#with the idea that they were themed after Robin from Fire Emblem | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

iturbide · 3 years ago

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Well, we both knew this was coming ever since I posted the ask game😂 8,9, 11,12, 16, 19, 20, 29 and 30!

we all knew it was coming

8. A scene/character moment you really liked?

One of the scenes I don't see talked about much at all but that I think about a lot is the one after Emmeryn's death, following the Shepherds' escape from Plegia and flight to Ferox. Chrom is at his lowest point, crushed by the weight of his failures, by the knowledge that he wasn't strong enough to save Emmeryn and she chose to sacrifice herself rather than let Gangrel win...and Robin reminds him, in that moment, about how powerless they were, not so long ago. How alone they had been, before Chrom offered his hand. They don't make light of Emmeryn's sacrifice, freely admitting that neither of them can match her on their own -- but that together, they can achieve so much more than they can individually. Robin reminds Chrom that he doesn't have to become his sister even if he fights for what she believed in, and assures him that even if he fails, they will be there to help him back up.

I've always loved that moment. It's the first time the game brings up the idea of bonds making people more powerful, and moreover it solidifies the bond that Chrom and Robin will share throughout the rest of the game: Robin promises to help Chrom up even if he should fall again...and I like to think that Chrom remembers that, and it's part of what motivates him to keep Robin by his side even after Validar forces Robin to turn on him once: he believes in those bonds, and knowing how low Robin is going to feel after that event, he wants to help pick Robin back up the same way Robin has helped him up countless times before.

9. What's something that should be brought back in future installments?

Well with the understanding that I am a filthy casual, I love having skirmishes as a leveling option. The older games are really hard for me to play because you have to really prioritize which units you use: there just aren't enough battles or experience to go around, making it impossible to really try to get a good feel for every character. Being able to have skirmishes, and moreover trigger additional skirmishes to level different characters, makes it easier to keep everyone in the same league, making it easier to pick units that will excel at a given map rather than being forced to take the only ones that have a suitable level even if they're poorly equipped (cavaliers on desert terrain please no). I'm really glad that 3H kept this aspect, even if it's mostly present on the lower difficulty modes (and once again it's great for Support grinding).

11. Talk about the game's themes!

"Our bonds give us strength" is probably my favorite thing about the whole damn game okay. I absolutely love that message, that together we are stronger than we are alone, and that it is through our friendships that our skills and talents truly shine. We can make each other better, not by berating each other, but by supporting each other, helping one another back up when we fail and striving to do better in the future. There's such a kind message in there that means a lot to me even now, and I tend to go on about it at length in...a lot of my stuff as you've probably noticed.

12. Your favorite cool details?

Okay this is really minor and silly but the Invisible Threads/Ties map?

I think this particular map is gorgeous. The colored stones radiating out from the central pedestal where the Fire Emblem sits, the Mark of Grima on the stairs leading up to the platform...just think about how much care and effort that kind of construction would require in the real world. This place is beautiful, and it's frankly a shame that we're forced to view it only as a place of evil. I can easily imagine this being a holy place, one of ancient rite and ritual; too bad we never get a chance to see it in better circumstances.

16. Favorite platonic relationship?

Robin and Lissa. Not because of the game, though (I actually don't like their supports that much) but because they're two people who can relate to one another in a really unique way. Robin is someone who has a Brand they do not want (at least once they know what it is); Lissa is someone who is lacking a Brand she should have. Both of them struggle with this, but the way they struggle -- particularly within the confines of Ylisse -- are likely very familiar, and I love the idea of them relating to one another and finding a confidante they can be open and honest with in ways they can't with others.

19. You get to make one more DLC for Awakening. What do you make?

Already covered! I don't have enough DLC ideas to put out more sadly

20. What do you feel is underappreciated about Awakening?

While I technically covered this one already, I think there are other things that are underappreciated. Like. The whole 'crusade' thing, and how Chrom's father, in Gangrel's own words, called them heathens and butchered countless Plegians. The game brings this up in one chapter -- and then it waves it off because Ylisseans suffered, too, and then forgets about it for the rest of the game. That's kind of a big thing to just drop, especially after a weak "both sides" remark. I don't even think IntSys appreciates the bombshell that really constitutes, given how they treat it -- which is a shame, because handled well it could have elevated the game even further.

29. What's an Awakening alt you want in Heroes?

Grandmaster Robin why are you taking so long to give us a Grandmaster Robin alt IntSys we haven't had an actual Robin since year 1 it's been Grimas the last two times I just want my badass tactician

30. Freebie!

Why doesn't Sumia have more supports??? She deserves so many more than she actually has and honestly one that I desperately wish I could have seen is Sumia and Kellam. Sumia, who has such low self-esteem that she wants to disappear into books and live other lives, Kellam who wants so desperately to be noticed even though no one ever sees him...imagine if Sumia was someone who could see him without issue. Imagine the two of them encouraging each other, bolstering one another's confidence and self-esteem, helping each other out -- Kellam helping Sumia cover up a clumsy mistake, Sumia giving Kellam flowers that help him get noticed. I just think they could have been so sweet and it's a travesty that IntSys wasted such a beautiful opportunity.

Awakening Ask Game

#answered #unsuspecting-person #ask game #fire emblem: awakening #cut for length because we all know me #i've been thinking a lot about kellam lately #and how many nice potential interactions there could have been #but that were wasted because intsys didn't take the opportunity #i want kellam and sumia to be friends so badly now

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blazregaliadream · 3 years ago

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Somethin’ somethin’, FE: Awakening AU that I wrote yesterday

Alright, so it's a an AU revolving around Robin based on both a dream I had last night as well as a detail that Shadows of Valentia added to Grima's lore. Admittedly, I'm pretty nervous since this is the second serious AU I've written in fuckin' YEARS, and despite that I've checked certain details on lore so I'm sure I'm not getting some things mixed up, this prolly might have a hole or two, possibly even a contradiction too much like some of Awakening's story and lore is to Fire Emblem's general lore haha I'll talk about the dream first since that's how this all began. ============================ The night before last, I dreamt that Fire Emblem Awakening had a hidden afterstory that pairs Robin with Naga (or at least I assume, since they were the only two units I could see and control). The details were pretty vague, but what I could gather were these: - This scenario takes place long, LONG after the events of Awakening and, by extension, the Shepherds involvement with the Future-Past Xenologue as well as their tussle in Apotheosis. - The majority of the cast is nowhere to be seen, and with the area Robin and Naga were in being one I didn't recognized yet felt familiar, I presumed that Chrom and many of the others have passed away and this scenario takes place in an era past their time, with several prominent locations retaining their old names while the rest of Ylisse and Valm has evolved since. Though they are not mentioned, I also assumed Tiki, Nowi, and Nah are still alive, just the latter two's whereabouts becoming unknown while Tiki would likely still be in the shrine of the Mila Tree. - Despite the supposed time gap, Robin does not appear to have aged a day since the end of Awakening. Apart from these, there was nothing else I could piece together of this "afterstory", so, I then attempted to make "something" that would lead up to this afterstory. =============================== As Valentia reveals, Grima was born using a few ingredients, including the blood of his creator, a human, and the blood of an unnamed divine dragon. Now, despite what Grima ended up becoming, for the sake of this idea of mine, we're gonna assume that the "divine" element still exists somewhere in his blood and it just never awakened as a result of Grima being full of malice since Divine Dragons, as we know, are usually benevolent and, at worst, just avoid being directly involved in humanity's affairs.

After Grima's defeat at the hands of the First King of Ylisse, the cult known as The Grimleal was formed. During the 1,000 year gap between the rise of the First King of Ylisse and Awakening's main plot, the Grimleal have attempted to bear Fellblood who could inherit both the full mark of Grima's brand as well as his heart. Now, as far as it's explained in the game, that was pretty much it, they just bred until they got their perfect vessel in the form of Robin, so I'm going to add something to this process.

After Grima's fall, The Grimleal collected a lot of blood samples from their fallen god's corpse, and during the 1,000 year gap, they would occasionally inject his blood into leaders, high-ranking Fellbloods, and high-ranking members who bore the Heart of Grima. They are not aware of how Grima was conceived, nor are they aware of the divine element to his blood.

And to not downplay Awakening's theme with the power of bonds, we're gonna say by the time of which Robin was birthed, the "divine" element of Grima's blood eroded to the point that it will be completely erased in a few more generations and it will take a very powerful bond with someone connected to the Divine Dragons in order for the divine blood to awaken and overcome the malice that came to make up most of Grima's hybrid blood. When Robin was conceived, Validar had a powerful hunch that they would be the one who could serve as Grima's vessel. Robin had Grima's blood injected into them, and sure enough, their brand responded and marked the sign that the Grimleal finally have their perfect vessel. Of course, what they were not aware of, including Grima until Awakening's main story, was that the divine portion of the blood, faint a it's become, would be at odds with Grima's malice and prove to be a persistent obstacle.

Now, let's fast forward some. Within Grima's grasp during the endgame chapter of Awakening, Robin's bonds with the entire playable cast not only gives them the strength to escape Grima's hold on them, but also, due to their powerful bond with the Ylissean Royalty, awakens the divine blood in them. At first, it is still faint, so it's not noticed by anyone other than Naga, who doesn't speak of it as to not detract focus on taking care of Grima and later chooses to remain silent on the matter as to allow Robin to decide for themselves on what to do when they eventually discover their change.

A few decades after Awakening, it becomes rather clear to both Robin and the others that something about them has changed. Robin's ears have become pointed like a manakete and despite the years that have passed, their body hasn't aged a day since the events of Awakening. Robin then pays a visit to Tiki at the shrine of the Mila Tree, where at this point, Robin's divine dragon blood has grown strong enough for Tiki to sense upon their arrival, which takes her by shock and disbelief at first. Using a dragonstone to ascertain her suspicion, it is finally learned that Robin has somehow been transformed into a manakete, or so that is what's initially presumed =============================== Now, by this point, I'm a little stump on which direction I wanna take this. As I've gotten to that last bit, I began to realize that this idea of mine has potential to double as an AU for Robin x Tiki, but it initially came from a dream that I think was meant to be for Robin x Naga, BUT, I will still tell where this all leads to. =================================== Eventually, Robin and Tiki travel to Mount Prism, paying a visit to Naga to dig deeper into this strange phenomenon. Naga then explains that Robin's transformation is a result of the Divine Dragon blood in them having awoken during their fight with Grima and also explains that it comes from the Fell Dragon, who she had learned the secret behind his conception long ago. Naga then offers Robin to undergo a trial of cleansing, as Grima's malice, as faint as it's become, still continues to oppose and desperately wants to override this transformation that threatens to erase it completely. (Essentially, you can think of this as what remains of Grima's spirit struggling to retake his vessel) Robin accepts this trial, and for as grueling as it had proved, they eventually overcome it, and in doing so, they reawaken as a Divine Dragon. =================================== And that's my AU, and like I said at the beginning, there's bound to be somethin' wrong somewhere especially considering Awakening's story had it's... holes and contradictions, and I'm not a supernerd on all of the series' lore lmao

#blaz writes nonsense #fire embem awakening #au #fire emblem #robin fire emblem

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the-priestess-of-dawn · 1 year ago

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Oh yeah there's DEFINITELY something wrong timeline-wise. Reading the scenes gave me the impression that Robin is somewhere post-Dragon's Table, pre-final battle, which just absolutely does not accord with him serving the "newly-crowned" exalt.

But I actually thought the Grima thing was mostly fine? Aside from the "vessel" language (no, they never refer to themself like that in Awakening, I’m pretty sure that the writers are relying too much on the fan wikis, but also "vessel" just means container; everyone's body is a vessel for their own soul, it works out), and the weird focus on Grima’s blood (which we KNOW is not enough; Validar is very upset about this, actually. He has Grima’s blood, too, but he can never become Grima because he doesn’t have Grima’s soul. Seriously, the blood thing is so played up here that it starts sounding like a euphemism asdghjkl. Just focus on the blood, Robin, and you don’t have to think about how your life is Grima’s dream and you’re becoming lucid.)

The thing is, even in Awakening, Grima talks about "Grima" in third person sometimes. (This is why I think they identify as Robin first in their mind. People keep complaining about FEH’s Grima alts all being called “Robin” but like... They think of themselves as Robin. They really do.) Yes, they say "I am the fell dragon, Grima," but they also say things like "All that remains is for you to become Grima, as I did." and, moments later, "The fell dragon and I are one!" (but then immediately after that, "And though my journey through time has diminished my power, the life force here shall renew me!" which is first person again. Because they are the dragon. The dragon is them.)

To be honest, I think a lot can be explained if we think of “the dragon’s grip” (a phrase used in Awakening and also in FEH’s Ever Two Halves Tempest Trials with Halloween!F!Grima) as being, well, metaphorical. Robin is not “possessed” in the sense of being taken over by another entity and puppeted around (that only happens in the Future Past when their future self does overpower them), but rather in the sense that a person can be “possessed” by powerful emotion. If someone is described as “possessed by fear,” it’s obviously understood that they are still themself, but they may be acting different because of extraordinary terror. Likewise, one might say that Robin is possessed by despair... living in the dragon’s grip... unable to act as their own person, caught up in the role of “the fell dragon, Grima.”

In any case... I don’t know any Japanese and therefore can’t speak on the Japanese lines in Awakening or FEH aside from what Google Translate tells me, but I definitely suspect that on the English localization side, they don’t really have any fans of Awakening on board... You know how we got Brave Tiki and Brave Chrom last year? Well, in Japanese, their titles were “Dragon’s Awakening” and “Awakened Justice.” Specifically using the same word as in “Fire Emblem Awakening.” Their English titles? “Fated Divinity” and “Fated Honor.” Which not only completely goes against the themes of Awakening (we’re DEFYING fate, people???) but... honestly makes it seem like they thought “Fire Emblem Kakusei” had been localized as “Fire Emblem Fates” (and to be fair, Fates IS a localization change... but from “Fire Emblem If”) And like, okay, it just feels like this change could not possibly have happened if they had even a single fan of Awakening glancing over things; it’s CHROM and TIKI we’re talking about. So, yeah, when it comes to writing about any kind of complex or nuanced detail of Awakening... I would guess that the people responsible for translating everything (at least; perhaps the writers themselves too, but I don’t know) probably don’t have a strong idea of what’s going on in the first place.

yall know i take heroes for a grain of salt unless it suits my agenda,,, but man brave robin's forging bonds is all over the place

namely in how the whole grima thing is handled

it swings HEAVILY in favor of the "grima is possessing robin" angle yet it ALSO ties grima's awakening explicitly to robin's emotions, which, why would that matter if he's possessed?

the phrase "blood of the fell dragon" comes up a lot. also iirc first time a grima calls robin a vessel? grima sure doesn't in awakening itself (fp notwithstanding), and also only female grima does it??? either by intent or happenstance it seems that f grima is gunning for the possession angle where as m grima is more on the emotions angle

like there's dissonance going on about the plain text of the conversation ("grima will take control of robin") and the themes of the conversation ("this can be averted if robin maintains hope, and even the grimas could become robin again if they find it")

ok let me just. compile.

obligatory disclaimer: i am in HUGE favor of the reincarnation angle and vocal disliker of the vessel angle but only my fellow grima stans know that and i cant expect everyone to have in depth knowledge of my grima takes. i am gonna Try to be a lil objective here

tldr intsys needs to stop being apolitical and just PICK A SIDE within the grima trenches already. add to this the timeline confusion of depths of despair, yeah, Grima in heroes is very muddy.

ok so i took a whole BUNCH of screenshots and they're all in german because (points at map of where i live) but that tends to follow english closely. expect minor translation differences ofc

C Support

This one is pretty plain in just the grimas waltzing up to robin going "hey grima is gonna possess you one day lmao. get scared"

Choice quotes from this one:

1. Robin: W-who are you? No, oh no... Could you be what becomes of me under the fell dragon's influence?

2. F Grima: Know your place, mortal. You are nothing more than Grima's vessel.

Yah. I can argue abt the validity of heroes lore all I like but within the convo itself this is just plain text.

B Support

So this is where the first doubts creep in. F Grima continues her spiel about Robin saying that "Grima's blood flows in those veins without a doubt." I wont reiterate every single time someone does this bcuz Image Limit, but it is primarily F Grima and Brave Robin.

1. M Grima: The knowledge of what you really are will haunt you forever.

2. F Grima: That is all we had to say to you. Take our words to heart... other Robin.

Here we get into my preferred angle. Not only is M Grima saying that being Grima is Robin's true nature, but F Grima directly acknowledges that she and M Grima are both also Robin, which is an odd choice if it's just Grima possessing Robin speaking. Cuz then the person speaking would not, in fact, be Robin.

Then, when the two Grimas are alone and giggling at their rehearsed performance, F Grima says this:

1. F Grima: Maybe the created discomfort will be enough to awaken the Fell Dragon.

2. F Grima: Maybe soon, monstrous flowers of ruin will bloom from the sown doubt.

So this is getting into the logistics of how Grima will awaken (inevitably, of course /s). In Awakening itself, a read of Robin as the vessel would have you believe only the rite at the Dragon's Table is necessary to do so. Here, however, F Grima says it's Robin's despair that will cause Grima's return, which she has already sown the seeds for.

In fact, causing Robin to doubt himself to sooner awaken Grima is explicitly what the two Grimas approached him for. This is their goal! But why would that even be necessary if all that was needed was for Validar to brainwash Robin and drag them to the Table? No despair needed! Robin's emotional state is irrelevant in that scenario.

You can argue of course that emotional weakness would make it easier for Grima to take control of Robin,,, but that never comes up. It's always Robin loses hope = Grima awakens.

A Support

Here, Brave Robin mentions being of Grima's blood a whopping three times in a row before Chrom can cut in. The Grimas words weigh on his mind and he's looking for reassurance from his boyfriend.

Brave Robin: The blood of the Fell Dragon could awaken within me one day... Doesn't that scare you?

Chrom's response here is notable. (Images cut for the damn 10 image limit on mobile)

Chrom: The day could come, where I, too, fall prey to my own despair. But even then I'm sure that I wouldn't stray from the right path with you by my side.

Again, Grima is not framed as a possessive force, but as Robin's own despair and hopelessness. Chrom would have no ground to compare the two if the former was the case. How would you even compare your own depression with your friend being taken over by a hostile spirit?

This is the dissonance I was talking about.

S Support

Robin, emboldened by Chrom's support, confronts the two Grimas.

F Grima: As long as you live, the Fell Dragon can take possession of you at any moment.

Robin says he has the blood of the demon dragon with the weird as hell "those veins" line. Who says that??? Did yall forget possessive pronouns exist. Just say "my veins" dear boy

anyway.

Robin: It's true that the blood of the Fell Dragon runs through these veins. But that circumstance only calls for more discipline on my part.

Robin: The knowledge of my nature only makes me more determined to never betray my allies' trust.

Here we have both in the same speech! Here, whether he succumbs to Grima is entirely put on Robin and Robin's determination. As well, he says that it's "his nature." Like yeah, this could mean "his nature as Grima's vessel", but that would be a weird use of the word nature (in the meaning of personality and disposition).

Like, again, the focus is on Grima as a result of Robin's emotional state. The two are directly tied and correlating.

To end of, shrortly beforr the Grimas leave, Robin says to them

"Maybe you can escape the Fell Dragon's fangs and walk your own path one day."

Like yeah the literal meaning is again "maybe the robins can be saved from grima" but it can also be taken in a metaphorical sense of "maybe the robins can free themselves from the role of grima."

i'm just generally befuddled. i do like the thematic thread of "robin will never become grima if he keeps hope." but the possession stuff is so entirely literal. but then why - god i already said this.

Grima loving hours incoming! Feel free to skip i just love them.

The one upside for this, for my terminal Grima brainrot - Grima's motivations in this are so tasty to chew on. I mentioned before, the Grimas approach Robin with the intent of making him despair in the face of his inevitable destiny. But Robin doesn't, refutes them - he says that if he changed, so could they.

This is fascinating, cuz I think brave Robin terrifies them for this exact reason. He's just oblivious, he's the one who'll change, just see - yet he doesn't. He is the living proof destiny can change. Here we see again, Grima as hopelessness. They need destiny to be inevitable. Because then it's not a choice to be hopeless anymore. Things couldn't have gone better. What if Robin's bonds weren't meaningless trifles, though? It's a challenge to everything the Grimas had to accept.

But look around. This is Askr. People meet other versions of themselves by the dozen - with different fates and circumstances.

Grimas' reason to speak to Robin really just seems scared of change. The final take away from the S support for Robin is that maybe they can change too, after all. Grima is terrified of change! Of hope! Of becoming Robin again! Because then what was it all for? Why did they have to suffer so much? Isn't it unfair? Isn't the thought that you could've gotten luckier unbearable? Grima is my sopping wet meow meow, if you couldn't tell.

Grima fan hours over, back to complaining.

another layer of confusion for the setting of this is is... when is this robin from, exactly?

so brave robin is said to be the tactician of the "newly crowned" exalt, matching legendary chrom's time period. This gives us precisely two options, each with their own issues:

This Robin is from the two year timeskip after chapter 12, where Chrom assumes the throne after Emmeryn's death.

This Robin is from a post canon ending wherein Chrom becomes exalt for realsies (likely only viable for a Chrom ending).

The issue with the first one is: Robin wouldn't know that he's fellblood at this point? He starts suspecting it in chapter 13, obviously because the grimleal hierophant has his exact name and face, as well as Validar's attempt at telepathy. He'd have to be from after the timeskip if that is the case.

Of course, he could be hearing this for the first time from the Grimas. In that case, his reaction is extraordinarily mild. And his first words to them are "Could you be what becomes of me under the fell dragon's influence?" If he's hearing this for the first time, what a wild conclusion that is to make. Again, he'd have no clue he's fellblood, that this is even a scenario that could happen at all.

The issue with the second option is that Robin... would have nothing to be afraid of? He would have already confronted the self that became Grima and defeated it. At which point this whole forging bonds becomes an entirely redundant character arc that really would just be inferior to the equivalent moment in Awakening itself. Robin cites himself as proof that the Grimas could change, indicating a post-canon mindset, but then, why do their words initially get to him so much?

I don't think he'd just be second act Robin either - Chrom would've already been Exalt for two years at that point, which makes the "newly-crowned" comment odd.

All around I'm.. mildy disappointed with this one. As stated just now, it's a redundant arc that doesn't show us anything new about Robin.

Looking at Soren's - that one really took advantage of the Heroes setting to display Soren's growth as a character. The interactions between him and Ranulf were great and funny, and the way he opens up to his younger self shows that Ike's kindness affected him.

Corrin also got great moments with Gullveig. It was amazing to see a post-revelations Corrin who succeeded in ending a war through communication, and how she carries it forward into solving conflicts now, no matter how dire, by extending compassion to the summoned Gullveig. I haven't finished her own storyline yet, but I already liked seeing her interact with Azura and Lilith.

By comparison, this is a scenario that literally already happens in the game itself. It elaborates more on Grima as a metaphor for hopelessness, yet muddles the logistics of it by not committing to either option to what Grima is in relation to Robin.

All around. Love Brave Robin! Great outfit! He's very cute! Another win for gay marriage! His forging bonds? Mehhhh.

Despite the ongoing discussion of "What timeline even IS this??", at least Depths of Despair gave us something new in a bad timeline chrobin dynamic. this is heroes goddammit. get crazy with it.

i would literally kill for robin-idunn interaction you would not believe. could you imagine brave robin and spring idunn interacting,,,, i am crying just thinking about it.

FEH has done a great deal to really uplift Grima as a character and add more depth to what the game gave us, both in backstory crumbs and the motivation department, so seeing them fumble the bag here is just disappointing. Can they get their own lore together already?

#no idea whether other languages are translating based on the original japanese or based on english but if it's english. mm. questionable #to be fair there are inconsistencies even within awakening itself so i'm happy to ignore certain details in favor of Themes but...#it's frustrating when i want to write fanfics and can't figure out what is supposed to ACTUALLY be happening and what's Just Themes #grima studies

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sabineelectricheart · 4 years ago

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Soft and Capable Hands

Summary: Chrom interrupts his wife at work.

Rating: K+ - Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.

Words: 1300

Notes: Just some fluffy, to start the fandom on a high note. I hope you like it.

He found her in the library, as he often does, nose deep in a thick red volume of Archnean history. Knowing it would be impossible to remain undetected if he ventured any further, Chrom remained in the shadows of the hall, observing the woman carry on with her work, as befallen with admiration as ever.

Robin lowered the book with a tilt of her head, attention switching to the parchment balancing precariously to her left, as the pile only grew and grew with her note-taking. Lost in thought, she did not seem to notice the long, platinum blond braid that fell over her shoulder at the sudden movement.

Even from this distance, it was easy for Chrom to see that much of the braid had come undone, as loose strands were now falling over her face, forming a silky curtain that hides her eyes. This is a common problem when his wife was hard at work, absorbed into whatever she was studying about.

His fingers itched to touch her hair, to ease the thick tresses from their hasty styling. To comb through the wavy tangles and lift the hair from her neck to reveal that sensitive place at the side of her throat…

“Chrom!” A voice suddenly is heard from the, before deathly silent, library.

He smiled at the quiet exclamation, forsaking his hiding place to fully enter the room. Robin blinked several times as he approached, her eyes readjusting after what appeared to be a lengthy study session.

“How long have you been there?” She placed the quill pen on the ink well, as not to stain the precious wooden table, and headed on his direction nonchalantly, unaware of much more impossible she was making it for him to resist touching her.

With a gentle finger, he tucked the fallen strands of hair behind her other ear. “Only for a few minutes. You know by now how very challenging it is for me to look away from you, my queen.”

Though her smile was playful, it lingered on her lips long after his words had ended. “And were you so content watching it from the door, instead of coming in for a closer look?”

Chrom led the woman back to her work station and sat on a chair he pulled from a neighbouring desk.

With an uncertain gesture toward the book in her lap, he answered her query. “You seemed very intent on your reading. It would not have been right to interrupt you.”

Her cheeks flushed slightly and she caught her lower lip between her teeth. As she considered him from underneath her thick lashes, the man felt a familiar jolt of desire at the thought of all the times they had interrupted one another in the past. Royalty or not, they were still newlyweds, and passion for one another had a way of distracting them from duty.

Chrom cleared his throat and returned to the present subject. “Have you found anything compelling in our history?”

Robin’s eyes widened as she shifted forward on the seat, mouth opening with uncertainty until she caught her bearings.

“I think I am realizing how much there is that I do not know.” She said, as her expression turned dour. “Regardless of my talent in the battlefield, my strategic thinking, I lack culture and manners. I do not remember how I was educated, but I cannot help but believe my guardians have been remiss about most of what exists beyond war. Most of it comes to me as a complete surprise.”

“Nonsense. You are plenty capable in many fields. Even Miriel thinks so.” Chrom asserted, a firm belief on his wife, and a rather justified one. “May I see what have you been writing?”

“Have at it.” Robin handed him the papers.

He took the wad of parchment she passed to him. Her careful notes arranged under headers with dates that he recognized immediately. The numbers spanned the length of those two thousand years, since the times of Marth, with notes taken for every monarch, every war, every invasion registered.

“You have been busy.” He points out, concern mixed with awe.

The blonde woman chuckles. “I have not handwritten this much in a long time. There is a blister coming up on my middle finger.”

Setting the papers on the table beside them, he opened both hands to take her injured one. He touched the bubble of skin as lightly as he could, watching her face for signs of pain. It would do well to procure her a poultice or a balm to ease the swelling, or at least some ice. He noted himself to remember to ask a maid to bring her tonight.

“It will turn into a callus soon.” She assured, sheepishly. “Getting a blister in the first place is proof of how long it has been since I wrote like this. “

Chrom lifted the finger to his lips and pressed a delicate kiss to the pale patch of irritated flesh.

“You do not need to do that, Your Majesty.” Robin insisted.

“I want to.” The monarch promised, kissing each other finger in turn. “You have beautiful hands, and I very enjoy kissing them.”

The blue-haired man held the back of her hand to his lips, touch feather-light against the fine, alabaster skin before he applied pressure to the kiss.

“They are soft.” Allowing his grip to loosen, he took her fingers between his thumb and forefinger. “They fit perfectly in mine.”

“I think you are making a lot of fuss over nothing.” She dismisses his poetic demeanour over her hand, though she did not pull away.

“Robin, I have shaken countless men’s hands over the years, I have kissed countless woman’s hands too. There is no other person who has hands this capable and, at the same time, this soft and warm.” He extended them to their full length, holding them out for inspection. “They are exceptional, as they should. You are exceptional.”

She gifted him with a smile and followed his gaze. “They were always so dry back when we were travelling with the Shepherds. Bad food, too much manual labour, well water and the tension with the possibility of death always looming on our shoulders.”

“I remember.” He whispered, her wistful tone transporting him back to a time when they had been little more than strangers, to the first morning that they had met.

He had known there was something special about her when she had lent her help in protecting his people, and an invaluable help that was. In the moment, he had been struck by her ability to anticipate his need before he knew it himself. In the many months that had followed, it was a skill that she had proven countless times.

It had grown impossible to imagine what kind of king, what kind of man, he would have been without her.

From the corner of his eye, she saw her shift, his fingers losing their grasp as she rose to her feet.

“Anyway, I think I am ready for a break from reading. It would do me well, and I have covered enough for today.” Standing now, she crossed behind his chair, laying her hands to rest along the span of his shoulders. “Do you have any ideas for what these hands should do in the meantime?”

Even as she asked the question, her thumbs dug into his muscles, carving steady circles into the tense flesh. He let out a deep sigh, mind clouded with the possibilities that accompanied his sense of pleasure.

“Only if you allow me to repay the favour.” He responded, a smirk gracing his features.

She kissed his cheek in answer, pausing by his ear to whisper, “Maybe we should close the door first?”

“Whatever Her Majesty desires…”

*_*_*_*_*

Fire Emblem Masterlist

Awakening Masterlist

#fire emblem #chrom

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crystalelemental · 5 years ago

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New Mystery of the Emblem is complete, and I have many thoughts.

Let’s just start with this: holy shit this was so much more fun than Shadow Dragon. For three major reasons:

No one is expected to die. Shadow Dragon bothered me immediately, because I’m required to let someone die in the prologue to escape. That sucks, and I hated it. I have never gotten over that, or the expectation to kill more units to access the bonus chapters. Which, sure, you can argue are optional. But those characters appear in this game and are recognized, so clearly those happened now didn’t they?!

SUPPORT CONVERSATIONS! Okay, they’re not like...actual support conversations. They’re Radiant Dawn style, where you have conversations with allies at your base and only your base. But there’s a tier of 1-3 for most characters, and they’re essentially support conversations, and god Shadow Dragon was impossible to get in to without those. Seriously, I may enjoy the gameplay of Fire Emblem overall, but I do not enjoy units for combat performance, I enjoy them for being characters, and thank god they feel like characters this time.

Actually interesting story. Shadow Dragon was pretty boring, frankly. Very basic concepts presented, not really a lot going on. But New Mystery actually expands on a lot of this stuff. I’ll get into that more below.

Suffice to say, I really enjoyed it more than Shadow Dragon. I think in terms of ranking, I’d definitely place it above Shadow Dragon, Birthright, Revelation, and Sacred Stones. Currently I think I’m putting it above Conquest too. While Conquest is similarly fun to play, New Mystery has the benefit of being more interesting as a story. I’m hesitant to put it over Echoes, though. Listen, Echoes sucks as a game. It’s really not fun to play, almost at all. New Mystery is fun to play, so this should be obvious. But while the story is improved, I wouldn’t put it anywhere near the level of Echoes.

See, the main thing with New Mystery is that it filled in gaps that made the world feel more organic than just generic medieval kingdom with magic and dragons and shit. They delve into what the Fire Emblem here is, about the history of the dragons, and why, say, Tiki’s kept locked away for so long. Also why Medeus is a villain, and out to eliminate humanity. Turns out, he was the only Earth Dragon to listen to Naga and convert to a manakete, and even helped guard the seal over the dragons who were slowly losing their minds. But humans, as soon as they had that advantage, exploited dragons. Several maps showcase that these deteriorating dragons are being kept in thrall to human tribes who use their power for personal gain. Exploitation of dragons led Medeus to despise humans, and seek to overthrow them. Which is pretty cool! I’m on board with that! Tiki’s said to also be deteriorating without the seal in place, and that, as a powerful divine dragon, she’s bring ruin to the world if she weren’t contained. So they basically kept her in stasis to avoid disaster. Which...okay, Fallen Tiki should’ve just been that. A feral Tiki that’s no longer all there, instead of just “Gharnef’s power is controlling her.” Shadow Dragon’s momentarily irritable Tiki wasn’t shit compared to what they implied could happen here.

The trouble is that the game is still pretty basic. Beyond this bit of worldbuilding, it’s still very much conflict between the kingdoms, again, all ochestrated by Gharnef, who’s working for Medeus. Again. They play around more with their themes and set up some cool ideas, but it’s not the most compelling of narratives by any means. What’s also not helped is that, while support conversations exist to make characters more engaging, it’s not all of them, and not all are done well. Some supports are just a sort of filling in the gaps. At least, with the MU they are. Maybe with other characters they get a bit more.

Speaking of MU, let’s divert a bit to talk about them. Kris is like...the one MU I have heard universal hate for. My best guess is that this is due to fans of the original FE3, who didn’t like their inclusion in the first place, because otherwise I have no idea what the problem is. Kris seems fine. Really boring, but fine. The only reason they’re kinda my least favorite is because they’re supposed to be their own character but don’t do anything. Like, Robin has a personality and is fun, and has a great dynamic with Chrom. Corrin, for all the faults borne of Fates, feels pretty much like a typical Fire Emblem lord. Byleth...okay, I don’t like Byleth much, I feel like their inclusion kinda hinders the game’s narrative a little bit, but otherwise they’re pretty blank and exist mostly as a support for the other lords. But Kris...doesn’t do much of anything. They don’t really have a dynamic with anyone, including Marth, and are just sort of...generic loyal knight with no knowledge of the world for some reason, and who only ever trained with their now dead grandfather. Beyond that, they don’t really exude any particular personality. Which is probably part of the problem with supports; everyone supports with Kris, but they don’t contribute much, so it’s mostly the other character doing stuff at them. They just don’t have much to do.

With one exception. We gotta talk about the other, presumably new character: Katarina. I actually love Katarina. Which is a shame, I pulled one of her in Heroes once and made her into a manual because I didn’t care. Oh well. Anyway, Katarina’s got a pretty solid story behind her, and is one of the more compelling pieces of the plot overall. She’s part of a band of assassins who were orphans, taken in by Lady Eremiah. Eremiah is super cut-throat, willing to sacrifice the lives of these children to accomplish her goals, which mostly seem to be serving Gharnef. While Legion’s boring and lame, Clarine and Katarina are spectacular. Clarine starts off really obnoxious, and kind of a bitch, but the chapter where she finally falls hit me pretty hard. Katarina’s supports with Kris also give a bit more context to what had happened, particularly with the talk about how Clarine and Katarina share a birthday, because they never had one but Clarine just decided on a day and that was the end of it. It’s a really cute dynamic you get to experience kind of in reverse. You see how bad things have gotten, then get the history of what used to be, and why Katarina couldn’t leave. Eremiah’s the same. Gharnef shows up as she’s dying and reminds her of her own history. The orphanage she worked at was burned to the ground and the children slaughtered in the last war. In despair, Gharnef appeared and convinced her that if the children were strong, they wouldn’t die so easily, leading her to take in the next wave and train them for strength alone, all the while becoming corrupted by Gharnef’s influence. That last part aside, pretty compelling. I do enjoy narratives that play with the idea of kindness being manipulated to a sensible, but corrupted, conclusion.

My main problem is that Gharnef sucks. He’s not an interesting villain at all. He just kind of exists, and was largely motivated by getting passed over by his master when it came to who got the cool spells. He’s a big, stinky baby man whining about not being the favorite, and I could not care less. Yet he’s supposed to be this grand puppetmaster, of a particularly shitty puppet. Hardin was an ally in Shadow Dragon, who became an enemy this game. Why? Oh, he was mad that Nyna didn’t like him back, and got super buttmad about it. Which is honestly fair at this point, since they describe it as a depressive episode. He gets to marry this woman he loves, only to find out she never reciprocated the feeling at all. Feel like it’s fair to be upset. But then Gharnef shows up and allegedly corrupts his soul with the Darksphere. Which...okay, first? Lame. Second? Why do we have that, and why does it do that? This was a gift from Naga, why the hell is it so dangerous? Third, super lame! It takes away all agency Hardin had as a villain and removes it down to “oh, he was possessed.” Which sucks, because the exact inverse happened for Michalis, and now he’s super cool!

His character arc this game was spectacular! Showing up to take Minerva away from her captors. Giving her refuge in the desert and helping her rendezvous with Marth? There’s something going on, compared to last game where he was just some lame baby man who wanted power. Minerva says Gharnef lost his hold, and Michalis is like “Oh, no, I would never bend to him. I killed dad because we disagreed on Macedon fighting to become a major power in the world again, and he tried to have me exiled. I did it for me, and regret nothing.” Honestly loved that. But when asked why he’s helping now, it turns out it’s for their sister. He talks about how, after he was defeated, he was near death, and the first thing he saw when he came to was Maria kneeling over him, praying to the gods to save him. He was so touched by her kindness despite his actions, that he’s now solely driven to save her as his final act. He doesn’t regret his actions, but recognizes that he lost and needs to do something, and god damn if it’s not going to be saving his little sister. That’s super cool! I’m so on board with this dude now! One of the bigger antagonists of Shadow Dragon who offered almost nothing became a big favorite in the game with a single conversation! I feel like that encapsulates the difference between Shadow Dragon and New Mystery pretty well.

The last thing I’ll mention is gameplay. I really enjoyed just playing this game, and I think a big component of that is because the maps are pretty short. And yet. They’re challenging. There are a few that just repeatedly required me to restart the chapter, despite being maybe three turns long. The extra chapter when you first face Legion, and it’s got the two mercenaries to the left and right of your starting position, and you can recruit both but you have to not kill them? The map was so small they could get to just about anyone, so it was a real challenge to handle the archers with my high movement units, prevent those two from dying against the blockades to the sides, and take out the boss quickly without being swarmed. Other times, the gimmicks were a little obnoxious. Like Chapter 18. You’re trying to take this one castle on the right that’s pretty well defended, but there are these super fast cav archers closing in on you from above. You basically have one turn to get to the village on the left, so their king calls them off. It’s a cool chapter, but I had to reset the first time, because I didn’t go into the chapter knowing that. I put my dancer closer to the fortress, thinking I’d have to just move quickly and take out the boss to get them to back off, so Marth couldn’t reach the goal fast enough. It’s just small things like that.

Overall, I think it’s pretty solid. I could see playing this one again some day. Maybe to intentionally miss one of the spheres so I can see what the bad ending is about. But on the whole, I like it. Still not super impressed with the characters in Marth’s game, I still feel like a lot are pretty bland (including Marth himself), but it’s a huge step up from Shadow Dragon.

#new mystery of the emblem #fire emblem

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mwritesink · 5 years ago

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A mumble mumble of thoughts about Fire Emblem Three Houses

Right. So I’ve completed all four routes of three houses and I have thoughts.

I mean, big thought is that I love the game considering that I went right back in and started another play through of Blue Lions. and sooner or later I’ll pick back up my written let’s play but not right now because I’m over extended as it is and playing three houses has been both a solace from my own over extension and a perpetuator of it.

Anyway

This is not meant to be a well thought out essay, it’s just my thoughts and not really going in for debate because that way only lies me being depressed.

I like all the routes, each has their strengths and weaknesses and I find the writing overall, while not galaxy brained good, is pretty damned good, and it does an interesting turn with making sure that no route gives you the full picture of the world of Fodlan. You have to play the entire game to scratch the surface of the truth, and even then players still have to cobble together what the facts actually are. The only characters that have all the cards are Rhea and the Agarthans. Rhea keeps hers fairly close to the chest, letting out one or two if there is no other choice, but the Agarthans have more cards than Rhea and are willing to play the ones that enhance their worldview.

yes there are flaws in the writing and it isn’t as tight as one might hope for being able to tie up it’s loose ends and keep the plot as internally consistent as it would need for having, essentially, four AUs stacked on top of each other. The weaknesses of the writing fall largely on the plot and it’s treatment of who exactly are the antagonists and the motivations therein.

I really like Edelgard, and I really like Rhea. However, the writing does a disservice to both of them. for the first half of the game, Rhea is set up to be a smiling antagonist. You have Jeralt being openly suspicious of her, you have Seteth questioning her decisions and being summarily shot down without answers, you have a noted instance of the church executing a person for an incident unrealted to the church and without trial (yes mitigating circumstances that are only found out through supports), you have the Lonato incident where raising an army (of civilians by all implications) merits the death of both him and the civilians (yes he intended to use that army to attack the central church and yes there is definitely an argument that she only marshals the church as a reaction to a threat). Nothing in the School Phase is set up to have a player trust Rhea at first blush. But in the second half, when she’s not there, the writing does an about face to say that no, really, you should have been trusting her the whole time. Except in Crimson Flower where she becomes the spiritual/end game antagonist.

Yes I know she has her reasons for being shady and keeping her secrets close and the truth of the world closer, but it doesn’t change the about face re: trust the game gives her.

Now for Edelgard. Edelgard is in a tough place writing wise. One the one hand, she’s the Big Red Emperor/physical antagonist on Silver Snow and Verdant Wind, and both the spiritual and physical antagonist in Azure Moon. On the other, she’s the protagonist of her own route, the face of the game’s advertising, and the speaker of the game’s theme. I believe the writing really did her dirty. They try to pull her in too many directions at the same time, so her motivations, tactics, and ideals all get thrown into a cocktail shaker that never pours out the same drink twice. It then becomes very easy for fans to take their selected drink and run with it, while not considering the other drinks made, or what all those drinks together might make. It doesn’t help that, of the three lords, Edelgard’s development as a character, and the impacts of her rule, are most impacted by the presence and absence of other people at her side. (Ex. If Petra dies, there is no independence for Brigid. Ex. the changes rendered by Byleth being present or absent)

(Though… does that mean if you don’t recruit Petra in non Black Eagles Runs Brigid becomes a vassal state of united Fodlan no matter what?)

Moving on.

There are some interesting culture clash that happens in the writing where assumptions have been made by the writers that don’t translate to non-Japanese audiences. I commented a couple times to my friends that I found it weird that the students you don’t teach call you “professor” or “teach”, and that it was probably evidence of the fact that the player might have changed Byleth’s name. This comment was generally accepted until my GF reminded me that the Japanese high schools work by having the teachers go around to all classes even if they’re also in charge of homeroom for a particular class. For all it’s western trappings and influences, the Officer’s Academy is very much a Japanese highschool, down to the differences in how the named students personalize their uniforms across gender lines. However, the game itself fails to get this across, as it only shows Byleth teaching their chosen house and interacting with students outside their house only on weekends. This then is also how Edelgard comes off as being very weirdly attached to Byelth when Byleth chooses one of the other houses. But if Byleth is teaching all classes and is just special homeroom teacher for one of them, then it makes more sense.

In any case, cultural assumptions aside, the school phase and training options were one of the things that I went into the game with the most trepidation about, but after playing it’s one of the more fun aspects to plot and plan what classes I’m going to give people and how to get there. The New Game+ features are also turning into a boon for my idea of Bolt Axe Annette as a Gremory (just need to get her to Gremory… and get a Bolt Axe for her). I don’t think I would like the training aspect if they did it again in a future fire emblem game, but as a one off “here’s a feature specifically for Fire Emblem Three Houses” it works.

I mentioned Byleth earlier, and I gotta say, of the character writing, which on the whole is fairly strong, their writing is one that sits the least well with me. My assumptions for this is that it had to do with the fact that Byleth is an avatar character, with a limited amount of customization, especially compared to Robin and Corrin, so they made up for it by writing as much of a blank slate character as possible so the player could superimpose a personality of their choosing. It makes sense in game play, giving the plot mandated dye job, but it feels weird to have such a pivotal character who cannot express their own opinions in a meaningful way. I wish Byleth was a fully fleshed out character rather than a player stand in, and it would make the growth we are told they go through more impactful and meaningful. Potentially the writing wouldn’t need to change much, aside from Byleth being able to make definitive statements about anything without being interrupted, and letting Byleth fight for their point of view instead of it being dismissed out of hand by other characters.

Also, can you imagine the hilarity of comedic straight man Dedue educating Comedic straight person Byleth on the basics of gardening, because as a mercenary Byleth would have never had the time? Can you imaging support conversations where you can really tackle what being raised a mercenary with no context of what the Church of Seiros is?

And so I roll into my last point: Missed opportunities.

For as much as I like large swaths of the writing, I feel like there’s been a lot of missed opportunities that could have been expanded on but weren’t, and so there’s a lot of what if’s that float about. As an example, I don’t particularly like Raphael, but that’s because I wish his supports did more than revolve around “Raphael eats and because he’s eating doesn’t hear what people are saying to him, and this results in friendship”. There is a lot that you can do with a big cheerful guy who’s in it to protect his sister and his friends that is more than a gimmick, and for Raphael in particular, I think it would do a lot for him to have more writing like how he got in his paralogue with Ignatz, where he can see an issue, knows there’s an issue, but decides to handle it in his own way, even if that way is one the player and his friends might disagree with so he can keep on being the big cheerful guy.

There are more examples from that, and missed connections, and places where a Support that only goes up to B could have been strengthened with a potential A support.

In the end, I love this game, I don’t mind replaying it over and over again, cause each time I’ve noticed something different and been able to try something new which alters my playstyle (trying to get Wyvern Master Dedue! Wish me luck in overcoming that red arrow next to flying). And I’ll likely go back to it for years to come.

#fire emblem #three houses

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smashmusicideas · 6 years ago

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October 7: Fighter 48 - Rosalina & Luma

Alongside continuing the Smash For trend of surprising players with unexpected fighters - and being the first one with a true mechanical difference - Rosalina (with her Luma foster kids in tow) was also part of another trend, in which the game drew significantly more from modern games than the series had ever done before. It’s not as though Smash 64, Melee, and Brawl hadn’t each emphasized a few newer fighters - if you look at that old “Smash Chart” I made, you can see that - but Smash for 3DS & Wii U were more focused on the new than ever before. This is likely due at least partially to Sakurai’s greater access to what Nintendo was doing at the time; it meant that he could have a stage based on Yoshi’s Woolly World so many months before the latter actually came out that the original version of the Woolly World main theme is different between the two. But I think it was also a desire on his part to bring in a lot of Nintendo’s newer content. After Brawl included almost all of the company’s real “all stars,” using newer (and potentially more distinct) fighters makes sense. And it ensured modern games like Fire Emblem: Awakening, Xenoblade Chronicles, and, in the case of this article, Super Mario Galaxy would get the representation they deserve.

Of course, it’s easy for fans to see it as a good decision in retrospect. During the actual lead up, it was very controversial. Rosalina shot past a number of characters, even just Super Mario characters, who had been around longer, were more iconic, or simply had a stronger fanbase. Daisy, Waluigi, and Paper Mario were often cited in this way. Was she “just” included because she was a newer, more ostensibly marketable character? Was it “just” because she had a fantastic “puppet fighter” motif that explored the idea of a two-in-one fighter from a new angle? Or was it just because she was a character most fans didn’t expect at all? Things ended up going over more smoothly over time, as the nature of how she and Luma fought became clearer (it didn’t hurt that Rosalina has been fairly to very popular amongst the Mario fandom since her debut, or that she had been playable in not just Mario Kart Wii but also Super Mario 3D World). Certainly compared to her fellow modern-day newcomers - i.e. Lucina, Robin, Greninja, or Bayonetta - she was better treated by fans. But I still remember the pointless Miiverse anger about how she was getting “too many” screenshots in the Pics of the Day, as though highlighting a new character was somehow a shocking idea. I think Wii Fit Trainer by comparison might have garnered more surprise than hate, at least compared to Rosalina and many of the other fighters.

Ultimately, though, all that hardly matters. The two are in, and it’s very much to the series’ benefit. She’s an incredible fighter, managing that sweet spot of being both very hard to master but still easy for casual play (Luma functions rather well next to Rosalina, so you’re not penalized for playing at a lower level). And I think having a character from a new game, especially one as great as Galaxy, has value in itself, as does one with as much style as Rosalina. I highly doubt Sakurai started work on her from any place other than the “puppet fighter” gimmick, but she definitely has the benefit of being less beholden to expectations. In stark contrast to Mega Man’s endless supply of references to classic moves, she’s a reference to an attitude, to the sensation of leisurely orbiting micro-planets and hanging out with a co-op friend. To a certain extent, that style was born from technological advances that only a modern character (or a modern reincarnation of a character) could represent, but I also suspect her just having less baggage may have had value in its own. Rosalina was few people’s first choice for a new Mario rep, but she’s more than proven the value of thinking beyond some of the “easiest” ones.

(Link to my writings on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

#Super Smash Bros. Ultimate #Super Smash Bros.#Rosalina #Luma #Rosalina & Luma #Super Mario

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freakin-edikan · 6 years ago

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More Unpopular Smash Onions

I have a lot of Smash Onions and here are most of them in one post. Be warned it’s long and stupid

Bayonetta Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

The whole point of Bayonetta is that she whips out these crazy combos and super strong witch tricks to defeat her opponents. The only problem is...barely anyone else can do that because they’re not supposed to because it’s Smash Bros and not Street Fighter. There was no way to nerf Bayonetta without ruining her, and there was no way to keep the Bayonetta feel and style without her dominating the game.

Cloud Should Not Have Been in Smash Ever

He was too fast, he was too strong, he had a projectile. Sakurai specifically said he knew Ike had exactly these stats when Ike was added to Brawl in 2008. He intentionally left them out so as to not let Ike become too strong. But years later, Cloud strutted into Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS with these same attributes anyway. He’s a lot more tame now, but how many Peaches had to die?

The Zelda Characters Got the Short End of the Stick

A game with 30 years of history does not deserve to be represented by three Links, two Zeldas, and one Ganondorf. It’s clear that the development team was banking on the games sticking to its Ocarina formula, which is why they tried so hard to keep all the designs from one game and didn’t introduce anyone who wasn’t a Triforce bearer. By the time they finally stumbled on the idea of giving characters designs from different games, they had run out of space for any newcomers specific to particular games in the series, and the potential for new characters had run out.

I’m aware that Zelda isn’t as popular in Japan as it is in the United States; however, seeing how big Super Smash Bros. and its audience is, I think its representation could be a little better than that.

Zelda Got the Short End of the Stick

You mean to tell me it took 17 years for someone to look at that trainwreck of a moveset and finally do something about it? Y’all ugly.

There Doesn’t Need to be 15,897 Marths

If the devs over at Sora Ltd. played their cards right, our Fire Emblem lineup could have consisted of a balance of characters and assist trophies that could show off the most prominent aspects of the series. My idea is this:

Characters

Marth

Ike

Lyn

Robin

Assist Trophies

A Manakete (from any game)

A Pegasus Knight + Triangle Attack (any game but preferably the ones who made it famous—so Palla, Catria, and Est.)

A main villain (person, any game)

A main villain (monster, any game)

Ephraim?

Micaiah.

...and some cute lil spirits/stickers/trophies with some lore or references or something. If you ask me, we got the characters we got because of poor planning. I might not know the ins and outs of the process, but that’s what it looks like to me.

I Am Singling Out Corrin Specifically

This pick feels like an impulse because of the fact that FE14 was new, but besides that, I (a salty Peach main and Bandana Dee fan) first thought the character was busted. Never before had we a character with such ridiculous range—I thought Shulk’s energy sword Sunday was pushing it. It looks like Corrin set a precedent, though, because tall, adult characters who can reach across the entire stage seem to be the norm nowadays.

The Mario Characters are Out of Character

I think it’s telling when you can’t convey the character of Mario properly. Mario in Smash rather quickly moved away from his friendly everyman balancedness to a very aggressive, very angery Man who apparently just beats the living daylights out of people as the Smash Ultimate music blares in the background. Mario in his games is so much more friendly, eccentric, comical, fun. Smash Mario is way too serious; he doesn’t even smile in his renders anymore. I know, it’s a fighting game; you have to be serious to some extent. I just find this a little odd considering, um...

Peach was pretty similar when she first came to Melee. But when Brawl came around, her headbutt was replaced with hearts, her explosions with hearts, her diplomatic walk with a ditzy skip—it’s all incredibly suspicious. I talked about this before, but I think Smash makes Peach look dumb. I feel like it tries too hard to appeal to the girl who couldn’t pick any of the boy characters because they were icky so she picked the prettiest, girliest girl and that’s Peach. Her character feels like it’s making a mockery of her. (I mean, who remembers the tea time? I remember the tea time.) Nearly all of the nuance in Peach’s character is gone; I like the Toads and it feels like she’s commanding an army, but she herself with the rainbows and the hearts...I don’t know. It makes me. Uncomfortable. Peach has displayed far more competence before; she’s a very intelligent individual, but in Smash it’s not showing.

If I thought Peach was bad, imagine how I feel about Daisy! They barely changed a couple of animations and visuals but no attributes. It feels cheap and lazy and even though she’s an echo fighter, other “clones” had at least a little more thought put into them. And no “Hi, I’m Daisy”??? Preposterous. I think it goes to show that you really can’t make a clone of Peach because her moveset is too unique, and tinkering with it makes it fall apart. I think this was a bad call.

Bowser Jr. seems fine. He’s just a kid with some toys and it shows. Bowser...can at least walk straight, nowadays. But...

Luigi Baby I’m So Sorry That a Ugly Ass Bitch Would Even Do That

So when Smash 64 came out in 1999, Luigi had had his own voice for 3 years. Smash had decided to take Mario’s voice clips and pitch them up instead. This didn’t change until Brawl.

Luigi is Mario’s taller, slippery-er, eccentric younger brother, and Smash played the eccentric up to 11. (I mean, who remembers the Negative Zone? I remember the Negative Zone.) The hip bumps? And the weird dances? And the being able to fall over and be so round that he can just roll back up? I’ve never seen him do that anywhere but Smash. I don’t know who that is with the green hat in Smash. But it’s not Luigi.

The great thing is that he plays like Luigi! But he sure doesn’t act like it. And neither does Mario. And Mario and Luigi don’t play off each other at all, either. They’re so awkward to put together in this game; it’s like an attack on the sibling family unit.

We Don’t Stan Rosalina

We don’t stan her

“We Made Up Lore About EarthBound Hoping No One Would Notice Also We Really Like Pollyanna and the First Eight Melodies and We Exclusively Reference Mother 1 But We Still Won’t Put Ninten in This Game”

Ness is supposed to have defensive and support PSI because he has the highest physical offensive stats—and the lowest IQ—in EarthBound. He can’t use PK Starstorm, or PK Fire, or PK Thunder. He can use PSI Shield and Brainshock and Paralysis and um, PSI Rockin, and though I don’t mind using Ness and Lucas as they are now, I still can’t help but notice how inaccuracy-laden all the EarthBound references were, and that a moveset focused around trapping an opponent to go in for the beat down intrigues me.

Listen, no one else in this game has made-up lore about how their friends taught them certain moves after the end of their game, and how they channeled their big finisher into smaller bursts of energy while taking on the friend’s (much weaker!) signature move as their Final Smash. You could probably explain the magic Zelda uses as they come in crystals anyone could theoretically use, but the framing that they use for Ness and Lucas? It’s pretty silly.

Okay, about Ninten...he doesn’t have to be in Smash. But what’s the point of saying “Mother (Series)” and then making this weird conglomerate of ideas that doesn’t actually get the point across? All three games communicate very different ideas, but hardly any of what’s in Smash portrays any of it very well.

Where’s Bandana Dee

Where is he

Realistic Guns

Joker is about to enter this game with a literal fucking glock and I’m not okay

Final Smashes is the Same

It’s either a Mega Laser, a Giant Stage Hazard, a I’m Gonna Just Ram Into You Like Nobody’s Business, or a Barage of Attacks With One Final Hit. For all the crap I give Peach’s Final Smash, at least it’s different. Oh, there’s a new kind now: the We Stole Snake’s After We Thought He Was Never Coming Back And Oh God He’s Here. Oh No He’s Back. He’s Angry Oh N-

Kirby and Jigglypuff

They haven’t been great for years! I want them back to being good again.

Okay so Jigglypuff was OD’ing in Melee. But insta-death shield break just doesn’t tell me you care about them!

Speaking of Caring About Kirby

I see y’all only putting Kirby’s Adventure and Kirby Super Star content in your game. Look, whoever made Kirby 64 and friends disappeared the same year Sakurai left HAL Laboratory. The new Kirby games acknowledge all of Kirby’s history, and they take many cues from Smash. Smash is a big game, but the least it could do was reciprocate some of that.

The Music Selection is Underwhelming Me So Far

And it’s not the sheer number; I think that’s incredible. My problem is many of the songs are remixes with multiple versions. There are multiple versions of Light Plane from Pilotwings, multiple versions of Magicant, multiple Ballads of the Goddess, a billion Mario Main Themes. There are so many different musicians arranging for these games; are they all sitting there thinking “I’ll do you one better!!” making the same songs again? Some series have one song being remixed over and over while the rest of the soundtrack is just ripped from the original and chucked into the game. Other songs are just weak, which I expect, but they’re just so...mild.

The original music in Smash Ultimate I think is also pretty weak. It’s the same problem Brawl ran into and the only difference is the Ultimate themes are better orchestrated. The arrangement became stale to me and I think it’s because the game is so big that it couldn’t tie itself together as neatly as Smash 64 could (although only one, maybe two people worked on Smash 64’s music).

Stage Hazards

I don’t remember if it’s possible to turn them off but I am tired of the goddamn Flying Man.

So I think that’s about it. Thanks for reading and on the off chance that someone responds to it, you don’t have to go through the entire thing just to pick it apart bit by bit, I don’t want anyone to have to slog through that unless they want to, I guess. Happy New Year!

#smash ultimate #thinking about video games

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miso-297 · 6 years ago

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Concept Art Time!!

So in light of Lonashipping Week this July, one of the themes is a Fantasy AU. Before we get into more detail, check out @trashyatt who made some amazing art from these designs (thank you again you amazing person you!). They make some amazing art and write fan fictions that fit Lonashipping needs. So without further ado... let’s get started with our first designs. The main heroine and Moon of the universe as you might know from Wattpad: Luma Moon!

So I did draw both a younger design and an older design to add to a sort of time skip for the next volume of Champion of the Stars, and concocted these two pictures. 11 year old Luma looks similar to most magical girls because I took inspiration from not only Sayaka (with the dress) and Homura (boots) from Madoka Magica, but also Robin (cloak) from fire emblem. And in fire emblem fashion, she has a class known as a Huntress (inspiration taken from RWBY. Also, might change the name but who knows to what...) And if there were a bio for the Huntress, it’d probably go something like...

“A young maiden skilled with the naginata and magic. Seek to tame or defeat any foes that stand in their way.”

As for the design to the right, that would be Luma after the time skip (ten years). Her design was based off of many things such as Corrin’s Nohrian Noble class from fire emblem (upper body armor), Aqua from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep (sleeves and upper arm armor), Ruby from RWBY (Scythe and cape with hood), and 2B from Nier Automata (skirt and lower body). The class for Luma in this time skip is Prism Reaper, a class exclusive to Luma alone. As for what the description of what the Prism Reaper may be, it maybe something like...

“The promoted class of a Huntress, she becomes a martyr of the battlefield with Scythe in hand. Can also use bows, naginatas, and magic.”

Also on top of the drawing, you’ll notice it also says transformation. Well... that’s a secret. Can’t tell you or it’ll spoil the surprise. Sorry. But if you look closely at the blade of the scythe and the class name closely, then maybe you might know what’s up.

Alright and now the next couple of designs coming up are the edgelord himself, Gladion.

In this AU prior to the timeskip, Gladion’s class is known as the Enforcer (true to his role in game). His design was based on both the thief design from Fire Emblem and a gender bent version of Ruby Rose from Ruby know as Garnet (hopefully you know the one because that persons work is cool too (imsorryidontrememberyournaaaaaame)). Also it isn’t on there, but the scar that would. Or ally be across his chest is now on his cape. And much like the tactician/grandmaster/dark night class from Fire Emblem, they wield swords and tomes. As for the description of there was one...

“A messenger for a rather troublesome organization, but rather calm and collected with high speed powerful attacks. Wields swords and tomes.”

As for his class prior to the timeskip, that is known as the Aetherian Noble. So yeah it might not be too edgy, but he would technically be a noble judging from Pokémon Sun and Moon. His design is also based off of a genderbent RWBY character (Weiss) and added a fire emblem flare to the design. Honestly it looks a a tad bit modern, but figured “Eh. He’s kind of a prince. Might as well make him look the part.” As for the description...

“The promoted class of the Enforcer. A nobleman who puts the well-being of others before himself despite his past. Wields Swords, Tomes, and Crossbows.”

The Enforcer class is exclusive to Gladion. However he does share the Aetherian Noble class with his mother, Lusamine. As for the others, I don’t have designs just yet, but there are ideas for classes for each of them. So here’s a list:

-Lillie: Cleric (Promotes to her exclusive class, White Knight (think of Weiss from RWBY), wields swords and magic)

-Hau: ???? (I got nothing. I have no idea what I can do for this guy! I swear he’s like the toughest one to think of ideas for and it makes me sad! Either way I’m leaning forward for him to be a fighter class.)

-Elio: Outlaw (promoted to ????. Same for Hau, got no idea...)

Either way, that’s about it. Also I just got my 2DS an SD Card and luckily nothing got lost. But I still feel the need to go on hiatus for Champion of the Stars in order to work on Lonashipping Week. So hopefully after Lonashipping week, Champion of the Stars will return. Once I finish the first volume up on AO3, then I can get started on volume 3 of Champion of the Stars back on Wattpad. But until next time... stay tuned for further updates, art, and features on the way!

#pokémon sun and moon champion of the stars #gladion #luma #lonashipping #concept #fan art #pokemon #pokemon sun and moon #fantasy AU

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the-spoony-bard · 7 years ago

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A Matter of Leverage - 11

Fandom: Fire Emblem Awakening

Style: Leverage!AU; modern setting; adventure/drama

Word count: 3935 words

Read on Ao3

“Lon’qu, are you in position?” Robin asks, sitting at the bar in the ski lodge trying to ignore the concerned looks Olivia shoots at every sip.

The cold chill of winter whistling outside provides a sizable amount of snow for the ski resort as the team spreads throughout the mountain building. Murray was easy enough to find hanging out by one of the fireplaces in one of the many rooms of the high-end lodge after a full morning of action on the slopes.

“Yeah,” Lon’qu reports back from outside, bundled up like a marshmallow to fend off the chill. As amusing as his aversion to the cold was, one glare was enough to make any of Gaius’s quips die before leaving his tongue.

“R-Robin?” Olivia says shakily, but with conviction, as she walks over to stand behind her. “A-are you in… the r-right frame of mind to d-do this?”

“Olivia, now is not the time for this discussion,” Robin replies, gritting her teeth, all too aware of the three other sets of ears privy to the conversation.

“I t-think that it’s the p-perfect time,” Olivia presses. “If… if you’re too distracted—”

“I’m not,” Robin retorts, even though she knows it’s not quite true. “Just run it how we planned.”

With something of an injured air, Robin slides off the barstool, taking her drink with her as she sits next to Nowi in a quiet corner away from any other patrons. Nowi looks up innocently from her laptop at Robin’s approach, like one trying to pretend she’d not just heard Olivia’s concerns. Olivia gives Robin one more frustrated look before she turns away, bringing her phone up to her ear and sliding into character, a thick journal tucked under her parka-clad arm.

“Now’s not the time to be getting cold feet!” she says in a heavy German accent as she walks past Murray, pausing for a moment with her back to him so that he notices the spandex pants under the coat. Robin automatically rolls her eyes out of reflex as Murray’s own zero in on Olivia’s curves under the tights. Olivia, in the zone, keeps talking as she absentmindedly sets her journal down on the table. “Tell him that I’ll be more than happy to speak to him later. We are all partners in this exciting opportunity! Yeah. Yeah. Just give me a second.”

Olivia walks away, leaving her journal behind, Murray watching her with undisguised interest.

“This guy is too easy to hook,” Gaius notes with no small degree of disappointed wonder.

“That he is,” Robin agrees, watching Murray reach for the abandoned journal without a moment’s hesitation. “Do you have a Wikipedia page all set up, Nowi?”

“Yep!” Nowi chirps. “Just finished uploading all of the pictures now. I had to hunt for someone that was close to Olivia’s height first to Photoshop her in and that was—oh, is he looking her up now?”

“Looks like it,” Gaius says, watching Murray pull out his phone from another vantage point to search the name written on the front page of the journal.

Murray’s eyebrows raise approvingly as a smile spreads across his face.

“Something tells me our boy likes Miss Florina Enke, Olympic medalist in speed skating,” Robin says, smiling to herself.

“I like her hat,” Nowi adds, looking at Olivia and the formidable amount of white fluff resting atop waves of pink hair.

“Thanks,” Olivia replies in character as she sits at the bar.

“He’s on the move,” Robin reports, watching Murray close the journal back up before making a beeline for Olivia.

“Excuse me,” Murray cuts in, sitting right next to Olivia who turns to him in polite surprise. He holds out the journal with a charming smile. “I think you left this?”

“Oh! Oh my!” Olivia gasps, clutching the journal to her chest. “Thank you so much! My entire life’s work is documented in here!”

“Happy to help,” Murray continues, dialing up the charm. “And may I just say? It’s an honor to talk to someone as accomplished as you, Miss Enke.”

“Oh, you are too kind,” Olivia laughs, averting her eyes modestly.

“I’m such a fan of speed skating. Love everything about it. The speed, the adrenaline the…” Murray trails off for a moment as his eyes trail down the spandex stretched across Olivia’s legs and hips. “The costumes.”

Olivia laughs again as Gaius makes a gagging noise.

“Huh,” Olivia replies, more appraising than anything. “Please, call me Florina. And you?”

“Murray.”

“Murray…” Olivia repeats sweetly. “You sound like a man who knows what he likes.”

“Got that right!”

Olivia hums pleasantly, crossing her legs with slow care as she leans back in her seat.

“Do you partake in any sports yourself?”

“I’m down for everything,” Murray says as if it’s something intended to blow Olivia’s mind. “I’ve even judged competitions before.”

“Involving swimsuit models, sure,” Robin snorts, unimpressed.

“I’ve thought of starting up my own before,” Murray continues, caught up in his own excited boasting. “Something like a winter themed X Games built up in the mountains, but here’s the exciting part—when it’s done, it all gets taken down like it wasn’t there, just knocking it off the mountain. People would totally go for it.”

“Ja,” Olivia narrows her eyes ever so slightly, leaning forward like one fully interested. “You’ve certainly got my attention.”

“Yeah?” Murray leans forward too.

“You know my partners and I just purchased this resort. We’ve been working on renovations that could spice the place up and an idea like yours… It would be a perfect fit for our relaunch.”

“You’re damn right it would be,” Murray laughs, Olivia joining in.

“Okay, Olivia,” Robin cuts in as Nowi pulls up the accounts on her laptop. “Bring it up, but slowly ease him in. They’ve only got a couple hundred thousand cash we can easily squeeze out of them. Gaius, now would be a good time to get in position.”

“On it, Bubbles.”

Gaius jogs off, putting on a nametag as he straightens his tie, walking through the ‘employee’s only’ door like one meant to be there.

“Do I do it now?” Nowi asks excitedly.

“Not just yet,” Robin holds up her hand. “Wait for my signal. You can get on the lift at any point now, Lon’qu, but be prepared to ride it a few times. Olivia needs time to work her magic.”

Lon’qu grunts in affirmation.

“Ja, it would work very nicely,” Olivia replies after her polite laughter ends. “Of course, you’d have to buy into our little group.”

“Ready to go on your call, Bubbles,” Gaius reports from the other side of the building, staring down the door of the manager’s office.

“Hold on for now, guys. Olivia could be at this for—”

“Okay, how about I write you a check for five hundred thousand?” Murray says, startling Robin to silence. Olivia does a double take as well, smiling blankly as she struggles to find the words past her surprise.

“Okay then,” Robin says at last. “Your partners would be delighted.”

“My partners would be delighted,” Olivia echoes, easing into a more natural smile. “And so am I.”

“Great,” Murray grins. “I’d like to see your management though, look over your plans.”

“Oh, of course. Would you like to go now?”

“Sure.”

“Splendid. The sooner you’re happy the sooner we can move things along.”

“Gaius, get in there,” Robin says hurriedly.

“This guy has got to be the easiest sucker I’ve ever robbed,” Gaius chuckles as he jogs down the hallway to rap smartly on the manager’s door. After the call to come in, he does so, approaching the desk with his hand offered up for a handshake. “Nice to meet you, sir. Hector Beil. I’m the representative from Sunny Day Resort Solutions.”

“Nice to meet you,” the manager replies, shaking Gaius’s hand despite his confusion. He glances down at his personal calendar to search for any record of an appointment, but Gaius gives him little time to look, flinging himself into a fluffy spiel about raising employee morale.

“Okay, Nowi,” Robin speaks over the two other conversations coming over through the coms, looking over at Nowi’s expectant grin. “You may now stop the lift.”

“Yay!” Nowi cheers, hacking into the lift system in short order and freezing it in place.

“Lon’qu, are you up for this?”

“Fine,” Lon’qu says grudgingly between his chattering teeth. The other person on the lift shouts in alarm as Lon’qu pretends to fall, gripping onto one of the bars as he allows himself to dangle from the carriage. “Help,” he calls halfheartedly.

Gaius nearly sighs aloud in relief as the manager receives the call not even a minute later.

“There’s someone—gods, is he alright? No, I’m on my way,” the manager sets the phone back down. “I’m sorry, but something’s just come up.”

“It’s alright, take your time,” Gaius smiles innocently. “I’ll be right here.”

“Hey,” Nowi giggles, tucking her feet up under her legs as she sits, “Lonkers? Just hang in there.”

Lon’qu groans, hitting his forehead on the carriage he hangs from as the other person above him continues to panic on his behalf.

“Just give me a second longer, Twinkletoes,” Gaius mumbles as he removes the name tag, hurrying around the room to replace and cover all traces of it being another man’s office—covering papers and plans with their own, turning around family pictures, and replacing the name on the desk.

“Oh!” Olivia claps her hands together as she leads Murray along slowly, trying to buy Gaius more time. “Here is where we were going to have our Jacuzzis! And there our hot tubs! A spa inside the resort is the perfect way to unwind after a full day out on the slopes, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Yeah,” Murray says, the tone of his face suggesting he can already picture Olivia stretched out comfortably in a hot tub.

Gaius is just setting a picture Nowi edited of him and Olivia standing together with a handful of medals in her hand on the desk when Olivia opens the door.

“Hector!” she exclaims as he shouts “Florina!”

Gaius leaps from the seat behind the desk and strides forward to embrace Olivia lightly, the two of them kissing each other’s cheeks.

“Hector,” Olivia coos as she steps back, hands clasped together excitedly. “This is Murray! He’s interested in joining our little group!”

“Wonderful!” Gaius reaches out his hand for Murray to shake.

“You know it, dude!” Murray cheers, brushing aside the proffered hand for a hug as enthusiastic as Olivia’s. Gaius gives Olivia a wide-eyed stare over Murray’s shoulder before he is finally released.

“Ha ha, yeah,” he replies weakly.

“As you can see,” Olivia steps in to give Gaius a moment to breathe, “we’ve already settled most of our physical changes here.” She gestures to the rolled out plans on the table of the floorplan, covered in a series of notes and sketches. “What do you think?”

“Might not hurt to add a dance floor on there,” Murray winks. Olivia laughs as Gaius smiles halfheartedly. “Man, this is exciting!”

“I’m glad that you’re impressed,” Olivia sashays over, running her hand up Murray’s arm to rest on his shoulder. “So what do you say? Feel comfortable enough to write that check now?”

“We’ll need to go to Alabama for that,” Murray replies happily, oblivious to the way Olivia’s and Gaius’s faces freeze.

“Alabama?” Gaius repeats, wooden.

“Yeah,” Murray continues easily. “My dad’s the one that writes the checks.”

“Oh,” Olivia says, unable to hide her disappointment entirely. “Alright then.”

“Hey, no biggie.” Murray shrugs, throwing one arm around Olivia’s shoulders and the other around Gaius’s. “My dad’s super cool. He’ll totally get how great this idea is.”

“Let’s go to Alabama then,” Robin says weakly.

“Good,” Lon’qu says, safely on the ground. “It’ll be warmer.”

“Already getting tickets!” Nowi chimes in.

“Let’s hope Roddick is as cool as Murray claims,” Robin says grimly.

○

“Dad!” Murray booms, nearly giving his dad a body slam with the weight he throws into the hug, the both of them pounding the other on the back. Olivia remains safely to the side, waiting patiently through their show of chest pounding and general bravado.

“And who’s this?” Roddick asks appraisingly, looking Olivia up and down like one would survey a juicy steak. “Another model?”

“Oh, Dad!” Murray cuts in for Olivia, leaning over slightly to speak in an undertone, though he doesn’t bother speaking quietly enough for Olivia to not hear clearly. “This is Florina Enke. The Olympic speed skater.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Roddick,” Olivia inserts smoothly, holding out her hand.

“And she’s French!” Roddick gasps upon hearing Olivia’s German accent. He takes her hand, placing a wet kiss on her knuckles. To her credit, Olivia doesn’t immediately wipe her hand off on her jacket.

“She’s here because we have an awesomely genius plan at her ski resort!” Murray presses excitedly.

“Hmm… Sit down,” Roddick instructs a little gruffly, ushering them over to the couch.

Olivia eases herself down onto the fake leather, smiling as Murray rests his arm on the back of the couch behind her head and shoulders. Roddick sits across from them in a cushy reclining chair, but he does not recline himself. He leans forward, forearms resting right above his knees.

“Okay, be prepared for your mind to be blown!” Murray exclaims, using the hand not on Olivia shoulder to gesticulate with his point, miming a miniature explosion with his fingers.

“By what? Your stupidity?” a new voice cuts in bitingly.

They all turn to look at Roddick’s second son, Norris, standing on the stairs, face already pulled into an expression of undisguised disgust.

“Come on, Norris!” Roddick says before Murray can retort. “Sit down here and listen to your brother’s plan first.”

Norris looks at his father, brother, then pauses longer on Olivia, disgust morphing into a fusion of confusion and resentment. With an incredibly long and loud sigh, he at last shuffles off of the stairs to sit in the chair beside Roddick’s. Murray gives Norris a sneer for just a second before he clears his throat pointedly, happy to be free of any more interruptions.

“We are going to throw a winter X games event to launch our new ski resort! We’ve just got to write Florina her check for five hundred grand to fund it.”

Olivia simply smiles as the hand on her shoulder gives a light squeeze at ‘our.’

“What sort of stupi—”

“I love it!” Roddick booms over his other son. “It’s creative ingenuity like that that built this company!”

“Or, you know, someone who actually works hard to keep things going,” Norris mutters bitterly.

Robin cringes as the earpiece suddenly gives off a grating screech in her ear. She glances over to Nowi at her side in the van outside, her face crinkled up in both pain and annoyance.

“What was that?” Robin whispers.

“I don’t know,” Nowi pouts. “Gaius, Lonky, did you get that?”

“Yeah, we did,” Gaius grimaces.

“Oh, stop whining!” Roddick shouts back inside, all of them completely oblivious to Olivia’s momentary discomfort as he shoves Norris’s arm. He turns to Murray with a much kinder response. “I fully support you. Norris, and go and write this lovely lady her check.”

“You’ve got to be—”

“Norris…” Roddick growls warningly.

Norris lets out a groaning sigh. Roddick nods, arms crossed over his chest with a very serious glare.

“I don’t get it,” Nowi throws her hands up in the air as she turns to Robin. “Our signal’s squeaky clean, but I can’t reach Olivia’s com. There’s something else that’s just dominating our signal.”

“Something from inside,” Lon’qu notes. He and Gaius both look up in unison from their vantage point in the backyard.

“Can you guys get a transmitter or something up there? We need to be able to reach Olivia.”

“No problem, Bubbles.” Gaius strolls casually over to the house, dusting off the overalls of his gardener ensemble. “Hey, can I have a boost?”

Lon’qu nods, bending down and cupping his hands together. With a grunt, he hoists Gaius up once his foot is securely held. Only a second later and Gaius scrambles up. He chuckles as he opens the door to the upstairs office, the sliding door not even locked.

“Look, we want to make this happen,” Roddick gives Olivia a toothy grin back downstairs.

“We is a strong word,” Norris cuts in. “Speaking as the president of your company—”

“We want to make this happen,” Roddick repeats with more force. “Go and sign the checks for her.” He practically drags Norris out of his seat and pushes him forward.

“Fine,” Norris complies at last.

“You can go with him, if you want, honey,” Roddick grins again. “Tell him whatever it is you need.”

“Of course,” Olivia returns the crooked grin with a charming smile. She rises smoothly to follow after Norris, looking over her shoulder. “Thank you very much.”

Roddick nods his head at Olivia before turning to his son, not even waiting until Norris and Olivia made it to the stairs before announcing, “I like this one, son!”

“I don’t know what you see in him,” Norris says, far less impressed as he gives Olivia an incredulous look as soon as they’re out of sight at the top of the stairs.

“Oh, Murray?” Olivia smiles vaguely, a hint of a chuckle in her voice. “I see an opportunity, but nothing past that. I like my men… with control. Who know what they want and how to get there.”

Norris clears his throat awkwardly at the intenseness behind Olivia’s eyes.

“Yeah, sure,” he chokes out, tugging at his collar.

Robin peers through her binoculars, spotting Olivia and Norris on the stairs through the huge windows.

“Guys, they’re coming up to the second floor. I don’t think I need to tell you that this needs to be done fast.”

“It’s on the last few seconds,” Gaius reports, sliding Nowi’s transmitter into one of the modern art pieces with a dizzying amount of spirals. He looks to the door at the sound of Olivia’s voice outside.

“It must be difficult managing a company as large as your father’s.”

“You seem to be the only person who notices that,” Norris returns.

Gaius rolls his eyes as he pulls out the flash drive from the computer and slides back out onto the porch. He grins down at Lon’qu.

“Trust fall!”

“We don’t have time for this,” Lon’qu glares.

Gaius jumps down. Lon’qu takes a step back.

“You didn’t catch me!”

“You landed on your feet.”

“Because I didn’t think you’d catch me. And now I’m just disappointed in both of us.”

“Good job, guys,” Robin says as Gaius and Lon’qu jog over to the van. “And it sounds like Olivia’s sealing the deal right now.”

“Here you are,” Norris says, signing the check. “Five hundred thousand dollars.”

Olivia smiles, reaching her hand out to accept the check before Norris suddenly whisks it away.

“You can’t be serious,” he says, almost pleading.

“Pardon?”

“You’re too smart for this! You’ve seen my brother! All of his bright ideas end in disaster. I mean, paintball water skiing?” He pulls a brochure out of his desk with a flourish, waving the aggressively colorful folded paper in Olivia’s face. “His failed business ventures don’t end there! You can’t seriously be considering this!”

“Oh?” Olivia leans to the side in her seat, bringing her finger to her chin thoughtfully. “I’m always open to new business opportunities. Your brother being involved is hardly a necessity.”

“That’s—” Norris cuts himself off, mouth flapping noiselessly a few times before he recovers himself. “He hasn’t had to work a day in his life. I’m the one that made this company what it is today. My hard work is what turned disaster area relief into a growth industry.”

“Disaster area?” Olivia repeats curiously, her clenched fingers going unnoticed by Norris.

“People always need their homes fixed,” Norris shrugs in a show of mock pride. “It’s a lucrative market. Give them a low quote, hammer in a board or two if they’re lucky, then double the price if they complain. Eventually they can’t keep paying, and we put a lien on the property. Once the bank forecloses on them, we buy the houses cheap. It’s genius in its simplicity.”

Olivia smiles tensely, looking off to the side as Norris simply stands there with pride, holding the check loosely between two fingers.

“Donnel and his mom aren’t the only people they’ve done this to,” Lon’qu growls.

“I heard,” Robin grits her teeth. She glances at Nowi out of the corner of her eye, still typing away at her laptop. “Olivia, can you figure out how many?”

“How big is this operation of yours?” Olivia meets Norris’s eyes.

“I’d say… four hundred, give or take.”

“Four hundred?” Olivia repeats, nearly breaking character through her disgust.

“Oh gods,” Robin mutters, rubbing her forehead.

“We’re spread all over the country. Hurricane areas, tornado zones… they’re all perfect locations. And that is hard work that Murray could never understand.”

Norris holds out the check now.

“Olivia, do not take that money,” Robin orders.

“What?” Gaius exclaims. Even Nowi is temporarily distracted from her computer to look over and echo Gaius’s sentiment.

Olivia simply stares at Norris, not even having lifted her hand before Robin spoke.

“Don’t tell me that’s gotten you squeamish,” Norris laughs. “It’s all legal. I’m just using a loophole.”

“What are you talking about, Bubbles? You can’t—”

“I said don’t take that money,” Robin repeats, not even looking at Gaius.

Olivia reaches out to take the check in her hands, holds it up to look at it, then rips it cleanly in two.

Norris lets out a barking laugh out of shock.

“Okay, Olivia, here’s what you’re going to do,” Robin directs. “You’re going to hook him into a bigger investment.”

“If what you’re telling me is that you want to do real business, then I might just have an opportunity for you,” Olivia stands up so as to more readily meet his eye. “But it is for serious investors only. This is a deal that I would never present to your brother.”

“Okay,” Norris replies somewhat breathlessly. “Interesting.”

“What are you doing?” Gaius whispers furiously.

“Forget about the money,” Robin finally looks at him. “This is bigger than that. We’re going to take the company, and we’re going to give all of these people their homes back.”

“When were you planning on telling us about this?” Lon’qu asks with unmasked judgement.

“Yeah, I thought we were a team,” Gaius agrees. “We have the right to know what we’re getting into.”

“Um… Robin?” Nowi cuts in, poking Robin’s arm. “So, I think I found something…”

“Define something,” Robin replies tensely.

“That interference from earlier was coming from inside the house. I wasn’t able to zero in on it from just here, but the transmitter picked it up.”

“Picked up what?” Robin presses.

“The house is bugged. It’s looking like standard law enforcement equipment.”

“The cops haven’t given up yet then,” Robin sighs, leaning back in her seat.

The team pauses as Roddick’s coarse voice comes in through Olivia’s com.

“There now! Everything settled?”

“Yes, wonderfully,” Olivia replies. “Thank you very much. If you will excuse me, I have a partner I must meet with. I’ll keep in touch.”

Olivia walks out casually, though her face is already reverting back to its natural nervousness.

“I hope you know wh-what you’re d-doing, Robin.”

#fire emblem awakening #fea #fire emblem awakening fanfiction #fanfiction #fea fanfiction #A Matter of Leverage #adventure

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smashmusicideas · 6 years ago

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November 24: How Has Adding Newcomers Changed?

This post will feature no information at all from the recent leaks for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. I have, however, been looking into some of them, and how a few fans have taken the information to try to discern whether particular choices of spirits, bosses, or music point to any possible downloadable content. Again, this isn’t about that. I won’t be talking about what they’re asking, the evidence being used, or anything of the sort. But their questions about characters have made me think of another question about what of Smash has changed.

Of course, virtually every aspect of what Smash is has changed, altered, or expanded over nineteen years; it’d be nuts if it didn’t at least challenge itself. But specifically, I’m thinking of how it looked at characters. Let’s look at it by game.

Smash 64: the main franchises and icons that Nintendo had, at least at the time. With the exception of Fox (and beyond the importance of his game at the time, he’s important just for his role in Smash), all of the original eight would have to be in any game like this. The other four are weirder, since they were chosen partially to take animations from the rest of the cast, but other than Ness they were iconic and important for the era.

Melee: expanding the main series and filling in odd gaps. Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon surged with important and memorable characters, but most of the rest of the Melee newcomers were more odd or distinct. Having two Fire Emblem characters gave the biggest new series a bit more of an identity, Ice Climbers and Game & Watch ensured retro representation was a thing, but other major series like Donkey Kong and Kirby were left without anyone.

Brawl: bringing in the final BIG icons while looking to the future. Wario, Diddy, Meta Knight, and Dedede were the most outstanding characters, while Sonic was needed just on a historical level. Meanwhile, newer characters like Lucario and Lucas represented Nintendo in the years after Melee came out. Throw in a couple characters with a strong name recognition like Pit, and you have a game that fills out the big gaps of the last while making a few gestures to a new direction.

Smash For: newness, mechanical gimmickry, and a sense of uniqueness. Far more than the last game, we got new characters, ones who would end up partially defining where Nintendo would go in the years of the Wii U (hell, Greninja’s now in a trailer for a Ryan Reynolds movie). There was also an interest in pushing the limits of what these characters could do, with Robin, Bayonetta, and Rosalina using wild movesets and mechanics. And with five third party characters, there was a clear interest in looking outside of the Nintendo norm. This was also furthered through the DLC.

Ultimate: popularity and “importance,” to Nintendo and “the fans.” With the exception of Incineroar (and Richter, but he doesn’t quite work as an example), every single fighter in the base game was highly requested, relevant, or with a modern presence - often with at least two of those values. The Echoes only further this, and with such a small amount of space for them, it’s clear there was an interest in going all out in the fanservice. And yet, the first DLC fighter is an amazingly bizarre choice, and we’ve no idea of what Nintendo wants with the other five. So maybe we’ll see an entirely different direction just for the DLC? It even matches the (non-Echo) newcomers from the base game for size, so contrasting them will be fairly easy.

Even without this, It’s clear Smash is, and has always been, willing to change up how it approaches characters - at least, inclusion of characters - throughout each game. They’re all treated as fighters first when actually in development, of course, but the process for considering them does change a bit each time. It means we can’t treat each game as a clear blueprint for the next.

However, there are common themes that do run through each game: a desire for characters both old and new, an interest in mechanically unique fighters, an effort to buff pre-existing franchises, and at least some concern for the inclusion of new series. Those are all important; it’s how important they are that differs for each game. And I think that if there is a way to predict Sakurai, it’s through predicting that. Brawl came seven years after Melee, and Smash For came six years after Brawl. Those are the two most known for having mechanically unique and newer fighters, probably because they had so long to look at Nintendo change and shape. That’s not something Melee or Ultimate (which, as planning started at the end of 2015, couldn’t predict how huge the Switch would become) could do.

Admittedly, it’s hard to predict how that will shape up with this period of DLC, but I do think looking at it in those terms will help for the next games. I think some direct patterns - one new Fire Emblem person, one new Pokémon person - are easy and sensible, but looking at why those changes in direction happened should be useful in the games to come.

(Link to my writings on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate)

#Super Smash Bros. Ultimate #Super Smash Bros.

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sabineelectricheart · 3 years ago

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One’s Due Lot in Life [Pt. 3]

Summary: Decisions are made.

Rating: K+ - Suitable for more mature childen, 9 years and older, with minor action violence without serious injury. May contain mild coarse language. Should not contain any adult themes.

Words: 1480

Notes: So, we arrive at the last part. I hope you enjoyed it so far.

The party came to its natural conclusion when the clocktower struck midnight, and the only people still roaming the house was the staff, making some preparations before going to sleep, as not to leave everything to be done as soon as they woke up at dawn.

Typically, Robin hated checking the fireplaces at the end of the night, making sure there were none left unattended, lest a cinder cracking from one of them burn down the house accidentally. However, that night she could not have been happier to offer herself for the job.

She needed the time to herself and the fresh air. She needed to be on her feet, and not mulling possibilities and conjectures on her uncomfortable bed. She needed to be free from thoughts about Chrom.

So, when Robin descended into the darkened halls downstairs, the last thing she wanted to hear was Chrom calling her name from behind her.

“What are you doing?” He called through heavy breaths as he caught up to her.

“Checking the fireplaces.” She answered curtly.

The blonde maid took a sharp turn into one of the rooms, cutting him off and hoping he would understand what was unstated, but, of course, the king of obliviousness did not.

The prince continued to follow her with his hands clasped behind his back as he watched her intently.

“Stop following me.” Robin demanded.

“I would if you were going the right way.” Chrom countered. “I am sure there is no fireplaces on the stables.”

Her steps faltered. What on Earth she is to do on the kitchens? No, she was definitely in the wrong place. Huffing, she turned around and tried to manoeuvre around the blue-haired nobleman but he blocked her way.

“What are you doing now?” With her arms tightly crossed in distaste, she looked the young man over for the first time in hours.

“Trying to get you to slow down.” Chrom planted his hands firmly on her shoulders and guided her towards the lady’s drawing room, sitting her on an armchair by the window, overlooking the skyline of the city. “Look, Robin, just look for one moment. Look at how lovely tonight is.”

It was unfair how beautiful the lighting made him look. Robin had to catch herself before she got too caught up in a lost cause so she directed her attention down towards her aching feet, peeling off the cramped, unfitted shoes Maribelle forced her attendant to wear.

Finally, she decided to look up. The prince was right, it was a lovely night, but lovely nights were made for loving people, they were made for people who can spend their nights in parties for no reason other than their own pleasure, and the House of Thermis made it abundantly clear that she was not one of those people.

Her mood instantly soured. The more she thought about the situation, the stupider she felt. She was asking Chrom, the prince of Ylisse, the current heir to the Exalt throne, to love her back, a measly foreign maid.

“I am sorry I could not react appropriately when we were conversing earlier tonight.” Chrom’s timid voice broke the silence and sent a sharp pain in her chest.

She shook her head. “It does not matter. It was just some fanciful thinking on my part. You need not to make me to look at the city to soften my disappointment. I understand it very well.”

He perked up at that. “What?”

Robin sighed, standing up, shoes in hand and melancholy dancing on her badly-lit expression. “I would not dare to expect that you would say it back. I misread the situation, and I shall take the blame for that to spare you any further humiliation. I just ask that you forget about it, so I can salvage my job, if my dignity is already lost.”

Before he could even process what she had said, the maid was already walking away from him. The nobleman scrambled to her side with a flurry of rushed pleas to make her sit and listen to him for just one second.

“Can you just drop it, milord?” She snapped, a snarl toying at her lips. “I am asking of you, I might be a servant, but I have a heart!”

Behind her, Chrom had silenced himself.

“You must understand that this is just a stupid dream, a moment of weakness on my part that should have no bearing in our lives from now on.” Robin sighed and looked up at the nobleman. “Rather, it shall not have bearing on your life, milord, as your indiscretions will be swept away under the rug with a laugh, but it may very well be a tragedy on mine. I will likely end up expulsed from the city, or even dead.”

“Do not be so fatalist, Robin.” The prince counters.

She scoffs. “It is no fatalism, milord. We must take a lengthy exam at ourselves. We know who we are. I am a maid of dubious parentage and you are the heir to the throne, at least until Emmeryn weds. We know our places, and my place is not with you.”

“Naga, why not?!” Chrom shouted.

His anger reverberated through the hollow room and she was near positive she could almost feel it. The corners of his eyes pricked with tears from unalloyed frustration. She was certainly not indifferent at him, it had not been a full night since she half-declared her love for him, seeing him in such a distraught state made her ill at ease.

“Do you want a list?!” Robin snarked back.

The royal ran his hands over his face with a shaky sigh. “I-I am sorry, I did not mean to shout, and especially not at you. You did nothing to deserve to be shouted at, but I just cannot hear about ‘our places’ again.”

Taking cautious steps towards him, she asked, “Again?”

Chrom sunk into a squat and rested against the panelled wall, evoking a quiet gasp at the cleaning his footmen would have to do to his dress pants.

“Maribelle thought you might admire me a little too much and found it her duty to tell my sisters and Frederick.” He explains, a scowl on his face. “For two blasted weeks, he gave me lecture after lecture about how it would be sickening if I even thought about being with someone like you, how I would defile the sanctity of my bloodline and put the realm at risk.”

“Oh.” She sunk to his level, relaxing on the cold hardwood floor next to him.

“Eventually, I realized how much of what he says does not matter.” He mumbles, evading her eye level. “It does not matter what anyone says. I am going to be brave and follow my heart.”

Her eyes flickered up to his, wide and full of hope. “Chrom, do you have any idea of what you are saying?”

Chrom laid on his back, Robin following suit, staring up at the dark ceiling and counting the specs of dust reflected on the clear moonlight. He subconsciously took her hand in his and began to trace random lines on it with his thumb, sending sparks flying through her spine.

“I do. I promise, I do.” He said, earnest and confident. “I understand your fear, I swear I do. You are right, whatever I decide to do, it will be dangerous, and the one hurt will most likely be you. However, when I found those letters from my father, everything appeared very clear to me.”

“What is it that is obvious?” She whispers, as if it was a great secret.

“I understood what I felt and what I must do about it.” He responded. “I love you.”

Much to her dismay, she inched her hand out of his as she sat up, causing him to turn his head to look in her eyes. “Please do not say that. I know you miss your father, but following on his footsteps will not bring him back.”

“We are nothing like them.” He stated, firmly. “I love you because you are witty and kind, because you are strong and independent, because I know I can trust you, not because you are anything like my mother.”

Robin waited for him to look up at her, searching for the sincerity in his eyes. Chrom smiled sweetly at her, making her stomach flutter and nerves thrum.

Laying back down next to him, she once again took his hand. “What are we going to do about it now?”

“I do not know yet.” The blue-haired man said, his voice still unwavering. “But I am ready to fight for it, and I want you by my side when I do it.”

As she leaned her head on his shoulder, she realized lovely nights were made for loving people, and perhaps she was one of them.

*_*_*_*_*

One’s Due Lot in Life Masterlist

Fire Emblem Masterlist

Awakening Masterlist

#fire emblem #chrom

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