#arc 1 daybreak

[spindle-girl]

Daybreak 1.1

Let's get started

It was a second chance for humanity as a whole, and they’d gone and screwed it up from the start by coloring the city gold, of all colors. ... All put together, the light that bounced off of the city and reached skyward gave the clouds linings that were gold, not silver.

i wonder how much of this hate for gold is because of Scion's attacks or Khepri's portals. probably both. i do like the gold lining, seems like a fun visual.

Plaques were recessed into three of the four faces – the fourth had come free and fallen after the collision. Each plaque bore an etching of a face, a name, a date of birth, a date of death, a message. ... They were part of an initiative by an independent cape, a hero turned rogue, helping out.

with all the anti-cape stuff that's popped up so far and knowing it continues later on, i'm surprised projects like this aren't talked about more. a genuine moment where a cape is doing something nice with their powers. maybe this guy is an outlier or the other stuff the capes get up to weights more than it--which is fair since even the apartment stuff in Ashley's prologue is enough to get pissed off at--but with how much hate the Advance Guard gets in this section it seems forgotten that the whole reason the crowd is getting angry is over something a cape provided being destroyed by an accident anyone can do.

The crowd, too, seemed to realize that the situation had mostly de-escalated.

sigh

The summer heat was holding out through the start of September, making things just a little more uncomfortable, tempers a little shorter.

Ah! an estimated date. i want to try and keep track of all these to work out a proper Ward timeline since the one on the wiki is lacking.

We’d called him the second cape after Scion, but he might well have been the first, after all.

hello Vikare, congrats on getting mentioned in the first chapter instead of the first interlude. moving up in the world. if there's ever a parahumans 3 you might get a pov chapter. really tempted fate naming yourself after Icarus.

“Work,” I said.  “They wouldn’t fire me, especially if I explained.  I’d get in trouble, maybe, but I wouldn’t mind much.  Job is… a seven out of ten fit.”

i'm down right jealous rn. 7/10 seems great for a job

As in most things having to do with law or bureaucracy, it took longer than it should have, for a relatively simple process.  I hurried to the high school once they were done with me, and I arrived rather late.

Victoria is going from one bureaucracy to another lol

We had grass and fields, yes, but it was coarse and the ground beneath wasn’t usually landscaped. The area was large with large trees left untouched in the corners, chain link fence separating the field from the roads on two sides, the grade school formed the third boundary to the west, and the high school formed the fourth boundary to the north. The ground was uneven, more hilly than flat, and there were still large stones here and there, and a seemingly out of place play structure for the grade schoolers.

nothing much to note here, just that the paragraph made me remember some good memories.

Point_Me_@_The_Sky: If you stop by? I set up tarps by house. Make sure they still there & no water getting through? Lost cause maybe ~P.5 ... My destination wasn’t in the high school, but was across the street. It was an open building with a partial second floor. ... My office was the closest thing I had to a home, in this world. ... I’d rigged up tarps to keep the water off that corner of the house, but some of that moisture had been coming up from below.

okay. this is just sad. literally calls her office her house

I opened a notebook and began searching through it. I found the name before the internet succeeded in connecting.

this is about Victoria finding the cape who was building the pillars. i have no idea why there was a whole arc of the Undersiders sneaking into the PRT to steal their database. it seems like New Wave had access to it all if she can find random capes in her collection. should have just walked in and grabbed it while they were out heroing.

From: Deferent.I@Mail Subject: Re: Damaged Pillar I already heard.  Advance Guard were on the scene and let me know.  Will have it fixed tomorrow.  Thanks.

this just makes it seem like Deferent has access to much faster internet than Victoria does if they can check their emails and respond relatively quickly while going out and building as many pillars as described earlier. dunno, it's out of place with the descriptions from Victoria booting up her computer and the glowworm chapters. maybe he got better tech to be able to respond to stuff quicker?

She spent a lot of time palling around with a biotinker called Blasto. She kept going back to him to pair up. Might have been boyfriend-girlfriend, even. That ended when the Slaughterhouse Nine passed through Boston. We don’t know what happened to Blasto, but we can guess it wasn’t good.

rip Blasto. Defiant didn't care enough to note what happened to you

“She did her time,” I said.  “She made a mistake, she paid for it as much as she was able.  We don’t have enough good jails and so she’s free, and it looks like she’s trying to do good.  That’s pretty decent, really.  She’s not the enemy here.”

this will be interesting for later. i am surprised in general that Fume Hood is getting brought in this early. i vaguely know what happens to her so I guess it makes sense she gets some focus early on

End thoughts:

i'm like the story so far. while Victoria is obviously weary of there being a coming conflict between capes and non-capes, i think there are a few lines hinting at her feelings of separation from them. namely how she doesn't like the pillars, which seem to be for the civilians. tbf, it could be her not wanting reminders of Gold Morning or a reminder of the Leviathan fight where after there was a similar memorial that a quarter of her family was on. i could understand that.

nothing wrong with the story, but i really don't like the patrol group or Gilpatrick. reminds me of the rotc guys at college

[yumeka-sxf]

The school vacation is over and the new term at Eden is starting...of course, Anya is less than pleased with this development 😅

Seriously, her groaning reminds me of my "anti-school" phase I had when I was around her age, lol.

This chapter was mainly focused on introducing Anya's new classmates. I'll admit that I feel SxF has enough side characters already for the type of series it is, but maybe they'll only be relevant for one story/arc (like Daybreak and Wheeler). Though having another female friend in Connie might be nice. She seems weird enough for Anya to have fun reading her mind 😂

Since recent chapters have dropped hints about Anya's past and the emphasis on mind-reading abilities/the occult via Melinda, plus we have the lingering mystery of Anya's affinity for classical languages, I feel like this new set up at Eden is going to play into that. Not only has Arnold returned, but we now have a supposed prince in the mix. It's been theorized that Anya's classical language skills are somehow tied to royalty in a foreign land...so maybe Tertius is connected to that somehow. I mean, you must be royally royal to have hair shaped like a crown 🤣

Then we have the as-of-yet unnamed kid who flicked a booger on Tertius. Curious what role he'll play if all this is indeed leading up to more Anya backstory reveal.

I should clear up some weird translation in the English version. In the below panel, it seems like Tertius is mentioning Jeeves, but the term he's using is 爺や ("jiiya") which I believe is an old term used to refer to an elderly male servant.

Now the word "jeeves" in English is a generic term used to refer to a butler or valet. If you've watched enough movies and/or TV series, you may have heard someone refer to their butler as "jeeves." So technically it's not an incorrect translation, but it's incredibly confusing because we already have an established character named Jeeves, who is Damian's butler. So this could make people think that Tertius knows Jeeves, which is likely not the case. They really should have come up with a different word to use, something like "pop" or "gramps."

Besides the new characters, we now have more potential for Anya and Damian to be alone, without influence from Emile, Ewen, and Becky. Hopefully it will lead to more talk about Anya's mind-reading and Desmond lore.

Guess that's all I have to say about this chapter as it mostly seems like setup for what's to come. I've probably mentioned before that the Eden-focused stories aren't exactly my favorites, especially when Anya isn't a key player. But hopefully whatever's going on with Tertius and the booger kid will be leading up to something significant in the end.

Interestingly, this is the first chapter since Loid's backstory that's being split into parts, as this chapter is called 112.1 (112 part 1 in the Japanese version). Similar to what he did for Loid's backstory chapters, Endo tweeted about this for chapter 112. Guess it's just gonna be two parts?

Also, on an unrelated note, we also got the cover reveal for volume 15 today! Features Martha, not surprised since it will include chapters from the Henry/Martha backstory arc.

[comicaurora]

Hello! Not really an “ask” just something I noticed that I’m not sure anyone else has pointed out. So Aurora chapters are usually around 32 pages, but Daybreak is 63! And Daybreak is the last chapter of Arc 1, in other words… you ended the first season on a special double length episode.

[spyxfamilyanalysis]

Spy × Family analysis (English)

Analyzing the anime's episodes with English subtitles~

~ Inspiration: previous-of-previous-of-whatever-previous post

-> I decided to do an observation & analysis of the currently famous anime Spring 2022 SPY × FAMILY.

This main post consists of: analysis of full episodes; facts & opinions about chapters, characters, ships (if possible); Google forms (currently closed); my arts: my OCs, S×F characters (if possible); answers for ask boxes; help requests & instructions, and other stuffs.

Spy × Family: Season 1, 2, and Movie

Special update!

Season 1: 25 episodes: 1-25

¬ Introduction Arc

1. Operation Strix [part 1] [part 2.1] [part 2.2] [part 2.3]

2. Secure a Wife [part 1] [part 2.1] [part 2.2]

¬ Admissions Interview Arc

3. Prepare for the Entrance Exam

4. Interview for the Prestigious School

5. Pass or Fail

¬ Eden Beginnings Arc

6. Operation Buddy-Buddy

7. Target: The Second son

¬ Secret Police Arc

8. The Counter-Secret Police Cover Operation

9. Show Off How in Love You Are

¬ Stella Star Arc

10. The Great Dodgeball Plan

11. Stella

12. Penguin Park

¬ Doggy Crisis Arc

13. Project Apple

14. Disarm the Time Bomb

15. A New Family Member

¬ Midterm Exams Arc

16. Yor's Kitchen/ The Informant's Great Romance Plan

17. Carry Out the Griffin Plan/ Fullmetal Lady/ Omelet Rice ❤️

18. Uncle the Private Tutor/ Daybreak

19. A Revenge Plot Against Desmond/ Mother Becomes the Wind

¬ Campbelldon Tennis Arc

20. Investigate the General Hospital/ Decipher the Perplexing Code

21. Nightfall/ First Fit of Jealousy

22. Underground Tennis Tournament: The Campbelldon

23. The Unwavering Path

24. The Role of a Mother and Wife

¬ Imperial Scholars Mixer Arc

24. Shopping with Friends

25. First Contact

Season 2: 12 episodes: 26-37

¬ Imperial Scholars Mixer Arc (cont.)

26. Follow Mama and Papa

27. Bond's Strategy to Stay Alive/ Damian's Field Research Trip

28. Mission and Family

29. The Pastry of Knowledge

¬ Cruise Adventure Arc

29. The Informant's Great Romance Plan II

30. Plan to Cross the Border

31. The Fearsome Luxury Cruise Ship

32. Who Is This Mission For?

33. The Symphony Upon the Ship

34. The Hand That Connects to the Future

35. Enjoy the Resort to the Fullest/ Bragging About Vacation

¬ WISE Arc

36. Berlint in Love/ Nightfall's Daily Life

37. Part of the Family

Movie: Spy × Family Code: White (Japan: December 22, 2023, theatrical release in the United States (and the rest of North America): April 19, 2024)

part 1: reviewing+dessert recipe

part 2: personal fav moment (damianya~)

Season 3: scheduled October 2025

Facts & Opinion: 1st announcement, 2nd announcement

(1), (2), (3), (4), (5) Twilight/ Loid Forger (Part 1/?), (6), (7) Twilight/Loid Forger (Part 2/?), (8) Anya Forger (Part 1/?) spoilers (5), spoilers (8) SPECIAL ONLY!!! Did you know?(+poll done)

¬ Term Finals Arc: Chapter 90.1 (SxF Meta), Chapter 96

¬ Love and War Arc: Chapter 97 & 98 (Part 1/3)

¬ Term Break Arc: Chapter 103+(1), Chapter 104, Chapter 106+cont.+bonus (Bonus again), Chapter 107 (pt1)+(pt2), Chapter 108+fav panel, Chapter 109, Chapter 110, Chapter 111

¬ Current Arc: Chapter 112.1, Chapter 112.2, Chapter 113, Chapter 114, Chapter 114.5

Arts: SxF (ft. FNF MFM) (Pinterest), SxF (ft. FNF MFM) (Twitter), Anya and Yuri tutor funny vid, Wedding (X), Anya's blow kiss~, Hide under capes (Damianya), POV: how u see crush, Reverse psychology smirk, Snacktime with Anya, Spy x Catmily, Free hugs

Christmas 2022 Thank you 37 followers, Christmas 2023 (main blog), Happy birthday to me (18), Christmas 2024 Thank you 130+ followers, Tet holiday 2025 Update my OC as spies (Spoilers 1), Post before official art coming out, OC art spies+Bonus, OC doodles, silly doodles when they rest, Old+new+silly OC doodles, Some other doodlez Uni life pt1: Microscope on shallot's epidermal cell, (Not) uni life pt2: Update drawing progress (will I stop?)

Polls: Anya Forger or the Garden, OC art spy edition, (Spoilers 2) OCs: hair colors, What post should I continue working on first?, Should I find more ships goods?

Ask boxes: The Desmonds and Project + addition in reblog, Question about Desmond's eyes, Help :")))

Instructions if you can't click the links above, Some important news that might affect my future

Other cool stuff ig lol: 911 posts, Sh*tpost abt the instruction, Spot logo difference?, Sh1tp0st rly wut the helm?, My ALL 3 MIGHTY!!!, update my temporary pin post, temporary pin post for US trip

Help request: Drafts posts & Art collaborations

Pin post Vietnamese version (no longer updating)

Thank you for 226 followers everyone!~

The first main (pin) post (June 21, 2022)

[episodeoftv]

Prelims, Vote 1 of 8

The top 4 finales will move on to be included in the main bracket

Propaganda is under the cut, may include spoilers

Agent Carter - 2.10 Hollywood Ending

Just as Peggysous became canon, just as Jack is about to start his redemption arc, they cancelled the show and left all of us on a massive cliffhanger for, let's see, almost 8 years at this point. We need ANSWERS.

Daybreak - 1.10 FWASH-BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

It was written as a cliffhanger for a second season that would never come, but it just felt flat. The one objective that our leading lad (Josh) had been chasing (saving Sam) was rendered pointless, because the moment the big bad was defeated she effectively declared herself the new big bad and everyone who wasn't a major character went 'hmmm, okay!' And accepted it! They didn't even address this all that well, just ended with a shot of the MCs looking shocked.

Doctor Who - 12.10 The Timeless Children

this finale is shit!! absolute ass! nothing happens in it for it to justify having such a cool name. the master captures the doctor, shows her a slideshow that amounts to ‘‘you’re adopted!! :)" doctor breaks out of her matrix prison thing by overloading it with memories when the matrix is The Supercomputer and it’s used to hold all memories of all time lords ever? you know, the species whove been doing their thing for a billion years and live up to 10,000 years? the doctors new memories should either already be there or make nary a dent in it. the doctor’s like ‘‘why would they do that! why would they lie?’’ girl they have been lying to you since forever. they killed you once. theyve tried to kill you so many times. they turned you into a fucked up anti time monster that one time. one of the doctors past past selves even told her it doesnt really matter!! what was even the point

Loki - 1.06 For All Time. Always.

The series was going downhill past Episode 3 tbh, but it really just was a load of crap only interested in setting up the multiverse

Tales of Arcadia - Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans

This finale undoes everything the show worked for. In order to give itself stakes it kills off a few characters, but in a way that only indirectly impacts the MCs (such as Jim's Mom's fiancé getting killed). Then, at the end of the special, the main character uses time travel to go back to the start of S1E01 and changed history so he never becomes the trollhunter. Instead he makes his next friend the trollhunter instead. In terms of anticipation it was not at all what anyone was anticipating. (I had assumed he'd go to the start of the special and defeat the titans without any casualties). Having undone time only he remembers the previous timestream and he makes no effort to engage with it outside of accepting his changeling principal far sooner.

Ted Lasso - 3.12 So Long, Farewell

This trash ass finale undid three seasons of character development for every single person involved (except Nate!). A long-distance parent returned "home" despite having no attachments besides his child and leaving behind his entire found family, an abused and neglected woman was left behind by the person who taught her she didn't deserve abuse and neglect, and two characters who spent the whole show learning to cooperate and care for each other got into a fistfight over the girl they both dated.

Torchwood - 3.05 Day Five

No propaganda submitted

[stormbreaker101]

making a new post to record the things I have and haven't tested.

Things I have successfully tested.

Individual tiers of Daybreaker and Nightbringer stack on regular cards, and do NOT stack for B path spells.

Item Card variants of B path spells stack with their regular variants

Lightkeeper's Beam from a Blade school (Storm, Life, Death) and from a Trap school (Myth, Ice, Fire) stack. Lightkeeper's Beams from 2 Blade schools (e.g., Storm and Life) don't stack

The B Path hanging effects from the Same Spell but of DIFFERENT TIERS Stack. This isn't just for the Arc 1 and 2 spells.

B Path Spells that do what they say they do

Sirens B (+ TC)

Storm Lord B (+ TC)

Blood Bat B

Minotaur B (Not tested tonight, but tested in a raid accidentally LMAO)

Cyclops B

Keeper of the Flame (IC)

Zand the Bandit

Grimzilla

Count Croakula

B Path Spells that do NOT do what they say they do

Medusa B (+ IC) (gambit 4 traps for 4 Universal +45% Traps) (UPDATE: THIS IS ONLY GLITCHED FOR FIRE WIZARDS LMAO) (I didn't test this but someone in official Wizcord did)

Things I want to test

Every B Path/Fused spell I have mentioned on the sheet but not yet tested

- Gravestorm

- Blizzotaur (I WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TEST THIS)

Lightkeeper's Beam (Do the Balance Effects stack with the D/S/L and the F/M/I Effects?) (CAN'T TEST THIS YET. NEED TO FARM MITHRAYA LMFAO)

SUPERCHARGE (Stacking rules, enchanting rules, Daybreaker/Nightbringer shenanigans)

BACKFIRE (same as supercharge) (this is Fire. I can do this later)

Things deemed null and void and why.

Glimpse of Infinity (it CLEARS shields for traps. We cannot get shields onto the Balance Krokosphinx)

[eldragon-x-moved]

PMD: Gates to Infinity Timeline

Rescue Team

I wanted to document the in-universe timespan of the story of every PMD title in detail and originally make it all into one post, but decided to split it into four instead. Every PMD timeline post will have links to the other titles as I progress with this little project.

Know that I'll count vague timeskips to the best of my judgement, the one dungeon = one day rule doesn't strictly apply (yes, even with the V-Wave mechanic in gti), and I document every game up until the hero and partner reunite, though I might make additions for post-game story later on.

Introduction Arc

On day 1 the hero meets the partner after landing in the Pokemon world, and on day 2 you play through Gurdurr's arc to get him to build your house. The construction starts on the evening of day 2 and is said to last a few days. Not counting day 2's evening, I'll make it three days, making day 5 the day where the house is finished.

On day 6 you meet Dunsparce, Emolga, and Virizion who join your team by the end of the day. The team is officially established on day 7.

Gurdurr's store is established on day 8 and he asks you to bring him materials which you give to him on day 9. Gurdurr opens his store on day 10. Nothing happens on days 11-12 but on day 13 Victini arrives in Paradise and the hero has a dream the following night. Day 14 is uneventful, the fata morgana of the Great Glacier appears on day 15, and day 16 is uneventful again.

Umbreon and Espeon Arc

On the night before day 17, the hero has another dream and Umbreon is approaching Post Town. A warning about a dangerous Pokemon in the area goes out in the morning. The following night, Umbreon comes closer to the town and on day 18 Swadloon disappears to Inflora Forest where the team picks him up. Umbreon arrives in Post Town on day 19.

On day 20, Umbreon demonstrates the summoning of a Magnagate and the team takes off to rescue Espeon. Umbreon and Espeon join the team on day 21. Virizion and Dunsparce have a conversation on the hill the following night. The next morning, on day 22, Quagsire tells the team that one Pokemon has to stay in Paradise and can't go to the expedition.

Great Glacier Arc

I was debating on wether to apply the one dungeon = one day rule in this arc since technically we don't get any indication that a night passes during the expedition but I decided yes, both because its supposed to feel long and for another reason*.

That being said, day 23 marks the day the team make their way to the Great Glacier via a Magnagate dungeon. They arrive and make their way through the glacier on day 24 and take another Magnagate dungeon on day 25. Day 26 is the day they make it through the Glacier Palace for the first time and return home in the evening.

On day 27 Emolga uses the Frisms to mess with the team before telling them that during their absence, floating lights that could be seen from the hill appeared. The hero has another dream and on the morning of day 28, the partner asks the hero to promise them to stay in this world after fulfilling their duty. On day 29, one floating light can be seen from the hill. *If you talk to Ducklett, they'll say the lights first appeared about a week ago which adds up the best if you assume the expedition took four days.

Munna and Hydreigon Arc

Munna finally manages to make contact with the hero via their dreams. On the next day, day 30, the hero and partner take a Magnagate to Kilionea Road. They plan to sleep over the night outside the dungeon, but are alarmed by Munna, prompting them to make it through the Forest of Shadows at night. They get ambushed at Mount Kilionea afterwards but escape.

The hero makes it to Daybreak Ridge on day 31 where they're attacked by Toxicroak and saved by Hydreigon. When they wake up, Hydreigon says they've been out for a while, possibly making it day 32. Hydreigon and the hero team up and make it through Ochre Quarry and in the evening, Hydreigon explains the situation.

On day 33, the hero and Hydreigon make it through Withered Savanna where Purugly confronts them and tells them that they've got the Partner as a hostage. Presumably on day 34*, the duo makes their way to Holehills to rescue partner. On day 35* hero, partner, and Hydreigon make their way through the Scorching Desert. They're attacked by Kyurem in the evening and hero and partner are found and rescued by Emolga and Dunsparce.

*Withered Savanna, Holehills, and Scorching Desert could all be happening on one day but I decided to apply the 1d = 1d rule because otherwise it'd last as long as the glacier expedition and based on how long the arc feels, how the road takes up a chunk of the map, and how Emolga says they've been searching for hero and partner because they were gone for so long and started to get worried despite Mount Kilionea being established as a far away place, I think it makes sense that it lasts longer.

Finale Arc

The hero recovers from their injuries and wakes up on day 36 as the team decides their next course of action. They explain the situation to Post Town on day 37 just before Glacier Palace rises into the sky. Umbreon and Espeon make their way to Great Glacier that night and the team follows on day 38, on which they make it through the palace and destroy the Bittercold. The hero leaves the Pokemon world the next morning on day 39.

Worldcore Arc

A vague long timeskip happens, but if you look at the story summary by either exiting and entering the game or switching between Friend- and Hero Mode, it says months have passed, so we'll go with three months here.

On the evening of day 1 post-skip, Dunsparce and Emolga talk to Hydreigon in the Inn while Virizion and Keldeo have a conversation on the hill. Dunsparce approaches Hydreigon on day 2 and Hydreigon disappears the next day. He returns on day 4 to tell the team about the Worldcore where the partner manages to make a wish and be reunited with the hero.

Conclusion

The main story lasts 39 days while the post-game story lasts 4 days. Counting everything together with the time skip and assuming the timespan includes two 30-day and two 31-day months, the entire story of Gates to Infinity lasts 134 days or 4 months, 1 week and 5 days

[atlasarcana]

here's a snippet for my next fic called four-body problem. it's a psychological character and relationship study focused on keith/lance and matt/shiro years after canon, through the lens of matt/keith therapy and Dom/sub funtimes. i'm about 2/3rds of the way through writing and it's around 56k already :) if you read my fic radio waves, this takes place in that same AU.

ao3 summary:

Three years after saving the universe and getting his happy ending, Keith still hasn’t gotten any better. Despite promising Lance that he’d open up eventually, he wasn’t able to break patterns of avoidance that had their relationship hitting a brick wall, and the final straw was saying Shiro’s name during sex.

So they’re on a break. Desperate to fix things with Lance, Keith asks Matt to psychoanalyze his unwanted sexual fixation on Shiro. Through talk therapy and BDSM, Matt helps Keith unpack his emotional dysregulation and insecure attachment issues while in turn teaching Lance to Dom Keith. 

But Matt and Shiro are having their own hurdles, and Lance isn't doing too hot either. It’s up to all four of them to learn how to grow and communicate before their attempts at triage do more harm than good.

snip, opener for chapter 1:

(cw for injury, hoverbike crash)

On the night that Keith ruins his life, the only think he can think to do is pick a direction and run.

Good thing he has a hoverbike. He peels out of his and Lance’s garage so fast he nearly decapitates the mailbox, then speeds out of Primavera Vale without looking back.

There’s nothing but the red roar between his ears for an indeterminate time, the road whirling underneath him until it drops out into sand and rolling, bleeding eternity. All the better to keep him from thinking. He rides past the midnight of one timezone into the daybreak of another, and he knows he’s home when the sunlight folds like flipped eggs over the broad plateaus of the Sonoran Desert—a shock of choking memories, a burn in his stomach, but a numbing sort of relief after it settles. Bloody grooves form beneath his gloves from his death-grip on the handlebars, as if his bike will leave him if he blinks. He doesn’t blink. So much sand has caked over his goggles, he’s started driving blind.

When his shack comes up out of the earth faster than expected, he’s already too close to hit the breaks. He whips the bike to the side, drifting at an arc to avoid a collision, but his weight pitches awkwardly and rocks get kicked up into the wheels, and the whole thing ends up flipping.

For a split-second, the ground is where the sky should be. A red fall. Jacket in his face; dirt, gravel, clay embedding in his skin—his shoulder goes crack, dislocated—the calamity of a hoverbike shredding across the mesa—and then he’s on his back, bellowing inarticulately and trying not to bite his own tongue off. 

It’s the worst pain he’s felt in years, and worse even for being idiotic. This must be what roadkill feels like. Something not quite dead, forced to lay there staring up at the sky as it goes from curdled yellow to deep, bold blue, while bleeding out under the baking sun.

Just his luck. He survives an intergalactic war, then dies from a speeder flip in the middle of nowhere, twenty feet from his house. Awesome.

Throwing himself up and down a few times does the trick of popping his shoulder back into place. He uses the adrenaline to crawl, then limp back into the shack, where he takes account of his injuries. Just the shoulder so far, and a number of bruises and abrasions; nothing duct tape and half-Galra healing won’t fix. There’s another hoverbike stashed under a tarp against the side of the house, so he hasn’t totally exiled himself, but the prospect of facing people again—facing Lance—hurts almost more than his shoulder. When he fishes around for pain medication, all he finds are a few stashed bottles of liquor from back when his dad was still alive.

Whatever. It’ll do. He sits down hard on the dusty old cot, cracks the whiskey open against the dresser, and drinks until he stops hurting.

He ignores the world. Out here, the world does him the mercy of ignoring him back.

__

if you read this far, lmk what you think! it's an out-there idea, and i'm certain that it won't resonate with everyone, but i'm having a lot of fun writing keith have The Problems Of All Time.

[progwords]

Are you excited for class of 09: the flip side?

ABSOLUTELY! IMMENSELY! I was shocked that it was being worked on concurrently with the anime! But I'm ELATED! My wishlist is short!

1.) Jecka confirmed as enabler

2.) Emily makes an appearance

3.) I laugh

Ultimately, headcanons are headcanons and it's easy enough to know what stuff was made before and after Flipside.

A few of my friends have already started joking that I'll just have gotten Jecka's characterization down to the letter due to my bizarre track record of managing to do that with Trails characters and themes and arcs.

(which continues into Daybreak but I'm not elaborating since I dunno how far you or anyone else is I'm only in ch4!!! BUT I LOVE IT SO MUCH AHHHH)

'Cause if I can do that with a JRPG series written by people with a very different cultural upbringing and perspective than my own, wouldn't it be way more likely if I could do the same with a VN about stuff I literally saw and lived through written by a guy a year younger than me who also did those things? Makes sense to me.

I'm not even bummed it's the last VN; moving away from high school would cut out a lot of what makes that series special to me and why it was so impactful imo. You could do a game that's second semester senior year since that's a very different vibe but better to quit while you're ahead. Probably.

I was yelling about how this was the SUMMER OF EMILY for like two months and POOF Jecka game LMAO.

[natsubeatsrock]

The Lucy Paradox

I'm going to get murdered for posting this on Tumblr, huh?

Somehow, I've never talked about this. I've made this joke in private. However, it's worth discussing in this format. Think of it as a celebration of International Women's Day.

Incidentally, Lucy isn't the one who I named this paradox after. The original name of this was the Sakura Paradox. For the record, I mean Sakura Haruno from Naruto.

It feels like a given that Sakura is a weak character. The way some fans talk about her, you'd think she was the worst character in the series. The closest example I can think of is Yamcha, whom no one takes as a threat past the first arc of Dragon Ball. After the big-time skip, he's treated as the joke of the group, especially by fans.

Here's the problem. Sakura's very strong. That's true in a literal sense, but she has more ability than fans give her credit for. It's not a stretch to say she's the strongest civilian in the series universe.

"Yeah, that's true in the second half. But what about in part 1?"

Do you mean the part where she has a better grip on chakra control than her teammates? Or the part where she's shown to ace the first part of the Chunin Exam without having to cheat? What about later in the exam when she breaks out two separate genjutsu? Yeah, I'm not hearing it.

Why do people say she's weak? Simple, she'd been dwarfed in power by monsters. It's not controversial to say Sakura is the worst member of Team 7, with the potential exception of Sai, if you even count him. It's not a close race between her, Sasuke, and Boruto's dad. She's a distant third. The only debate is how badly she's lapped.

If this sounds like I'm insulting her, it's not. Those two might be the strongest characters in the universe, with no qualifiers or exceptions. From what I've heard about Boruto, they're still doing crazy things years after their time in the spotlight should be over.

I call this the Lucy Paradox because fandom might not be fully aware of how incredible Lucy is. She's on the level of magic to use two gold Celestial Spirit Keys at the same time. It's impressive if someone's able to use two keys. She can mix and match between any of the ten she has.

Remember that she's the only wizard capable of Celestial Star Dress. At its introduction, it was just being able to take the abilities of her spirits. In the sequel, it's also the ability to combine the powers of two different spirits.

Let's take that for granted for a second. Lucy comes up with strategies that are helpful to her friends. And it's not just helping Natsu's fights. She's the one who recognized the true meaning behind Daybreak. She's the one who saw through the Eclipse Gate in two different timelines. She rewrote the entirety of the Book of E.N.D. after reading it once. Most importantly, she's the one who revises Anna's plan to make it possible to defeat Acnologia.

I say all that, but she's the weakest human member of the Strongest Team. She's never been on Natsu or Gray's level. Erza's not an S-Class mage for nothing, even if you want to argue that Natsu's overtaken her. While Wendy started weak, she's surpassed Lucy in the last arcs of the main series. I'm not cruel enough to say that Carla is even close to better than her. However, if your only meaningful competition is the Exceeds, that's not great.

Though, let's back up and think about that last paragraph. Lucy is the weakest member of the Strongest Team, no doubt. She's not the weakest member of Fairy Tail. Let's ignore the no-named scrubs who show up for a couple of lines every four volumes Lucy clears. If Lucy joined Shadow Gear, she might be the team's ace. She was able to hold her own with Cana as her partner. (Speaking of which, Tenrou Island is another situation where her planning came in the clutch, and I can't believe I didn't talk about it earlier.) She's more powerful than the Strauss kids not named Mirajane. I'd even go so far as to say she could make a solid member of the Thunder God Tribe.

This is probably where someone else would make this about feminism and how shonen writers aren't good at writing women. (Except for the rare female writers.) I get this for Kishimoto whose writing of women is indefensible. Akira Toriyama (R.I.P.), who influenced much of the genre as we've seen it, isn't much better with how he handles his women.

But Mashima?

I know the fanservice can be way too much at times. But, as I mentioned years ago, his women are better written than fans often give him credit for. Lucy loses to two women on her team. Some of the best story arcs in Fairy Tail revolve around characters like Lucy, Cana, and Erza. I'd put Erza's character up against almost any other female character in a similar narrative role in the same genre. I don't care that she punched that meteor that one time. She's still a better character than a lot of them.

No, this issue is more the fault of fans and their pesky expectations. They see characters who aren't the strongest and assume they're weak. Fans do this despite the advanced strength of other characters and the narrative role of the characters.

I wouldn't say that we have a feminist problem. I'd say we don't recognize the strength of femininity.

I'm just going to come out and say it. Women are great because they're not men, and vice versa. I'm in favor of getting rid of some of the restrictive gender roles culture places on both genders. That shouldn't come at the expense of making women more like men.

"Doesn't that mean that we can't have women who fight and have active roles in media, similar to typically male characters?"

You know what? That might be the most eloquent I've made this voice sound.

My answer is simple. Why can't we have both?

Why can't we have our Rukia and our Orihime? Why can't we have our Tifa and our Aeris? (Or is it Aerith?) Why can't we have our Lucy and our Erza?

Now, don't get it twisted. I love seeing physically strong women in fiction. She-Hulk is one of my favorite heroes in Marvel comics. (I hate that I have to specify comics.) Jupiter is my favorite of the Sailor Guardians. Homura is my favorite member of the EZ Crew. However, a strong character is a good character, and vice versa.

The best thing about the traditional female characters is how they manage their lack of physical strength. They use their wit and charms to their advantage instead of brute force. Men rely on power and speed. Women focus on flexibility and accuracy.

I like to think of it in sports terms. If traditional masculine traits are more offensive, feminine traits are considered more defensive. Both are necessary for teams to succeed. Some sports require people to switch between both roles. However, players usually excel at one of the two.

"What about sports like fencing and the martial arts?"

You need to switch between offense and defense quicker than other sports. However, is it good if a fencer only parries attacks and never thrusts? Is being able to throw punches without blocking a great boxing strategy?

What makes characters compelling has nothing to do with either masculine or feminine traits. (At least, it shouldn't.) What matters are their virtues and determination. It may manifest itself differently in male and female characters. However, it's not as if women can't show strength without sending people through walls. It's not as if men can't show tenderness without caring for children.

The most essential trait for characters might be weakness. How do characters make up for their failings? How do they overcome the conflicts they face? These things draw us to good characters, no matter their gender.

Let's compare two fictional women. Sophie Hatter from Howl's Moving Castle and Captain Marvel.

Carol Danvers is an unfortunate case. She started as a character with solid writing in the comics as a side character. Her solo series as Ms. Marvel in the Civil War era is pretty good. However, since becoming the new Captain Marvel, she's been defined by her power and little else. Despite Marvel's best efforts, fans have not latched onto her new persona.

The MCU didn't help. Captain Marvel was one of the weakest movies in Phase 3. Even at the time, it was clear that its success was attached to the Avengers' success. Few people praised the movie on its own merits. Even fewer had meaningful defenses for its many critics.

Captain Marvel was a physically strong character with no weaknesses. She was so strong that the government she was working for had to limit her powers. However, Carol wasn't the best character the MCU has put out. She didn't endear herself to the audience, had no real connections to the main cast outside of Fury, and became a textbook example of a strong female character without the character part of the equation. Ironically, the best movie to handle her was the one where she barely showed up.

Then there's The Marvels.

It's unfair to say that the movie only flopped because of Captain Marvel's character. That movie's failure has much more to do with the current state of Disney and Marvel Studios. However, part of the plot's failings is because of Carol's lack of weaknesses. They had to find a way to nerf her and chose to tie her to the other characters. They had to find a way to show her connections to the universe and married her off-screen to a South Korean actor on a planet where everyone communicates through singing. No wonder it bombed the same year Guardians of the Galaxy did well.

Sophie Hatter (it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that was her last name) is the protagonist of Howl's Moving Castle, one of Hayao Miyazaki's most beloved works and one of my favorite anime. Miyazaki is no stranger to writing strong women. While I could pick either of the women from Princess Mononoke, Sophie is for the point I want to make.

She is by no means strong. She has no magic and has to rely on Howl and Calcifer many times throughout the story for protection. In a cast of magical individuals, she might be one of the weakest members of the cast.

However, she is far from a weak character. Even at her most insecure, she shows great inner strength and determination. She's determined to find a way to get back to her younger self. She doesn't shrink at the task of cleaning Howl's house. Not to mention, she becomes the heart and soul of the castle. (No pun intended.) It makes sense that she gets younger as she becomes more assured in herself. Ironically, she proves to be braver than Howl. He gains strength and courage from her.

Sophie's strength doesn't come from her ability to use magic or how many soldiers she can knock out. Her strength is more of an inner strength. It's an unshakeable will to achieve what is necessary. That causes her to push past her insecurity and grow throughout the movie. It's no wonder that so many people love her and the movie.

In Conclusion:

If you want to make a strong female character, that's a fine goal. What matters is that you focus more on the "character" than the "strong."

[spindle-girl]

Daybreak 1.x

Villains? Villains!

“Nice view,” Moose said, from the backseat.

wait, are these not the villain group that attacked Fume Hood? i am shit at predicting things lol. maybe next arc villains

Behind Moose and the truck was the gravel road that led up the hill, the gate checkpoint, and a ways below that, the simple settlement where most visitors would be made to feel unwelcome.  One to two thousand people would be living there at most. “They built this place and situated it on the very edge of civilization,” Linc said, to round off his earlier thought.

hey, the far off towns are here. cool! i wonder if we'll hear about dragon-town

“The house.  That’s what I’m gettin’ at.  The guy was as nefarious as they get.  He renovated the insides.  He wanted to make a whole business of holdin’ people that needed holdin’.  For ransom.  Said he’d deal with ’em and clean up the mess if ransoms weren’t paid.  Wanted to be a contractor for disposin’ of people in horrible ways.”

what a nice dream job

“More expensive too,” Velvet said.  She was looking at the blackboard posted by the door, with prices.  “Twenty dollars for a chicken sandwich?”

lol

also, i'm vaguely familiar with prancer and the others. in that i know they show up in ward and that's it. they feel like early arc villains tho

...She hangs around somewhere, and this dust collects, and she can telekinetically control stuff, more dust there is on it.  It’s how she gets that fucking truck going again, when it refuses to move.  She makes us sit there for five minutes and then gives it another try, and it works, and she’ll fiddle with it later and get it tuned up just enough it starts going.”

sweet of her passenger to help her out there. gotta keep the truck for roadtrip adventures

I get restless. The mover thing.

why does this guy know about power classifications?

“As yin-yang soulmate...

i can't wait for the line

“Just the way things were.  Somewhere along the line, you know, I’m twenty-seven, she’s twenty-six, and I’m still boning boys and girls from high school.  Still partying.” Moose’s eyes had widened. “Legal, mind you,” Prancer said.  “But… sketchy, in retrospect.”

oooooohhhhhh. okay. i know this guy now

At his arrival, people across the room started applauding, from Ripcord to the people at the counter, to the white haired girl and the woman with the mask.  Even the kitchen staff.  The man in armor laughed, the sound mingling with the general applause.

this is honestly baffling. completely different vibe from BB

end notes:

interesting chapter. i'm guessing this alliance of the b-listers is going to serve as an early Breakthrough big fight. seems pretty comic-booky, the little guys coming together while the big wigs are doing background stuff and it gives the protag a moderate level group to go against

honestly i would have loved to see a chapter like this in worm. the closest we got was the somer's rock and that had a completly different purpose and vibe. it would have gone a long way to bringing up the unwritten rules and cops and robbers stuff. i'm glad ward can expand on it some more

[buffskeleton]

anyway enjoyed daybreak but wish it had ended more on a cliffhanger? like there's still unanswered questions and things but sky 1 and cs 1 and 3 had some great cliffhangers. although i guess crossbell didnt and that is my favourite arc

[kangaracha]

may wips! some things have actually made movements this month! i also updated my skz masterlist this month

things we completed in april!

as it ends

catskin

felix + focus

skz + losing 3racha

chan + tremble (unreleased because i don't want to give zom mom the nevermore spoiler)

changbin + eclipse

HEAD ABOVE WATER

things i'm actually working on!

nevermore (155/300k, miroh arc finale has begun)

queenmaker (22 chapters written)

what the water brought (30/50k, this is an original novel now)

boxer!minho daybreak (2 chapters written. i'm not releasing it yet. calm down.)

sickfic head above water (3 chapters written)

the hymn of babylon (6k, minho prompt fill that got out of hand)

Neglected™ 

FNF (8/10k)

leave part 2

the gone and the gathered ch 3&4

valleys (complete rewrite)

tgbyb ch 5

tsotl end part 1

darling don't wake up x4

goldmine goldmine (landmine) (6/40k)

soul is yours to keep/zelda fic

draculas

[lolfps]

I played Trails Through Daybreak II

And I actually loved it! (light spoilers ahead) Trails has been dear to my heart for quite some time now. After playing the first Trails In The Sky back when it was re-released on Steam, I just fell in love with it. I MUST CONSUME MORE TRAILS STUFF. The pain to get SC was so arduous. Now we are at a point where, at the end of 2025, we will be actually having parity with the Japanese releases. It took so long, but it we managed it. Now, back to the game at hand. Opinions overall on the internet for this one seems overly negative, and I think there are two key factors to this: 1. It doesn't progress the main plot of the overall series at all. In fact, Ouroboros plan haven't even started yet

2. It's pretty much Daybreak 1.5 Now, here's the thing. I can absolutely understand the frustration about the main plot not progressing. But, here's the thing, this has been an issue since... Trails In The Sky FC. Falcom has always been terrible in managing their game releases and this one is not different. Their trails games always seem to balloon out of scope. At this point, I'm expecting at least 2 more games for the Calvard arc. But I won't put past them it being 3 (2 major games + epilogue/teaser game) As for the second point, this game is absolutely bloated in some parts. In fact, most of act 3 has a bunch of reused Daybreak 1 bosses, just for the sake of it. It's the one point of the game that you can clearly see that they just shoved some stuff to make the game bigger. But at the end of the day, I'm here for the character interactions and for the gameplay experience. And in that regard, I think they absolutely nailed it. The best point of comparison is, obviously, Daybreak 1. In terms of story, I think the first game is much more focused and it flows much better. However, it's also a very bare-bones game. I've seen a lot of comparisons to Tales Of Arise - the game changed engines, and now they need to rebuild a lot of stuff, and I can understand that. Daybreak 1 doesn't have minigames. Not even fishing! You have the standard gameplay, side quests and a very weird alignment system that only matters at the end of the game. For 2, they decided to bring almost the whole shitton of stuff from reverie back + new stuff. It has:

Fishing!!!!

A card game (which is much worse than Vantage Masters imo)

A miniature version of the Reverie Garden

In game gacha for items and costumes

Stealth Mechanics (very similar to what you see in Judgment but with 1/10 of the budget)

A weird puzzle maze thing for some chests

Some little sections where you infiltrate vents with a robot

And the alignment system got pretty much shafted, you get some items from it. There's also the big gimmick of the game: Time travel. In multiple parts of the game, your party will suffer a loss (that involves multiple people dying) and you will travel to an earlier point in the story to make "another choice". Excluding some short moments in the interlude chapter, you can't really escape these time travel segments either way, so it's more to set how dire the situations can be. On act 3, you die so many times that it started to feel like Re:Zero lmao The battle system and UI also got some improvements overall. You can't spam S-Crafts the way you could in the first one, and the turn order is now much clearer in the line. The game is still pretty easy either way on hard, I had very few losses on it. And the character upgrade mechanic can absolutely break the game, at the end I was using craft shields at almost no cost. I've seen some people talking how they put the game on easy in act 3 to get through it faster, but I didn't felt the need to do so. So, overall, in my opinion, a better gaming experience with a worse main plot. Is it my favorite Trails game? Probably not. But it's certainly far from this nightmare abomination that I've seen painted on the internet. TL;DR: 8/10 smug Estelles

[bookenticer]

The Arrogant One (The Weston Group, #1) by Marni Mann https://amzn.to/3GnRsAO A sizzling one-night-stand, billionaire romance from USA Today best-selling author Marni Mann … I’m the arrogant one. She’s the woman who could tame me. What I don’t expect is to fall in love. The minute I hear her laugh, I smile. The second my fingers touch hers, I never want to let them go. When my eyes take her in, I know … Sadie Spencer is meant to be mine. She’s everything I never knew I wanted. Her curves put me in a trance. Her body has me in a choke hold. She’s an addiction, and I can’t keep my hands to myself. It’s the sexiest one-night stand I’ve ever had. At daybreak, the bed is cold, and Sadie is gone. And for the first time in my life, the scorching chemistry and carnal memories leave me wanting more. When I see her again, I’m shocked. Consumed. Enthralled. Obsessed. But she has secrets in her eyes. They match the ones in mine. That’s the wedge between us. Together, we’ve weaved this web of lies, and when the truth comes out … it might break us. Narrated by Vanessa Edwin and Aiden Snow. #BookEnticer #reads #books #audiobooks #bookblogging #bookaholic #audiobooklovers #romance #fantasy #whattoread #bookblogger #listening #arc #alc #currentlyreading Read the full article