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blueberry2123 · 8 months

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Magic Mountain Arc 1 chapter plots and Masterlist!

Hello everyone please read this post!! This has the plots of the first arc of the magic mountain au! It’s important that you read each chapter synopsis that is posted!! The first arc focuses more on characters and character development rather than the powers (which will be introduced slowly). The second arc will most likely focus on powers and abilities as from chapters 1 through 11 they’re using traditional weapons!! I’m also creating everyone’s character sheets. I’m still designing Mikey’s design and then it will be Donnie that I’ll be designing. I’ve already decided on their personality types as well!!

*The chapter titles will be updated with links as I go!!*

Chapter 1: April O’Neil is trying to escape the foot clan and decides to go into the mountain. However she is injured and scared, leaving her vulnerable to mutant attacks, she sees four mysterious creatures save her from the Foot right before she goes unconscious.

Chapter 2: April formally meets the Hamato family, all four brothers, are suspicious of her and why she ran to the mountains in the first place.

Chapter 3: April gets to know Mikey, the youngest and a pink bellied side neck turtle. Mikey reveals as to why his older brothers are suspicious. Revealing that instead of being accidentally mutated like she originally thought, they were mutated on purpose by a mysterious man known as John Bishop.

Chapter 4: April decides to get to know Leo, discovering he’s a major nerd and loves the most recent space show Voltron and One Piece, two shows she is obsessed with. Which may work in her favor.

Chapter 5: April finally decides to talk to Raph who’s more twitchy and skittish than his brothers. She finally discovers that he and his father and brothers were nearly killed in the human world.

Chapter 6: Donnie is discovered to be the medic when Splinter falls ill with the flu while his brothers are doing nothing at all to help. April arrives to help, and she wants to give all three a piece of her mind. Donnie stressed out with little to no hours of sleep, passes out with a high fever as well. His brothers realize these past few days they have been doing nothing.

Chapter 7: Strange Dino robots have been showing up out of nowhere and destroying the habitation in the forest. A young deer yokai (my oc) happened to have been in the crossfire, attacked by the foot and left to die. The turtles find her, and try to reunite her with her mother while Donnie nurses her back to health.

Chapter 8: Millie, the deer yokai reveals that these Dino robots are actually created by a man named Baxter Stockman and have been destroying the forest. And the turtles work to reunite Millie with her mom and sisters.

Chapter 9: It’s Mikey’s 13th birthday and the brothers are having trouble figuring out what to get Mikey for his birthday. Then they discover that Mikey had been wanting a cookbook for the longest time. Meanwhile Hun, a member of the foot clan, targets Mikey.

Chapter 10: Hun has officially began his process of trying to destroy the turtles by going to Mikey. The 13 year old and the Karate teacher go out for pizza in a plot of kidnapping Mikey in hopes of luring his older brothers out. And it works.

Chapter 11: Mikey comes down with a flu, but things go from bad to worse when his condition worsens. At first he’s throwing up but now he’s delirious with fever and having multiple seizures, leaving Donnie desperate and confused. The family soon discovers that Mikey had been poisoned by Hun (who Mikey thought to have been his friend) when he had been out last night. The family also discovers that they have only forty eight hours left to find the antidote and save Mikey. But then they get ambushed. Forcing them to make a choice.

Chapter 12: Mikey has officially been saved from the poison but is still suffering from the after effects of the poison leaving him weak with a high fever and prone to attacks since the Foot know where they live now. Forcing them to move to a different part of the mountain. However, it’s discovered that the foot clan members are all over in the mountain.

Chapter 13: The turtles have officially found a new home. But their weapons are destroyed leaving them wondering what to do now. And how to solve the issue of getting new weapons. Then they suddenly find four new weapons that they have no understanding of.

Chapter 14: Donnie gets kidnapped by Stockman, the Shredder and the foot clan. They want to know where the Hamato family lives and where the rest of the mutagen is, but Donnie refuses to tell them where. The Shredder orders Stockman to torture Donnie to find out where the Hamato family and the mutagen are.

Chapter 15: Stockman has tortured Donnie which has left him in an awful state. Donnie is severely injured and malnourished by the time his brothers rescue him. Donnie who is normally the medic is down for the count leaving Leo, Mikey, Splinter, April and Raph fighting to save Donnie.

Chapter 16: Mikey discovers what his weapon can do and he and Donnie decide to test out his weapon. However Leo and Raph get into a fight, words are said and with hurt feelings Leo runs off.

Chapter 17: The turtles officially meet John Bishop, a man who tried to kill Leo due to his stereotypes of aliens and mutants after Leo runs off. Bishop trying to think of a plan to get rid of the turtles, decides to contact a former ally.

Chapter 18: Mikey is suspicious of Bishop while his brothers are more trusting. Hurt that his brothers decided to trust a stranger rather than their own brother. He runs off, discovering an awful secret.

Chapter 19: Mikey discovers who Bishop is allied with, but before he can warn his brothers. He disappears. Meanwhile Splinter is trying to reach Leo, Raph and Donnie an important lesson in trust when April calls revealing who Bishop is.

Chapter 20: It’s revealed who Bishop is in this arc 1 finale! Leo, Raph and Donnie discover that the agent has taken Mikey in hopes of experimentation. Leaving three pissed off bjg brothers that happen to be mutants. Finding Mikey. They discover Bishop’s plot. One of the Hamatos’ own ends up fighting for his life in this finale.

#tmnt magic mountain au #tmnt au #tmntau

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lilyandthegenshinbrainrot · 2 years

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Mona's Domain in Summer Fantasia

In this post, I reference my previous post about Mona, which you can read here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/lilyandthegenshinbrainrot/683526654017110016?source=share.

That post and this following theory has been something I fleshed out with my dear friend @blu-riie <3

Everyone in Teyvat has a predetermined plan for their lives, whenever they "stay on track" they are healthy, successful, and happy, when they do not stay on track, they are ill, poor, and depressed.

She also expresses a worry and desire for everyone to always be following their path - in the same "act", so to speak, that she says that she is comfortable observing and watching how fate plays out, she also says that she has "figured out what the stars are hiding" which means she was both thinking about and keeping an eye out for celestial answers/secrets

She says that she understands the governing laws of the universe, it's enough for her to witness the truths and there is no need to force it to change.

She also says that she gives advice and tries to encourage people to change their ways to get back on their paths, that outside the reason and truth of astrology, she wants to believe in miracles that people can decide their own fate.

I can't figure out which of these two beliefs is more her, or if those really are as separate as they seem.

I think all these things mean that she, like Lisa, is aware of Celestia’s suspicious nature, but unlike how Lisa ran away in the face of such knowledge, Mona embraced it. Perhaps she understands that there is nothing she personally can do to stop the Heavenly Principles, and that ultimately, her life is better for her acceptance of this fact.

Perhaps the line between her abyssal-like magic and insistence on revealing/embracing the truth, is that she knows that if she were to question the divine, she would be damned, so she trusts it. because surely, there's a reason and a plan, because everything happens according to Fate's design, but she's not quite aware just yet that the fate is manufactured

Perhaps she just knows that Celestia is Fate's hand, it is by their word that the world turns and the people breathe, and so she defends and accepts that everything happens because the stars allowed it to happen, which means that it's trustworthy and good. So when Scaramouche said, in the first event we meet both him and Mona, that the stars were dead and the sky was false, he recognized that Celestia was in charge because it forcibly put itself in charge, she was furious because if Celestia was not a guaranteed fate officiate and the stars weren't to be trusted, then everything she has ever based her knowledge and identity and faith on was called into question.

tldr: Mona is aware of Celestia and she's avoiding their ire as best as she can.

#mona megistus #mona genshin impact #summer fantasia #genshin event #genshin event spoilers #genshin impact world building #genshin impact lore #genshin impact

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lochnessghost · 3 years

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dream smp warrior cats au

i’m stupid and dumb and for some reason folks liked my last post abt the wc au so here is my interpretation of season 1 of the dream smp as warrior cats baby!!! SO pretty much the au is that everybody was a part of one big clan (no name yet so ill just call it the smpclan,, i want to do a more realistic name but my brain hurts) that’s led by dream aka swiftstar along with his deputy sapnap aka darkflame and the medicine cat mosseyes (george). eventually a warrior called sootfur (will) and his apprentice bigpaw (tommy) decide they’ve had enough after swift and dark become more tyrannical and break off to start their own clan, manclan (this is a canon name for it, bigpaw suggested it as a joke and they ran with it) and sootfur becomes sootstar. he gives bigpaw his warrior name, bigclaw, and names him his deputy. bigclaw needed an apprentice before he could become deputy to be officially recognized, so sootstar used a loophole where bigclaw’s best friend sparrowpaw (tubbo) was made his apprentice a couple of minutes before sootstar made him a warrior too—sparrownose. the three, along with sootstar’s half-kittypet son foxfoot (fundy) and their friend brambleflower (eret) started manclan and defended it for a couple of moons. the declaration of independAnce is all of them putting their clawmarks in the great tree (l’mantree). you know the rest of the story bla bla bla the discs are two gems bigclaw found as an apprentice in a twoleg trash bin. sootstar steps down as leader, as he never truly got nine lives and everyone demanded they find out who starclan truly chooses as manclan’s leader, and starclan chooses an smpclan cat called rambelly (jschlatt). he becomes ramstar with duckstep (quackity) as his deputy. he makes bigclaw and sparrownose apprentices again, saying sootstar’s ceremonies were invalid because they were not backed by starclan, and then exiles bigpaw and sootfur from manclan. sootfur and bigpaw go off and live in a cave they find. their little group has no name besides ‘the exiled’. they meet a rogue called boar (technoblade) who helps them navigate the lands outside of the clans. soot rejects the clans completely, dropping his suffix and swearing revenge on manclan. despite soot’s protests, bigpaw keeps his warrior name and begs soot to at least attempt to mentor him and help continue his warrior training until he’s ready to become a real warrior (they both admit his training still wasn’t complete when soot made him a warrior/deputy) when they return (he believes they’ll return one day, soot doesn’t). soot begrudgingly agrees, but his training is less warrior training and more dangerous, intensive militant training. meanwhile, sparrowpaw is mentored directly by ramstar, mostly so ram could keep an eye on someone who was so close to the exiled, bigpaw in particular. after a few more moons of training, sparrow regains his warrior name, now sparrowpelt. he keeps the exiled up to date on what’s going on in manclan. bigpaw gets a little jealous when he finds out about sparrowpelt’s warrior ceremony, but doesn’t act on it. ramstar eventually plans a big feast for the clan to ensure loyalty, which sparrowpelt helps plan. he informs the exiled of this.

soot confesses to bigpaw that he was born a loner and that boar is his brother. he uses his rogue ties and help from his brother to plan to sabotage the clan’s feast. their plan is simple: they use sticks to take fire from a twoleg campsite and catch manclan’s territory on fire. surprisingly, swiftstar, who has become more of a rogue after allowing manclan to take up the spotlight, offers his help in this. the plot goes as normal, with the plan to usurp ramstar after he becomes incredibly insufficient as leader, and boar offers everyone tooth-clad collars as extra protection from their necks getting bitten (the vault scene). soot gives bigpaw his warrior name despite no longer being a leader, and everyone backs it, saying even without a leader, he’s earned it. he is once again bigclaw. the fight goes on regularly. ramstar had actually used up all but one of his nine lives doing various reckless activities, further proving his lack of respect for starclan, having only used them for his personal gain, and dies after choking on some of the prey he’d been hoarding for himself. no one helps clear his airway and he dies.

sparrowpelt is made leader of manclan and makes bigclaw his deputy. the cats rejoice, but meanwhile, soot fetches fire from the twolegs with swiftstar’s help. he sets the woods on fire and is then confronted by his loner father, a yellow cat named crow (philza) who came to see what his sons were doing in the clans’ territory. crow kills soot after he begs him to. the woods catch fire very quickly and boar leads them to safety by the edge of twolegplace. however, he makes his big speech and reveals that this was a trap and breaks the lock on a fence, releasing three massive dogs into the burning woods. more story, the cats eventually deter the dogs, bla bla bla. this is all i’m going to write for this post because JESUS CHRIST i did not realize how long this would be, but if you’re interested in hearing the later arcs’ warrior au type deal lmk! idek if this makes sense but you know. i might post some more art of this au as well,, you can check some warrior designs i did for michael and revived!tommy here, and the designs i did for the dreamteam and apprentice bigpaw here! here are some misc doodles as well! part 2 has been posted!

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stonylovessteve · 3 years

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SLS 2021 Creator Reveals

We’ve reached the end of the exchange and that means it’s time to reveal the creators of all our works!

Thank you for putting so much love and effort into Stony Loves Steve 2021, you really made it a great experience. We hope everyone loved it as much as we did!

Giftees, be sure to leave a comment and kudos on your gift if you haven’t already. All our creators worked hard to make this event a success, so show them some love.

You can now post your work publicly outside of the exchange. Tag it as #stonylovessteve2021 on tumblr and we’ll reblog you. @ us @stonylovessteve on twitter and we’ll retweet you.

Below the cut is the final list of all the works produced for the exchange and the creators.

Cold as Ice, Warm my Heart by lil_aussie_girl for parkrstark (MCU, 1.5k)

The cold took away one love already, and his greatest fear is that it will do it again - before he has the chance to say those three important words.

Strength Like The Sea/A Familiar Yet Foreign Face by Lacrimula_Falsa for funkyspacegirlfriend (AU, 3k)

There had to be another explanation for the ugly burning feeling in his chest because this wasn’t a rom-com and he’d known Steve for less than a day.

After years of his father fruitlessly searching for one, Tony finally gets to meet a real-life vampire.

· · ·*‒*‒ ‒ ‒*‒ ·*‒ · ‒ ‒

Anthony.

No, not Anthony, because Anthony had crumbled to dust right before his eyes. But this man looked so eerily similar to him, he could have been Anthony’s twin brother. Only the eyes were different, warm brown instead of cold blue. After being woken nearly a century after he went into stasis because the pain of losing his lover Anthony was too much, Steven meets a man who looks just like him.

I Know There is Comfort Where We Overlap by jellybeanforest for ghosthan (Ults, 10k)

As a relic of a bygone era, Steve struggles with feelings of isolation and severe depression made worse by his recent breakup with Jan Pym. He secretly hooks up with random strangers chasing a sense of connection with someone, anyone. Things are going (not) well when he and fellow Ultimate, Iron Man, are tasked with infiltrating a Thai resort serving as a front for illegal arms dealing. Only catch: They must go undercover as a married couple on their honeymoon.

finding steve rogers by jacobby for geekymoviemom (MCU, 6k)

Steve sighs. “Sorry. I wasn’t a very good tour guide. Ma always told me about the town, but she never got into specifics.”

Tony takes Steve’s hand in his and places it close to his lips. “It’s your first time here too. We understand.”

AKA

After a botched mission with SHIELD, Steve takes a vacation with his family to a town in Ireland.

Things are knot as they seem by BladeoftheNebula for DepressingGreenie (AU, 3k)

Everyone assumes Captain America is an alpha and Steve doesn’t see the harm in not correcting them. After all, Alphas command respect while omegas are still considered far too delicate for leadership.

And sure, it sucks hiding his designation when he’s in love with Tony Stark, the hottest alpha he’s ever seen, but what alpha would want an omega who could lift them with one hand?

So it’s fine. It’s not as if anyone was ever going to find out his secret anyway…

A drop of love by CapAL for Perlmutt (AU, Comic)

After sleeping for 70 years Steve wakes up to a world that he doesn’t understand. As an age-old vampire he’s seen a lot of things in his life, but nothing has ever confused him as much as the bubbly Starbucks barista Tony. They meet by chance and Steve stays. He falls for him, even though he knows he shouldn’t, and together they explore modern New York, while Steve tries to hide his true nature from Tony, afraid that he would send him away if he knew the truth.

The Fake Prince and the Cat by Neverever for Fluffypanda (AU, 5.5k)

Steve is sent in place of Prince Brock to marry the libertine Tony Stark. It's better than he thought it would be, plus he makes friends with a cat.

father to son by parkrstark for HogwartsToAlexandria (MCU, 2.5k)

Steve had been planning on asking Peter to be his son, officially, for weeks now, but he always chickened out because he didn't thik he was good enough for the boy. Funnily enough, Peter had the same idea, but when he showed the adoption papers to Steve, he didn't have the best of reactions.

The Best Half Of Me by Huntress79 for RoseRose (AU, 1.5k)

An encounter with one of his exes at a charity gala opens Tony’s eyes about how much he really loves Steve - and how much he’s looking forward to their future together.

neither here nor there by ghosthan for Welcoming_Disaster (616, 18k)

Captain America comes back from Dimension Z changed. He has had over a decade of his life taken from him, as well as the woman he loved. Stoic, secretive, and traumatized, much of what he experienced remains a mystery to SHIELD and the world; Tony is there to help him heal, and uncover the truth about how much Steve has lost.

The Eventide Aspect by geekymoviemom for ishipallthings (MCU, T, 12k)

“Yeah, Cap, about that,” Tony says, looking rather sheepish as he scratches at the back of his neck.

“Yeah?” asks Steve.

“Well… remember those half-baked ideas that I mentioned? I’m afraid this might be one of ‘em,” says Tony.

“Okay. Care to explain it to someone who doesn't speak technical?”

“Ahh…” Tony trails off, mumbling under his breath again. “Yeah. Um… if my theory is correct, I’m thinking that when we stepped through that window, we might’ve entered another dimension.”

Looking by Robin_tCJ for Vento_Lunar (MCU, E, 4k)

After a raid on a HYDRA base, Steve's body reverts back to the way it was before the serum. Tony still wants him.

You Had Me in the First Half by Corsets_and_Cardigans for Robin_tCj (MCU, E, 2k)

Steve is on his way to meet Bucky for a movie before their football team goes away for a game. Too bad Tony has plans for him! He'll apologize to Bucky for it later.

the rest is history by starksnack for muchmoremajestic (Avengers Academy, G, 2k)

It's Steve's birthday and he usually likes to spend it alone. Of course, Tony has other ideas.

Basically just some soft AvAc fluff.

(Let Me) Love and Be Loved by HeLovedYou for wikketkrikket (MCU, T, 6k)

Steve forgets how to self-sabotage his own happiness.

He also forgets his team, his soulmate and the last three years of his life.

avengers featuring steve’s doppleganger vol 1 (FANCOMIC) by wingheads for jellybeanforrest (616, Art)

tony dates a man who looks a lot like steve. everyone can see it, everyone knows what that means, except tony, who doesn't seem to realize he's dating steve's doppelganger. steve doesn't see the resemblance either and actually comes to like tony's new boyfriend, but then one of the other avengers spills the beans that they look exactly alike to tony, who can't unsee it now and breaks up with the new guy, only for steve to be sad that his baseball-buddy won't be around anymore.

Hart Island by Amber_Skye for lil_aussie_girl (MCU, G, 12k)

Steve is acting out of character, and Tony and the other Avengers can’t work out why.

the soul of dragons by funkyspacegirlfriend for Amber_Skye (MCU, T, 2k)

Steve’s dragon companion is the largest Tony’s ever seen up close. And she captivates Tony from the very first moment.

Just in the Knit of Time by DepressingGreenie for picturecat (Avengers Assemble, T, 2.5k)

Steve only has a week to tell Tony he loves him before his secret is leaked to the world.

Learning Curve by picturecat for Huntress79 (Avengers Academy AU, G, 2k)

Freshly defrosted, Steve Rogers is the newest teacher at the Avengers Academy—an attempt to guide and teach the newest generation of heroes before they have to take on the burdens of their teachers. Steve himself has a lot of learning to do.

First Impression by veryvincible for wingheads (616, M, 7k)

The Avengers find the schematics of a deadly weapon in the hands of an up-and-coming villain. To safely retrieve the data that led to its creation and keep the city safe in the process, they have to take a very subtle approach. The man-- Jack Marshall-- has an eye for hunks and a tendency to get vulnerable with them. The team could use this to their advantage, if they have the right assets.

Enter Steve.

Dandelions and Lilies by Wikketkrikket for CapAL (AU, G, 4k)

Written for CapAL for the StonylovesSteve event 2021.

A summer job in the florists is pretty good, as summer jobs go; and when a handsome guy comes in with some very particular requirements it gets even better.

Or it would, if Steve wasn't lying about the meaning of every bouquet he sold.

Potshot by jellybeanforest for jacobby (AU, T, 2.5k)

In an expansive wasteland infested with hordes of the undead, Steve, leader of a group of ex-military operatives known as the Avengers, searches for survivors and supplies in the ruins of the old world.

That’s all well and good, but Tony would do just about anything for an American cheeseburger.

For Stony Loves Steve 2021. Based on a prompt by jacobby.

Remorse and Rapture by oliverparker for optimusprime13 (AU, E, 6k)

When Steve's mother falls ill, he's forced to move in with the family she works for. He's not thrilled about it.

Shards of Eternities by Perlmutt for starksnack (AU, T, 5k)

Rumor had it that the war would soon be over. It could not end soon enough. Until then, Anthony would wait for Steven. He would wait and protect their child. He would wait and write another thousand letters for his alpha, his mate, his husband, if only he would come home, come for him, come for them.

Two Can Play That Game by JehBeEhh for Becci Barnes (BeccEEE) (MCU, T, 4k)

Tony Stark is many things. Patient isn't always one of them. Especially not when there's a happily ever after at the end of that bout of patience.

Uncovered by mariana_oconnor for Corsets_and_Cardigans (MCU, G, 6k)

Steve didn't think the tip-off was anything more than the usual nonsensical conspiracy theory. He only went to check it out because he was curious. He definitely wasn't expecting it to be a trap.

Build Me Up Buttercup by ishipallthings for BladeoftheNebula (4k, M, MCU)

Tony sees the gold letters spelling “Stark” on the edge of Steve’s hood and his mind grinds to a halt. Steve looks good wearing his name. Too good.

(In which Steve starts experimenting with a new style. Tony does not find this infuriatingly attractive, thank you very much.)

Discovery [Art] by Fluffypanda for captainstars (Art, G, Noir)

Renowned adventurer Tony Stark discovers a carving of a lost civilization's protector.

I left my heart (at home with you) by captainstars for UisceOneLove (2k, G, AU)

It shouldn’t have surprised him as much as it did.

The man grinned at him, wide and beautiful. Steve couldn’t help sneaking another glance towards the heavens. They really lost their citizens fairly easily. Steve would like to say this was the first white robed beauty he had come across until now, but he wasn’t.

(OR)

Steve moved to a cabin in the woods hoping to live the life of a hermit werewolf. When Tony Stark decided to become his new neighbor, it threw a bit of a wrench into Steve’s plans.

(OR)

A werewolf and an incubus cuddling in a tree.

Raspberry Beret (I Think I Love Her) by ralsbecket for oliverparker (4k, M, 3490)

When Steve looked at Natasha, he knew in his heart that she was what put his derailed train back on its tracks. For the first time since they met, Steve felt like he had some semblance of a plan for his future. And he wanted Natasha to be a part of it.

Savior Complex by optimusprime13 for HeLovedYou (18.5k, G, AU)

Wealthy businessman Steve Rogers stumbles into barely-getting-by Tony Stark in a cemetery, and they hit it off immediately. Steve is enamored by Tony’s razor-sharp wit, his startling intelligence, and his penchant for building stuff. He has a problem though - he can’t stop wanting to save everybody around him, especially Tony - who is struggling to make ends meet. However, Tony is too proud and stubborn to accept any help from Steve. But when Tony gets kidnapped to act as bait for Steve, how far will Steve go to save Tony when it means sacrificing himself?

Through His Stomach by RoseRose for JehBeeEh (2k, G, MCU)

Steve decides he wants to try to cook with all the new ingredients he has found in this new time, but he needs someone else to taste-test his creations. Tony is holed up in his workshop, so he makes the perfect guinea pig. The two of them grow closer over several meals.

Iron & Sapphire by Becci Barnes (BeccEEE) for Lacrimula_Falsa (AU, 5k)

Steve can always sense him, long before Tony enters his cave. It makes his blue scales tremble and his big wings flutter in excitement. Tony brings light and warmth into this musty hideout he calls home. And food. And while they may be as odd a couple as you can imagine, that won't stop them from bantering and cuddling just like anyone else.

Man On The Moon by Welcoming_Disaster for veryvincible (616, 7k)

Things haven't been the same since Steve has found out about Tony's secret identity. A mission that goes wrong forces both of them to confront why.

I Love You to the Moon and Back by muchmoremajestic for mariana_oconnor (MCU, 3k)

After Steve gets attacked in the woods, certain changes start happening.

Happy Birthday to America's ass by njava97 for ralsbecket (MCU, 2.5k)

It's the night before Steve's birthday and something is very wrong.

Magic's in the Moving Portrait by UisceOneLove for neverever (AU, 9.5k)

Without his ma, Steve's lost his ability to make art. In walks new wizarding student Tony Stark, who also happens to be his new roommate. All hope might not be lost just yet for him and his brush.

Reach The Sky by Vento_Lunar for njava97 (MCU, art)

Non-serum Steve Rogers saves the world. (And Tony saves him)

#stonylovessteve2021

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ravenclaw-questions-gone-writing · 4 years

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Ven’s Idea Outline #1 (Maribat)

Remember that MariDamiJon fic that I mentioned I was going to do for the gift exchange? It’s still bouncing around in my head and Luka decided to join in so I’ve decided to at least make an outline in (assuredly vain) hopes that it will leave me alone for a bit.

Ao3

Part 1

Typical Daminette but Hanahaki style bc I can’t find any Maribat hanahaki fics and I need one and I can’t find any.

Dick and Damian sent to scope out Paris for Hawkmoth related reasons

Jon goes with bc he’s Damian’s emotional support kryptonian but he might arrive later This idea has been removed but I like it so I will share it.

Damian is getting familiar with the new battlegrounds taking a walk in the park when a girl falls from a tree and lands on top of him

The girl apologizes profusely before explaining that she’s really clumsy and she was just trying to help a kitten stuck in the tree

It’s not love at first sight but Damian appreciates an animal lover and is slightly less of an ass than he would usually be

Might mix this with my Blossom Soulmate AU that I never got around to finishing and posting, now that I think about it

Anyway, Damian helps her get the cat down from the tree

He latches onto this potential information source who is not as annoying as most other people and sticks with her

They become friends friendly acquaintances and he drops by her school to pick up her up after she agreed to show him around Paris.

Debating Lila salt...

Debating Class salt...

If yes: Damian walks into a scene where Marinette and sweeps Marinette away without a word to the rest of her class

If no: Damian arrives and proceeds to wait for her outside by his motorcycle

Either way, his appearance makes waves in Dupont’s rumor mills

They do not know he’s Damian Wayne, just that there’s a dude who attractive enough to be model with a motorcycle waiting for the schools (tragic, if salt) sunshine fashion princess.

Robin and Nightwing meet up with Ladybug and Chat Noir to offer their help in figuring out who Hawkmoth is, as well as fighting and training.

Full Miraculous court meeting with Ryuko, Viperion, Queen Bee, Carapace, Rena Rouge, Pegasus, Bunnyx, and Monkey king. (Rena Rouge is removed if Class salt. Replaced with Fox!Nath or Fox!Julieka)

Ladybug and Robin get along

About two weeks in Adrien starts officially dating Kagami.

Another week passes and Damian finds out Marinette has been coughing flower petals and her unrequited love is her classmate Adrien Agreste.

She refuses to remove the hanahaki - this version is the standard they can’t fall in love ever again if they remove it.

This revelation makes him oddly uneasy, it isn’t until his own Hanahaki shows up later that night that realizes he understands why.

Damian does a pretty good job of hiding it.

Dick knows something is up but he’s trying to give Damian more space so he doesn’t look into it and trusts Damian would ask him if it’s life threatening

Ladybug notices his discomfort on patrol and they talk

He is surprised to learn Ladybug also has it and Robin comes up with the brilliant idea that they should fall in love with each other.

There is precedent that if you fall out of love with the person, the Hanahaki will go away. But falling out of love is difficult and not easily done. There must be no lingering romantic feelings at all.

Ladybug encourages Robin to chase his crush first, because he at least has a chance if the girl he likes also has it.

Cue the debates

If Ladybug wins: Enter Damian going all out in flirty assassin seduction techniques from his mother - Good Talia that kills rapists, none of that she raped Bruce bs, she actually had a good relationship with Bruce and a mutual breakup because of differing views on killing people - that he’s barely used since his lessons on it in the league and romantic advice from Dick.

He goes full on Bitch-sensei from assassination classroom.

He’s commissioned a shirt from Marinette. She gets to design it however she wants.

It is a long sleeved button up, specifically made to accentuate his muscles without being too revealing.

That’s the shirt he wears when he asks her out with flowers and a stuffed kitten holding a stuffed wood board that says “please date me” He has his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, top button undone. Collar and hair ruffled up for maximum sensuality. He’s got a lot of references between all the people he knows (Bruce, Talia, Selina, Dick, and really his whole family is full of objectively attractive, seductive people he can reference. Just as long as he avoids mimicking their failing romantic habits, he should be fine.)

He tries to be suave about it but is a little too nervous to completely pull it off. It doesn’t matter because Marinette finds it endearing.

On the date, he’s more confident and is able to pull off suave bastard much better but only at the end. He’s a gentleman until the very end, when he leaves her in the bakery

He goes in, and twirls her admittedly short hair around his finger, maintaining eye contact as he presses his lips against her hair - it’s admittedly harder than he expected given how short it is but being so close made it more intimate and the blush on her face was definitely worth it

He leaves in the bakery slightly dazed and counts the date as a success.

Marinette’s mind shut down bc damn that boy is fine and smooth af is flustered and confused as heck but she’s willing to give him a shot

Alternatively: Marinette’s not sure about dating Damian because she feels like she’s just using him to get rid of her hanahaki bc of the idea that Robin had proposed.

Dick is ecstatic that Damian was acting weird because he had a crush and loved helping his brother out with this date planning in the city of love

He doesn’t report it back to the batfam yet because they had a small argument about it and Damian pulled away with the small victory of Dick has to wait until after the first date to tell them.

Damian is glad he Marinette’s willing to give him a chance but he’s worried about Ladybug

he wonders if he should set her up with Tim or Duke, it’d be a shame to lose a friend and hero like her.

Robin brings up his success to Ladybug and asks if there’s anything he can do to help her.

She notes that a friend had actually confessed to her and she’s giving them a chance.

They accidentally compare notes on their dates and that’s their reveal.

If Robin wins: An awkward start that smooths into moonlit dates on the Eiffel tower, dancing on rooftops, an increase in flirting but only after battles, never before it bc they have a professional reputation to keep, increasingly physical training routines, stolen kisses but not on lips until they’re more comfortable with each other.

Fast tracked mutual slow burn which kinda defeats the purpose of a slow burn but whatever

I have realized these ideas are not mutually exclusive.

Maybe Ladybug wins first but Damian fails to seduce Marinette because she has the doubts so they go with plan B and date each other. Ladybug is more comfortable with the idea of dating Robin because they both have Hanahaki and are knowingly using each other to get rid of it?

There is no identity reveal in this version

Complaint Break time: I was writing this to get it out but it keeps growing, wtf. This is so long and I haven’t even gotten to the main part.

It was supposed to be an established Daminette but I wanted to show how they got together, this was supposed to be like 5 bullet points, 10 tops.

At some point, I’m going to have to mention the rumor that people with Hanahaki are being kidnapped because the flowers that bloom after their death make great medicine but that cures most illnesses and are good potions ingredient whatever, something along those lines. It’s not the ones they cough up but the flowers that grow on the vines constricting their lungs after until they die and only blossom after death. Those flowers that spread the pollen into the air that makes the Hanahaki disease possible.

That’s why people keep it a secret unless they’re going to get the surgery as there’s not other way to treat it.

But that’s a plot point for part 2.

I feel like this is already longer than anything I’ve put out at this point in time.

Back to the story:

Even though they’re dating, the Hanahaki doesn’t go away immediately. It slows and becomes less frequent but there are times when they think of how their love doesn’t return their feelings and the flowers come back with a vengeance and they’re down for the day, possibly the entire week, hacking up flower petals and buds.

(Ladybug Wins version until otherwise stated) It’s during one of these fits that Dick finds out and is angry at this girl playing with his brother’s feelings.

Damian is too busy hacking up bloody flower petals to correct him

The entire batfam and subsequently Superfam now know the batfam’s youngest has hanahaki

Jon is called in and flies in to help keep an eye on his best friend

Bruce, Jason, Tim, and Duke are shocked but they pack up and are ready to go in guns blazing to have a talk with this girl bc the boys might not be on the best terms but that’s their baby brother. The girls stay behind to hold down the fort (because I need more time to get familiar with them before I can confidently write their characters. I’m not too confident about Duke either but I already mentioned him and it’s too late to back out now.)

So, Damian’s brothers and his father track her down to a different park in Paris where Marinette’s hanging out with her friends

They’re incised to find their brother’s girlfriend with another guy’s arm around her, leading her away from the main group of friends

It’s Luka, he’s helping her hide her hanahaki because she assures him that she has it under control and will go with him to the hospital if it becomes too much

They confront the couple

There’s a lot of intimidating posturing and accusations

Batfam is absolutely not prepared for the bloody flowers that spill from her lips - her hanahaki is even worse than Damian’s

Detective bats (correctly or incorrectly, depending on which version happens) put the pieces together and figure they’re dating to get rid of the hanahaki, that is something Damian would absolutely propose

and oh shit, this time it’s not just Bruce that’s adopting someone. They have a little sister now.

Luka explains what he knows about the situation and basically confirms what they’d deduced.

Welp, since they’re here, Hawkmoth has become top priority.

Hawkmoth takes one look at the Miraculous circle and the new set of bats and just- nopes out plus super boy and just nopes out.

Like, he tries but he has no expectation of winning and tries to run instead. It doesn’t work, they have all grounds covered.

I should probably make use of Mayura if I ever do write everything out but she didn’t really leave much of an impression on me tbh and I don’t have a lot of ideas. Maybe if I ever go back and watch it.

Celebratory, on-the-spot kiss between Robin and Ladybug where they do “oh“ and realize the pressure in their chest is finally gone and the Hanahaki is no more.

(Robin Wins) Dick is obliviously happy about little Robin leaving the nest and finding a mate until he finds out both the little heroes coughing up flower petals on their date

then he goes in and mother hens them both, before demanding answers

He’s also less happy about this whole dating thing

Dick can’t do much about Ladybug without revealing her identity but Damian isn’t getting out of it so easily

Dick figures out who Damian’s crushing on and goes to do a little investigating. He is very surprised to see it’s a bubbly, energetic designer girl and not someone... calmer. But then he thinks of Jon and it makes a little more sense

He talks to her, asks about what she thinks of Damian and is pleasantly surprised by her positive view of his brother. He asks if she would go out with him and she coughs up some petals

Now, Dick’s freaking out and why are there so many children with Hanahaki? This is the third one in two days!

fast forward because I’m finally out of ideas for this part

Ladybug knows she’s fallen for Robin, which was the entire point of them dating but she not sure he actually reciprocates or is still trying to forget that other girl.

Or if you went the other way, Robin’s still chasing Marinette but Ladybug now likes Robin and is aware that he’s trying to woo her. So, out of the frying pan and into another for her.

Robin is absolutely having regrets bc he is an emotional wreck and crushing on two girls and this was not supposed to happen, damnit.

A meta gets akumatized and takes out half the miraculous court but turns out the meta’s psychic ability can help track Hawkmoth so its all cool, now that they know what Hawkmoth feels like

Ladybug, Chat Noir, Ryuko, and Robin vs Hawkmoth and Mayura

Nightwing stayed behind to watch the other heroes are no longer brain dead from the battle but boy are they out of it and he has to make sure they get home safe

that does not mean he’s not extremely put out and worried about it since he knows half the team has hanahaki and it may interfere with the fight

Even if the Ladybug suit lessens the hanahaki attacks, they still happen from time to time

For two people who don’t show up to fight often Hawkmoth and Mayura put up a good fight

Ladybug has an hanahaki attack and Hawkmoth tried to take advantage of it, only to get knocked out by Chat Noir who’s still pissed at his dad for causing this whole thing

Chat Noir and Ryuko are pretty shocked Ladybug has hanahaki, even more her timer runs out and she choses to present it to Robin

Robin is shook

He gets it together and pulls her into a kiss that cures their hanahaki and makes their brains melt

Now Marinette’s kinda confused bc what the other girl

Damian, slightly shifting his mask so she can see who he is: That other girl was YOU

Now Marinette’s the one who’s shook

Note: Chat Noir and Ryuko have both de-transformed at this point and are watching with wide eyes but they do not see who is under that mask. Also, no cameras in this section of the manor bc that would be proof.

They have a lot to talk about but it works out in the end.

the outline above was written out of order bc I had to go back everytime a new idea hit and I cannot be bothered to go back and dodeca-check this thing again just to make sure everything makes sense.

Part 2 (that was supposed to be the main story- finally made it, the starting point. I cry.)

Ok, so, now that Daminette is established and the evil is defeated

Damian returns to Gotham with his girlfriend in tow to introduce her to the rest of his family, despite his better judgement

Jon is happy that Damian is in happy, loving relationship but he’s a bit sad that it’s not him and oop, sunshine kryptonian boy got hanahaki’d.

Same for Luka. (Yes, Jagged will be his dad and a Gothamite.)

Jagged and his kids join them in Gotham bc he has to be there to show his favorite designer niece around to all the best places of his hometown.

Luka finds out Jon has Hanahaki and they bond over the experience

They make a pact to cover each other and get the other to the hospital when it gets to that point

Pining/Simping meetings over their best friends that for some unknown reason seem to lessen the flower coughing over time even though these meetings probably make things worse but they also need vent before it increases again.

Luka and Jon beginning to fall for each other but they think the other is still in love with Marinette/Damian and it’s true that they still hold feelings for their best friends that aren’t diminishing in the sleightest and it’s all very confusing.

It’s even more confusing when we add the new hero in Gotham, Viperion who’s there to continue training with the bats since he’s visiting the area, rescues and lightly flirts with Jon who ended up developing a small crush and Jon realizes he has a type.

So, poor Jon’s now crushing on Damian, Luka, and Viperion

Viperion meets Superboy and the kryptonian doesn’t seem to like him?

Luka’s crushing on Marinette, Jon - still doesn’t know that Damian is Robin. And is kinda curious and a little hurt that the Robin’s oddly familiar kryptonian is actively and obviously avoiding him and that heart song is kind of familiar but different.

Viperion also gains a crush on Robin after watching him take down a thug in a very graceful way - the bird was showing off for his bug and decided to make it a little showier, he accidentally also caught a snake

Ladybug and Robin still flirt but the court - aside from Ryuko and Chat, depending on which version - think that’s just their dynamic, though they do pull Robin aside for a bit to tell him she has a boyfriend now. He assured them it’s fine and he knows, oddly amused at their attempt.

man, I am not original with this identity porn thing

It isn’t until Luka sees Jon again that he puts it together.

Marinette suspiciously notes Luka and Jon been hanging out an awful lot she’s making connections to the time she had hanahaki and Luka covered for her

The pains of befriending deductive genii.

Cue the panic and they accidentally claim they’re dating but it throws Marinette off for now, so it kinda worked?

Hanahaki fic with a fake dating AU. Oops.

Mari decides since she and Damian don’t know this, they must have been neglecting their best friends and double dates are the way to go.

Cue more panic

Unlike Marinette who is willing to trust their word, Damian’s a suspicious bastard who’s kind of dubious and a little salty that Jon didn’t tell him earlier if they’re telling the truth but Mari’s all gung ho about it so he lets it go for now

They go on the date and it is an emotional mess for everyone involved

It starts out fine

Jon and Luka act a bit weird because they have to cover for each other randomly coughing up petals, not to mention they’re on a date with their original crushes without actually dating their original crushes not even mentioning their new crushes and the secret identity reveal that Luka still hasn’t confronted Jon on and Jon’s guiltily thinking about Viperion half the time he thinks about Luka and shouldn’t it be the other way around?

Yeah, so they’re a mess

Damian’s watching them like he’s trying to figure them out and it is not helping but thank god Mari’s distracting him totally on accident

Marinette? She found a random lost kid in Gotham looking for their parents

So now the double date’s been temporarily derailed to help the lost kid

While Damian’s watching Marinette try pass the crying kid off to Jon for a moment so she can make a phone call to report a lost child but the kid’s clinging onto Marinette, and they exchange looks so Jon calls in the lost kid instead and he’s just struck with the idea of a family with the three of them and some kids

Cue panic time (again)

Ignoring the thought of children, why was Jon in his fantasy?

Luka’s just watching a smitten boy go into panic mode over the trio and while doesn’t quite know what’s going on in Damian’s head, but that was really cute and oh not again

They find the kid’s parents, and the date moves on

Jon’s more comfortable, Marinette wasn’t really bothered in the first place. Luka and Damian are now having crises

Luka makes a joke under his breath in an attempt to calm down before his Hanahaki acts up

It did not help bc Damian overhears and gives a small amused snort that made his heart stutter but hey positive interaction!

Both Marinette and Jon but end up having feelings very similar to the one Damian had earlier when they look over at Damian and Luka’s little interaction - Damian’s giving Luka a small smirk and Luka is entirely embarassed at being heard when he wasn’t hadn’t meant to be.

But then Luka gives Jon a small sign before he excuses himself to the restroom so Luka can run off and cough up his flower petals

You remember that whole thing about the kidnapping people with hanahaki so they die and medicine and things can be collected from the flowers springing up from their corpse thing? Yeah, the kids are in Gotham and there is definitely a group there that has dealings with the trade and someone saw Luka hacking up flowers

but they mark him and pull back to plan instead of kidnapping him then and there bc drama and Jon followed him to the restroom to check on him

Date ends ok and everyone’s kind of an emotional wreck

Damian has surprisingly learned his lesson on miscommunication and guiltily confides his fantasy to her like a parishioner to his priest

Marinette basically goes same and confesses about the moment she and Jon saw his interaction with Luka.

“So, We’re together, and they’re together...and I might be in love with Jon, you think you might be in love with Luka... What now?“ Damian asked, trying to make sense of it all

“We could...” Marinette swallows, “um, all four of us? together?“ she offered meekly. Seeing that Damian seemed to like the idea, she continued. “Y’know, feel out how receptive they are to the idea and then just seduce them?”

Ok, so the temporary communication skills were nice.

Because instead of talking it out with their best friends, they decide to seduce them but to be fair, there’s at least one version of this where Damian got where he did because of seduction.

Between both Damian and Marinette’s phsyical attractiveness, their combined determination and stubbornness, Damian’s assassin seduction knowledge, and Marinette’s fashion ability and tactical knowledge of where to accentuate what, Jon and Luka have no chance of leaving pining hell for the foreseeable future.

Marinette doubles down on the “double dates” aka, seduction plans in action and group hang outs, aka much more softer, subtle seduction plans

Marinette and Damian do not do much seeing how receptive they are and really just jump right into the seduction, except they adjust the plans so Luka and Jon don’t catch on so Daminette couple thinks it’s ok to go all out.

Cue seduction and pining hijinks, and a whole lot of bloodly flowers and plenty of internal screaming

Damian learns that Luka might not be too bad in the group and Jon is panicking because oh shit he’s got another crush and it’s his best friend’s girlfriend.

the quartet’s love issues are really full circle... or whatever this shape is supposed to be. Because there’s still the whole Viperion/superboy thing and - i just... I’m not going to keep analyzing this.

Somewhere during this, Jon confesses his feelings this particular friend group to Con, leaving out the whole Hanahaki thing. Con tells Tim for advice on being a big brother and things happen but I’m not sure what. I just want TimCon and the Superboys bonding

So a couple weeks pass by the Hanahaki’s getting pretty bad and Luka suddenly goes missing

Ladybug and the bats are on it as soon as they realize he’s gone

Except they are missing one, very important piece of information

Luka’s hanahaki

So, for the next few days, they don’t get anywhere until Jon slips up and ends up coughing up a shitton of bloody flowers which leads to panic, confusion and explanation, bc wtf Jon, you’re supposed to be dating Luka and that’s definitely not unrequited

So everyone gets the full explanation, the final piece of the puzzle snaps into place and the bats are on it.

Marinette and Damian have to put aside that whole revelation in order to track and save Luka before he dies of Hanahaki

They both make sure to kiss Jon first so he doesn’t get handicapped by his hanahaki like Ladybug did but he and Luka will be on thin ice once they get Luka back

So it’s pretty much a race against time bc they don’t know how bad Luka’s hanahaki is

Tracking, beat up bad guys, possible magic related villain(s) searching for potion ingredients that may take harm Superboy more than than if they weren’t there

They rescue Luka or Luka and Ssass break out as Viperion and meet them halfway.

Hey, the identity reveals!

Either way, at the end of it, Luka ends up with Ladybug and the unconscious and they have to wait until he wakes up to administer the kiss/cure bc it doesn’t work if one party is unconscious

which sparks an interesting idea of a sleeping beauty-cinderella style hanahaki fic where it would work if they’re unconscious, and the patient has to find go out to find who cured them and I’ll have to adjust some other rules of the hanahaki disease such as who can cure it but goddamn it

So while Luka’s out, Marinette and Damian confront the possibly injured but very much awake Jon

Once Luka wakes up and is brought up to speed, they take care of his hanahaki and work out the new boundaries of their new relationship

Part one is longer and I’m a bit put out by that. This made much more sense in my head but if you got this far, my rambling must have made some sort of sense.

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sneakydraws · 4 years

Text

Well, here it is - a lengthy explanation of each card in my mdzs major arcana deck and what I meant to convey/what i would have changed in retrospect/what alternatives i considered! It’s a bit messy and my typing style is lazy but hopefully it will be an interesting read to some of you :)

And so you don’t say I didn’t warn you - jiang cheng’s section (11 justice) is absurdly long lmao

0 the fool I elaborated on this in the post itself but yeah basically jin ling is kind of representative of all the damage and trauma caused by the past, and there’s a kind of danger there of him falling victim to the same vices as the older characters and repeating the same mistakes and perpetuating the cycle of war and misery (the cycle that we already see with how the jin sect became the new wen sect, and later with how jgy became the new wwx) and he has a lot of room to grow! He grows so much over the course of the novel, comes to realise the complexities of the past and gets a harsh life lesson in how nothing is as black and white as it seems. But ill save talking about his progress for the end, for now whats important is that he has room to grow and also a dog. I don’t really have a justification for the sun, i mostly just thought it looked sick? It made its way to the next card as well, where it makes a bit more sense, but then i realised it was a dumb motif to include 1 the magician I still very much like wwx for the role, and that illustration would have probably had him raising a corpse on his left and pointing threateningly to the sun on his right. I considered including the table as well, with some mdzs relevant items replacing the card suits. Anyway, like i said wwx got a few cards to himself already so i went with the alternative wq design, since i think she fits the card as well. Both she and wwx are highly skilled people, extremely driven once they set their mind to something. The card to me symbolises the creative mind as well as a general drive for action, which fits them both - wwx was famously a prolific inventor, and wq came up with a previously unheard of surgery, after all. This card strays pretty far from the rider-waite deck design, largely because i was still figuring out how i wanted to approach this series, but you can still see the influence. 2 the high priestess I was actually going to skip this card at first because I couldn’t think of a fitting character, but once i considered a qings character post death, it all fit pretty well. She was already a highly intuitive person in life, and in sharing her memories with wwx she is, in a way, relaying a kind of secret knowledge. Anyway she’s one of my fav characters so im glad i got a chance to include her. The coffins could be interpreted to be xxc and sl or xxc and xy 3 the empress Theres other mother figures in mdzs who got to be mothers for a longer time, but jyl definitely embodies the positive aspects of this card the best. She’s nurturing, kind, emotionally supportive, she already mothered wwx and jc quite a bit when she was young. Plus i liked that the rw card had both water and flowers, making an easy lotus connection. In retrospect the stars look kind of out of place and i should have replaced them with something more relevant... Also, i should have had her hold a lotus seed pod instead of a flower, haha 4 the emperor Like i said I considered jc for the role but hoching bullied me into admitting that nmj was better… they’re both more of an inverted emperor than an upright one but then again theres hardly any character in mdzs who would fit upright emperor so. Jgs was also considered but he’s even uglier than nmj so i couldn’t bear to draw him 5 the hierophant It was pointed out to me that lqr would have fit this card better and the truth if that statement haunts me to this day. Unfortunately I have no space in my brain for lqr so lxc got the role instead. My main reason was his role during the wen destruction of gusu lan, when he ran away with the contents of the library - this is why there’s bookshelves behind him. The keys, take, from the rider-waite deck, are meant to represent the gusu pendants that allow you to enter 6 the lovers Im sure many people would have chosen wangxian here but I uhh don’t really care abt wangxian personally? And also their love story is so convoluted that jyl and jzx seem idyllic by comparison lol. Also i didnt really have an idea for who to put in the angel’s place for wangxian… mme jin certainly did not get these two together in the end but undeniably she and mme yu did initially give them a chance to fall for each other so. Thats something i guess. Anyway the trees became their sects’ flowers and the mountain became the burial grounds - an omen of their tragic fate, basically 7 the chariot There might have been other characters who fit this card better but i couldn’t really think of another card for lwj and i thought it would be weird to not include him… anyway i don’t really care for current timeline lwj BUT i do like that he was clearly influenced by wwx to walk his own path in life based on his moral convictions rather than follow his sect’s rules blindly. The chariot is to me a card of self control, self determination and focused action, so it seemed fitting. The composition felt kind of empty without the actual chariot so i padded it out with the guqin, the cloud recess in the bg (it doesn’t look great but i tried to replicate the drama design….) and the bunnies which conveniently fit the colour scheme of the sphinxes in the rider-waite design 8 strength Like i said before, my interpretation of this card is more… morally ambiguous than the quote unquote official meaning, so i thought about manipulative or duplicitous characters more than kind characters whose strength is expressed through gentleness (though i did consider jyl briefly for the latter interpretation). As such, i considered both jgy and nhs, but ended up going with jgy largely because i couldn’t pass up the opportunity to put the nie sect’s beast as the lion. 9 the hermit My thoughts immediately went to bssr lol. It may be an overly literal interpretation but whatever, i like it just fine. And i like that i managed to echo the rider-waite silhouette in the mountain and the tree (and even in bssr herself) 10 wheel of fortune God i love the parallels between these 2… this card to me is about how you cant trust your current situation, good or bad, to last forever, and these 2 embody that perfectly imo. Wwx went from son of a well off servant and a powerful cultivator, to street rat orphan, to adopted son of sect leader jiang, to double orphan, to MIA, to terrifying but admired warrior, to terrifying and despised traitor, to dead, to, at the very end, suddenly respected and trusted again. The dishonesty and cheapness of whatever the public’s current opinion of him is is portrayed beautifully as far as im concerned. And jgy of course claws his way up to power only to instantaneously become public enemy number one, to the point that he’s probably blamed for stuff there’s no reason to believe he had a hand in. Wei wuxian’s silent astonishment at how quickly the cultivation world turns against jgy and towards him again is a delicious moment of thematic resonance. 11 justice I settled on this card for jc after he got booted from the emperor seat but i do think it fits, in a somewhat convoluted way. I turned both the sword and the scales into visual representations of the golden core transfer (can you tell im obsessed with it). According to biddy tarot, the justice card is partly about searching for the truth, and the scene where jc finds out about the transfer is of course a big deal. I was also very influenced by the reversed meaning again - which is about being reluctant or unwilling to face or accept the consequences of your actions. I feel on an intuitive level that this fits jc but I’m not sure how well i can explain it - it’s something about how he’s a little too comfortable scapegoating wwx for things that were also, if much less so, influenced by his actions, and also something about the way he keeps wwx at an arm’s length emotionally but still leans on him and accepts his support when he really needs it, and somewhat hypocritically expects wwx to put the needs of him and the jiang sect before the needs of others. And also something about the core exchange is the consequence and proof of wwx’s deep - terrifyingly deep, even - love and care for him, which is something jc doesn’t seem to let himself acknowledge. Maybe even something about how you could argue that the way all of the jiangs acted around wwx - jfm’s favouritism that left him with the feeling of a debt he needs to repay, mme yus insistence that he be a servant more than a brother to jc, prepared to give his life for jc, and jc’s own unwillingness - or inability, he was a child after all - to clearly acknowledge wwx as an equal to himself, enabling wwx’s self sacrificial and protective tendencies - that all of this was what caused wwx’s complete and unquestioning willingness to do whatever it took to protect jc, and therefore paved the way to the golden core transfer. And i don’t mean this to be scapegoating jc - especially considering how young he was when this all went down, it wouldn’t be fair to expect this level of emotional perceptiveness, awareness and maturity of him - but i think adult jc has to grapple with the fact that the chain of cause and effect was not as simple as wwx fucking everyone’s lives up to be a martyr, and that both jc and his parents had a role in that story as well. I don’t even necessarily think this is something that jc only realised in the current timeline - i think it’s something he felt on some level this whole time, and it probably led to a lot of feelings of guilt - but the suibian reveal definitely puts it in sharp focus, and i think he’s now better equipped to handle this introspection than he was as a recently orphaned, traumatised teenager, lol. ANYWAY the window with the fabric is both a nod to the rider-waite design and a reference to the destruction of lanling - i actually did some basic ass research for this, and it seems that in ancient china fabric would indeed be hanged in a window if the normally used paper was damaged. The design of the window, as well as the very idea to use it to imply the reconstruction of lanling, was taken from this great piece of jc angst by my pal moroll1! Oh yeah also the covered window kind of works as a denial of forgiveness for jc because it’s like a halo but covered up... Also I completely forgot to put a blindfold over his eyes which would be perfectttt because blind justice and the core exchange......... ok moving on 12 the hanged man I always have issues with this card because i cant find a satisfactory summary of what it’s really about. Best i can tell it symbolises a need to hit pause, surrender or let go of something… ive also seen it tied to sacrifice? So mo xuanyu doesn’t fit perfectly, but sacrifice is definitely there in a surface level reading kind of way, and the idea that you have to surrender or let go in order to achieve your goal does fit the whole deal of getting revenge but giving up your life in exchange and not being there to see it 13 death This is probably one of my favourite cards, definitely not because I have huge issues with change or anything…. I see this card as signalling the necessity of change or putting an end to something / leaving something in the past in order to start anew? At first i considered putting past wwx, mxy and current wwx here as a kind of transformation and one cycle flowing into the next... But firstly, I’d already used mxy in the very previous card, so putting him in again would feel like overkill, and secondly, the longer I thought about it the less convinced I was that this would even fit with the card’s meaning? Because coming back from the dead doesn’t like... trigger an internal transformation within wwx or anything? Anyway, fun fact: the design I ended up going with was actually originally intended for judgement! I thought I was being very clever with the whole “figure plays an instrument and the dead rise” parallel, but apparently I’d just completely forgotten that the judgement card had a completely different composition... Truly I was boo boo the fool... But yeah anyway at the end of the day I figured the design would kind of work for death as well, with Wen Ning and the theme of transformation, (since in his case coming back as a fierce corpse does actually mark a certain transformation in behaviour) and Wei Wuxian’s protection of the Wen people essentially signifying an attempt to break the cycle of oppression if that makes any sense? Like, wwx is trying to revolutionise the way the world works a bit, if you catch my drift 14 temperance The centrist card! Again this is probably going off track from the “official” interpretation, but to me this card has a certain “don’t commit fully; do everything in moderation; don’t take either side” flavour to it that i personally find infuriating irl and that i very much assign to lxc. It’s entirely possible that I’m misinterpreting his character because i didn’t really pay him (and the 3zun in general) much mind while reading, but hell, I’m allowed to pick favourites and choose who i want to interpret deeply vs shallowly. Again, i wish id chosen lqr for hierophant because its so annoying for a character i don’t care about to get two cards…. But oh well 15 the devil My alternative idea for this was jgy as the devil and lxc plus nmj as the figures, but since all three had been featured already (multiple times, even!) i figured I’d go with xy instead, especially since he’s among my faves lol. I think the devil signifies something along the lines of unhealthy attachment, obsession or addiction, which isn’t 100% accurate in the case of xxc and a-qing, but if i stretch it a bit to cover toxic relationships in general, and especially manipulation or negative influence, i don’t think it’s half bad. My main struggle here was to choose who amongst the xxc/sl/aq trio to choose for the human figures. 16 the tower Arguably jin zixuans death and the following massacre of nightless city were the final and most direct reason for the siege of burial mounds, and the tiger seal is good shorthand for wwx’s loss of control over his powers, which led to the deaths of jzx and jyl. When reimagining major arcana i like to feature some kind of building in this card (spoilers for a possible future project but in my rose of versailles major arcana set the tower is bastille) and even if it’s not a tower, the image of wwx looming over the gathered crowd from atop a rooftop is so good i couldn’t resist 17 the star Struggled with this one - considered both jin ling and lsz for it, as symbolising a hope for the future, but that was kind of covered by the world so it wouldn’t make sense to include here as well... As usual when I struggle with interpreting a card (as opposed to understanding it but struggling with matching a character to it, like with death or moon) I went to biddy tarot and read all the details about its meaning. What i got was that this card signifies an incoming period of introspection and inner peace following a time of turmoil, as well as a general moving on into a new, better phase of one’s life or finding new meaning and purpose. The figure also suggests someone vulnerable, but possessing a keen sense of intuition as well as a good degree of practicality and common sense. Given all those, I settled for mianmian because IM LOVE HER..... I also kind of see her as a prelude to the “just one person is enough” theme present in tgcf!! And i think her decision to abandon her sect because she saw the toxicity and corruption in it is a very inspiring action - even if it didn’t make a large visible impact, i think the appearance of her and her idyllic family at the very end of the novel - paralleling and mirroring wangxian - implies that at the end of the day, it was a meaningful one 18 the moon Another card i ALWAYS fuxking struggle with - this time less because i can’t grasp its meaning and more because I can never find a character that fits it well. I usually get fixated on the “dreams and subconscious” part, but if i lean more on the “disguise, deceit, anxiety and fear” part, i eventually figured the whole yi city arc wouldn’t be a bad fit. I say the entire arc because it really does encompass all those themes if you include both the past and the present - xue yang’s disguise, his tricks with the villagers, a-qing’s lies and even xxc’s reluctance to talk about his past as well as xue yang pretending to be xxc all fit the disguise and deceit angle, and the general mystery and creepiness of the current timeline yi city work well with the anxiety and fear - the mist, the slow uncovering of the past, even a-qing being revealed to be an ally after scaring the shit out of the protags. I definitely struggled with including all the elements and characters, and even moreso with making them vaguely fit the rider-waite composition, but i think it ended up okay ish. OH and i completely forgot to draw mist swirling around them :( 19 the sun I was considering mianmian’s family for this one, but since I used her for star, I ended up with wwx and his parents instead. Once again I’m reinterpreting the card a bit - normally I think it symbolises incoming times of pure happiness and abundance, as well as a connection with the inner child, but I gave it more of a nostalgic or sentimental twist - wwx looking back at the brief glimpse of his happy childhood. 20 judgement another card that i struggle to interpret a bit... Here i actually used the tgcf tarot zine as a reference! In it judgement is summarised as “rebirth, following duty, absolution” SO i figured that nhs, mxy and wwx all together would fit pretty neatly... wwx achieving (public) absolution through clearing his own name after being reborn, and nhs sort of calling on wwx to expose jgy’s crimes... It’s a bit messy but not bad I think! 21 the world This ties very closely to my read on mdzs as a story - which is that it’s, at the end of the day, largely about cycles, and about how hard it is to break them, but how we gotta keep trying and have hope anyway. Or maybe more precisely, that the people directly involved with and influenced by the trauma of the past might not be able to get over said trauma and that the hope for healing from it will be shouldered by the new generation. Or something like that… Basically what i mean is that jc and wwx and lwj and lxc and nhs and jgy and all these people who were in the thick of the sunshot campaign and the siege are so profoundly affected by it that it genuinely feels by the end of the story like there is little hope for them to ever truly overcome that trauma and build a better future without repeating the same old mistakes - but there is a glimmer of hope in the new generation, specifically in jl and lsz. And it’s a bit paradoxical, because they have also been directly impacted by the past tragedies - lsz having his entire clan wiped out after wwx failed to protect them, jl losing both his parents to wwx’s mistakes - but despite that loss, and despite coming from arguably the two opposing sides of the past conflicts, they are both, in the end, capable of moving past that tragedy, of recognising the complicated nature of those conflicts (jl’s moment of clarity at the end is both heartbreaking and hopeful) and forging friendships between clans in the process. I honestly think that the extra where jl is struggling to assert his authority as sect leader, to treat his subjects well and to cooperate with other sects in a truly amicable way is the single hopeful ending note for the larger themes of the novel - it allows us to imagine that maybe these kids can learn from the mistakes of their elders rather than getting sucked in by resentment at those mistakes, and actually build a brighter future for the cultivation world. And sidenote, this is also why i have a soft spot for jin ling and lan sizhui as a ship... speaking of which their poses were directly referenced from the lovers card ehehe

Looking back, I’d like to add some symbol of jin ling’s trauma so that it mirrors baby wen yuan in the tree stump... maybe his father’s sword?

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #tarot

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paralleljulieverse · 3 years

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From the PJV Archives: A Star and her Standby

Original caption: Julie Andrews places crown she wears starring in Broadway play ‘Camelot’ on head of her standby, Helena Scott, in New York. Helena, in addition to being Julie’s standby, is the star of her own off-Broadway musical, ‘The Banker’s Daughter’. This unusual arrangement is possible because a standby, unlike an understudy, does not have to be present during a performance. A standby calls in before a performance to make sure the star will go on and after that her time is her own. Helena has an understudy should she have to substitute for Julie. (AP Wirephoto) February 1962

Born Helen Mary Schurgot in Atlantic City in 1928, Scott was a classically trained soprano who studied voice at Juilliard (‘Seashore soprano’, 3). She enjoyed early success as a company soprano with the New York City Opera where she played Musette in Puccini’s La Boheme, Natalie in Lehar’s The Merry Widow and Rose in Weill’s Street Scene (Gaghan, 31). In 1957, Scott sang the role of Natasha in the US premiere production of Prokofieff’s War and Peace which was telecast as a special event on NBC (Durgin, 17). In between operas, Scott performed in several long-running Broadway shows, starting in the chorus before graduating to bigger parts. She was one of the female ensigns helping Mary Martin wash that man outta her hair in South Pacific (1949), a royal consort and, in later performances, Tuptim in The King and I (1951), and a singing principal in the ill-fated Me and Juliet (1953), (Wallace, A-20). Allegedly, it was when she was cast in the latter show that Richard Rodgers suggested she change her stage name from Schurgot to Scott because he had trouble spelling it (Gaghan, 31). Scott’s biggest break came when she was cast to play the lead female role of Rosabella in the UK premiere production of Loesser’s Most Happy Fella in 1960 (Walrath, 29).*

After the London run of Fella, Scott returned to the US but her career didn’t sustain its early impetus. She appeared in a number of regional productions before coming on board in mid-1961 as Julie’s standby in Camelot, a position that had previously been filled by Inga Swenson (Wahls, C23). Scott continued to pursue other work: a music fair ‘tent’ production of The Merry Widow (Gaghan, 31), and the title role in The Banker’s Daughter, the off-Broadway musical mentioned in the caption above, where she received decent notices but the show closed in a matter of weeks (Davis, 37). After Camelot, a few further regional productions ensued: a summer stock tour of The Music Man (1962) opposite Van Johnson (Dear 5-D), and an upstate New York staging of Most Happy Fella (1962) (Walrath, 29).

Thereafter, the public record for Scott grows opaque. During the London run of Most Happy Fella, she met and subsequently become engaged to British publishing director, Christopher Lezard (‘Helena is..’ 15). A brief mention in a Broadway gossip column from late-1962, confirms the pair were married and Scott was moving permanently to London (Winchell, 15). She then seems to have retired from performing, devoting her energies to family life and raising her children, one of whom is British columnist and literary critic, Nicholas Lezard (Lezard 2013).

In terms of her Broadway career, Scott is one of those fascinating figures who hovers in the tenebrous margins of musical theatre history. She never broke through to major stardom and, today, her name would likely draw blanks from even the most ardent Broadway enthusiast. However, she -- along with thousands of others -- formed part of the mostly unsung army of supporting talent that helped shape and give vital form to the ‘golden age’ of the American musical. And Scott did at least leave a documentary legacy of some of her work in the form of recordings for several shows including the musical extravaganza Arabian Nights (1954), the Grieg-inspired operetta Song of Norway (1958), and the original London cast recording of Most Happy Fella (1960). These historical recordings reveal a soprano voice of demonstrable skill and training that was well suited to operetta-style musicals but that would have struggled in the face of the rapidly changing musical idioms of the 1960s.

And, so, to the $64,000 question: did Scott ever actually get to wear that crown on stage during the run of Camelot? While Julie never missed a scheduled performance during her 18-month tenure with Camelot, she did take a planned two-week holiday from the show from 26 October to 9 November 1961, followed by a further one-week break in early-March 1962 to rehearse and tape her TV special, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall. And, during those two periods, Scott assumed the role of Guenevere opposite William Squire who had inherited the lead role of King Arthur following Richard Burton’s departure in September 1961 (’Guenevere’ 24). As far as can be ascertained, there weren’t any official reviews of Scott’s brief run in Camelot, though a round-up of Broadway shows by columnist Bruce Galphin (1961) mentioned in passing that “Julie Andrews is gone [from Camelot] and Helena Scott just doesn’t fill the vacuum”. Mind, he also opined that William Squire was “[d]itto..in Burton’s old shoes” (8-A). The principal cast was an impossibly hard act to follow for anyone.

Either way, when time came for Julie to leave Camelot permanently in April 1962 due to pregnancy, Scott doesn’t seem to have been considered as a replacement. The role of Guenevere was initially taken over by Patricia Bredlin, an unknown singer from Wales who was brought over by the producers but who only remained with the show for three months before returning to the UK, reportedly due to homesickness (Gaver, B-2). Bredlin’s understudy, Janet Pavek, assumed the crown for several months (‘Successor’, 39), before Hollywood star, Kathryn Grayson, came onboard as the fourth and final Guenevere, closing the Broadway run before kicking off what would be a very lucrative national tour for the show in early-1963 (‘New Heroine’ 23; ‘“Camelot” Leaving...’, 1E).

Footnote:

* An extra tidbit of trivia, Julie was in the audience for the West End opening night of Most Happy Fella because her-then husband, Tony Walton, designed the scenery and costumes for the London production. Newspaper reports relate that, after the show, she "congratulated the leading lady, Helena Scott, with a rapturous: ‘I loved it’.” (Moynihan, 17; see also Griggs, 10).

Sources

‘“Camelot” Leaving N.Y. for National Tour’ 1963. Democrat and Chronicle. 6 January 1963: p. 1E.

Davis, James 1962. ‘“The Banker’s Daughter” Bright and Gay Musical’. Daily News. 23 January: p. 37.

Doar, Harriet 1962. ‘Music Man So Corny It’s Chic’. The Charlotte Observer. 10 June: 5-D.

Durgin, Cyrus 1957. ‘Impressive New Opera: Prokofieff’s “War and Peace” in US Premiere on NBC-TV.’ Boston Daily Globe, 14 January: p. 17.

Gaghan, Jerry 1961. ‘Opera, Broadway, Now She’s in Tents.’ Philadelphia Daily News. 28 July: p. 31.

Galphin, Bruce 1961. ‘“Camelot”, “Molly” Senior Citizens’. The Atlanta Constitution. 11 December: p. 8-A.

Gaver, Jack 1962. ‘Love Makes Understudy the Queen of “Camelot”’. The State Journal. 13 July: p. B-2.

Griggs, Barbara 1960. ‘The Spell of Corn and Cotton.’ Evening Standard. 27 April: p. 10.

‘Guenevere’ 1961. Daily News. 21 October: p. 24.

‘Guenny’ 1961. Daily News. 9 November: p. 76.

‘Helena is the Most Happy Gal’ 1961. Evening Standard. 12 January: p. 15.

Lezard, Nicholas 2013. Bitter Experience Has Taught Me. London: Faber & Faber.

Moynihan, John 1960. ‘In London Last Night.’ Evening Standard. 22 April: p. 17.

‘New Heroine’ 1962. Daily News. 20 October: p. 23.

‘Seashore Soprano Wins Club Plaudits.’ 1945. Courier-Post, 29 September: p. 3.

‘Successor’ 1962. Daily News. 9 July: p. 39

Wahls, Robert. ‘She’s 109 degrees’. Daily News. 10 November: p. C22-23.

Wahls, Robert 1962. ‘Camelot Queen is a Ringer’. Sunday News. 3 June: p. 25.

Wallace, Weldon 1960. ‘Musical Notes.’ The Sun. 21 February: p. A-20.

Walrath, Jean 1962. ‘Most Happy Fella Delights Audience. ‘ Democrat and Chronicle. 7 August: p. 29.

Winchell, Walter 1962. ‘On Broadway.’ Daily News. 10 September: p. 15.

#julie andrews #camelot #Broadway #musical theatre #helena scott #the parallel julieverse

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parkcode · 3 years

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SEASON ONE. EPISODE TWO. PART ONE.

The grieving period has officially ended. Pantheon has summoned crews of interest to return to work. Two missions unite a total reward of 532$ MILLION USD to be divided among crew profit.

RECAP: THE INTRODUCTION OF PALEOSOI

the death of agent Hathaway set cracks in the foundation of pantheon. the tragedy placed an enormous pressure on the shoulders of the organization. such a thing was never predicted by the finest of agents — they had thought the future of pantheon was sealed. a betrayal soon set operatives on a desperate mission to seek out the web of lies. in this moment a decision was made: to gather selected agents and keep any eye on all crews. members might of thought their fellow co-agents had left for a vacation or personal mission. however, they were hidden in plain site. the eyes of pantheon drew closer to the very inner walls of each base.

it would be difficult to assume that these agents knew what was coming. it was as if time flashed before their eyes. the accident and suddenly darkness overcomes them. the bag ripped from their heads would reveal the marble walls of the pantheon base only legends knew of. here they would be told of the duty forced upon them. would the guilt consume them or would they thrive under their new title.

paleosoi — the crew to rid of all wickedness ( and illness ) in any crew of pantheon. while role of titan was once to sit at the thrown it would have to bend to it’s new rulers. veritas: those who seek the truth and keep accountability and epione: those who can heal the wounded. justice and health has become a priority at pantheon and maybe purely to save face.

in the name of agent hathaway — may her memory never fail to remind us of the true fragility of life. pantheon vows to never make such mistake again. the freedom and vanity of each crew has been struck with a cost. will you sacrifice the lifestyle that feeds you to escape the sudden weight placed upon your shoulders or shall you endure for the love of what you do.

MISSION #001

TARGET: REESE SQUIRES

CREW CALL: house of pollux / godsend

REWARD: $241 million dollars ( split equally )

TARGET LAST SEEN: BRUSSLES, BELGIUM.

SQUIRES is the CEO of DEPNEI CORP. once filled with such promise to offer protection to wildlife and especially our endangered oceans. backed by several global organizations it earned depnei a 2.3 Billion dollar net yearly. his promise fell short when it was revealed by trusted sources that DEPNEI had several connections and ships related to the recent string of heists.

Mr. Squires is currently responsible for 1.2 billion dollars worth of crimes against humanity. His most prized artifacts are assumed to be hidden in his luxury apartment in brussels. the property is known for it's three floors and five bedrooms. surveillance suggests no recent guests have occupied the apartment, however, it is surrounded by guards.

Pantheon believes various artifacts can be found on the third floor. While we can only assume we have yet to know as to which artifacts are being hidden.

DIRECTIONS

MISSION ONE CREW:

PLAN AND FIND A WAY TO THE APARTMENT writers will be given the chance to plot out their game plan for mission 001 on discord. we suggest writers search up a map of Brussels and pin point a luxurious apartment set Mr. Squires might live in.

ASSASSINATE SQUIRES oracles and others can work together to plan the perfect attack against the target. code allows writers to think outside the box and work together on a narrative.

FIND A WAY TO TRANSFER THEM OUT OF THE CITY all rankings are needed for such an operation. After the death of the target it will be crucial for all members of the joint crews to quickly smuggle artifacts safely to their forms of transportation.

MISSION #002

LOCATION: POMPEII, ITALY

CREW CALL: black diamond / four hundred

REWARD: $291 million dollars ( split equally )

REGARDING: the discovery of several artifacts by Professor Yun respectively donated to pantheon in hopes of protection from other corporations.

HISTORY OF LOCATION

It is believed to have been founded in the sixth century BCE by the Oscans. The Oscans or the Osci were the natives of southern Italy who spoke the Oscan language. The city was annexed by the Romans in the fourth century BCE and it remained a very important city until its destruction. Archaeologists believe that the city of Pompeii was located in the region of Campania, approximately 14 miles from Naples, in Italy. Its location at the southeastern base of one of the most active volcanoes of Europe – Mount Vesuvius – was its undoing. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE destroyed Pompeii and other neighboring communities such as Herculaneum, and Torre Annunziata. Collectively, the three were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.

Archaeologists believe that the ancient city of Pompeii was founded by the Oscan speaking people of Campania. Its location near the mouth of the river Sarnus (Sarno) made it a beautiful ‘resort’ town that prospered by virtue of the great number of tourists that it attracted and due to the trade opportunities, it offered. By the eighth century BCE, the influence of the Greeks was pronounced and by the following century the Etruscans invaded and settled in Pompeii. By the fifth century BCE King Hieron I of Syracuse conquered Pompeii and neighboring towns as well. Another century later, the entire region of Campania became a part of the Roman confederation. The assimilation of Pompeii into the Roman Empire was not complete, though, and Pompeii along with other Italian city-states launched a revolt against Rome in around 89 BCE. The revolt was quashed and Pompeii became a colony of Rome after the ensuing war.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius was not without warning. In 63 CE, a major earthquake struck the region and many parts of Campania were affected. The belief that Pompeii was indestructible, however, continued to attract people. On August 24, 79 CE, Vesuvius erupted shooting up columns of volcanic gas, ashes, and pumice. Those who had read the warning signs a day before had left but over 11,000 people remained in Pompeii only to be killed by the heat and choked by the gases. The eruption that destroyed Pompeii, however, preserved in its ruins, near-perfect condition to be discovered nearly 17 centuries later (excavation worked in Pompeii began in 1748).

DIRECTIONS

SET UP CAMP IN POMPEII + PROTECT THE PROFESSOR. Professor Yun has been the victim of several threats regarding his recent discoveries. Pantheon has sent it’s finest agents to protect both the professor and his crew while safeguarding artifacts and returning them to their rightful home.

COLLECT AND PACK ARTIFACTS writers are asked to come up with four major artifacts. these can be real or made of fiction with correct research. you may post about the articles in code.mission02. make sure to include the discovery of artifacts match with the history of pompeii.

EXPLORE A FOUND TOMB NEAR SITE it’s a difficult site to witness since the recent incident with hathaway. agents are given the difficult task of returning to a place that reminds them of the past.

#season one #seasons #episode two part one #mission 001 #mission 002

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jazzviewswithcj · 3 years

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Track review-- A deeper look at: Lyle Mays “Eberhard” (Self produced, 2021)

Lyle Mays (piano, keyboards, synthesizers), Bob Sheppard (sax and woodwinds), Steve Rodby (acoustic bass), Jimmy Johnson (electric bass), Alex Acuña (drums and percussion), Jimmy Branly (drums and percussion), Wade Culbreath (vibraphone and marimba), Bill Frisell (guitar), Mitchel Forman (Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer electric piano), Aubrey Johnson (vocals), Rosana Eckert (vocals), Gary Eckert (vocals), Timothy Loo (cello), Erika Duke-Kirkpatrick (cello), Eric Byers (cello) and Armen Ksajikian (cello)

When pianist, synthesist and composer Lyle Mays passed on February 10, 2020 from a lengthy battle with an undisclosed illness, to say it was shocking to all those who enjoyed both his work with the Pat Metheny Group (1978-2005, with officially undocumented Japanese and European tours during 2009-10) and his small catalog as a bandleader was an understatement. The word genius is overused in the music and entertainment industry but Mays truly was a genius in every sense of the word. Not only was he a fabulous musician and composer, but he was multi-talented. Among his many interests outside music: architecture, he had designed his own Los Angeles house as well as one for his sister in Wisconsin; he was a soccer enthusiast that while he was with the PMG actually taught and coached a local team a distinct Brazilian style of play, he was a computer programmer, and a billiards player who played on the professional circuit. Above all, Mays’ attention to structure, detail and compositional drama was a hallmark of his own work, and his brilliant harmonic mind always contributed effervescent improvisational ideas. While he possessed chops in spades, the keyboardist always used them in a meaningful way. As a synthesist Mays was the most significant musician after Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul as a player in the “jazz” field.

Eberhard, composed in 2009 for the Zeltsman Marimba Festival, is a tribute to one of Mays’ greatest influences: the bassist Eberhard Weber. The 13 minute track, which is being released world wide as a single on CD, LP and streaming formats is in many ways a perfect bookend to Lyle Mays (Warner Bros/Metheny Group Productions, 1986) the titular debut record that, while sounding quite unique from anything in the so called “fusion” field was critically panned at the time. In the decades since, the album has gained a cult following as a bonafide classic. The remainder of Mays’ catalog (including a 1993 quartet concert released 22 years later The Ludwigsburg Concert) has broad reach that in its totality represented restless exploration and traversed multiple trails simultaneously.

After the PMG’s The Way Up however, Mays had reservations about where the music industry was going and retired from the music industry instead working a regular position as a software engineer. He also couldn’t deal with the rigors of touring and after the aforementioned PMG Songbook tour of Europe and Japan during 2009-10, Mays had had enough. Though there were rumblings of Metheny and Mays writing for a new Group record a few years later, ultimately the plans were scrapped and the keyboardist made relatively few live appearances, instead focusing on a few teaching appearances co lead with collaborator and sound designer Bob Rice (most known as a Synclavier operator for Frank Zappa) and a widely viewed TED Talks appearance. Mays had also become an endorsee for synthesizer companies Arturia and Trillian Spectrasonics.

Sometime in 2019 Mays’ health began to worsen and decided he needed to record Eberhard so it is not a traditional posthumous release because he was involved in every aspect of playing, composing, recording, orchestrating and producing. As an associate producer, long time PMG band mate, acoustic bassist on the track and best friend Steve Rodby says in the liners, Eberhard was not to be the last work of Lyle Mays and he had plans for more. After Mays’ death, on the Pat Metheny website, the guitarist posted some words about his long time musical compatriot and indicated that he and Mays had been talking about a wacky idea of which he could not reveal the details, but that it was something related to a sequel of their classic As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (ECM, 1981). Eberhard is significant for being the largest ensemble Mays ever led, at 16 members bringing back Alex Acuna and Bill Frisell from the first album, Steve Rodby on acousic bass (who appeared on 1988’s Street Dreams) and featuring mallet player Wade Culbreath, electric bassist Jimmy Johnson, vocalists Rosanna and Gary Eckhart as well as Mays’ niece the rising Aubrey Johnson. A string quartet, Bob Sheppard on reeds, Mitchel Forman on Hammond B-3 organ and Wurlitzer electric piano, and second drummer Jimmy Branly round out the group besides Mays’ piano and keyboards.

Mays’ connection to Weber’s music goes back further than the 2009 composition, which has roots decades before in 1983. While Mays appeared on the bassist’s wonderful Later That Evening (ECM, 1982) Weber had appeared on Pat Metheny’s Watercolors (ECM, 1977) forming the backbone along with drummer Danny Gottlieb of what could be considered a Pat Metheny Group prototype, and the tracks Mays appeared, are really a prequel to Pat Metheny Group (ECM, 1978). Weber remained a profound influence on the keyboardist’s composing, and when the PMG’s swan song The Way Up (Nonesuch/Metheny Group Productions, 2005) was released, the melancholy bass melody of “Part 2” was a direct reference to Weber.

The piece begins with an marimba ostinato from Culbreath, a two note motif with a touching chord progression. Mays states a few of the melodic ideas with his signature piano reverberating in the atmosphere with trademark subtle layers of keyboards and percussion from Acuna. It’s important to note the striking similarities in style between Mays and Weber keyboardist Rainer Bruninghaus. Mays and Bruninghaus, it must be said conjecturally, seem to have explored parallel paths in their harmonic styles and solo wise. Jimmy Johnson’s fretless bass then takes center stage for a bass melody redolent of Weber, before things really begin to percolate with minimalist motifs that are quite influenced by Indonesian Gamelan music (shades of the title track to Imaginary Day) and Steve Reich. Flutes state a motif taken directly from Weber’s “T. On A White Horse” on The Following Morning (ECM, 1974) and the first bits of wordless vocals appear with the motif, the percussive vocal effects that appear from the far left and right parts of the sound stage are reminiscent of the synth effects Mays used on “Northern Lights”, the first movement of the “Alaskan Suite” from Lyle Mays. There are also musique concrete sonic collages that frame the eerie dream like sequences much like the first two parts of Street Dreams (Warner Bros./Metheny Group Productions, 1988).

Mays takes a solo that builds in intensity and arc before the main musical kernel melodically is revealed behind Acuna’s drums and the wordless vocals from the Eckhart’s and Johnson. During a further development of this section, Mays and Johnson engage in an awe inspiring duo with Johnson’s vocals in unison with his keyboards. It is here and only here, for a couple of bars does Mays signature ocarina like synth lead appear, more as a texture placed in the mix alongside other sounds. Bob Sheppard, ace LA studio player and longtime associate of the keyboardist takes a searing tenor sax solo buoyed by Rodby’s inimitable bass and surging intensity from the rest of the ensemble. An intriguing aspect of Mays’ comping behind Sheppard revolves around a device he loved to use, where rhythmically his lines “pulse” much like the way Stravinsky has rhythmic pulsing in pieces like The Rite Of Spring and The Firebird. Another fine example of this style of comping would be the way Mays comps behind Pat Metheny’s guitar synthesizer solo on “As It Is” from Speaking of Now (Warner Bros. Metheny Group Productions, 2002) though there are numerous other examples of Mays doing this in other tracks throughout his discography. Once things reach the point of no return in terms of build, the piece ends as quietly as it began. The marimba ostinato returns behind the subtle synth underpinning and the piece achieves an utterly satisfying resolution. It is remarkable that in 13 minutes the piece travels as much territory as it does, it feels as if the listener has been on a much longer journey.

Sound:

Recorded, mixed and mastered by Rich Breen, Eberhard was recorded during the latter parts of 2019 up through January 2020. The familiar hand of Steve Rodby served alongside Bob Rice as associate producers and sonically the piece is full and dynamic covering the entire sound stage. Production wise, the album falls between Lyle Mays and Street Dreams. As with those albums, Frisell is a textural voice in the mix as opposed to a lead voice, and he seamlessly blends into the soundscape in a way the listener may not notice. Mays’ piano is at once gleaming but also relatively dark in timbre but is so resonant across the sound stage with reverb. Drums, and bass all sound accurate and have appropriate punch, and new details in the sub mix reveal themselves over time upon multiple listening.

Concluding Thoughts:

In a cultural era where the light music brings is needed more than ever Eberhard is simply a gift. Mays’ entire catalog is worth investigation, but there is something about the piece that places it near the top, it is perhaps barring none, the finest compositional achievement of his entire career. On its own terms it is wondrous, for those who have missed Mays’ contributions to the Metheny Group this will fill a much needed hole, but in terms of the keyboardist/composers’ oeuvre as a leader this quite simply is the piece de resistance and easily fits as the bookend to the self titled opus and a perfect capstone to a remarkable career and life.

Music: 10/10

Sound: 9.5/10

Equipment used for review:

HP Pavilion X360 laptop (for digital promo streaming)

Marantz NR1200 stereo receiver (used as preamp)

Marantz MM 7025 power amplifier with AKM 4000 series dual DAC’s

Focal Chora 826 speakers

Beyerdynamic DT 770 Pro headphones

Audioquest Forest and Golden Gate cables

Canare 4S11 speaker cable

#lyle mays #pat metheny group #eberhard weber #ecm records

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coolgreatwebsite · 4 years

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Cool Games I Finished In 2020 (In No Real Order)

Oh, hey! Right! I have a website! I’m like a week late on writing this, but what’s a week on top of an entire year of not writing, right? 2020 was... well, we all know what 2020 was. For me personally, it was simultaneously the best and worst year of my life. The worst in both ways you can probably assume and ways you definitely can’t (neither of which I’ll be getting into), and the best in ways I absolutely never would have guessed. That uncertain job I mentioned last year got very suddenly much more certain, at a much bigger company, for a much larger amount of money. That allowed me to get my own place, making my weird living situation much less weird. Still haven’t gotten the majority of my belongings off of the east coast, but if the entire world wasn’t currently fucked up by a global pandemic I’d have sorted all that out too. What I’m saying is that, for the third year in a row, my life has been a complete whirlwind that has left me very little time to get comfortable with any aspect of it. But I did manage to play more video games than I did last year! Which is perfect, because it’s once again time for another one of these. Here’s a bunch of cool games I experienced for the first time in 2020.

Astro’s Playroom (PlayStation 5, 2020)

My one word description of Astro's Playroom is "delightful". It's just an absolute goddamn delight. A total surprise too! Included with every PlayStation 5, Astro's Playroom is, in my opinion, one of the best pack-in games of all time.

First off, it's an incredible tech demo for the PS5's new DualSense controller. It was easy to brush off Sony's talk about the controller's haptic feedback and triggers as some Nintendo-style HD Rumble bullshit, but it really is incredibly cool once you get your hands on it. The game is obviously more than a tech demo though, or else it wouldn't be on here. It also just so happens to be an extremely solid and fun platformer on top of that. Astro controls exceptionally well and the levels are all well-designed and fun, even the gimmick vehicle ones designed to show off different features of the controller. It also has an oddly compelling speedrun mode, made all the more compelling by the PS5 notifying you when your friends beat your times and the ability to load into it within two seconds from anywhere on the console. But the biggest thing for me and, call me a mark, because I am, is that the game is an honestly incredible love letter to PlayStation history.

For the first time ever, Sony has pulled off a nostalgia piece without it ending up as embarrassing garbage in the vein of PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale. There's a Nintendo-like joyful reverence for all things PlayStation oozing out of every single corner of this game. There are so many nods and references and gags for literally every PlayStation thing of note throughout the the last 25 years, and then on top of that there's a whole heap more for the things that AREN'T of note that only hyperdorks like me would get! A sly reference to the ill-fated boomerang controller? Yep. A goof on the fat PS3's Spider-Man font? You betcha. A trophy you can earn by repeatedly punching a Sony Interactive Entertainment sign until it breaks and reveals the Sony Computer Entertainment sign it was slapped on top of? Yeah buddy. It's deep cuts all the way down, even up until the final boss which had me grinning like a total dipshit the entire time. The game is endlessly, effortlessly charming.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Nintendo Switch, 2020)

Animal Crossing: New Horizons was the perfect game at the perfect time. That doesn't mean it's a perfect game, I actually have some issues with it, but it could not have released at a better time than when it did. It came out at the very very beginning of everyone going into lockdown due to the pandemic, and it was the biggest game in the world for a couple of months as a result. I played like 300 hours and that pales in comparison to the amount of time many others put into it.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the most different Animal Crossing game there's ever been, and I'm of two minds on it. Like, I loved the game, I played a ton of it, but it's lacking so much of the stuff that made me love Animal Crossing in the first place. The series has been slowly trending in this direction for a bit now, but it's not really a game that happens around you anymore. It's all about total player control. You select where everything goes, you customize every detail of everything to your liking, hell, you can even terraform the landmass to be exactly what you want. Your neighbors take a backseat in focus and end up as little more than decorations with limited dialogue and next to no quests associated with them. Series staples like Gyroids are missing in action. Facilities and services that have been around since Wild World aren't implemented. It's similar to past Animal Crossing games in a lot of ways, but on the whole it feels like a different thing.

But like I said, two minds. New Horizons strays from what I truly want from an Animal Crossing game, but I can't deny that the game as it is is a hell of a lot of fun. There's SO much you can do and SO many options, it's super addictive. Plus it implemented my long-requested feature of letting you effortlessly send mail to friends online! Too bad the actual online play is as cumbersome as ever.

In conclusion, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a land of contrasts. I'm kidding. It's good, but definitely missing something in a way where I can understand some people being disappointed in it. I had a ton of fun though, and I'm probably going to get back into it later in 2021.

Trials of Mana (Nintendo Switch, 2019)

Late in 2019, with the physical release of Collection of Mana for the Switch, I decided I was going to play through each game on it for the first time and finally find out what this whole Mana thing was about. I went into Final Fantasy Adventure (the first game in the Mana series, because every RPG had to be Final Fantasy back then) with zero expectations and found a totally serviceable little Zelda-like with light RPG elements. I enjoyed my time with it. I went into Secret of Mana with the expectation of it being a beloved classic and found the worst game I beat that year, hands down. That game fucking sucks. I get why it made an impression on people at the time, but it's just so so SO awful to play. Needless to say I was pretty disappointed. Honestly, I would have been disappointed even if I hadn't heard it was one of "the best games" for so long. It would have been a disappointing follow-up to Final Fantasy Adventure, a game that in and of itself isn't anything incredible. Secret of Mana is just that rotten.

I braced myself for more disappointment when (after a much needed vacation from the series) I started up Trials of Mana. This game had a reputation too, as a long-lost classic that never made it stateside. One of the best games on the Super Nintendo, criminally never released for western audiences! Like Secret of Mana before it, I'd heard nothing but effusive praise. Unlike Secret of Mana, however, I was very pleased to find out that Trials of Mana mostly lives up to the hype. From a gameplay standpoint, Trials is an improvement on Secret in almost every single way. It's not perfect. The menus are still kinda clunky, animations for things like magic and items are still frequently disruptive. But the main thing is it actually plays like a sensible video game designed by humans with brains. Attacking is responsive! Hitboxes aren't complete nonsense! You don't constantly get stunlocked to death! There are more answers to combat than casting the same spell for five straight minutes to kill your enemies before they get a chance to move! It's great!

On top of being an enjoyable video game to actually play, the presentation is top notch. Secret of Mana could be a pretty game with decent music in some spots, but Trials is consistently gorgeous and the soundtrack is across the board great instead of randomly having songs that sound like clown vomit. And while Trials of Mana doesn't have the deepest story in the world, it manages to avoid being completely paper-thin like Secret. The story actually kind of has a reason for being a bit straightforward, and the reason is that it has a really cool system where you pick your three playable characters from a pool of six. Each character has their own goals and storyline, some of which line up with other potential party members, some of which don't, and you'll even run into the characters you didn't choose as NPCs along the way. This and the relatively brisk pace of the game make it highly replayable.

I'm really glad that Trials of Mana made it over here in an official capacity, even if it was like 25 years late. It's as good as I expected Secret of Mana to be and singlehandedly saved my interest in seeing any more of the series. I'm aware the quality of what came after is very spotty, but I'll get to the rest eventually!

Final Fantasy VII Remake (PlayStation 4, 2020)

They (almost) did it. They (basically) pulled it off. They remade (a chunk of) Final Fantasy VII and (for the most part) didn't fuck it up. Ok, funny parentheticals aside, Final Fantasy VII Remake is astoundingly good coming off of over two decades of just absolutely dreadful post-FF7 sequels, side games, and movies.

Final Fantasy VII has been historically misremembered as this kind of miserable, angsty, brooding thing, both by fans and by the company that made it. FF7-branded media after FF7 itself is a minefield of changed personalities, embarrassing original characters, and monumentally lame stories. Final Fantasy VII Remake is the first post-FF7 anything that actually remembers the characters, setting, and plot of Final Fantasy VII and what made them memorable and special to people in the first place. Which isn't to say it's a slavish recreation! There's a ton of changes and additions, and I actually like almost all of them! Except for some really big stuff I'll touch on in a bit!

The combat in Final Fantasy VII Remake is great. I was super skeptical about it when the game was first announced, but they actually managed to make the blend of real-time action and turn-based RPG menuing fun and engaging. The characters all play super differently from each other too, which is a huge and welcome difference from the original game. The Materia system fits like a glove in this revamped combat system as well. The remixed music is good as hell, and the visuals are beautiful (outside of a couple of very specific spots that I'm kinda of surprised they haven't fixed in a patch yet). It's a well-executed package all around.

But alas, as always, there are negatives. For starters, this is only part one of the overall Final Fantasy VII Remake project. It goes up to the party leaving Midgar which, as you may or may not recall, is the first six hours of the original game. They compensated for this by fleshing the hell out of the Midgar section the game, ballooning the overall playtime to total of about 30-ish hours. The game feeling padded is a common complaint but for what it's worth, I didn't really feel it until the unnecessarily long final dungeon, There's also the previously mentioned and funny parenthetical'd changes and additions I don't like.

This is big time spoilers for this game so if you don't want that jump ahead to the next game on the list. The Whispers suck ass. Final Fantasy VII Remake should have been brave enough to be different without having to constantly derail everything in the most ham-fisted and intrusive way possible. You can have Jessie twist her ankle without making a spooky plot ghost trip her. I don't want to fight the physical manifestation of the game everyone thought they were getting as an end boss. If you're not doing a straight remake, that's fine, but have the fucking guts to stand by your artistic decisions without feeling the need to invent the lamest deus ex machina I've ever fucking seen. The last couple of hours of this game are 100% about the Whispers and are awful for it. It's a true testament to the strength of the rest of Final Fantasy VII Remake that this aspect didn't completely sour me on it. I can only hope that they stay dead and gone for good in the games yet to come and the remake can be different while standing on its own two feet.

I truly cannot wait for the next entry in the Final Fantasy VII Remake project. I'm excited for Final Fantasy VII in a way I haven't been since the late 90s. I have a bit of trepidation that they could royally screw it up. I mean, they already got kinda close, as I said in my last paragraph. But they got so much right in this entry that, for the first time in decades, I'm willing to believe in Square Enix when it comes to Final Fantasy VII.

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim (PlayStation 4, 2020)

My one word description of 13 Sentinels is "fucking crazy". I realize that's two words, but shut up. A bizarre hybrid of visual novel, adventure game, and strategy RPG, 13 Sentinels not only makes that work, but makes it work incredibly well.

The story is fucking bonkers. It's told entirely non-linearly and is purposefully dense and confusing, but it does an amazing job of hooking you with a cast of likable characters and some impressively well-paced twists, made all the more impressive by the fact that you can tackle the story in basically whatever order you want. I'll say it again for those in the back, the story is Fucking Bonkers. Wherever you think it's going, it's not going. Where it is going is PLACES. Seriously, if you want a wild goddamn ride, this is the game for you. The presentation is also stunning. It's a drop dead gorgeous game with a really nice soundtrack. Easily Vanillaware's best looking game, which is saying something seeing as looking good is Vanillaware's whole deal.

If I had to levy one criticism against the game, it's that the strategy RPG portion is just kind of ok. It's enjoyable enough, it doesn't get in the way and there's not too much of it, but once it starts introducing armored versions of previous enemy types it's kind of done doing anything different. It is really good at getting people to out themselves as having no idea what tower defense is as a genre though!

Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition (Nintendo Switch, 2018)

I haven't really historically been a "Musou Guy". Not to say I've actively disliked them, they're just not something I've seeked out very often or played very much of. Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition kinda turned me into a "Musou Guy" a little bit? It's good, surprisingly-less-mindless-than-you'd-think fun.

I actually super don't care about the Zelda branding. I think all the fanservice stuff is meh at best. What I do care about is that there's a ton of character variety and a metric shitload of content. There's so many different characters and weapons for those characters that all play differently from one another and SOOOOOO many levels to play. Like the story mode is, again, kinda meh, the real meat of the game is the Adventure mode and there's a ton of it. It's 8 different world maps, each based off a different Zelda game, with each square of the map containing a little mini-scenario with unique objectives and rewards. There has to be at least 1000 scenarios between all the maps. There's so much. And that's not even getting into some of the other side stuff like the challenge modes and the fairy raising. It's a crazy amount of game in this game.

And again, it's not as mindless as it'd seem. It's not really a game ABOUT destroying 5000 guys, it's an area control and resource management game where the 5000 guys are one of those resources. Knowing who to send where and when to fight who is way more important than pressing the XXX YYY XXX YYY on the more than one million troops.

I'd say that if you're even cursorily potentially maybe interested in a musou game, this is the one to try. And if you like it, it could literally be your forever game. A sequel came out recently too, and I'm looking forward to trying that out soon.

Phantasy Star Online 2 (Xbox One, 2020)

Phantasy Star Online 2 finally came stateside in the year 2020, eight years after its initial Japanese release and initial American cancellation. It's no Phantasy Star Online 1, but it is a really fun game in its own right provided you can find the willpower to break through its clunkiness and eight years of confusing poorly tutorialized free-to-play MMO cruft.

The main thing going for PSO2, and this is a major improvement from PSO1, is that the act of engaging in its combat is fun. The combat is just feels really really good. There's a bunch of different weapon types and classes, and once you find the ones that really click with you you're in for a good time, whether you're izuna dropping dudes with wire claws or literally doing air juggles and rainstorm from Devil May Cry with the dual machine guns.

The other stuff around that combat is weird. I generally like it, but it's weird. The story mode is one of the most bizarrely presented things I've ever seen. It apparently used to be something you'd seek out in the levels themselves, but presently it's just a list of scenes you pick from a menu and watch with next to no context until it makes you fight a boss sometimes. There's some weird moments in there that MIGHT have been cool if it were presented in literally any other way?

The systems and presentation are also way more... I dunno, pinball? Pachislot? In very stark contrast to how chill original Phantasy Star Online was, everything in PSO2 is designed in a way to maximize that flashy light bing bing wahoo you got ~*~RARE DROP CHANCE UP~*~ feeling. Which isn't to say I don't like flashy light bing bing wahoo, but it's a weird different thing.

Was it worth the wait? Yeah, sure! For me! This is another one that I played like 300 hours of! I haven't even seen half of it, I fell off right before Episode 4 released because it coincided with my move! I'm gonna go back and see all that shit! PSO2's fun! A different flavor of fun than the original, sure, but fun all the same. Another one that I'm glad finally made it over here.

Riichi Mahjong (A Table, 1924)

Holy shit I fucking did it I finally learned how to play Mahjong and it rules.

It started when I picked up Clubhouse Games for the Switch. I saw that it had Riichi Mahjong and something in my brain snapped. For whatever reason, I decided that this was the time I was going to rip the band-aid off and figure this shit out. It wasn't too dissimilar to the first time I decided to try eggs, but that's a different and much stupider story for a different time. I did the tutorial in Clubhouse Games, looked up some more basics and advice because the tutorial wasn't super amazing, and I kept playing while being aided by the game's nice helper features like the button that pulls up recommended hands. I kept playing and... sorta got it. I learned the basic rules, but none of the strategy. And then I stopped playing for a few months.

In that few months, for whatever reason, a decent amount of people I know had their brains snap the same way? Like a more-than-two amount of people I'm either friends with or following online also decided to learn Mahjong. I decided to get back on the horse and downloaded Mahjong Soul and I don't know whether it was perseverance or the power of anime babes, but this time I got it. I still refer to a sheet with all the hands and whether they work open or closed, and I'm by no means a master player, but I actually honest to god understand what I'm doing and it's an incredible feeling.

Mahjong has such a huge amount of what I like to call "Get That Ass" energy. It is the energy you feel when you get someone's ass. In Mahjong you are either constantly getting someone's ass or getting your ass gotten. Someone puts down the wrong tile and you fucking GET THEIR ASS DUDE! They're got!! They're a fucking idiot that put down the wrong thing and now you have their points!!! Or you draw what you need yourself and you're a brain genius all according to plan and everyone gives you points because you're so wise!!!! It's great!!!!!

Mahjong has long been one of those games where I'd say "I'll learn this someday" and never reeeeally actually try to learn, and I'm so glad I finally took the effort to because it's good as hell. And, truth be told, it wasn't THAT hard to learn? Like you can get to the point where I was where I didn't know the strategy fairly easily in my opinion, and once you do that It's just a matter of continuing to play to understand the rest. I highly recommended that you also go out and learn it if you similarly revel in getting that ass, it's so satisfying once you do.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PlayStation 4, 2020)

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio took a big gamble with Yakuza: Like a Dragon. After seven games (more if you take spinoffs and remakes into consideration) they decided to focus on a new main character and, even more unexpectedly, they decided to change things up by turning the series into a turn-based JRPG. Their gamble paid off in spades. This is easily in my top 3 favorite Yakuza games.

The JRPG gameplay is surprisingly solid. There's definite room for improvement, but they nailed a bunch of it right out of the gate. Some mechanics are a little janky and I wish the job system was more fleshed out or just worked more like Final Fantasy V's, but they nailed one of the most important things and made the battles brisk and fun. It's a great foundation, especially for a team that's never attempted anything like this, and it's way more fun than the combat's been in any of the previous Dragon Engine games. I can't wait to see them iterate on it.

Everything else is top fuckin' notch. The music is great, the side content is fully fleshed out in a way it hasn't been since before they switched to the Dragon Engine, and I love the characters and story so much. Yakuza has a new main character in Ichiban Kasuga, and he's my son and I love him. Kiryu was great, and I love him too, but he was a bit of a passive protagonist. Stuff happened around him and he mostly just stoically reacted to it. Ichi is a much more active lead and it's great. He's a big lovable dope, and his tendency to keep an upbeat attitude and eagerness to leap into action is such a breath of fresh air. And it's not only Ichiban, since this is an RPG you have a whole party of characters and they're all great! Having them with you at all times bantering with each other and reacting to things is another great change of narrative pace, too.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon just straight up rules. As someone who has historically not been too much of a fan of the Dragon Engine games, it's simultaneously a refreshing new take on the series and a fantastic return to form. I can't wait for what comes next. Wherever Ichiban goes, I go.

Moon: Remix RPG Adventure (Nintendo Switch, 2020)

After 23 years of Japanese PS1 exclusivity, Moon: Remix RPG Adventure finally got an English release this year for Nintendo Switch. I'm glad it did, because Moon isn't just the very definition of A Sebmal Game. It's the Sebmal Game missing link. In addition to being just a great video game, it helped me make a mental throughline for a bunch of games I love and a large part of my taste in video games.

To keep a long story short (seriously, I have a much much longer version of this saved in my drafts that I'll maybe finish someday), Moon turned out to be not the JRPG I assumed it was, given the title and basic story pitch, but a secret prequel to a game I love named Chulip. Moon's developer, Love-de-Lic, was formed by a handful of ex-Squaresoft employees, many of which worked on an extremely formative game I love named Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars. Love-de-Lic broke up in the year 2000 and its staff went on to form a bunch of different studios that ended up making a BUNCH of different games I love like Chibi-Robo, Freshly-Picked Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland, Dandy Dungeon, and the aforementioned Chulip. These games, when you make the connection and line them up, all have a very distinct weirdness in common that makes perfect sense once you've realized many of the same people worked on them. Figuring this all out felt like snapping a piece of my brain back in place, and it was really crazy to come to understand exactly how much this studio that formed and disbanded decades before I'd even heard of them had impacted my tastes and, hell, my life.

So what is Moon, for those who don't innately understand what I mean by "a secret prequel to Chulip"? Moon is an adventure game where you explore a world with a day/night cycle, learn about that world's inhabitants, and eventually solve their problems. Think of it kind of like The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, but if the sidequests were the entirety of the focus with no Groundhog Day time reset mechanic and none of the Zelda stuff like combat and dungeons. You play as a young boy who, after a late night JRPG binge session, is sucked into the world of the game he was just playing. Everything is off from the way it was portrayed while the boy was playing the game, though. The hero he had previously controlled is actually a silent menace, raiding peoples' houses for treasure and slaughtering every innocent animal that crosses his path in an endless quest for EXP. The townspeople seem more concerned with problems in their day-to-day lives than the supposed world threatening crisis outlined in the game's intro. It's up to you as the boy to investigate this world's mysteries, help the townsfolk, mend the damage the hero has done, and eventually restore love to a loveless world.

Speaking of love, I fucking loved Moon. I loved the story, I loved the characters, I loved the music, I loved the way it looks (even though the Switch port is a little crusty in that basic emulator-y kinda way), I loved how constantly bizarre and surprising and funny it was. Like I said earlier, it's the very definition of a game made for me. It was essentially the progenitor of a long line of games made for me, and of games potentially made for me but I don't know yet because I haven't played them due to not understanding Japanese (UFO: A Day in the Life translation next please? Anyone from Onion Games reading this??). For as similar as Moon and Chulip are in their systems and pacing, I think I might actually like Moon better despite it coming earlier? It's not as full force maximum impact absurd as Chulip is, but it is a lot more playable and less obtuse once you get a grip on the time limit mechanic. You don't need a full strategy guide included in the instruction manual for Moon, and you don't need to exchange business cards with every single character to get information vital to finishing the game either.

I truly cannot recommend Moon enough if your taste in games ventures anywhere off the beaten path. Maybe this is a little conceited of me, but I assume if you're reading this article, let alone this far down into it, you relate to my video game opinions at least a little bit? You should play Moon. Everyone reading this sentence should play Moon. Moon: Remix RPG Adventure is my game of the year for the year 2020.

These games were also cool, I just had less to say about them:

Death Stranding (PlayStation 4, 2019): Death Stranding, much like Metal Gear Solid V, was a game I enjoyed for the gameplay and not much else. The story, characters, and writing were a huge disappointment for me, but man if I didn't enjoy lugging those boxes around and setting up my hellish cross-continental goon summer camp lookin' zipline network. Mr. Driller Drill Land (Nintendo Switch, 2020): I am a known Mr. Driller Enjoyer, and I enjoyed this Mr. Driller. Originally released for the Gamecube, Mr. Driller Drill Land is another long-time Japanese exclusive that finally came stateside this year and it's packed with new and novel twists on the Mr. Driller format. It looks super sharp, the music's great (also the credits music is the most impossibly out of place and extra as hell shit in the world and it's hilarious), and it's just a good ass time. The main campaign is pretty damn short, but if you're a post-game content kinda guy it has that and it's all super hard. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 (PlayStation 4, 2020): They finally made another good new Tony Hawk game, and all it took was perfectly remaking two of the best old Tony Hawk games! Plays exactly like you remember it with the added benefit of the best mechanics from up to THUG1, looks great, packed full of content, even has most of the music alongside some mostly crappy new stuff. It's the full package as is, but I do hope they end up adding THPS3 to it eventually. Mad Rat Dead (Nintendo Switch, 2020): Mad Rat Dead was a pleasant surprise that I only picked up because I saw a couple of people on my Twitter timeline constantly talking about it. A fun and inventive platformer where all your actions need to be on beat with the music. The gameplay feels great (aside from some not so great performance issues on Switch), the soundtrack is fun, and it's got a real good style to it. Demon's Souls (PlayStation 5, 2020): I love Demon's Souls and this is Demon's Souls. It plays exactly the same with some minor quality of life changes. I don't agree with many of the artistic changes, but there's no denying it looks incredible on a technical level. If you want to play Demon's Souls again or for the first time, this is a perfectly valid and fun way to do so. Groove Coaster: Wai Wai Party!!!! (Nintendo Switch, 2019): Groove Coaster is one of my favorite rhythm games, and they finally made an acceptable at-home version with Wai Wai Party. It's not a perfect replication of the arcade game control-wise, I have some issues with the song choices, and the pricing is frankly fucking ridiculous if you're not a Groove Coaster maniac like I am, but the same ultra satisfying gameplay is all there. You can even play it vertically in handheld mode! Flip Griiiiiiiip!

And we're done! Phew! Honestly didn't realize I played that many good games until I typed all this out. Thanks as always for reading this far. I'm gonna try and get back to regularly posting Breviews this year at the very least. Honestly don't know if I'll get anything else up on here, but we'll see. Here's to hoping 2021 is a little bit less of a nightmare!

#article #Year Wrapup

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chelseychats · 3 years

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Read This if You’re Curious About The Results Of The War On Drugs

Have you ever wondered where America’s-for lack of better terms-obsession with drugs came from? If not, have you at least become curious as to why the American government felt the sudden need to tirelessly advocate against drug use? The vast world wide web presents endless information on the nation’s War on Drugs; including how it came about, the effects it has had on our country, and where we are now. Yet, many of these website’s explain this information through wordy articles that are sometimes difficult to follow or simply downright boring. Chelsey Chats presents to all willing readers the ins and outs concerning the War on Drugs, it’s ramifications, and what this information means, in simple terms. Let us begin.

Drugs have not always been viewed as harmful, taboo, and negatively life altering. Countless individual cultures have utilized various types of drugs for pharmaceutical and religious reasons. Recovery.org found The Native American Church to be one of the most well known religions which use drugs to exercise their faith. The Native American Church uses a highly potent drug called peyote in certain ceremonies. An additional common religion that utilizes drugs for spiritual purposes is Hinduism, which has traditionally used cannabis to worship. Drug Policy Alliance asked the million dollar question begging to be answered in an article titled “A Brief History of the Drug War,”: why are some drugs legal while other drugs are prohibited? To provide readers with all-inclusive understanding, we must first understand the origin of the infamous War on Drugs.

In the 1960’s, around the time when bell-bottoms, lava lamps, and go-go boots were at their prime, drugs had become what Drug Policy Alliance calls, “...a symbol of youthful rebellion, social upheaval, and political dissent.” As drugs became increasingly frowned upon by parents and political figures, the American government was obligated to counter this “growing threat”. The first president to do so was former President Nixon; in June of 1971, Nixon officially declared what he called a “War on Drugs.” President Nixon swiftly took action by mandating a handful of new orders and policies. These orders included significantly expanding federal drug control bureaus, and administering policies such as the notorious mandatory sentencing. Nixon also strategically placed cannabis in Schedule One; this distinct classification of drug categorizes cannabis as high potential for abuse.

The year following Nixon’s series of changes, the commission recommended reversing Nixon’s decision to place cannabis in Schedule One. Instead, the commission held that the drug should be decriminalized for the possession and distribution of cannabis for personal use. This suggestion was entirely ignored by Nixon. This information leads us to revisit the initial question presented by Drug Policy Alliance; why are some drugs perfectly legal while others are strictly and heavily prohibited? Writers for Drug Policy Alliance summed it up perfectly, “It’s not based on any scientific assessment of the relevant risks of these drugs- but it has everything to do with who is associated with these drugs.”

The War on Drugs did not end with Nixon’s presidency, in fact, quite the opposite. Former President Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, where he chose to continue to carry out the plans of his predecessor. The first lady, Nancy Reagan, launched her own anti-drug campaign in which she created her well-known slogan, “Just Say No.” Mass hysteria surrounding the subject of illegal drug use was partly owed to the media, which consistently presented images and news of American citizens addicted to the free-base form of cocaine called “crack”. Nancy Reagan’s campaign pushed for “zero tolerance” programs which showed no mercy to individuals who had fallen victim to the highly addictive drug.

The rise of the war on drugs continued to increase. Los Angeles Police Department Daryl Gates established the renowned project D.A.R.E, which educated youth on drugs. Drug Policy Alliance stated that the program “... was quickly adopted nationwide despite the lack of evidence and effectiveness.” The result of the mass hysteria concerning drugs in our communities began to shift the way American’s perceived drugs. In the year of 1985, the amount of American citizens who thought drug abuse was the country's most important issue was estimated to be about two to six percent. Around four years later, the percent of Americans who thought drug abuse was the most crucial issue jumped to an astounding 64%. Congress viciously fed off the American hysteria, placing severely harsh penalties concerning drug use, trade, and distribution. Long after the hysteria subsided, the harsh penalties remained.

The War on Drugs was composed of anti-drug programs, excessively harsh laws, expansions of federal drug control agencies, doubling prison populations and endless anti-drug marketing. The War on Drugs founded by Nixon had lasted almost 50 years. After 50 years of advocating against drug use, the results are disheartening, to say the least. The Penal Reform Institution stated, “The enforcement of overly punitive laws for drug offenses has not only proven to be ineffective in curbing production, trafficking, and consumption of illicit substances, but had many negative consequences including overloading criminal justice systems, overwhelming courts, fueling prison overcrowding, and exasperating health problems.”

There were many faults to the War on Drugs project from its very inception. To begin, the prime reasoning behind the project’s launch stemmed from ill and discriminatory intentions. Nixon’s former domestic policy advisor, John Enrichman, later revealed Nixon’s hidden agenda in starting the War on Drugs. “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.” You can find out more here.

The War on Drugs primarily focused on low-level offenders and drug users. This moved the government’s focus from removing actual offenders of organized crime. The project also failed to sentence drug users and dealers accordingly; there was minimal distinction between the possession of illegal drugs and trafficking. The War on Drugs project also provided an unfair disparity between crack and cocaine sentences. Penal Reform International concluded that the “...biggest contributing factors in the startling increase in incarceration in the U.S. is traceable to the arrest and imprisonment of poor people of color for non-violent and drug related offenses.”

Now that we’ve drawn an adequate illustration of the War on Drugs and its efficiency, this post will present some useful statistics to provide readers with full understanding. Writer for The Globe, David Case, wrote a commendable article titled “The War on Drugs: What Is It Good For?” which broke down the various aspects of the campaign and analyzed the results. From gathered statistics, Case estimated that the 50 year long war on drugs has cost the nation a whopping $2 trillion dollars, and calls the war “nearly still born.” As of 2013, almost 3 million people are incarcerated; equivalent to more than 1 in 5 of the planet’s prisoners. To provide readers with a better understanding of what this means, Case provided that the number of American inmates currently serving time for drug related charges surpassed the total U.S. prison population in the year of 1970.

The effects of the War on Drugs project caused a negative trickle-down effect that affected American neighborhoods, families, and taxpayers across the country. The World found, “Illicit trade has transformed neighborhoods- from Baltimore to Detroit to East L.A.- into battle zones where innocent citizens live in fear of violence and shady dealers.”

Not only this, the plans specifically designed to fuel the War on Drugs has proven to have failed or backfired. The project has not considerably affected the overall flow of drugs in America. In fact, the prohibition of drugs has consequently amplified the worldwide black market, which has been estimated to worth a whopping $300 million.

Furthermore, the War on Drugs has been identified as the leading cause behind the spike in crime. Jefferey A. Miron, A Harvard lecturer, explained how the outlawing of drugs ultimately forced the drug industry to move underground. Inevitably, this meant that sellers and buyers were unable to settle any possible disputes with legal action, leaving the individuals to rely on violence. Miron further conducted a study back in 2010 which concluded that full legalization of drugs in America has the potential to save taxpayers over $40 billion dollars each year. Taxing these drugs was also estimated to bring in over $40 billion dollars in revenue, meaning changing our drug policies could yield over $80 billion dollars in revenue each year.

The primary fuel behind the War on Drugs was to prevent drugs from invading our communities, and more specifically, harming our youth. Yet unfortunately, the project failed to keep the youth from obtaining and using drugs. A study conducted in 1975 found that approximately 40% of high school seniors across the nation reported having smoked cannabis in the past year. By the year 2012, the rate had dropped by a mere 4%, as around 36% of high school seniors reported that they had smoked cannabis within the past year.

Now that readers have a thorough understanding of the War on Drugs and its effects, which have appeared to be completely negative, I would love to present some of the positive effects the project has had on the nation. I sifted through an endless amount of websites searching for positive outcomes of the War on Drugs. Nonetheless, I failed to find any positive outcomes that could be scientifically/evidently supported. Counterpunch.org provided one of the funniest positive outcomes claiming, “Via programs like DARE, it has turned kids into drug informants who monitor their parents for the authorities.”

“The global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world,” concluded a June 2011 report published by the Global Commission on Drug Policy. The report noted that between 1998 and 2008, global consumption of opiates had increased 35%, cocaine 27%, and cannabis 8.5%.” -The Globe

So… what does this mean? Well, this means it's time to reverse the damage that has been done. It means it's time to restore our communities, amend drug policies, exonerated individuals who have fallen victim to these severe drug policies, and restore families. Public opinion has begun to substantially shift in favor of logical reforms that support health-based approaches to combating drug use.

Good news; the change has already begun. States across the country have already taken the first step by participating in marijuana reform. Many states have decriminalized cannabis, while others have legalized it all together. America has continued to take progressive steps; dozens of states have passed legislation in order to increase access to the overdose antidote, naloxone, in efforts to fight the overdose epidemic. Drug Policy Alliance has compelled the government to support drug policy reforms, and has successfully brought about major change. On November 3, 2020, the state of Oregon passed Measure 110, becoming the first state in American history to decriminalize all drugs. This created a significant shift in American support in favor of treating addiction with a health based approach rather than a punitive approach.

There you have it Chatters. This blog post has provided you with the full history of the War on Drugs (sparing you the painful details), with supportive evidence, a birds-eye view of where we are today, and what all of this information means. Personally, I’ve always found the War on Drugs and its effects especially intriguing. Therefore, I hope you enjoyed this blog post half as much as I enjoyed creating it for you. That brings us to our final quote:

“There's a phrase, "the elephant in the living room", which purports to describe what it's like to live with a drug addict, an alcoholic, an abuser. People outside such relationships will sometimes ask, "How could you let such a business go on for so many years? Didn't you see the elephant in the living room?" And it's so hard for anyone living in a more normal situation to understand the answer that comes closest to the truth; "I'm sorry, but it was there when I moved in. I didn't know it was an elephant; I thought it was part of the furniture." There comes an aha-moment for some folks - the lucky ones - when they suddenly recognize the difference.” -Stephen King

Until next time,

Chelsey Chats.

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