#Technically he is visiting another Region

[huh-1260]

Day 11 of Month of Emmet: Visiting another Region?

The texts

Prof Laventon: Wake up!

Cyndaquil: is he awake?

Oshawott: I'm not sure if he's alive

Rowlett: Shush! Wait for him

Prof Laventon: Ohhh...Do wake up won't you?

Rowlett: oooh his fingers are twitching

Oshawott: don't over whelm him

Cyndaquil: Shh he's getting up

Prof Laventon: Are you alive, Sir?

Cyndaquil: oh he's getting up

Emmet internally: Where am I?

[celtrist]

Next thing you'll say is he doesn't have a tail

ref to this pic

EDIT: Just to keep things clear I didn't really think about bringing it up but not everyone's gonna click to see the first picture and might be confused. Alastor was stated to know only a little bit of broken French, the reasoning due to being from New Orleans. Speaking standard French is very much not a thing in New Orleans, so he would logically only know French-Creole. This is very different from the standard French language and a large misconception that people from New Orleans speak regular French. So yes, he does speak some French, just not as well as people make him nor would it, in theory, be the regular French that everyone makes him speak [but I wouldn't put it past the writers to not do that research but maybe I have too little faith in them]. I'm not from New Orleans, I visited it once so it's not like I'm an expert. But I HAVE looked into it and just bothering with one Google search will tell you it's not common and you'll even have a special term called "Louisiana French" pop up. With that all said, these were statements made on years past streams and could've been changed in the official series. However, as of right now, the official statement is that he speaks only a little broken French that should technically be French-Creole if they're going by and that he's from New Orleans to know that language. And again, I don't have a lot of faith in writers to do the research into it being Louisiana French rather than regular French, but now I'm rambling lol This is just a bit of context for this comic so people who were curious can understand it a bit more. And it's totally possible I got something wrong, so feel free to point it out when I do. I just like to dig into the nooks and crannies of information for things :3 2nd EDIT: Just for any future reblogs, I did get somethings incorrect in the above (not surprising), so here's some of the corrections I got:

@mangotangerine: "A tiny nitpick - it would likely be Louisiana Creole, which is one of the French-based Creole languages (Haitian Creole is prob the most well known as it has about 10-12 million speakers vs Louisiana Creole which has around 10,000 due to multiple factors but especially legislation in early 1920s outlawing it). Louisiana French is an umbrella term for the various French dialects/etc in the region (e.g., the dialect Cajun French)." (We actually had a whole conversation in the comments of this post and highly suggest looking down there in case you're interested in learning more!)

@alyssumflowers: "I am from New Orleans and a little bit of a language nerd. You're confusing some things here. Cajun French is a dialect of French. My great grandmother spoke it fluently, my grandfather in pieces.

Louisiana Creole is another language entirely. The word "creole" means mixed and a creole language is basically a mixture of two or more languages. Sort of, it's a linguistics thing. Anyways. Louisiana Creole has next to no speakers left and I've had a hard time trying to find somewhere or someone to learn it from because I really want to." (Always great to hear from someone who has more insider knowledge on the subject! So I wanted to give this it's share due as well, hope you can fine somewhere to learn it! /ᐠ > ˕ <マ ₊˚⊹♡ )

Thank you for the comments! My previous statement still stands about Al probably not speaking normal French, but I wanted these corrections still known and pointed out :3

[kiame-sama]

can we have some of the queen's rules? Riddle already gave three (we didn't get all of the last one) but what are some you feel like sharing?

You already know three;

- Humans cannot eat a pork heavy diet as Humans are genetically close to pigs. (The genetics piece is true, but Humans can digest pork no problem, so it is ultimately a nonsense rule).

- Humans must be kept at a temperature above freezing but below boiling. (True, not too hot and not too cold is ideal for Humans)

- Humans must be paired with suitable mates based on their regional habitat. A Human from a frozen climate is not compatible with a Human from a tropical climate and therefore cannot breed. (Absolute nonsense, Humans can technically breed with other Humans regardless of region and can even interbreed with any Twisted Wonderland species and still have viable young- ie. Dragon/Human, Unicorn/Human, Drider/Human, Harpy/Human, Merfolk/Human- so long as they can make the parts fit, they can typically successfully interbreed)

But I have headcanoned many other rules for Riddle to believe are absolutely true.

- Humans love Salt, Fat, and Sugar in their diets, but should be limited as too much can cause health problems (actually 100% true. We are literally wired to crave those three food types and have been since before our days as Humans but any in excess can be dangerous/harmful)

- Humans in love or assumed to be in love should never be forced to part or be put into conflict against one another. (The queen made this rule because one of her Humans fell for the pet of a wealthy visitor and actually had stress cardiomyopathy- heartbreak syndrome- and died as a result when that loved one left)

- No species is to threaten or harm a Human. Those who break this rule are punished by the highest accord. (General for all Humans in the Queendom and still a law to current day)

- All unbirthday parties are to have one or more chairs of honor reserved for resident Humans at the left-hand side of the host. (A common rule for Unbirthday parties and one Riddle already upheld even before he met the Human)

- A pregnant Human is to be pardoned for any and all crimes committed during the pregnancy as their hormones and actions cannot be controlled. (Most Humans were quickly pardoned of any crime anyway because the Queen loved them, but pregnant Humans were basically given a free pass to steal and do as they wished).

- If a Human is to take a nap during the day, they must have no more than three pillows and one blanket. (This rule was made to prevent humans from sleeping longer than an hour or two as to not mess up their natural sleep cycle)

- If a Human chooses a non Human mate that non-Human is required by law to marry that Human and never be unfaithful regardless of prior relationships and marriages. (It didn't happen often, but some of the Queen's humans fell for their guards or other visiting nobles and the Queen refused to lose another Human to heartbreak)

[mesetacadre]

Aviation in the USSR

A collection of excerpts from Anna Lousie Strong's The Soviets Expected It, compiled for @czerwonykasztelanic

[...] Or the guerrilla detachment which captured six German planes, destroyed five of them, and sent the sixth to the Red Army, piloted by an amateur air enthusiast, who was a tractor driver in ordinary life. Lt. Talalikhin’s initiative is already a Soviet aviator’s tradition. Exhausting his ammunition in a fight with three enemy planes, he rammed the tail of one enemy with his propeller, smashed the tail of another enemy plane with his wing tip, and then bailed out of his own plane safely. Moscow parks displayed the wreckage of the German planes, and other Soviet pilots quickly copied the tactics. An aviation technician, Konikov, won renown by attaching the fuselage of a plane he was repairing to the front platform of a military train whose locomotive had been bombed by the enemy; he thus pulled the most necessary parts of the train to safety.

pg. 14

The Soviet people glimpsed and felt victory. For the first time they began to feel that they were no longer “backward Russians.” They were beginning to challenge the world. With this went a proud sense of their unity as a nation. Cotton growers in Turkestan exulted, “We have conquered the Arctic,” though they themselves would never see the snow. Bearded peasants, who had never sat in an airplane, began to talk about “our conquest of the air.” Young Nina Kameneva expressed the mood of the country’s young people when she broke a world’s altitude record in parachute jumping and remarked on landing: “The sky of our country is the highest sky in the world.”

pg. 46

Moscow can make all the implements of war, including planes and motor trucks, inside the city. [...] Moscow’s sky is covered by an air defense that was the marvel of the London experts who visited it after the war began to make suggestions and found it far superior to London’s. Anti-aircraft shells make a thick blanket at four distinct levels to London’s one, and observation planes patrol the heavens night and day. Moscow’s four million people also offer a night-and-day defense.

pg. 51

Alma Ata, the capital of this area, has grown from a town of 60,000 to a proud young city of 260,000 in the ten years since the railroad reached it. Its life has leaped at once from the nomad epoch to the airplane. The railroad is too slow to tame the wastes of Kazakstan. From Alma Ata Airport the planes shoot forth, east, west, south, north, on new discoveries. [...] Kazakstan is only one of the energetic regions behind the Urals. South of it lie the lands of the Uzbeks and Tadjiks, where some of the largest textile mills of the U.S.S.R. work up the locally grown cotton and where automobile and airplane parts are produced by mass production in the historic city of Samarkand.

pg. 58

I have traveled many times on the Trans-Siberian. In the spring of 1935, I went from Vladivostok to Moscow with a stop-over in the Jewish autonomous territory whose capital is Birobidjan. The train was crowded with pioneering people in warm woolen clothes and padded leather jackets, engineers, Army men, developers of the Far East. [...] An army engineer who shared my table at dinner was celebrating his return by airplane from the northern wilderness by consuming a whole bottle of port and bragging about the Far Eastern pioneers.

pg. 59

According to Pierre Cot, the French Air Minister, who visited Moscow in 1933, the Soviet air arm was at least equal to the best in Europe in numbers, technical equipment, and, above all, in the productive capacity of the aviation industry.‡ Thus, by the end of 1932, which ended the first Five Year Plan, the Soviet Union had reached the level of Western Europe in armaments – a fairly modest level judged by standards of later years.

pg. 65

Other official indications of the extent of the Red Army’s mechanization come from Voroshilov’s report in 1934 [...]. Five years later [...]. He claimed that the “bomb salvo” of the Soviet air force (the number of bombs that can be dropped by all planes at once) had tripled in five years and had reached more than 6,000 tons.

pg. 66

Soviet airplane pilots also hold many world records, both in altitude and long-distance flights. Their conquest of the Arctic and its difficult weather has accustomed them to the severest conditions. Americans well remember the Soviet pilots who twice made world records by flying from Moscow to America. These were individual exploits, but the development of Arctic aviation on which they were based was the work of large numbers of pilots and implies a whole air tradition

pg. 67

Parachute jumping has become a national sport in the Soviet Union. Soviet people are probably the most air-minded people in the world. Training for air-mindedness begins in the kindergarten. Small tots play the “butterfly game” and jump around with large butterflies pinned on their hair, gaining the idea that flying is fun and a natural activity. Children in their teens make jumps from “parachute towers” which are far rougher and more realistic than the parachute tower in the New York World’s Fair, which was copied from them. The sport is popular not only in the cities but on the farms. Several years ago a Ukrainian farmer told me of his trip to the nearby city with a group of farm children, all of whom immediately formed in line in the recreation park to go up in a tall tower and jump off under a parachute. “I thought it very terrifying,” he said, “and wondered why the park authorities allowed it. Then I saw that my own thirteen-year-old daughter was at the head of the line. These children of today aren’t afraid of anything.” At an older age, Soviet young people jump from airplanes, learn to operate gliders, or even become amateur pilots in their spare time. Every large factory, government department, and many of the larger collective farms have “aviation clubs,” which are given free instruction by the government. Probably a million people in the Soviet Union have made actual jumps from parachutes. It is not surprising that the Red Army was the first to use parachute troops in active service several years before the Germans adopted them. In 1931 a small detachment of parachutists surrounded and cleaned up a bandit gang in Central Asia. The making of airplane models by young people is taken seriously in the U.S.S.R. In 1937 over a million school children were spending after-school hours in aviation model stations. At a later stage, young people of talent create real airplanes and demonstrate them at Tushino aviation exhibitions. Owing to the wide interest in aviation and the public ownership of factories, a bright Soviet youth who invents a new type of airplane may get it constructed by his factory sports club and show it off. At one of the aviation festivals I attended, I saw a score of different amateur planes, including every possible shape of flying object – short, stubby ones, long thin ones, others shaped like different kinds of insects. They added greatly to the gaiety of the occasion. Whether or not they produced any really valuable new invention, they at least encouraged the inventiveness of their makers.

pg. 72

In the past two years, especially, all this training has been given a very realistic turn. [...] Only a month before the Germans attacked the Soviet borders, 7,000 Moscow citizens practiced a special drill in repulsing parachute troops over the week end. The large numbers of such trained citizenry, both among recruits entering the Red Army and among the older citizens assisting it, greatly add to the Soviet Union’s total defense.

pg. 73

[literallyjustforlurking]

Daughters of Ancient Greece (I met you by the garden)

We all know that Zoe was alive during the time of Heracles and since there is no definitive answer of when Heracles and Odysseus's stories happened in reference to eachother I decided that they happened at the same time and as such Penelope and Zoe met after Zoe was betrayed by Heracles and ousted from the garden of the Hesperides for helping him steal a golden apple.

At this point Penelope was unmarried and still lived in Sparta and when a spartan princess sees a demititaness/nature spirit who looks ready to start biting people they welcome them with open arms (lol). But Penelope helps Zoe get back on her feet and helps her deal with the betrayal and no longer being welcome by her family, all the while Zoe is acting as one of handmaidens to keep her parents and sisters from intervening.

(Helen and Clytemnestra both remember this handmaiden who showed up out of nowhere and kept scaring off all of Penelope's suitors but they never bothered to ask until they meet Zoe and it's like *insert suprised pikachu face*)

One day Artemis's hunt is in the region and both Zoe and Penelope get an invitation, while accepts, and is very excited to do use, Penelope thinks on it an declines, Zoe is devestated but promises to come visit and Artemis says it is an open inviation for as long as Penelope remains a maiden and even if she does not she will still be under Artemis's protection.

(It's another headcannon of mine that Zoe was one of the fist members of the hunt and that's why Artemis is so attached to her, so P!Percy is really suprised at how big and organized the hunt has gotten because she's used to it being really small just a few girls and less than a century old!)

And the moment Zoe leaves Odysseus appears and falls head over heals for Penelope and then romances her and Zoe shows back up like a year later only to find out Penelope married the lying, cheating, tricky king of Ithaca who Athena's training to die. Zoe is pissed. Zoe takes the rest of the hunt and storms but to Penelope's place and is like "What the fuck were you thinking? You could have done so much better? That one looks like a drowned rat and all men do is lie! And he's famous for lying!"

Odysseus fears for his life as a goddess and her lieutenant shit talk him to his wife's face while his wife invites them in for dinner. Zoe has also met Telemachus and is like "if there will ever be a not bad man it will be the one you raise old friend"

After they see each again, (Probably around the begining of book three right after Annabeth falls off the cliff), Zoe trys to convince P!Percy to join the hunt because while Zoe knows Penelope loved Odysseus she was still alone for 20 years and stuck with the suitors that whole time and you know Zoe came and visited sometimes and saw what was going on and was pissed at Odysseus and kept being like "Penelope, Penelope, just leave him, fuck your husband, we'll even let you bring the boy"

Penelope doesn't leave but Zoe still greatly dislikes Odysseus.

And that means since Telemachus never met any of his mothers sisters (Odysseus has a sister Ctimene so technically Telemachus does have an aunt) Zoe was practically his aunt and Artemis and Athena have beef because while Telemachus trained with Athena more he knew Artemis for longer (and maybe Artemis taught him how to shoot since him father was away)

This post really got away from me so I hope you like i! :)

(What are you talking about homoerotic undertones? Where are you getting that from? Nooooo)

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

1k 🏠

“Fine,” Bobby says. She is technically correct after all. “But I don’t like them, and I think they’re trouble.”

Probably not a fair generalization, given it’s just the husband who has pissed him off. 

“Okay,” Athena says, suppressing a smirk. “The record reflects that.”

Bobby frowns a little. It might seem small now, but he thinks this could end up being a serious issue. 

ii.

Michael and David’s flights arrive late one evening. May offers to pick them up, a fact Bobby thinks is pretty great. When your adult children are willing and able to do tedious tasks, such as driving to LAX? Well, he thinks Athena and Michael can be proud of the job they’ve done. 

They’re not doing anything big tonight. It’s late. Michael and David will be tired from travel. Bobby has a later dinner cooking, and after that, he’s sure they’ll chat before everyone turns in for the night. May will also be staying with them for the duration of her father’s visit, in the room Bobby and Athena insisted they have rebuilt for her here. She should always have a room here. 

Bobby thinks it will be nice; all six of them for a few days. They’ll have the Wilsons over tomorrow, too. Hen and Karen are Michael’s friends, too. Bobby’s looking forward to the same group that used to often share dinners being all back together. Plus Mara, of course.

He’s pulling dinner out of the oven when he hears the front door open. A cacophony of chatter starts up, all familiar voices. Bobby puts down his casserole dish and smiles. He removes his oven mitts, leaves the apron on, and heads to the front entryway to greet Michael and David. 

“And he’s coming directly from the kitchen,” Michael laughs when he sees Bobby. “The house might change, but some things will always stay the same.”

Bobby laughs as he goes to hug his old friend.

“Yeah, some things do,” he confirms.

🏠

They all spend dinner catching up. The kids travel back and forth, and know more than Bobby and Athena, but it’s still good to hear everything in person. 

David tells them about the nonprofit work he’s doing. 

“We’re trying to expand the scope of our work,” he explains. “Bring accessible medical care to even more underserved regions.”

“Actually,” May says. “I’m going to do an internship with David this summer.”

Bobby blinks, surprised. Athena looks similarly caught-off-guard. Neither of them has heard a word of this before now, not even in interest. 

“Really?” Bobby asks. 

“Yeah,” David nods, smiling. “We finalized the details a couple of days ago actually.”

“I don’t understand,” Athena says. “You’re not in med school, May. You’re in pre-law.”

“I know,” May nods. “And I took a policy class last semester that has made me want to look at some different pathways my career could take. Going to Haiti with David will be good for me, I think.”

Everyone looks at Athena. Michael really looks at Athena. There’s a collectively held breath over the table as they all wait for Athena’s opinion on it. Bobby knows his wife pretty well, but even he doesn’t know what she’s going to say. It’s a toss up between positive or horrified.

“Well, I think that’s fantastic,” Athena says. “I always regretted not travelling before having kids. You’ll learn a lot, May.”

Positive then. Great. Bobby is relieved. He doesn’t want the night to go sour. He doesn’t want another period of weird iciness between Athena and May. 

But he catches a glimpse of Michael’s reaction to Athena’s words, and he looks disappointed. Like he’d been banking on Athena having a less than encouraging reaction. Interesting. Very interesting. 

“Thanks, Mom,” May grins. She looks at David. “And thanks, David. Maybe you can help me with packing notes while you’re here.”

David chuckles. “I’d be glad to.”

“Great,” Michael smiles tightly. “This is wonderful.”

Very interesting indeed. 

iii.

The next morning, Bobby is making everyone breakfast when there’s a knock on the door. Athena goes to open it. 

“Who bugs you guys this early?” Michael asks. “It’s not even nine in the morning.”

“I have no idea,” Bobby admits.

“Mormons?” Harry suggests. 

“I think even they have better timing,” May frowns. 

When Athena opens the door and greets the person behind it, her words make Bobby go tense.

“Oh, hi, Candi,” he hears her say. “What a surprise.” 

Nobody misses the way Bobby scowls at that. Candi. Preston’s wife. Is she complicit in the fire safety equipment tampering, too? He technically doesn’t have a reason to not like her specifically, but she’s guilty by association in his brain. 

“Hi, Athena,” Candi says. “Hate to be a bother. I was just wondering if you had a lighter or matches? I was hoping to light some incense this morning but we’ve run out of matches. And, you know, the store isn’t open yet.”

Bobby scoffs. 

Michael looks at him curiously.

“I’ll explain later,’ Bobby says quietly. 

“Uh, well… I’m sure we have something somewhere,” Athena says. “Let me go take a look.” 

Bobby reaches into a drawer for their Aim ‘N Flame, ready to hand it to her as soon as she steps into the kitchen. 

“Thank you,” she says, taking it from him.

“Tell her not to use it in the kitchen,” Bobby grumbles. 

Athena sighs. She turns and walks out of the kitchen, delivering the lighter to Candi.

“What was that about?” Michael asks.

“Our neighbors are devoid of common sense and intend to burn their house down,” Bobby says.

“What?” Harry asks. “Another fire?”

“Then why would you give them the lighter?” David asks. “That’s a little complicit, don’t you think?”

Good point. Bobby should explain. 

[papagabu]

KIT’S CHARACTER BIO: METAL BREAKERS AU

NAME: Chris the Fennec, AKA Kit the Fennec

AGE: 21

SPECIES: Fennec Fox

HEIGHT: 3'1"

WEIGHT: 42 lbs

OCCUPATION:

Assistant scientist and engineer, as well as caretaker of Tails’ Chao Garden.

PHYSICAL STATUS: Chris has managed to avoid most direct conflict, which is rare among former wasteland drifters. As a result, he bears no significant injuries or scars. Despite his resilience, he is physically frail and lacks stamina, which likely explains his strong aversion to fighting and preference for working behind the scenes.

MENTAL STATUS:

Mentally, Chris is relatively stable. He presents himself as cheerful and upbeat, though he is often timid, especially around strangers. Beneath his friendly demeanor lies a deep-seated need for validation and a desire to feel useful, both emotionally and practically. This tendency often drives him to grow attached to troubled individuals, such as Tails, and compels him to support them even when it becomes emotionally difficult.

COMBAT EFFICIENCY:

Chris is not a combatant and is restricted from participating in field missions. He only ever leaves HQ when accompanying Tails on specific expeditions. While he has been trained to handle firearms in emergency situations, his true value lies in his technical expertise and calm support role at base.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Though not officially a couple, Chris shares a quasi-romantic relationship with Tails. Despite Tails' attempts to create emotional distance, the two share a deeply personal bond forged through years of collaboration and quiet understanding. Chris is also well-liked among senior members of the command due to his close ties with Tails, and has friendly relationships with Knuckles, Amy, Rouge, and Big. He is on especially good terms with Surge, the guard stationed outside Tails’ lab, and the two often talk during quiet hours. Chris has also formed a gentle friendship with Cream, who frequently visits the Chao Garden. Their casual run-ins eventually became regular conversations that blossomed into friendship.

BACKGROUND:

Chris the Fennec, AKA Kit, was born in a remote village on South Island. His early life was quiet and largely uneventful, shaped by long days under the sun, simple routines, and the comfort of his family. But during the brutal rise of the Metal Empire, that life was destroyed. The day the emperor’s forces descended, his village was reduced to ash, and his friends and neighbors were either killed or scattered. Chris was left alone with no knowledge of his family’s fate, forced to flee into what became the wastelands and survive on his own.

For years, Chris wandered from one scorched region to another, picking up work wherever he could. He fixed broken engines, scavenged scrap, and hauled freight for travelers and outposts who paid just enough to keep him fed. He avoided violence whenever possible and kept his head low, never staying in one place too long. Although he stayed clear of open conflict, the wasteland left its mark. Life on the road bruised and hardened him in ways he rarely shared. He had loved and lost more times than he could count, forming bonds only to watch them fracture under pressure or fade with distance. In the early years, he turned to alcohol to dull the ache of uncertainty, drinking just enough to keep the memories at bay, but he left that behind long ago. Even so, the memories lingered, people he trusted, people he cared for, all slipping away. Despite everything, he never gave up on the idea that there was somewhere or someone out there he belonged.

When whispers of the Metal Breakers reached his ears, Chris decided to go looking for them. He had no dreams of becoming a freedom fighter, though. He was tired, hungry, and looking for safety, not glory. He followed the rumors, seeking a better life than the wasteland provided, hoping for a roof, a meal, and a place to rest without needing to watch his back. What he found at one of their underground bases was more than he expected. The rebels welcomed him with warmth and work. Though he never trained as a soldier, he made himself useful. He swept floors, repaired tools and machines, and ran messages through narrow corridors, slowly becoming a familiar face among the rebels. The community gave him something he hadn’t felt in years: a sense of purpose.

One day, to Chris’s surprise, he was approached by General Knuckles himself, who gave him an offer. They were in need of a new assistant for their lead scientist, and Knuckles believed Chris would be a good fit. It was a role that came with a lot of responsibility, but also risk. The scientist in question was Dr. Miles “Tails” Prower, a man known not just for his brilliance but for his volatility. Despite never having met him, Chris had heard a lot about him; people told stories and rumors about him. From what he’d heard, he was supposedly a brilliant scientist but also cold and impatient, known to snap without warning. Chris was hesitant to accept; he'd almost turned down the offer. But despite himself, he found it difficult to deny Knuckles’ offer.

What he found on his first day of the job was more complicated than the rumors. He’d pictured Tails as some old mad scientist he’d have to put up with. But in reality he was a fox, no older than he was, but with the attitude of a grouchy old man. Constantly insulting and belittling Chris, telling him he didn’t need him there, that he was useless, weak, pathetic, naive, and stupid. At first Chris hated it; there were multiple points during his first couple of weeks working under Tails that he thought about quitting.

But he was stubborn, thinking maybe he’d eventually prove himself and Tails would warm up to his presence. Eventually, though, Chris noticed signs of something beneath Tails’ anger and judgment, something more vulnerable, like Tails was hiding a part of himself. The occasional faint sound of sobbing coming from Tails’ bed chambers didn’t go unnoticed, and Kit noticed the occasional gash or scar appear on the fox’s body.

Chris recognized the signs; beneath Tails’ sarcasm and emotional distance was someone who’d clearly been struggling with something for a long time. It took some time to learn what that struggle was, though. He’d asked Knuckles or Amy whenever he got the chance, having picked up on their bond with Tails. They were only willing to give bits and pieces, explaining how Tails wasn’t really that bad; he's just afraid of growing attached, that he’d lost someone very important to him. Chris decided to stay. He brought calm into the lab, listened without judgment, and did the work that needed doing without ever asking for recognition. He swept, organized, repaired, and adapted, becoming a constant presence in a space where few lasted long.

Over time he learned more and more about Tails, learned about his past with Sonic, and learned how Tails blamed himself for the state the world was in. That beneath that strong, stoic, and grouchy mask he wore, Tails was broken and was never given the chance to heal. Living in a world that reminded him of what happened every time he opened his eyes.

Their relationship grew slowly. At first, Tails called him “Kit” as a joke, a dismissive nickname meant to mock his soft nature and perceived naivety, likening the fennec to an infant. But over time, the edge dulled. The name remained, but it changed, became familiar, almost gentle, something worn in rather than thrown like a weapon. Chris understood what others rarely did. Tails didn’t push people away out of cruelty. He pushed them away to protect himself from another loss. And for once, someone stayed. Chris didn’t try to change him or fix what had broken. He offered quiet presence, steady hands, and a heart that never demanded anything in return.

He waits with patience, not desperation. He knows that healing takes time, especially for someone like Tails, and he doesn’t need to be the one who saves him. He only wants to be there when saving becomes possible.

[pagan-stitches]

Easter/Red Monday

Easter Monday is a folk holiday and not technically a part of Holy Week. This is the day which is famous for the nowadays somewhat controversial Easter “whippings” of young ladies. This custom can also be found in the history of other folk cultures, such as during Roman Lupercalia when the whippings were thought to give the women youth and fertility (the idea is similar in the Czech Easter whippings). It is also seen in the customs of Childermas/Holy Innocents Day in many European countries when children would be ceremonially whipped.

Here is an article discussing modern conceptions of the custom:

Easter/Red Monday Traditions in Zjnomo:

In Moravian villages, Easter Monday is the main day of spring caroling, ceremonial whipping with rods and gift-giving. Its popular name “red” is derived from the red egg, a traditional Easter gift. Originally, ceremonial whipping in local Czech villages eventually became a mere excuse to ask for gifts, mainly represented by eggs, dried fruit and pastries.

In the Moravian Krumlov region, on Easter Monday, little boys went for pomlázka in the morning, and big boys went for pomlázka in the afternoon. They whipped girls with a whip woven from eight willow rods so that “she wouldn’t get scabies”. Girls, sometimes even married women, bought themselves out of it with a colored egg. In later times, however, eggs were no longer painted, and if girls wanted to give boys something better, they bought a painted egg at the market. Little boys walked around the village with knots on their hands and sang carols:

“He ordered the hen and the hen to lay three eggs,

one white, two red,

but the hen lays another one behind the stove in the corner on a golden rod,

the hen turns to ashes,

the egg rolls, the hen clucks,

the egg cracks.”

However, the visits of single girls, to whom young men came who wanted their favor, were of a completely different nature. In return, the girls prepared a carol for them, usually an even number of colored eggs. The young couple preferred to avoid an odd number, because it was said that it could bring them misfortune.

In Horáček, young men received from their girls several painted eggs and a holy bun wrapped in an embroidered scarf. Sometimes marzipan hearts bought from a gingerbread man were also given in the knot, or more expensive gifts. Each young man who received the gift had to properly thank the girl with an honorary dance on the Parade Sunday, when the first after-night music fell. While the girls were visited alone and rather secretly, on Easter Monday a they also went publicly in a group around the building, which was misleading. On such a tour was the young men "beat less, but asked more". Eggs, both dyed and raw, were collected in a large potato basket. Everyone gave as much as they could, and a whole bunch of them were prepared for the young men, perhaps sixty. However, they still didn't have enough and they tried to get refreshments in every house, especially bread or other pastries.

After the round, the young men sold the selected eggs and drank the money away, or they organized an Easter party with music for them. Sometimes they fried the eggs and had dinner in a pub. In the Vranov region, the whipping was called a "koleda". During the whipping , the group only came to those houses where the young man had a chosen one or was looking for her there. If she gave him a carol, he would buy her "pouti", i.e. sweet little things, usually a gingerbread heart, which effectively sealed the new acquaintance.

Although Easter pomlázka has become a purely children's affair over time, older boys still go around individual villages in groups and with a large whip in their hand, for which they are often only treated to alcoholic drinks or a sandwich.

On Easter Sunday, or Monday morning, German children looked for gifts "from the bunny", i.e. colored eggs and small treats hidden in the garden, in the yard or in the barn. On this day, young children usually also received new clothes, and little boys, for example, their first pair of trousers. However, children also went to their neighbours and relatives, where they hunted for more eggs. Easter Sunday was called "red", in German "Rother-Ar-Eier Sonntag", after the red-coloured eggs. All afternoon, children went from house to house and, in addition to eggs, they also took away fruit, gingerbread, figurines and other pastries and money in a basket or scarf tied in a knot. They also received sugar or chocolate eggs modelled on the city from their godparents.

German bachelors ("Irtenburschen") went to collect eggs in the evening and on the night from Sunday to Monday. However, they only went to the houses where their chosen ones lived, who were waiting for them at the window. Girls had for their suitors red eggs prepared, sometimes with engraved love inscriptions. Later, soap eggs with a prescribed text were also bought.

The young men reciprocated the gift at feasts, when they bought them gingerbread hearts out of love. This custom was known in Jiříce and the surrounding area as "schmeckostern" and corresponded to pomlázka in the Czech-Moravian tradition. However, according to some information, it was little known in the Znojmo region. In addition to the carol singing, which took place in silence in front of the lovely girl's window, people also went on a joint tour of the village. During it, the shepherds first of all selected raw eggs, which they then ate together in the pub. However, they sometimes sold some of them and used the money to pay for Easter dancing.

The eggs were bought with a braid called "Karabatsch". However, ceremonial beatings occurred only in mixed villages and in contact areas, where the Germans visibly adopted this custom from their Czech neighbors. However, the Easter whipping of girls is also documented in some Lower Austrian villages, such as Drósing, Waltersdorf, Mistelbach or Asparn.

On Easter Monday, people also went to the fields, vineyards and wine cellars. In the fields, farmers would observe how the grain was growing and on this occasion they would stick consecrated pussy willows and egg shells into the ground. After touring their farms, people would gather at the cellars, taste wine, but also serve smoked meats, ham and pastries.

Source:

I’ve realized that I often include information about the customs in the German villages without explanation for those who unfamiliar with the German settlements in what became Czechia. During the time period in which Bohemia and Moravia were a part of the Austrian Hungarian Empire there were large numbers of German settlements into the borders of both Bohemia and Moravia. During WW II this would lead to Germany’s invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the war most of these Germans were forcibly expelled from the country and relocated into Germany.

As you can see on the map Zjnomo was a part of the area with German settlements.

[sephirthoughts]

The Ghost of Shinra Manor 👻

It's still spooky season till after Día de los Muertos so it's not technically late!

summary: It's been two years since the events of Dirge of Cerberus. Cloud visits his hometown, and investigates a rumor of a ghost, haunting Shinra Manor. If you're surprised by who it turns out to be, you are beyond my power to save, comrade.

tags: g-g-g-ghosts!!! sefikura, sephiroth x cloud, sane!sephiroth (sort of), post advent children, post dirge of cerberus, canon timeline, delusions, intermitten amnesia, low drama, enemies to…whatever the hell they have going on

NOTE: i was raised by outdoorsy, log cabin, roughing-it parents and there will be a lot of details about this type of living because that is what i like

warnings: references to death, PTSD, past abuse, etc. all of hojo's greatest hits, mention of animal death in the context of ethical subsistence hunting/fishing, canon-typical violence, technical nudity but i didn't describe anything so you'd have to imagine it yourself which is not on me, pervert

rating: teen and up [for now]

Part 1: Reunion

A big, black, Fenrir model motorcycle roared up the dirt road, leaving clouds of dust in its wake. Its golden-haired rider adjusted his goggles and pulled his black scarf up, over his nose and mouth. It was late spring, which was still mid-winter in the Nibel region, and as he drew nearer to the mountain, the wind grew colder and sharper, till it felt like it was full of tiny, icy needles.

He had a little hunting cabin, up there, that no one else knew about. They knew he went somewhere, it was just that he didn’t specify the location to anyone but Cid and Vincent, who had helped him fix the place up, and were sworn to secrecy.

Why didn’t he tell the others where it was? Why would he? He went there to be alone. To decompress, when the weight of people’s lives got too heavy to carry. When their voices began to cut into his skull like buzz-saws, and he felt the thread of his tolerance strained to the snapping point.

Even for a person with a normal brain and no life-altering trauma, things would have been claustrophobic, in their little house. Marlene and Denzel were underfoot every minute of the day, and their continued presence meant that when Cloud wasn’t out on long deliveries, he and Tifa had to share a bedroom. He couldn’t fall asleep, with another person in the room, though, so they didn’t use it at the same time. He was a night person, anyway. 

She tried to act like she wasn’t hurt by his refusal to share a bed with her, but she was a shit actress. He had attempted to make her feel better by explaining that he didn’t have those kinds of feelings for girls—or for anyone, really—but he could tell she didn’t really believe it. Or that she at least thought of it as something they could work on.

Everyone (except Vincent) thought that. That something was wrong with him, and that he’d get better, if they persevered in telling him so. The way he was didn't make sense to them, therefore it wasn't normal, therefore it was a problem that needed to be solved. Hooray for the neuro-typical majority.

No one ever asked Cloud what he thought. They just told him what he should think, and then made decisions for him. Most of the time, it was easier to just go along with it, especially since he didn’t want everyone to be mad at him. Them being mad at him meant they’d talk to him even more, and use louder voices. He hated that.

He should have insisted on getting his own place, a long time ago. He and Tifa had been playing house from necessity, at first, but there was nothing actually keeping them together, now, aside from habit. Habit and guilt.

Who knew when she started to think of it as a real family. As if she and Cloud were a mother and father, with a couple of kids. As absurd as that was. They were barely more than kids, themselves.

When Cid and Vincent got married, people got even more obnoxious with the hints and "jokes" about when him and Tifa were going to tie the knot. She’d act all embarrassed and explain that their relationship wasn’t like that, but she’d glance at him, with that look in her eyes, when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. 

He sighed, as he rounded a long curve in the road. He knew himself well enough to know that he’d probably wind up giving in and just marry her. Didn’t seem like a very happy ending, for either of them, but who got one of those, these days? 

It did seem like an especially shit deal for her, though. Marry the kid no one liked, from your backwater hometown, live in a shithole two-bedroom over a bar, slinging booze and taking care of two adopted kids, while your asexual husband spends most of his time away, for work. 

Asexuality was a spectrum, though, and Cloud was somewhere near the middle. It just wasn’t the heterosexual middle. He made an earnest effort, once, but he couldn’t get it up for a woman, no matter how hard he tried, and it just wound up being awful and making the girl cry.

Fucked a couple of guys back when he was a trooper, but that was rare. Not that there weren’t plenty of interested troopers and even SOLDIERs, it was just that he had never wanted any of them. What he had really wanted was Sephiroth. 

Cloud was nine years old, when he fell in love with the perfect face, that he saw on television and the recruiting posters, that were always plastered all over every vertical surface, in town. The obsession only grew stronger, as he grew older. 

He joined up as soon as they’d take him, at age fourteen. The training was miserable and grueling, but he gritted his teeth and worked his ass off, keeping his idol firmly in his sights. Whenever the opportunity came up, he applied to the SOLDIER program. For all his diligent efforts, he met with rejection after rejection.

Several years passed, that way, with disappointment weighing ever more heavily on his heart. But just when he was losing hope that he’d ever meet the object of his worship face to face, he was assigned to a mission with the silver soldier himself. Wouldn’t you know it, that mission was to check on the reactor, in his very own hometown. 

They say never to meet your heroes, but the implication is that you’ll be disappointed. Cloud was not disappointed. Sephiroth was everything he had ever imagined, and more. Ten times more beautiful, and a hundred times stronger and faster. His legendary height was one thing to know logically, and another thing entirely to experience in person. He was literally superhuman.

And yet, despite his angelic appearance and godlike strength, he wasn’t arrogant or demanding, at all. He was thoughtful and soft-spoken, and obviously cared for his subordinates. He asked their opinions, and actually listened. Encouraged them, rather than berating them. He even learned and called them by their first names. It was the most humanely Cloud had been treated by any superior, apart from Zack.

Following those two around, on that mission, Cloud fell more hopelessly in love with his silver-haired deity, than ever. He loved Sephiroth with his whole young soul. Right up to the moment he watched that famous blade pierce his mother’s heart. 

Cloud Strife died, that night, as surely as Claudia had, and whatever this thing was, that he had become, was born. This thing capable of killing gods and monsters. This thing that survived years in a mako tank, being tortured by that bastard Hojo. This thing that had absorbed Zack’s memories, and remembered everything but Zack. This thing that hated Sephiroth, with every fiber of its being. Hated him as much as Cloud had loved him.

The sun was low in the sky, behind a blanket of grey clouds, when he finally pulled up to the clearing, where his unassuming cabin was tucked away.

He swung his leg off the saddle, then he winced and clutched his chest. His heart had been aching more and more as he approached Nibelheim. Not in the metaphorical sense, because of the tragedies he’d been through there—it was actual, physical pain.

He wasn’t exactly sure when it started, though, bcause he was so used to pain, it just got shoved to the back of his mind. Which it did again, now. It wasn’t bad enough to incapacitate him, so he ignored it, and unbuckled the leather panniers, which he slung over his shoulder.  

The cabin was locked up tight, just like he left it, with all the traps and wards in place. Not surprising. No one came up this way, anymore, since the reactor shut down.

Fortunately, the cabin didn’t need the reactor, for power. He’d bought an old, Wutaian, nuclear generator, to heat the water and supply electricity, and hooked it up with Cid's help. Thing was expensive as hell, but it was quiet, reliable, and would last literally forever. 

He stepped inside and typed in a code on a wall panel. When the generator hummed to life, he switched the electric lights on, and took a look around. The place was a little dusty, since he hadn’t been there since last summer, but otherwise, everything was just how he left it. 

It was a simple, single-room cabin. Nothing fancy, except he and Cid had redone the insulation and added the electrical wiring. Water came from a dedicated well, deep enough to take advantage of the Nibel region’s unique geothermal situation, and not freeze.  

There was a bed in one corner, with a frame of roughhewn logs, and a cedar trunk at the foot, where the blankets and pillows were stored. The bathroom door and the kitchen were on the other side (just a stove, small refrigerator, a few cabinets, and a sink), and the fireplace was central. In the opposite corner to the bed, there was a steel camp table, with two folding chairs, as if he’d ever have a guest here.

He tossed his panniers on the bed and went right back out to carry in firewood. Supply was getting low. The cupboards were pretty barren, too, but he’d go into town tomorrow to stock up on canned and dry goods. Those were just a supplement to the main source of food, up here, which was hunting.

When he was a kid, hunting was a long and grueling ordeal, with uncertain payoff. Now, augmented by Sephiroth’s cells and whatever else Hojo did to him in that lab, it was as easy as a trip to the grocery store. He left and returned with a brace of rabbits, within half an hour. It was late spring, so they were already nice and fat, too. 

With the ruthless efficiency of a seasoned survival hunter, he skinned, cleaned, and washed them, and set them roasting on the iron spit, over his little hearth. He was out of anything resembling spices, but the meat was good enough roasted, with just a little salt. 

That night, as he lay in bed, that ache in his chest seemed to grow worse, and made him toss and turn restlessly. When he finally drifted off, he dreamed of being impaled on Masamune and lifted into the air. Sephiroth’s green cat-eyes, staring up at him, with that deranged smile on his beautiful face. Black feathers fell like snow all around him.

I will never be a memory…

In the morning, Cloud went into town. Despite the reactor being shut down, Nibelheim was more lively than ever. With no Shinra, there was no one to pay mortgages to, so the residents weren’t eager to leave the homes which now belonged to them, free and clear. Then the WRO came in and added infrastructure, opened a school and clinic, and paid subsidies to local shepherds and artisans and the like, so the little town was actually prospering. 

“Howdy, Mr. Strife!” the round-faced, balding man at the general goods store said cheerfully, when Cloud brought his purchases to the counter. “Been nigh on a year, since I seen ya. Stayin’ a while?”

“Little while,” Cloud answered noncommittally. “How are things, in town? Anything needs looking into, while I’m here?”

The man scratched his chin. “Nothin’ particular. Just the usual rumors, is all. Monsters in the woods. Creepy things goin’ on at the old manor. That kinda thing.”

“Let me guess. The vampire, again?”

“Nah, nah, ain’t heard nothin’ about that fella in a long time. These days, it’s a ghost.”

“Fiends, or something else?”

“Folks are sayin’ it’s the ghost of a woman, with long, white hair. Don’t do nothin’ but wander around inside the manor, wailin’ and moanin’. They say if you go over there, at night, you can hear her, but if she catches ya snoopin’ around, she sucks out your soul.”

Cloud snorted. “Sounds like the usual bullshit.”

“You ain’t kiddin’!” the man laughed. “Folks got too much time and not enough to do, these days, so they get to tellin’ tales. Y’never know what they’ll say, next. Maybe devils or goblins.”

“Well, if it keeps kids away from the manor, the ghost stories are probably for the better. It’s a dangerous place,” Cloud said, taking his full grocery bags. “I’ll be heading over there, tonight, to clear out any monsters that may have got in, over the winter. I’ll be sure to look out for the ghost.”

“Haha, you do that! Have a good one, Mr. Strife!”

Despite his reticence and flat indifference to overtures of friendship, Cloud was rather popular with Nibelheim’s current residents, because whenever he was in town, he’d deal with any local wildlife problems. Even if no one had anything pressing, he always checked Shinra Manor, since the ruins attracted a lot of monsters, and if they started establishing nests, they could pose a real threat to the townsfolk. 

He spent the rest of the day chopping and stacking firewood, fishing using a thundaga materia and a net (which was technically cheating, but he was fishing for food, not sport), and scouting around for signs of dens, near the town. When the sun got low, he strapped on his sword and began the short, two-mile hike to Shinra Manor.

When he emerged from the woods, on the bumpy, neglected dirt road, it was already dark. The hulking ruin of the house loomed like the desiccated corpse of some titanic beast, off in the darkness, behind the bent and rusted iron fence. Cloud kicked the creaking gates open and strode in.

The property was overgrown with brambles and sedge grass, and ugly, grey vines, with huge thorns covered much of the half-collapsed structure. The front doors had long fallen off the hinges, so the entrance was just a yawning, black hole, like the mouth of a tomb. 

Cloud faltered and clutched his chest, as he approached the house, but not for any fear of the supernatural. He’d killed too many supernatural creatures to care about even the biggest and vilest ones. Besides, he knew firsthand that the scariest thing in Shinra Manor had been a living human being, named Hojo. 

It was just that the pain in the area of his heart had gotten steadily worse, on the walk here, and now it was throbbing insistently, aching so badly it was getting hard to ignore it.

What the hell could it be? He’d chopped wood and done other physical labor all day, without noticing it. Why was it getting worse, now, after a relatively light walk? 

He was thinking about this, in mild annoyance, when he heard a noise inside the house. In the blink of an eye, his sword flashed out and he shifted into combat mode, all senses on alert. 

As he stepped inside, the stench of dry-rot hit him in the face, like a wool blanket. He paused and surveyed the area. It was pretty dark, in here, but he had excellent night-vision, so it was more like dim twilight, to him. 

The noise was coming from the upper level, somewhere. A rasping sound, like dry corn husks scraping the walls. Every once in a while, there was a burst of creepy cackling. His lip curled. He knew exactly what that was. 

The main stairwell had collapsed, so he leapt lightly up to the landing on the next level, and stalked down the hall. Around the corner, the doors to all the rooms (which were miraculously intact), were closed tight. The scraping sound was coming from…pretty much all of them. How did those things manage to get into the rooms and shut the doors behind them?

“Dumbshits,” he grumbled, and kicked the first door open. 

Sure enough, a bunch of floating fiends, with markings like stupid jack-o-lantern faces on their balloon-like air-sacs, were bobbing around the room cackling at each other. When the door exploded inward, they shrieked and rushed at Cloud. With a casual swing of his sword, he obliterated all of them at once. 

Their dying howls riled up the ones in the other rooms. Apparently they couldn’t figure out how to get out, though, so they just rasped and thudded around, cackling like idiots. Cloud kicked the next door down and blasted those ones, too. 

He repeated this process, for each room, making his way down the hall, till he reached the room with the secret passage, to the basement levels. There was no noise from this one. He tried the knob. It clicked easily, and the door swung open, with a hollow creak. 

No fiends in here, but the passage to the basement was open. He’d better go down there and clear out anything else, that might be lurking. Monsters loved dark, dank places like that.

Slapping his sword back onto the magnetic holder, he hopped down the black hole, and landed on a stone floor, three full stories below. 

The impact of his boots was still echoing in the stone-walled chamber, when he heard it. A low, eerie moan, that seemed to come from somewhere far off. At the same time, that pain split through his chest like a crack of thunder, making him grab his heart and gasp for breath. 

The moan stretched out into a wail, rising in pitch and wavering, before it dwindled again. The sound sent chills racing up his spine. Things like ghosts and monsters held no terror for him, but this was different. He wouldn’t even call it fear. It was more like…a rush of numinous awe.  

He threw a firaga burst, to light a couple of the torches on the wall, and surveyed the crypt. Vincent’s coffin was gone. The others had been tossed about and smashed to bits. Bones littered the floor.

Step by step, he descended deeper into the basement. Toward that old library. Toward that horrible place, where he was stuck with needles and probes, cut open and sewn back together, had his eyes blinded with chemicals and his lungs filled with burning mako, till his throat was too scorched and raw, to even beg for death.

His stomach churned and cold sweat was beading on his forehead, but he kept going, compelled by that ghastly moaning and the splitting pain in his chest.

He passed through the library, still scattered all over with heaps of old books, smelling heavily of their musty scent. The door was open, on the other side. The moaning had turned into a low whimpering, punctuated with choking sobs. It didn’t sound like a woman’s voice, though.

Drawing his sword again, and clenching his teeth against the agonizing ache in his heart, he stepped into the next chamber, all his hyper-tuned senses on high alert. There were collapsed pillars and scorch marks, and slashes made by huge claws in the stone walls, from their fight with Vincent, in his beast form. 

Along the far wall, were several heavy, steel doors, with locking bars on the outside. The one the noise was coming from was ajar. It wasn’t the lab he’d been confined in. It was on the opposite end of the long chamber—the one with those strange vats, labeled Project-S, which Vincent had taken umbrage to them entering, back then. 

Cloud pushed the door the rest of the way open and scanned the room. In the inky, underground darkness, even his night-vision was pushed to the limits, and he could only see very dimly, but it was enough to spot the source of the noise. 

It was a naked, ash-white, human figure, curled up in the corner of the room, trembling and whimpering. Its pallid body seemed insubstantial, almost transparent at the edges, like it was fading out of reality. That was probably just an illusion, brought on by the heavy darkness.

He used a materia to summon a little ball of light, and as the white glow filled the room, the figure gave a hoarse cry and curled up tighter.

Cloud squinted at it. This must be the ghost, people claimed was haunting the place, but why would they say it was a woman? Its back was to him and its head was down, wrapped up protectively in its arms, but he could see that it was a man, from the broadness and muscularity of the shoulders.

“N—no, please,” the ghost stammered, in a weak half-whisper. “Please, don’t hurt me. I’ll be good. I won’t…I won’t ask about her anymore, I promise. Please.”

“Hey. What’s wrong with you?” Cloud said. 

His own voice startled him, sounding solid and very loud, compared to the feeble murmurs of the ghost, which were muted and distorted, as if Cloud was hearing them through water.

“No, g—go away! Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” the thing wailed, as Cloud stepped closer. 

“Will you shut up and listen to me?” Cloud said, keeping the sword trained on the huddled figure. 

The ghost’s piteous pleas cut off abruptly, but it kept trembling and cowering. 

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” Cloud soothed. “Calm down, ok? What are you doing here? Did you get lost?”

Hesitantly, the figure lifted its head. 

Cloud’s heart stopped.

Time seemed to stop.

Long, silver hair hung over the ghastly-white face, and cascaded to the floor, pooling around its bare feet, like water. From between the moon-colored strands, pale-blue eyes peered up at him, with slit, catlike pupils. 

“Who…who are you?”

next chap

ao3

[ninjaneonleon]

The Speakeasy Under the Arena

More Propaganda! Except this time, it's about a possible location that I think would be cool. A Speakeasy under the arena, where anyone from any universe can visit, even if they're not in the contest. After all, inter dimensional friendships can exist, right?

@tmntaucompetition What do you think?

Yuichi was a little in awe of everything happening. He surely could not have predicted that their relaxing family vacation to Japan would end up with the majority of their group kidnapped and warped to some dimension between dimensions where dozens upon dozens of copies of his family would be competing in some sort of contest. Sure, he was prepared for a lot. This was a little beyond his region of expertise. Another thing that Yuichi could not have predicted was the fact that the four turtles were so at ease here. Until they had arrived, none of them had mentioned anything about other versions of them besides the ones that CJ could summon. Now they were chatting happily with the counterparts without a care in the world. Yuichi had stayed close to Leo the whole time. He had seen a few other white rabbits scattered around, but not too many. At least some of his counterparts had found the Hamatos. He hoped they were happy together.

“C’mon, guys, Gemini said it was down this way.” After regrouping with the others after an initial exploration, Leo had insisted they investigate some secret ‘speakeasy’ below the arena. Yuichi wasn’t exactly sure what a speakeasy was but Mikey had lit up excitedly so clearly it was something good.

“And why are we taking pointers from that witch jerk who beat us last time?” Donnie asked with a sneer. “As I recall it, they barely stuck around to say anything when you greeted them earlier.”

“That was before I actually talked to them,” Leo waved him off. “We bonded over our Mamas. I think they actually like me now.” That got Donnie to shut his mouth. He looked like he sucked a lemon. Yuichi couldn’t blame him, he didn’t like bringing up Big Mama either.

“Well, Raph is curious how they found out about it in the first place,” the oldest turtle said with a small snort. “You said it was only for people who didn’t make it into the contest, right?”

“Yeah, but who’s gonna stop us?” Leo asked with a grin. “It’s a speakeasy, that means it’s not even technically supposed to be here. It’s illegal. That’s the point.” Yuichi was getting more doubtful that this was a good idea. If it was illegal, maybe they shouldn’t be indulging themselves? But then, none of the others seemed worried, not even Raph. Surely it wouldn’t be too bad.

The path they were following opened up into a dimly lit room. Well, it was more like a few rooms, with lights along the walls and a sort of haze over everything, as well as the smell of alcohol floating through the air. Over to one side of the main room, Yuichi spotted the Gemini twins, the Leo and Donnie that had been raised by Big Mama that Leo had befriended before. They seemed to be drinking something colourful out of interesting looking glasses. There were a few others scattered around but no one the others seemed to outright recognise.

That was when Yuichi understood: a speakeasy was some sort of illegal bar. Huh. That was an interesting thing to learn today.

“Are we even legal to drink here?” He asked Leo, his voice barely a whisper.

“Who knows?” Leo said with a grin and a shrug. Then his eyes lit up as he looked over towards the bar. “Let’s find out.” He grabbed Yuichi’s hand and tugged him over. With all the confidence of the faceman of the team, Leo knocked on the wooden counter. “What’s good, barkeep?” He asked with a smirk.

The bartender turned around, then froze.

Yuichi froze too.

That was a big white rabbit.

The white rabbit in question blinked before focusing on Leo properly. “Now is that a Leon I recognise or am I going crazy here?” He teased.

“You tell me, Cheech.” Leo crossed his arms on the bar and smirked up at the tall rabbit.

“It is you!” The big rabbit, Cheech, leaned over and hugged Leo over the bar. “Oh it’s so good to see you again, kid! How have you been? You’re looking good.”

“I’m good, Cheech. Uh, this is Yuichi. My Yuichi, I mean.” Leo pulled back from the hug and gently pulled Yuichi forwards. “He ended up here too this time.”

Yuichi couldn’t help but bow a little. This older, very tall version of himself commanded respect in a way Yuichi didn’t know anyone like him could. “It’s nice to meet you, uh, sir.”

“Well, firstly you don’t have to be so formal with me, kid. Just stick with Cheech, like your Leo does,” Cheech rubbed the back of Yuichi’s head fondly. “It’s nice to meet you. Leon wouldn’t stop gushing about you last time I saw him, so it’s good to finally get to meet you.”

“Cheech,” Leo whined, rubbing his cheeks. Then he glanced over with a small huff. “Oh Pizza Supreme, does he really think that would work?” Yuichi followed Leo’s gaze. There was an older Leo who looked very similar to how CJ’s Sensei looked except he had a big, fake moustache on and was very pointedly not looking over at them. “I’m gonna go say hi. I wanna know if his… ‘nightmares’ are getting better.” The way Leo said nightmares made Yuichi tense up. That was not a normal way to say that word. Leo knew something and it wasn’t good.

Before Yuichi could properly process what that meant, Leo had slipped away, leaving a kiss on his cheek and a very awkward bunny with a very cool looking older rabbit.

Well… this was awkward. How did Leo make it seem so easy to talk to his counterparts?

“You can relax, kid, I don’t bite.” Cheech assured him with a chuckle. “Just grab a seat, what can I get for you?”

“Uh, I know this is a bar but do you have some tea?”

Cheech chuckled again. “One green tea coming up. Don’t worry, it’s on the house,” He said with a wink.

Okay, Yuichi could totally do this. Talking to someone who was so much cooler than he was would be easy, he could survive without Leo for a few minutes.

Or so he thought. A heavy shape dragged itself over to the bar with a grunt and it sat on the stool a space away from Yuichi.

“Pass me another strong one, won’t you?” This Leo was older than Yuichi’s Leo, but not as old as Cheech’s Leo. If Yuichi had to guess, he’d say this Leo was in his mid twenties, maybe his early thirties.

“No way, you’ve had enough,” Cheech shot back. “You can have some tea along with my counterpart here. And I swear, if you bring any more trouble to my bar–”

“Fine, I get it.” The grumpy, drunk Leo huffed and flopped over the bar. He turned a grumpy eye up at Yuichi. “You’re a bit young to be here, aren’t you?”

“You’re a bit young to be so washed up and grumpy,” Yuichi said before his brain really caught up to his mouth. Oh, spirits, he shouldn’t have said that. Except maybe he should have because the grumpy Leo started laughing.

“You’ve got balls, I’ll give you that, kid.” He sat up and offered his hand. “Everyone around here’s calling me Cleo. Dunno why, but it’s good to meet you.”

Yuichi took Cleo’s hand and shook it. “Yuichi. But I don’t seem to be the only one around here.”

“What does your Leo call you?”

“Chi.”

“Then we’ll stick with that if that’s alright.” Cleo flopped back down on the bar and huffed when a cup of green tea was placed on the counter by his face.

“Here you go, boys. Two green teas. Enjoy.” Cheech shot Yuichi a smile before heading down the bar to what looked like a version of Donnie in a tutu. Huh. Not the weirdest sight Yuichi had seen so far.

“Do you have anything shiny on you?” Cleo asked very suddenly. He sat up slowly and glanced around.

“Uh, why?” Yuichi asked, looking around as well. He had a spare keyring on him that was pretty shiny, but why did it matter?

“Because there is a gremlin Leo who is collecting.” Cleo nodded towards a shadowy corner of the room where there seemed to be a nest of sorts with a blanket thrown over it. From under the blanket, Yuichi spotted two hazy but curious eyes. Was that really a Leo? Well, if it was, Yuichi could help. Maybe. He wanted to help.

Slowly, Yuichi climbed out of his seat and scooted closer to the makeshift den. He heard a scared chittering from inside so he stopped nearby and waited.

The so-called gremlin Leo crawled out of the den a moment later. He moved like an animal and was covered in scars. The blue scarf around his neck did little to hide the massive scar there, nor did it cover the numerous cracks in his shell.

The Gremlin Leo clicked and chirped at Yuichi curiously, flinching back a little when Yuichi raised his hand but then slowly approaching when he didn’t move again. Eventually, he leaned up and nuzzled into Yuichi’s touch, churring happily.

Yuichi’s heart broke. What had happened to this Leo to leave him so broken? He had clearly suffered a lot… but he was still recognisably Leo. Still curious and kind. It seemed like not every universe had been good to Leo as Yuichi had hoped.

Cleo had mentioned that Gremlin Leo liked shiny things. After giving him a good stroke and a bit of a cuddle, Yuichi pulled out his spare, sparkly keychain. Instantly, Gremlin Leo’s eyes dilated and he snatched the keyring out of Yuichi’s hand. He paused, nuzzled into Yuichi’s hand again, then scampered back into his den with a happy churr.

“It’s not good for you to dwell on those ones.” That was Yuichi’s Leo. He sounded pained but understanding. “They only hurt while they’re like this. They do usually get better though.”

Yuichi stood and turned, clinging to his Leo. He’d never let him become like that other Leo, he’d protect Leo with everything he had. So long as Yuichi was breathing, Leo would never suffer like that Leo had.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Leo murmured, holding Yuichi closer. “That’s not me. I’m alright and I’m safe,” He promised.

“That will never be you,” Yuichi said, trying to fight back his tears. “I won’t let it be you.”

“Then I know I’m safe,” Leo said with a soft chuckle. “C’mon, why don’t you introduce me to Mr. Tall, grumpy and drunk who is trying to convince Cheech to spike his tea? He seems like he could use a smile and I know just the rabbit to help him out.”

Like a soothing balm over the sting of what Yuichi had just seen, Leo helped calm the pain of seeing that other. Leo had brought. Leo was okay. Yuichi was okay. They were here to have fun and make friends.

“Sure. Cleo’s not so bad.” Yuichi took Leo’s hand and tugged him over to the bar. He could do this. Yuichi could totally function and socialise and be a member of his team. He had Leo to help him out. Even if this was weird, Yuichi was sure he could manage it. Besides, how hard could it be to deal with a few extra Leos?

—-------------

Gemini Twins and Swanatello belong to @tangledinink

Cheech and Leonardo (with his fake moustache) belongs to @kinky-asexual

Cleo belongs to @reagi-df

Gremlin Leo belongs to @riseleon

The rest belong to me and @geniusbuilttm

[marigoldbaker]

General 1 and story 8 for everyone!

OH FUN!!!

1. Where can your Tav be recruited?  Are they first encountered on the Nautiloid, or in the Nautiloid crash region?  Or are they not recruitable until a later act?

we're going to go with tadpoled marigold for this, for simplicity's sake, which means that mari is in the nautiloid crash region! i think my beloved girl went a-wandering and with her amazing conflict resolution skills her recruitment event is you watching her enchant those bandits by withers's temple. they're getting hostile and trying to defend their score, mari (wizard) starts twirling her hair and going "oh i'm so sorry, i didn't mean to offend! listen, i'm really just hopelessly lost and i could do with some directions and protection, i'd make you a lovely cake in return!" and then when the bandits start gearing up to rob her she fucking wastes them in front of you & turns around with blood on her skirt like hey guys what's up :D and you can recruit her. astarion approves if you do this but all of their banter after a certain point becomes him going I Literally Fucking Hate You So Much. Gods.

evie (ranger) shows up as part of mari's personal quest, which is directly evie-centric <3 it gets weird and probably violent. evie basically begs you to recruit her as a party member and if you don't do it she will just become a camp follower anyway. you have to dismiss marigold to get her to leave your camp, and at any time while she's there you can recruit her.

thea (cleric of haela brightaxe) is recruitable in the last light inn. she showed up to confer w jaheira bc she's very stressed about her missing daughter, which means that jaheira basically shoves her at you like "hey can you take my situationship out for a walk so she stops semi hysterically propositioning me in war meetings." and if you agree: you have thea :)

TECHNICALLY ros and norie woulda come with thea, but we're spacing this out bc this is now working within bg3 party member game logic, so they're both recruitable in act 3 when you visit the tasty pastry! they're kind of redundant atp i think bc you don't REALLY need another fighter or another cleric but if you take one you have to take both.

8. Do they have comments on who the Player Character chooses to spend the night with? 

marigold makes like 200 really really really bitchy and passive aggressive comments if you flirted with her at all but chose someone else OR if anyone starts romancing gale and does not ever really get over doing that for the entirety of the game to the point where a few of the gale specific banters triggered by the PC romancing him are just him going "hey marigold can you please let it go." she does not. toxic hater girl.

evie, who actually probably propositions the PC at some point, will mostly just be congratulatory (a very "hey nice look at you getting some!") but asks a little apprehensively if you're sure about astarion. seems like maybe he needs a friend, not a lover. i also think if you're romancing wyll she asks you if you're sure he's safe. sometimes those hero-types aren't as nice as they seem when the doors are closed and no one is looking.

thea is just like for FUCK'S SAKE do you not have PRIORITIES??? we have BIGGER FISH TO FRY. which becomes super funny and stupid later because i do think there's a cutscene that's the PC walking in on her and jaheira having one of those swoony and very stupid romance novel arguments like the world isn't literally ending guys cmon

roslin wants details. independently of who it is. details. share. now. gossip.

norie doesn't care and doesn't comment. you can mention it to her if you want her take and she will immediately be like do not talk to me about this. actually do not even talk to me. What is your fucking problem. THOUGH. she's gender locked (women only) and if you flirted with her or romanced her a little before settling on someone else she gets this little kicked puppy attitude like i kinda thought we had something what happened :(

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Trump’s Assault on Foreign Aid Threatens Brazil’s Efforts to Fight Deforestation and Poverty

As a younger man, Osmarino de Souza used to cut down native trees and sell the wood to support his family. Now age 60, he helps a community called Rodrigues Alves, a small Amazon town of just 15,000 in the far north of Brazil, raise money by harvesting local fruits such as cocoa and açaí.

To earn enough income without clearing native forest, Osmarino has the help of the SOS Amazônia Association, one of the hundreds of nongovernmental organizations (ONGs, in Portuguese) that work in the region with resources from Fundo Amazônia, a state fund that supports forest conservation projects, monitors deforestation, and promotes economic projects in Indigenous communities. The fund’s resources are raised through donations from countries such as Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, and the United States.

Experts say the fund has helped contribute to Brazil’s recent success fighting deforestation, which fell by 30.6% in the Brazilian Legal Amazon region last year.

The U.S. State Department donated an initial $50 million to the fund between last August and October. Last November U.S. President Joe Biden visited Brazil and announced a planned investment of another $50 million, pending congressional approval. Experts at the time said this support could inspire additional large donations from the government and U.S. companies.

Now, however, residents and ONGs such as the one that helps Osmarino are worried that new U.S. President Donald Trump could put the brakes on donations to the fund.

This, in turn, could cause the fight against deforestation and poverty in the Amazon to lose traction.

Their fears are well founded: On Jan. 24 incoming Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered a 90-day freeze on nearly all foreign assistance worldwide. In recent days Trump and ally Elon Musk have also announced their intent to shutter USAID, the independent State Department agency that administers civilian aid. That leaves many in the Brazilian community wondering what will happen next.

“We know that during Trump’s last term, the climate issue received zero attention and commitment from the U.S.,” says Álisson Maranho, technical director of SOS Amazônia. “So we feel quite insecure about climate policies and these climate agreements at a global level.”

Continue reading.

[vacantgodling]

9 - How big is their role in the story? Do they make a frequent appearance or are they a character with little "screentime" but big influence? Or are they just a favourite background guy?What is their main character arc in the story? 10 - Where do they start and how do they develop? Do they get a happy ending or is their story a tragic one? 11 - Is there any existing character from other media that your character resembles? Was the resemblance intentional or was it a coincidence?

for whoever you like :3

~ @void-botanist

uhhhh i guess i can do this for sister elizanor and king january since u mentioned wanting to hear more about them in that other post tm lol

9 - How big is their role in the story? Do they make a frequent appearance or are they a character with little "screentime" but big influence? Or are they just a favourite background guy?What is their main character arc in the story? & 10 - Where do they start and how do they develop? Do they get a happy ending or is their story a tragic one?

both of them are eventual lovers of ricaud. he doesn't really have a tiered or heirarchical lover system or not, he just has lovers he sees more often + lovers he has a strong emotional connection with + lovers he has a strong sexual connection with.... pretty much. that's like the easiest way to explain it. though there's elements of all of the above with all of his lovers its like the relationships vary from person to person tm.

in terms of their arcs and stuff tho: elizanor is a nun of the main religion of the concordia region where ricaud reigns. its actually quite well known that among being sexually promiscuous, ricuad is also a "pagan" because he worships a fertility deity (technically he has a contract with that deity its kinda complicated LMAO) but he's super open to people doing whatever they want with their faiths and he doesn't have any qualms in participating in important religious ceremonies in the Main Religion tm. ricaud and elizanor end up meeting when he visits the nunnery for some event or another, and they slowly (SLOWLY) end up getting to know each other. she's kind of a sound of music bad at being a nun except for instead of being free spirited she's unbearably horny and has a hard time with her desires. as she and ricaud get closer, they eventually fuck (because of course they do) and through that it ends up helping her open herself up to being a sexual being--to the point that she actually becomes a priestess of the deity that ricaud actually follows tm. so for her its about loving ricaud but also finding sexual liberation and learning to enjoy herself and her body.

king january is eventually crowned the king of the kingdom of nectaria after the tower haunt situation is resolved (bc yeah that wip happens in the same universe/world as this wip tm). he's the eldest of the 12 siblings of nectaria and is actually the same age as ricaud. unlike other rulers and stuff, ricaud and january don't know each other from childhood bc of ricaud's whack ass father, and eventually wanting to open up trade between their kingdoms leads to january and ricaud to meeting. both of them are eligible bachelors with "unorthodox" views of love and relationships (to be straightforward, ricaud is a pansexual polyamorous octopus-relationship having guy while january is an aromantic "aloof" playboy kind) that both of their councils get pissed at. surprisingly, january is the one to propose the idea to ricaud after a few times of them meeting (and fucking PFFF) that perhaps they should simply get married on paper this way Technically their kingdoms can't say shit: both of them would be strengthening kingdom ties by wedding, and the prospect of heirs can be determined later. after thinking it over and talking with his lovers and whatnot, ricaud eventually agrees and the two of them get married and january gets inducted into ricaud's harem/polycule lmao. them getting married actually gives ricaud more reason to not only formally establish his relationships with his lovers in front of the public (bc they existed generally speaking but he didn't like bring it up in front of his council and shit) and ends imo with a lot of them formally moving to the palace and/or just general strengthening of their roles in the relationship and stuff. this is also partly due to january he's waaaaay more organized than ricaud is so the limbo ricaud has sometimes he's like "um. please address" lmao. i don't know the exact timeline of everything bc this wip is SOLELY constructed on vibes but yeah i think its funny for them to be a king4king dom4dom type relationship (though i will say that jan tends to top more often bc ricaud is way more flexible than he is in more ways than one winky face)

this entire wip is full of happy "endings" tho everyone is happy and there is no sad. drama perhaps but no lingering sad :)

11 - Is there any existing character from other media that your character resembles? Was the resemblance intentional or was it a coincidence?

honestly it might be bc im tired but i can't really think of any characters these two particularly resemble LMAO

[ifbench]

Pokemon Black Retrospective, from the perspective of someone who became bored with it on their first playthrough

To preface this, this is technically not my first time playing Pokemon Black? I did play it once before, back in mid 2020, before I started PMD Rescue Team DX. I quickly got very bored with it, though, and stopped playing before I made it to Striaton City.

If you'd like to read my other mainline Pokemon retrospectives, you can read Emerald here, X here, and Firered here.

Pokemon Black was a strange one for me.

Like I mentioned in the preface, I didn't like it much on my first playthrough. I grew bored of it before I even reached the first gym.

And yet, in the years from then until now, I kept hearing about how it was apparently the greatest that mainline Pokemon had ever been. How it was the pinnacle of the franchise.

I didn't think much of it, until I started my mainline Pokemon marathon, and realized that I would have to give Pokemon Black another go.

I completed Emerald, then X, then Firered, having differing opinions on each. And for the most part, I was having fun! So, maybe if I tried Black again, I'd have fun with it too?

I decided that it was finally time, and I started a new game of Pokemon Black.

Like with my first playthrough, I chose Oshawott as my starter, having gotten much more attached to the species since then, thanks to my PMD OC Gen.

I named my Oshawott Arbaquo, after a neglected Oshawott-Shaymin hybrid OC of mine.

And so, I began my journey through the Unova region, hoping to see it through to the end this time.

The journey up to Striaton wasn't much to write about, but Accumula Town was cute, especially with the musicians adding instruments to the background music. The first battle with N was also neat, but I'll get to him later.

But once I made it to Striaton, I had surpassed my 2020 self, making it farther than I ever had. And I was immediately curbstomped by Cheren three times in a row.

It wasn't until I was told that I could visit the Dreamyard before fighting the Striaton gym did I manage to level up Arbaquo a bit, acquired my second Pokemon, Minro the Pansear, and was able to defeat Cheren.

Then was the Striaton gym, but with Minro by my side, obtaining the Trio Badge from Cilan was mostly easy.

Then was the encounter with Team Plasma in the Dreamyard. I had heard talk of this moment several times, but it was still a shock to see it.

It makes sense, though. Despite the name of the game, this isn't a black and white story. As my friend Icy said, this moment shows the unscrupulous lengths people go to when they are truly dedicated to a cause.

After that, dream mist secured, I returned to Striaton City, and unlocked a feature that would probably have been really cool if it was still available. Unfortunately, it is no longer available, and so I can only imagine what it would have been like.

I then made my way along Route 3, where I had another encounter with Team Plasma, though not much else happened aside from me catching a Pidove as my third team member. I named him Poliner.

Nacrene City was interesting! I found it neat how the whole town was comprised of refurbished warehouse, and there was a second battle with N!

Before this playthrough, my only knowledge of N was fandom osmosis, RP blogs, and a few fanfics, particularly kintsugi's fics. At one point, I considered having him be the human world's Voice of Life, though I decided to give that role to a different character.

It was a completely different experience meeting him through the game as intended, though. I liked him a lot, with how much he said he liked math and said he wanted to be my friend!

After that battle, I tried to battle Lenora, and failed miserably. I tried again, and failed miserably again. It took several tries, but eventually I was able to defeat her.

I had no idea that Team Plasma would try to steal from the museum, nor that they thought that the Dragonite skull was part of the legendary dragon. It's kinda silly in retrospect, but this was something completely new to me. I was intrigued.

Plus, Burgh was here! I didn't think I'd encounter him until Castelia City, but here he was!

Pinwheel Forest was when I decided to activate the infinite rare candy cheat so that I wouldn't have to grind. It was a nice leisurely stroll, aside from the Plasma grunts, but I didn't want to get stuck having to grind later.

Soon, the stolen Dragonite skull was retrieved, and I could continue on to Castelia City.

Between Pinwheel Forest and Castelia City, though, was Skyarrow Bridge. It was really cool seeing the bridge in its full glory, the camera panning around and all sorts of cool perspective shots!

Castelia City continued with the cool perspective shots, with the city being like a mini-Lumiose, complete with side areas and back alleys. It was a lot to take in, but it was cool!

Not so cool was the fact that the EXP Share was still a held item that only worked on a single Pokemon. That battle house was neat, at least.

Burgh's gym was...something, to say the least, but he was an easier foe than Lenora, and I acquired my third badge.

After another encounter with Team Plasma, I made my way to the desert of Route 4, and was accosted by a sandstorm.

Like with Hoenn's desert, the weather chipped away at my Pokemon's health with every battle, making the route a test in how many battles I could avoid.

Eventually, though, I made it through, emerging into Nimbasa City.

It had just as many things to do as Castelia, despite being a bit smaller.

But before any of that (at least I think, this might have happened after the gym, I can't entirely remember), there was the fabled Ferris Wheel scene with N.

While it didn't quite live up to all the hype, it was still really cool! It was a fun way of explaining a bit more about N.

After that battle, I got to explore Nimbasa proper.

Honestly, I don't get the purpose of the Small Court and Big Stadium? As far as I could tell, they both just had one trainer battle each and that was it.

The Musical Theater was fun, though! I had fun dressing up Arbaquo for a musical, and the music was nice! It felt sorta like the contests from Emerald.

Then was the Nimbasa Gym, a rollercoaster of a time. Literally.

The trainers were actually harder than Elesa herself, but she was still a challenge, since half my team was weak to her. But Minro had recently learned a new fire-type move, and put it to great use here.

Seriously, why do people dislike the elemental monkeys?

Anyways, after the gym, I set out onto Route 5, where I encountered Alder, the champion.

Like in X, the champion here is more than just a final challenge, but a friend you meet along the way. I find that neat, and Alder's theme music is great.

After making it across Driftveil Drawbridge, I made it into Driftveil City, home of Charles the Heartbreaker.

The rotation battle with him was really fun! It was an interesting and intriguing new way of battle!

But before I could get too comfortable in the city, I had a job to do: Investigate the Cold Storage, and find one of the sages of Team Plasma.

It was a neat ice sliding puzzle area! And I caught a Minccino while I was at it! I named her Minrir.

After finding Zinzolin, it was time to take on the Driftveil City gym! It wasn't too challenging, but Clay was still a fun foe!

Next was the quaint Route 6, where I caught another team member, Daria the Deerling.

Chargestone Cave was really cool! I really enjoyed the puzzles with the floating magnetic rocks, and I caught a Drilbur here, who I named Rilia!

The Team Plasma encounter here was cool, too! It was neat being surrounded by the Shadow Triad to be taken to N, and seeing N clash with Professor Juniper.

But soon, I emerged into Mistralton City, and not a moment too soon, for I had a breakthrough:

I had figured out how to usee my Action Replay to activate mystery gifts, and let me do the Victini event.

Upon activating the code, I received the Liberty Pass from the mystery gift deliverer, and promptly flew back to Castelia City, to see what this event was all about.

It wasn't much, probably because I was way over the level for it, but it was still fun battling the Plasma grunts, learning about Victini, and then battling and catching Victini!

After that little side tangent, I flew back to Mistralton. But before I could challenge the gym, I had to trek up Celestial Tower.

Celestial Tower felt a lot like the Pokemon Tower in Lavender Town back in Kanto. It was eerie, spooky, and had possessed trainers too! It was a very fun experience, and I enjoyed the climb.

After meeting with Skyla at the peak of the tower, it was time to go back to Mistralton and challenge her gym.

I thought the stuff I had heard about the cannons in her gym were exaggerated.

They were not exaggerated.

Not only were you shot out of cannons in order to traverse the gym, one of the final cannons shot you face-first into a steel wall. Youch.

But aside from that, Skyla was pretty easy, and I got my sixth badge.

After traveling across the other part of Route 7, and through the Twist Mountain mines, I arrived at the moist Icirrus City.

Gotta say, I was not expecting to be able to encounter wild Pokemon within a city, but I found it neat!

Also neat, if tremendously silly, was the quiz house. I laughed a lot at the question I got, being "What do you call your father's brother", and the hint being "it's not big brother".

But then it was time to face the Icirrus gym.

It was like a souped-up version of Cold Storage, with rotating mechanisms that change your sliding trajectory. It was a really fun puzzle!

But thanks to Minro, Brycen wasn't very tough. And I got my seventh badge.

As we exited the gym, though, who to greet us but Team Plasma? Seeing the Shadow Triad surround us was certainly a surprise, especially with them telling us to go to Dragonspiral Tower.

And so, to Dragonspiral Tower I went.

Dragonspiral Tower reminded me of Sky Pillar from Emerald, with it being more and more crumbled and unstable as you went up. It had a lot of fun navigational challenges as I made my way up to the top!

But I was too late. N had already awakened Zekrom, and now my only hope lay with awakening the legendary dragon of truth, Reshiram.

I really appreciate how, unlike Emerald and Firered, Black tells you where to go. You're not left wandering for hours trying to find the Team Magma base, only for it to be hidden behind a random rock on the other side of the region. Nor are you left to flounder after finding all your available routes blocked by Snorlaxes, only to find out that you had to backtrack to a prior city with no indication.

No, instead, Black directly tells you to head to the Desert Resort.

Speaking of which, the Desert Resort was neat! It was unique among most other decrepit structures I've seen in other mainline Pokemon games, in that you're not going up, but down. Down, down, as far as you can go, to the deepest part of this buried castle. It was really cool!

Alas, this is not where Reshiram was. They were actually right before my eyes all the way back in Nacrene City. Reshiram was the unassuming little stone in the top left part of the museum.

And so, I acquired the stone form of Reshiram, but they were still sealed, with me having no idea how to free them.

I flew back to Icirrus City, and continued onwards, making my way towards Opelucid City. But before I could get there, I had to travel across Tubeline Bridge first.

Let me tell you. It was an experience seeing a figure at the far end of the bridge, thinking, "hey, they look familiar", and as soon as I realize it's Ghetsis, I get surrounded by the Shadow Triad.

And then he tells you his whole secret evil plan. Which, I feel was kinda weird, but alright.

Route 9 was short enough that the shock was still there when I arrived at Opelucid City.

Opelucid City was reallty cool! I loved the look of it all, and the music was great! It even had the first rotation battles I've seen since Heartbreaker Charles!

And after a conversation with Iris and Drayden, it was time to take on my final gym of this game.

The Opelucid Gym was massive, with a really interesting puzzle. It felt almost overwhelming with how big it was, but soon, I made it to the end, to battle Drayden.

It was a fun fight, and his Druddigon gave me quite a bit of trouble. But I won, and got my final badge.

All that was left was to head through Route 10, and take on the Pokemon League...or so the game probably wanted me to think.

Route 10 had some really nice music, and the final rival battles against Cheren and Bianca. I haven't talked about them nearly enough here, so I'll do that now.

Cheren was my first roadblock, the one who curbstomped me three times in a row all the way back in Striaton. It was really neat seeing his character development, seeing him figure out what he wants to do with his life.

Bianca is a similar story. She never curbstomped me, but she had her own character development, that maybe she had a different calling in life than what she once thought. And from what I've heard of B2W2, I think she achieved that calling.

All in all, they're great rivals, and those final battles with them reminded me of the final battles with the Kalos friends, on the last route before its Victory Road.

Fitting, as I was just about to reach Unova's Victory Road.

The badge check gates here were amazing. They were like Kanto's, but with the flavor of Kalos, and dialed up to 11.

Each badge had its own themed area, with the Trio badge having an outdoor dining area, the Legend badge having two dragon statues, and so on. And with each gate i passed through, more instruments were added to the music, until it all came together, forming the music for Unova's Victory Road.

Hoenn's Victory Road was a test of navigation. Kalos' was a test of strength. Kanto's was a test of wit. What, then, would Unova's Victory Road test?

A combination of all three.

I had to use spatial reasoning to figure out what caves went where, and which slopes to slide down. I had to use my sense of direction to make it through the caves, and know when I'm going the wrong way. And I had to use my strength to defeat some of the toughest trainers yet.

It was fantastic, probably my favorite Victory Road yet.

And finally, I had made it to the Pokemon League.

Apparently I was wrong in my X retrospective. Kalos wasn't the first region to let you challenge the Elite Four in any order you wish. Unova lets you do that too.

I unfortunately don't remember much of my matches agaisnt Unova's Elite Four, but they were each very tricky. I had to use a lot of strategy to get past them each. And I remember that the order I fought them in was Shauntal, Grimsley, Marshal, and Caitlin. And some of them had mentioned another challenger, one that came before me.

I defeated them all, though, and was ready to face Champion Alder.

But I never got the chance to, as N had already beaten him first.

It was like a twisted version of the final hour of Firered. Your rival had become champion moments before you.

Only with N, he wasn't planning on a simple battle for the title of champion.

No, as the castle of Team Plasma rose up from the ground, I knew that this would be a battle to decide the fate of the Unova region.

But I had to reach N first, and travel through the castle to get to him.

Black is, as far as I'm aware, the first mainline Pokemon game to do the unthinkable: have the plot take precedence over the journey to become champion. Rather than the game's plot ending at the 7th or 8th gym, like with Emerald, X, and Firered, the ending of the plot is the ending of the game.

It's a lot like Violet in that regard, but I'll talk about that once I write my retrospective on Violet.

Team Plasma's Castle was an experience I won't soon forget. There were no battles until the very end. I was told the story of N and Team Plasma by the Shadow Triad, N's room, and N's siblings.

Anthea and Concordia should have gotten more screentime, yes. But I still like their role here, in how they show you more of what Team Plasma was like, and what drove N to be like this.

But before long, I made it to the throne room, where N waited.

N told me I wasn't ready, that I wasn't worthy, as Reshiram hadn't awakened yet. But before my eyes, the Light Stone began to glow, and Reshiram emerged from it.

I dedideed to use Minro to try to catch Reshiram, since Reshiram would likely be taking their spot on the team for the coming battles. I wanted to let my faithful monkey companion have one more moment in the spotlight.

And they performed wonderfully. Whittling down Reshiram to a tiny sliver of health, enough that I could catch it.

N was my toughest opponent yet, with his team being even higher leveled than the Elite Four.

But I remembered his words from back in Nacrene City, about how, when all of this was over, he wanted to be friends with me.

I think those words are what made this part of the game so emotional to me. I wanted that to come true.

And so, I battled, and I won.

And yet, it wasn't over. Ghetsis came along, and brutally berated N. And then, he challenged me, in a battle that would decide the fate of the Unova region.

He was even tougher than N was. Fitting, as he was my final challenge in the main story of this game. It took everything I had, every single member of my team, to defeat him. By the time I was at his last Pokemon, only Arbaquo was left standing.

But despite the odds, I won. I had defeated Ghetsis.

But before the credits rolled, there was one final cutscene. A conversation from N to me. About how he didn't understand me at first, about how he couldn't understand why a Pokemon had liked me. About how he wanted to battle me, to find out why.

And then, that iconic line came. About making my dreams come true.

I like to think that my character and N became friends.

And so, the credits rolled, ending this game.

I had completed Pokemon Black.

I had so much fun with this game, and I'm so glad I gave it another go. Out of the four I've completed for this marathon so far, it's probably my favorite mainline Pokemon game.

It's not perfect. It had its difficulty spikes, and a few parts of it felt a bit awkward.

But it was fantastic. I love this game, it was fantastic.

I see what the hype is all about now.

[lumenflowered]

[A video is attached. In it, a woman with long dark hair can be seen walking towards the group, but is promptly intercepted by none other than Maria.

“Geeta, yes?”

She pauses. Studies Maria for a moment. “Who might you be?”

“My name is Maria.” Recognition dawns in Geeta’s eyes. “You might be familiar with it from someone who was quite insistent that you would be hearing of every decision I made that she disapproved of.”

“Ms. Briar, yes.” Geeta frowns. She doesn’t seem to know what to make of Maria. “You aren’t a Champion at all.”

Maria’s eyes narrow. “As a matter of fact, I am. Briar never asked whether I was a Paldean Champion.”

“I… see. Then what business would a Champion of another region—“

“Two, technically.”

That gives Geeta pause. “What business would you have with confidential Paldea League matters?”

Maria almost smiles. “Only the fact that you forced a minor to visit a very dangerous place when he was in no condition to be doing so. Is that the real reason it is so confidential?”

“He visited it before and was fine,” Geeta says dismissively.

“In his words, or yours?” Maria is holding Geeta’s gaze now, entirely unblinking as she steps forward into the other woman’s personal space. “Do not make the mistake of continuing to treat others as disposable—especially not those who should, by all rights, hold the position that you now do.”

“Paldea does things differently.”

“I see that.” Maria still hasn’t blinked. “Even you cannot hold power here forever. You will die one day, Champion Geeta. If I were you, I would give some serious thought to how you will be remembered when you do. Good day.”

She turns, leaving Geeta staring after her, and rejoins the group. The video ends.]

[temtamtom]

Any thoughts on Seborga?

Ohhh I love love love him. He's my little guy. My rotten soldier. My sweet cheese. My good-time boy.

I didn't care about him all that much until I visited the town of Seborga last year (I was in the area and wanted to drop by). I started thinking about him a lot more after that, and here we are now. I can't have modern Itabros or Itafam content without Sebby, it just wouldn't be the same 😔

This post might get a lil' lengthy as usual, so I'll put my headcanons and thoughts under "read more":

I feel like he's under-utilized in the brother/family dynamic, which is a shame. He's an interesting contrast to his brothers, who've been around for thousands of years and experienced so many hardships. He's very young and still a little naive to the reality of nationhood. His brothers kept him sheltered throughout his upbringing so he could have an easy, happy childhood. Lord knows it was messy for Romano and Feliciano. They didn't want that for Sebastiano.

Since Seborga is in the region of Liguria, I think he was given to Genova(/Liguria) first as a baby. Genova, who isn't very good at caring for others and knows it, immediately called up Feliciano. One thing led to another, and Seborga soon became part of their family. Sebby and Genova have a relationship but not as brothers. Maybe Sebby sees him more as a close family friend/"zio" type of person. Someone he can turn to for advice when he doesn't want his brothers to get involved in his problems.

The first few years of his life were very nerve-wracking. I have a headcanon that he aged scarily fast for a nation, on par with a human. They weren't sure if he would keep aging and eventually die off, and they didn't calm down until the late 70s/early 80s when his growing slowed to a halt. There was also a lot of debate about what sort of relationship they should have with Seborga. They were raising him from infancy, so were they his parents? Is one technically more of a "parent" than the other? What about just being brothers? Yeah, brothers sound better. Brothers but with more Nuance(TM).

Romano and Feli received an extensive education as children, so it felt obvious that Sebby should attend school as much as possible. Due to their living and working arrangements, Seborga went to school in Rome and consequently picked up a lot of Roman mannerisms. Something that didn't go unnoticed by Genova every time he saw the kid ("Look at what you've done to this Ligurian boy! He's Roman!")

Onto one of my favourite dynamics within the family- Romano and Sebby's dynamic. Grumpy boomer big brother and his baby brother who likes getting on his nerves at every opportunity but, goddamnit, that's his weird baby brother and he still loves him to pieces. I'm a big softie for some loving-big-bro-'mano content. That man will look out for his family I just know it. His doors are always open for Seborga and there will always be food on the table for him, no matter what. Even if Seborga likes to grind his gears.

Seborga grew up reading a lot of comics! He started with the more kid-friendly ones like Disney comics (Paperino, Topolino, etc.) and soon graduated to things like TEX (one of Romano's favourites) and Dylan Dog. As a child, he'd draw his own little comic strips and characters- a hobby that Feliciano actively encouraged.

One of his closest friends is Monaco. Seborga is very close to the French border, and while I was in the area, I got the chance to visit Monaco for a day. The drive was quite easy and relatively quick, so it's not hard to imagine that they would've struck up a friendship since they're quite close! One thing that I enjoy about this friendship is the Uptown Girl/Downtown Boy dynamic they'd have ❤️ I don't know, I just think they're lovely

I'll stop here, but. Yeah. I just think he's neat! A lovely fella