said.

“It’s a children’s story,” she began as she took the beef roast and piled them salted and peppered it. “There was a man who had no food but had a fire, a pot, and water. He was a traveler and resting for the night. He decided to place a stone in his water to boil as it was better than nothing. He would stir it up and of course, the water would boil, creating steam that attracts other travelers, so when others would see him, they’d ask him what he was making.

He replied, ‘Stone soup.’ They, being hungry travelers too, offered what they had to add to the stone soup to eat what he was making. One had carrots and broccoli and others had spices. A man had meat to add,” she explained as she placed the finished banana cream pie in the freezer.

“Eventually, it was a delicious soup that was shared among all the travelers. I don’t actually remember all of the story itself. It’s an actual book but the idea is a way of using leftovers to make food; so when I was a kid and my parents hadn’t gone grocery shopping for a bit, my Mom would make stone soup. We would just gather what we had of vegetables and figure out what went together with spices as well as some meat. The next day, we’d go grocery shopping but it became a sort of family tradition, usually once or twice a month, we’d have stone soup.”

She shrugged then added as she watched Sam chop up vegetables, ”It would never be the same either. It was sometimes a soup and other times a stew or a sort of rice dish. It was the same basic idea though. Just use up what you have left.” She put the roast in the pot seating the sides until it was all browned then added two quarts of beef broth (due to the size of the pot), prepping it for dinner that evening. Once Sam was done, they added the vegetables and brought them to a boil before letting them simmer for the remainder of the day.

“Thanks, Alex,” Sam said smiling.

“You don’t need to. I should thank you for the help. You’d make a good sous chef, I think, especially with your knife skills,” She complimented him with a grin. “We should spar sometime. I’d love to see your skills.”

He blushed and scratched the back of his neck as he chuckled, “I’m not very good at throwing knives but pretty good at using them.”

“Well, then, it’s a date. Just tell me when and where Mr. Winchester. When you’re up for it,” she winked and walked back to her room. “I’ll be back in a minute,” she called out. From her room, she came out with a book she found in the library, a pen, and pieces of similar paper, and then sat down at the kitchen table to read and write in the book.

Sam has gone into the library as he was researching a few potential cases.

Throughout the day, Alex received several text messages of birthday greetings and even a few phone calls that she made sure were short; Sam and Dean even left for a little bit which she took to go work on organizing and putting the gym together and left her new project on the kitchen table.

She would periodically check in the ‘stone soup,’ chuckling every time she walked out thinking of her conversation with Sam. It is so easy to talk to him. How is Dean so different from Sam? she wondered. He loves him and family is stupidly important to him, which she really liked about Dean and scared her a little for some reason. Bobby’s words echoed in her head as they tended to when it came to thinking of family: family don’t stop with blood. “Shut up, Bobby,” she whispered to herself.

With that thought, she picked up her phone and called him. Getting his voicemail, “Hey, Bobby. Just checking in to see if you made it there yet. It’s been a good day. I think Sam told Dean it’s technically my birthday despite my making Dean a pie and I’m making them dinner. Sam said food can be a good way to soften up Dean, so I am. Call or text me when you get a chance and tell that son of a bitch, Rufus, to focus on his shit and double check his facts.” She chuckled and hung up.

She skimmed through her messages and replied thank you for the birthday wishes. None were from her family but that was normal. Birthdays were no different than any other day to her family. She decided to call her Father and got his voicemail as well. “Hey Dad. Hope everything is going well. Just chilling and looking for a case. If you got one and like company, lemme know.” She quickly added, “Other than a spirit would be nice. Lemme know if you hear from the other two. They’ve been silent for most of the year now from what I can tell.” She hung up and chewed on her lower lip.

The gym was almost put together but she decided to check on dinner. She heard the brothers walking down the stairs talking quietly as she entered the kitchen. “Hey,” she yelled out to them. “Find what you needed?”

It was suddenly quiet. She stirred the pot and waited with a grin on her face, curious if they were actually going to do something with it being her birthday. She mentally cringed at the thought of them trying to give her a gift since they only met like a few days ago, and she really just wanted a nice dinner. She rolled her eyes and hushed her brain as she picked up the book and continued to read. She took nearly page-sized pieces of paper and wrote on them then stuck them into the book between the pages. “I’m gonna have to rewrite, like, half this book, at least,” she grumbled and sighed.

She walked out into the hall to her bedroom and called out, “I’m going to my room. I’ll be back out in about 15-20 minutes to stir the pot.”

There was more shuffling and quiet talking. “Thanks,” Dean called out. Alex giggled as she walked back into her room and closed the door.

She received a text from Sam a few minutes later telling her he would stir the pot and just chill for a while. She agreed and kept working on her project.

About thirty minutes later a thought occurred to her, a flutter of wings was heard and her room was empty.

An hour later, Dean came and knocked on Alex’s bedroom door. When a response did not come, he opened the door to find it empty. He thought for a moment then headed to the gym. He saw it surprisingly was nearly finished. She must have been doing this by herself, but then he remembered that she probably is much stronger than she seems because of the angel-demon stuff. He felt nervous at the thought. It is such an odd thing to be both angel and demon and be alive. He knew she had to be extremely powerful, which made him uncomfortable. Other than Castiel, he has not had a very good relationship with Angels, let alone demons; in addition to how he was a demon only a few months ago. Dean shook his head, ignoring the uneasiness of his demonic past, and walked back to the kitchen.

He turned the corner into the kitchen to see Alex holding a crate and talking to Castiel in the foyer. Castiel grinned wide and took the crate, obviously excited. Alex reciprocated the excited, wide grin and watched him. They walked into the kitchen.

Sam turned around, “Hi!” He looked at Alex.

“Hey, sorry, I was thinking and wanted to talk to Casi, so we didn’t make it back to my room.” She shrugged.

“That’s because there is a surprise for you,” Castiel explained.

Alex looked confused, “Why? I didn’t do anything.”

“You bought us a gym,” Dean stated. “And have been putting it together by yourself. How strong are you?”

Alex blushed and looked to her feet, then shyly shrugged.

Sam walked over to Dean and poked him in the chest, silently mouthing ‘Stop it’, then moved to his brother’s side.

“Right,” Dean began and Alex looked back at him. “It’s your birthday, Alex. We wanted to do something for you.” His face changed as he spoke, softening, sort of. The hard edge of his jaw seemed to relax, as did his body, to a point.

Sam must have forced him to join in. This will be awkward. I hate it when people do this, She thought disdainfully to herself. She closed her eyes and quickly put on a mask, just like working a case, a genuine-appearing smile that touched her eyes and forced her body to relax. It’s a show for them, she thought. Note to self: rip Bobby a new one. This has him all over it. She mentally rolled her eyes as she looked at Dean then at Sam.

Sam smiled, “Yes, we got you an ice cream cake and some candles to make a wish.”

Alex covered her face and giggled as she remembered the flirtations with Dean about her age last week.

Sam and Dean were confused as they had completely forgotten about last week.

Alex takes a few deep breaths, “So, this is how you find out my age, huh, Dean? It’s confusing though.”

Dean’s eyes widened, remembering the conversation, and chuckled.

“Technically, I was born in 1992 but because of how time moves in Hell, quicker, I was 10 when we came back topside. So, the delightful angels made my birth year 1982 since it is chronologically correct. I’ve only been alive for 23 years despite my body chronologically being 33,” Alex grinned the whole time trying not to laugh as she watched Dean’s face fall into confusion which looked very similar to how Sam’s was.

Castiel looked at her, his brow furrowed, “I thought you went with your chronological age?”

“I do. It’s just fun to fuck with people,” she responded.

Castiel nodded in understanding with a small smile when he looked at Sam and Dean. He went back to the small jars in the crate and pulled one out looking at the handmade label. “Oooo,” Castiel said as he opened the clear jar of honey with ‘Mississippi Gulf coast’ written on the lid.

“Try the one from northern Georgia, so yummy,” Alex recommended.

Sam suddenly chuckled and shook his head, “You’re something else, Alex.”

“Oh, you’re just scratching the surface there, Sam.”

Dean had grabbed a beer out of the fridge and was sipping it, appearing a bit irritated, which made Alex smile.

He looks so hot when he is irritated. What is wrong with me? Friendly. Goal is friendship. Ugh. You got problems, Alex. She thought and mentally facepalmed herself.

Sam was gathering dishes to set at the table when Dean leaned over and quietly asked, “So, how old is she?”

“She’s 33, Dean,” Sam replied and shook his head at him, and finished setting the table up.

“I made you pie, Dean,” Alex suddenly said. “It’s banana cream and in the freezer.”

“She also made dinner,” added Sam.

“Sam helped a lot,” she added.

Dean was surprised to hear the pie was made for him. It was her birthday. She should be making things she likes and for herself.

Dinner went over well. Castiel even tried it. They sang happy birthday to her. The ice cream cake turned out to be Oreo which Dean admitted to asking Bobby what her favorite cake was.

Alex reminded Dean about the pie and that he didn’t have to share with anyone unless he wanted to. Dean blushed slightly and thanked her for thinking of him despite it being her day.

Castiel stood up and gave Alex a hug out of the blue; he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, plain box. “Happy birthday, Alex.”

She looked confused at him, “Thank you.“ She set the box on the table and carefully opened it, looking inside.

A sudden purple plume of smoke erupted from the box, quickly engulfing the room and everyone except Alex fell to the floor unconscious. “Fucking A,” she yelled. She checked the Winchesters first and they seemed fine.

“They’re not engaged with you, so they appear asleep to you,” said a female voice.

Alex turned to the voice, her face covered in disgust. “If you were here in person, I would kill you on the spot.”

“You say that every time,” she chuckled at Alex.

“Just making my intentions towards you clear and consistent. You're obviously afraid of me or you’d show up,” Alex challenged. “What do you want, Agnes?”

“I came to say Happy Birthday to my little sister,” Agnes almost sang as she spoke.

Alex only gave Agnes a look of no more than anger and disgust. “I don’t accept it. Now release me and fuck off.”

“You know, I can keep you in here for days,” Agnes challenged her.

“Ok,” Alex began. “Do your worst. It cannot be any worse than what you’ve already done to me.” She waved her hand at her, “Come on.”

Agnes responded with a wicked grin. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“That’s what you think,” Alex smirked.

Alex had collapsed on the kitchen table, unconscious. The purple plume had engulfed her face and delved into her mouth and disappeared as if it had a mind of its own.

Everyone went to her to try to see what happened but she was unresponsive.

Castiel examined her then touched her face. “Her mind is entrapped in some kind of spell. I cannot penetrate it.”

“I’ll call Rowena,” said Sam, picking up his phone as he spoke.

Reference:

*Stone Soup story

*Graham Cracker Crust Recipe

Tag list:

@riley-phoenix

@fluffiest-dreams

[headgehug]

I love Alois but kind of in a half-ironic way. the devs could have made the ultimate homewrecker fantasy about helping a married dad figuring stuff out about his sexuality but instead, he a-couple-of-bestiiiiesifies you

And I still find it funny because not even FeMC can get the dad bod in her bed, nope! Definitely Alois's greatest joke. A five-years-long joke. *clenches teeth*

No but honestly he's a great unit in battle, maybe not the best one but certainly a big help. And he's cute in a pathetic way, like, you know, he looks clueless half the time, his jokes rarely land...

Well he's also handsome period.

I'm not even that sad (anymore) about not being able to gay-marry him, because it would be with Male Byleth, and Male Byleth's design is. not. great. or fun. it's There.

I do think, however, that there's comedic potential about a chain of supports where he gets around the fact that he likes guys (too? Only? Half the time? Who knows!).

... Fuck, now I want to write that.

Anyway let's pretend that your ask box isn't becoming my personal diary, here's a question for you: what are your gripes about FE3H... or FE in general? I'm all ears!

EDIT: WAIT ACTUALLY WHAT ABOUT AN EDELGARD/ALOIS CHAIN OF SUPPORTS. OH MY GOOOOD.

EDIT2: I'm sure Seteth would also be very comfy talking about sexuality with him. Surely!

ooh yes i'm very soft for Alois! i've never bestie-married him but i always recruit him because he's a nice presence to have around. i like how he's pretty self aware about being loud and not as funny as he tries to be, but he's still all smiles about it. classic kind of pathetic wife-guy <3 it would be very interesting to see supports with him and seteth where they're talking about very personal things, or ones between him and Edelgard where maybe she warms up to him being a sort of fatherly figure she never got to have?!

Gripes about fe3h... quite a popular one is that the Blions and Beagles don't fight TWSITD. Which I agree with. Out of all three houses, those two objectively deserve to fight them most. Then, I guess it's a little annoying to me that some of the best paralogues in the game require 2 recruits to unlock, for example Shamir and Alois, Leonie and Linhardt, recruits that you probably wouldn't usually go for together (of course, I do really like their pair ups, it's just that in order to get ALL the relics i need to recruit everyone every playthrough... which is doable when you're on ng++++ like me lol, and can just buy Byleth's skills, but....)

but to be honest, now that i've played several older fire emblem games? i definitely appreciate it a lot more. it's a much more casual game, relaxing to play, lovely graphics and music with a lot of character depth compared to early games. i really appreciate that Byleth (and all units, tbh) can effectively be any build. it's a highly replayable game and even though it's not perfect i do love it :)

hold up, actually? the worst part of fe3h is that m!Byleth is ugly and boring. it would almost totally ruin the game if f!Byleth didn't have that cute little head-empty-no-thoughts wide eyed stare.

wow.. wrote a lot more than i intended to in response. imagine if your diary thought you were its diary...

[kayr0ss]

Hands that Remember Chapter 2 [AO3]

[Horizon Zero Dawn, Elisabet Sobeck Lives, Found Family, Mother-Daughter Feelings, GAIA is recovering, Ereloy]

Summary: Aloy saw the recordings, felt their grief over the death of their culture - the loss of their identity. Ted Faro had blown away the light meant to guide humanity through darkness - but she was willing to risk it all to take it back. To bring APOLLO back.  It wasn't the first time that the world asked her for a miracle, but it bargained with a miracle of its own: This time - she didn't have to do it alone.

[Wherein Elisabet Sobeck returns, GAIA is recovering, Erend is done waiting around, and Aloy discovers a family she's never had before to help lift the weight of the world off her shoulders.]

Chapter 2: Re-Calibration

CHAPTER 2

--

It was such an odd thing to feel dirt again.

When was the last time she felt sediment and rock between her fingertips? A thousand years ago—quite literally. She’d forgotten the feel of it squeezing underneath the overhang of her nails, the discomfort of a pebble pressing on her heel within her shoe.

Little things. Living things.

GAIA Prime and all the other bunkers she had to oversee were exactly that: bunkers. Giant boxes of metal sealed from the world and its mounds of dust, dirt, and rock. But this disconnection wasn’t new: it’s been around since before she was locked away and working on Zero Dawn. It was there even back in Miriam, in FAS—even as far back as Stanford. So much time spent rushing towards the next breakthrough that she never had the time to stop and smell the flowers before they all burned away.

It was hard to wrap her head around the idea that flowers were back—blooming again somewhere out there. But for now she’d settle for the desert sand, riddled with weeds and other small signs of life.

She wondered what Erend might be thinking, seeing her run her fingers along the ground like a toddler. Eager to feel—to learn, no, relearn about a world she was only getting her bearings on. She caught a small blade of grass between her fingers. It’s alive, it’s all… alive again, she stared in wonder at the small miracle of live in her hand. Her return to consciousness was a violent experience. This was a nice change of pace.

The rest of the vanguard gave her and Erend privacy to talk, running errands in the nearby encampment and leaving them in the shade of an open tent. God knows she needed the space. She had questions—so many questions and while Erend tried his best to get her up to speed it seemed like there was always more. His rushed explanation was a disaster. Machines, cultists—whatever the fuck else was out there—and Aloy.

He said he’d try again and break it down slowly this time, sticking to what he knew and leaving the rest ‘to Aloy.’

‘Aloy’ sounded like a big shot. Someone important. Erend spoke about her with both familiarity and fondness—like how the other Alphas sounded when talking about one another. Whatever tangent he flew into—about what they had to fight off and how he believed it was related to herself and the other ‘Old Ones’—it always came back to Aloy. There was an unwavering faith he had in her that she could recognize: the feeling that they’ve fought together, bled together.

Endured something terrible together.

She remembered how he looked a little hurt earlier. “You’re Aloy’s mother, aren’t you?” He said it almost reverently, but unfortunately the answer was a very strong “no.” It must have been a misunderstanding—why would he think that?

“Got some boar roasting in camp.” Erend’s voice carried above the sound of his heavy footsteps. He walked closer, seating himself on a rock across her. “You feelin’ better?”

“I think so,” she admitted. “Alive. Which is better than the alternative when it comes to emerging from cryosleep if you ask me.”

“Good, good.” He crossed his arms. “Not hungry?”

Elisabet shook her head. “I don’t think I can taste anything yet.” She really hoped this side-effect was temporary.

“Well, let’s get you some soup. That’ll help.”

How she was feeling was a can of worms she didn’t want to open quite yet. Her body was on edge, the hairs along her arms standing in attention while she could feel the pace of her heart jog above average. It almost made her wince, the self-awareness of expecting a panic attack at any moment, but if her system had decided to be useful before shutting off completely later on, she was going to make the goddamn most of it.

Deep breaths.

She needed to take deep, long breaths. This was nothing but a jacked-up sympathetic nervous system stress response—there was no real danger. Just hypothetical fear. She needed to relax. She needed to think.

Orientation would be a good start—what, when, and where. And then she needed a plan. Something. Anything to do other than wander aimlessly like a fucking relic out of time. “You okay?”

It almost made her snap. He was asking if she was okay? She looked up, a smart quip loaded at the tip of her tongue but then—he looked so earnest, so concerned. An expression like that didn’t belong on a soldier.

“Not really, no.” She admitted.

“Huh.” Erend sat hunched over with his chin on one hand, looking comically close to that old statue of a thinking man if not for the wider breadth of his knees. He cleared his throat. “So…”

Despite the situation, she chuckled. “I’m glad to see that the most awkward of conversation starters evolved itself back into common use.”

The reference likely flew over his head, but he smiled while rubbing at the back of his neck almost shyly. He seemed… kinder than a hundred pounds of armor and a warhammer would seem like.

“I mean what am I even supposed to say?” He shrugged. “I uh, hit things with my hammer. You—and this predicament—are not things I’m gonna hit with my hammer.”

“That’s reassuring,” Elisabet deadpanned.

“You sure you aren’t Aloy’s mother?” Erend cracked her a lopsided grin.

Elisabet rubbed at her temple. “I think I’d know if I was. Is it wishful thinking to hope you guys have any ibuprofen?”

She had been pointedly ignoring his assertions that she was anyone’s mother. There were more pressing concerns to address, foremost of which was the distinct lack of technology. She’s only been up and about for a few hours but it was enough to notice the rudimentary tools and structures, along with the fact that Erend seemed to be the only other person with access to technology similar to hers.

“I’d check if we do, if I had any idea of what that is.”

“Where are we?”

“The furthest west I’ve ever been, honestly.” Erend shrugged. “I’m not familiar with these lands. We generally call it The Forbidden West—but there isn’t much else we know. Just more… sand, and dust. I’ve heard stories of trees that grew on sand, at the border of an endless lake. Never been there to see it myself.” He paused thoughtfully. “I uh, made a short trek back east from where I found you. About an hour or a little more.”

Elisabet stayed quiet, willing herself not to ask the question prickling at the tip of her tongue.

“Was that your home?” Erend asked quietly. “Where I found you. With the tall, pointed trees and the old stone structure.”

“Pines,” she supplied. “The trees, I meant. I thought you would know this by now.”

He grunted. “I’m a captain. Pretty good darned captain too, but no tree expert.”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “Sorry, I meant you as in people, in general. The kinds of trees and animals, our history and technology—we tried to pass that on.”

Something wasn’t right—a feeling that’s been weighing on her since her awakening.

Erend and the vanguard were outfitted with plate armor and looked to have no means of transportation other than by foot. They had waterskins instead of thermal containers and their basic camping supplies were made of fibers and tanned leather. Nevermind real-time mapping and wireless communication. ‘Battle-ready’ wasn’t exactly what came to mind, and she’d have paid to hear Herres’ take on 31st century military technology. She might have even chuckled, had the implication not been so dire. Something had definitely gone wrong.

“Is the nearby encampment allied with you?”

“It was established by the Carja military as a way station, under the Sundom’s jurisdiction.” Erend beckoned her nearer, shuffling towards the side to leave space on the large, slated rock he was sitting on. “Ever since the Battle at the Spire, the Sun King’s been allowing expeditions towards the west—Aloy’s got a hunch that something is going on over there and you could guess that most of everyone listens to her these days. Whether she likes it or not.”

Carja. Sundom. Factions and nations, most likely?

“Just a minute.” He fumbled a little with his focus, looking up and awkwardly moving his hands in thin air. His frustration was noticeable in the deep set of his brows. “Aloy’s done this before—a map, on scrolls of light. She could share it with me while it, uh, did its floaty thing.”

“Do you have the map open?” Elisabet tapped her focus, hearing the small digital beam alert her of its activity. Technology was a familiar comfort—something to ground her. She whistled lowly while running a system check on the piece of hardware, trying not to wince at the fact that the date read January 14, 3041. The 31st fucking century. Safe to say it’s still working way past warranty declarations. “I think I got it.”

“How did you—its telling me that an external device accessed my display?”

“Hacking it,” she smiled. “This is more or less my area of expertise.”

“Right,” Erend nodded. “So we’re right over here.” He pointed towards a small glowing indicator.

“Outskirts of Carson City.” She had said it so softly it surprised her. She never pegged herself as particularly sentimental but being so close to home… after everything.

“And this,” he moved to the east. “Is the Sundom, and to its eastern border is the Nora’s Sacred Lands.”

Elisabet let herself have a moment of evaluation, eyes moving around the map to absorb as much information as she could. The satellite image let her know that the area’s topography reverted to pre-Faro Plague days: desert and canyons. Forested mountains covered the range to the east, but the northern range where she recalled Yellowstone was seemed erratically cold and glacial.

Information was a valuable resource she was lacking in.

“I need to get to the most developed settlement,” she muttered to herself. “Acclimate to customs and culture before finding a means to find and access ZD bunkers.”

“Bunkers?” Erend blinked.

“I assume that camps similar to this one are interspersed between the border of the Sundom and our location? At distances accessible by foot?”

“Yes, but—”

“I have to account for hostility along the road.” She crossed her arms. “And resources for supplies. What currency do you trade with?”

“Look,” Erend’s tone was firm. “We are going to take care of hostility and resources, because we’re going with you.”

“I—”

“You need to slow down,” Erend rose to his feet. “We don’t even know for sure if you’re okay after getting thawed out a thousand years later.”

“I need to figure out what happened to Zero Dawn. Find GAIA, and then—”

“Elisabet,” his voice was softer again, big and heavy hands settling on her shoulders. “We have time.”

Time? Of course they didn’t! There were a million things left to do and only two weeks until—

“The world isn’t ending anymore.”

--

He’d finally convinced her to sit down and get something to eat and it wasn’t damn easy. Elisabet was back to the makeshift planning table even before swallowing down her last bite and by the forge it was driving Erend just a little bit crazy.

“This is where we’re headed.”

Erend marked his own map, one that was tangible and inked on parchment instead of light. More reliable, if you asked him. Didn’t flicker in and out of sight—and didn’t make him look like a total jackass in front of his vanguard, waving his fingers around something they couldn’t see.

It was nearing sundown. The vanguard packed up ahead of time; they were leaving at the break of dawn. Erend split the party in two—one was to continue the expedition towards the Western Threshold, and the other, with Erend, was to hurry back to Meridian discreetly. It was a plan forged into metal: Erend needed to talk to Avad, while Elisabet seemed particularly interested in the Spire once he mentioned it.

“Utah and Colorado,” Elisabet whispered in wonder, tapping her focus on likely projecting a light-based rendering of them map on top of his own. “The staging areas for Zero Dawn.”

Erend looked at her with curiosity. “S’that what they used to be called? Before… before the whole thing—”

“Ended?” She punctuated, sensing his discomfort. But then she gave him a slight smile—it was different from Aloy’s. Wiser and wearier. “Though that’d be wrong. We’re still here, somehow.”

He smirked. “Don’t look so surprised. Didn’t you have somethin’ to do with that?”

“I’m just one of many,” she looked back towards the map. Didn’t look ready to talk about that, it seemed. “So what have we got?”

“We’re not in a hurry. We can take the traders’ path on the way back.” He pointed along a red, snaking line etched on the surface of the parchment. It was well-lit, well-guarded, and easy to traverse with enough camps in-between to restock and rest. He tapped twice on a marker at the end of route: it was a black, soaring tower. The good ‘ol Spire.

“That’d take us too long.” Elisabet shook her head. “We could go through these passes through the ridges. Cut straight through and save both time and resources.”

“It’s dangerous.”

“And time—”

“—is something you have now.” Erend stood his ground, arms crossed. “As I keep reiterating to you.”

“I’ve noticed.” Elisabet set her jaw. Then she sighed, shaking her head. “I’m sorry. I’m still getting used to—” she waved a hand over the map “—this.”

“You mean not being the one in charge?” Erend grinned.

“I didn’t really ask for that,” she smiled back kindly. “But old habits die hard.”

“The long way to Meridian it is, then.”

--

Sobeck Journal, 1-14-41

We did it.

Even this barren desert looks beautiful. Can’t shake the feeling that I don’t deserve to see it all though.

Not without the rest of ZD. Without the rest of you.

I’m going to forego writing about how I feel because I don’t even know where to begin digging up that can of shit. Exhaustion was always an effective sleeping pill back in the day: now that I’ve got time to think when I lay down everything is so loud. Given the state of things I doubt they’d invented melatonin pills yet either, but who am I to complain? Alive is still better than dead.

Off to sleep now. Something’s wrong with APOLLO. More things to figure out tomorrow.

After all these years, I still don’t get to rest.

--

[“—someone— … —back to see—“]

“Great timing as usual.” Aloy hissed under her breath. The strider she was on was nearly worn down. She was an hour’s ride away from the forest’s edge—right where the sands of the Barrens began. That’s what she was going to call them anyway: “the Barrens.” Those prissy cartographers up in the mesa have no idea just how large the West was. It wasn’t all sand and tumbleweed: there were forests so different from the Jewel and the Sacred Lands that she didn’t know how to begin describing them! And the lake… the biggest she’s ever seen. A body of water so large it must have cloaked the world’s entirety. She’s seen it on the spherical maps stored in her focus—a depth of blue so imposing she couldn’t even wrap her head around it. The air was different along the lake’s edge—salty and crisp. Both beautiful and foreign and so very unforgiving.

She gently stroked the side of the strider’s neck. She didn’t want to wear him down completely—best to leave enough so that he could carry on and survive another day. Herds of broadheads often wandered around the Barrens anyway, although not found as often as in Meridian and to the East.

She’s been getting scrambled messages from Erend for the better part of a day now. He sounded panicked. He hated using his focus but there was apparently something important enough for him to try. It seemed desperately urgent and the only thing she could make of his messages was that she needed to go back.

Chasing after GAIA and whatever was left of APOLLO was going to have to wait.

Her strider whinnied—Aloy hummed a small apology she hoped it could understand. If she found a charger it’d be better—she could ride through evening on a mount strong enough to discourage smaller machines from engaging them. By next evening she could rest by the ranch.

Aloy bit her lip, a soft feeling of longing at her gut. That’s what Elisabet called it in her journals anyway—Sobeck Ranch. A small speck of life, trees, and flowers on the eastern edge of the Barrens. A small place to rest before another two days’ ride to Meridian.

She remembers how freeing it felt to tell Rost about her misadventures so far. Maybe it wasn’t a bad idea to take a few minutes for Elisabet and do the same.

She urged the strider to run a little faster, wind whipping at her hair and the tassels of her armor. “Just a bit more, big guy. Just a little more.”

-

A/N: Thank you once again to Tototops for beta-reading this chapter!

It's been a hot minute but here we go with chapter 2!

[stormhaven13]

Alright. We have arrived. I am beginning the Survivor. Let’s talk about why Ikrie is my favorite character in the game other than Aloy. And to do that we're actually going to do a little story time of the first time I played Horizon. This is going to get long, so bear with me. I finally figured out how to do a read more, so the rest of this is under the cut.

So, when I first played her quests, I didn't fall in love with Ikrie. I liked her quite a bit, but it was just kind of casual, oh this character seems pretty cool. But I then went on and played more of the main quest of the Frozen Wilds, and Ikrie went into the back of my head. She'll come back, don't worry.

After I wrapped up playing this game, I do what I often do after a really good game or story, and I took some time to reflect on exactly why I loved this game so much. I've talked quite a bit about how much I adore this game's plot and world building, but I still think the number one reason for me is Aloy. I just love her character, I love her arc, I love the relationships she builds over the game, I love her design, pretty much everything about her is amazing to me. I also realized something super interesting, for me. I headcanoned Aloy as ace.

Now, I know this isn't that uncommon a thing, but I myself am ace, but I actually almost never think of characters as ace. I don't really know why, I just never have, which is especially strange, as being ace is the part of my identity I've understood the longest. Aloy is the first character in a very long time that I thought of as ace, just on my own. This intrigued me, and I went looking for fanwork, just to see what other people's takes on Aloy were, to see if there was more about this character that would resonate for me. And that's where I found the thing. The thing that opened my mind to how incredible Ikrie is.

I'll link it at the end of this, but I found a fanfic called Put Your Spear Beside Mine, and the characterization just blew me away. It looks at how alone Aloy feels, with no one to share all of the crazy things she learns over this game, and the dynamic between Aloy and Ikrie is just incredible. It explores how they are both basically outsiders with their clans, that they do not really believe in the laws and beliefs of their tribes. You may notice that this mold fits almost all of my favorite characters in Horizon, and yeah, I'm aware, but Ikrie ticks a lot of the same boxes as Aloy does for me.

While Aloy is not portrayed as ace in this fic, it opened up a whole new thing that I had loved about her, but hadn't been able to really vocalize, and now Ikrie was now balled up in all that. She has so many similarities to Aloy, with just a few key differences that just. Really hit home for me. She has a very close friend that just cannot understand her, and ends up leaving her. Rather than being alone from the beginning, she had a place where she was supposed to belong, but never quite did, but tried so hard to do it anyway. I know I say Aloy is autistic a lot, but those things just hit me very hard in a way that Aloy's permanent isolation never quite can.

And do I ship Aloy/Ikrie? I mean, yeah, I do, but that's honestly secondary to everything else, shipping Aloy with anyone was never my main concern honestly. I just love both their characters, I love how they are so close in characterization except for these key things that really do change them quite drastically.

Aloy will always be my favorite here, she's the protagonist, we see so much more of her, my headcanons for her are just so close to my heart, I probably dyed my hair red because of her she's just great okay? But Ikrie is caught up in all of that too, partially due to the ideas in that fanfic, but mostly because of the character that's already there.

Here's the fic in question, I highly recommend giving it a read, it just shows so much of what I love of these characters. And yes, this is why I think the Frozen Wilds should take place post game, this is the entire reason. Only warning to give with this is there is some smut in a few different parts, so if that's not your thing you should be aware of that. But this fic just showcases so much of what I love about these two characters, and you should absolutely give it a read. Also, @pikapeppa, who is the author, you're incredible and thank you for writing this.

But yeah, this has been why Ikrie is so important to me! I'm sure I'll say more as I play through the quest, but if you got this far, thanks for sticking with me!

[iturbide]

You don't even have to ask! Details please!

Well I always like to ask just in case you guys are the ones who have to see it on your dashboards

I’m very glad you’re exited though so crossover details go

The Starters

Because we have different lords heading up the titular three houses, and each one leans heavily into certain color and element themes similar to the common starter trio in mainline Pokemon games, it becomes almost a no-brainer to say that the Lords from Three Houses are your starter choices in this game.  For Edelgard, you have Embird, a fire-type eagle; for Dimitri you have Parcub, a water-type lion; and for Claude you have Fawnceal, a grass-type deer, reflecting both their house color schemes and emblems.

These starters, however, are unique in many ways.  To begin with, no matter which one you pick, they will always have a set gender, nature, and characteristic; they will also have perfect IVs and their hidden ability, rather than the standard one.  Since they are meant to reflect specific people, you’ll also have a limited choice on nicknames, similar to the original Red/Blue giving you options for your name and your rival’s: for Embird, it would be along the lines of “Edelgard” and “El”; for Parcub, it would be things like “Dimitri” and “Dima”; and for Fawnceal, you would have choices like “Claude” and “Khalid.”

Whichever starter you pick is also going to be your companion throughout the entire game.  As with Pokemon Yellow and the Let’s Go games, your starter will follow you outside of its pokeball, and you’ll be able to turn around and interact with them whenever you want to build your bond and get a feel for their mood.  Unlike these games, though, your starter cannot be put into a box, traded, or left at the daycare: they’re your companion, and they will stay that way throughout the game.  To give players more opportunities to train pokemon other than their starter, though (and to allow more freedom for people who like to play hardcore styles like Nuzlocke), there is a special “starter slot” that effectively allows you to bring seven pokemon with you; however, only your starter is allowed to take this extra slot, and while they’re in it they cannot be used in battle and will not gain experience or IVs even if the ExpShare is being used: they’ll just follow you around in the overworld so that you can interact with them.  To swap your starter back into your team, one of the other six will need to be returned to the PC.

In addition, each starter has a unique talent allowing them to access things that are normally unavailable: for Embird’s line, you can engage any NPC in the wilds to a battle, including those who normally are just there to offer advice or healing (since if they’re past the tall grass, they have to have pokemon); for Parcub’s line, they can detect secret entrances to the evil organization’s bases (which otherwise can only be found through either trial and error or by talking to people for hints on where to look -- plus they’re likely randomized every time a new game is started); and for Fawnceal’s line, they can locate areas well off the beaten path with new people to talk to, secrets to uncover, and pokemon to befriend. 

The Rivals

Much in the way that the starters are all based on the Lords from the game, the rivals are based on their retainers: Hubert will always choose Embird for his starter, Dedue will always choose Parcub for his, and Hilda will always choose Fawnceal for hers.  Byleth, of course, throws a wrench into the system, since they will be picking one of those three pokemon as their own starter, meaning that you end up with two rivals (one for each of the two you didn’t select) while the last will become the professor’s assistant, who will occasionally seek you out on Hanneman’s behalf.

Each rival also has unique information to share as the game progresses.  Hubert knows a great deal about the evil organization, and informs you of their existence and misdeeds; Hilda’s older brother Holst is a gym leader, so she tells you about the gym challenges; and Dedue is quite well traveled, and can point you toward special locations yielding rare items like high quality berries or pokemon that only appear at certain times/on certain days.  During the main path of the game, you’ll come across two of these characters routinely and therefore gain insight into your chosen starter’s evolutionary path, along with some extra challenges or exploration opportunities; however, the last rival will only give you that information if you backtrack to Hanneman’s lab to talk to them, something that can be tiresome and challenging in the early game before you have access to transport moves like Fly.  Ultimately, this means that you’ll likely have one gameplay challenge that goes unexplored until very late in the game or after the credits roll.

Along with the information they provide, each rival also has unique interactions with you.  Hubert is highly competitive and will always fight you when you cross paths, only giving you information after you beat him; he also gives you the occasional item to strengthen your pokemon, like Protein or Iron.  Dedue is much more peaceful and will give you a choice about whether you want to battle or not (though you have a limited window where you can change your mind if you say ‘no’); he gives you information regardless of whether you choose to fight him or not, and frequently gives you special berries when you meet him.  Hilda considers battling to be way too much effort and will only battle you a few times under normal circumstances (though with Embird’s special talent you can induce a challenge against her), preferring to give you information instead and usually giving you a held item “accessory” when you meet her.

The Challenges

Unlike the usual mainline Pokemon games, this game's traditional objectives -- the gym challenge, fighting the evil organization, completing the pokedex -- can be prioritized and tackled in a more focused manner, with incentives to do so dependent on your starter choice, since each starter’s evolution is tied to a specific narrative element.  For Embird, you need to acquire six badges in order to evolve her into Empyre; for Parcub, you need to beat three executives of the evil organization to evolve him into Soverain; and for Fawnceal, you need to talk to 500 people throughout the region before he’ll evolve into Camaradeerie. 

Given the nature of Three Houses, it only makes sense that certain key figures take on prominent roles in this pokemon offshoot:

Hanneman is the region’s Pokemon Professor

The eight gym leaders you’ll face include Manuela, Lonato, Rodrigue, Holst, Alois, Gilbert, Catherine, and Shamir

The Elite Four is made up of the Four Saints: Macuil, Indech, Cichol (Seteth), and Cethleann (Flayn)

Rhea is the region’s champion, and has been for ages

The Agarthans are the evil organization you’ll face: Cornelia, Monica/Kronya, and Tomas/Solon are the executives, while Arundel/Thales is the boss

If you pick Embird as your starter, facing the gym challenge is going to be your top priority so that you can have her final evolution (which fits Edelgard’s route in Three Houses perfectly).  Hilda will give you information on the different gyms when you meet her, and Dedue will give you info on rare pokemon you might want to incorporate into your team; however, the evil organization will be much harder (though not impossible) to access and engage with until after the gym challenge is cleared, and they will be much more difficult to deal with after being put off for so long, with run-of-the-mill members having significantly stronger teams and the executives and leader being incredible challenges.

If you pick Parcub as your starter, uprooting the evil organization is going to be first on your list of things to do so you can have his final evolution.  Hubert will give you information on where to find their bases (and notably, Dimitri will face Arundel as the boss rather than Thales, just as he does in Azure Moon), and Hilda will still give you information on the different gyms so you can level your team more and more; however, it will be more challenging to find and access hidden areas until very late in the game, so completing the pokedex will be more of a chore and the legendaries will be significantly more challenging when you finally do face them.

If you pick Fawnceal as your starter, exploring the world and working on the pokedex will be your primary focus to secure his final evolution.  Dedue will tell point you toward all kinds of places off the beaten path where obscure pokemon appear, and Hubert will still point you toward the evil organization since many of their bases are out in the wilds where you’ll be hunting for pokemon; however, leaving the gyms will result in a greater challenge, with different and stronger pokemon on each leader’s team and an even more intense Elite Four and Champion (drawing on both Claude’s paralogue against Macuil and Silver Snow’s endgame boss of the Immaculate One, since it’s mostly a copy-paste of Verdant Wind anyway).

[mommymooze]

Big Girls Have More Fun

You were always a very big girl. Your mother had complained when giving birth to your brothers that their shoulders were so wide it was a miracle that they ever made it out. When the midwife had problems getting you to leave the warm comfy space known as your mother’s womb, Mommah cried because it was going to be another boy. She and Father were so happily surprised that after all these years they finally had a girl. Weighing in at almost 10 pounds, you were also the biggest of her children. Everyone who saw you when you were little thought you were a big boy. It didn’t help that you had plenty of hand-me-downs from your brothers so your clothes were always masculine. You were bald headed until you were two, until your (h/c) hair finally started to grow in. Mother always styled your hair so cutely with lots of ribbons and bows. Being the girl and the baby of the family, you did have a few beautiful dresses that you wore on special occasions, but you preferred the tough pants that were from your older brothers. Girls clothes never fit very well in the shoulders, so your dresses were custom made. Having 6 children’s feet under the table did not call for a lot of extra money for clothing, and you preferred your older brothers castoffs anyway.

Always chasing after your brothers and their friends, you were as much of a boy as they were. Instead of dolls and dress up, you preferred wrestling and play fighting. If someone said you couldn’t do something because you were a girl, you had to push yourself until you could climb higher, run faster or swim farther than any of those silly boys. Mother tried to get you to wear makeup when you turned 13, hoping that some feminine influence would stick. They found out all to quickly that most of the powders and eyeshadows made your face break out until you looked like a chipmunk. Since you would not wear dresses, when you were older your mother convinced you to wear loose-fitting long-sleeved blouses that had a bit of frill around the neck or cuffs. This was to make you look more feminine because…well because you had muscles. No tea parties for you. It was much more fun to hang out with one of your brothers. Your oldest brother was a carpenter so helping lift stacks of wood, hammering nails and learning to build things was fascinating. Your next brother was a bricklayer. Helping him move pallets of bricks, stir the bonding material to go between the stones and hand him bricks as quickly as he could lay them was always fascinating. It was so satisfying seeing a line of bricks suddenly become an entire wall by the end of the day. The middle brother was apprenticed to the blacksmith. This was your favorite brother to work with. He would let you pump the bellows and work on basic metal pieces and he would finish them. Your fingers were a bit smaller and more nimble than his, so he had you assembling pieces together he would hammer in the rivets to join them into the finished work. He taught you how to make shoes for horses, some in different lengths and widths. You really loved hammering on a piece of metal, molding it into something new and useful.

Shortly before you turned 18 your parents were killed in a tragic fire. Having nothing left to keep you home you had heard of the Academy at Garreg Mach. With the blessings of your brothers you headed out to become enrolled and most importantly, to see what you could make of yourself. The atmosphere at the school was exciting. You had been homeschooled by your parents. Taught the basics reading and writing, a bit of etiquette (though your brothers still attacked every dinner like a pack of ravenous wolverines.) You were invited to join the Golden Deer, a mostly wild and boisterous bunch except for Marianne and Ignatz. It was a perfect fit for you. Raphael was just like one of your big brothers and loved to spar and wrestle with you. You found Leonie to be a great friend, easy to hang out with because neither of you were extremely ‘girly’.  That word was more for Hilda and Marianne, who would dress up and fix their hair for hours, complain about getting dirty. Still, they were still sweet and became good friends. Even Lorenz could behave himself and tolerated in small doses.

Claude was the ‘leader-man’ for the deer. He certainly was mischievous, playing pranks or generally annoying at times. Much of the time he follows their Professor, Byleth, always asking questions and trying to get more information than Byleth probably wants to supply. You arm wrestled him once. He’s an archer, great upper body strength, you thought he would be a challenge. But he lost pretty quickly, telling you that you should stick to someone more of Raphael’s or Caspar’s build.  It was really strange when one day Claude and Byleth are called away on a special mission. A few of the other students, the heads of the other two houses and Hilda are not seen for a couple weeks. Some of the knights filled in for teaching when they are available. Otherwise the Deer are thrown in with Professors Manuela and Hanneman for most of the classes.

You are thrilled to get extra training on brawling from Catherine and Alois. Alois is okay, great at brawling, but his jokes are something hard to stomach. Being a brawler meant you were always well armed. Ugh. Catherine is a ton of fun, she is built a lot like you. Broad shouldered and incredible upper body strength. She is a plethora of knowledge. She’s constantly giving tips on the best holds, the best way to take someone down. Knowing that you would come across a lot of male opponents as there were few female brawlers such as you two, she gives tips on distractions, specific grabs and holds that were very effective against men. Some of it feels like cheating, especially the sudden fake flirts and the like, but any weapon in a battle for your life. The other students may not have enjoyed the few weeks without Professor Byleth, Claude, and Hilda, however you are having a blast.

Byleth and all of the missing students return without a word as to what happened while they are gone. You decide to trail Claude today because he’s acting extra suspicious. He stops at an area close to the sauna, not far from where Byleth’s room is located. He is talking to that shifty merchant guy that hangs out over there at times. Your curiosity gets the best of you and you approach greeting Claude loudly.

“Hey (y/n) talk about timing! I can use a strong pair of arms if you have a few minutes.”

Instinctively you point to yourself. “Me? Sure, I’ve got a few.”

Claude grabs your arm and pulls you behind the merchant showing that there is a hidden entrance to somewhere underground. The air is cooler down here, but a bit stuffy. After a couple turns down the corridors you are met by a tall guy with a deep voice and purple hair. The two are speaking in low voices, you can’t make out what they are talking about. The new guy looks as you so you give a little wave of your fingers. The two men lead you down several more corridors, you feel like you are going in circles now. Finally, they stop and the new guy pulls out a key and opens the door, ushering everyone inside.

“Glad you brought Muscles here, Balty is a bit busy at the moment.” Says new guy.

“I want a look see before I hand over the payment. I’m sure you understand.” Claude says with a grin.

Yuri grabs a dagger and works on a board, loosening it to reveal the contents of the box is a large cache of lances.

Claude pulls one out and invites you to take one in hand.

“Dagdan construction.” You spin it, twirl it and look it over carefully. “Decently made.”

“Who made you the judge, friend?” Purple hair snips.

“Apologies. Worked as a blacksmith for a time. Repaired lots of stuff from lots of places.” You place the weapon back in the box. “I’m (y/n)” you give a bit of a smile introducing yourself. You really get a good look at purple hair. Is he…wearing makeup? It looks good on him. Your face grows into a bigger smile.

“Yuri.” He says. At least he grips your hand firmly.

Claude puts the weapon back in the box, so you grab the board that was pulled off, put it back on and hammer it into place with the butt of your dagger from your belt. You pick up the box (use your legs not your back) and hoist it onto your shoulder. Yuri silently escorts you and Claude back to where you first met him.

“Glad to do business, friend.” Claude gives Yuri a tap on the shoulder.

“Always.” Yuri turns to you, “Come visit sometime. I’ve got a friend who would probably be interested in a spar or two.”

“No prob!” You wave with your free hand and follow Claude back to the surface.

-----------------

A few weeks later, after the Golden Deer have returned from a successful mission, Claude pulls you aside.

“Can you spare some time, friend? I have a special sparring match you might be interested in.” Claude’s eyebrows waggle a bit, a half smile on his face.

“Spar? I’m always up for a challenge. So what’s up?” You answer, it’s been a while since you’ve been in a good match, and the Professor has been teaching you some cool moves and holds that you want to try out.

“Remember Yuri? He’s got a friend that just loves to fight and grapple. Thought you two should be introduced. Maybe teach each other a thing or two?” Claude informs you as he leads you down into Abyss. He leads you to their tavern and you see Yuri seated there with a big dark haired guy wearing chains across his chest. His chest is very muscular and well developed, certainly a brawler like yourself. Claude introduces you to Balthus. The both of you reach out for a handshake, you grasp each others hands and it immediately turns into an arm wrestling type of match to see who can squeeze the others hand the hardest. After a minute you both stop and laugh at each other.

“Way to go, Pal!” Balthus laughs, slamming his large hand down on the table making everything on it rock and wobble.

“Good to meet you too.” You say back to the big guy, a shy smile coming across your face.

Yuri is the next to speak. “So friend, we thought it was time to introduce the two of you. Are you interested in a friendly competition to perhaps determine who is the better brawler?” The half smile on his face lets you know there is some sort of mischief behind this invitation, making it all more enticing to accept the invitation.

You agree to the match. Yuri slaps you on the back. “You won’t regret this, come on.” He says as he leads you off to who knows where in Abyss. You’ve turned left and right and gone through enough doors you do your best to simply keep up and stay with him until he’s led you to a small room. Hanging on a hook is a soft gold tunic and short pants.

“You weren’t exactly dressed for this, hope you don’t mind we’ve provided clothing for you. I’ll leave you to get yourself ready. Be back in a minute.” He says as he closes the door behind him.

Just what kind of a setup have you gotten yourself into?  You wonder as you put on the clothes. You do a few squats, throw a few punches and hooks. They are easy enough to move around in you suppose.  Just before your mind starts to spiral wondering what the heck is going on, Yuri appears again, grabbing you by the hand. He’s leading you to a door that he pulls you through then slams the door shut behind you.

You find yourself in a well lit but small auditorium. There are rows of benches filled with people of the Abyss. On the opposite side of the dirt floor area you are in is Balthus, wearing pants like yours, but in a shimmery gray color. He looks like someone spread oil all over him, his muscles are shining in the light. He’s waving and blowing kisses to the audience.

A voice booms loudly into the room and the crowd quiets, “And now for the main event, our own Balthus vs. (y/n)!”

WTF? This was going to just be a wrestling match. What is this horse and pony show?

“Brawlers, meet in the center and shake hands. Start at the ring of the bell.“ the voice booms in the room, bouncing off the walls with a slight echo. Balthus wiggles his fingers in a “come here” sort of gesture.

As soon as your hands touch, the bells go off and he’s grabbing you trying to throw you to the ground. You grab his wrist, twisting it behind him, kicking at his knee to get him off balance. He tries to use his free elbow to jab you in the side as you pull him back towards you shoving your knee in his ribs. The crowd surrounding you is yelling and jeering, throwing garbage at you for trying to hurt their champion. For good measure you grab the back of his head with both hands, smashing his face to your knee.

The grappling goes back and forth for a while. You’re able to grab him and throw him against the ground, then he grabs your foot, pulling you off balance and you land face first in the dirt.  Next he’s got an arm pinned behind you, so you pull him quickly over your back to flip him down into the dirt. Most of it is arms flailing, smashing into the other to get a good grip and really pull the other into a good position for a finishing move. You’re still confused as to how all of this is happening. Claude and Yuri have some explaining to do.

Balthus is smiling. Smiling! As he grabs you around your waist and flips you upside down dropping to a seated position forcing you into receiving one hell of a piledriver to your skull. You were able to brace a bit on his thighs, so your neck wasn’t broken, but you were going to have a hell of a headache after this match.

The crowd is now screaming “Bal-tie! Bal-tie!” and stomping their feet so hard the ground feels like it is shaking.

He flings your legs to the ground and leaps up to give you a hard elbow drop, but your instincts kick in and you’ve rolled out of range. Once he hits the ground you’re behind him, knees in his back, your right arm grabbing him under the chin pulling it straight back. Balthus’ neck is straining against the pull. He’s stuck in your powerful chinlock.

“Tap out or I break it!” You scream.

You feel the slaps on your calf as you let him go and fall back on the ground. The crowd is booing and screaming and throwing rotten food at you. You struggle to your feet, raising your fists in the air. Your head is screaming at you, bruises in places you haven’t had in a while as you limp back to the door that let you into this goddessforsaken place. You bang on the door once, “Let me in before I bash it down.”

The door opens a little as you smash it open into the wall behind it.

“Great going there kid! I knew you could do it!” Claude is beaming at you until you grab his shirt and pull it tight around his throat and shove him against the wall and as far off the ground as you can get him. “Gah!” he screams as he’s holding on to your hand, trying to take some of the pressure off of his throat.

“What. The. Hell. Was. THAT!” You are seething with rage. Your teeth are grinding so hard he can hear the crunching as your eyes are fixed on his, burning with hellfire.

“Calm. Calm d-down (y/n).” He stutters, patting your fist still holding him up on the wall. “Let’s talk. C’mon. You had a great fight, just like I promised.”

You let go and he drops to the ground sitting against the wall. You move to a nearby bench, taking a seat you close your eyes and shake your head. The Claudster had manipulated you into this. You should have known.

Claude gathers himself back together. Standing he brushes himself off, straightening his collar as best he can considering most of it around his throat is now shredded material.

Yuri pokes his head in the door. He looks at Claude. “You’re still alive? I’m surprised.” The violet haired man takes a small step into the room. “Catch, Tiny!” he laughs as he throws a bag at you, coins jingle inside as you catch it. Before you can look back he’s closed the door.

“Tiny?” you ask.

“That’s what everyone said when you walked into the arena. She’s so tiny compared to Balthus. Your head doesn’t even come close to his shoulder. Now they’re calling you the Tiny Terror.