#where I never did the main quest fully and what I did do was years ago

[raksh-writes]

Me: wanting to spend my last days of freedom vacation time lazing about and gaming for the fun and good relaxed feels

Also me: unable to decide if I should play BG3 or Skyrim

How do I even choose?? 😭

[limarieb]

it's so sweet knowing that you love me (though we don't need to say it to each other)

Pairing(s): Wanda Maximoff x fem!reader

Summary: You were born completely deaf, unable to fully learn how to read lips and constantly finding your hearing aids uncomfortable. On your venture for coffee, you find yourself overwhelmed (to the point of escape) when you are being spoken to by a (very pretty) woman who you cannot understand. Confusion and chaos arise on both ends. You return that same week, ready for the hateful confrontation that might take place. Fortunately, that "hateful" confrontation does not happen.

Warnings: none (a bit of angst, but then it's all fluff)

Word Count: 2.1k

Author's Note: this little collection of one-shots is still one of my favorite things to think about occasionally... perhaps i will consider making a third part if you give me some of your ideas on what the third part should consist of...

Main Masterlist | ao3 | Wattpad

Click Here for Part 2 to the 'Sweet' One-Shot Collection

...

From an early age, you realized that you were different from other people. When you would go to various places with your parents, random strangers always tried to talk to you. You couldn’t hear them, of course, considering the fact that you were born entirely deaf; adults and children alike never seem to understand that, though, and continued their quests of trying to get you to talk with your mouth rather than your hands.

Due to your innate inability to hear, you grew up learning sign language as your primary language. It wasn’t until you were four years old when you were lost in the supermarket, frantically trying to find your parents, that you realized the majority of people do not comprehend your language. Growing up in upstate New York, there weren’t exactly many people like you. There were not many people that felt ostracized by their community for something beyond their control, nor were there many individuals jumping at the opportunity to make accommodations for situations like yours. Thus, the most you were able to do in terms of communication was writing and reading in English and ‘speaking’ in sign language. Unlike some other people who were deaf, you were never able to learn how to read others’ lips, which frustrated you to no end.

And, honestly? It sucked. It was a lonely experience, and you spent many nights of your childhood (and adulthood) crying to your parents about it. It broke their hearts seeing their child experiencing such a cumbersome set of emotions and experiences that most do not even witness in a lifetime, and you knew they carried a pang of guilt about it all. You wish they didn’t, though, because you know it’s not their fault and that they have been trying their best to help you thrive despite your challenges. 

It wasn’t all bad, darkness, and negativity. In fact, there are many moments where you found your deafness as a sort of power or unique ability (instead of an inability). It allowed you to sense things differently. Your favorite way to decompress was feeling certain textures, especially the yarn blanket your mother made years ago, and putting on loud music so the vibrations would flow through the medium of the speakers and into your body via your fingers or your feet. Something about it all was therapeutic.

You received a pair of hearing aids as a child, but you did not necessarily prefer them. In circumstances where there were a lot of people in a given room, the sensations would become quite painful and confusing for your brain to untangle and compute all at once. Ergo, you only really use them on the occasion where you know prior that there were gonna be few people and low amounts of background noise, like when you are working one-on-one with a client.

Given that you were going to the local coffee place, you elected to leave hearing aids at home. You use your phone to place a mobile order, effectively removing the barrier of needing to talk to an employee to order. You walked into the shop and began your path towards the pick-up area. Reaching and sorting through the other orders, you eventually come to the realization that yours is not there. You figured that the staff was simply behind on crafting the drinks, so you wait for a few minutes.

As you anxiously played with your fingers, one of the employees approaches you. She was slightly taller than you, but she was also undeniably beautiful. Her long auburn hair was tied back, held in place by a mere tie. You caught a brief glance of her eyes, quickly noticing how green they were. In the presence of such a pretty lady, your anxiety began to rise. She gave a shy smile and began moving her lips to form words. Due to your overly anxious state and inability to read her lips, you rapidly became overwhelmed. You look behind her to see her coworkers behind the counter snickering at you two. Immediately, you assumed they were laughing solely at you, talking about how the only reasonable explanation for your lack of response was stupidity beyond any repair. 

So, you turned around and walked out of the door. You felt so embarrassed , more than you have ever felt since high school. All you wanted to do was go home and decompress.

Wanda stood there in a state of shock. One second, she was there trying to explain to you how she couldn’t make your drink because they were out of oat milk; the next, you were gone.

Did I say something wrong? Wanda thought to herself as she watched you escape her workplace.

Hanging her head in shame, she retreated to behind the counter where her coworkers, Bucky and Sam, were still laughing at her failed attempt to have a conversation with you. The brunette has watched you for a while from afar; she knew your favorite drink like the back of her hand, and she always tried to make sure your favorite spot in the corner of the café was kept neat and tidy for you. In her eyes, you were the most beautiful creature to walk on this planet. She would give up anything to know you as something more than just a customer.

Wanda let out a sigh of frustration mixed with sadness, leaning against the counter with her head in her hands. She finally broke the monotony of the undying laughter, “Would the two of you stop laughing? It’s not funny. Oh my god, that was so embarrassing.”

“Cheer up, little witch,” Bucky started. “There are more fish in the sea.”

“I don’t want other fish, though. I want her,” she tried to reason. “She’s so pretty, Bucky. And, after months, I finally worked up the courage to talk to her, and she just walked away from me.”

The latter part made Sam raise an eyebrow, “What do you mean she just walked away from you? Did you say something that could’ve upset her?”

“I don’t think so,” Wanda tried to think back. “I was just starting to explain how we were out of oat milk, so I couldn’t make her drink. But, before I could even give her some alternative choices, she just… left.”

Sam let out a hum, unsure of what exactly to reply. The three employees went back to work, yet Wanda was definitely not thinking about her encounter with you while making the various orders.

A few days had passed since the incident. Even though you vowed never to return to the coffee place (your favorite coffee joint), a conversation with your mother left you feeling more empowered and confident about it all. Her facial expressions and rapid hand motions displaying her anger at the workers forced a smile out of you. 

Thus, you decided that you were going to return to the coffee place the next morning. You repeated the same mobile order but decided to keep your phone in hand in case you needed to type something mean and vulgar at the employees who left you feeling humiliated the other day.

You grasp the handle and pull the door forward, granting yourself entry into the once comforting setting.

With a fleeting glance to the counter, your eyes briefly meet hers. It was too late to turn back now, so you cautiously walked to the familiar pick-up area. However, your drink seems to be missing again today. Great.

You look up to see the same woman from before warily approaching you, and it takes everything you have in your body to not flee the scene. Similar to the previous time she walked up to you, the girl began to speak again. She did not get very far before you opened the notes app on your phone and started to furiously type. By the expression on her face, you could tell she was surprised at the sudden action but waited for you to stop typing. 

After a minute passed, you finally turned the phone to show your message to the woman:

Hi, there. I’m deaf, and I don’t have hearing aids on at this moment. Anything that you’ve said, I did not hear… at all. 

You watched with patience as the other girl slowly and carefully skimmed the message. Her head tilted and her mouth opened to form an O-like shape, and you could pinpoint this moment with exact accuracy as the moment she realized that you were not (and were never) purposefully ignoring her — you couldn’t hear her; that’s why you must have left suddenly.

She shyly smiled and nodded towards your phone. With a quirked eyebrow, you offer it to her. She happily takes it from you to begin typing a message of her own:

Hi! I’m so sorry I didn’t realize before… I’m sure it must’ve been frustrating to just have someone talking AT you rather than WITH you. Is that why you left suddenly last time?

You weren’t really sure why you were surprised by her message, specifically the last part. Did she remember? After thinking for a few minutes, you form a reply:

Yeah, I guess… I was just very overwhelmed, and I saw some of the others laughing. I just felt bad, idk. So, I left.

You definitely did not expect the frown that appeared on her face when you walked in there today. She pointed to the phone, and you gave it to her once more. 

I’m sorry… if it makes you feel any better, they weren’t laughing at you or anything. Actually, they were laughing at me, not you.

As you read the new message, your face visibly contorted into confusion and disbelief.

What do you mean?

With the phone in her hands again, she typed: 

I’ve been wanting to talk to you for months, Y/N. The last time you were here, I finally tried to talk to you - at least about how we were out of oat milk for your drink. I guess they found you walking away without saying anything VERY comical. 

It was your turn to be in a complete and utter state of shock.

Oh… Wait, how do you know my name? 

She wrote her reply fairly quick: 

Who do you think makes your drink every time? ;)

As she passes the phone back to you, she personifies the wink in real life. Immediately, you feel the blood rush to your cheeks.

Well, I feel like it’s fair to ask for your name now - an 'eye for an eye’ type of thing.

She subconsciously bites her bottom lip as she slid the phone over with her reply:

Wanda. Wanda Maximoff.

Something about her name and connecting it to her made you feel… light. 

Well, Wanda, I’m here talking to you now, aren’t I? Why did you want to talk to me before? Am I that intimating?

It was her turn to fall victim to blushing, reading your questions regarding her apprehension of talking to you.

Intimidating? No, not really. Really pretty, though? Can neither confirm nor deny.

You released a small, quiet chuckle at her compliment; Wanda, on the other hand, has to remember for a second how to breathe because she heard you for the first time. She loved it, and she only wants to hear more. 

Give me your phone?

You sit there in confusion but comply with her unspoken request nonetheless. You give you her unlocked phone again, except you notice there’s no new message in your notes app conversation. You raise your eyebrow, showing you don’t really understand what just happened. Wanda, however, just winks at you again and slowly returns to her spot behind the counter. 

You never found out what she did at that moment on your phone until you receive a text a few minutes later from a foreign contact labeled “Wanda ;)”:

Wanda ;)  [9:47 AM]

Hey, sorry to cut our convo short - I had to help the customers. Meet me for dinner after work? 6 pm? :)

How could you say no to a request from her? You look up from your phone to see her biting her lip, hiding a smile as she makes drinks for other people. You look back down at your own device to respond:

You [9:48 AM]

I’ll be there. :)

You don’t remember being treated with such care and understanding before, especially by who was merely a stranger moments ago and has seemingly little experience with a person who is deaf. Wanda was different, though — a good different. She initiated a feeling of happiness and freedom within you that had not been experienced prior to that day. Most people did not consider trying to help you or finding different ways to talk to you, but Wanda did; moreover, she did so because she wanted to — she wanted to actually know you. 

It was increasingly evident that you were beyond infatuated with her. The night went so well, in fact, that you changed her contact from “Wanda ;)” to “Wanda <3” after you met her for your date that same evening.

End.

[spot-of-tea]

Okay headcanon time.

So for ages I’ve always wondered whether magic can be inherited or not. So like if your parents are powerful wizards chances are you’ll be one too. So the main reason I've always thought this is due to the fact that whenever you see a powerful character and are then introduced to a family members of theirs, that family member is as powerful or more so.

And I have examples. But I am gonna put a read more cause this is gonna get looooooong.

There's also gonna be spoilers beyond this point if you haven't watched the anime or read the manga.

So first off Laxus is a powerful wizard, he's an s-class wizard at a young age. While you could always say that that is due to his lacrima, I've always believed him to have the potential for powerful magic but because he was born sickly he could never fully achieve it. But then you look at his family and both his dad and grandfather are both powerful wizards. I mean Makarov is a wizard saint, not many get more powerful than that. Even looking back further, while we don't see the full extent of Yuri's magic in action he does appear to be somewhat powerful from the get go.

Then we move onto Cana. Guildarts is considered the most powerful member of Fairytail, the top ranked S-class mage who was even allowed to try a 100 years quest. Cana has shown multiple times how powerful she is, she's the only person in the guild whos been able to wield fairy glitter.

Then we have Erza, now from the very beginning Erza is shown to be an absolute powerhouse, from meeting her it would be easy to assume that she gained her power through grit and determination. However, we are then introduced to one Irene Belserion. Now Irene is cast as a pretty badass person from the start so you can definitely see where Erza gets parts of her personality from. Magically speaking Irene is said to be one of the top members of the spriggan twelve. Now when we first meet a member of the spriggan twelve we meet Brandish who is most likely one of the less powerful ones, but still her magic is described as overwhelming, so Irene's magic must be even more so.

Now Lucy is an interesting case, while Layla did in fact open (and likely closed) the eclipse gate on her own when it required both Lucy and Yukino to do so later, she (if I remember correctly) also had a pre-existing condition which made her magic less powerful? That being said it's shown that she was already a remarkable wizard and even held the respect of Aquarius who seems to have taken her death very hard. Going further back though we also have Anna Heartfilia, Lucy's ancestor. She's described as being one of the most powerful celestial spirit mage of all time.

Now finally while we don't ever learn about their parents or see if either was canonically powerful. I feel it's safe to assume that at least one of their parents was quite powerful. Natsu and Zeref are revealed to be canonically siblings. Now before we get this reveal you would assume that Zeref is only that powerful because of how long he's been alive for and has accumulated that power over the centuries. But we can then assume that he was already pretty powerful at a young age, I imagine had things worked out he would've used the eclipse gate himself instead of teaming up with Anna. We also see that Natsu is already one of Fairytail's powerhouses (honestly why he's not S-class yet is something I'll never understand). So I can imagine that the both of them had the potential for being powerful wizards long before either of them cast their first spell.

Whew. okay I'm done, I'm sorry this got so long, it's been bugging me for so long. I do want to stress that this may not be 100% accurate but this is just my own interpretation and headcanon.

But yeh let me know what you think and if you want to add anything else to this go ahead, I'm always interested to hear what others have to say.

[kimberlyannharts]

LAST TIME ON POWER RANGERS: Ranger Slayer got herself captured by Dark Specter's forces while saving Drakkon's ass. BUT Drakkon makes up for it by saving HER ass from Dark Specter's corruption. BUT, he died in the process. So that means Slayer now has to save everyone's ass. Again. Seriously, this is like the third event where Slayer has to save everyone.

it's Power Rangers Unlimited: The Morphin Masters!

= so Drakkon and Slayer training together is canon, okay cool, book over, I got what I need

= But moving on from that these panels specifically make me crazyyyyy because what do you mean Tommy and Kim together means "happy ending"? What do you mean referring to Kim as Tommy's guardian angel? What do you MEAN redrawing Drakkon's death scene as more intimate than it was in 116????????

= MY STUPID EX-HUSBAND DIED ON ME SO I HAVE TO GO ON THIS STUPID QUEST

= So something cool about these energy beasts - they're all tied to ranger powers! A yellow bear, a red lion and ape, a gold praying mantis, a white rhino, and an orange scorpion. Sure, the latter wasn't TECHNICALLY a ranger power, just a zord, but there's a point to the "the PR universe did have Kyurangers at some point" theorists

= I just like this panel because it's silly. she's got the zoomies

= Slayer continuing to win the idgaf war against literal deities

= and then they founded an animation studio that gave us the Minions. so unfortunately they gotta go

= but in seriousness, I guess this is how we're going to rationalize how the MMs were portrayed in Beyond the Grid versus how they were portrayed in Power Rangers Universe - the BtG guys were a couple specific higher-power ones. It's fine, I guess. I'm still not a fan of the idea of an entire civilization just calling themselves Morphin Masters, though. Just make.....THESE GUYS the Morphin Masters. Why are they ALL the Morphin Masters??????? Now we have to establish a SUB-SECTION of the Morphin Masters!!!!!!!!!

= Slayer holding Drakkon and his death in high regard like this.......god. god.

= oh hi Blue really cool to see you again hope you don't die in the next few pages

= oh well never mind. Guess we're never going to find out why they came back to life, which was their reason for going into the Grid in the first place, huh

= I do like how we're going back to referring to Blue with they/them pronouns. I guess in hindsight we really were just misgendering them for years. awesome

= I'm glad we're fully acknowledging all the shit Slayer has gone through but I will admit my immediate reaction to the "it was fire" line was "she would not fucking say that". Maybe as a teen, sure. But NOW?

Pink: follow me to the orifice

Slayer: .....the ORIFICE?

= oh hey guys, how have you been since you got retconned into existence and therefore have accomplished nothing in the main series

= I know this is supposed to be a whole thing of "ohhhh these guys think they're free but they're still being controlled yada yada" but at the same time as someone who hated the Emissary retcon and wishes that we could have gotten more from the characters as they were before........them being angry over losing what they had is very very good and I wish it wasn't done through "evil corruption magic." It was good with corrupted Slayer because they dedicated an entire issue to it and FREED HER at the end, allowing more time and space for development; here it's just a quick fight scene and in the case of Blue, followed up with death. And slight spoilers here, even if they don't die here, the way the Emissaries have been dropping like flies doesn't give me much hope for their survival if they show up in the main series

= I wonder if this is a reference to how in an early draft for the Ranger Slayer one-shot, the Bow of Darkness was going to be broken in half by Zombie Rita and Slayer would have used it as dual swords. Either way it's fucking cool

= also while the inclusion of Dino Thunder as one of Pink's forms is a simple mistake, it takes me back to those old DT AU fics where Kim became DT Pink. They're canon now guys, no takebacks!

= So turns out the "Illumination" are just a bunch of senile grandpas. Yeah, that's.............the big revelation for where the Morphin Masters have been. ok

= Now let me just say for this story, the Morphin Masters being useless is a fine decision, for the same reason why the Morphin Masters were useless in Dino/Cosmic Fury - you can't have these overpowered god figures show up and fix everything with a wave of their hand. This applies to every story ever - the god-like figure is captured, or dead, or simply doesn't care enough to interfere. It's a very basic and logical choice for a narrative in order for our actual grounded protagonists to be the heroes.

HOWEVER. It's another instance of Boom hyping up these kinds of storylines as groundbreaking revelations of PR's mythos for years just for the actual reveal to be kind of a letdown. Phantom Ranger's identity. Dark Specter being a major villain. The Squadron Rangers. And now the Morphin Masters' current status. All hyped-up concepts that either get rushed or end up secondary to other concepts, and in the end, don't feel like they matter. It's getting to be a bit tiresome, and I'm saying that as someone who doesn't hold PR lore high on her list of reasons I enjoy the franchise in the first place. And it doesn't help here that, as I've said before, it just feels more like a way to stretch out this event to fill its year-long timeframe. By the end of this book, nothing was accomplished except two more Emissaries are dead (not that they did anything before this) and I guess Green and Black will eventually join the fight, so what was the point of it all. Slayer never really believed the Morphin Masters would help them anyway, so it's not like she changed by the end either - Pink was the only one who really developed as a character, and, well......

= Pink quick eat an imaginary Snickers you're not you when you're hungry

= this is the third person Slayer has killed in two books. she's so good at her job

= also you may have noticed that we've killed two Emissaries and they're not turning to stone nor having a giant spider boi burst out of their bodies. It's soooooooooooo cool how that entire story arc meant nothing in the long run

= ugh yes queen swear off religion just like that

= also at this point Drakkon has wielded the power of a Morphin Master and Slayer was offered the position of one. What I'm getting at here is Tomberly are indeed divine figures

[noonmutter]

bit of a rant about Mists of Pandaria Remix below, skip this if you don't want to read what's mostly just me venting about some stupid shit the team did years ago. this involves minor spoilers about plot points that are largely irrelevant to the overall story but if you wanna be surprised you'd prolly be mad at me for mentioning

so I'm running through MOP Remix just like a huge chunk of WoW players right now, right

and this was the expac that'd come out before the expac I joined the game in, which was WoD. The Tanaan patch of WoD. I joined during an objectively awful part of WoW. People had a habit of singing MoP's praises (at least for the story) a lot in comparison to WoD, although the bar wasn't very hard to clear.

So I played MoP's story as a character that vastly outleveled it and didn't have to gear up and grind my way through it, and I had the same general experience as most new players did, which was constantly wondering what I was missing because a few fairly significant story beats were relegated to happening in novels or just had cinematics that weren't accessible in the game anymore, shit like that

and I remember actively avoiding the main alliance v. horde plot because I really didn't care, I wanted to see what the Shaohao stuff was about, because man those cinematics were gorgeous (and at the time, unique to MoP; they hadn't gotten lazy and reused the art style for Diablo 3 where it didn't belong yet). I wanted to know what those were about and how they expanded! And gosh, that was great and rewarding! Wow!

so in Remix, I'm running ALL the storylines, because every quest rewards a buttload of bronze and stuff, and gimme gimme gimme, I wanna collect all the cool shit.

but oh. my GOD.

I can't even evaluate the story from a watsonian perspective, where I look at the actions the characters take and their political ramifications and whether X person made the right call or if Y could've stopped this other thing if they'd just found the magic doodad or whatever. I simply can't. It's all written in such a hamfisted, "we don't understand politics or what actually causes systemic hatred or bigotry or the general concept of moral nuance" way that I cannot evaluate the characters because the writing is just not good enough to stay immersed in it when big plot points hit.

I can't sit here and compare Jaina's stupid murderous kirin tor rampage with Garrosh's Anything At All because I'm too busy thinking about all the ways both of them were poorly written into their respective story beats.

The Alliance and Horde stories do not depict the same events. An Alliance player sees the Horde do things that Horde players never even hear about, and vice versa. And it's not minor stuff. Alliance players do not experience an Alliance airstrip being built in one part of the Jade Forest, where they take Pandaren slaves--including children--to do it. We don't see it, we don't hear about it, it's never referenced even as a throwaway line later on. It's just a thing that happens completely in a vacuum. When I encountered this event in the Horde storyline, it was so unknown to me as an Alliance player that I went looking for the air strip and was surprised to actually find it accessible on the map. I fully expected it to actually not exist, phased or some shit, if you weren't Horde. That's how divergent it was. And that's bad. That's not like 'ooh wow what a twist,' that's 'who the fuck directed this?'

Remix really shines a spotlight on how immature the writing in MoP got, because it shows a fundamental lack of comprehension of the basic concept of equivalence. We didn't need to see both sides take slaves in order to accept that they were both equally morally wrong for perpetuating a racially-motivated war; they've already been doing awful shit to one another for years prior to the expansion that was good enough to showcase it. We especially did not need to not see our own side take slaves in order to stir up more hate against the other faction.

If that event needed to be included in the game so bad, it absolutely should've been something Alliance players found too. We should've been faced with the idea that xenophobia, zealotry, and hatred were not relegated to The Other Guy and that the guys who looked like us and wore our colors could be monstrous bastards, too. It would've played beautifully into the general theme of Pandaria.

But that writing team failed to do that at every opportunity, and given how beautiful and poignant other chunks of the story (the parts largely divorced from AvH) were, I can't think it's because the team itself was incompetent. It stinks of executive meddling and the kind of mentality that led to shit like the "build an entire expansion just to justify this cool image I have of Sylvanas burning down Teldrassil" incident.

It's just so disappointing to go through it and see it and be able to point a big neon arrow at it and go "this right here was a dev team actively encouraging its player base to actually hate each other" which is very different from encouraging competition. Even though the overarching theme of Pandaria was learning to let things go and swallow your pride before it destroys everything you care about, the actual plot frequently made the players experiencing it hate each other as people.

and I think that might very well have been an underlying point of Remix. because man does it make me appreciate the current story team even more than I already did.

[calliopechild]

I was tagged by @plothooksinc!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

None yet, but I'm actively working on some WIPs I hope to finish (or start posting, in the case of the multichap) soon.

2. What's your total AO3 word count?

Big ol' goose egg due to the above.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

It's pretty much turtles all the way down, babes. Of what fics I've actually posted (on ff.net), it's TMNT 2003 and I think two Naruto one-shots. These days Rise owns my entire brain and comprises all of my current WIPs.

4. Top five fics by kudos?

See response to question 1, lol.

5. Do you respond to comments?

YES! I love replying to comments/reviews. It was one of my favorite things about fic writing when I was still doing it regularly (college age me, where did all that energy and executive function go). I have major imposter syndrome about my writing, so positive responses make me flail and will have me smiling all day, and getting to talk to people who are excited about and engaged with my stories is so fun.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I think that's gonna have to be a tossup between The End of a Melody and What We Could Have Been, both of which are leorai fics (except without any actual romance) from my 2k3 days (don't judge me).

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably The Virtues of Knocking; or at least it's the most humorous ending.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

The closest thing I can remember is a review on Please Leave a Message, which was 2k3 Donnie having a big ol' crush on April and leaving a message on her voicemail about it; someone commented something along the lines of "ew this would be like someone dating their hamster." Otherwise I've been lucky to have some really awesome reviewers/commenters over the years.

9. Do you write smut?

No. Shipping is fun but not my main engagement factor in any fandom, and I've never shipped any ships primarily from the 'really want to see them bone' angle, so it's not an aspect of fandom I've ever felt moved to write stuff for.

10. Craziest crossover?

404 error: not found.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know, thankfully!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Also nope.

14. All time favorite ship?

Probably Leosagi. For 2k3 I ship it as like, a soulmate bromance/QPR, and for Rise (yes, I know Usagi has literally never shown up there, shh) I have a lot of fun checking out other people's takes on how our favorite fruit ninja would failboat his way through a relationship. But as mentioned in #9, shipping isn't my primary focus in any fandom; found family content is my bread and butter. (Hence why TMNT, Avengers, and The Hobbit fics account for about 450 of my 750 bookmarks, lol.)

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Oh man. I have two massive multi-chap fics with like...75+ pages of notes and half-written scenes; one for Naruto (the obligatory 'what if Kishimoto didn't hate women and Sakura actually got real character development from the start' with a side of 'what if Kakashi actually did his fucking job prior to the attempted murder of one of his students by another student') and one for The Hobbit (AU where Bilbo never went on the quest, but when the rest of the dwarves head to Erebor from Ered Luin, they stop by to pick up a Hobbit to help restore the land of Dale). I really like the ideas I have for both, but they've been on the backburner for a long time. Of the two, the Naruto one is probably the one that will never get finished but that I'll also never fully stop picking at.

(@ anyone side-eyeing me about TMTC, I know. I know. It is my Telltale Heart, but I refuse to officially give up on it. Someday my muse for that one will come home from the war...)

16. What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue/characterization and humor; having people tell me they can totally hear [character] saying a line in a fic is the real-life version of the Brooklyn 99 "vindiCATION!!!" gif.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I feel like pacing is probably one, because there are always so many conversations I want to cram into fics, and if there's a scene I really love it's hard for me to cut it short even if that's better for keeping things moving. Also action scenes? I never think mine are very exciting; they always read as dry or underwhelming to me.

18. Thoughts on dialogue in another language?

*stuffs fics written during the height of my weeaboo phase under the floorboards* Okay look, listen--

I'm definitely guilty of using it in ways that, looking back on it, are kind of cringe. Though at least for TMNT there was canonically some Japanese interspersed with English in the show, so...less cringe than I could have been? Lmao. I think it depends on context and if the character in question actually speaks that other language in canon.

19. First fandom you wrote in?

TMNT 2k3, baby!

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Tied between The More Things Change and The End of a Melody. The former is a huge passion project of mine, and the latter was kind of an experiment in I guess...artistic angst? There was a specific melancholic vibe I was going for that I feel like I captured, and I'm still pretty proud of that one. TMTC, though, is one that's really near and dear to me both because I was so invested in the idea and because the response to it was so positive, way more than I expected.

I'm tagging: @dawntreaderflynne, @goodlucktai, and @rhinocio, though obviously no pressure to any of you. ^_^

[shinysamurott9]

2024 Games: Pokemon Scarlet

This is certainly a weird game for me to look at. This wasn't a game I went into with much of any negative bias, unlike Sword, where I skipped it due to the negativity surrounding the game at the time, I did actually buy Scarlet on day 1. But I didn't get too far into it before falling off because of other stuff. So I ended up sitting on it for over a year until now as I needed to complete the game to get the ribbons and marks needed to complete my Ribbon Master Quest. And what I got from it was one of the strangest games I've played yet one I've enjoyed a lot. This is gonna be another really long read so keep that in mind.

So when I initially picked up the game I didn't so that much in terms of Game progression. What I did do however, beyond the basic intro stuff leading up to the school, was at the very start of the game when I saw a Riolu at the edge of a cliff and was like "hey I wanna catch that" but I couldn't get over because I didn't have Korraidon yet. But my experience with Legends Arceus kicked in and came the thought of trying to throw a ball to initiate a battle from the other side of the cliff. Turns out this idea got me way more than I bargained for because doing this warped me to the other side of the gap, letting me break out of the area I was supposed to be and explore the whole region before ever entering the school. I shit you not by the time I was done I had almost half the pokedex and a lvl 40 Skeledirge. It was incredibly funny ngl.

But after that when I eventually got back on track I basically just did the remaining intro stuff until you were set free to explore. At which point I wasn't really feeling it, so I put the game down. DLC flew by, stuff happened and it all led up to a couple weeks ago when I had to pick it up again to complete my Ribbon Masters. I initially didn't really vibe with the game. My first day back playing it was basically just me wandering aimlessly, avoiding the main objectives because I wanted to put together a more substantial team beyond Skeledirge and Tinkatuff and I also just wasn't really feeling any of the mons I had in the box. I also do tend to make a conscious effort to use team members I haven’t used before, but a lot of more interesting stuff available in Paldea were mons I had used before. I think it's a combination of this, almost the entire dex being available to you from the outset if you really want it and me being slightly overwhelmed by that that led to this feeling.

This train of thought hilariously led me to awakening and actually catching Chien fucking Pao with no badges, though I never actually ended up using it due to not beating all the gyms first so it was disobedient til near the end of the game.

This first session ultimately ended when I went to take on Great Tusk and subsequently capturing it. I opted to do the Teal Mask DLC from here, this is where the game started to pick up for me. It was a whole new area to explore, tons of new mons to find and use and a nice little side story to get invested in. By the time I was done I was way happier with the team I was using, including a random full odds shiny, so that was awesome.

The Teal Mask was also where the story really started to click with me I think. SV story is very much a character focused one, with the plots mainly being centered around how the player character helps and interacts with the other characters around them. And to complement that, SV probably has one of the best main casts of human characters in the series. Teal Mask brings in Carmine and Kieran who I both really like. Kieran needs Indigo Disk to be fully discussed but most of Carmine's character is here.

I really like her, she has a really good character design and her character arc, while short, is compelling. She goes from someone who is, almost xenophobic for lack of a better term to someone who grows far more accepting as she helps you recover the masks from the Lousy Three. She's hard on Kieran, in a way that I feel like she regrets as they drifted apart on Indigo Disk, but she does care about him. She does also have a bit of smug bastard energy that I do enjoy when it's done right.

Teal Mask also has... H e r

I'm gonna be real here, I think Ogerpon is genuinely the best legendary we've gotten in general, which is saying a lot in a generation that knocks it out of the park in that regard. Her design is simple but adorable, she has one of my favourite stories of any legendary, not just her backstory but also how she bonds with you and how that plays into Kieran's arc, and her gimmick with the masks is incredibly fun to use in a playthrough. Especially so if you play like me with a rotating team of more than 6, Ogerpon can slot in anywhere with how you can change her type to fill any holes you might have in terms of types.

I think Kitakami was really what I needed to get myself in gear and get back into the game. When I got back to the main game, the path I was inclined to follow most was the Titan path with Arven. This was partially for practical reasons as that's how you upgrade Koraidon, but also because of Arven.

I think Arven's story is amazing. He starts out as kind of a dick, pawning Koraidon off on you and wanting nothing to do with it. But you come to learn this is more from frustration towards his mom, feeling like she cared more about it and her research in Area Zero than him growing up. And also because she's given him basically no help with his current goal, healing his partner Mabosstiff. In a series that focuses on all these grand adventures, which this game definitely still has mind you, Arven is incredibly down to earth. At the end of the day he's just a guy who wants to help his sick dog, which is incredibly relatable.

To get a little personal here, I've basically spent my whole life around dogs. We've had plenty across my family growing up. Of course, most of them passed away as I grew up. They were treated well, it's just how it goes. But it does suck, seeing them grow old as their health deteriorates. So I completely understand Arven going so far to help Mabosstiff doing literally everything he can to help save him. And at the very end, when you get the last Herba Mystica, Arven takes a breather. He seems almost resigned, with motions that feel like he's saying he's done all he can do, and now he can only wait and let whatever happens happen.

There are very few things in anything that make me very emotional, but seeing Mabosstiff get up and bring his pokeball to Arven, and Arven being so overjoyed seeing him healthy again, genuinely gets me a little teary eyed. It's genuinely one of the sweetest scenes in all of pokemon. I think the titans path is also helped overall by having the most ties to the final story, it leading into the reason we go down to Area Zero to begin with, thereby giving it an edge in importance over the other two paths.

Speaking of the other two paths, I think they're also pretty solid.

I actually ended up liking Team Star a bit more than I expected. I like that ultimately they just boil diwn to friend group who found solidarity in each other. But they went too far and were too stubborn to back down, because they don't feel like the school did anything to fix their issues. So Penny has to have you step in to dismantle the whole thing so they don't seriously harm their futures. It's a neat story honestly. Not sure how I feel about their postgame side story. It's neat helping them get back on track with things, I think my main issue is that some of them are hard to recognise. Like Mela and especially Eri look like completely different people. One thing I do really like about Team Star though is all their music is canon and composed by Giacomo. It's genuinely really cool. Especially imagining him just going off when he made Penny's one.

The gym path was probably my least favourite of the three paths. It's not bad by any means, it's just the typical song and dance we've come to expect from pokemon at this point. I do enjoy most of the gym leaders, they're fun with plenty of personality. Iono and Larry were personal highlights for me. My issue is that I think the gym path highlights a notable issue with how the game doesn’t really lean into it's open world structure very well. Despite a major selling point being you can do the badges in any order, there still is a set order to do them with the levels they're at. While I think it's a good idea for the start of the game, with some badges being objectively easier than others, I feel like this structure would benefit a lot by having weaker gyms scale up to match where you are if you beat a later badge first. Say you beat Larry first. You could then have Katy, Brassius, Iono, and Kofu scale up in levels to match whoever would be fighting next, so you don't just steamroll everything below the gym you beat.

The real highlightof the gym path is unquestionably Nemona. I think she's a really interesting take on the typical rival in pokemon. Instead of going on the same journey as you, she's already become a champion. She is a savant in terms of battling and she worked hard to get to that point, it's like a hyperfixation for her. But she's reached a point where she's far beyond any of her peers and it leaves her almost alienated from them cause no one else is as into battling as her. It's an interesting way to take the phrase "It's lonely at the top".

That's of course where you come in. She follows you on your journey, starting fresh with a new team, even intentionally picking the starter weak to yours for an extra challenge, I love how they actually have a reason for it this time. All the while along the way she helps you to get stronger offering advice in the gyms and helping you keep sharp in battles. All so that you can become a worthy challenge for her. And when you do beat her at the end when she's not holding back, she's ecstatic because she finally has a true equal, or potentially even a new level of strength for her to work towards. It's a genuinely really cool way to handle the rival here. My one gripe is that I don't think we ever see what Nemona's original team was. Maybe she used Orthworm and Dudunsparce as she only uses them in her final fight when she isn't holding back, but everything else is from the team she trained along the way.

Then there's the final story, and the true ending of the game. Where as the other stories were focused on your friends, The Way Home is Koraidon's story. It's in the name, as the story has you delving into Area Zero, the place Koraidon came from in the first place.

Area Zero is easily a standout location in the game. It has an absolutely perfect vibe. It has this pure, untouched feel, not just as if no one has been there in a long time, it feels like somewhere people are outright not supposed to be. And the music conveys this feeling absolutely perfectly. It's especially great because it's motif is heard in other places like Tera Raid dens, and later it's subtle part of the Terrarium themes in Blueberry Academy and the Crystal Pool in Kitakami.

The vibe of the track, especially the vocal parts, give it a similar feel to stuff from the Xeno series. It's so perfect.

I think it's really interesting to me how Sada, basically the closest thing to a main antagonist this game has, is already dead when you arrive, and has been for some time. But you need to fight through to her machine to shut it down and prevent more Paradox pokemon from coming to the present. It's a pretty simple plot held up by how the characters experience Area Zero itself. All of this culminates in the final fight against Sada's AI. It's a really neat fight that is genuinely difficult. In no small part because she uses exclusively Paradoxes, many of which you could literally have never encountered at this point, giving you an unknown element to contend with. The battle concludes with you taking down her Koraidon with the pokemon you've bonded with throughout the entire game, the one pokemon not affected by Sada's pokeball lock due to technically being owned by her, your own Koraidon, who got you this far to begin with. It's a genuinely great moment as Koraidon overcomes it's fear and takes down it's counterpart who drove it from Area Zero to begin with.

This concludes the main plot, with an Ed Sheeran Jumpscare for some reason, but the story does continue in the Indigo Disk where you become a transfer student for Blueberry Academy. Blueberry is an absolutely fantastic location. The Terrarium is really cool area to mess around in, with tons of new pokemon to find and use, the blueberry Quests are a great addition too. On paper they seem like busy work, but they're so easy to passively complete with solid rewards that they make for a good thing to do in between objectives in the Terrarium. Which really helps for the other main draw of Indigo Disk, the League Club.

I think the League Club is a super underrated part of the DLC. There's a bunch of stuff to do with it by customising the room itself, developing the Item Printer, a great addition in itself, and upgrading the biomes in the Terrarium, letting you get all the starters from Gen 1 - 8, genuinely really cool. The best part of the League Club though is all the character interactions. Initially you'll only meet the BB League E4 in there. But as you play through you'll get the ability to invite basically every notable character in the game there and eventually Carmine and Kieran will appear there too. It's great for fleshing out their characters, and also facilitates special interactions between characters who wouldn't get the chance to meet otherwise.

I love all the little Easter Eggs and references in this DLC too. There's the League Club rooms, specifically monochrome and futuristic, being massive call backs to Unova, each of the biomes being references to old locations like The cliff biome referencing the Nature Preserve, The Savannah Biome references the Kanto Safari Zone, and the Coastal Biome explicitly references Alola. Idk if the Polar Biome references anything, maybe Mt Lanakila? And the Meloetta event? Which requires you to open the camera app with the sepia filter? An amazing call back to the guy from Castelia who remembered Meloetta's Relic Song in Sepia Colored Memories.

And now I get to the story of Indigo Disk. Just as the main game did with Nemona, the DLC went a really interesting direction with the rival trope. You first meet Kieran in Kitakami and while things start out well, your encounter with Ogerpon puts a rift between you and him. He always had an affinity with the Ogre and wanted to meet it for so long, and when he finally meets her, Ogerpon doesn't trust him, despite hearing about her story and admiring it his whole life, she favors you. All the while everyone around him seeks to exclude him by hiding the truth about Ogerpon's story. Even when he goes the extra mile and reveals the true story to the village, leading them to finally accept her after decades, potentially centuries of them rejecting her and her former partner, she still favors you, leading you to fight him for who gets Ogerpon, which you do eventually win.

This kind of breaks Kieran, feeling like you took his place in his story. And in the time between then and Indigo Disk, he kind of goes off the wall a little. dedicating everything to becoming stronger all just to beat you, even becoming Champion of the BB League in the process. But in turn he starts lording over the other members, kicking out anyone he deems too weak despite how arbitrary that might be. This man is literally going insane, twitching about and smiling like a maniac. Part of it is just an act but it's hard to say how in his own head he is.

And when you do eventually fight him, he has an absolutely busted team even including competitive monsters like Incineroar and Grimmsnarl. Yet despite that it's a team that fits him so perfectly. I love when they delve into characters with the details behind their teams, like N using new pokemon from the surrounding area each time you fight him or Ghetsis Hydreigon knowing Frustration and actively hurting itself with every attack. Kieran's team is absolutely perfect in this regard. Every one of his pokemon says something about him all the while putting up one hell of a fight. That's another thing, I genuinely love that that this DLC actually puts up a challenge. BB Academy is called this elite battle school and the trainers sell that idea very well. Every trainer actually uses held items and have actual strats for the most part. The bosses actually have full teams of 6 which is shockingly rare when you're not looking at Champions for some reason.

Once you take down Kieran he and Carmine accompany you to the deepest depths of Area Zero to help Briar search for Terapagos. The under depths are also a fantastic location atmosphere wise and probably the best visual treat the game has to offer. Kieran's encounter with Terapagos is genuinely great, how it's just this tiny little guy that goes up to you because it's the first thing it sees. But Kieran's in such a bad headspace as it is, and after what happened with Ogerpon the very notion that he'd lose another legendary to you causes him to freak out so hard that he immediately Master Ball's Terapagos, which was genuinely fantastically foreshadowed by a Master Ball being the prize for champions in the BB League.

The Terapagos fight is neat enough, very funny that it can outright cheat to kill Carmine's Sinistcha and Kieran finally jumping in to help is great. Terapagos as a legendary is interesting in it's inspiration. It's possibly based on Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise of the galapagos islands. Much like George, Terapagos is seemingly the last of it's kind and despite internally having a 50/50 gender ratio, the Terapagos in the underdepths is always male. Honestly it's wild that a pokemon that can just casually manipulate time and become the source of terastalization used to be a regular species of pokemon.

That being said it's also very vague about what it and the terastal phenonmenon are supposed to be. It can time travel to some extent which is definitively shown with the secret scene at the crystal pool, but also there's all the weirdness with the paradox mons. Some seem to be genuine ancestors to present mons like Roaring Moon but also stuff like Brute Bonnet which just make no sense to have existed millions of years ago. I also find it strange this same phenomenon allows for pokemon to channel different types which is a kind of random pair of traits for terastalization tbh.

Speaking of, the Stellar Type. It's weird. Defensively you basically don't change at all bar gaining a weakness to Stellar Type moves, all three of them. Offensively however, you gain a power boost for every move type, 2x for the users' regular types and 1.2x for everything else, but unless the user is in a Tera Raid or is Terapagos, it only gets that boost once per type per battle. It's kind of underwhelming for something that is supposed to be using every type at once, and feels weirdly outclassed by normal terastalization in most situations.

Once you beat Terapagos, there are two major things available to do afterward. The first is the aforementioned Crystal Pool event, which has Terapagos bring Sada back in time.As a result of her conversation with you, you become inadvertently responsible for Koraidon's name, giving her the white book that led her to the underdepths in the first place and with the right dialogue options, you give her the idea for the AI, effectively making the entire game one giant bootstrap paradox. I think it is actually a pretty neat idea honestly. And it fits pretty well with all the paradoxes in the game already.

Then of course there's the secret third dlc chapter, Mochi Mayhem.

Mochi Mayem is pretty interesting though I have mixed feelings on it. It's a special third DLC focusing on Pecharunt who is the Mythical Pokemon for Gen 9. What I like is that it seems to be a return to form for mythical pokemon in game. After three whole generations of mythicals just being handed to you by a pokemon center guy, Pecharunt actually has a proper event in game that has you catch it yourself. Mochi Madness is also far more elaborate than any of the previous mythical events having a whole extra story that nicely ties up the main game, Ogerpon and Kieran storylines. It's a fun little story that gives us some great interactions between the characters. On that front it's especially nice to see Kieran and to a lesser extent Carmine interact with the main game trio after the two groups being cleanly seperate for the game before now. While I do enjoy all of this, I do have two notable issues with it.

1: Pecharunt

Now I like Pecharunt. It's essentially the trio master for the loyal three, their equivalent of Arceus or Regigigas for comparison. I think it has a neat design and story but here's the issue with that. None of it's story was in the game. Instead Pecharunt's backstory was revealed in a short animation uploaded to pokemon's YouTube. This video revealed Pecharunt was under the care of an old couple who loved it dearly, but, wanting more of their affection, it fed them it's binding Mochi to secure that for itself. But in turn, Pecharunt's possessive nature turned the couple into the worst versions of themselves, making them greedy and seemingly only having Pecharunt around because it would bring them what they wanted. Turning what seemed like genuine care into something far more superficial. This is what sent Pecharunt to Kitakami to take Ogerpon's masks, and we know how that turned out.

It's not that this is a bad story, quite the opposite honestly it's a pretty good one that explores how despite Pecharunt having a lot going for it, with a loving family and comfortable home, it's own toxic traits ended up leaving all that a shadow of what it was. But it all comes back to that one issue that it isn't in the game itself. Now look, I'm a Mega Man fan, I'm more than familiar with important or beneficial information or stories being tucked away in external sources, many of which are far more obscure and inaccessible than a YouTube video. But I do wish they included at least part of this somewhere in the game itself. As it is Pecharunt basically has no story presence beyond being the present threat for the story at hand and being the master of the Loyal Three, a logical assumption with its music and use of the toxic chains.

The other issue however is not actually to do with the the story itself but rather how it's accessed.

2: Mystery Gift

The most common and understandable criticism of mythical pokemon is that they are limited by design. In the past they have always been available exclusively through limited time events available through Mystery Gift. On the surface Pecharunt actually seems to be an improvement in this area. It's distributed the same way but at this point in time, there is no definitive end date for the distribution and that is good. But I'm not sure how long that is going to last, while that isn't an issue right now, eventually the servers it uses will almost definitely go offline. Maybe that's just because that's something I'm thinking about more with the recent closure of 3ds and Wii U online servers, but idk, that eventual but pretty realistic possibility rubs me the wrong way. In this case I think it's especially egregious due to the fact that unlike other mythical events, there is more content than just the mythical event locked behind the Mythical Pecha Berry. Once you beat Mochi Mayhem, Carmine and Kieran will start appearing in the League Club and you gain the ability to invite Arven, Penny and Nemona as special instructors. So without access to the berry, you lose access to all of their interactions in the club room, their true final rematches and their special trade mons, something you definitely want to be aware of if you want a Paldean Tauros, Sinistcha or anything from the Skwovet, Eevee or Applin families with the partner ribbon. To be fair, this logic could well be applied to the DLC as a whole but that at least could still be accessed via cartridges that have it built in.

Before going into the final conclusions on the game as a whole here's some miscellaneous stuff I couldn't really mention before now.

The Partner Ribbon: A massive part of the League Club that I glossed over was that it is the gateway to postgame rematches with every character that can be in the room. That alone is fantastic but if you interact with a charater in the clubroom enough times They'll trade you a pokemon with the newly added partner ribbon, which when it's assigned as the mon's title, they'll be sent out as "Drayton's Duraludon", "Kieran's Applin", "Nemona's Tauros" etc. It's really neat for ribbon collectors honestly. I hope this becomes a staple for future titles, it'd be really cool for stuff like N's pokemon if we ever get BW2 Remakes that properly reimplement them.

I appreciate the new evolutions in this game. Some are kind of odd and arguably unnecessary, like Kingambit or Archaludon, but I still like them. A lot were definitely well deserved like Dudunsparce and Farigiraf.

Continuing Gen 8's train of thought, it is incredibly easy to properly optimize a pokemon for competitive play, it's certainly worked, I'm more interested in competitive than ever. The changes to Ability Patches letting you change between normal and Hidden Abilities freely, Hyper Training now only requiring a pokemon to be level 50, and the easy availability of however many bottle caps and vitamins you need letting you train a pokemon however you want in the span of like 10 minutes tops all help with this. The mirror herb in particular is a fantastic addition here too, letting you essentially copy egg moves from one pokemon onto another meaning you can even get otherwise unavailable moves onto a pokemon. I've already made extensive use of it to get stuff like Sacred Sword on my Samurott or Fake Out on my shiny Incineroar from Wonder Trade (Thanks Evil Cal Zone). Effectively any pokemon can be made optimal for competitive use at this point, and relatively quickly too. Really the only thing you don't have control over is getting lower IVs, which realistically you'd only want for speed if you plan to run a Trick Room team, which to be fair is a somewhat valid critique as I can say from experiencing it on both sides that Trick Room is a very powerful strategy. Everything else though? You're good. If a pokemon you're attached to from your playthrough is good for the team you want to run, you are completely able to build it almost however you want and that is fantastic.

Union Circle is one of the single best multiplayer mechanics ever implemented in a pokemon game. It's already a lot of fun to mess around with your friends in the world itself, but it is also fantastic on a functional level as with the exception of the Box Legends and the DLC Paradoxes, a Scarlet player can naturally catch every violet version exclusive and vice versa. It reminds me a lot of BW2's key system that let players access select version exclusive content like the Regis or White Forest/Black City. For better or worse, version exclusives probably aren't going away any time soon, so if they are to stick around, Union Circle is a fantastic way to handle it.

There are also some miscellaneous negatives as well unfortunately.

The technical issues. It cannot be denied when discussing SV that on a technical level, it is a trainwreck. To be fair to it, it is nowhere near as bad as it was at launch, I never encountered anything too crazy, but it's still not great. Graphical bugs are everywhere, it is very common for pokemon to go into their low detail models and low frame rate animations despite being very close, there's a lot of pop in and the game lags a lot in areas where it really shouldn't, like menus. I distinctly remember going to the Peachy's shop in Kitakami and the game just straight up freezing for a solid minute as it tried to load the menu. A lot of people attribute this to the game being rushed as a result of the strict dev schedules pokemon games are subject to, and that is part of it no question. One thing I will always be firm on is that there was absolutely no need for this game to come out the same year as Legends Arceus. That game could have easily carried pokemon's holiday release with SV coming out the November after. Both games definitely would have benefitted from the extra time. That being said I think attributing these issues just to the tight schedule is oversimplifying it somewhat. I feel like these issues are a result of a perfect storm of variables in tandem with this. To Gamefreak's credit this was a pretty ambitious game for what they've typically done and something they've clearly been building to with SwSh and LA, but that also means that they are likely inexperienced with this kind of game. Combine that with the fact that this game would have started development in 2020, smack in the middle of a major pandemic, which undeniably affected the output of almost all game development studios? It does make sense that it turned out this way when all of these variables are considered. I'll be clear that I have no idea on the specifics that go on internally with Gamefreak during development, I'm only making the best assumptions I can with what I already know and very surface level research. I do hope that with future releases something like this can be avoided. Pokemon Z seems like it could be a step in the right direction being slated for 2025 and I do recall an article discussing how even the CE of the Pokemon Company acknowledged they may be going way too fast with their output and that changes could be considered. Granted being the head of a massive company like that, his word should rightfully be taken with a grain of salt. But still, it I think there is room for a little optimism at this point.

I think Shiny Pokemon were handled pretty poorly this go around. Shiny Hunting is one of my favourite things to do in pokemon so this aspect is particularly important for me. For the third time now shinies appear in the overworld which I have no problem with. But unlike previous instances like Let's Go or LA, shinies are not accompanied by any special particle effect or sound effect on spawn, instead they are just there and it is up to you to notice. On paper this honestly does not sound that bad but as many hunters know there are a disgusting amount of shinies that have barely any change or the changes are very subtle. This is awful for hunting in this game and requires you to be very aware of everything that spawns if the shiny you're looking for doesn't change much.

On the note of subtle shinies, it is an especially big issue for Gen 9. There are so many shinies that barely change for no good reason and it feels like there are far more than any game before now. For example:

Tatsugiri on paper is ok, but the Yellow form's shiny is orange which creates confusion between it and the normal orange form.

All of the future Paradoxes have a chrome color palette which is a mixed bag. It would be a fine color on paper, if not a little boring because they're all the same, but several future paradoxes already have chrome in their color palette leading to the shiny not changing much. Iron Treads is the worst offender but others like Iron Moth or Iron Boulder are pretty bad for this too.

There are of course the several shinies who just barely change for no good reason, making them incredibly difficult to notice in game, either from the lighting or just because the pokemon is so small to begin with. But none of that compares to:

Like come on what the fuck is this? I don't even know what to say about this like, someone saw Gholdengo, changed the color of it's grooves and just called it a day? I really don't like using this word in regard to game development or design but this is just lazy. It's less than that really because this honestly feels like they went out of their way to make a bad shiny. Like you could have just made it like silver or copper or literally any noticeable change to the gold and that would have been way better. But no, just the barely visible grooves. What is even the point of giving it a shiny at that stage?

Though honestly you could argue Gholdengo's doesn't matter that much because:

Shiny Locks! They are arguably the worst they've ever been. I have and always will, despise this mechanic. There is almost never a good reason for preventing a pokemon from being shiny if it is catchable. Recent games have been very bad for shiny locks. This list includes the starters, which is a god awful decision, arguably the worst mons to shiny lock, the various titans, all wild Gimmighoul for some reason, all gift pokemon except for Salvatore's Meowth, and all legendaries, including the ones brought back in the DLC. That last one in particular is awful as a large batch of returning legendaries has become standard implementation mid generation since ORAS, and we've always been allowed to hunt them, so seeing that changed is a really bad precedent for future games. The Pokemon Company know full well that a significant portion of their playerbase enjoy shiny hunting. It's a side of the fandom that is more acknowledged than ever with the official Twitter even recently putting out a very comprehensive guide on all the ways to boost shiny odds. So I really don't understand what they have to lose by not letting us hunt this stuff, it's not like they're doing anything with those unavailable shinies anyway. Literally none of the Gen 9 legendaries have received shiny distributions yet, hell we're still waiting for most of the Gen 8 ones. Imagine how cool it would be to hunt a shiny Koraidon and ride it during your playthrough, or hunting the gift Sinnoh egg and getting a random shiny Sinnoh Starter or even hunting the Meloetta event. So many cool hunts that we just aren't allowed to do because GameFreak said no. This is absolutely not a dealbreaker but it is a really annoying practice that I wish they would just stop doing.

All that being said, I think that about covers my thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet by extension. There may be more to say, such as how one could criticize how important the DLC could be to having a fully experience with how the game is lacking in some areas, namely post game content without it, effectively making an already expensive €60 game into an over €90 game, the lack of a battle facilty or the general quality of the pokemon roster this time around but I think I've said my piece.

I think overall this game gets a bad rep. One that isn't entirely undeserved. It has many issues which exist for a number of reasons, be they technical, structural or narrative, and those should be critiqued. But that also means a lot of the good parts of this game get overlooked or underappreciated. It's strong enough that I honestly think that if you just fixed even just the technical issues, this would be one of the best pokemon games. But even as it is I can't say I hate this game. I still enjoyed it quite a lot actually. I think given the way recent releases have been experimenting with open area type gameplay, this style of pokemon is likely going to be the new norm. If so I hope they do take a proper look at what SV did both right and wrong to properly refine it. We can only wait and see on that front, with how much cynicism has taken root in the pokemon community, I hope I can be right on that front.

As for where this game ranks on my ongoing tier list of games, I think smack in the middle of B is a good place to put it with how much I enjoyed the game.

[smalltownfae]

Magical Bond Book Recs

I have been noticing that I really like the magical bond trope in my fantasy books so if you like it too here are some recommendations in order of execution and how I like them. The magical bond is when two characters are somehow connected to each other through some sort of magic and it’s usually very emotionally strong and often tragic.

1. Fitz and the Fool / Fitz and Nighteyes (Realm of the Elderlings)

Including both of those even if one is a magical bond with an animal. Fitz has a strong connection with the Fool through the magic called the Skill, in which when the Fool touches him with his fingers stained by magic they can use that link to feel each other’s essence and emotions, heal, etc. Fitz and Nighteyes share another kind of magical link through the Wit, which is the magic that allows the people that possess it to understand and connect with animals. Nighteyes is a wolf. Through Fitz, the Fool and Nighteyes also share a faint magical bond. Besides this, Fitz and the Fool are also connected by their destined roles since one is a prophet and the other a catalyst (meaning one has visions of the future and the other the capability to change that future in big ways).

“I was the Fool and the Fool was me. He was the Catalyst and so was I. We were two halves of a whole, sundered and come together again. For an instant I knew him in his entirety, complete and magical, and then he was pulling apart from me, laughing, a bubble inside me, separate and unknowable, yet joined to me. “You do love me !” I was incredulous. He had never truly believed it before. “Before, it was words. I always feared it war born of pity. But you are truly my friend. This is knowing. This is feeling what you feel for me. So this is the Skill.”

- Assassin’s Quest (Farseer #3) by Robin Hobb

“Come, hunt with me, the invitation whispers in my heart. Leave the pain behind and let your life be your own again. There is a place where all time is now, and the choices are simple and always your own. Wolves have no kings.”

- Royal Assassin (Farseer #2) by Robin Hobb

2. Rin and Kitay (Poppy War)

Rin and Kitay eventually form a bond like Chaghan and his sister have. Kitay is Rin’s anchor and helps keep part of her sanity while using the magic of a god. The bond can make the magic stronger and Rin both craves it and wants Kitay to not get involved with it. It is a more tragic kind of bond and it’s platonic.

“Because once you have an anchor, they become a part of your soul. Your very existence. They know your thoughts. They feel what you feel. They are the only ones who completely and fully understand you. Most would die rather than give that up.”

- The Dragon Republic (The Poppy War #2) by R.F. Kuang

3. Kell and Rhy Maresh (Shades of Magic)

I decided to make this post because I was reminded of these two actually. Kell is Rhy’s adoptive brother and just like Rin and Kitay they share a platonic magical bond that can kill both of them in one go. At one point in the series Rhy dies and Kell uses magic to save him, a magic that binds them so that they can feel each other’s pain.

“I bound your life to mine,” said Kell, “As long as I live, so shall you.” Rhy’s eyes widened. “You did what?” he whispered, horrified. “I should get out of this bed and wring your neck.” “I wouldn’t,” advised Kell. “Your pain is mine and mine is yours.”

- A Darker Shade of Magic (Shades of Magic #1) by V.E. Schwab

4. Seregil and Alec (Nightrunner)

This series is known for having an mlm couple as the main characters so it’s a given that they will get into a relationship at some point. They share the talimenios bond (which basically means soulmates) and they can feel each others’ emotions to a certain extent. The reason why it’s last place is that it isn’t that impactful in the story and not as strong as the ones before even though it is the romantic one. It isn’t so much different than being together with someone for years and getting to know them really really well.

“One pair of men held Alec’s attention for dance after dance. It was not simply their skill that moved him but the way they seemed to hold each other with their gaze, trusting, anticipating, working in perfect unison. His throat tightened as he watched them during one particularly sensual dance; he knew without being told that they were talimenios and that they had lived this dance, this mingling of souls, together most of their lives. He felt Seregil’s hand cover his own. Without the least embarrassment, Alec turned his hand, weaving their fingers together and letting the dance speak for him.”

- Traitor’s Moon (Nightrunner #3) by Lynn Flewelling

[darkfictionjude]

Etymology nonnie here!

I knew planning an IF was going to be hard. But I didn't imagine how easily it can go into a chaotic disaster.

The thing is, a part of me wants to go to have as many choices as possible. But that's not possible nor responsible. So, I have to impose myself a limit. The problem is that even if you do, some choices do allow for a lot of further branching. Some of it very complex, in comparison with the rest.

And there is also the fact you have to try to keep in mind your branching has to, sometimes, still arrive at the same common plot point. It may arrive differently, of course, but it has to get there nonetheless.

Worse, you also have to consider that certain choices may not have direct and immediate consequences. So you have to plan how it will show after. Keeping it in mind while writing and planning.

I'm not surprised I began to plan and write my first IF the worst possible moment for me to do so. As I plan to write my master's thesis this year. So, it's not like I have all the time in the world for this. And as fun as it is, it's also a bit mentally demanding to the point I'm not sure I can justify doing it as hobbie/recreation time.

What is your way of handling planning your IF, dear Jude? I know there is some flexibility, as you have added things to WWC that came from things discussed here in the blog that otherwise may have not been included. But I also suspect there are things that are set hard in stone. Do you have plans before hand for each episode? Or do you have more of a set of goals for the story and write in a way that simply fills the space between these plot points in a way that makes sense?

Also, why did you decided to do the side quests for WWC? Was it for practicing how to plan branching and all of that for the main story? Or was it more for a writing need (as in: creating a break for the pace's sake; exposing the player to the worldbuilding, both for the supernatural and the human aspects; allow character growth for the MC on their own, without the meddling of the RO's and the Crown family)? Do you plan to include side quests in your future IFs too?

(Hopefully the second set of questions is related enough to the first. I did think they were, but I would understand if you didn't. In which case I could write a second ask if you deem it necessary, that fully focuses on them).

Yeah I also started writing this game at the worst possible moment 😭 write before my semester began

So the way I write is that I write the entire story outline, all the episodes and what they will contain before I begin writing the story proper. Then I go and make another document where I flesh out each given episode I'm on as I cut it up into scenes. Each episode has around 7-8 "scenes." It makes it cleaner and easier to write as to not forget anything vital.

The side quests came to me out of nowhere, which is contradictory to the way I fully plan things out. I'm a contradictory writer as I go back and add things to the individual episode outlines that while don't overall change the form do add something to character. The side quests were to show more of the world as Croun is a very interesting place but as I was writing it I realized that "hey this is good for MC, dangerously stupid at times but good." That's why I began adding this like the first kiss in the fake dating side quest so as to affect MC and as way to make the side quests feel more canon, sometimes side quests feel like non-canon fun routes that MC never acknowledges again.

I don't know if other IFs will include side quests simply because side quests fit in WWC but because it is a small strange town, other IFs take place in a broader world that isn't as a slow paced as it can be living in a town like this.

[frostehburr]

Finishing the Year by 100%ing Pikmin 4

Yeah, this is the last tumblr post for me in 2023.

I really didn't expect to get Pikmin 4 so soon and be able to finish it before new year. Not to say it didn't have a bit of difficulty, the dandori challenges were a pain in the ass. I'm just surprised by the amount of time I had for this game.

Recently I had to go on a business trip to California and to pass time in the hotel room, I brought a Switch with Pikmin 4. Apparently the time I spent in the hotel room over the week long trip was enough for me to 100% the game! Would love to go on trips more often but it's far too expensive.

Like previous Pikmin games, the main story involves you using pikmin to collect giant every day objects and genocide the local wildlife so the pikmin can take over and dominate the area.

Family friendly Nintendo.

Anyhow, this fourth installment... fifth?... adds the goal of rescuing tourists who came to this planet filled with lethal levels of oxygen (what do these guys breath?) for various reasons such as real estate and looking at flowers. I personally think there are better options than a planet where you're chances of death via suffocation is high but I also know a few people who actively grab venomous snakes with their bare hands so I guess preservation instincts are different between people.

Also half of these castaways turned into leaf people. The pikmin are starting to take over the tiny tiny humans!

These leaf people demand you do something called a "dandori" challenge which is just doing a specific objective in the shortest amount of time available. If you want to 100% the game, you will have to get the platinum medal for ALL dandori challenges and battles!

This is the main reason I expected to not finish the game until next year. The dandori stuff stresses me out so much! Putting a time limit on it was bad enough but grading me on how much time I use just hurts. I hate it!

One more thing, I looked it up out of curiosity and dandori is an actual Japanese word! Yeah apparently it's a word that describes the strategic organization of tasks and working efficiently to a plan...

Basically the entire concept of Pikmin as a whole. Yet I struggled with it...

So they also have a few side missions, a treasure catalogue, and a bestiary. The bestiary was filled out thanks to me running all over chucking Pikmin at anything that moved. Including a massive giant dog that shows up some time late in the game.

Side missions were mostly "find all X crew" which is easily done when completing the caves. Oh there are two that are grow 300 pikmin and make 300 pikmin bloom but those are radiant quests so I'm certain they don't count. I also had to buy all gear and Oatchi skills but I recommend getting them when you can because it makes the game go by faster.

For the treasure catalogue I needed 100 purple pikmin which you can easily do without a purple onion. Yes the purple bois got their own onion this time! However, in order to get the purple and white onion you have to go through the dandori sage trials, which were a nightmare of 10 levels on their own.

I do not think I needed to platinum the sage trials... I never did but I choose to claim that it is unnecessary. For the sake of sanity. Those trials were brutal!

After getting the purple onion I had to find a way to grow 100 purple pikmin which is rather hard to do when you wiped out everything on the maps. Leaving me with the flower pellets as my only option. Took about three days but I got to 100 purple bois and collected the gold bar, finishing the treasure catalogue!

With all that done I just have to say: Pikmin 4 is a very enjoyable game you can have loads of fun with. It's a calming type of game where you can fling plant bois to collect shiny items. However, you should never attempt to 100% complete this game. Attempting to 100% Pikmin 4 will leave you more stressed than the year 2020.

Think I fully understand why Nintendo never bothered with achievements.

[christophoronomicon]

So, about Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom…

So, well, I still can't play Tears of the Kingdom (can't believe Nintendo wouldn't allow such a big fan as I am to play the game early! 😏), so I have no choice but to vent my thoughts here.

Once again, no spoilers (except light spoilers for Breath of the Wild), I've managed to avoid all leaks so all thoughts and opinions here are based on officially released materials and stuff based on those. So, let's start after the break.

As you may remember, yesterday I was talking not so much about what Nintendo had revealed about TotK in the last few weeks, but about what was still absent from those reveals, and how things being conspicuously absent could point towards important story beats.

But I left one important thing out, probably the most conspicuous absence in the all game: where is all the ancient Sheikah tech?! I mean, the trailers and promotional materials have shown some Sheikah tech, like the new Switch-like Sheikah slate, a platform with mechanical tentacles resembling Guardian legs, and some kind of high-speed elevator in the latest trailer. But Sheikah tech is conspicuously absent from the overworld.

When Breath of the Wild ended, Hyrule was still full of broken and deactivated Guardians, Sheikah towers, shrines, not to mention the Divine Beasts (including Link's own Master Cycle if you count the DLC contents). But in all the trailers for TotK, all that is completely gone. So what happened?

Of course, it could be that they were all destroyed during the Upheaval, but that seems unlikely to have left no trace of Sheikah tech on the surface, especially for things as large as the towers and Divine Beasts.

Another possibility is that the Sheikah basically dismantled everything for parts. Purah and especially Robbie seemed to need a lot of stuff for their research, and they may have used the new found peace to expand on their work in earnest. But while I can definitely see the Sheikah dismantling all the Guardians for parts (and the other races helping to get rid of those horrors forever), I have difficulties imagining them doing the same to all the Sheikah towers (no matter how useful those terminals are). And the new towers of TotK (seemingly called Skyview towers) don't solve that conundrum, as they are not all placed where the old Sheikah towers stood, implying they are not just the Sheikah towers packed up in wood and cloth.

I have even more difficulty believing they'd go as far as dismantling the Divine Beasts, they're far too useful to protect Hyrule. Unless it was to ensure they'd never fall into the wrong hands again... But still, that's a bit far-fetched.

As for the Shrines, I don't believe for one moment that Hyrule would have the resources to dismantle those. And what about the pillars surrounding Hyrule Castle? I just remembered that they were gone too. Did they just go underground again?

This said, if you've completed all the main story quests in BotW, you're rewarded at the end with an additional cut-scene where Zelda says that they are going tothe Zora Kingdom, to, among other things, investigate why Divine Beast Vah Rutah has stopped working. Maybe that's the stinger for the sequel, and the first step towards whatever is going to happen that leads to TotK. Maybe Vah Rutah isn't the only Divine Beast which is going to stop working. Maybe, with no Malice nor Champions to keep them going, the Divine Beasts are all going to shut down one by one for ever. In that case, I could imagine them being dismantled to try and reverse engineer them.

Still, there clearly isn't a big time skip between BotW and TotK (5 years at most I would expect, given how much Riju has grown and the fact that Zelda and Link look pretty much identical as in BotW), so I can't imagine there being enough time to fully dismantle all the ancient Sheikah tech present on the surface at the end of BotW. So its absence in the TotK trailers is all the more intriguing.

I don't really have a theory here, just questions, as all theories I have are too full of holes and unknowns to be worth going through.

Personally, I'm very curious to see how much ancient Sheikah tech we are going to see in the new game, especially now that it seems Zonai tech is going to take centre-stage. Are they going to be able to interact somehow? Are the Divine Beasts completely gone? Do the new Skyview towers contain any special tech or are they just constructions of wood and cloth? What do you all think?

[rumielisapublicspeaker]

ONE PIECE

So. The story so far.

YES THERE WILL BE SPOILERS

So. Firstly I would give One Piece an overall 9 as an anime. From what I've seen and heard, the show has kept up even after 20 years, thanks to the wonderful Oda, and that is very important to me as an avid watcher.

True, I never made it past episode 60 the first time I watched, I don't think, HOWEVER!!! That doesn't mean I disliked the show, I liked it a lot. I just probably have ADHD (╥_╥) which means a lot of the longer shows I want to watch get put down by accident because a new shiny show comes out that I want to watch then and there... (I'm looking at you Jujutsu Kaisen (๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭.

I restarted the anime about a week ago during my move into my new apartment at episode 45, as it's the last episode I can fully remember (though I did skip through a little because I can't lie... the Buggy filler episodes were not my thing) "૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა I also know that the Netflix live action ends around episode 45 as well, which- I'm happy to say, is probably the ONLY live action adaptation of an anime (apart from the theatre productions of studio ghibli films like My Neighbour Totoro) that ACTUALLY WORKED!!! Also, Jamie Lee Curtis, a true One Piece fan loved it! Plus, both Oda and Mayumi have crowned Iñaki as the real world Luffy SO SUCK ON THAT HATERS!!! True, I didn't watch the live action fully, as my friend was watching it whilst I played dragon quest 11 (good game) but I got the gist of it, and it was really good from what I could see.

NOW!! ON TO THE GOOD SHIZ!!!

I am currently on episode 57, as of writing this, which means Chopper is only 24 episodes away ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽ つ And I NEED to meet the baby!! I'm currently watching the crew sail with this little dragon doo dad (who I cannot remember the species name, but his name from Apis is Ryujii.) And shit just started happening. The boat is a rocking, the sky is raining, Zoro and Apis currently have rope burn. It's a good episode. If I recall correctly, they're about to enter the Grand Line?? I know they're right next to it at least, but I think they're trying to get Ryujii home- I just realised that they just landed on the island I am dumb. There was a strange wispy of wind a second ago, which means that one guy is likely already on the island with them I think. Who knows "૮₍ ˶•⤙•˶ ₎ა. Either way, once again this show is showing how corrupt the government system is lmao.

Anyhoo, overall, I don't think One Piece can really be judged by episodes, unless you talk about the live action. I'd say a better judgement would be going by arcs? I will say, this arc is pretty mid, just because I've seen it before and because I don't think Apis as a character is good whatsoever. She's just kind of that npc character in an rpg that directs you on a fetch quest before telling you that she must be protected as she's annoyingly coming with instead of staying home safe- oh wait she's the only one who can talk to the dragon and therefore knows where the fetch quest main area is. Great. Yeah, she's extremely mid now that I think about it.

I wouldn't skip this arc, just because I think all arcs leading up to the Grand Line are definitely important, HOWEVER, I do think she could've been in it less. The grampa would've had more to offer in my opinion, even if it was just comedic value. Plus, he could've been a secret badass who saves the day, who knows.

Also, as I'm writing this, my wifi CUT OUT (╥ᆺ╥；) so now I'm dying of death... (╥ᆺ╥；)(╥ᆺ╥；)(╥ᆺ╥；)

Anyways, I would recommend One Piece, but at the same time, if you aren't used to watching long form anime... gooooood luck. I can only do this because I watched Naruto and Shippuden a couple years back and that- ugh that hurt. One piece was still only one episode 800 too... It hurt so much. Yes it's a good anime BUT IT WOULD BE HALF THE LENGTH IF THEY CUT THE FILLER OUT, KILLED OFF SOME OF THE USELESS CHILDREN YOUNGER THAN NARUTO, REVEALED KAKASHI'S MOLE, AND CUT THE FIGHTS TO HALF THE LENGTH!!!!

Sorry, got emotional there. But yeah. One Piece? Good show. It also only has about 50 filler episodes out of the current 1076 episodes that are released. That's an achievement. Also I am now realising how quickly they must have pumped Naruto out if that show had 750 episodes plus movies...

Final thoughts? Watch One Piece. Don't watch Naruto. It isn't worth it. Also, idgaf if people disagree. If you watch Naruto, only watch Naruto. Don't bother with Shippuden. Hinata is the only good character after Naruto, but she isn't worth it.

[atlantic-riona]

people never believe me when I tell them how bad my sense of direction is in video games. they're like "did you look at the map?" and it's like "YES Jeremy what do you think the problem is?? I have the map up, a giant yellow arrow pointing to where I need to go and I've been to the location at least a hundred times. YES I am still lost in the woods somewhere. no I will not be getting out any time soon."

like I didn't get lost in the Watchtower in DC Universe Online for three years for you to disbelieve me like this 🙄

technically I have played Skyrim but I have no idea what the main plot is because I got lost on the very first quest, somehow overshot whatever place on the mountain (?) I was supposed to go to, wandered around all night, found myself on the other side of the mountain at dawn, and then couldn't find my way BACK to the town I came from. yes I had a map. and an arrow. what about it. anyway I gave up and just wandered until I found a little village and got sidetracked into various sidequests.

this is not a plea for video game makers to make more aids for directionally-challenged individuals such as myself, I am fully aware that I am the problem. it is a plea, however, for the DC Universe people to PLEASE stop layering every level of the Watchtower over each other on the map so that it is impossible to tell which way to go for the floor you're on. I escaped finally but now I'm mortally afraid to go back. this has been a public service announcement. thank you.

[litcityblues]

'The Republic of Thieves' --A Review

Much like the titular Gentlemen Bastards of the Gentlemen Bastards sequence, my reviews have wandered across a couple of platforms before winding up here. (The Lies of Locke Lamora I posted on my Substack-- hey, you should subscribe by the way- it's free and I average about one post a week so I won't clog up your inbox, I promise. Red Seas Under Red Skies landed on the O.G. Blog (also worth a peek if you haven't been there.) Locke Lamora was a revelation, Red Skies was good- but gave me Die Hard 2: This Time It's On A Plane vibes that made me worry about the next volume, The Republic of Thieves- but you know what? I should not have worried. I should not have worried one little bit.

The book opens with Locke and Jean still on the run- but instead of enjoying the last of his life as Locke wanted, Jean has become obsessed with finding him a cure to the poison that infected his body following the events of the prior book. Jean's quest is largely fruitless and Locke is on the doorstep of death when they get an unpleasant job offer that promises to save Locke's life. The Bondsmagi of Karthain come calling, more specifically the Archedama Patience who, as it turns out, is the Mother of the Falconer, whom they defeated, and mutilated- but did not kill at the end of the first book.

She promises to cure Locke, in exchange for which, she's going to employ them both in Karthain-- where elections to the governing Konseil, held every five years are imminent. The Bondsmagi, knowing that their power- the misuse of which lead to the downfall of the Therin Empire- hold themselves apart from the city they govern, preferring instead to jockey for power through the dueling political factions that govern the city-- the Deep Roots Party (Patience's party- the old guard) and the Black Iris Party (which represents the modernizing, new guard).

Locke doesn't want anything to do with the Bondsmagi, but is in no position to disagree and Patience sweetens the deal by revealing that their counterpart for the Black Iris Party is none other than the often spoken of, but so far not yet seen a former member of the Gentlemen Bastards- in the case, the Gentlelady, Sabetha.

Meeting Sabetha was inevitable at some point in this series. She's been haunting the first two books and the backstory between her and Locke is hinted at, but never fully explored until we get to this book. As Jean and Locke accept the contract in Karthain and Locke is purged of the poison running through his body, we get the story of Locke and Sabetha as the other thread interwoven through the main body of the narrative.

They go way back, as it turns out, all the way to Shades Hill, where Locke catches sight of her red hair and is instantly smitten. Soon, she vanishes, and then Locke is swept up by Chains and brought in the Gentlemen Bastards where Sabetha is already a member and they reconnect after a fashion. As they all grow older and get into their teenage years and deal with things like hormones and figuring out how to work together, Chains kicks them all out of the house and sends them to Espara to put on a play- the Republic of Thieves. They get there and have to figure out how to first, bail out their contact-- Jasper Moncraine, who is in prison for insulting a noble and then they have to deal with the business of putting on a play-- which, after some shenanigans and an unexpected murder, they manage to pull off-- but the more important thing is that Sabetha actually gets Locke to recognize her for herself and not as some shining object he placed upon a pedestal. That part takes a while and can be something of a slog to get through, but I think it's important enough for both characters that I would overlook it.

That brings us back to the present, where Locke and Jean reach Karthain and get to work. The beautiful part about their situation is that they know Sabetha as well as she knows them, so the hijinks between the two sides get interesting (she drugs them and dumps them on a boat heading away from Karthain when they oust her spies and watchers, she replaces them with sweet little old ladies- knowing that Jean won't hurt grandmas, etc.) She and Locke have a complicated dance around their feelings, but ultimately acknowledge them and despite some blunt warnings from their Bondsmagi employers, they continue to bring their best at each other while continuing to see each other and eventually, Locke makes it her choice: if she needs space, time or something else, he'll give that to her and when the election ends in a tie, they go their separate ways.

Patience reveals what she believes to be the truth about Locke- that he's the reincarnation of a very powerful Bondsmagi who tried to cheat death and she thinks succeeded in Locke. She shows first Sabetha and then Locke a picture of the Bondsmagi and his wife and Sabetha is so disturbed by this, she vanishes again. Jean and Locke are unsure of the truth of the matter but both have been burned by the Bondsmagi before, so don't really trust what Patience has to say.

At the end of the book, however, the Falconer recovers his mind and then his powers, before killing Patience, his mother.

Overall: I flew through this book. Any concerns I had about the series after Red Skies were blown into tiny smithereens. After teasing Sabetha throughout the first two books, the payoff when she's finally introduced is perfect. Weaving the Bondsmagi back in and bringing them back around from the first book? Perfect. Setting up the seeds of the next volume, The Thorn of Emberlain- perfect! I don't know what the original plan for these books were/is-- I've seen chatter on the internet that seven volumes are planned, but even if no other books in the series make it to print and Lynch pulls a complete Rothfuss, these three books are delectable. They're immersive without being dense, the characters are well-rounded and excellent and they're just a pleasure to read. Easily one of my favorite series out there right now. My Grade: **** out of ****

[kerra-and-company]

Gonna send some asks for that gw2 meme 3 for Casca!

3, 6, 11

Gladly!! Tyty! Casca hours :D

3. What person impacted them the most?

There's several people who've impacted her immensely, but for this question? Brook. The two of them bonded incredibly quickly after coming to the fahrar and are best friends to the point of near-codependence as they grow up. They eventually end up mates as well. Brook is--and as far back as she can remember, always has been--pretty much the most important person in Casca's life.

Brook's fascination with human spirituality and religious belief is why Casca doesn't shun or scorn it, even if she doesn't believe in it herself. Brook's constant presence in her life--and the fact that they also use magic, though they're not the only other 'bandmate of hers to do so--is a not-insignificant part of the reason that Casca is so incredibly determined not to hide or be ashamed of her own magic. Brook was captured by the Flame Legion along with her, and the hope of getting out and saving them was her main reason for not giving up.

On the flip side of that, Casca spent a good eight years or so after she finally managed to escape the Flame Legion thinking that she'd been too late and that Brook was dead, and it was incredibly devastating. She managed, eventually, to rebuild something from the pieces of her life and take on mercenary work (for sketchier third parties at first, then later down the line for the Pact). She made some friends. She, interestingly enough, fully avoided dealing with her feelings towards the Flame Legion and didn't try to seek out revenge solo, which might not be what you'd guess if you'd known her before everything went down. She knew Brook wouldn't want her dead (and neither would Ari or Pol, who she was also pretty certain she'd lost), and her anger was so intrinsically tied to her grief that if she did let herself focus on it, she wouldn't have been able to even kind of handle either one. It was this weird kind of limbo where she wasn't okay and she knew it, but also thought this would be as good as it ever got.

Finding Brook with the Olmakhan in the Sandswept Isles was the best thing that could ever have happened to her, as far as she's concerned. She loves them fiercely and entirely. But it also released that hold she had on her anger. She's not big on second or third chances anyways, never has been, and that was the nail in the coffin. Any interaction with Weylon--who had betrayed their warband to Flame in the first place--that she had from that point forward was going to go immediately and violently south.

6. They're now a heart NPC/part of a string of quests. What does that involve?

As a renown heart NPC, I think you'd get baby!Casca and the rest of the Storm Warband running investigative trips into the Flame Legion in the Iron Marches. Ari would be nearby Casca and you could talk to both of them. Casca would complain about being asked to make a more solid map of the territory and Flame presence for the higher-ups, and you'd be able to help either by reading documents and bringing her information or by dealing with some of the nearby Flame Legion yourself. You'd be able to find the rest of their 'bandmates scattered throughout the area doing their own thing, and they'd all come back every once in a while and have ambient conversations with her and Ari.

11. How accurate is their reputation/image compared to how they really are?

Somewhat, I'd say? The most well-known side of Casca is the reputation she gained as a mercenary over the years. The estimation of her capabilities is pretty accurate, but the estimates of both her emotional volatility and tendency towards chaos are Not accurate.

[inherpower]

Walking with Grace: My Path to Building a Relationship with Jesus

I find myself consumed by thoughts of Jesus. Yeah…interesting, I know. In the past couple of weeks I’ve been studying the Bible for myself. I went to church this past Sunday. The pull feels so strong, like the gravitational pull of a thousand suns. I listen to various books and chapters in the Bible in my Bible app and dissect them for greater understanding. Who is Jesus? More specifically, who is Jesus to me? I credit my daughter for this spark. Her conviction in believing and knowing that Jesus is real began my own personal quest for him. But I gotta be honest. I ran from Christianity. The religion felt restricting and antiquated in its ways. Christians felt judgmental and gossipy. Nothing that felt like what Jesus modeled and encouraged people to be and emulate.

I often watched people who had been devout Christians and wondered what made them find comfort in the arms of this religion. Though I did not grow up in church I was always fascinated by the religion. From a young age I heard the call that rolled through the recesses of my life but was barely a whisper. I was even told I would have a life of service when I was ten. The only life that I could look at as an example at the time was the life of Jesus and that didn’t turn out well in the human realm for him. So I turned away from any parts of Christianity, but fully embraced God. I’ve always bene deep in my spiritual work. Each and everyday I talk to God, going back to when I was a child. I felt comforted in my relationship with God but also challenged in that I was often given advice that I didn’t want to follow but knew was best for me.

I had spiritual gifts at a young age as well. I was able to see and feel things that others couldn’t. It often felt less than and a gift and more like a burden. Being able to connect with the finer energies meant that I was often experiencing sensory overload. Hearing whispers and conversations from people who weren’t there, feeling the presence of a being that would make itself known through nudges and pinches when I was sleeping. Whenever I felt afraid I would recite a mantra that my mother taught me The light of God surrounds me, the love of God enfolds me, the power of protects me and the presence of God watches over me. Where ever I am, God is and so it is. Amen. At times I would repeat the words over and over till I fell back asleep. I even had what I believe to be an experience with the Holy Spirit when I was twelve.

My mother, grandmother and I had gone to a convention in Miami that our church was hosting. My mom started going to a unitarian universalist church and was very active, serving on the board and even moving up in the ranks of the church to potentially become a minister (she ultimately stopped because of the hypocrisy in the church). At this particular convention I was sitting with my grandmother as people were singing and shouting and praise dancing. As I sat there I suddenly felt overcome with emotion. I stood up and was clapping my hands but suddenly felt tears welling up in my eyes. I sat back down and laid my head in my grandmother’s lap while she rubbed my head. I had no clue what came over me. Years later I would realize that I felt the Holy Spirit move within me.

I always felt safe and protected when it came to God. I knew that I could always talk to him and he would understand everything that I was feeling and grappling with. But I never had a relationship with Jesus. In fact I saw him as a middle man, someone I had to go through in order to get to God. And why would I need to do that since I had access to the main man all by myself? I pushed any attempt to have a relationship with Jesus off to the side. But when the hunger (and yes it felt that intense) began to make itself louder and more pronounced I knew that if God was guiding me in this direction, then I needed to submit and follow.

So on my drive home from work one day about a month ago I started the conversation.

“Hi Jesus, this is Kendal. I’m sure you know who I am since you and God are tight. But I haven’t formally introduced myself to you. All of my life I’ve been talking to God, but maybe you’ve been there listening and waiting for me to speak with you directly. I hear what other people say about you and who you are to them but I would like to get to know you for myself. So this is me reaching out and inviting you into my life.”

Now it’s important to note that I’m someone who likes tangible proof. I want to lay my eyes on something to know that it’s real. This has been a source of frustration for me when I was younger because the spirit realm does not deal in tangibles. I’ve learned to allow messages to be my confirmation. But I gotta be honest and tell you that when I got home and was about to get in the shower, I said “You know Jesus, if you want to make your presence known like through a dream or something. Maybe you knock over a picture that I have so I know you’re hearing me. I’ll be cool with that.” Maybe it wasn’t the best time to make such a request as I was stepping into the shower butt naked, however I it crossed my mind in that moment and I didn’t want to forget. Needless to say I had no dreams about Jesus that night.

Instead the very next day I had a conversation that was long overdue. I’ve been dealing with the residual effects of a divorce that happened over a year ago and was feeling very ostracized. All throughout this difficult transition I’ve been talking to God and he’s been guiding me step-by-step. That’s not to say that this has made any of this easier but I decided that following God’s guidance has been better than me taking matters into my own hands. The call was reassurance and confirmation that I needed and had been asking God about for years (some of this was leading up to the divorce). When I got off the phone I felt at peace. I could feel a glow radiating from my skin and a smile began to spread itself wide across my face.

In a flash I gasped and said “JESUS”! I knew in that moment that this was Jesus’ way of letting me know that he was listening and that showing me that he is in fact real. I was even glad that he didn’t make himself known to me through a dream where I could only see his face, or shake his hand and wake up with nothing but an image. This experience was personal, intimate and a far greater way for me to know that his presence is real. I couldn’t deny an emotion and confirmation that I had been craving for years. I consider that moment as a gift for so many reasons. And now… the journey begins.

Dear Jesus,

I want to thank you for showing up in a way that made doubt impossible to rear its head. You gave me a precious gift and I am forever grateful for the peace and love that you placed in my heart. I look forward to more conversations and interactions with you. Thank you for loving me as I am.

With love,

Kendal

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