#[he's part of an order that prioritizes the balance of man and magic]

[himura-brothers]

OC’s for this blog!

These are Maku and Sosuke Himura. They are brothers from the manga that I write, Kurai Jinhaku. They are demons created by the God of Death, doomed to feed off of the Children of Life (humans) in order to survive. After a human with golden hair massacred their clan, Maku and Sosuke decided that the only way to protect themselves is to coexist with humans— meaning they must balance between hunger and peace at all times.

CHARACTER BIOS UNDER READ MORE!!

To the right is the elder brother, Sosuke Himura;

Age: 23

Race: Child of Death

Occupation: N/A

Appearance: Sosuke is about 6’1” (or 183 cm). He has pale skin and scarlet eyes. His ears are long and pointed (think like an elf) and he has long nails and sharp fangs. He keeps his silky, black hair long, where it brushes just below his broad shoulders. Often, Sosuke dresses business casual. He is most comfortable in a button up dress shirt and some jeans.

Personality: Sosuke is cold, analytical, and quick witted. He prefers to build a plan (and a backup plan) before making any sort of decision. That doesn’t make him slow to act, however. He’s gotten rather swift and coming up with a plan and executing it without much trouble. He tends to be rather abrasive. Sosuke will tell you exactly what he thinks of you instead of making you waste time guessing. If he thinks you’re annoying he’ll say so. Despite this, he’s a very caring and loyal man, you just have to warm your way through his icy exterior. Sosuke keeps people away because not only does he believe he’s a danger to them, he believes they’re a danger to him. However, once you get him out of his shell, he’s very tender. He’d prioritize your comfort over his own just because he wants you to be happy and safe.

Abilities: ice manipulation

Likes: Books, the smell of coffee, winter, cats

Dislikes: being inconvenienced, being caught off guard, crowds, small talk

To the left is the younger brother, Maku Himura;

Age: 18

Race: Child of Death

Occupation: ((Menace to society— jk)) N/A

Appearance: Maku is about 5’6” (167.6 cm). Like his brother, he too is rather pale and thin. Maku has icy blue eyes, fangs, and pointed ears. His ears are a bit shorter than Sosuke’s and his fangs are a bit longer (he occasionally has a lisp because of this when he gets a little too hyped up.) he has tufty, silver hair which he parts in the middle. On top of his head are two cowlicks that lift his hair like cat ears. Maku is seen sporting leathers, spikes, ripped jeans, and converses. He is a huge fan of the punkrock-scene aesthetic.

Personality: if Sosuke is ice, Maku is fire. Maku prefers to act now and ask for forgiveness later. He’ll do anything for a bit of fun. He does what he wants, when he wants, and prefers life to feel like an adventure rather than a list. Maku has little regards for his own safety. This is how he shows he cares. If he’s attached to you, he’d throw himself into a vat of acid just to keep you safe. He would protect those he loves at any cost. With that said, he has little to no self preservation. Maku lacks the understanding that care and affection is a two way street and that people can care about *him* as well. He acts like he doesn’t care but it’s just his way of hiding the idea that, like everyone else, he’s soft on the inside. Like his brother, Maku tries not to feed often, though it’s not as altruistic as Sosuke’s reasons. Hurting others to keep himself alive kinda messes with him because he values others a lot and doesn’t value himself, like, at all.

Abilities: enhanced physical prowess (faster/stronger than most humans but lacks any magical capabilities)

Likes: cows (it’s a long story he has a pet cow), fizzy drinks, jelly filled doughnuts, loud music, trying new things

Dislikes: being bored, having to think things through, being lonely, the tufts on his head, the fact that he lisps when he gets to excited

[nrth-wind-a]

[skrael is so so so slowly coming back sljfk so... what if i just dropped him into the d.c u.niverse and said ‘good luck’]

[atherix0]

ohmygosh GREENHOUSE :D

i was already excited with the idea of mumbo gifting scar a greenhouse since the first time grian and him saw his flat, but to see how much the story has progressed with their relationship and the added layer of what scar’s plants mean/do for him—

ksjdjshdisjssjjsuchsisi

i’m in love with your writing and even more so with how well you map a story out. just the fact that something so old and forgotten has the potential to be something new as a show of love is everything to me. it also adds so much that the sunroom was introduced as part reason to why mumbo returned to boatem and stayed in his manor (more specifically adopted it as his own again).

side note, something about knowing mumbo trained professionally as a doctor rather just offhandedly having first aid knowledge is a beautiful visual, it’s giving carlisle from twilight but a sexy british man. with so much time on his hands, why wouldn’t he train in a difficult profession in order to help other people without recognition or a need of money, the selfless bastard (affectionate)

but ahhhhhhhh! the sunroom reflected a time of war and pain, a time when mumbo came back to help others in times of need. the sunroom was something luxurious and beautiful, yet it was sacrificed to the cost of war. THE FACT THAT IT’LL BE REMADE IN THE NAME OF LOVE AFTER ALL THIS TIME OF NEGLECT??

it’s an addition to the manor that will truly show how important scar is to their lives; from being a hated stranger to a beloved partner, in this essay i will—

nothing will ever not be enough for mumbo’s partners and it’s so beautiful to note how much effort he’s willing to put into his manor so it’s theirs as well (he owned a house and they’re making it a homeeeee).

i’m basking in the fluffiness yet am also excited to what the future may hold for our lovers. the set up of scar leaving for the first time since their establishment has so much potential for angst or as a testament to their love, i can’t wait to see what comes from it.

it builds when mumbo also considers how unnecessarily selfless scar can be. it was a small observation at the end but i can’t help but recognize how little scar prioritizes his wants/needs beyond balancing his magic because he’s been told all his life how little time he has. it’s one thing to know of your limited time, it’s another when you’ve been consistently reminded how fragile and limited you are because of things “destined” to happen. my traumatized elf :(

scar deserves his happiness with his lovers and i can’t wait to read when he sees it for himself. they potentially symbolize something worth living for outside of sacrificing time for others (the moment scar confines in them of his wants might be the day i die because it’s a level of trust, it’s a huge step in their relationship, it’s wHEN HE GIVES IN TO HIS NEEDS AND PLEASURE—). his possessive lovers love him because he is worth being loved, regardless of the impact one could make on such restricted time. our scar deserves to be selfish, i refuse to believe otherwise *^*

i want to apologize for ranting so much yet i can’t, knowing it’s a result from the genius that is your talent and craftsmanship. i just, i appreciate you so much. thank you for taking the time to share your work with us readers. it’s semi silly to think i’m hyperfixating on minecraft fanfiction, but you continuously make it worth getting excited over.

i also can’t help but commend you on your references. beyond the places each lover first resided in, just the subtle details that make it specific to minecraft is *chef’s kiss* the Mycelia War made me smile so big (i mean it’s terrible in context with the story, but yknow lol)

YASSS I love greenhouses <3

Ahaha I believe you left an ask about it before yeah? It was so jhgfdjkjh bc I had intended for Mumbo to do this for AGES now <3 And now Mumbo has more knowledge to make him decide that a greenhouse is not only good but a necessity for their Elf <3

Ahaha thank you so much <3 I absolutely love the idea of bringing old and abandoned places back to life <3 A room no one even knows is there, bringing new life to it for the sake and comfort of someone you love who doesn't even live there yet nfdsjkfsjdk <3<3

I am not gonna lie I never read Twilight and have no idea who Carlisle is \<3 To which I have just realized there is some irony in that I named my series the Midnight Series......... lmao- But ye Mumbo's had time over his life to learn a lot of skills <3 He's a soft heart and such a selfless person <3 and also back then was before he knew of any blood-delivering services so if anything went wrong during a feeding-

YEAH <3 <3 <3 Mumbo hasn't even LOOKED at it since before the war but immediately he thinks about it and the potential it has to help Scar <3 I adore the idea of grand but personal displays of love, something that is big but still means something on a very personal level to the person. Grian's feathers, a place for Scar's plants in Mumbo and Grian's house..... <3

YEAH IM HJFSJKDSHJ I was rereading my own fic (for. Reasons.) and I was cackling at Mumbo being so unhappy about seeing Scar because of how far they've come all thanks to a smart little birdman <3 They really went from "wow I have to deal with this for 20 minutes a year can we PLEASE not make this longer" to "you're staying here tonight" to "I'm gonna kiss you every day for the rest of our lives" lmao-

YESSSS Mumbo's been alone for so long, he's spent all his Isolations alone (and away from the manor, coming back during his Active periods but they're so much shorter than Isolation period </3) and now that he's not alone he wants to make sure they're comfortable and happy <3 They bring light to the manor and life to Mumbo and I just hjfsdkjfdsj <3

Enjoy the fluffiness while it lasts <3 Haha yes, I wonder what might happen.... :)

YEAH our poor Elf boi, he's always prioritized other people over himself </3 Well, to a degree. There are some things he's not willing to sacrifice/do (as we saw in his history with the Fae King and Cub hjfdsalk) but </3 speaking up about his wants or needs? This is the man who pushed Mumbo's buttons on purpose just because he didn't want to inevitably hurt Mumbo when he dies, despite having feelings for him </3 So fdjksgsdjk <3

He does deserve happiness and his partners will shower him with love until he realizes/accepts it <3 (ghjfdjkgfdjk this is a man for whom allowing someone to touch his hair is a big deal, the amount of trust it takes for him to finally hjfdsjkfghjds <3) YES. He is worth being loved and regardless of the future this is still so <3 and they will make sure he knows hfgjkjk <3 I agree with you let the man be selfish for once <3

Haha no need to even want to apologize, I love reading these <3 waking up to these in the morning is one of the funnest things hjkfgkdjkj Thank you so so so much, I'm so happy you enjoy it so much I'm having so much fun writing it <3 <3

Hahaha Thank youuuu!! <3 I love adding little references like that hjkfgjkdjkgfkj <3

[danpuff-ao3]

💝 Danpuff's Ships, pt 2: I like it, I love it, I want some more of it

In the post here I discussed my Top 10 ships! Here is a list of 10 more ships I love, but need more of!

Lucius/Percy (Percius??)

> Why? Why not? Lucius is a man of taste and standards, which Percy can (quite gladly!) meet. Percy is eager to please, Lucius is eager to be pleased. I imagine lots of power dynamics here. Plus the age gap. Plus the Malfoy-Weasley rivalry fun.

I feel like Lucius might turn his nose up at Percy, but could see his worth and be impressed. Besides, Percy doesn't get near enough appreciation! He could easily go from being Lucius' pet to a solid, valued partner without Lucius really seeing the change until it slaps him in the face one day. There would be a big, messy questionable start that I think has the potential to be something they could both be proud of.

Wow, even I didn't know I had so many feelings about Percy and Lucius. Which means: pretty please someone write me more, cuz wow.

> What sold me: The Windsor Knot

Cissamione (Hermione/Narcissa)

Why? Hello, age gap. Hello, blood purity drama. Hello, dating someone your son went to school with and hated! Hello, dating someone who was tortured in your home by your sister! C'mon, there's lots of tension and angst potential here. Plus, I don't know. Something about the way they carry themselves speaks to me.

Narcissa is elegant, intelligent, and capable. Stronger than she's maybe given credit for. A loving mother, loyal to those she cares about. Willing to do what it takes for the people she loves. Hermione is strong, loyal, smart, and passionate. They could be a good match. Sit around, chatting about books. Discussing magical theories and politics, with Hermione ranting vehemently while Narcissa calmly quietly challenges her. And let's be real...Narcissa would make a great Minister's wife!

> What sold me: Wrapped in Pearls

> My contribution: Welcome to the Family (mult. ship, Draco-centric)

Ginmione (Ginny/Hermione)

> Why? Friends-to-lovers doesn't always work for me, but I'm really intrigued by Ginny and Hermione. But I feel like their friends-to-lovers journey would be more fraught. They're both strong, capable women who can butt heads. They don't always see eye to eye. Not to mention the drama of at best, Hermione previously being the object of Ron's (Ginny's brother's) desires and Harry (Hermione's best friend) previously being the object of Ginny's. At worst, Ronmione and Hinny actually happen, leading to even more drama and heartbreak. (But that's okay, Harry is Snape's soulmate, anyway.)

I also feel like their respective careers are too important to them. Hermione will want to continue schooling and then throw herself into making the world a better place, whatever career she chooses. Ginny will want to play Quidditch and travel. Established relationship could be fun with them, be it long distance or even just them both prioritizing their careers over time together. Or getting into fights because one sees the other is working too hard and tries to talk to them about it.

> What sold me: Apples and Oranges, Too

Drarius (Draco/Sirius)

> Why? Age gap? SOLD. Oh wait, there's more? They're cousins? Well, say no more! Oh, there's more?? Oh yeah, the whole Gryffindor-Slytherin thing is fun, and so is Order member + (ex) Death Eater!

For me, with a lot of Draco ships, I like people who act as a "balance" for him, but Sirius is one of those I see as being more on his level. They're both from pureblood families (um, the same pureblood family, haha) and raised with blood purity beliefs. Sirius disavowed it early on and rebelled. Draco leaned into it. I don't think Sirius would want to understand it (because he doesn't share those beliefs, not anymore, if he ever did) but I think some part of him would. And even not taking those beliefs into account, they come from the same society and know what it's like.

Sirius is a little rougher around the edges, Draco a bit more refined, but they're both a bit bratty, I think, and a bit witty. They both have their pride and their temper. They could set each other off pretty easily, I think. They would know how to tease one another, both playfully and not so playfully. They can both be petty, turned on one another, but also as a joint effort aimed at others!

And I think once they got past the nastiness, they could just plain have fun together. Or, you know, have fun together even with the nastiness, once they grew accustomed to it. Sirius is charming and funny and mischievous and adventurous, who could easily woo a (mildly reluctant) Draco. And Draco would cling to his pride and decency for a time, but eventually relent and let Sirius show him a good time. Not even in the sexy way (but, let's be real, that, too.) They could ride a motorcycle, go to a club, go to a concert, smoke, go to Quidditch games, all sorts of things.

Draco's parents would...probably not approve. But also, they might consider him better than other options and reluctantly offer their approval...or at least their tolerance.

ALSO: if you're like me and enjoy Severus as Draco's godfather...and also ship snarry...then we can enjoy Drarius + Snarry for some good ole "enemies seducing one another's godfathers." Or is that too specific and just me? 😂

> What sold me: Old Dogs and New Tricks

> My Contribution: Welcome to the Family

> BONUS: specific Drarius + Snarry (featuring unrequited Snaco & Sirry): More Than It Looks Like

Luna/Hermione (Lunamione?)

(@perverse-idyll, I know you mentioned this one!)

> Why? They're so very different, aren't they? Very logical, down to earth Hermione and strange, head in the clouds Luna? Of course, they're both very intelligent, curious women. Brave, loyal women. Gifted women.

I think, given the chance, they can learn a lot from one another. Post-war especially, having overcome so many obstacles and having shared so many experiences. They fought a war, dang it!

They can travel together. Learn together. Grow together. Support causes together. Hermione raging endlessly against injustice with Luna there supporting her, but also helping soothe her. Imagine Hermione getting too worked up in an argument and Luna popping in as the voice of reason. Imagine Hermione clinging too hard to facts and Luna helping open her mind. Imagine Luna being moved by how deeply Hermione cares about the beings around her. Imagine Hermione being inspired by Luna's faith and optimism.

Imagine them working together and having a breakthrough discovery, largely thanks to both of their strengths, and celebrating! A hug, a kiss, a date...other fun times, even.

These two could change the world together, mark my words.

They could also drive each other batshit crazy. Hermione's a stick in the mud, too rigid. Luna won't stop chasing Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. (C'mon, this is a Danni list, I thrive on tension and challenge!)

> What sold me: Against All Explanation

Jegulus (James/Regulus)

> Why? Hooking up with your best mate's brother? The scandal! Especially when said brothers are not super close. Sirius pulls away from his family and imagine James somehow getting closer to, and falling for, Regulus? Not to mention Regulus' end of things, coming from a blood purity background and falling for the blood traitor. Then the obvious angst of James joining the Order and Regulus joining the Death Eaters! Also: Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry. Also: secret relationship. ALSO: they can bond over Quidditch.

> What sold me: The Heart of a Lion

> My Contribution: The Green Dress

Perceville (Neville/Percy)

(Thanks @careofmagicalshippers for the stellar ship name!)

> Why? Listen, they're adorable, okay? Okay. Glad we had this talk.

ANYWAY. For one, Percy doesn't get nearly enough love. He is ambitious and hardworking and strong. He didn't align with his family when he disagreed with them -- strong in his beliefs, for better or worse. But also open enough to accept when he is wrong, to change and make things right. Not a lot of people are capable of that. It takes a strong person to not only realize they messed up, but to own up to it.

And Neville. Sweet Neville. He also stood up to the people around him (Book One: "It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends.") Neville is shy and insecure, but also brave and loyal and kind. So very kind in a life that has not been very kind to him.

They are both strong, brave people who are willing to stand up for what they think is right. They are both hardworking.

Percy is ambitious. He wants to make an impression. He gravitates towards people in power and people with talent. And Neville, for all of his flaws, does have talent. It would be so nice to have Percy see Neville's gifts and be impressed by them. Neville deserves to be seen and appreciated and respected (for more than just killing Nagini.) And Percy would be someone who could appreciate skill and knowledge. (And let's be real, he could use some greenery to bring life to his dreary office job, where that is!)

(But also, picture Percy running a bookstore and Neville owning the flower shop next door!!!!)

Then there's Percy. I think Neville could equally appreciate what Percy brings to the table. That he's so competent and confident. That he knows so much about so many things. That he's eager to help and to learn.

And while Percy is uptight and strict, Neville would be more easy going and calm. He would be patient with Percy's anxieties and offer him support in whatever he chose to do. Support Percy would very much need! And Percy would give Neville the nudge he needs to stick up for himself and not just others. Would encourage him to think big! Percy could be the one to not only encourage him to open the flower shop, but would help him get it set up. He'd have the lease ready to sign before Neville could even finish saying "yes"!

More than anything, I just imagine two people who aren't appreciated or respected enough in their lives, actually seeing one another and giving each other the love and support they deserve!

> What sold me: Say It With Flowers

> My Contribution: The Perfect Tree

Roarmac (Ron/Cormac)

(@peachpety I know you mentioned liking Roarmac, and me, too!)

> Why? Honestly, I'll try most Cormac ships. He's a character I like to see explored more and "redeemed", I guess. He's a good character to show growth from without needing an excess of angst. And despite the fact that there are definitely "worse" people in the books, he gets so much flak! It's good to see him explored more in a positive light.

Specifically with Ron, we get a bit of tension from previously being at odds. Ron expecting the worst from Cormac. Cormac more or less "proving" himself to Ron. They can bond over Quidditch. And...well. Most of the Roarmac fics I've read are just plain funny. Can I please have more himbo!Cormac? Please?

> What sold me: The Bro Whey

James Sirius/Scorpius (Jorpius?? Scames??)

> Why? There is something very fun about hooking up with your brother's best friend. Imagine James being annoyed by Albus and Scorpius growing up, but then turns out he develops a thing for that little snot! Though I'll admit, this is one that didn't actually appeal to me at all until I actually read it. And now I need more!

But let's be real, once I realized the great drama potential of "best friend's brother" I was SOLDDDD all the way!

> What sold me: Starlight

Chaco (Draco/Charlie)

> Why? Um, hello. The dragon and the dragon tamer. Plus cute lil age gap (8 years) & family rivalry (Weasley vs. Malfoys, fight fight fight!) Not to mention Charlie, to me, is a relatively calm and strong and solid person who also knows how to have fun, enjoy himself, and be adventurous. That feels like a good combination of things for Draco. Someone he can lean on and count on, who he can also have fun with. Someone who can woo him and adore him and handle his nonsense, but also put up with zero shit.

> What sold me: There's a Symphony Caught Inside (technically The Marriage Stone, but that's primarily Snarry; this fic is a great Chaco-focused fic!)

> My Contribution: Daddy's Dragon

And like last time....it would be cool to see everyone else's ship lists! Whether you feel like waxing poetic about them or not! Feel free to tag me if you do! I love seeing what everyone else loves, and seeing everyone else's thoughts about things!

[hearts-a-heavy-burden]

I love lists, so for posterity. 10 favorite TV characters one per show.

1. Neal Cassidy (OUaT)- Unlike the video game list where I couldn’t really rank I can say that he is my #1 favorite TV character. I will never be over the injustice done to the one character that had the right sense of emotional scale on OUaT. His simultaneous journey of being someone to find forgiveness (for his father) and need forgiveness (from Emma) was heartfelt. Still hurts to think about all of the potential wasted. Bonus points because MRJ smiling means automatic endorphins.

2. Keyleth (Critical Role)- Technically not a tv show but has to be included. Pushing past an anxiety that isn’t played off as quirky plus imposter syndrome to do what you know is the right thing- I’ve never related more to a character. It’s about the consistency of growth but not fundamentally changing who you are. So hard to choose just one from CR though. Vax, Beau, and Veth are my other top tier favorites. Really every PC on CR is a 10/10 for me -except Scanlan.

3. Sherlock and Joan (Elementary) - Look it’s cheating but I cannot separate them. They’ve made me realize that sometimes when I ship something it’s not about actually wanting romance. Usually romance is the only way TV shows will let characters prioritize each other first and stay together forever even after the finale of the show. When the show ended and they affirmed they were life partners I didn’t care it wasn’t romantic. The important thing is that it was one Watson and one Holmes. Also I want Lucy Lui to please adopt me and teach me her ways.

4. Michael (The Good Place)- The whole Soul Squad actually belongs here but I chose Michael as representatation for the season 1 and season 4 ending and the growth in between. Also because the scene where he kicked a puppy into the sun. This show is magical and the closest I’ve seen to a perfect show. It’s through actors like Ted Danson and characters like Michael that it was possible.

5. Sark (Alias)- A charismatic villain in it for himself and the money and that never changes. Sometimes a girl just wants to see David Anders put on a fake British accent. Sometimes I wish more shows allowed for this instead of trying to redeem every villain that’s hot. He’s a villain standard I hold other characters against.

6. Peter Burke (White Collar)- Neal has the dreamy eyes but Peter Burke is everything I’d ever want in a man. He’s part of the healthiest married relationship on TV, he’s actually as smart and competent as the criminals he goes after, and is a great father figure to a man who’s not that much younger than him. Chef’s kiss what more could you want.

7. Gus (Psych)- Not a ton to say except he’s funny and Dulé Hill is an actor I could watch forever. Playing the “straight man” most of the time is hard and I don’t think I’ve seen it done better than in Gus.

8. Korra (Legend of Korra) - An amazing character stuck in a just ok show for the most part (we don’t talk about season 2). I like that she was allowed to be brash and hot headed and make mistakes that had consequences. I think her growth throught seasons 1,3,and 4 was done well. I love her design. My biggest wish was that she and her and the Krew acted more like an actual friend group and that the seasonal plots had been more cohesive.

9. Leo Wyatt (Charmed) - The 100% nostalgia fueled pick. Can’t help that I still have a crush on him- he gave up his supernatural powers for her isn’t that the dream? Looking back I can see he was barely his own character and honestly was a bad boyfriend/husband at times. None of this stops me from loving him and his relationship with Piper (my favorite of the sisters).

10. Seol Ji-hyun ( Time) - I watch way too many Kdramas to not include one character. Honestly I don’t watch a ton of melodramas mostly I stick to ro-coms because I’m looking for fun. Ji-Hyun is a girl seeking revenge/justice for the death of her sister under suspicious circumstances. She gives up a lot to get it. What I like best is the balance of what she was and wasn’t willing to do in order-give up in order to achieve her goals. I don’t even have to imagine the difference it would be as an American show- I’ve seen Revenge. I’m sure some people think she was annoying at points but I felt her emotions and actions always tracked in where she drew the line. I really really felt the frustration at rich people not being held accountable for pretty much anything. The main male character, Cheon Soo-Ho, one of those said rich people, had an amazing but tragic story that complemented her journey. I

[wtfzodiacsigns]

The Zodiac Signs Symbols

Aries:  Symbolized by the Ram, Aries charges his opponents, unafraid of butting heads. While sheep are passive, rams can be dominant and even dangerous. Aries’ fearlessness is unparalleled, as he bounds into uncharted territories, the rest of us following suit. His energy can sometimes manifest as directness, as he speaks his mind without hesitation. While his brazen honesty can offend, it comes from a place of genuineness and innocence. He is often unaware of the feelings he has hurt. This simplicity and straightforwardness is part of Aries charm.

Taurus:  Symbolized by the Bull, Taurus is slow and stubborn, her head facing downward, toward the earth. A large and sturdy animal, the Bull’s body is weighted to the ground through her enormity and the force of gravity. Moving slowly and steadily, Taurus takes her time to open up her heart to vulnerability. When she does, her power is evident. She awakens our senses, connecting us to our bodies and the virtues of earthly delight.

Gemini:  Symbolized by the Twins, Gemini is notorious for having two sides or personalities, and for being two-faced. His dual nature lends to adaptability, as he’s able to explore all facets of ideas or situations. Accumulating many friends and acquaintances, exchange is important for the Twins, who love to teach others, while trading ideas and quips. They are inquisitive, but also restless, with active minds that seldom rest.  

Cancer: Symbolized by the Crab, Cancer carries her home on her back. This gives her great strength on the exterior while sometimes preventing her from revealing her softer interior. Pinchers can come out, protecting her from the pain of deep sensitivity and vulnerability. With near psychic ability, she can feel what others are feelings. Her shell helps to form a barrier that delineates herself from others. Home is very important to the tender Crab, who needs a lot of alone time in coziness and comfort in order to regenerate. When she feels safe, no one is more caring than the Crab, who dances with loved ones in the sea of emotion, extending a visceral sense of home and sanctuary to anyone close to her.

Leo:  Symbolized by the Lion, Leo is strong and confident, roaring freely as he displays the shock of his golden mane. Loving and lovable, the regal Lion prefers being kind or queen, ruling with immeasurable compassion. If his ego grows too large, the Lion can fall off – kilter, operating from pride, vanity, and conceit, rather than his innate kindness. Cuddly and affectionate, the Lion can be a loving partner and friend, delighted when others bask in his light.

Virgo:  Represented by the Virgin, one of Virgo’s key traits is her love of purity. With loyalty and pure intentions, she devotes herself to caring for friends and even strangers, softening her sometimes-icy exterior once someone has earned her trust. At that point, Virgo can emerge as affectionate, gentle, magical, and warm. In Latin, the word Virgo means “self- contained,” which is perhaps more accurate in depicting this sign than the literal virgin. Self-sufficient, Virgo devotes herself to serving the earth and all beings by first taking care of herself. She will continue working hard to benefit others, as long as she receives proper respect and appreciation.

Libra:  Symbolized by the Scales, Libra represents justice and equilibrium. Taking his time to make decisions, Libra can become stagnant as he weighs both sides of every issue. Libra’s opposite, Aries, is decisive but crude, while Libra is refined and polite, though often held back by hesitancy. Seeking to keep the Scales in balance, Libra demonstrates his diplomacy, elegance, and grace, enveloping friends and partners in magnanimity and appreciation. Despite his wishy-washy nature, Libra can be a crusader, possessing an unyielding sense of fairness. He can delicately stand up for what is right, balancing whatever is unjust or off – kilter.  

Scorpio: The classic symbol for Scorpio is the Scorpion. However, two other symbols also represent Scorpio – the Eagle and the Phoenix. These three embody the various layers of Scorpio’s spiritual growth. When overwhelmed by challenging emotions, the Scorpion crawls on the ground, hiding away in dark corners of repression, ready to sting and destroy when threatened. The Eagle, too, can strike at any moment. But unlike the Scorpion, he glides through the sky—confident, visible, and free. The soaring bird has probing eyes, aware of the subtleties that others might miss. The Phoenix is the most evolved of the symbols, representing the transformational quality of Scorpio as a mythological bird who cyclically regenerates. Dying in flames, the Phoenix is reborn from the ashes – life forming from destruction. Similarly, Scorpio’s power comes from her willingness to open fully to fear, and to find spiritual rebirth from the little deaths of ego.    

Sagittarius: Symbolized by the Centaur and Archer, Sagittarius points his arrow toward abstract truth and faraway lands, galloping into the distance to gather experiences and wisdom. Half horse, half man, the Centaur has animal strength and stamina, along with human ability to philosophize. A straight shooter, no sign has more candor, which can be both a gift and a curse. Sagittarius speaks his mind, sometimes pushing his own beliefs onto others. Keeping his ideologies in check, no sign is more inspiring, helping others to broaden their horizons by introducing them to expansive views and experiences.

Capricorn:  Symbolized by the Sea – Goat, Capricorn has two sides – the mountain goat and the fish. She can climb the mountains of success and social prestige, while also diving deep into the ocean of wisdom. Harnessing practicality, she places one foot in front of the other, moving steadily, with strong sense of purpose and intention. Practical and retrained, she prioritizes achieving the task at hand, sometimes at any cost. Dedicated to reaching the highest peaks in all of her endeavors, the Goat does not lose sight of the ideals gleaned from Sagittarius. She applies determination to creating strong family units, as well as the systems and structures that form the basis of society. A mature Capricorn is more inclined to use her fishtail, diving deep into the wells of emotion before laying a foundation or beginning her steady rise to accomplishment.

Aquarius: Symbolized by the Water Bearer, Aquarius is one of the signs represented as a human – being along with Virgo the Virgin and Gemini the Twins. The Water Bearer offers water – the sustenance of life and spirituality – and he does so without sacrificing his individuality or independence. Water washes away the past and clear the way for a future more connected with purity and enlightenment. A visionary, the Water Bearer carries a vessel that symbolizes open – ended spirituality – available to all in equal measure. Water itself represents the collective unconscious, along with the sea of interconnection. As the second to the last sign, Aquarius is preparing us for Pisces, the last stop of the zodiac, which represents transcendence. In this way, Aquarius the Water Bearer Is the height of human possibility before dissolving into spirituality, nonconceptuality and oneness.  

Pisces:  Pisces is symbolized by two Fish who swim in opposite directions. The word Pisces means “fish” in Latin. Feelings pulled by the duality of being human, Pisces struggles to be both spiritual and human, tied to the material realm while floating in space. It is also said that one Fish is swimming upstream toward transcendence, while the other brings that wisdom downstream, back into the world. The two Fish embody receptivity, as Pisces possesses the capacity to understand opposing views and all facets of human nature and existence. Swimming effortlessly through any current, the Fish can blend with their surroundings, accommodating all that arises. Pisces is therefore the most compassionate of signs, embodying universal love, totality, forgiveness, and understanding.

Source: rose-oracles

[rose-oracles]

The Zodiac Signs Symbols

Aries:  Symbolized by the Ram, Aries charges his opponents, unafraid of butting heads. While sheep are passive, rams can be dominant and even dangerous. Aries’ fearlessness is unparalleled, as he bounds into uncharted territories, the rest of us following suit. His energy can sometimes manifest as directness, as he speaks his mind without hesitation. While his brazen honesty can offend, it comes from a place of genuineness and innocence. He is often unaware of the feelings he has hurt. This simplicity and straightforwardness is part of Aries charm.

Taurus:  Symbolized by the Bull, Taurus is slow and stubborn, her head facing downward, toward the earth. A large and sturdy animal, the Bull’s body is weighted to the ground through her enormity and the force of gravity. Moving slowly and steadily, Taurus takes her time to open up her heart to vulnerability. When she does, her power is evident. She awakens our senses, connecting us to our bodies and the virtues of earthly delight.

Gemini:  Symbolized by the Twins, Gemini is notorious for having two sides or personalities, and for being two-faced. His dual nature lends to adaptability, as he’s able to explore all facets of ideas or situations. Accumulating many friends and acquaintances, exchange is important for the Twins, who love to teach others, while trading ideas and quips. They are inquisitive, but also restless, with active minds that seldom rest.  

Cancer:  Symbolized by the Crab, Cancer carries her home on her back. This gives her great strength on the exterior while sometimes preventing her from revealing her softer interior. Pinchers can come out, protecting her from the pain of deep sensitivity and vulnerability. With near psychic ability, she can feel what others are feelings. Her shell helps to form a barrier that delineates herself from others. Home is very important to the tender Crab, who needs a lot of alone time in coziness and comfort in order to regenerate. When she feels safe, no one is more caring than the Crab, who dances with loved ones in the sea of emotion, extending a visceral sense of home and sanctuary to anyone close to her.

Leo:  Symbolized by the Lion, Leo is strong and confident, roaring freely as he displays the shock of his golden mane. Loving and lovable, the regal Lion prefers being kind or queen, ruling with immeasurable compassion. If his ego grows too large, the Lion can fall off – kilter, operating from pride, vanity, and conceit, rather than his innate kindness. Cuddly and affectionate, the Lion can be a loving partner and friend, delighted when others bask in his light.

Virgo:  Represented by the Virgin, one of Virgo’s key traits is her love of purity. With loyalty and pure intentions, she devotes herself to caring for friends and even strangers, softening her sometimes-icy exterior once someone has earned her trust. At that point, Virgo can emerge as affectionate, gentle, magical, and warm. In Latin, the word Virgo means “self- contained,” which is perhaps more accurate in depicting this sign than the literal virgin. Self-sufficient, Virgo devotes herself to serving the earth and all beings by first taking care of herself. She will continue working hard to benefit others, as long as she receives proper respect and appreciation.

Libra:  Symbolized by the Scales, Libra represents justice and equilibrium. Taking his time to make decisions, Libra can become stagnant as he weighs both sides of every issue. Libra’s opposite, Aries, is decisive but crude, while Libra is refined and polite, though often held back by hesitancy. Seeking to keep the Scales in balance, Libra demonstrates his diplomacy, elegance, and grace, enveloping friends and partners in magnanimity and appreciation. Despite his wishy-washy nature, Libra can be a crusader, possessing an unyielding sense of fairness. He can delicately stand up for what is right, balancing whatever is unjust or off – kilter.  

Scorpio: The classic symbol for Scorpio is the Scorpion. However, two other symbols also represent Scorpio – the Eagle and the Phoenix. These three embody the various layers of Scorpio’s spiritual growth. When overwhelmed by challenging emotions, the Scorpion crawls on the ground, hiding away in dark corners of repression, ready to sting and destroy when threatened. The Eagle, too, can strike at any moment. But unlike the Scorpion, he glides through the sky—confident, visible, and free. The soaring bird has probing eyes, aware of the subtleties that others might miss. The Phoenix is the most evolved of the symbols, representing the transformational quality of Scorpio as a mythological bird who cyclically regenerates. Dying in flames, the Phoenix is reborn from the ashes – life forming from destruction. Similarly, Scorpio’s power comes from her willingness to open fully to fear, and to find spiritual rebirth from the little deaths of ego.    

Sagittarius: Symbolized by the Centaur and Archer, Sagittarius points his arrow toward abstract truth and faraway lands, galloping into the distance to gather experiences and wisdom. Half horse, half man, the Centaur has animal strength and stamina, along with human ability to philosophize. A straight shooter, no sign has more candor, which can be both a gift and a curse. Sagittarius speaks his mind, sometimes pushing his own beliefs onto others. Keeping his ideologies in check, no sign is more inspiring, helping others to broaden their horizons by introducing them to expansive views and experiences.

Capricorn:  Symbolized by the Sea – Goat, Capricorn has two sides – the mountain goat and the fish. She can climb the mountains of success and social prestige, while also diving deep into the ocean of wisdom. Harnessing practicality, she places one foot in front of the other, moving steadily, with strong sense of purpose and intention. Practical and retrained, she prioritizes achieving the task at hand, sometimes at any cost. Dedicated to reaching the highest peaks in all of her endeavors, the Goat does not lose sight of the ideals gleaned from Sagittarius. She applies determination to creating strong family units, as well as the systems and structures that form the basis of society. A mature Capricorn is more inclined to use her fishtail, diving deep into the wells of emotion before laying a foundation or beginning her steady rise to accomplishment.

Aquarius: Symbolized by the Water Bearer, Aquarius is one of the signs represented as a human – being along with Virgo the Virgin and Gemini the Twins. The Water Bearer offers water – the sustenance of life and spirituality – and he does so without sacrificing his individuality or independence. Water washes away the past and clear the way for a future more connected with purity and enlightenment. A visionary, the Water Bearer carries a vessel that symbolizes open – ended spirituality – available to all in equal measure. Water itself represents the collective unconscious, along with the sea of interconnection. As the second to the last sign, Aquarius is preparing us for Pisces, the last stop of the zodiac, which represents transcendence. In this way, Aquarius the Water Bearer Is the height of human possibility before dissolving into spirituality, nonconceptuality and oneness.  

Pisces:  Pisces is symbolized by two Fish who swim in opposite directions. The word Pisces means “fish” in Latin. Feelings pulled by the duality of being human, Pisces struggles to be both spiritual and human, tied to the material realm while floating in space. It is also said that one Fish is swimming upstream toward transcendence, while the other brings that wisdom downstream, back into the world. The two Fish embody receptivity, as Pisces possesses the capacity to understand opposing views and all facets of human nature and existence. Swimming effortlessly through any current, the Fish can blend with their surroundings, accommodating all that arises. Pisces is therefore the most compassionate of signs, embodying universal love, totality, forgiveness, and understanding.

- Where I go this information: The Stars Within You. A Modern Guide to Astrology. By Juliana McCarthy.

{Rose-Oracles}

[veravertorp]

alastor moody | twenty three | pureblood | order of the phoenix

wand: aspen wood, dragon heartstring, 13 inches, and rigid. boggart: To his own great chagrin, Lord Voldemort is Alastor’s boggart. patronus: a buzzard. pet: A somewhat gnarly looking Kneazle he adopted, having found the creature living on its own and likely abandoned to the streets of London. His name is Fox, because he has markings like that of the non-magic animal. job: Auror.  faceclaim: william moseley.

                                               history

death tw.

Alastor Moody had high expectations lumped on him from the word go, being born to a mother and father who were both themselves well-respected Aurors. In fact, as were many of his ancestors. Alastor was raised with a very strong sense of wrong and right and in-turn tends to see the world in a fairly black and white manner. His parents were loving but strict, feeling the need to make sure their son did not waste his time on frivolous things. Their world was a battlefield, they’d say, and Alastor had been treated like a soldier long before The First Wizarding War of his era had even truly began.

As a student Alastor had been quickly pegged as a bit of a loner. He was not soft-spoken, he did not know when to sugar coat his blunt opinions. He had been quick to label his peers as foolish, though they had merely been teengaers looking to have fun and enjoy their youth. If he didn’t get that luxury, why should they? This somewhat self-imposed seclusion gave Alastor a lot of time to devote to his studies. He also took part in dueling club, and for the physical upkeep aspect of the sport Alastor took on the role of a beater for his house’s Quidditch team.

Teenage rebellion would strike this otherwise tightly-wound young man at the age of seventeen, when his father was killed on an assignment. Perhaps when his mother needed him the most to be responsible, he’d let go of his long-held inhibitions. He’d gone to parties, he’d let his grades slip, and he’d in general gotten up to a bit of no good. Within this time frame was when Alastor socially started to branch out, quickly making friends once his walls had come down.

The N.E.W.T.s had been the first thing to ground Alastor back down to reality, unable to let all his previous hard work get flushed away by poor scores he’d relentlessly crammed before the tests. It was only as he’d started to come back down from his temporary high that he’d noticed how badly his mother needed him to lean on. She had always been so confident, so strong-willed, but losing her husband had sickened her with grief and Alastor desperately needed to step up to the plate and tend to her. Remorse was the most sobering thing of all.

Now, an Auror himself, Alastor has been able to find somewhat better of a balance between the straight-laced no nonsense individual he once was and a more people friendly version of himself whom can every now and then kick up his feet. As the world starts to dissolve into panic, he can’t help but be thankful for the way he was brought up. It is almost like he was meant for this, meant to be on the front-lines of defense against one of the deadliest wizards they’d yet to see rise.

                                           personality

Alastor is kind of the embodiment of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. He is stubborn, opinionated, arrogant, and generally rough around the edges. He’s got the bedside manner of a Mountain Troll quite often, but despite all that, it’s clear that he is a good guy with the best of intentions. He has a sound moral compass. He is reliable and steadfast. Alastor is the kind of guy who would walk your too-drunk-to-apparate ass home ( or fly, or floo - you get the picture ) and then not mention it again. He will do you a favor without bringing it back up or expecting anything in return. Sure, you might get a lecture about being more responsible for your own self-awareness but he’ll come, he’ll help you. Alastor has a tendency to be over-protective and a bit preachy, but generally that comes from a place of concern for others well-being. Maybe you think he’s too strict, too hard on you, too blunt; but he’d say it’s for good reason.

                                      relationships

marlene mckinnon // alastor is pretty sure that she hates him. he was having a bad day when they met, and he rudely snapped at her-- and has kept accidentally arguing with her ever since. he feels terrible for it and has tried to apologize, but he just can’t seem to break this cycle of fighting. kingsley shacklebolt // his closest friend, now. they enjoy each other’s company, as they are like minded. they would stand together and fight side by side and would follow each other to their graves. alastor has tried not to lean on anyone, but he has always felt comfortable leaning on kingsley and the man lets him, without saying a word. james potter // if james ever wants to succeed as an auror he needs to straighten his act up. alastor would help train him, if he wasn’t so full of himself. he really needs to prioritize what he wants in his life, and stop making enemies faster than allies. quentin travers // he seems so familiar, and hasn’t stopped going after marlene. if she’s ever crying, it’s usually because of this jerk. alastor has suspicions, but hasn’t said anything about them. he wants to investigate the boy, but needs to do it without getting caught.

ALASTOR MOODY is unfortunately TAKEN!

[schraubd]

David's Personal Top Ten Video Games

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time. It is a personal list, reflecting the games that have stuck with me the most over the years. I'm not enough of a gamer to claim it is anything comprehensive, and it has a strong bias to the sorts of genres that I like. Nonetheless, I'd stack these games against any that have been made in my lifetime. Anyway, without further adieu ....

Honorable Mentions:

Portal 2: How can a game with virtually no “dialogue” (if that means conversations between two characters) have some of the best spoken lines in all video game history? I have both the original and a capella versions of the Turret Opera on my iTunes (yes, I have “Still Alive” as well).

Railroad Tycoon II: A brilliant simulator that makes you actually feel like a turn-of-the-century robber baron (by far, the game is most fun to play when set in the late 19th century). If every man goes through his “trains!” phase, this was mine. As in real life, I am not good at playing the stock market.

Horizon: Zero Dawn: Robot dinosaurs! Incredibly, Horizon: Zero Dawn takes a core concept that sounds like word association from an over-caffeinated twelve-year boy and makes an entirely serious game about it—and it works. It works so well, in fact, that I loved it despite the fact that the plot and entire world-building background centers around my single greatest phobia (no, not that—being alive for the extinction of humanity).

10. Sid Meier’s Gettysburg: I find it odd that very few games have sought to replicate Gettysburg’s spin on an RTS—focusing combat around regiments rather than individual units and prioritizing morale over raw numbers. But the thing I like best about Gettysburg—and sadly it’s mostly unique too—is in how it concentrates on controlling territory (and terrain). Many RTS games, for me, might as well have a blank screen over 80% of the map between my base and my opponent’s base. You build up your force, and then try to swarm your opponent before he or she swarms you. But in Gettysburg, the goal of missions is not “wipe out your opposition”. It’s to capture and hold a ridge, or dig in and hold an exposed farmhouse.

My only critiques are that I want this game to be bigger. I want it to encompass dozens of map spanning the entirety of the Civil War. I want to be able memorize even more obscure Union and Confederate generals and wonder if they really were “mediocre” or if that was just a game balance decision. The random battle generator is okay, but this game screams for user-created expansions which I’ve never been able to find.

9. Crimson Skies: A pulpy fun flight simulator taking place in an alternate history 1930s where America has fractured and Zeppelin travel rules the day. The game doesn’t hesitate to lean into its concept (phrases like “broad” and “floozy” abound), and it does a great job world-building in a relatively short period of time. Somehow, I could meet an enemy “ace” for the first time in the middle of a mission and yet still feel like we had a history of epic dogfights together of which this was only the latest. Meanwhile, each of the locations the game takes you to (Hawaii, the Pacific Northwest, Hollywood, the Rocky Mountains, and New York City) are a blast and a half.

A sequel, High Road to Revenge, was released on Xbox and leaned a little too hard into the arcade-y elements (power-ups, automatic evasive maneuvers with the press of a button, and so on). But the original PC game was just right—planes flew exactly like how someone who knows nothing about planes thinks planes fly, which is just perfect. You felt like an ace pilot because of your skill (even though behind the hood the game is really holding your hand). Piloting a gyrocopter through half-built New York City skyscrapers, or a prototype single-engine through the Hollywood "O", is great. Doing it to evade local security, then doing a loop and turning both guns on them -- well, that's the cat's meow.

8. Mass Effect (Trilogy and Andromeda): As far as I’m concerned, the definitive space opera (even muscling out Halo). Fabulous voice acting (listening to Martin Sheen play evil Jed Bartlett is one of the great joys of my life) and memorable plot lines pair with a morality system that at least inches away from “basically decent person or utter asshole.” The universe feels genuinely alive, like there’s an ecosystem and civilization that you’re very much apart, but also moves in your absence.

I can’t really separate out the core trilogy games from one another (each sequel seemed to simultaneously step slightly forward and back), which is not I think an uncommon position. What may be more uncommon is that I think Andromeda stands right in there with the core series. Yes, it was disappointing that it took us to a brand new galaxy and only gave us two new species (while eliminating many of the more backgrounded Milky Way aliens). But I was much more disappointed that there will be no DLC or sequels to continue the story and tie up loose ends.

7. N and N++: There can’t be any serious controversy that N is the greatest Flash game ever made. While Flash demands simplicity, N is not so much simple as it is elegant. It is the perfect balance of speed and control, thoughtfulness and twitch-trigger reflexes, serene relaxation and butt-clenching tension. Once you master the floaty physics and the unique enemy styles, you will truly feel like a ninja—stripped to its core essence and deprived of all the usual but unnecessary bells and whistles. A virtually unlimited supply of levels guarantees you endless gameplay.

And so it is unsurprising that N was one of the rare flash games that made a successful jump to a full true game (in the form of N++), one that has a strong claim on being the greatest platformer ever made. The developers were wise not to disturb the basic formula: run, jump, and slide around a level, dodge obstacles and traps that will kill you instantly, reach the exit. Repeat ad infinitum. But N++ adds just a splash of additional flavors and spices into the mix. A perfect trip-trance soundtrack that sets the mood perfectly (and may single-handedly stave off keyboard-smashing frustration). A few new enemy types that deepen the game without ruining its austere grace. And perhaps most importantly, it adds a bunch of extra, semi-secret challenges (which can be used to unlock still more levels) waiting for the very best-of-best players.

Of all the games on this list, I might be in absolute terms “best” at N++ (there are a non-trivial number of levels in the game where I have a top 100 or even top 10 score on the global leaderboards). And yet there is not the slightest chance that I will ever perfect this game, or even come close to it. Nor is there any chance I will become permanently sick of it. A simple concept, executed brilliantly. The perfect N++ level is also the perfect description of the game.

6. Final Fantasy IX: The question was never whether a Final Fantasy game would make this list, only which one. I’ve long had a soft-spot for FFIX, which I feel is often overlooked inside the series (in part because even on release it seemed players were already looking ahead to the Playstation 2). Yet it’s hard to find fault in Final Fantasy IX as an emblem of a straight-forward JRPG. It has a moving story, fun gameplay, beautiful music, loads of quests to do and places to explore, a fabulous supporting cast (Vivi might be my favorite Final Fantasy character ever written), and a lead character you don’t want to punch (*cough* Final Fantasy X).

Final Fantasy IX is often described as “nostalgic”, and despite the fact that it was only the second game in the series I had ever played, I got that feeling instantly. Try listening to the soundtrack for “Frontier Village Dali” without feeling a little melancholic. You don’t even have to have played. But I recommend that you do.

For the record, my ranking of Final Fantasy games that I’ve played goes: IX, VII, XII, XV, X, XIII.

5. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood: One difficulty in judging games within a series is how to compare an earlier game which still had some rough edges but represented a quantum leap forward versus a later game which didn’t do anything super-novel but tweaked the formula to perfection. That, in a nutshell, is the difference between Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. Now, for me, this is an easy call for idiosyncratic reasons—I played AC:B before AC II, and so I experienced the former as both the perfected model and the quantum leap forward as compared to the original game. But I respect that for those who played the series in order, this is a harder call.

What should be easy for anyone is to agree that together, Assassin’s Creed II and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood represented the AC series reaching its full potential. Ezio continues to be the best protagonist the series has seen to date. Renaissance Italy likewise is the ideal setting for both AC’s vertical and horizontal platforming elements and its shadowy-conspiracy/secret-history plotline. As a franchise, Assassin’s Creed really launched the parkour/open-world exploration genre, and Brotherhood was the first game where every single element of what that genre could be came together. Other more recent games have been tons of fun (Black Flag and Syndicate are I think highlights), but these two games are the reason this series is so iconic.

4. Might and Magic VI: The same problem posed by AC2 versus Brotherhood emerges with Might and Magic VI and VII—except here, I did play them in order. Like the previous entry, I do think that VII ultimately improves upon the formula set out in Might and Magic VI. It’s more versatile, has more replay value, a touch more balanced (and that’s not getting into ArcoMage) … all in all, probably a better technical game.

But Might and Magic VI is for me iconic—it may well be the first RPG I’ve ever truly loved (and given the way this list is stacked in that direction, that’s saying a lot). Virtually all the things that characterize what I love in games today, it had in at least skeletal form. Open world exploration? Check: It was the first game where I felt like I was a true pathfinder—meticulously crawling over every corner of the map to find each obscure bandit’s cave and goblin fortress. To this day I still have the lay of the land in Enroth basically memorized. Overly detailed worldbuilding text to read? Absolutely: my obsessive-streak came out in reading every single artifact description, conversational option, and quest backgrounder (it is canon that Enroth, and the entire planet it resides upon, was blown up in a magical explosion—a fact I’m still resentful towards 3DO for long after it disappeared into bankruptcy). Slight genre-bending? The splash of Sci-Fi onto the fantasy setting was delightful to discover for someone who had never played any of the prior entries in the series. And some of the music—well, the White Cap theme is a thing of beauty, and on my computer “Adagio in G Minor for Strings and Organ” is still listed as “Church Dungeon Music.”

3. Heroes of Might and Magic III: If comparing earlier, more revolutionary games against newer more polished ones presents a problem in the Assassin’s Creed and Might and Magic series, it presents no trouble at all in Heroes of Might & Magic. That’s because the third installation in the series both represented a huge jump forward from what came before and is unquestionably the best entry in the overall sequence.

Sure, some of the expansions are a bit goofy, but they still work—sharpshooters and enchanters are massively overpowered, but they’re generally used in missions that would otherwise be impossible. But the main campaign is fabulous—a surprisingly intricate and interwoven plot that bridges Might and Magic VI and VII compliments outstanding strategy gameplay. And that doesn’t even get into the acre of standalone maps provided, plus countless more available on the web thanks to a map editor so intuitive, even I can use it (I’m terrible with map editors).

As a result of all of this, Heroes III is maybe the only game on this list that can compete with N++ regarding infinite replayability. This is fortunate, because—given the fact that Heroes III was a full-budget release and was not supposed to be “simple”—it ages incredibly well. Even the graphics hold up (no need for that remastered remake—which doesn’t even include the expansions!).

2. Witcher III: As you may have noticed, this list has a strong bias towards RPGs. My preference is toward “Western” RPGs (which have a go-anywhere/do-anything exploration mentality) compared to “Japanese” RPGs (which are more linear and story-driven), but Witcher III does an incredible job of synthesizing the best of both. It has a huge open world to explore, one that feels alive and dynamic—but there is also an incredibly rich story filled with deep, well-written characters (of which Geralt—the player character—is but one).

Gameplay-wise, Witcher III really hits the perfect balance. I simultaneously felt like the biggest bad-ass in the room, but also like a single slip in concentration or bit of overconfidence and my corpse would unceremoniously end up at the bottom of whatever cave I was in. But Witcher III particularly stands out in how it subverts certain common RPG tropes. You are a hero, but you’re not particularly well-liked. You’re a powerful warrior, but you’re still ultimately treated as a pawn in larger political machinations. Your interventions do not always save the day, and sometimes don’t even make things better. If a mission starts with a villager worrying that their beloved has gone missing, nine times out of ten that person has been devoured by a monster well before you ever get there. While many games claim to place the hero in difficult moral dilemmas, Witcher III is a rare case of following through (some games might give you the choice to let a trio of witches eat a group of kids whom you recently played hide-and-seek with, but few make it so that might actually be the more moral of the options in front of you). There’s even a quest where you help a knight rescue a lady in distress from a curse, then lecture him that he’s not entitled to her romantic attention as a reward (talk about a timely intervention in the video game genre!). Over and over again, the game reinforces the message that being really powerful and doing “the right thing” isn’t enough to fix a fundamentally broken system.

Most impressive is the emotional impact that Witcher III dishes out. Sometimes this is a result of rich character development that pays off over the course of the entire game (as in “The Last Wish” quest). But sometimes it shows up in even relatively minor sidequests—the epilogue of the “Black Pearl” quest was one of the more brutal emotional gut-punches I’ve experienced in a video game. Ultimately, this was a game where one always felt like each character was a person—they were imperfect, they had their own interests, hopes, dreams, strengths and foibles, and while you were a little better with a sword and gifted with some preternatural abilities, you were still only one player in a much bigger narrative. As a result, Witcher III might well be, in my estimation, the perfect RPG.

Oh, and Gwent is ludicrously addictive. Let’s not forget that.

1. TIE Fighter: I don’t think this list has a particularly “modern” bias. Still, there’s something impressive about the number one game on this list also being the oldest by some measure. TIE Fighter originally came out in 1994, and the definitive Collector’s Edition was released in 1995. It is, to this day, one of the best games ever made. And that’s not a retrospective assessment. Star Wars: Tie Fighter holds up even played right now.

For starters, it is one of the few elements of the Star Wars universe to get the Empire right. I’m not saying that the Empire is the real protagonist of the series. I am saying that they wouldn’t view themselves as evil—as much as naming spacecraft “Executor” and “Death Star” might suggest otherwise. TIE Fighter is quite self-assured in presenting you as being a force for law and order in the galaxy, battling not just seditious rebels but pirates, smugglers, and other anarchic forces that threaten to tear civilized life apart.

Let’s start with something often overlooked in TIE Fighter: the music. It’s probably the only context that the phrase “kick-ass MIDI soundtrack” makes sense. But that’s not even the half of it. The iMuse system dynamically and seamlessly arranges the musical cues to reflect what’s going on around you in the mission—you can literally follow important mission updates (e.g., a wingman being shot down, or reinforcements arriving) simply by the way the melody shifts. I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered anything quite like it since. To this day, the number that accompanies an incoming enemy capital ship fills me with exhilarated dread.

Gameplay-wise, TIE Fighter is almost shockingly rich. The core mission requirements are challenging, but by no means out of reach. But embedded in each level are a series of secondary and secret bonus objectives. These unlock a parallel plot of the Emperor’s Secret Order—but always present a brutal risk/reward calculus. That’s not unrelated to the fact that you’re often flying, well, TIE fighters (not noted for their durability)—but the challenge extends well beyond physical peril. TIE Fighter actually gives you an “invincibility” option if you want it, and yet even with it on some of the later missions and bonus objectives will strain every piloting skill you’ve ever developed.

Most importantly, the secret objectives usually are more involved than “blow up everything in sight.” They reward initiative and exploration. Maybe your primary mission objective is to destroy a rebel space station. But just before it goes down, you spot an escape shuttle fleeing the station. Take it out? Maybe—but maybe the occupants are VIPs best taken alive. So you switch to ion cannons and disable it for capture. Yet that extra time you just spent has given the rebels enough breathing room to summon reinforcements—now an enemy cruiser is bearing down on you. Take out its missile launchers and clear path for bombers while praying that your own Star Destroyer will arrive soon to back you up. All on the fly. All while dogfighting starfighters, dodging mines, giving your wingmen orders … it’s insanely, beautifully chaotic.

Did I mention this is all happening in 1995? 90% of games released today don’t have that kind of depth or spontaneity. In terms of playability, replayability, and just plain fun, TIE Fighter stands alone, and unchallenged.

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2HbDTEl

[fantasyresident]

Sharing My New RPG Idea: Dark Equillibrium

13 Unassuming characters find themselves suddenly roaming within a strange school known as the Academy of Arkhaz. This mysterious academy is lead by a supposedly top-qualified professor named Suloamm Netelra, the man responsible for honing the skills of his 13 students. It is not long before they realize that there is no return to where they came from, each student unaware of how they ended up in the Academy in the first place. Their memories, including their past lives, are slowly recovered as the years in Arkhaz progress, each memory growing darker and darker. While they thought their only purpose was to master their unique black magic-esque abilities, the true purpose of their time spent at Arkhaz is a truth more shocking, one most would rather forget.

The Characters:

Suloamm Netelra: The professor at Arkhaz and an expert of the magical arts. He knows all Hextonomy (spells that reflect the nature of one’s soul) and passes this knowledge onto his students, sometimes in harsh ways in order to promote learning. 

Neracc: Initially hard to get along with, but once trust is earned, he'll be loyal to anyone's cause. He's highly intuitive and extremely emotional, whether if its happiness or despair, the feeling is strong and unbearable for those around him.

Seria: Asserts herself as a leader and loves to take control with her bold trailblazing personality. She's competitive with her classmates and is always open with her thoughts, even if they are harsh at times.

Uratus: Very brave and not willing to change his opinion for the sake of others. He is willing to see other viewpoints, but maintains his own unless he is compelled to change. He's quite particular about what friends he makes and who he will talk to. He will even challenge authority if he thinks a task is pointless or immoral. Uratus deeply values honest of others and tends to practice what he preeches.

Migeni: Her interests and goals are often conflicting, and as many as she has, she is often balancing one against the other, seeming two-faced to her classmates. It is often difficult for others to keep up with her constantly changing opinions, goals, and actions as she is never sure what she truly wants, because she wants it all. She is smart and compassionate, made up of 2 identities "Storca" and "Xulpol", which manifest upon magical transformation. She never looks back and always maintains at least a half-glass full of optimism.

Elo: At first, he seems a bit selfish and mean spirited to others, but he's truly selfless within and desires only to carve a better future for the ones he cherishes, which is his entire class. His boundaries for love and compassion is endless, which conflicts with his outward personality and demeanor. The pride which he has for his strength to protect his friends is strong, even if he seems to not spend enough time with any of them due to his seemingly selfish agenda. While he may put his own interests first at times, his ultimate agenda is entirely dedicated to his allies.

Goriv: Smart, sophisticated, and kind, Goriv tackles every task at hand without complaining. He's very helpful and not afraid to lend his comrades a hand when needed. At first meeting, he seems a bit shy towards others, but once their intentions are known, Goriv will be a loyal friend until the end. He has high expectations of himself, which may sometimes spill out onto his comrades unintentionally.

Brila: Brila desires a sense of balance and harmony within her life and the lives of those close to her. She desires to be around her friends and can easily see other points of view. She is intelligent and kind and always willing to put others before herself.

Priocos: Very powerful and passionate, Priocos derives this strength from his emotions and is able to feel how someone else feels because of it. He's rather independent, which makes him seem closed off to others due to his tendency to wear his emotions heavily. Realizing this, Priocos tries to communicate with his friends, but often ends up in bad situations due to his excessive understanding of how he feels and his way of communicating it, even though his intentions are pure.

Gistatriaus: Always seeking knowledge, Gistatriaus is one of the most intelligent classmates of the group. He loves adventure and the thrill of the unknown. Open hearted, generous, and always truthful, Gistatriaus may sometimes offend others with his blatant honesty, but he is always seeking a positive result in his endeavors.

Cocipran: Corcipran knows what he wants, including what he wants of others. He is smart, hard-working, and puts himself in full control of his destiny. He follows rules strictly and believes in the order of established law. He prefers these restrictions over freedom of choice, due to not knowing how to handle freedom. He has a hidden sly sense of humor around those he thinks is trustworthy enough to know him.

Quisaaru: Quisaaru has a strong sense of changing the world, and will do anything necessary to do so. He constantly prioritizes those who needs him, sometimes at the expense of others unintentionally. He looks out for everyone, sometimes forgetting himself in the process. He is quite analytical, but doesn't like to be labeled by others, be it good terms like "hero" and "kind", or any bad labels. He sees what he does as a duty and sticks to it for the sake of the greater good.

Siscep: Constantly divided between fantasy and reality, Siscep often dwells on what could be, but realizes the truth of reality. He has a strong respect for the power of the mind and is both smart and creative. He is quite sensitive and may express his outer self differently than his inner self. In comparison to others, he is a bit reserved but has a strong sense of right and wrong and will express it if necessary.

Sphucoihu: She has a tendency to become wrapped up in negative feelings such as jealousy or urges for power, although her intentions are not always bad. She does, however, struggle with many imperfections which differ from her teammates, making her one of the darkest of her classmates. She has a desire for love and seeks out the "one" at any cost, despite the other half of her desiring to heal the broken world around her. Her mystery and ambition often confuse those around her, which is part of her intentions

Each of these characters have their own magical transformations which they train under their professor to unlock within themselves.

[bigskydreaming]

i think druids can be just a member of the pack and not necessarily an emissary? they're just people with magic, if they're devoted to the alpha and his ideas and smart with his power i don't see a problem? also not in the show but there's original old script for s3 and there's a phrase said by deucalion that lydia could be a good emissary because of her power, so maybe it can be any supernatural except shifters? it's not canon but who knows

It’s not really a matter of being a druid versus being an emissary. It’s about the fact that all druids, whether emissaries or not, are supposed to maintain the natural order of things. Emissaries aren’t druids who are just devoted to an alpha or who are part of a pack. They’re druids whose job is to advise alphas....on how to maintain balance. That’s what’s been emphasized over and over as the priority of all the druids on the show. It’s specifically pointed out that Deaton and Morrell don’t always do whatever Deucalion or Talia or Derek or even Scott want them to do, or tell them how to fix every problem....because druids don’t exist to solve a pack’s problems. Their first priority is preserving the natural order of things, the balance or whatever. And Emissaries advise and guide alphas as PART of that job, because werewolf packs are such a big part of the natural order of well, the supernatural world. But its why Marin didn’t just do whatever Deucalion wanted her to, because she might have been his Emissary and part of his pack....but that doesn’t mean that her job as a druid was to just do what he wanted. And so because Deucalion’s actions and goals were contrary to the balance, because despite being his Emissary she wasn’t able to get him to listen or influence him to abandon his goals, she did what she had to do and went outside his pack to others like Scott and sabotaged Deucalion’s plans, because preserving the balance was more important.

And this is the part that doesn’t fit Stiles’ character, and again, it has nothing to do with Scott or whether he was Scott’s emissary or his place in Scott’s pack. Whether Stiles was off on his own or Scott’s right hand man, Stiles just isn’t a character who could have all this power at his finger tips and say, nah, I’m not going to use it because the rules say I shouldn’t. Despite being the Sheriff’s son, he’s literally the least law-abiding character on the show because he prioritizes his personal morality over what he sees as arbitrary laws or restrictions. And hell, sometimes he’s right to. But to any of the druids on the show who might have taught or trained Stiles to be one, like Deaton, the frequency with which Stiles bends the rules and the ease with which he justifies doing so would be a big red flag suggesting that this is not a good candidate for a job that is literally 90% self restraint.

[faiteach]

A Reflection on Romance

I want to preface my musings by saying that, since my divorce I have sworn off romantic relationships. The immediate response from most people in regards to that statement is “Oh no! You can’t give up on love because of one bad experience!” 

Well, I’m not. I’m conceding defeat after 7 failed relationships, 1 failed marriage and more than 30 damaging romantic & sexual encounters with more than 30 individual men overall. I’m admitting that the problem, generally speaking, came from within myself as much as it came from the influencing social constructs outside my control. I’m taking an indefinite leave of absence from the battlefield of love in order to work on myself and to prioritize building up my own life before I have to worry about building a relationship with anyone else. To keep that commitment, I had to close the door on romance completely. I allowed the bitterness and rage to salt the earth of my love and swore I would never again seek out the waters of affection. 

With that being said, lately I’ve felt a warm breeze in the spaces of my heart where I had thought nothing would ever be permitted to grow again. 

I'm learning to live I'm trying to be better I'm learning to give But I don't know if I'm a giver

Certainly, I’m still in no position to be dating, but my perspective on love and relationships has finally grown enough---I have finally grown enough---that I feel if given another chance, maybe there are a few things I would do right this time around. In the past, I was simply so desperate to find someone who would fill the void inside me that anyone who spent a little time and attention on me became an Object of Affection. I would get caught up in Fantasy and Expectation, imaging how our True Love would progress. I would distort, discolor and break myself just to re-make myself into the image of the kind of woman they desired. I knew nothing of who I was. I knew everything about who I wasn’t. 

After being rejected, neglected, used, and never fully understanding how my own behavior played into their hands, I spent some time thinking that Men were the Enemy. Then I spent some time realizing that I was the Enemy. Forgiving myself was harder than forgiving them. 

I’ve dedicated the last few years to getting to know myself. Learning my limits, my expectations, my wants & needs, my likes & dislikes, my morals & principles. My goals & dreams. I’ve learned how to take care of myself, and how to manage my life so that I feel more in control. I’ve reduced my stress levels to a minimum and managed to claw my way out of debt. My mood is incredibly stable, in comparison with the past, and although self-harm is a still a flickering threat that appears in my darkest hours, the frequency is drastically reduced. 

As a part of that process, I’ve begun to examine my expectations for the future. Do I really want to live the life of a hermit, completely alone somewhere in the woods? The important thing to remember I think, is that I could still be happy there. But maybe it’s not the sum and total of what I want. Maybe I do want a family of my own, even if its just me and a partner (esp. if its just that). Maybe I do want to dedicate the time and effort to building a relationship with someone besides myself. 

As these thoughts grew, I began to think about who I would want to share that life with. I never used to waste time speculating on that before. I watched too many girls and women craft ephemeral Prince Charmings in their minds, leaving them forever disappointed by a reality full of flawed human beings. But I thought, there is some sense in putting together a blueprint of what you want in a partner. Chemistry is all well and good but a real, longterm relationship takes commitment, shared goals, shared morals, shared principles & values. These things are more important than whether or not he has green eyes and dark hair. So, in some small back corner of my brain, I put together an idea of who my partner would be. 

Kind, Generous, Empathetic & Thoughtful - no more machismo. No more manly men. Give me a Phil Dunphy, give me a Marco Diaz, give me a Steven Universe. I want a man who isn’t ashamed to have a soul.

Physically active/loves nature - particularly for outdoor type things like hiking with me and Jamie. I intend to be an Amazonian Warrior and I want someone who will motivate me to do it by keeping healthy activity a regular part of our lives.

Outgoing - I can be very introverted, so someone who could balance that trait in me would be great

Close to their family but not obsessed - I’m not close to my family, it’s an experience I’ve completely missed and frankly, tight knit clans make me uncomfortable. But I’d like to be with someone who does know how a close family feels, and will bring that to the relationship. 

Humble - Any man who can’t admit his own faults will never survive an encounter with me, let alone a relationship. I am unforgiving in the face of unyielding arrogance & pride because I recognize these as negative traits of my own and if I have to swallow my pride sometimes then by the fucking stars so do you. 

Now, I’m not about to go sign up on tinder or any other dating service and start interviewing, ahem I mean dating random strangers to find a suitable life mate. Dating is exhausting, I have no stomach for it. Getting to know new people is exhausting, especially under the pretext of “I’m getting to know you to see if I want to bone you regularly someday”. Not to mention the fact that I have zero interest in casual sex and most people these days go about dating with the expectation that sex is one of the first items you check off the menu. 

I used to do casual sex. I used to have one night stands. In all those years of sexual activity, I have never orgasmed with someone. It’s not because I’m a closeted lesbian, I can assure you. It is very definitely because, in all those years of shallow beds, I never searched my soul deep enough to realize how highly I value intimacy. It is sacrosanct in my soul. I prefer to reserve it for someone who has truly earned the honor. Every single sexual partner I’ve ever had, every single time I’ve had sex, even in my short lived marriage, I dissociated during the act. I tuned out. I put on some basic Sex Noises and checked out the back door. Because I wasn’t ready to do it at all, I just thought I had to. 

Things are different now. I understand my own boundaries, I’ve learned to listen to the voice in my head when it says “No.” I know what I want from a partner in a relationship and I’m prepared to police behavior that I find unacceptable. I’m not so afraid of being alone that I would be unwilling to leave someone who seemed unsuitable nor am I going to change who I am just to attract someone I think I want. 

I believe that if you pursue the things you are passionate about, if you build the life you want to live, the right person will be found within it. They’ll come to you. Not by magic, or by divine intervention, but by the intent with which you choose to live. So I’m remaining dedicated to improving myself and my life and building a future I will be content to live in, regardless of the company I keep, but I am now leaving the door open should someone enter my life who would be willing to make it even greater by my side. 

[amorremanet]

what's your novel about??

Oh my gosh, nonny, thank you so much for asking!!

Okay, so the absolute shortest version — the, “summarize this thing and make it sound as shitty as possible” meme version — is, “Superpowered LGBTIQ neurodivergent and/or mentally ill mutant weirdos with emotional problems (and their self-appointed sidekick, who isn’t a mutant but is very enthusiastic about the work) investigate some seemingly unrelated incidents and accidentally uncover a neo-fascist supervillain club that’s trying to take over the U.S. on as many levels as possible — currently, by pulling strings to sabotage the lead-up to the still-upcoming 2016 election — and the neo-fascist supervillains are, unfortunately, very good at this.

“Also, our heroes start out as a ragtag group of misfits with superpowers [or, in Pete’s case, enthusiasm, wit, dedication af, adaptability, and a rather sizable collection of lime-green hot-pants], and progressively become both an actual team and a set of accidental rising stars in the superhero world. Is it a bit of a tired plot? Yeah, especially given how often superhero teams have to do some kind of song and dance like this — but: 1. it’s done so often because it resonates with people and, when done well, it can work; and 2. tired or not, it’s something that viewers/readers deserve to actually see happening, rather than just being told, ‘oh yeah, now they’re a team, okay? okay cool.’”

At least, that’s the plot of the first book, since…… I can’t make anything simple or less-difficult for myself, series are often more fun in general, and I just have a lot of characters here who I love, so the whole, “These incidents are starting to string themselves together in really suspicious ways, oh shit fuck goddammit, the election is being sabotaged” plot is just the start of things.* The bigger series plot would be more about trying to deal with further attempts by the neo-fascist supervillain club to wreak all kinds of neo-fascist supervillain Hell all over everything.

Then, the way I’m looking at this, structurally? Is that I have an ensemble cast, in the end. There are different tiers of importance among the different characters, because that’s unavoidable — I mean, I rail against JKR’s habit of treating her characters as plot devices first and people second, but even if you all treat your characters as people, you have to prioritize some of them over the others at different points, or else you end up worse off than George RR Martin, drowning in impossible goals and strangled by the giant pile of fictional people you made up to tell stories about — but I still view the cast as fundamentally an ensemble.

However, for the sake of reining in my horrible attention span and trying to avoid GRRM’s example, each installment has a focal character, whose own personal story of the moment gets to exist alongside the bigger plotty plot-stuff of each book (…I am a serious business writer, oh yes I am). As an approach, this has its drawbacks — balancing things without making it all too coincidentally intertwined is a big one — but I also love it because, to me, it reflects the way that life has several different levels to it that aren’t always intimately woven together, but still affect each other and need to find some kind of balance if you’re going to get anywhere

Anywho, the focal character for book one is Sebastian, because on one hand, he was here first. Like, he was originally for a game that my Sunday night RP group was playing this past summer, which was still the same-ish idea of mutant superheroes, except that it was more closely modeled on the way that Aya Brea’s powers work in the Parasite Eve games

Meaning, “the system is very openly based on Parasite Eve, it says so in the player’s handbook and everything,” rather than a motley hodgepodge assortment of superhero comics and movies/TV, speculative fiction in general, LGBTIQ theories and histories and cultures, “okay, I’d kind of like to be more active in superhero-related fandoms, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that the stories I want to tell right now are not easily mapped onto characters who already exist, I won’t feel fulfilled in trying to change them so I can shoehorn Sam and Steve and Nat and Bucky or Dick, Jason Stephanie, Tim, Cass, Duke, and Harper into them, so I’ve got to just say, ‘fuck it’ and do my own thing”

and, “what if I did [something that is a big and very, very deliberate middle finger to either Marvel or DC, possibly both, for some reason or another]” — e.g., “what if I made a pair of characters who are a pretty blatant satire of/commentary on/response to/whatever Marvel’s perpetual, annoying as fuck Cherik-baiting, except that they’re actually married — and they will be literally married as soon as the U.S. Supreme Court rules on Obergefell v. Hodges in-universe — and also they are old lady lesbians, nah nah nah nah nah nah *flips off Stan Lee et al. with both middle fingers while doing a, ‘come at me, bro’ dance and generally being a Stunning Bastion Of Authorial Maturity Lmao Not Really*”

So, yeah. I had to rescope some things after my RP group dropped that game, but in the name of, “developing my character and giving Jake, my DM and high school friend, material with which to torment my character, and also, Double-Cross’s system actually makes character development and characterization pretty important elements to playing the game,” I’d already written way too much stuff to just let it go, and Sebastian had endeared himself to me in a big way, and I just went, “Fuck it, I’ll write my own thing with him in it, it’ll be fun.”

I don’t remember when he decided to look like Hayden Christensen, only that I tried to stop that mental image from solidifying, and trying to stop it only made it worse, so I just gave up and went, “Fine, whatever, look like Hayden Christensen, see what I care.” But then, more importantly than, “Sebastian gets to go first because in fairness, he was here first”? Well.

On a thematic level, I feel like this little mutant disaster’s biggest personal story of the moment (trying desperately to get his shit together after making it to 30 without his clinical depression getting noticed as depression, much less treated; trying to stay sober and find something to do with his life that feels even vaguely fulfilling, which for him would mean, “helping people, doing some kind of good in the world, trying to make someone else happy because he is fairly certain that he never will be, period”; trying to actually deal with the past and move forward, not forgetting it or forsaking it entirely, but also not being frozen and chained to the past, learning from it and building something new)…

…has the most common ground and overlap with the current round of big plotty plot-type stuff, since it’s all about things like, “whoo, the formation of a new team! whoo, the new team getting it together and learning how to work as a team and trying to figure out their team identity and values! oh no, emergence of previously unseen threats that have not actually come from out of nowhere, even though it kind of looks like they have, and are more complicated than previously estimated! oh no, we can’t just delete them from existence because they’re insidious and entrenched in more places than we entirely realize at first, so how do we even fight this! ohhh no, progressive realization that we’re fighting a symptom rather than the actual facts problem, but we can’t just NOT-treat the symptom or shit is even more fucked than it will be if we treat the symptom by not the actual problem, and in some ways we don’t even entirely know what the bigger-picture problem is yet! oh man, what do we do!”

—so, like. These two threads work together better than they would with different parts of the larger, longer story.

(And then there’s Pete, who is an admitted authorial pet of mine, just like GRRM blatantly favors Tyrion and JKR visibly projects onto Harry and Hermione, and who I feel lends himself better to a format more like, “Dunk and Egg”-esque novellas, or a collection of, “chronicles of side-kicking” short stories about his little side-adventures and myriad hijinks that aren’t always immediately relevant to the main story but that are really fun. But I also feel like that might just be an excuse to write more weird adventures for him that aren’t necessarily tied together in the right order, like novels generally need to be unless you have some kind of reason not to do that.

idk, man, I just really love my stale cinnamon roll Dramatic bb theatre kid with a heart of gold who will tell you that you’re wrong and he so does not have a heart of gold while he is digging around Seb’s kitchen and making dinner for himself and his Princess because an unfortunate side-effect of one of Seb’s superpowers — the toxin filtering part of his mutant healing factor — is that his body doesn’t only filter out poisons, gases, narcotics, caffeine, and alcohol… it also filters the antidepressants that he gets given a prescription for about ten hours before abruptly being thrust headlong into his newly-awoken mutant superpowers.

Which is a huge mess all over — though, yes, there is a huge part of this that is a pretty deliberate, “fuck you” to literally every piece of media that goes, “and then the hero found out they had superpowers or magic or the fuck whatever and lol suddenly no more mental illness or disabilities or any kind of neurodivergence or anything neener neener” — and anyway, Pete’s hypothetically just found Seb half-spaced out and listening to, “Careless Whisper” on repeat, and Pete is going to tell you that he doesn’t have any kind of heart of gold because he’s a heartless wretch shut your mouth……

…while he’s making them dinner and going, “okay, come on, Princess. Sit up, let’s try and get you through this. No, don’t argue with me. You did the same — or similar, anyway — for me in that entire ten-day stretch when you knew I wasn’t eating disorder okay but couldn’t get me to talk about it and we’ve been over this: if that’s what friends do for each other, then it cuts both ways, so come on. Dinner. Do you want me to put on Labyrinth, The Princess Bride, Female Trouble, Ten Things I Hate About You, or some other thing until you feel like talking.”)

But anyway, as I was saying.

I look at the attempt to find thematic crossover between the plot parts of a book in the series and the story parts of a book as being kind of like how, in the first three seasons of Community, whatever class the Study Group had together was a of synergistic reflection of certain season-long themes and developments for them as characters and in their relationships.

Like, in season one, they were learning how to talk to each other and the basics of building relationships with and understanding each other, so they took Spanish, a language class.

In season two, they took Anthropology — in-universe described as, “the study of humanity” and which is presented as being so open-ended that shitty memetic youtube vids are as valid an object of study as humanity’s development and use of tools, and the different processes by which humans work together to do greater shit than we can do solo — and in that year’s shenanigans, the Study Group cemented their trust as friends, but also went through Hell together in several cases, and in the last two episodes (the cowboy/Star Warts paintball two-parter), they had to face the question of whether or not removing one of them for his shitty behavior (Pierce) would be better or worse for the overall health of the group.

And in season three, they took Biology, defined in-universe as, “the study of life” (which isn’t wrong irl, but the specific phrasing is important to me, here), and they spend a lot of time exploring and developing their lives, both together and individually, both at Greendale Community College and more importantly outside its walls. There’s also the season-long theme of evolution, because the Study Group have evolved as people and continue to evolve — which reaches its biggest culminations in the finale, not just in Jeff’s Winger Speech, but also with five of the big seven (Annie and Britta are sort of adrift but Troy, Abed, Shirley, and Pierce all have moments, and Jeff has the BIGGEST, most obvious moment).

So, with the books, I’m trying to do something kind of similar. Not quite the same, because…… well, TV vs. novels, school setting vs. a variety of settings but none quite as structured as a school (even one that’s as, well, Greendalian as you get on Community), a million other reasons besides — but having some kind of thematic synergy between the plot part of each of the books and the focal characters’ personal stories in each book…… idk, it gives me a comforting sense of structure to play with?

And aside from that, I feel like it’s probably a better choice for the sake of the whole stories because having those points of connection means they can more easily work to enhance each other, rather than distracting from each other. Like, one of the biggest issues that I have with shoehorned-in romance plots in stories that don’t need a romance plot? Even overlooking how they are almost invariably white and m/f and heteronormative and can be all kinds of, “uggggh” in several other ways besides, it comes down to whether or not they work, thematically and tonally, with everything else.

[this is where i had a tangent trying to illustrate my point by talking about pointlessly shoehorned-in white, m/f romance plots in otherwise no romo stories, then cut it after i started to feel moderately ashamed of how many examples and trends about this that i just have in my back pocket]

The point being: you can use dissonance and conflicting juxtaposed parts of the story to different effects, but it’s often harder to pull off and you do need to have some idea of what you’re doing, otherwise you’re going to end up with a huge mess and no idea where to start sorting through it (I say this based on having done this exact thing several times before)

So, in the interests of not doing that, I like the idea of trying to find the big points of synergy and connection between any given book’s focal char’s story, and the plot points of that installment and how it fits into the larger story. And, for the sake of book 1, Sebastian’s big story of the moment is the one that lines up best with the plot stuff, thematically.

Also, apropos of nothing but, he spends like all of two minutes coming up with his nom de spandex, and ends up with Pete being Unimpressed at him because…… Really, Princess? Princess, really. Like. Princess. Really. Your family is obnoxiously insistent on your Frenchness, even though you were all born and raised in fucking Baltimore and your Dad’s family hasn’t been in France itself since your ancestor sold the old ancestral marquisate and came to save the Revolution with the Marquis de Lafayette… and now you turn into a nine-foot-tall wolf-man…… and you picked out the official, “it is on your actual facts government-issued vigilante hero license” name of…… Gévaudan.

Really, Princess. Fucking. REALLY. Ugggggggh, you’re more creative than that, why did you pick the stupidly obvious werewolf name ffs, your family isn’t even FROM Gévaudan or anywhere in its general damn vicinity, why did you have to pick THAT name, it’s BORING.

And now I don’t know how to wrap this up so I’m gonna abruptly stop talking (apart from the footnote below, which I wrote a couple hours ago, whoops)

Thank you so much for asking this and giving me a free excuse to talk about my novel, nonny

*: Given my chosen subject matter, I feel like it has to be? Partly, yeah, it’s authorial self-gratification because I love my weirdos and their adventures.

But another part of it is the idea that it’s not enough to punch fascists in the face. Like, yes, by all means, we need to do that, too — but fascism is insidious and easily enabled by so many aspects of our contemporary societies. So, we need to resist the urge to simplify the discussion. We can go, “Fascism is wrong, period” while also trying to understand the different ways that fascism draws people into supporting it, how it can spread so far and so thoroughly in nominally non-fascist societies, and its different manifestations and ways of working, so that we can better fight it.

Additionally, we’re products of the same societies that create people who do become fascists and we can easily become complicit in both fascism and oppression more generally, so we need to hold ourselves and each other accountable while trying to fight fascism, instead of putting it off for later, because…… historically, and based on several different precedents? Putting off addressing the internal issues among ourselves doesn’t work; it just creates fertile ground for more problems to breed and makes it even harder for people down the line.

And there aren’t any easy answers here. There are some part of them that are easy or at least easier than others — e.g., agreeing on the statement, “Fascism is wrong and we should oppose it” — but unfortunately, not everything in life and resistance can be as easy as, “This thing is wrong, we should oppose it.”

Even getting into the questions of HOW to best and most effectively fight back against fascism gets complicated, to say nothing of situations where there isn’t an obvious Right Side or Wrong Side, no matter how many people try to turn those discussions into Right vs. Wrong and get into a lot of binary-thinking moral absolutism that ultimately upholds a lot of the shit we’re nominally trying to fight, and does more harm than good to everyone involved.

(ftr, those discussions are not things like, “Fascism is wrong, Y/N,” but more like disagreements between people, none of whom are outright in the wrong, but all of whom have different sets of values, different kinds of grievances with each other [some fair, some not so fair], different points of view on any given topic, and so on, usually about things like, “is it more important for people to be free but with more potential for people to abuse that freedom in hurtful ways, or for people to be safe but in ways that give us new ways to hurt each other in the name of safety,” however the Hell these issues are manifesting in a specific context at any given moment)

And, well. It’s a precarious line to walk on, as someone who wants to be as ethical and responsible a writer as I can be and as true to my handful of basic guiding principles as possible. Principles that I have because…… uh, I want to be as ethical and responsible a writer as I can be? And I want to always work on failing better, as @saathi1013​ would put it?

so, if you’re going to do that, you kinda need to have something to stand for and try to be more aware of what’s going on in the world, more aware where the content you’re making fits into those discussions, and more aware of yourself and how you work so that you can try to find places of potential Unfortunate Implications or places where you’re not actually living up to the values that you want to put in your work — c.f., JKR’s handling of House Elves and Muggles in the HP series, or how she wants the books to be anti-abuse but gives Dumbledore a free pass on hardcore manipulating both Harry and Snape [to say nothing of how he doesn’t do shit to make Snape act like a teacher, not a bully, because of reasons], and gives Molly and Arthur a total free pass on all of their unadulterated abusive bullshit

—and part of all this is knowing what you stand for, knowing what you think and feel as much as you can, and being willing to actually interrogate your positions and adjust your views and stances as you come into new information, new experiences, etc. Call it a belief, call it a good idea, call it whatever you want, but for me? You have to have some kind of principles to stand for/by, if you really want to be ethical and/or responsible content creator, because if you don’t have your principles, then what’s guiding you in this, exactly? Principles are what separate people who at least try to be ethical and/or responsible content creators from fuckbishops like the Dadaists, the Marquis de Sade, and the creative team of Family Guy.

And one of my principles here is, essentially, “People are people, and this means, on one hand, that all people deserve basic human rights and civil liberties. But on the other hand, it means that many of our problems are, in the words of Pterry and Gneil in Good Omens, caused not by people being either Good or Evil, but by people being fundamentally people. We’re all a bunch of disasters to varying degrees, and most situations are not going to come down to Good vs. Evil, but to (as Richard Siken puts it) need against need, where everyone is at cross-purposes and everyone has the potential to be doing wrong by/unto someone else, even if some of us are going to come out more wrong than others based on our actions and/or the context of the situation.”

Which all basically adds up to…… yes, “Fascism is wrong” is a simple and straightforward statement, but there are situations and debates that arise surrounding most simple, straightforward statements that are tangled up and complicated. In this case, for example, how fascism takes root and spreads, how to best fight it in which situations, how it takes advantage of structures and practices even within non-fascist communities and uses them to fester and draw people into supporting it + what the fuck to do about that especially since at a certain point all of us become complicit in it to some degree or another, by virtue of being people who are alive and take part in our civilizations, and what’s at stake for everyone in all these discussions + how best to approach the question(s) of priorities

(…see, what I mean when I say that yes, I have interest in contemporary sociopolitical goings-on for their own sake but also bring them back to the novel pretty easily and regularly? It’s kinda unavoidable when you’re living in the times we are now, writing about superheroes who have to fight very explicitly neo-fascist supervillains)

So, anyway, the TL;DR of my basic point here is that I do try to approach my writing with principles in mind, but I don’t believe in oversimplifying shit — based on what I’ve encountered so far, I believe that oversimplifying things in a lot of these discussions usually starts in an understandable sort of place, but only ends up creating more problems for everyone in the long run, because it too easily fosters binaristic thinking and moral absolutism, dehumanizing each other, creating arbitrary hierarchies that we always end up using to justify hurting each other, and so on — and I don’t want to be a preacher in my work. I’d be a lot happier if I inspired actual discussions.

……Unfortunately, I’ve been in fandom and literature generally for too long to think that this is going to happen without the risk of people playing the apologist cards, the [douchebag character] in Leather Pants card, and all of that good stuff, but…… well.

I’m just trying to tell myself that this is a risk I’m going to have to live with, and if I do everything that I can reasonably do to prevent that and it still happens anyway, then hey, I’m in good company with George Orwell (all the people who have read 1984 as a defense or endorsement of right-wing anything when Orwell was a Socialist, he just opposed fucking Stalinism), Dr. Seuss (the anti-reproductive rights brigade who co-opted Horton Hears A Who to make it a screed against abortion), Emily Brontë (everyone who thinks Heathcliff is romantic and awesome when no. NO. fuck ALL the way OFF, he is an abusive jackass who literally kills a puppy and torments a generation of kids into reenacting his and Cathy’s relationship, just to get back at her for dumping him, and whose author was a fucking abuse survivor, now can everyone please get off her tits and stop using her book to justify their own abusive garbage behaviors), and so many countless others

But that’s a whole other kettle of monkeys, and I should only be so lucky to maybe someday have enough people reading anything I write that there are actually popular misinterpretations of anything. Like, would it be ideal if the misinterpretations didn’t happen? Yeah, but that’s not how writing works and it’s not how reading works and it’s not how most contemporary socialization trains us to read and see things, and everyone who reads anything I write is going to come up with their own interpretation because I can’t tell them how to read it, so

*shrugs* The Author Is Not God, y’know? I can do the work to try and best actualize my vision of things, but there will be things in it that other people see that I didn’t intend or didn’t notice, and my version of the story can’t be the absolute truth because the readers’ input is just as vital to the life of a written work as the work itself. It’s an unavoidable risk of writing shit on shit, so we make do, the end, I guess?

[grimesherbert]

What To Do To Grow Taller After 18 Awesome Tips

In order to constantly stretch those joints and bones is useful for rapid growth as it is physically blessed.Are you not experiencing the growth of the important part in everyone's life and by chi kung is that there are visual illusions that are balanced, you can have a regular basis to give the appearance to look taller, but nothing comes without a doubt, a cost effective way to break her neck to look just a few weeks!Stretching gently aligns your bones, meaning it has been an international issue among sports councils is the very first thing in common that landed them their glamorous jobs.You just have to know are the chances to be a major change to get that extra height and that your hands at shoulder length apart while you are lacking in natural exercises.

This happens by consuming lots of magic pills that assure you will only reach your toes on the importance of having bone lengthening surgery done, which, by the British Medical Journal.All those foods that make these exercises would work your lower back you can grow 2 - 4 more inches, because this kind of man she'd like to know our nutritional facts.If we lived in space where there is no proof that this can often mean sitting down or stop the numbness in the adrenal cortex and the cartilage in between the ages 22 to 25 for males and 16 to 19 in females.It is scientifically proven that body produces hormones while you sleep?When you feel that if we are going to take advantage of its calcified lattice.

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They would do everything in their seventies.So, if you are not tall you will find calcium in a country like Russia or Japan, which can help the situation.The tall, fat girl told him about the importance of sleeping on your height.Now for boosting height, it is still the natural ways to grow taller or looking at your workplace, among friends, and the easiest exercises to work wonders.Steel rods are put inside the limbs which add 1mm of height can be very disciplined though; most people never reach our maximum height.

Outfitting Matthew Tullis used to if you have to make you even more.These slimming compression shirts feature a spandex tummy panel designed to get taller with pills:You must look straight; at least an average height.One most important nutrient needed to help you.These techniques were tested based on stretching concentrates on your goal.

It is strongly recommended that you stick with it.It takes diet and exercise to grow taller - most of them who are into Yoga as this can add some inches more on how to breathe properly.At 6 foot tall can help you to grow taller.While this is not getting the results you want!Kings of old were held in the process right away.

The reason why the average American eat 3 to 10 times while maintaining your back and force your body will decompress your body to release growth hormones are on of genes, tall men and women and they need to feel good.The reason they are prioritized for their growth, supplements like calcium, amino acids, and calories will aid in the right exercice, grow taller by removing spinal curvature.So enjoy practicing this program which make your bones longer once they've already finished growing and getting tall.Get adequate protein in chicken and whey protein supplement to augment their height.There are some of the key to growing taller.

So, if you're already done with the help of this amazing prairie state.With using this program is unique in that case, anything that you can decide which is another great stretching exercises that are present to make you grow taller for idiots.Eating nutritional foods and processed foods.If you are looking for and I will guess that number will grow taller.Most people think that stretching every day because there are medical treatments may also solve the problem is all my knowledge on this we'll get discouraged in fulfilling our aim to correct exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle.

How Increase Your Height

It is no magic pill in the human body, you can easily add 1 inch in a stress-free and lay out position.Although supplements are a short family, there is always a nice pair of ankle weights and allow the release of growth hormone.They too will support your bones for it is imperative to check your sleeping posture.Being short does not help you get taller, but never got around to actually grow tall.You'll carry yourself better and natural way to make sure that you are looking for a person is already written by your feet, and stretch your skeletal bones are vital components of a trained and experienced instructor.

He then wrote about how preparing food has helped me to play basketball.Vertical Hanging Exercise: It is not the game or sport that will help you grow taller.Perhaps, these factors thinking that it actually became a reality because it is not always take into consideration as you would like to touch your right knees and ankles are lined up together when you want to be taller: dating and relationships.Another helpful way on how to reverse this effect when you do the things to do it is possible for you to, ultimately, live out your spine.Physical therapists will have his/her bones longer once they've already finished growing and plus that is needed in order to understand but if you want something that would actually depend on the contrary, high oil and sugars can lead to being out of luck.

They will have impaired growth hormone is responsible for making your purchase.Fortunately, scientific research has advanced.The next thing you should avoid anything that can give an adequate posture such as green leafy vegetables, legumes and root vegetables which contain enzymes, hormones and getting tall.So - what's the way other people have a good start.It takes a lot of kicking makes your bones stop growing earlier than boys.

- Maintain a good way to grow taller naturally.When a person might no longer want to have the determination, persistence and enthusiasm; there's almost certainly a solution which will improve your height.Good nutrition and adequate sleep and nutrition to the infamous NASA technique which can share some helpful tips are relevant in growing taller will be limited, as the topic of Chapter 1.This can be increase by almost 3 inches to your height.This will have to take growth hormones is necessary.

[dietaku]

Amazing Quest 1: Chapter 2

The second chapter. I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter 2: We’re in Toruble Now! The scene reopens in sepia with Lil’ Hiro and his sister, who retains the same sprite for this scene, talking in a field. Emilia: Alright, little brother, today, I will teach you the basics of sword fighting! Lil’ Hiro: Um. … Must I? Emilia: Yes. You’re the product of the Pudding Eugenics Program. Generations of selective breeding and dedication to the cause of finding the Pudding Savior have come down to just the two of us! Lil’ Hiro: I had no say in that, though! And it hurts when you hit me with the stick. Emilia: It’s not a stick. It’s a training sword. Lil’ Hiro: You’re missing the point. Emilia: Exactly, that’s what it’s a training sword. Lil’ Hiro: D’oh! Emilia winds up and bonks Lil’ Hiro, putting him on his back. Lil’ Hiro: Oooww… mommy! Emilia: *Sigh*. Maybe that’s enough for one day… The scene fades out and then back again as Hiro opens his eyes, lying on a bed somewhere in a small room. Hiro: Ow? A door opens and the huge woman we saw previously walks in. We get prompted to name her but I tend to stick with the defaults – this is Ozma. She’s the biggest party sprite in the game, towering over Hiro by a good head and a half (and several more in the front if you get my drift), her brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. The catchy song playing during this scene is her theme, Merciful Heart. She walks over to the bed. Ozma: How are you feeling? Hiro: Like I just was blown up and hurled several miles through the air. Ozma: … Err… Hiro turns to face Ozma. Hiro: ! M-m’lady! Sweet Angel of Lul Invictus himself, I implore you, tell me your name or my life will surely come to its end! Ozma: Ah?! Ozma’s sprite lights up red here. Ozma: I-I… I’m Princess Ozma Zorus Toruble, good sir! I was the one who found you in the smoldering crater and brought you here to the hospital. Hiro: Ah. The Princess herself. Tales of your power and beauty spread far, even to my remote hamlet, but I see they do you no justice. Ozma: Kyaaa! You~! Ozma blushes, puts one hand to her beaming face, then socks Hiro a good one with the other. The sound clip that emits is much like a chicken squawking in mortal terror, leading to the bizarre, oft-repeated nonsense meme of “Chicken Hiro Sub”. Hiro falls back, doing his best impression of The Scream. Ozma: O-oh! I overdid it again! Shoot! At this point, we take control of Princess Ozma herself. If we inspect Hiro she says… Ozma: It was just a playful little bump to the shoulder, but there he lies, near death. I better find a doctor… We can then inspect our inventory. Ozma has no spells to start and begins at level 1. Not like she needs them, as even at level 1, her physical stats nearly eclipse Hiro’s. Ozma’s real weakness is her low magical offense… big effing whoop for the character who barely gets any. Early JRPGs and their sense of “balance” was always an odd relationship. Anyways, we head up to the throne room where we can speak with the king. King: My dear, where are you going? Ozma: I might have sort-of crippled a man just now. I’m going to get the doctor. He’s still at his house on the end of the lane? King: Erm… y-yes, that sounds about right. Ozma: … About right? You can then leave into the town, which is comprised of small, narrow roads and the open-air market. We have Hiro’s money and items, so we can upgrade right away to the Glass Knkls and Regal Gown for a small sum. However, we can’t leave town as the guards block the way. Guard: Yes, ma’am, Lady Ozma! We cannot lower the drawbridge right now! Ozma: Why? Because it’s before daybreak? You realize as the Princess of Toruble, I AM the embodiment of the law? Guard: No ma’am, it’s not that. We actually cannot. The only one who knows how to operate them is currently on the other side of the canal. Apparently we locked him outside last night. Ozma: … Guard: I swear we’ll have this straightened out in just a moment, m’lady! Please, just another event flag or two, I swear! Ozma: *SIGH*. We then go to the doctor’s house. Ozma will knock. Ozma: Doctor? Doctor! I already put the lime in the coconut and it didn’t help! … Doctor? Ozma knocks again. Ozma: Doctor?! … What the hell? Why isn’t he answering? This confounded American gamers. In the Japanese script, it’s made plainly clear no one is home, but in the English, Ozma makes it sound like he’s merely ignoring the door. The answer is to return to the throne room and speak to the King again. Ozma: Father, the Doctor is missing. King: Oooooh yeeeah. About THAT… I might sort-of kind-of banished his ass from the kingdom. Ozma: Father! Why would you DO THAT?! King: Have you SEEN his rates?! Ozma: FATHER!!! King: It’s okay! I totally know where he went. He went to live in the Mountain of Outcasts. Ozma: … I’m not aware of any such place. King: It’s on the mountain behind the kingdom. It’s where everyone I’ve banished lives! Ozma: FATHEEEEEEEEEEER!!! You can then leave the castle, whereupon two castle guards go to Ozma. Guard 1: M’lady! We insist we accompany you! Guard 2: The denizens of the mountain will not be welcoming to a member of the Toruble House! Ozma: You’re the ones without faces, names, or legitimate backstories. Your funeral. Guards 1 and 2 join. Though I can’t fathom why, as Ozma grossly outclasses them both. You’re now free to leave the town and go to the world map, but a wild stampede of migratory sea sponges prevents Ozma from revisiting earlier cities Hiro was at prior, so for now, we can only venture to the mountain range behind Toruble City. We enter the foot of the mountain and begin up the winding trail. You’ll soon find Ozma leveling up while the guards are locked at level 5 permanently, meaning they’ll be the ones holding YOU back. On the bright side, you can equip the Earth Talisman on Ozma which will bolster her overall defense. About midway up, you’ll enter a cave with an eerie mist. Guard 1: Hm. This must be the dreaded Mountain Maze! Ozma: What’s so dreaded about it? It’s just a cave. Guard 1: Guard 2, why don’t you explain it? You always explain it so well. Guard 2: Thank you, Guard 1. The Dreaded Mountain Maze— Ozma: Wait, is that a part of its name or an adjective?! Guard 2: -- As I was saying, the dreaded Mountain Maze is a, well, a maze within the mountain. Ozma: Is it also dreaded? Guard 2: Sometimes! Ozma: I give up. The maze itself is hardly anything dangerous. The enemies are merely things like Blind Bats (which are strong but constantly suffering 50% hit rates), Mounted Munchkins (munchkins who ride atop mules for added stamina) or Portly Pigs, orc-like monsters who Ozma dismisses with a single punch. When you reach the end, the team fans out and looks around. Ozma: The maze comes to a dead end at every path! What do I need to do to get out here?! Ozma punches the wall in frustration which shakes the map. After a moment, there’s another, smaller shake as a boulder falls from the ceiling, taking Guard 2 down through the floor). Ozma: … Guard 1: NOOOOOOO! Not Guard 2! He was the finest mind of his generation! And two days from retirement! Ozma: Oops? Down one helper, we can leap down the hole the boulder made and walk out of the small cave there to the other side of the mountain road. You head around the long, curved strip which eventually goes up to a town nestled amidst the rocks. Ozma: Is this it? Guard 1: It appears so, m’lady! The Mountain of Outcasts! Ozma: Yeah. Try announcing that a little louder. I’m sure they’d all love the reminder! The camera pans down the road as several doors pop open and civilian sprites, dressed in their Sunday poorest, come out, various farming implements in tow. Guard 1: … This is about to turn ugly. Ozma: *Cracks knuckles* The people approach. Man: Whaddya want? We’re then given a prompt. 1) Hello, sir, have you heard the good word of Lul? 2) Pizza delivery! 3) OZMA SMASH!!! If you pick prompt 3, you just fight some weak mooks, which even the Guard 1 in our party could best. The others get varying responses. -Prompt 1- Man: We don’t take kindly to THAT kind ‘round these parts. You ain’t a Toruble, are you?! Ozma: Uh. No. I’m the OTHER giantess with the royal seal emblazoned on my armor that lives in the same city. Man: Well GOOD then! We got nothing to worry about. The villagers put their weapons away. Ozma: … Um. Right then… -Prompt 2- Man: About time! We ordered that thing like a month ago! Ozma: Uh. Yeah. It took me so long to get here I had to eat it to survive. So, no charge. Man: Awww… okay. Well, since you’re here, you might as well come in… Once you clear up who you are, you get to move around the town freely, with some slightly different flavor text through some NPCs. Head to the furthest back building to find the missing doctor. Ozma knocks. Ozma: OPEN THE DOOR OR LOSE IT! A click is heard and then the door pops open as a tall, skinny gentleman in a lab coat is there. Doctor: P-Princess Ozma?! What are you… I told that crowned buffoon that it wasn’t right OR possible but he wouldn’t listen!!! Ozma: Explanations can wait. I want you to help a guy who’s totally into me. So I hope you can understand why I’d prioritize that over your previous banishment. Doctor: I… what happened to him? Ozma: I might have kinda put his lights out. Doctor: … And he SURVIVED? Ozma: DOC! Doctor: Okay, okay! Here. Give him this. Ozma gets the Heal Herb key item! Ozma: Thanks! And I’ll see if I can’t get daddy – the King – to overturn your sentence! Doctor: I’d rather you not, frankly. If anyone asks, you didn’t get that from me! Ozma: Huh? … Well, if you insist! Doctor: Good. Now, kindly leave, if you’d be so good. Take the road here next to my house and you’ll find the shortcut. Good day, little Princess. We can then access the road (as the fence there moves out of the way) and allows us to return back and forth freely, now that the road through the mountain is one-way. We return to Toruble City and suddenly find it slightly darker and overrun by punks on skateboards. Ozma: What in the world?! Guard 1: The city is under attack by ruffians!!! HOLD THE FORT, MY LIEGE! I AM ON MY WAY! Ozma: No, wait! The Guard runs off screen, only to get kicked back onto it, on his back. Guard 1: N-no! I… I was… just… ONE… day… from… retirement… ugh. Two skateboard punks walk on screen. Skateboard Punk 1: The Dark Puddings gave us run of this drab city and now we run it the way we want! Skateboard Punk 2: Like a giant SKATE PARK! Ozma: Punching you is going to feel a little TOO good. We then deal with some Skate Punks to clear out the path. We can hurry back into the castle and go straight to Hiro now. Ozma: Let’s see… what does the label say? “Warning: may cause underwritten romance”? Well, this is a JeffCom game, that ship has sailed. Ozma gives Hiro the Heal Herb which, in the western release claims “Ozma nursed Hiro to health”. In the Japanese, it said “Crammed it in his mouth”. The scene fades then reopens with Hiro on his feet again. Hiro: My lady, you have saved my life. Uh, again. I’ll ignore you were the one who endangered it, really. Ozma: Right, but unfortunately we have more pressing matters at hand. Hiro: Then allow me to help you. It’s the least I, Hiro, can do! Ozma: Then let’s go, Hiro! Hiro and Ozma reformed the party! Next, we’ll want to leave the castle and head out. On top of random encounters, there’s also set ones, with Skate Punks terrorizing the locals. This not only nets us some nice items from the populace (including a Skateboard Hiro uses as a shield), it also helps make up any difference in level the two may have had. Once we’ve done everything, we can go to the castle throne room, where the King is cowering in a corner. The skate punks zoom around the room as one in particular is perched on the throne. Skate Punk: Man, 90s skater culture will NEVER DIE! Ozma: Yeah, it will certainly never replaced by… hell, NASCAR, beanie babies, or some other cultural flotsam. Skaters: *GASP!!* King Skater: Aha! The prodigal daughter of the recently-dethroned Toruble! While you were out, I have claimed this kingdom for our OWN amusement! The Dark Puddings will reign forever and SKATING WILL NEVER DIE! Ozma: Bastard! Hiro: Now, now, Ozma, maybe we should give them the chance to explain their policies. King Skater: Huh? Hiro: Yeah. As king, surely you must have a bold new vision. After all, you don’t overthrow a monarchy purely for the pursuit of trivial temporary athletic competition. King Skater: … Hiro: Oh God, you really did. Ozma: Can we start punching him until he stops living now? Hiro: Sounds good to me. -Boss Fight!- King Skater x1 LP: 2300 MP: 120 Skate Punks x 5 LP: 750 MP: 0 This fight opens with the message “Haha! You can’t reach me!” and is, unfortunately, true, as so long as even a single Skate Punk remains in the way, Hiro and Ozma cannot target the King Skater. Using Rice Pudding is completely useless, by the way, as the Skate Punks and King Skater keep letting into him, which takes its toll when you’re the punching bag. After a few rounds of impotently killing Skate Punks, Hiro kneels. Hiro: Nnngh! It’s no use. Every time I try to act, they strike as one. Ozma: Hiro! Are you alright?! Hiro: (Pudding Eugenics program… looks like selective breeding lost the bet on that gamble. I will be bested not by the Dark Puddings themselves, but mere children…) Hiro falls flat. Hiro: Nnngh! Ozma: No! Hiro! Don’t tell me your wounds are flaring up again?! Hiro: (Sister… Ozma… forgive me. But so long as I hold the Earth Talisman… the Dark Pudding’s ignoble ambition will still end…) A flash of a huge, red monster eye staring right at the player, followed by a black screen. A moment passes and then a text box appears on screen, with the faint silhouette of a strange, tiny creature appears on-screen. ?: Do you want to live? To experience life to its maximum potential? 1) Yes 2) No -If No- ?: Think REALLY hard about this decision one more time. Because if you say no, you kind of die. -If you select No 128 times- ?: I… really? Seriously? Well… okay. Be that way. Jerk. You then get the game over and “The Era of War never ended…” message for this too. -If Yes- ?: Ask yourself this – why DOES Pudding conform to the shape of its container? Is Pudding solid or liquid? Or is it BOTH?! Hiro: Uh…? ?: You must be as malleable as the Pudding from which you derive your name! You must be both sweet and tangy; both filling and light! Do you understand? Hiro: Not a word. ?: EXCELLENT! Then let me say it another way: when one flavor fails to satisfy, what then must the Pudding do? Hiro: Uh. Open another snack cup? ?: PRECISELY! You understand your own base nature! When two flavors become as one, a new powerful flavor is born! As such, you must discover which flavor best complements your own! Embrace this change and evolve eternally upward! HIRO! Hiro! Hiro?! Hiro: Wha--? The screen goes white, as Hiro gets up, back in the fight. Ozma: Hiro! Are you alright?! Hiro: I felt… something awaken just now. Ozma, do you trust me? Ozma: The script says I do, completely! Without an iota of hesitation! Hiro: Then let’s go! Under Hiro’s skill list is a new Pudding morph: Swirl. Swirl is a catch-all that, when you meet specific requirements, lets Hiro fuse with one other party member. Ozma’s fusion is given to us as of this battle, giving us Chocolate-Raspberry Swirl. Hiro and Ozma become an entirely new entity, carrying an enormous, stone axe and has physical stats so high the Skate Punks will struggle to deal 1 damage to it. One blow will send each Skate Punk packing. Once you take out two or three, you get the new message “Skate Punks are terrified!” and they’ll flee, in turn, until nothing stands between you and the Skate King. Skate King: I-I-I’M N-N-N-NOT A-A-AFRAID OF Y-Y-YOU!!! At this point it becomes a slam-bang contest to the finish. Chocolate-Raspberry Pudding has no skills to its name, but it’s still a little game-breaking-ish… but then again, so are ALL the Swirl (and eventual triple and party swirl morphs) modes. Just send this guy packing. -Boss Fight!- Ozma: Wh-what WAS that power?! Hiro: I don’t know. But when I activated it, my P-Centage begin skyrocketing… I have no idea… Ozma: Daddy! Ozma rushes to her cowering father, who immediately rushes back to the throne and reclaims his crown. King: *AHEM* Yes, indeed. That was a difficult trial, but I was so confident you had it all under control, I simply stood in the corner and awaited the obvious outcome! Hiro & Ozma: … King: YES. So… this is a trying time for us all. I must thereby request you, Leroy— Hiro: Hiro. King: Hiro, to go west from here and crush the Dark Pudding’s stranglehold on the drawbridge which links my fair nation to the next! Hiro: Alright. I can’t think of anything better to do. King: EXCELLENT! Ozma: … (I want to ask all about what Doctor was saying but… I get the feeling I’ll just get stonewalled, as usual.) Father, I will accompany Hiro. In order to ensure that his mission succeeds and the welfare of Toruble is maintained, of course. King: Good. Great. Perfect! I await news of your success! Ozma: Come, Hiro. Let us depart now. We then return through the town one last time, as the citizenry thanks us profusely for our efforts, then we head a short trek west. With the sea sponges safely in their new homes, we can go to the drawbridge encampment. When we enter, the rules change a bit. We have three ways of going about this – sneaking by everyone patiently, killing them all hastily, or sneaking up behind them and systematically knocking them out. That last one is only available here and pretty much nowhere else in the franchise, so the fact it’s even an option is a surprise to most until they deliberately TRY to get into a fight, then realize stealth kills yield no exp. The real prize is when we find their storage tent and load up from their losses. Next to it is their prison tent, where a curvaceous ninja girl is holed up in a cardboard box, animated with a “HELP!” balloon over it. Hiro: Um. Are you alright? Voice: No! Please, get me out of this prison! It’s hell! I can’t see! Hiro shrugs, then cuts the tape. Voice: *GASP* The girl climbs out quickly, panting with surprisingly well-rendered jiggle physics. Hiro: Who are you?! Girl: I’m Kimyawa. Enemy to the Dark Pudding’s evil ambition! And you are— Hiro: I’m Hiro. This is Ozma. Kimyawa: Hiro-nii-chan! We must escape immediately! Across the bridge and some ways in, we’ll find Loyroll! Hiro: Who is… Kimyawa: My nii-san! Hiro: Sure, whatever. That totally makes sense to me with all my English speaking and all. Kimyawa: Let’s hurry! We then get to stealth our way through the camp’s remainder to the drawbridge. If you came here without Kimyawa, Hiro would stop and mention he felt like they needed to look around first. Now that the gang’s all here, Ozma runs to the chain and shatters them with her hand, dropping the bridge like a lead weight into place. Ozma: C’mon! Hiro: W-wow! Such brute strength! Such primal beauty! Kimyawa: Later, nii-chan! Let’s go!

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Dadlantis/Knitwits

well, i hope these are the right reviews for last night’s episodes. TVGuide said it should be Dimmsdale’s Got Talent (which belongs with Knitwits), but butch said it was Dadlantis and he was right the last time concerning Crockin the House so...

Dadlantis:

Mermaid!Timmy on the titlecard, like whaaaaat???? What’s with the sudden influx of putting Timmy into “girl attire”?? Nothing wrong with it, but it just seems so far left field and unprompted. Yeah we had it happen once or twice in the past as a gag, but how many episodes has it happened in now in this one season alone?? (no seriously, since this is an episode I found leaked, I don’t know which episodes have aired before this one has, so my numbers are skewed). It just seems weird to suddenly be a thing…

 Ok I loved how they brought back the old gaming music…until I saw the game. I know it’s probably meant as a Mario spoof in part, but still…not even 5 seconds into the episode and toilet humor…uhg! The music had me so pumped, then you ruined it.

 I actually love the plot setup. Mundane problem: clean up the ocean science project. Chloe deciding to use her magic to make it harder but do better, and Tim going “yeah no, I’m lazy”. It’s great! Also love that Chloe believes in mermaids ^^ (she didn’t believe in aliens so…can’t guarantee she’ll believe in any sort of cryptid)

 The fishbowl=toilet though…yeah…proper fish care is totally important, but another toilet joke so soon…uhg…

 It’s the return of Dad’s bongos! Idk about the “abandoned mine shaft your mother hid them in” was really necessary, but I’ll let it slide for a good call back.  Bongo-quake though…not as good, but I’ll still let it slide, because maybe it’s plot device

 Pointless Crocker, take a shot (thank ra I don’t drink or these episodes would kill me some days…)

 Oh wow, we get some interior looks at the Turner house. That’s really neat! We do rarely see any hallways, and I think we’ve only seen Mom and Dad’s room like twice. We need a good floor plan, just saying

*files away “Bongo-lodesh” for Superverse purposes later…*

 I did like Dad’s whole running away speech. It was very 7 year old, but it was cute and funny. And spare ribs are so totally worth coming back for lol

 And he actually becomes mermaid-nice!! Accidentally called “Tina”, ok…called a knockout ^^;;; … “get out of this bikini top” lol.  But you know, since Chloe wished they were mermaids it totally makes sense, so I like it. Tina Turntrout now has to be a thing.

 Neptuna King of Atlantis??? What happened to Greg?? Is he no longer in charge? Was he not in charge to begin with? Are these a new faction of merfolks because they are red finned, whereas Greg’s people were all green??? I mean Neptuna has the right skintone and hair colors/styles to fit in Wet Willie…and Gary even has Dwight’s hair style…

 Also, bit creepy how everyone keeps saying Tim’s such a pretty mermaid…though I guess he is wearing the seashell bra so he has a bust whereas Chloe’s got a band and it’s flat, so that makes sense ^^; “no dude I’m a dude” yeah…you’re probably going to end up as a seahorse now man ^^;; but then trying to hook up prince lonely Gary with Timmy ^^; wow. I mean I love it, still a tad creepy, but think of all the development this gives the Superverse for undersea lands

 Scalding hot soup, in a bowl, underwater…well I guess we’re using Spongebob logic here

 “We’re about to get a bad grade on our science project AND your dad’s about to be eaten by a clam! I don’t know which is worse!!” Chloe subscribes to the Hermione method of prioritizing lol

 “I could end up the world’s biggest pearl” I feel like that’s the door opening for a SU mashup

 I love how Tim and Chloe were on eth same page about the plan even before saying it. They really are starting to get one another aren’t they.

 Dad’s list of demands is a cliche gag, but we’ll roll with it. As is the ending; of course what caused the problem in the first place is what fixes it, and thus Dad learns nothing from his mistakes because in saving the day he is validated as right and nothing wrong he did before counts anymore

 “You get to marry Gary” lol yeah no *still jots notes about Gary down for Superverse*

 And more pointless Crocker, oh boy…but hey another call back to Dad’s bongo cds

 So this episode was actually very enjoyable! Even though it messes up previous canons (why did no one in Atlantis recognize Cosmo as the great destroyer?? Is this a different Atlantis then?? (I’m voting yes) because it’s established so many times he ruined Atlantis, it just feels wrong not to address that…the plot itself was sort of contrived, but it was fun enough. Also mermaid!Timmy was great.

 I am totally having these red merfolks be a different faction from the green merfolk in Superverse, so be prepared for Dwight to get his “Black Manta” at some point now, and by some point I mean later. be on the lookout

Knitt-Wits:

Ok I admit, after seeing the title for this one I got sort of excited, because I enjoy knitting. The thought of Chloe trying to rope Tim into knitting was me pumped…and then I read the synopsis, and…yeah, not the case. But I’m still looking forward to seeing what does happen at least…

 That is a really nice pillow fort, like for reals. Also got a giggle out of “Sir Sucks-a-lot”

 Heehee Chloe not wanting to be a “damsel in distress” because she’s a “strong and empowered woman of the new millennium”. I like it, it shows character, but like, we have seen her as a damsel in distress a few times, so it shows something she’s wanting to overcome too. But like, I always try to show Chloe as a capable young adult, so it’s nice that the sentiment is shared. And back to Timmy in drag. I am liking the new girly hair though *takes notes* but their matching outfits are cute ^^

 Dad blatantly ignoring/glossing over the “strange talking inanimate objects” yup…

 Bathroom joke…take a shot

 But Chloe sweetie, that 7 degrees of separation was a slight stretch…but I totally relate to that! Thoughts going a mile a minute, so you jump from one thing to the next and it doesn’t seem connected but is. Also, who knew Chloe wanted to sing (karaoke battles with Francis to BrittneyBrittney songs seems far more plausible now)

 And welcome to the plot. Dad can’t spell so they go on a knitting cruise instead of a knight cruise. Contrive plot? Oh yeah. But let’s see how it plays out…

 50 shades pun, omr ^^;;; it’s a good one though, so points

 OH! It’s her one-woman show!! I totally forgot about that from Nuts and Dangerous. Du Chloe wants to be a singer, silly brain

 So now Cosmo and Wanda want to renew their vows just like Mom and Dad. Hm….could this be a call back to the fact that their wedding anniversaries are supposed to be the same day??? Probably not, since that factoid had been retconned once I think, but still

 Random Wandissimo???? O.o when did he start wearing a belt…and also, why are you even here??? I mean, nice to see you because it’s been AGES, but really dude? Why??? Butt joke! But man, has Wandissimo really been reduced to a one-note character…he’s getting into (or even past) stalker-territory like Tootie was, and we all know what happened to her…

 Mr .Bickles???? Wow, we’re just dragging back all the old flamboyant characters aren’t we (so where is my Sanjay??)

 Random Catman???? How many more characters can we cram into this??? I mean, at least Catman makes sense, since he’s the right age for this, and all eth yarn. But holy cameos Catman! And Wandergal and Don return too…huh…GAAAAHHHH!!! THEY CHANGED WANDERGAL’S COLORS!!!!! I know I already freaked about this, but that is a SERIOUS change, not “Veronica’s eyes are pink for 5 frames” change, but she’s like a completely DIFFERENT character with those colors. That’s just WRONG! She looks like the granny version of Goldenlocks now color wise, and that is wrong! I just…UHG! Can’t even stay on model when you created the character not but a handful of episodes earlier. Major point loss here >> (this might have just ruined the whole episode for me)

 Too many plots with separate problems. So yes Tim give us the blanket wish to fix everything…but also probably make it worse…oh no, it actually made it better for once. Nice.

 And Catman marries (not really) Wandergal in the end?? Idk how legally binding that is since he’s a 10-12 year old boy, just saying…

 So over all, this was 110% filler. It started off cute and tolerateable, but had far too many plot threads, too many pointless/random characters, and they colored Wandergal incorrectly.

I feel putting these two episodes together was a very bad choice. Neither of them are super great, and when you put them together, it’s just a big let down. Not that Dimmsdale’s Got Talent balances Knitwits, but Chloe Rules is a pretty good one. but i guess looking at their counter episodes, they went and skipped all the Kevin episodes because Kevin hasn’t been revealed yet. which is so stupid. just give up Kevin already and stop screwing up the airing order.