#*for the name change: may happen in Fault due to magic mechanics

[nomsfaultau]

Important PR Response to the Wilbur Soot scandal:

    Abuse in any form is abhorrent, and I condemn Wilbur’s actions. Previously I had established the division between people and personas in my work. I failed to reiterate the stance during the course of Fault, and would like rectify this now. I work with characters and not creators.

No works will be deleted. I will be continuing to use Wilbur Soot as a character only in preexisting works. Fault, Mandatory Family Reunion, and back burner projects will continue. The preplanned plot lines will not be altered greatly, so don’t expect sudden deaths, character assassination, name changes*, etc. However, I am not certain about Lighting Lanterns to Bring You Home as it is Wilbur-centric so it may be abandoned.

The current plans for this blog’s future are as follows:

- My characters be tagged as ‘Noms Wilbur’ or ‘SCP Wilbur’ for people who want to block tags. If cc comes up, he'll be tagged.

- I will not be financially supporting Wilbur in any way. I believe this is an important component in any Death/Disavowal of the Author situation. My fics are unlikely to contribute to further monetary/platform support that facilitates the further harm of the victim/s.

- No new AUs will involve Wilbur, so as projects finish he will be phased out more and more. Though keep in mind Fault is an extremely long term project.

- For those who wish to disconnect from the fandom entirely and stop following this blog, I wish you the best. Genuinely. This is a rough situation.

If anyone has any respectful and reasonable questions/comments, the ask box is always open. Please do not engage in bad faith; I am trying to do my best here. Below the cut I discuss my personal justifications and philosophies upon the matter. I’m not trying to force them on anyone, so please return the same courtesy.

    My reasonings: As I said after Technoblade’s death, I’ve poured a little too much of my soul into this to stop. I fully understand the people who have walked away, because I also feel sick and angry and sad and just— betrayed that this person I admired and enjoyed was abusing the people around him. But I am not going to let Wilbur’s vile actions poison the pride in the art I’ve made. And the fandom? We built it, not him. These are our stories and our drawings and our joy. So many other wonderful creators and fans poured so much effort into this community. To me, it feels like a betrayal to Technoblade’s legacy to let everything be tarnished. And I’m just not ready to lose this fandom that has meant so much to me for 4 years.

    I’m going to try for a little nuance here, a dangerous game on Tumblr I know. But part of the betrayal that I’m sure many of us are feeling is the thought we were tricked into liking a bad person. I have a friend who has been pouring over all of Wilbur’s content the last few days, desperate to find all the red flags they missed, painting every single thing he’s ever done with the knowledge of the things we couldn’t have known. And it’s not healthy for them, or anyone. In many stories we like to have a clear cut good and bad guy, because it’s easier if it’s true. The abuser becomes a cartoonishly evil caricature that makes it harder to recognize them in real life, and it makes real victims seem stupid for being hurt when shouldn’t it be so easy to tell? But it’s not, it’s messy, and complicated, and awful. Because in real life, abusers are people, and they can do good things like charity streams and making you laugh when you’re having a bad day and fostering wonderful communities of creative, amazing fans. They seem generous, and kind, because…they are. And they’re also abusive. And it’s really hard to hold both truths at the same time, which is why people prefer jump to extremes of defending and demonization. We like to believe the people we like are good people.

    Truthfully, I don’t believe in ‘bad people’ which is probably evident in much of my writing. I find it a category that too often used to discourage growth, remove culpability, and dismantle nuance. The moment people become monsters there is no question of rehabilitative justice, no question of what conditions and structures enabled this that need to be mended, revised, or replaced. The question becomes how do we destroy the monster instead of how do we protect future victims. Remove support from Wilbur, yes, but the next step is to give that support to Shubble. Mobs are fun. They feel right. But monsters don’t exist, people do, and people are complicated and abuse is complicated and their solutions must be accordingly nuanced. Sticking one guy’s head on a pike might ‘save’ the victim (which: Shubble saved herself), but it doesn’t support them in the long run. And it certainly doesn’t address the underlying personal, mental, and societal problems that caused someone to be abusive and allowed them to be undetected. And if anything, when put in a corner most people only get more desperate and dangerous to others and themselves. Justice requires far more effort than monster hunting, which is why it is often rare. And like we already discussed, people are often bad at detecting when someone is abusive. I’m not saying Wilbur is innocent, obviously. I’m saying demonization is a dangerous game and most people have done good and bad.

    But also, most people aren’t abusive pieces of shit.

    I don’t want to demonize Wilbur, but also I’m not going to wipe my hands of it by throwing my hands up, claiming there’s too much nuance blah blah morals are complicated, and then not actually hold him accountable. Wilbur does not deserve a platform with which to perpetuate his harmful actions. In reaction to this, we need to build systems and communities that don’t enable abuse, to support victims, and to help abusers become better without giving them the opportunity to hurt other people or themselves. Which, you know, is *slightly* outside the scope of one SBI fanblog, but I’ll do my best and pray others choose the same.

    I understand people who want to raze everything he’s ever touched, to delete all their fan works and eviscerate their love for anything involving him. I really, really do. I feel nauseous every time I try to write. But I’m trying to not throw the baby out with the bathwater, because I’ve found a lot of good here and I refuse to abandon it. My enjoyment of the story and community Wilbur helped inspire does not condone the bad he’s done, nor do I support him financially or emotionally. It’s a really difficult line to walk, but this is where my morals fall at least. I want to reclaim the joy I used to have.

    I hope Shubble is able to recover and heal from the harm done to her. She’s a wonderful person and is lucky to have friends and a community that have supported her in this time. I’m glad that the fandom has (mostly) collectively disavowed her abuser instead of exploding into controversy and a ‘he said-she said’ toxic mess a la Dream style, even if it hurts knowing much of the community we’ve built has been destroyed. Lastly, I pray Wilbur will become a better person. I would like to believe anyone has the capacity for redemption, but that is a decision entirely within his hands alone at this point. As for me, I will simply do what I think reduces harm and uplifts joy.  I may be wrong, but I will continue to do my best.   

Again, if anyone has any respectful and reasonable questions/comments, the ask box is always open.

[mirrinbelde-shitposts]

Heyyy!

Here fr d game!

Umm im guessing ur an pisces mercury*hehe jst types wht comes to mind at 1st

Also i wont mind if u post it publicly or send me privately

Here is my birthchart(tropical)

Lawl SUSPENSE..Hehe

Anw Have a great day/night ahead🤍🥂

Guessing was fun tho..evn if i guessed wrng one💀🤣

Hey!! You did guess wrong, sorry about that xd but it's oki, don't worry about it! Have a good day too ^^

Welcome to your reading. Please remember to send feedback.

First impressions when looking at your chart: you don't have a lot of aspects, but a lot of them are exact: that wedge patter between Saturn, Venus and Mercury is very exact; you have an even distribution of planets among the signs and the houses; also, the angles (except IC) all conjunct planets or points

SUN IN AQUARIUS

As an Aquarius, you are quirky, aloof, dreamy and humanist. People may think you're awkward and detached, which is probably true for you since your Sun is at 0º of Aquarius. Your originality and uniqueness are probably the things you love about yourself the most. Your mind is also quite agile, which allows you to fulfil your dreams. Nevertheless, we cannot ignore the fact that the Sun is in Detriment in the sign of Aquarius. This means that the Sun can struggle here, making you feel confused as to who you are and how you can express yourself. You very much value your independence and your rebelliousness. However, you can be stubborn to a fault when it comes to your thoughts and opinions.

SUN IN THE 7TH HOUSE

The Sun in the house of Libra shows that you really enjoy socializing and that's also where you shine the most brightly. The Venusian influence gives you charm and elegance, which cause people to flock to you. Also, you may show your true colours in relationships, particularly romantic ones. Having someone close to you will allow you to achieve a better understanding of yourself. You do well when it comes to working with others; this placement helps the detached, independent Aquarius Sun to be more sociable and better appreciate others. Also, the Venus influence can make people look up to you and see themselves in you, something that doesn't really happen with Aquarius Suns in generally. You may do well in associations or organizations because you have a need to be in society.

MOON IN CAPRICORN

Once again, you have a planet in Detriment. Capricorn, the sign of Saturn, struggles to feel and voice the emotions they experience. Therefore, it is natural that the Moon finds this sign difficult. You think too much. Perhaps you had a complicated relationship with your mother, which may have caused you to repress your emotions. Capricorn placements, in general, tend to grow up and mature quite early, which leads to unhealthy coping mechanisms; you had to raise your walls up high, so you struggle to let anyone in. You may also be socially awkward. At the same time, you may seek validation from society, which is one of the things that may give you that emotional security that you deeply seek. You should work on letting your guard down; emotions are not the enemy, it's okay to feel what you feel. Let out your inner child once in a while.

MOON IN THE 6TH HOUSE

Here, the Moon is in the house of Virgo (but lying almost on top of the Descendant). There is a strong connection between body and mind. You seek emotional safety through your work and other acts of service; you want to be useful to people and to spend your time wisely. You may be a workaholic. Your routines are very important to you; you can get distraught if someone messes with your daily habits. Your health may be a concern to you, but since your Moon is harmoniously aspected, I'd say you're generally healthy. Nevertheless, watch for any hereditary diseases or problems with food or alcohol. The square with Mars suggests to me that you can quickly let out your anxieties. You like discipline, organization and cleanness; you are determined in the pursuit of your goals. You may have a vocation to work directly with people. Your moods may change quickly.

MERCURY IN CAPRICORN

With Mercury in Capricorn, you speak in a very structured, pondered way. You are very analytical and it shows in the way you communicate. You're a realist, but people may think you're more pessimistic. You definitely tend to be pessimistic at times, as well as distrustful and sceptical. You like to research, to gather information before speaking. You're concrete in your thinking, logical and organized. You take your time to make decisions; you weigh all the pros and cons carefully. Probably not the one to daydream or have many fantasies; you prefer the realistic and achievable. Although you're mostly serious, you can be playful sometimes.

MERCURY IN THE 6TH HOUSE

Capricorn Mercury is similar to Mercury in the house of Virgo. You are probably a perfectionist person, determined and organized. You analyse everything, yourself and your emotions included. You're very critical, especially of yourself. You hold everyone to high standards; once again, yourself the most. Like Capricorn Mercury, you can have pessimistic tendencies. You probably repress your feelings and rationalize them instead. Additionally, your knowledge can progress through daily life experiences and through your body. You should practice meditation and mindfulness because your anxiety and stress may have a direct effect on your bodily health.

VENUS IN PISCES

Venus is exalted in Pisces. This sign is intuitive, empathetic and emotional, which are traits that Venus likes. You feel everything and negative energies really get to you, so it's important that you find a partner that gives you emotional stability. You make a good lover, for you are caring and sensitive to people's needs, especially your partner's. Venus here gives you ethereal, alluring vibes. You can seem almost magical to people. You can be very protective of those you love, selfless; you can even sacrifice yourself for them. You're a daydreamer, you live in your own fantasy world. You have great aesthetic taste and you're quite romantic. However, be careful not to be taken advantage of; your too-good nature can land you someone whose intentions are far from the best.

VENUS IN THE 8TH HOUSE

Venus here acquires some Scorpio traits, namely the need to get a deep connection with someone. You are a person of extremes, not of middle-terms. In this sense, you can get effortlessly get people to open up to you, to tell you their deepest, darkest secrets. Since the (H also rules other people's money, you may get rich through an inheritance or a good marriage. Also, people may trust you with their money. In love, too, they aspire to learn everything about their partner. You seek transformative relationships, ones that will allow you to experience a different range of emotions, another dimension, even. Casual relationships are probably not your thing. You can get too controlling and dominating, so beware of that. Also, financial security is important to you; you may even have a job that has directly to do with money.

ARIES MARS

Here, Mars is in its rulership. You are quite reckless and impulsive in your actions. You like to be the first, to be the pioneer (much like Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac). You have a knack for leadership and people tend to be happy to follow your lead. You are quite competitive in just about everything; you can have a sour loser. You are quick to get mad, but after you explode, your anger will be gone in an instant. You are great at achieving goals because Mars helps you to stay motivated and determined; you are quite persistent and usually get what you want. You can also work well under pressure. Laziness is not in your blood. Your independence is quite important to you, as are your opinions. You can be quite stubborn and difficult to argue with, simply due to your relentlessness.

MARS IN THE 9TH HOUSE

Your Mars is in the house of Sagittarius. This placement allows you to acquire the necessary willpower for the journey to the expansion of knowledge and discovery. Your actions should help you with the acquisition of further knowledge, as well as ideas and strengthening your freedom. This placement goes against the need of routine imposed by your 6th house placements; Mars here wants you to get out there, be free, have fun, think about life, yourself and the universe. You have strong morals and philosophical ways. This placement may make you strongly seek, hunt, even, the truth of the fundamental questions. On another note, you can develop an attraction to foreign people and may wish to move away from home swiftly and without hesitation. This can be abroad too.

JUPITER IN VIRGO

Jupiter is in Detriment in Virgo. Whilst Jupiter is all about philosophy, the higher mysteries and expansion, Virgo seeks for the concrete, for what it knows, for the logical and rational. Therefore, this placement requires work. You are sceptical, you need to think and analyse everything before you come to a conclusion. Growth is achieved through responsibilities and being useful to others. A bit of idealism would be good, Jupiter struggles in Earth signs. You may think that you know more than you actually do, that you see the bigger picture when that is not true. Be careful not to grow an ego. Your beliefs will be challenged in this lifetime. You have a desire to help people, and in relationships too you want to do everything in your power to aid your partner.

JUPITER IN THE 2ND HOUSE

This placement generally brings good luck when it comes to money and other worldly possessions. You may also like to spend money, more on your loved ones than on yourself. You may be big into giving gifts. In order to reach that emotional security, you may wish to surround yourself with material items that, to you, hold great value and importance. Once you understand how better to acquire that stability, you may become rather generous with your money. You want a comfortable lifestyle. Like Venus in the 8th house, you may be good at managing your possessions, thus causing others to go to you for financial advice. You may not show it, but you have strong philosophical convictions, which may prove to be impossible to change.

SATURN IN CANCER

Saturn is in Detriment here, which makes it four planets in Detriment in your chart. You may feel a strong need for emotional safety, which could manifest as a fear of abandonment. There may also be some emotional blockages present that you struggle to overcome. Saturn retrograde, being the planet of Karma, may difficult your mission in life. You could be stuck on an unresolved trauma from a past life. This may be represented by a figure of authority in this life, perhaps your father. Instead of attempting to reconcile your past, try to accept the world changing around you. You may be too afraid to venture into the world and to open your heart; accept that it is part of life. Find people that give you that security, but don’t pour out your entire soul to them; find a balance. Not everything can be kept in our hearts, but not everything should be shared, either.

SATURN IN THE 12TH HOUSE

This is quite a strong and powerful placement: you have the planet of karma in the most karmic house. Also, according to Hellenistic Astrology, Saturn has its joy in the 12th house. You may be afraid to mess with the subconscious because your emotions may overtake you. Saturn is related to blockages and yours may be due to paranoia, which is characteristic of Neptune and Pisces. You may repress parts of yourself that you are not happy about, which makes you feel better, but, at the same time, paranoia can set in and make you wonder if that is the right thing to do. That aside, you may also struggle with poor self-esteem and doubts about yourself and life. There can be problems of guilt of some sort, perhaps even related to your life itself. It is very vague, but my thoughts about this placement are, in short, that, from birth, there have been deep traumas within you that have blocked your inner peace. What does are, I do not know. ⬛️

[the-god-of-nihon]

Writing Idea: It’s called an AU pt2

Future Jaune cleans up, shows off his middle-aged man bod, then has a long story time with Ozpin. Also his semblance comes in real handy.

_______________________________________________________________________

As his three teammates went about their business, getting dressed preparing for their day. Team RWBY coming and going out of JNPR’s room as they did the same. Jaune sat on his bed engrossed in watching them do tasks he hadn’t seen them do for years. A stab of sorrow pierced through him; this was all so familiar, but far away in his memory.

“Jaune?” Pyrrha called out to him as she brushed her hair, “the shower is free if you want to clean up.”

He looked at himself, at his ragged clothes, and the dirt on his skin, “yeah that’s probably a good idea.” As he pulled off his shoulders the remains of a cloak, revealing attached at his left shoulder a metallic arm. Clean, not pristine, but clearly better maintained than the rest of him.

“Jaune! You’re a cyborg!” Nora rushed over to him taking his mechanical arm in her hands and examining it in wonder.

“A prosthetic . . .” Ren trailing after her, eyeing the appendage noticing an engraving of a rose on the shoulder plate.

“You lost your arm.” Not a question, but a statement Pyrrha had halted her brushing as she stared at the arm as Nora handled it, “when did you lose your arm?”

“Around 10 years ago,” he said simply, the image of Nora messing around with Jaune as he tolerated her antics was nothing new, but the context left an uncomfortable silence in the air. “Guy’s it’s really not that big of a deal, given our career path it’s pretty par for the course.”

“Right. You’re right. Apologies I shouldn’t have stared,” Ren quick to apologize went back to straightening out his bed.

“Do you need help taking your clothes off?” Pyrrha asked genuinely concerned, eyes still on the mechanical limb.

“Why Pyrrha I never thought you’d be so forward,” Jaune teased, almost immediately grimacing. Although nobody noticed, as Pyrrha turned red like a tomato, sending Nora giggling back onto her bed as Jaune waved apologetically, “thanks for the concern, but I’ve had this thing long enough to know how to handle it.”

After the first hot shower in who knows how long, Jaune was feeling better than ever. Trimming his beard from extremely shaggy, to sort of shaggy, and tying his long hair back in a ponytail.

“Jaune we borrowed some clothes from for you to wear until your clothes are clean.” Pyrrha called from the other side of the door.

“Thanks, “Jaune replied as he wrapped a towel around his waist and opened the door. Something his team had clearly not expected when they all did a double take at the sight of his topless form.

“Jaune, lookin good!” Nora whistled at Jaune, then pretended to root around in her wallet, “how much to lose the towel?”

“Nora!” Pyrrha again beat red, shoved the borrowed clothes into his arms, and rushed out the open doorway.

Jaune raised an eyebrow, and looked at Ren for some clarification as if he being topless was something unusual.

“For someone with your aura, you have quite a number of scars.” Ren returned Jaune’s look before going back to examining the scars scattered over his torso.

“Well you know me, never know when to quit,” Jaune said as he slipped the large shirt, and pair of pants on, “ran out of aura few too many times, but I learned my lesson. For the most part.”

“We have classes soon, will you be okay alone, should we stay?” Ren asked placing the book he was reading in his lap.

“Don’t skip on my account, those are valuable lessons Oobleck and Port are giving you.” Jaune gave a derisive snort, smirking as he waved them off.

“Okay, well just behave yourself, and we’ll be back in a few hours.” Pyrrha calling out as she was exiting.

“I’m not a puppy. I’ll probably go finish telling Ozpin about my timeline, then take a walk around campus. Haven’t seen this place in nearly 20 years after all.” Jaune smiles fondly, then laughs to himself, “You have fun with Oobleck, maybe tell him I’m absent because I got switched with an alternate universe version of myself, see how he reacts.”

“Will do!” Nora piped up giving a salute before marching out the door, Ren in tow shaking his head.

Jaune stretched out with a groan, and then went on his way to Ozpin’s office. His memory was reliable enough, though he could have sworn the carpet had been a different color. Jaune stopped in front of the elevator up to Ozpin’s office, “maybe I should take the stairs.” He sighed as the opened the doors, and stepped inside, “Up, not down. Not down.” Jaune clenched his eyes shut when the walls suddenly felt like they were closing in, and counted until he reached the top floor.

“Ah Mr. Arc, you are looking much better now,” Ozpin sat at his desk, a bundle of papers in front of him. Glynda standing to the side, turned to see Jaune, her eyes catching onto the mechanical arm.

Jaune face slightly pallid approached Ozpin’s desk, taking a few labored breathes, before smiling. “It’s surprising what a shower and shave can do to a bum,” Jaune quipped resting his good hand on the back of a chair.

“Please sit,” Ozpin motions to the chair infront of him, moving the papers in front of him to the side, “I’d like to hear more about the world you come from, is that alright?”

“I can only tell you what I know,” Jaune points out as he settles into the seat, declining the offering of a beverage, “where should I start?”

“Of course, of course,” Ozpin sips from his mug, “as for where to start, how about from the beginning.”

And thus Jaune recounted his life’s story all the way up to the Vytal Festival, Glynda growing somewhat agitated as the story droned on.

“Mr. Arc, while I appreciate learning about my students, that was not quite what I meant,” Ozpin adjusted his glasses, and filled his mug again.

“You did say from the beginning, you need to be more specific,” Jaune smirked, feeling a little self-satisfied. Although he flinched when Glynda raised her crop in warning, “okay okay, sorry. Now onto the Vytal Festival.”

Jaune explained what knew, and what he’d seen, it was all very normal. Students everywhere, food stalls, fights, camaraderie, and youthful exuberance. He spoke about how nearing the finals of the tournament Pyrrha became unsure on herself, and came to him with some questions he hadn’t understood at the time, how she’d seemed so distraught. Honestly it made Jaune a bit happy to see Ozpin and Glynda subtly shift when he told them how worried he’d been about Pyrrha. Then came the first match of the finals, Yang against Mercury Black, when Yang had been tricked into being disqualified.

“So then the matches after that were pretty standard, no maiming or over the top violence,” Jaune gesturing as he spoke, “but then Pyrrha went up against Penny Polendina, a huntress-in-training from Atlas. Who we found out was actually an android.”

That got their attention, Ozpin’s eyes grew wide and he hastily set his mug down, while Glynda uncrossed her arms and stepped forward, “An android? As in a robot?”

“From what Ruby told me about her, Penny was the first artificial human ever capable of generating an aura.” Jaune spoke recalling Ruby opening up about another friend she had lost in the Fall of Beacon, “ask Ironwood about it, he helped make her.”

“Yes, I’ll be sure to do that,” Ozpin sat back into his chair, fingers entwined in front of his face, “continue please.”

“Well Pyrrha killed Penny,” Jaune stated simply, “due to her unstable emotional state she lost control of her semblance, which made Penny’s own weapons turn against her.” Jaune clasped his hand together and rested them on his knees, “and that- that was the start of one of the worst nights of my life.”

“Do you believe you were sent back to divert these events, Mr. Arc?”

Jaune spoke quietly shaking his head, “I doubt it, I was in the middle of nowhere before I woke up here, not exactly near any singularities or mad scientists secret labs. Besides if the whole multiverse thing has any standing, it wouldn’t matter what I did here, it wouldn’t change my future. I don’t know how far back, but at least the events of the Vytal Festival had been orchestrated by someone, the person who is hunting the maidens.”

The sound of a mug being dropped could never be so sweet, as the contents of Ozpin’s mug spilled across his desk. “I’m afraid I do not follow Mr. Arc.”

“Don't’ bullshit me Ozpin,” Jaune sat forward, slamming a hand on the desk, “I know about the woman in the vault. I know that the woman in the machine was a fairy tale maiden with magical powers. I know you’re planning on choosing Pyrrha to take her place.” The three sat in silence, Jaune hoping to whatever gods there may be that this was a timeline where all that was going to happen, and he hadn’t just made an ass of himself.

“Yes, you are correct,” the headmaster sighed, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe up the mess, “where is this going Mr. Arc?”

“You die.” Jaune looks Ozpin in the eye, “well kind of, given later events.”

“I die?” Ozpin inquired casually as if he hadn’t just been told of his own demise.

“Sort of. A woman named Cinder follows us down to the vault and kills the fall maiden. Partially my fault, I was supposed to keep guard.” Jaune exhales and rubs his neck, “but to allow Pyrrha and I to escape you stay to fight her, and lose. You ended up in the head of a young boy named Oscar, but we didn’t find that out until later.”

“Ah, I see.” Jaune had never expected to see Ozpin, as well as Glynda, at a loss for words.

“After you lost to Cinder, Pyrrha took it upon herself to stop her,” Jaune’s gaze fell to the floor, “you can guess how that went.”

“I . . . am sorry, Mr. Arc,” Ozpin offered remorsefully, Jaune nodded back.

“But due to that, Ruby activated her Silver-eyed warrior powers,” Jaune continued, lacing his fingers behind his head, “I guess there was some kind of magical power bargain sale I missed.” “But that sent Cinder running, and froze the giant Grimm Dragon that had taken a perch on Beacon Tower. Oh yeah, a giant Grimm dragon came out of a mountain, and started dropping grimm juice all over the city.”

“Gods,” Glynda breathed out, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I got launched into Vale, so I’m kind spotty on what exactly happened for the stuff I missed,” Jaune cupped his chin, “Yang lost her right arm, and went back to Patch with a comatose Ruby; Blake got stabbed and disappeared; Weiss was taken back to Atlas; Sun and his team went back to Mistral; Ren, and Nora came back with me, Beacon was destroyed with a monster frozen on the tower, and Vale was devastated but still mostly standing.”

“What of the other kingdoms?”

“Well the CCT was taken out in the attack, so we didn’t have any contact with them afterwards.” Jaune leaned back in his seat, expositing events after the Fall, “I didn’t find anything out until Ruby, Ren, Nora and I made it to Mistral almost a year later. But Atlas closed its borders, no trade or dust shipments to other kingdoms. Mistral & Vacuo were largely unaffected, or that’s what it seemed.”

“A dust embargo? Closed borders?” Glynda adjusts her glasses a sharp look to her eyes, “for what reason would Atlas cut them selves off like that?”

“Well the CCT didn’t go down until after video of Atlas androids and mechs attacking the people of Vale was transmitted to every kingdom.” Jaune tilted his head, and closed his eyes as he went on, “they were wary of the other kingdoms suspecting them of being involved in the attack.”

“So obviously the thing to do is stop all outside contact and not answer any questions,” Glynda crossed her arms, her mouth in a displeased frown.

“And you said that Mistral and Vacuou ‘seemed’ unaffected?” Ozpin inserted himself back into the conversation.

“Well Vacuou was a mystery until much later, but as it turns out Professor Lionheart was in bed with the enemy.”

Ozpin stilled, “such accusations are grave Mr. Arc, the headmaster of Haven Academy is a trusted personal friend.”

“Not an accusation, just saying what happened in my timeline,” Jaune shrugged, then turned his to return Ozpin’s stare, “he thought by aiding Salem, that he would be spared.” His expression turning neutral, and cold, “in the end he died, a fool and a traitor.”

 Ozpin and Glynda exchanged looks, mulled the thought over for a moment. The older man pulled his glasses off and rubbed his eyes, “I suppose the possibility should not be completely put off the table.”

“After Beacon & Vale, then it was Mistral’s turn. The kingdom was brought down from the inside, and from there it was just race to keep the kingdoms standing.” Jaune gaze lowered to the Beacon emblem on the side of Ozpin’s mug, “we just kept going from place to place trying to stop Salem and her ‘Council of Evil,’ but in the end we were just playing catch up. The seeds for their plans had been sown years in advance, for kids like us, who didn’t even finish their first year of training. We didn’t have a chance to begin with.”

“You never struck me as a defeatist, Mr. Arc,” Ozpin cleaned his glassed before placing them back in place.

“I’ve always tried very hard to hide it,” Jaune grinned, but his eyes weren’t playing along, “all the kingdoms fell, at least from a governmental standpoint. Whatever citizens and huntsmen remained were scattered to the wind. Our group joined up with anyone else we could find and tried to reclaim some of the ruined cities. But in the end none of us could rebuild a kingdom.”

“Is that it?” Glynda seemed agitated, hands on her hips, “you lose, and give up?”

“If only it were that easy,” Jaune replied to Glynda with resignation, “No any still living civilians, and huntsmen are either trying to live out in the wilderness, or made their way to Amity Base.”

“Amity Base? As in Amity Coloseum, it still existed even after all that?”

“It was actually one of the few things still functional, the left over huntsmen organized to set up there, and turned into a mobile base, and refuge for anyone seeking shelter.” Jaune smiled at the memory, “converted the thing to solar, stocked up on supplies, and it’s been the closest anyone has gotten to rebuilding a society, outside of temporary shanty towns.”

“What had you been doing at that point Mr. Arc?” Ozpin noticed Jaune hadn’t mentioned himself in all this.

“Oh, I was around for all that, I was part of the group that reclaimed Amity, and did a lot of searching for survivors to send back there,” Jaune’s expression fell as he went on, “up until around ten years ago, we directly went up against Salem’s lackies again. The first time in a while, it was bad, but we were stronger than we were as kids.” His hand went up to his left shoulder, “we got some of them, and they got some of us. Nobody lost, but sure as hell nobody won. That was when I lost my arm, and what remained of my team.” Jaune’s face fell, “and . . .”

“And?” Ozpin looked at Glynda out the corner of his eye, who nodded, “is everything alright, Mr. Arc?”

“Fine. Just bad memories,” Jaune didn’t seem particularly emotional, mostly just tired. “Long story, short. I was around doing things, until I wasn’t. I haven’t been back to Amity in a while.”

“You left?”

“After that battle I felt it better to go,” Jaune continued, “I had a feeling I wasn’t the only one.”

“What did you do after that?”

“I had a prototype prosthetic arm bolted onto me, got a new weapon, and went anywhere other than Amity, just searching. I figured I’d either find what I was looking for, or get killed by something,” Jaune shrugged, a good-natured smile on his face for such a morbid thought.

“And what was it you were looking for?”

“Survivors to send back to Amity, any leftover huntsmen that could help, the Maidens, supply caches, my family; if any of them are still alive.” Jaune crossed his arms, and slouched in his seat, “just about anything I can find really, I’ve spent the last ten years doing that and haven’t set one step back on Amity since.”

“Did you find the Maidens, or your family?”

Jaune jaw set in a line, “Nope.”

“And you have been gone for ten years, you said?”

“Around ten or so,” Jaune rubbed the back of his neck, “If I find any resources, or supply storages, I send the location back to Amity. If I come across survivors I try to escort them to safety, so I’m kept busy at least.”

“You do not return, but act in its interest, why?.”

“What else would I do?” Jaune laughs softly, “It’s just about the only thing left to fight for. And even if I don’t go back, there are still things I care about there.”

“There are?”

“Yes.”

“Care to elaborate?”

“Not particularly.”

A silence settled, as everyone in attendance understood that this conversation had come to an end. Ozpin stood smoothly, and offered his hand to the younger man across from him.

“Well that was an enlightening experience Mr. Arc. Regardless of whether or not events in this world will go the same way, what you said has given us quite a bit to think about.”

“Yeah well, it felt kind of nice to talk to someone for a change.”

“And if you are ever in need of someone to listen, we are here.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, haven’t had these kinds of luxuries in a long time, I’ll be sure to take full advantage,” Jaune chuckled as he stood up, leaning forward to shake Ozpin’s hand.

“If you need anything please tell me,” Glynda offered as she placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Well actually, there is one thing . . . “ Jaune intentionally drifted off, before fixing Ozpin with a look, “take me to the Fall maiden.”

The interior of the elevator felt smaller with more people in it, Jaune tried to focus on the sound of his own breathing.

“You believe that your semblance can heal her?” Glynda was rightfully skeptical, glancing at Jaune out of the corner of her eye, arms crossed in front of her.

“Heal? No. My semblance enhances the natural capabilities of aura, from what I know, the Fall maiden had part of her soul ripped out of her body along with the maiden powers. Jaune still had has his eyes closed, “with part of her gone, and the constant pull of the other half of the maiden powers, her aura probably can’t recover enough to stabilize her.”

“So you believe if you can amplify her aura enough, she will start to recover on her own?” Ozpin sounded as dry and mundane as always, but there was a tint of curiosity to his voice.

“I don’t see any harm in trying.”

Ozpin hummed, his lips pulled into a small pleased smile.

“Are you alright, Mr. Arc?” turning to face him Glynda her head tilted concern coloring her features.

“Fine.” Jaune said a bit too snappish, taking a deep breath. “Fine, sorry. I’m just bad with small spaces.”

The elevator lurching to a stop as the final ding sounded, and the doors open to a massive, dark hallway at the end of which stood a peculiar machine. The walk towards the end of the room was silent, the sound of footfalls and clicks of cane and heels echoed off the walls eerily.

Jaune breathing steadily once outside the confines of the elevator, couldn’t help to think how Pyrrha felt walking these same areas for the first time. The memory of how Ozpin had led her down her, how he imagined she must have felt in those moments. It made his stomach turn.

Ozpin and Glynda came to a halt before him, looking at Jaune expectantly.

Stepping forward, gazing through the frosted glass of the pod on the left, his gaze fell onto the figure of the women inside. How long had she been in there? How aware is she? Has she just been in eternal torment since she’d been attacked? Jaune’s chest clenched at the thought, he’d get an idea soon enough. “Can you open it?”

Fingers dancing across the console Ozpin had the pod open in short order, a chilled air spreading out from the source.

Coming as close to the pod as he can, Jaune reaches in to take the stranger’s hand, the cold stiff skin making it almost seem as if she was already dead. But he could feel it faintly, her aura, her soul. Reaching out to it with his own, he felt the connection take hold, almost desperately the other aura latched onto his, suckling at his in an effort to live. Rather than resist, he pushed his aura forward allowing the woman to take all he had to offer. He felt her fear, and anxiety. The pain, the burning hunger. All of it subsiding as he fed her his aura, the shine of his semblance enveloping both of them, and filling the dark, underground vault with warm light.

“Astounding.” Speaking for the first time since they had arrive, Glynda standing in awe of what she saw, pressing her clenched hands against her chest.

The headmaster in contrast staring silently at the display fluctuating on the console, but rising nonetheless, daring to hope. Pressing his lips into a thin line, eyes darting over to and fro, hands clenched white on the edge of the console.

A groan, a small groan rising out of the throat of the once comatose woman, her body shifting slightly for the first time. Her eyes opening just a crack, looking into the blue eyes of the man holding her hand.

“Welcome back to the land of the living.” Jaune softly whispering to her, smiling in what he hoped was a nonthreatening way.

The woman attempting to speak, but her throat too dry, having gone too long without use, croaking out sounds instead. Her eyes beginning to tear up, squeezes his hand with what little strength she has.

“It’s okay, you’re going to be okay.” Jaune taking her hand in both of his, beginning to hum a soothing tune, as the woman’s eyes drift shut again. He continued until his aura gave out, slouching slightly with exertion, the woman’s chest rising and falling steadily in a slumber.

“All vitals are green and staying there; she’s stabilized.”

“I don’t believe it.” Glynda moving to Ozpin’s side to examine the console along side him. “She’s really- she’s going to be okay.”

“She’ll need time to re-acclimatize to having her aura at full, I imagine having gone so long without, it might be a shock to her system.” Jaune standing a bit shakily, but stepping away from the pod without issue, looking at the sleeping woman with a small smile. “I’m no doctor, but I’d recommend she take it easy for a while. You probably shouldn’t take her out of the machine, until we can be sure her aura is capable of regenerating on it’s own.”

“Of course. I-” Glynda turning on her heel, to face Jaune with a look of elation, before straightening herself out, “Yes, we’ll be keeping her closely monitored, and while notify you if your services are needed again.”

Ozpin back still to both of them, hunching over the console like some kind of buried treasure.

Jaune wasn’t sure he’d heard a thing he had just said. “Well, I’ll be around.” Turning towards to elevator, with a wave.

Glynda’s voice halting his progress calling out softly, but carrying impossibly well across the massive room, “Jaune, thank you.”

Jaune smiled at her, before he moving to the elevator, and he raising his hand to lightly slap his face thinking, ‘still not a dream,’ to himself. Inside looking down at his good hand opening and closing it. The dings of the elevator resonating deep in his ears, pressing his eyes shut, and clenching his fist. Inhaling deep, deliberately keeping his breathing steady as the elevator continued upwards.

[toasttz]

From the Tabletop X

Shit yeah! I'm totally alive! It's not that our games stopped or anything (though our D&D GM was ready to throw it all at the wall, he has decided to soldier on). Just that I've gotten wrapped up in other things. Like, uh, GM'ing! Yeah, remember, like, a year ago when I started this series and mentioned I really like Shadowrun? We kicked off a Shadowrun 5e game! So, today's special 10th-ennial extravaganza will be Shadowrun talk time, or me at the opposite side of the table. To begin, our players' runners: Troppo - an Australian who ventured to Seattle in search of work once a military injury (several lost fingers) had him on a medical discharge. His role in the party is infiltrator. Which gives him license to trivialize otherwise-challenging moments in my campaign by stealth-killing all the enemies I made for them. Later ends up dating a Johnson after a particular run. Still active as of this writing. Then there's Big Iron - our street sammy. An ex-cop who was put on indefinite administrative leave when she became known as Knight Errant's personal walking PR disaster - effectively the sixth world's version of the Demolition Man. However, as part of the conditions of this arrangement, she had to be on-call when KE needed her for anything. She became a runner to make ends meet and kind of became the Team Mom. And lastly is Clockwork. Clockwork is a decker who runs hot or cold - either hyper-compotent and hacking the planet, or getting thwarted by an OSHA-compliant stairwell (not joking about this) with no inbetweens. Rare flashes of brilliance illuminated the short and underwhelming career of a runner who, as of the most recent update, was sent to the hospital because his overweight girlfriend sat on his face. As the GM, I refuse to issue apologies or excuses. Mostly because, God damn man, you could've done SO MUCH BETTER! Oh yeah, I realize there is a canon runner named Clockwork. Well, we didn't know that going into it, so he got to fly under the radar on that. If he had actually hung in there, I planned on having the canon Clockwork troll him at some point. So, to start, we're all new and Sixth World is out of reach at the time (and debuting late at our local shops), so I decide to pitch the classic: a Stuffer Shack run. Seattle, 2080, early nostril-freezing early January. Big Iron goes into said Stuffer Shack, getting herself some snacks and condoms (in order not to look "lame"). The boy at the counter sleepily rings her up, just in time for Troppo - Spider-Manning his way up to a rooftop in order to eye a gang of elves acting shifty outside the store. This leads to the first glitch of the game - the elves glitch in their attempt to notice Spider-Troppo. Elf 3: Whoa! Look! That pigeon is fat! Elf 4: Who cares?! Focus! Troppo: Troppo sits in silence to watch these crazy elves, taking only minor offense at being called a fat pigeon. One of the elves goes around the side to start hacking the security (which isn't exactly top-notch), and the other three enter and declare themselves the "Daggerbacks" - an elven supremacy movement looking to expand the glorious empire of Tir Tangaire (and sucking at it). Big Iron attempted to take the high road and offered them a chance to reconsider this terrible decision, but they scoff at the offer and a shootout ensues. This goes poorly for the elves (and would've gone worse for them, had I properly read about how this system handles damage! Shadowrun is a ruthlessly kill-y system!) as Big Iron sends the three scattering, one diving for cover, one wounded who slumps into a wall, and the leader with a baseball-sized hole in his torso, blown backwards into the store's front door. He is then grabbed by a colossal, Troll hand, which firmly affixes to his head, causing him to drop his firearm in defeat. The owner of the hand is Oscar, a former coworker of Big Iron who "just so happened to be in the neighborhood" at the time and lent a hand in arresting them. Oh yeah, and Clockwork traced their network activity and arrived at the scene in the nick of too late. Troppo ultimately intimidated their decker into absolute surrender, lifting a coupon for "SUSHI RAINBOW - NOW WITH REAL FISH!" and his deck off him in the process, causing him to flee - claiming to never really care about the Tir - without deck but with soiled pants. The firefight inside dies down not long after. Cashier: You shot it, you bought it! Big Iron: Now's not the time! By sheer coincidence, the other elves had SUSHI RAINBOW coupons on them as well - my subtle shove towards a meet-up place. Big Iron and Troppo meet en route, having established they did work together in the past. Before long, we were all together, meeting at SUSHI RAINBOW, its owners being Japanese immigrants, Yoshi and Rinko Watanabe and their gyaru daughter, Honoka. Since we were playing with few players than normally constitutes a full runner team, I made a few NPCs to help fill any niches that needed addressing. Honoka was a technomancer and had skills like auto mechanic and gunsmith. And, due to an amusing typo (AKA: Clockwork's persistent illiteracy), a new team of runners was born: "Hey, guys! Someone's biting my runner handle!" complained Friend Octopus. "You really need to change it, dude," Observed Radical Larry. "You're one to talk," sighed Sexy Penguin. "All of you, shut up and focus. This bomb isn't gonna defuse itself and if it goes off, we'll lose the entire shipment of irridium discs!" scolds their leader, Disco Panda. Anyways, back in Seattle, we learn Yoshi and Rinko are retired runners who still have contacts throughout the city. Rinko agrees to bring the runners on on a regular basis, provided they assist with a little issue that's been plaguing them for a while: The Silver Knives. A gang of over-the-hill mostly-mages, who are going around and harassing people as of late in the area. I learned many of the foibles of GMs that day. On account the first leg of the run (a shoot-up down a narrow corridor/alleyway) was trivialized by Troppo Spider-Troppo'ing down on them and assassinating them. For reference, I use the dice that came in the Sixth World Beginner's Box - cuz they're super cool - and these geezers were glitching left and right. So, having made complete work of that, the runners got to the main event - a raid on their warehouse compound (where they would be paid for each of the gang necklaces of each head they popped) and were assigned an NPC shaman, Fallen Snow, an Amerindian Shaman who had a... very special master spirit. I used Shark from the core book as the basis and... well... Go to Youtube, and search for "Lumpy Touch Movie Sonic". Once again, as GM, I never make apologies. Except in one run. But that was only half my fault. Fucking stairs, man. Not even once. Well, I underestimated them again and, though the gangers had a numbers advantage, Troppo and Fallen Snow were stealth/assassin builds and Clockwork was given the rival in the form of the 1337 H@X0R, an elderly, experienced hacker who was learning computers before the previous Great Crash, well up to 2080. Fallen Snow then reveals her spirit as Wendigo (full name: Wendigo of the North), who proceeds to beat the hell out of and then subsequently eats the gangers as they go. Now, a small excerpt from our game: "Snow thrusts her arms out to the side as she glows dimly, as two disproportionately long, clawed hands extend up, then out, landing on the ground and pushes up a lumbering, terrifyingly large spirit. Its head is clad in a goat's skull, but its eyes still seem to bulge and protrude from the sockets, as if they are being squeezed. It has a massive set of jaws and ever-convulsing skin that paradoxically seems to hang limp off the spirit's frame. "HEY GUIYS!" the spirit announces itself in an echoing, unearthly voice, "I'm STARVIN' over here!" “Jesus fuck, Snow,” Troppo says under his breath, without taking his eyes off the sprawling enemies. "Wendigo. By our contract. Kill the Silver Knives. Oh, and don't swallow their necklaces. We need those," Snow demands. "Does that mean... WHAT I THINK IT MEANS?!" the spirit cackles. Snow sighs, rolls her eyes, and replies, "Yes. You may eat them. Don't belabor the point. We're in a hurry and outnumbered," “Jesus FUCK, Snow,” Troppo repeats, with greater emphasis this time. Clockwork gasps "Holy shit" Snow rests her eyes for a moment with a sigh. "When gangers killed my family... my magical 'spark' ignited. And I screamed for anything that would give me revenge. And I summoned a Spirit of Hunger," "OH BOY OH BOY, YOU GUYS! It's like a buffet line! Sure, the meat's tough and been under the heat lamp too long, but there's SO MUCH TO TRY!" Wendigo guffaws as his legs manifest and he rises to his full height. After Clockwork used his gun to off a guy in meatspace, Wendigo even pried, "Are you gonna eat that?!" with a sadistic laugh. Clockwork won (narrowly), just in time for the BOSS FIGHT to stomp in - a cybered-up ork with raw strength to spare. When he threw Wendigo across the warehouse, even Big Iron strongly considered the better part of valor. Boss: Well, well, well... I go out for one night on the town with the missus and I come back to find everyone in my branch has kicked their damn oxygen habit... Troppo: Well, to be fair, it's a bad habit to have. Everyone who has it eventually ends up dead. Boss: Too true. Too true. Especially in this day and age. So, you busted up my joint. Least I can do is tell you my call sign. Y'er, uh, runners, yeah? You got call signs, I wager. Mine, when I was a young man, was Wrecking Ball Big Iron: GET SOME, GRANDAD! (Proceeds to open fire wildly). Wrecking Ball: (Dodges, much to the team's horror). The old way it is, then. This was not a fight I had any intention of making easy on them. Hell, I was even going to give them the chance to use social combat to escape. But Big Iron cast the first stone and thus, the battle was underway. But with a bit of teamwork - and a review of how armor works in the game - they were able to beat him - and obtain a specially ranked insignia off his necklace with a color ranking - a green jewel. Rinko paid the team handsomely. The team then got the chance to go back to SUSHI RAINBOW and rest a while. Not long after, I assigned their next run - in what would come to be known as the COFFEE RUN. Join us there as we also DRAW DICKS ON MUSEUM WALLS! And meet a SUPERHERO TEAM! See you there!

[braveskyered]

Knights (Part 4)

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Arthur's mind is pretty cluttered.

I need a clue.

Part 4: It’s Got Me Reeling

Arthur is in the fifth garage that's usually closed off in Four of a Kind Queens, taking apart a car engine with a baby monitor on the desk nearby. He would glance at it every now and then, and see the twins sleeping together in their crib on the tiny little screen. It could also detect sound, which made Arthur easily hear the lullaby music and sea sounds the little aquarium light in the crib plays. Whenever he heard the sound of either of them crying, he could quickly clean himself up and tend to them, assuming Vivienne doesn't get to them first.

Turning away from the monitor, he went back to work and his mind drifted to the the series of events that led to him leaving Tempo. First he arrived in Cantabile, then he met Elaine hours after doing so. Then he got hired by her grandmother as a mechanic right then and there after he found a major case of vehicular sabotage... and then Elaine suddenly asked him out on a date three months later.

Instead of a typical dinner or movie date, she invited him to attend a robotics convention a few hours away with her family. It was there that Arthur discovered that he has a new partial fear: crowds. He learned to manage it as long as he remained with someone he knew, because if when he remained alone, he could've sworn he saw either Lewis or Mystery or even Vivi peering at him from the corner of his eye. When Elaine learned of his newfound fear, she remained with him for the remainder of the trip.

Elaine may not know anything about Vivi or Lewis, or the Mystery Skulls in general, since Arthur never told her or the Knights family their names, but he is happy that she wanted to help him all the same. He still hasn't told her about the exact circumstances that made him leave Tempo, but Elaine never pressed for details, and the rest of the Knights left it alone, too.

As he got to know them, Arthur learned that the Knights are actually a family clan that specialize in monster hunting, and they happen to be monsters that hunt their own kind in a sense. They actively fight the monsters with the very power in their bloodline. It's not just ghosts they handle, but anything supernatural and malicious in general. So essentially, they're like the Mystery Skulls, but instead of merely investigating any strange occurrences, they actively hunt for the reasons things become haunted or people disappearing.

He remembered being afraid of Elaine, and by extension, the Knights family for two whole weeks after learning their secret.

- - - - - - -

Arthur knew that he is at Elaine's mercy, he felt numb, unable to feel the stinging from the alcohol used to disinfect his wounds. He struggled to keep the fear down his throat, and used every last bit of restraint to keep himself from running away. After Elaine rescued him, she quickly took him back to her van to assess his injuries. With the cult's drug still in his system, he had difficulty walking straight, so Elaine guided him to the small cot in the back of the van and took out the first aid supplies.

Elaine looked down, tears beginning to form, “I... I was going to tell you once we reached our seven month anniversary, but I guess this renders that pointless.”

It definitely explains things. The reason they're so efficient at hunting monsters is that they are monsters themselves. Monsters with human ancestry, humans with strong magic, or humans with monster ancestry...? How that is possible, Arthur couldn't even start trying to figure that out.

“I... I know you're afraid. I can feel your fear, and I wouldn't be surprised if you're afraid of me right now,” she gave a dark chuckle to hold her tears back, “I'm not used to being feared, since I never had to use my power like that before, but I... I just only wanted to save you. I-if you don't want to be with me anymore... I will understand,” she wiped at her face with her hand.

Arthur isn't sure what to think anymore. After having a vengeful wraith try to kill him, a wraith of his former best friend at that, Arthur developed a fear of the many different kinds of ghosts and monsters that exist in the paranormal even though he still continued the path of being an investigator. Not even Arthur himself knows why he still keeps investigating the paranormal despite his fears, although part of him assumed that it, along with his talent at robotics and engineering, are the only things he's good at.

Even though he is afraid, it is only through sheer willpower that he keeps going despite his hands always shaking with fear. However, the trust Arthur thought he had with the Mystery Skulls themselves is long shattered and damaged beyond repair, and he knew that it's all his fault. It's why he left, and why he could never go back to what he once was.

When he was taken by the cult, he didn't expect that Elaine would turn into a giant skeleton monster that would then slaughter most of the cult itself, leaving few survivors in her wake.

He had only heard of the Gashadokuro a few times from Vivi before the cave. According to her, it is a powerful and frightening yokai that originated from Japan, made from the souls of masses of people that never received their last rites, their bones eventually developing into a giant skeleton, their collective consciousness becoming one. How Elaine could turn into one is beyond him, but it still didn't change the fact that she is a monster like Lewis and Mystery are. Despite Elaine's pleading for him to wait as she spoke in that form, Arthur tried to run, tears streaming down his face with fear, but fell down.

Even though he's afraid, she still helped him. The Gashadokuro are known to kill and eat humans and drink their blood, and Arthur knew as he clenched his teeth in angered despair that his soul is considered delicious prey for predators, so why wouldn't this monster just kill and eat him already if he's meant to be its prey?!

“Arthur... i-it's okay if... if you don't want to be with me anymore... it's okay if you're af-afraid... you can leave me... if that's what you want...”

Elaine is crying openly at him, snapping Arthur out of the numbness.

“Just... don't hate me... Please...!”

- - - - - - -

Arthur has to admit that he isn't really proud of that memory. If there is one thing he wanted to avoid, it's to see his wife cry so brokenly like that again. Granted, the two weeks after that were rough, but thankfully, he and the Knights family were able to... clear up the misunderstandings after many a trial, much to the family's happiness. The irony of Arthur having a paranormal significant other isn't lost to him, but the only difference is that Elaine isn't dead.

I'm sorry, Lewis...

Within a year after that, after many weekly dates and knowing each other through their mechanical work and paranormal investigations, Arthur realized, to both his joy and horror, that he had slowly fallen for Elaine once he fully accepted her for who and what she is. He briefly considered wanting to go to the next level in their relationship, but immediately threw the thought out, knowing that he doesn't deserve such a bond, and that he knew that she wouldn't want him. They only went as far as holding hands or the occasional hug, and Arthur knew that she could easily toss him aside like Vivi and Lewis did, despite her saying that she loved him.

Arthur scoffed at the memory of thinking like that, considering their current status now.

He thought back to the time he confessed to her despite knowing that he wouldn't receive any feeling of reciprocity, and remembered giving Elaine his treasured star pin as a romantic symbol of love, for he didn't have anything else to give her. But then he remembered Elaine's thrilled grin as she put the star pin on her jacket, and later that week she gave him a different pin representing a violet crescent moon made with amethyst with a white outline made from nacre. The pin is something she made with her own two hands, which threw any feelings of expected rejection out the window.

Arthur fingered the moon pin in question on his vest. Taking it off briefly, he turned the pin to see the back and looked at the four little stones, a black tourmaline, a black jet, a turquoise, and a rose quartz pressed inwards. He then saw the words engraved among them...

Arthur placed the pin back on, smiling slightly. Despite his many flaws, and the many secrets and guilt he hides, there is someone that loves him, and that is enough. With his current family, he knew that he can finally heal, one day at a time.

You are okay. This is your life now. Live for the twins. Defy those who wanted your life to end, and live on. You matter to someone, and they need you. You are okay.

He decided to stop reminiscing once again and went back to work. He had to dismantle the engine to find the crack on the head gasket, repair it, then put it back together before it's put back in the car itself. Apparently, the more wealthy regulars Four of a Kind Queens get every now and then prefer to just pay for the more expensive repair than purchase a new car entirely. He could think of two things, which is either one, they really really like that car, or two, buying a new car just isn't worth the hassle. He figured he could understand the second part, but still, either option is expensive.

Arthur thought a part went missing and glanced around briefly to look for Galahad, then reminded himself that the hamster wouldn't be going around stealing screws anymore. Even though it has been a little over a year ago, little Gally had passed away about a month after Arthur and Elaine were married due to old age, which devastated Arthur greatly. He knew it was coming since hamsters like Galahad have a lifespan of three years at the known max, but it still hurt when it actually happened.

He remembered Elaine being thoughtful enough to give Galahad a small burial, unusual it may have been. As the ground back then was too frozen to dig a small grave, Elaine instead took an oak sapling and carefully wrapped the deceased hamster, wheels and all, within the roots, then planted the tree in a large flower pot. Once spring came, she then planted the sapling itself alongside many other small trees in Vivienne's backyard, letting Galahad return to nature. He then remembered thanking her for her effort, knowing that it helped him move on from Galahad's passing.

With the twins being a higher priority, Arthur didn't get another hamster after Galahad. Maybe when the twins are older.

The work with dismantling the engine done, Arthur glanced at the baby monitor, and saw that the twins were still asleep, although Gwen is occasionally twitching her arms. Maybe she's dreaming? He hoped it wasn't a nightmare before wondering briefly if babies could get nightmares. Hopefully not, because he didn't want to fail the twins before they were old enough to remember things.

Arthur shook his head and chuckled at his daughter's movement, “Always the active one, aren't you, Gwen?”

Percy is usually the quiet one, only crying when he needed something. Gwen, on the other hand, is almost always active, babbling whether it's night or day, and crying at random intervals. Arthur didn't mind it most of the time, since tending to her usually distracted him from any nightmares he would wake from in the middle of the night, although he did wonder how Percy could sleep past Gwen's crying when a mere creak on the floor is enough to wake him.

Then again, babies are unpredictable.

Later that day, after finishing up the repair of the engine, Arthur went to clean himself up before tending to the twins. Elaine wouldn't be home until later tonight, so he had to make up for her absence. The twins had been fed and tended to by Elaine's grandmother Vivienne while he was working, which he is grateful for. Being a parent is no easy task, and Arthur knew it. Having Elaine's family help out every now and then has been a godsend, especially considering how close-knit they are. They all lived nearby, while Vivienne lived in the auto shop itself. It made sense, since she's the current matriarch of the Knights family and the owner of the repair shop itself.

“Hey, Arthur,” the old woman turned to him when he reached the living room, holding a somewhat squirming Gwen, “Everything turn out okay?”

“There's a crack in the main gasket like you said,” Arthur placed his good hand on the back of his neck, “We can replace the part, but it'll take all day to put everything back together after that once the part arrives. I already sent the report to Morgan, so hopefully we can get the repair done by the end of the week. Where's Percy?”

“He's still asleep,” Vivienne nodded to the direction of the guest bedroom where their crib is before looking down at Gwen, who stared at her father, “This one was getting a little fussy. I think she wants you now.”

Arthur let out a small smile before taking his daughter from his grandmother-in-law. The baby girl immediately cooed and tried to reach upward. He held out a finger from his left hand for Gwen to take, and she held it with both her hands.

“If this doesn't prove that you're a good father, I don't know what will,” Vivienne said as she used her phone to take a picture of the father and daughter, “I remember you being so nervous before they were born.”

Arthur didn't reply at first, instead focusing on his baby girl. Sitting down on the sofa nearby, he held Gwen close to let her hear his heartbeat, “I still am, to be honest,” he shifted his gaze over to Vivienne, and saw her using her phone to take more pictures, “You're not going to post those, are you?”

“Of course not!” Vivienne grinned impishly, although a concerned tone betrayed her mood, “You'd never let me take a picture of you if I did. I know you're camera shy in more ways than one, Arthur.”

“I just... I don't want them to find me, you know?” he rubbed a thumb over Gwen's cheek, “I had to get away from them. If they find out that I'm here, I don't know what they'll do.”

Vivienne lowered her phone before placing a hand on Arthur's left shoulder, “I know. You did a good thing to get away from an abusive relationship, and your scars are healing, just keep using the ointments like the doctor said and before you know it, they'll fade away. I still remember the first time we saw them when we first actually talked. Remember the look on Elaine's face? She looked like she was about to maim someone when she found out.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes, trying not to smile. He did remember his first conversation with Vivienne, at how he had to leave home and was looking for a motel to sleep at, and had let slip that he had to leave a friendship that soured, which made Vivienne call it an abusive relationship instead. Arthur isn't sure if what he had with Lewis and Vivi should be considered abusive, but he didn't know what else to describe it. They didn't want him, Lewis would inflict those injuries on him when they were alone, and he felt isolated, so he left without telling anyone. That's all there is to it.

Arthur knew Vivi wouldn't hurt him on purpose, but he didn't want to take any chances with harming her love for Lewis, and thus suffer the wraith's vengeful temper. He had already taken away her and Lewis's chance at having a normal life after getting possessed in that cavern, and being with them even after they reunited and sorted out the facts only made things awkward. To Arthur, he didn't deserve anything from them anymore after the events at the cavern. Even though Lewis's murder was done unwillingly, it is the sort of thing that would gnaw at one's soul, throbbing the heart with pain and suffering.

Yet, Arthur endured, too afraid to end it all. He could only run away, much to his self disgust.

Elaine and her family didn't pursue the matter any further when Arthur asked them not to, wanting to leave it behind him and move on, or so he claims. Otherwise, he didn't know how else to cope with the fear of being found and hurt by them again.

It didn't take much to convince Vivienne that Arthur had nowhere to go, so she let him work in the family business, even though they didn't have any official openings, so he would have a way to pay rent for a small apartment she found for him (how she found it at such short notice, Arthur had no idea). The rest of the family except for Elaine were skeptical at letting a complete stranger work for them, but since Vivienne is the matriarch, what she says goes.

Now, if anything, Elaine is too good for him. She's too trusting, and Arthur wondered more than once at what exactly did she see in him, and why did the Knights family accept him so easily even though he was a complete stranger to them. He had a hard time believing that they would work so hard to help him, a stranger, get back on his feet.

...Why?

Arthur didn't get an answer until he heard his son cry from the guest bedroom. He shook his head in slight amusement before standing up, “I'll go get him. Could you hold Gwen for me in the meantime?”

“Of course,” Vivienne took the baby girl to her arms, “I'm always looking forward to being able to hold my great-grandkids.”

As Arthur went over to the guest bedroom to take Percy out of the crib, he felt a tightening feeling in his chest. Holding his son close, Arthur knew why he felt so guilty.

Holding Percy with one arm, he held a hand over his face to keep himself from breaking down. He hated the fact that he had to leave Tempo, the place he was always familiar with, to escape the pain and suffering he knew he would cause.

He wondered how the Mystery Skulls are faring for a moment before immediately shaking the thought out the window.

Wiping the tears from his eyes, Arthur cuddled Percy protectively, positioning his son's head to his chest so he could allow the small babe to hear his heartbeat like he had with Gwen. For some reason, the twins always liked it, and it usually kept them calm. Humming the song he learned so many years ago, Percy was lulled back to sleep.

Elaine often complained at how Arthur was better at soothing the twins than her, prompting him to point out that she's better at feeding and changing them than he is.

Thinking back, he took a deep breath to ease the guilt away. Lance will never be able to love the twins as their grand uncle. If everything hadn't gone so wrong, then maybe Vivi and a living Lewis could dote on them, too...

Even though Arthur left the Mystery Skulls, and by extension Tempo, he still cared about them. Although he didn't want to go back, he can't just forget all the memories he built with them.

It's his punishment for leaving.

- - - - - - -

Notes: Who do you think is wrong?

Hamsters usually don't live past two and a half years, so Galahad probably broke a record or two.

Also, the drawing in this chapter is actually the first one I made for Knights. Here, I was trying to stick to the original style as much a possible, which is why I drew Arthur’s hand with four fingers. However, it is really hard for me to do that since it looks so alien every time I draw it, so I gave up and started drawing everyone with five fingers after that.

Knights Part 5

[eenefangirlanalysis]

BRO! IT’S EDDY’S BROTHER!! IT’S BRO! IT’S BRO! IT’S BRO!!!

Who else was jumping out of their skin when we get this cool mug shot of Bro? Tell me what your reactions were.

Literally, I never thought we were going to see Bro in the movie. I was thinking it was just going to be another fake out on like how Danny said that we were finally going to see what what under Edd’s hat. Honestly, Eddy’s Brother is more important to see. We have the possible canon deleted scene where Edd tells his friends about the scar on his head. Fans can imagine that as anything. 

We needed to see this famed, idolized person Eddy talked highly of throughout every episode.

Look at him. Already he fits the description of cool. And he’s an exact mirror image of eddy. Only older.

Okay, so let’s go into the physical description and head canons about Bro. 

1. First, why don’t we talk about voice behind Eddy’s Brother, Terry Klassen.

Terry Klassen is a Canadian voice actor and voice director. He was the voice director of Ed, Edd n Eddy. He has voiced in other shows such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Jonny Test, Zoids along with many other TV shows. 

This is a fact I just found out, but Klassen was over fifty at the time when he voiced Bro. Wow, you can’t even tell. 

Why did Danny Antonucci want Klassen to voice Eddy’s Brother? Klassen does an amazing job performing as Bro and I applaud him. He had the perfect tone which made made audiences swoon. 

2.  Eddy's brother's character design was done by storyboard assistant and character/prop designer Cory Toomey.

Bro has the sunglasses, a sense of fashion, a little beard, and a big chin which Eddy is always trying to mimic throughout the series. No wonder Eddy is jealous of him.

Bro wears a cap. Think about it. If he didn’t wear that hat during the scene he’d look exactly like Eddy. If you never saw this movie before I bet viewers would think this is an older version of Eddy.

He wears a red, plaid jacket.

Meaning of the Color Red -  Fire and blood, associated with energy, war, danger, violence, strength, power, anger, desire, and love. A very emotionally intense and versatile color.

Since I never analyzed the color of Eddy’s shirt I will do so to compare.contrast with Bro.

Meaning of the Color Yellow -  Yellow is associated with fire, which in turn, has always been associated with the purification process. It's associated with joy, happiness, intellect, and energy. Yellow produces a warming effect, arouses cheerfulness, stimulates mental activity, and generates muscle energy. Bright, pure yellow is an attention getter, which is the reason taxicabs are painted this color.

These two colors say a lot.

Similar to Lee, Bro has a filling. A gold tooth. That’s actually something I never thought about before. Did he have an accident?

Pretty soon Eddy will have a tooth missing, due to an accident...

3. Why the number 62? Why is this a symbolic number?

Through my research I found out that Sigmund Freud had an irrational fear of the number 62. Freud was the father of psychoanalysis. Freud developed therapeutic techniques such as the use of free association redefined sexuality to include its infantile forms, along with analysis of dreams as wish-fulfillments provided him with models for the clinical analysis of symptom formation and the underlying mechanisms of repression.

Psychoanalysis plays quite an important role with each character in Ed, Edd n Eddy. Especially, Eddy. Eddy and Bro were the complete opposite. Bro didn’t want anybody to get inside his head. In the end Eddy can no longer keep the lies repressed and lets people in.

Eddy has also worn a possible hand me down 62 jersey in Cool Hand Ed and Hanky Panky Hullabaloo. Eddy wants to be his brother.

4. How old is Bro?

Clearly, he is much older then Eddy. It’s pointed out in the background that he has graduated from high school. Remember the diploma in his room at the beginning of the movie? His character description claims that he’s in his early 20′s.

I head canon that he’s 26.

That’s a pretty big age gap between Eddy and Bro. 13 years. 

What if Eddy’s parents were still in high school when they had Bro. They weren’t mature enough to take care of a child yet. They still gave Bro the love he deserved while trying to get their lives together. Through work and maybe attending community college they weren’t able to spend enough time with their son

Bro learned to be a sociopath all on his own. It wasn’t his parents fault. I have a headcanon that when Eddy’s parents decided to have another child they thought it would make things better. Eddy’s parents had better knowledge on how to take care of a child and made better decisions with Eddy then Bro. Bro has always been jealous of Eddy.Eddy never thought of it that way.

Eddy’s parents have made their mistakes but have never given up on trying to make things better.

5. Has anyone wondered what Bro’s real name is and why nobody has called him by his name?

Danny stated that his name is Matthew. It still has never been confirmed. I like that name. It fits Bro.

The Meaning of the name Matthew -  In Hebrew the meaning of the name Matthew is: Gift of the Lord. Matthew, also called Levi, was one of the twelve apostles. He was a tax collector, and supposedly the author of the first gospel in the New Testament. He is considered a saint in many Christian traditions.

Hmm, how ironic.

Does Eddy know his brother’s name? Eddy’s parents were very cautious about Eddy being around Bro. And perhaps it is so vile for anyone to say due to the nightmarish plots he has done in the past.

Say, why does Bro wear a ring?

I love this screenshot of Bro silently judging the kids.

“All for nothin’, huh?” And then he makes this death glare. Oh, his expressions are wonderful! Artists must have had a fun time working on his character in the little screen time he has. 

I love this line. Bro immediately acts like a protective older brother. He really sounds as if he is going to defend Eddy.

I can’t get over Bro’s husky voice. He is older then Eddy, but he still sounds young.

Spying Eddy, Bro bends down to pick him up.

Immediately, Eddy looks uncomfortable for a split second. He has no idea what is happening. He hasn’t been around his brother for years and he may still be abusive. Eddy has been denying that thinking it was his brothers way of loving him.

“Still, the trouble making Eddy, I see.”

Ah, brotherly bonding. This gives insight to Eddy though. Even without Bro he was still a troublemaker as a child. I think he kept in very little touch with his parents and they’d tell him about Eddy.

I like to believe that maybe Bro missed Eddy over the years. He acts happy to see him. But, the sad truth is he missed hurting Eddy because for the rest of this scene he uses his little brother as an object.

Again, we all have our own interpretations about Bro. We only see him in these five minute. The rest is based off on facts/lies from Eddy and our own head canons.

Bro gives Eddy a playful noogie.

How I wish this precious scene could have lasted forever.

“Stop it, Bro.”

Eddy has never liked physical affection, especially coming from Bro. He must have gotten this dislike from Bro seeing what kind of history they’ve had. Eddy fears being touched. 

There are little moments in season 5 where Eddy immediately recoils when he thinks somebody is going to touch him. It’s sad when you think about it. Bro messed up Eddy’s mind. Will Eddy ever get used to physical affection. It will take some recover time. 

This screenshot warms my heart and yet is still so heart wrenching.

Is Bro truly happy to see Eddy? Or is he acting?

Eddy is obviously happy. Maybe Bro has changed.

[titleknown]

And here is the helm of a new Open Source OC of mine, Mr Mash

This man appears as a six-armed purple-skinned biker with a barred helmet akin to the one above, in rough-cut but weirdly elaborate clothes of red and gold.

He travels from city to city, blocking paths for the purposes of challenging strong individuals to fights, with the wager being their weapons. He appears to be searching for a specific one, known only as the “White Weapon,”

Possibly linked to the legendary Exaclibur but definitely the “good” twin to the infamous “Black Blade” that travels the multiverse. Of course, while the blades are locked in an endless, eternal  struggle.

But, his reasons for seeking the Weapon have absolutely nothing to do with that conflict, often leading to him come crashing into stories he has nothing to do with as he fruitlessly quests.

He is also followed by his “mount,” Aniki.  Varying in form but usually some sort of rideable; wheeled techno-organic monster, who he considers a friend. It changes forms across the Multiverse and often gets separated in the midst of “jumps” to the point where Mash has to look for them; often seeking help from the very people he fights right after.

His personality is very warm; a fierce fighter with a belligerent; boasting; almost comical attitude but when bested he is relatively genial, and if one manages to befriend him, he is loyal to a fault.

He also has many; may weapons he stories in some unknown place, but he has two frequent sets he tends to use as his “baseline,” one of melee weapons and one of firearms.

The melee assortment includes:

Brightsabre- A simple cyllinder able to extend into a bright yellow-white “blade” of energy, he says this is a rare variety; but more likely it is one of the mass-produced early versions of such. It still chews through night any material and can reflect bullets; energy weapons and sometimes even magic.

Photon Pak- A backpack with a nozzle attached; this looping striped beam is mainly considered “melee” by virtue of its bucking nature and ability to reel in spiritual matter that makes it akin to a grappling lasso. It still hurts like a motherfucker if you touch it though. On a lighter note, it is able to produce amazing moving images if wielded with the right amount of skill (And psionics), which Mash has used for the purposes of street laser-light shows when he’s needed a quick buck.

Nightmare Claw- A glove with huge knived talons on its appendages, this weapon once belonged to a serial-killer turned nightmarish demon, from who Mash stole a copy while dreaming (Ironically at least leading to one temporary defeat of the being). It is able to morph in length and cutting ability, but its real draw is the ability to cut through space to create holes to jump through. Though, often Mash gets lost through these holes and ends up taking a minute to find his way back to the battlefield.

Liberty Shield- A red-white-and-blue-striped shield made as the second-closest thing to the most powerful shield in the multiverse, this shield is not only able to deflect nigh any force applied, but also functions as a bashing and ricocheting discus weapon. Though, Mash is not quite as skilled with throwing the weapon as its original owner; so he often ends up having to retrieve it.

Abnormal Chainsaw- This appears to be a worn variant of any normal; industrial chainsaw; except for the fact that it never seems to get any more worn; and the fact that it never clogs; as it chops through anything it touches with supernatural swiftness

PK Bat- A golden-colored shiny metal baseball bat with a strange translucent aura around it, this weapon is able to produce wide waves of fire; random blasts of lightning and concentrated blasts of frost from its tip due to having been once used by a master psionicist. Though, some have said his ability to use this may indicate latent psionic powers; along with many other telltale signs say scholars.

The Gun-Based Assortment Includes

BFG 6660- An enormous gun like nothing so much as a huge satanic mailbox, this weapon seemingly was enchanted by some forces of hell after it was accidentally given to demonic forces, shooting huge waves of unholy plasma that linger long after the initial blast.

Ol' Painful- An ordinary chain gun, albeit the size of something that should be mounted on a helicopter with nigh-unlimited ammo. Very likely engineered by a gunsmith while on a drunken bender one night; in a way not even he could replicate.

Judgement OMA- A weapon able to fire normal, incendiary, explosive, homing, taser, gas, and holy bullets on different settings, this is a weapon from an authoritarian police force in a world where things have gone very; very wrong. Mr Mash’s copy happens to have a “Random” setting, custom made for him, because “It’s more fun this way”

Shumacher Special- Created by a deranged cryonicist upon the loss of his wife, this weapon is able to fire devastating blasts of frost; with the unintended capacity for cryonic preservation, able to preserve the lives of those frozen in critic suspension for aeons with only a quick warm-up needed to revive them. It is also called the “Mr Nipples” by some, though never in front of Mash’s face.

Martian Heater- Something like a retro-ray-gun that shoots devastating waves of heat and causes most things it touches to combust or melt, it’s big enough that it looks like it should be attached to some invading tripod-machine. And, in fact, that is very much where Mash wrenched it off of, having driven into a timeline while an alien invasion was going on and driving Aniki into one of the war machine’s legs because he thought it might help. It did, but not how he thought…

Valkyre Blossom- Akin to a tiny spaceship with a trigger attached, it has a very long windup and cool down time, but when pressed it unleashes a flower-shaped spray (Hence the name) of beam-bolts and missiles; creating a massive cone of projectile death. Nobody knows where he got it, not even Mr Mash, though rumors include a shrink ray or the last “taxidermied” remnants of an attempt at making starships that could reproduce gone hideously wrong,

The WTF Assortment Includes

Bullet Sword- A sword made of the lead of thousands of spent bullets, then enchanted with necromancy and healing magic to give them eternally the kinetic energy they had when they were fired while still in flight. It looks akin to a sword made of glowing spheres, able to fire off those spheres in a boomeranging “loop” and to absorb bullets to increase its power

Neon Blaster- Resembling nothing so much as an incredibly elaborate “Eat At Joes” sign, and in fact most likely made by one, this releases a gas as its primary charge, which is not neon but which may in fact be sentient given its tendency to form letters and phrases as it spreads. Then, the secondary charge activates the gas, lighting it up to form magical glyphs resembling neon signs; able to exhibit many; many effects. Mash tends tp be pretty “hands off” on what spells he wants the gas to form, though it doesn’t help that he doesn’t know how to use the settings that control such things on the weapon, but the gas seems to have a pretty good idea of what is useful in that situation.

The Harryhausen- This weapon consists of three seemingly organic tendriil-like arms and a singular tendril-like neck with a reptilian; muttonchopped face, able to move of their own volition and drain blood from their grappled enemies as sustenance, While powerful in its own right, its real draw is the ability of the main head to cast spells that heal and hasten its owner; though it seemingly can only do this after it has drawn a bit of blood first.

Shock-Rocker- An enormous electric guitar with its own built in “speaker” resembling electrical apparatti such as Jacob’s ladders and tesla coils, this machine produces deadly electrical waves even as it produces beautiful musical tones. It usually plays tunes of a classic-hard-rock style, given that is Mr Mash’s preferences.

Engine Fist- Essentially the entire front half of a futuristic muscle car turned into a brass-knuckled gauntlet, this mechanism’s engine has been modified to produce the maximum possible sheer force with every punch. Though, the time gap between one punch and the next is usually pretty wide; given it is possible to break one’s arm from the sheer force if it us used too frequently within a short stretch of time.

Frankenstein- A hodgepodge of different parts from many different broken legendary weapons; from when Mash tried to create a “Magnum Opus” of gun smithery, this machine’s parts are wildly incongruous in appearance; including a slot-machine-style roller reel and a tank of slime. The slime seems to be its self-replenishing “ammunition” supply and, appropriately enough, the reel always spins whenever the machine is fired. It launches a random effect with each time; with even Mash unsure they’ve seen all its effects. Though, 90% of the time the effect usually helps Mash more than the enemy, so he considers it effective enough.

The process of dimensional travel sometimes alters Mr Mash from his original appearance; to different species or; more often; to different genders; to the point where in some corners he is known as “Miss Mash;” though all variants tend to share the basic garb and appearance with the original; usually attractive for what they are but with an emphasis on height; muscularity and general devil-may-care-ness in their looks.

They consider themselves technically genderfluid due to this, preferring to be referred to by the typical pronouns of their current form, and they are attracted to all genders (Though they’re a bit of a dorky cassanova when it comes to wooing; no matter what body they are in). He seems to go by a different name across other parts of the multiverse, but he is loath to say what it is...

Btw, This character; Mr Mash; and all his accountriments are free to use by anyone, as they see fit, under a CC-0 license

I’m doing this one as a bit more open than my others, given the character’s not just as much an expy of a certain character, but they may in fact be that character, so IDK if he’s worth a CC-BY license...

[reduxroyal]

What are you thoughts on fire emblem heroes so far? And who's on your team?

lol okay buckle the fuckle in kids this is gonna be a ride

(also thank you for this ask and I’m sorry you’re about to get way more info than you probably wanted)

We’ll start with the short answer, so people who aren’t really here for a fucking Fire Emblem history lesson can dip:

Heroes is a fun little game that is honestly a good test to see if you’d like proper titles because the mechanics are identical. They use smaller versions of the original maps, and even pull a lot of the classic music. It’s fun, it works, and there are some nice nods to the older games. My team is Lazlow, Tiki, Niles, and Frederick, all four star or below because the gotcha gods hate me.

Here’s the long answer. Like, really long answer.

Fire Emblem is, historically, not what we’d call a raging success in the US. The first six titles were Japan-exclusive. So from 1990 until 2003, nobody in the US really knew or cared about Fire Emblem because there were no fuckin games for them to play. So what happened to change that?

Melee. Melee happened.

Marth and Roy (for whatever fucking reason I still don’t know why) were on the roster of the 2001 fighter Super Smash Bros. Melee and boy howdy were they popular. You may remember that all of their voice lines were in Japanese, and that’s because they literally didn’t have English voice actors, because there were no English Fire Emblem titles. To be fair FE didn’t use cutscenes at that point so there were probably no voice actors period but like whatever.

So Roy and Marth become like, overnight sensations, and that coupled with the success of Intelligent System’s other tactical RPG, Advance Wars, prods Nintendo to give it a shot and release Blazing Blade internationally for the GBA in 2003. Blazing Blade is the story of Eliwood, Roy’s father, as well as Lyn and Hector, two other big names in FE lore.

But Blazing Blade only sells so-so. In fact, over the next eleven years, Fire Emblem hits a slump, both in Japan and abroad. Titles like Sacred Stones (the first video game I ever played) Path of Radiance and Radiant Dawn (why would you put a tactical RPG on anything other than a handheld literally why why why it makes no sense omfg) and Shadow Dragon (which is a rehash of the first game, Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light) all do pretty mediocre.

So now the year is like 2010-ish and FE’s not picking up it’s lost revenue or interest, so Intelligent Systems starts planning what is essentially going to be the franchise’s finale, and that’s Fire Emblem Awakening. Intelligent Systems pulls out all the fuckin stops to make the best game they possibly can so it will be a proper last hurrah. If Awakening didn’t sell well, Fire Emblem was going to be shelved forever.

Awakening, of course, due to many things like good advertising, the right platform, a really fucking solid game with cool new mechanics, likeable characters, a decent plot, and fucking gorgeous cutscenes, becomes the best-selling game in Fire Emblem’s twenty-three year history. Which leads to the somewhat awkward question of what the fuck do you do when the thing that was supposed to be your franchise’s finale becomes the most popular installment of the whole goddamn series?

Well, if you’re Nintendo, you try to recreate it.

That’s what Fates is: a recreation. They (understandably) want to make that magic happen again. So they put together the same artists, a lot of the same voice actors, and everyone’s favorite marriage-to-child mechanic (that just does not make sense in Fates okay I’m sorry I love it and I’m here for it but we all need to agree that it just doesn’t make sense) and Fates does pretty well. Fire Emblem’s back in business.

But you’re left in this curious situation where more than half of your fanbase is only familiar with two out of fourteen titles, so it’s hard to decide where to go. Awakening and Fates are not traditional Fire Emblem games. They are so very, very different in so many ways. The pace of the games, the length of the games, the unit-recruiting process, roster size, the way Support works, even the buying and selling and acquisition of weapons like…there’s just this huge gap. How do you bridge it?

A…mobile game, I guess?

Which like don’t get me wrong, Heroes’ shortcomings have nothing to do with its platform. Like I said before: it’s cute and it’s competent. My issue lies more in the marketing of the game.

I’m sure we all remember the polls that went on to decide which Fire Emblem greats were going to be playable characters in the game, right? And you could pick anyone. Literally anyone. It didn’t matter if they were only apart of your roster for a map and a half. It didn’t matter if they were an enemy unit. It didn’t matter if they were some like, random archer you got in the third chapter so you could learn about ranged attacks. You could vote for any character from any Fire Emblem game, period.

Except, that means it’s essentially boiling down to a popularity contest between twelve practically unknown or rarely known Fire Emblem titles and the two newest, best-selling, fan favorites. Which isn’t upsetting so much as it is, like, dumb? Like of course the majority of people are gonna vote for Chrom and Camilla, that’s what they know. One of the best Fire Emblem characters (in my opinion) is Prince Innes, from Sacred Stones. He has a hilariously arrogant attitude, is bold and brash, and a sick fucking sniper who constantly insists he should be on the front lines and not in the back of the party with the rest of the ranged attackers.

Innes, of course, didn’t make the list. Because ten out of the chosen twenty male heroes were from Awakening or Fates (that ratio is 13:20 for the ladies if you were curious) So this game that was intended to like, I don’t even know, revive interest in old games or at least make them relevant, ends up not really doing that at all. Especially because out of the first eight chapters (that’s as far as I’ve gotten) four of ‘em explore the worlds of Awakening and Fates.

What about Path of Radiance? What about Sacred Stones? What about literally anything besides the last two games in the franchise because it’s not that I don’t like those games, it’s that you promised me a game that embraced all of Fire Emblem, and this ain’t it. Also you went to the trouble of giving Eirika official art and she’s not even a character you can draw what the actual fuck is she in this game or nah

BASICALLY (we’re almost done you almost made it) I think it will be interesting to see how Fire Emblem: Echoes plays out. Echoes is a remake of Fire Emblem Gaiden, a 1992 Japan-only exclusive that I, personally, know nothing about, but can tell you with relative confidence that it’s not like Awakening or Fates because nothing in FE is like Awakening or Fates. It’s coming out in May of this year and like…I’m really curious to see how the “newer” (and by the way newer does not mean in any way that you’re like less of a fan. I don’t care if the only Fire Emblem game you’ve played is Awakening, I’m just fucking glad you’re playing Fire Emblem, let’s be friends) fans will like it. The official description for it is: “Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia recreates classic Fire Emblem gameplay with a modern twist, mixing in exploration of dungeons crawling with enemies.”

I have never played a FE title that had a dungeon of any kind, unless you count the Tower of Valni from Sacred Stones. I don’t even know what that means in the terms of a tactical RPG but like, I guess we’ll see. 

tl;dr I like Fire Emblem a whole lot and will always be bitter over Eirika’s bullshit outfit in Awakening’s DLC

Thanks for reading!

BUT WAIT THERE’S MORE

Hi! I’m back again! And at this point lots of things have changed in regards to this post! Most notably: Heroes has added lots of older Fire Emblem characters to the game (including Innes which makes my earlier complaint look really dumb) and Echoes came out and it’s genuinely one of the best games I’ve ever played, and easily one of the best games in FE’s franchise.

Here’s the thing that past me writing this post didn’t get: newer fans are just as invested as old fans, they just don’t have as much to be invested in yet. I can prattle on and on about Sacred Stones and Binding Blade and Shadow Dragon and all the titles I’ve played, but newer players (under-fucking-standably) aren’t going to go back and play games with bad graphics from the late 90′s and early 00′s, so they just hang out with the titles they have played, which for some people, is just Awakening, or just Fates.

Echoes was universally adored by the fanbase. There were a couple times I saw comments like “well, where’s the avatar unit?” or “why can’t I marry other units and have kids?” and like, I wanted to be mad, because those aren’t staples of Fire Emblem, but if anything it’s Nintendo’s fault for making two games back-to-back that promoted the hell out of those features. How could someone who only played Awakening and Fates (which is the majority of this game’s base) know any differently?

And Heroes has really done well with bringing in more characters from other games. Every single game in the franchise (even fucking Tharcia 776) is represented by at least two characters, and they’re always adding more. I think they’re genuinely doing the best they can to please everyone, and the only people throwing a fit are "older” fans who think they deserve more because, what? They’ve put more time in? They’ve somehow “earned” it?

Nintendo is a business, and businesses rely on popularity to fucking succeed. That’s just how it works. Like it or not, the realistic faces of this franchise are characters like Lucina, Ryoma, Corrin, Camilla, and Robin. That’s just how it works. Characters like Math and Lyn will always endue because they’ve been built up as legends, but now there’s so many new characters, and so many new fans, so of course things have to change and the attention has to shift.

And new fans are picking up the old characters just as much!! Characters that haven’t gotten fanart in a fuckin decade are suddenly getting a bunch of attention, because a new fan pulled them in Heroes, didn’t know who they were but liked their design, and went to town.

tl;dr - you aren’t more important just because you’ve “been a fan” longer, it makes complete sense that Nintendo would shift the focus to games like Awakening and Fates, and if you’re waiting for a certain character to show up in Heroes give it some time.

That’s all for real this time.

Also my new team (if anyone cares) is Innes, Leo, Azura, and Raven. I don’t want to talk about how much money I spent trying to gotcha twelve year-old video game characters.

I, uh, I just really like Fire Emblem.

also for all the Path of Raidance and Radiant Dawn fans who sent me asks saying those games were the highest-selling games for their consoles: you’re wrong, and here are the fucking receipts

[tfronczakagd]

Annotated Bibliography

Finji. (2009). Canabalt [Mobile game]. Grand Rapids, MI: Last Chance Media, LLC.

Game Title: Canabalt

Genre: Endless Runner

Target Demographic: 9+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

The setting of Canabalt is a 2D grayscale city that is beset by an ongoing invasion of presumably alien origin. The player is placed in control of a desperate human that must run and jump across as many rooftops as possible in a futile effort to escape. Due to the fact the character runs automatically, the player need only be concerned with the jump input, which is simply a tap on the screen. The length of the character’s jump depends on the duration of the tap, so learning to control the jump variability is vital towards navigating the semi-randomly generated rooftops and obstacles. The gameplay is frenetic, so an average attempt is unlikely to last for more than a few minutes.

The strength of this game is undeniable, which is its ability to convey a strong atmosphere. The game’s atmosphere is likely what makes it standout to a gaming audience that is inundated with other endless runner options. However, this game is certainly not without shortcomings. One issue with the game’s design is the blind jumps the player must occasionally perform. This becomes an issue with player agency when the character plummets to their death at no fault of the player.

The second design issue is regarding the lackluster player retention system. After having played approximately 45 minutes, I had easily gotten all the achievements. At that point, what reason is there to keep playing? You could go back and reply a level, but there is no discernable positive reinforcement for such an action. The level will be largely the same, there are no rewards, and even if you beat your previous high score, there isn’t a notification.

Despite the game’s flaws, it was an enjoyable and worthwhile play experience. I am confident that I have seen everything the game has to offer, so I have no plans of ever returning to this game. Moving forward, I will strive to create an atmosphere in my capstone project that is just as palpable as this game.

Simogo. (2014). Device 6 [Mobile game]. Malmӧ, Sweden: Simogo AB.

Game Title: Device 6

Genre: Puzzle / Text-Adventure

Target Demographic/Player Type: 12+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

The story of Device 6 is given from the perspective of Anna, who is traveling through very peculiar places. In addition to the trails of text, the story is given through audio and parallaxing photos. Most of the game is spent searching for clues that are hidden through the text, audio, and pictures. The mechanics of the player includes swiping to guide the player along the paths of text, tilting the screen to change directions, and interacting with pictures. The best description I could come up with for the game aesthetic is mystery entwined with science fiction and the humorous bizarre. In total, the game consists of six chapters that would likely take me a total of two hours to complete.

I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but there are a few issues. The most significant issue that I found was the amount of backtracking that can be required for completing certain puzzles. This process can be quite time consuming, especially if you don’t immediately understand the available clues. My personal issue with backtracking is the potential for making players nauseous. When I played the first level it required a great deal of backtracking. Unfortunately, this required excessive rotation of the screen, which made me feel quite sick.

I played a total of approximately 45 minutes, which allowed me to complete the first three chapters. Should time allow, I would certainly like to go back and finish the game. If I were to take one thing from this game for my capstone project it would be the highly effective use of sound effects to convey emotion and narrative changes.

1337 Game Design AB. (2012). Devil’s Attorney [Mobile game]. Gothenburg, Sweden: 1337 Game Design AB.

Game Title: Devil’s Attorney

Genre: Turn-Based Strategy

Target Demographic/Player Type: 12+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

Devil’s Attorney is the equivalent of a classic courtroom battle, between prosecutors and defendants, that has been molded into a turn-based strategy. The actual mechanics are fairly typical for the genre, but they are themed in a unique manner. The narrative revolves around an unscrupulous defense attorney who will stop at nothing to win cases and insult the other side. He epitomizes the stereotypical young male lawyer with malleable morals, quick quips, greased hair, and a nonchalant personality.

One of the game’s best qualities is its humor. The witty pre-trail banter between the defense and prosecutor is a vital part in making each case seem fresh. Otherwise, the player would likely begin to feel an uncomfortable sensation of sameness between each trial. Combined with the turn-based gameplay, it helps create a player experience that feels light, humorous, and yet challenging enough to keep the player engaged.

One issue I had with the game was how it set up its highest difficulty. In the majority of situation, the player just needs to make the wisest decisions at every step. However, there are certain levels that can only be won through a move that is highly variable in damage and thus reliant on luck.

In total, I played this game for approximately 90 minutes. I don’t have any intention of playing more because I was able to fully experience the gameplay and reward structures. There may not be much room for humor in my capstone project, but it would be nice to have something humorous to reward the player.

BitMonster. (2013). Lili [Mobile game]. Raleigh, NC: BitMonster, Inc.

Game Title: Lili

Genre: Adventure

Target Demographic/Player Type: 12+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

The story of Lili revolves around a young college student named Lili who travels to the island of Geos in search of magical flowers in support of her thesis. While in search of these flowers she discovers they grow from spirits that terrorize the island. Naturally, Lili embarks on a quest to defeat all of the spirits and collect their magic flowers. This brings us to one of the main mechanics of the game, which is to defeat spirits by ripping out flowers from their backs. Before this can happen though, the player must be able to jump on the back of a spirit. This can be accomplished by simply chasing down the spirits or by sneaking up on them. The collected flowers can then be used at stores to upgrade the ability of the character to perform these various tasks. Th actual player input includes tapping to control speed, swiping to turn the character, clicking to interact, and dragging to pull flowers.

I was quite upset by the game’s heavy reliance on invisible walls. What made the use of invisible wall even worse was the extreme inconsistency in their placement. Instead of simply having unexplainable barriers, it would be highly preferable to have area rationally inaccessible through means of debris, terrain, and fences, rather.

Another area that left me questioning some of the game’s design principle was the tutorial. The player is made to go through a strange process of preforming an action and then having the character’s position and rotation reset. It would be more immersive if they simply started the player in a larger area where they would be able to experiment with everything that is needed.

I played the game for just over an hour, which was enough to get me into a new section of the map. I have no plans to continue playing this game because the storyline really doesn’t peak my interest and it is not very challenging. Even on the hardcore difficulty, I had no issue getting the max rating on every spirit that I battled. I have very limited time to play games, so I must be very discerning. Challenge is a very important aspect when choosing what games I play, so this game certainly doesn’t make the cut.

Andreas Illiger. (2016). Tiny Wings [Mobile game]. (n.p.): Andreas Illiger.

Game Title: Tiny Wings

Genre: Arcade

Target Demographic/Player Type: 4+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

The narrative of this game is based around birds that love flying, but their wings are too short, so they must use the momentum from the hilly landscape in order to achieve flight. The major mechanic

One of the best feeling in the game is when you make a series of perfect launches, which are reinforced through visual and audio feedback. However, there are times when a perfect launch can be detrimental to the player. One such case is when launching from sharply angled hills, which cause the bird’s trajectory to follow a sharp angle off of the clouds, rather than a curve. This angle will generally result in the player shooting straight into the ground, which is a very jarring experience.

The other major issue I had was the game’s combination of blind jumps and water traps. Where use of blind jumps and water. Blind jumps severely limit the player’s ability to plan ahead and instead promotes mastery by simple repetition. Water traps further feed into the game’s heavy positive reinforcement feedback loop. Each success is met with continued success. Whereas mistakes can compound depending on the map. When these two things are combined you have the potential to harshly punish the player at no fault of their own.

In total, I played this game for approximately 40 minutes. I have no plans to return to the game because it is too simplistic for my tastes. One of the cleverest tricks the designer employed was the use of small particles, moving in the opposite direction of the player, in order to give the player an enhanced sense of speed. Tricks such as this are certainly something that I would consider using in my own capstone projects.

5TH Cell. (2017). Run Roo Run [Mobile game]. Bellevue, WA: 5TH Cell Media LLC.

Game Title: Run Roo Run

Genre: Platformer

Target Demographic/Player Type: 4+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App with In-App Purchases

Run Roo Run is a platformer game that places the player in control of an adult kangaroo that is trying to rescue a small blue kangaroo. In order to do so, the kangaroo must journey across 4000 miles of dangerous land in Australia. The primary mechanic of the game is the ability to jump, which is achieved by tapping the screen. Once the player taps once, the kangaroo automatically moves to the right of the screen. Each level is very short, often capable of being completed in about three seconds.

This game appears to be primarily for small children, as the main levels are quite easy. Whereas the I suspect the extreme levels are there to garner adult engagement, which would hopefully lead to bonding with their child and an eventual purchase. For an audience of children, the game introduces new elements into the game at a great pace. The player is allowed as many as 15 levels to practice something before they are introduced to a new mechanic. The instructions for each mechanic are always concise and clear through an effective combination of text and visuals.

Due to the easy nature of this game, I was looking forward to playing through the extreme levels, but I was sorely disappointed. My disappointment stems from its reliance on frame perfect jumping. Rather than feeling like an increased challenge, I instead felt aggravated because from my perspective I was doing the same thing over and over again until it just happened to work. I don’t necessarily think it is a fault of the designers, rather it is a result of the space they are constrained to. Each level is always the same distance from the green start flag to the checkered end flag. This limited space means that designers can only fit a fixed number of objects within each level. Additionally, the objects in the extreme levels are limited to the objects the player has been introduced to. Therefore, the only viable option to provide a more challenging experience is to further condense the levels, which results in the need to perform nearly frame perfect jumps by the player.

I was forced to stop playing on 12-2 because of a technical issue. On my device, the level is smaller than the width of the screen. This causes the bird to spawn outside of the level at a distance that doesn’t allow the player to jump on its head.

I played Run Roo Run for about 35 minutes, which allowed me to get the maximum rating on the first 11 chapters, with the exclusion of some extreme levels. I might return to this game in the future if I wanted to show a child how to play a platforming game. In regards to my capstone project, I would like to teach my game mechanics to new players just as clearly as this game did its mechanics.

Disney. (2016). Where’s My Water? [Mobile game]. Burbank, CA: Disney Electronic Content, Inc.

Game Title: Where’s My Water?

Genre: Puzzle

Target Demographic/Player Type: 4+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App with In-App Purchases

The general story of this game is about a friendly alligator named Swampy whose primary desire in life is taking baths. As Swampy’s water pipe is constantly broken, the player is tasked with getting fresh water into Swampy’s pipe. The only ability of the player is digging dirt by dragging their finger across the screen. The player can use this ability to route the freshwater around various obstacles and into Swampy’s tub. Each level can generally be completed within a minute of play.

Despite clearly being targeted to a younger audience, the rate of progression in the game is reasonably paced and the puzzles still require critical thinking. This was one of the few children’s games that I found any pleasure in playing. I attribute this quality of audience versatility to the presence of optional challenges. These optional challenges include a time bonus, duck bonus, and overflow bonus. The time bonus is simply a measure of how quickly a player can beat a puzzle. The duck bonus depends on the number of ducks the player is able to collect in a level. The overflow bonus is awarded when the player gets excess water into Swampy’s tub. Getting the best score in each of these categories can be surprisingly challenging and enjoyable.

The only issue I found with the game’s design was the occasional absence of an automatic restart condition, which is triggered when there is not enough water left to fill Swamp’s bath. Originally, I rationalized this absence by considering that perhaps the young players would respond better if they chose to restart on their own volition, rather than being forcibly restarted. However, it turned out they did in fact make use of automatic restarts and in some cases, they punished the player by giving them a sad animation of Swampy. The designers had simply forgotten to account for all cases.

I played this game for roughly 35 minutes, which allowed me to beat the initial 20 levels and unlock the second section. While I won’t be returning to this game for enjoyment, I would consider returning to study how the designers created emotional attachment to their characters. The ability to create near instant emotional attachments, such as the one I felt towards Swampy, is a powerful tool I would like to use in my capstone project.

Vlambeer. (2017). Ridiculous Fishing – A Tale of Redemption [Mobile game]. Utrecht, Netherlands: Vlambeer.

Game Title: Ridiculous Fishing - A Tale of Redemption

Genre: Arcade

Target Demographic/Player Type: 12+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

This game’s narrative is about Billy the fisherman. While he may be called a fisherman in the game, his actual goal is to kill as many sea creatures as possible. The first step towards this slaughter is dropping his fishing line as deep in the water as possible. The player taps the water to begin the initial drop and then is tasked with steering the hook around fish by tilting the phone. As soon as the line hits the bottom, reaches its limit, or hits a creature, the line start reeling back up to the surface. On the way back to the surface, the player attempts to get as many creatures stuck on the hook as possible by tilting the phone to aim. Once the hook reaches the surface, the fish are automatically cast into the air. The player then shoots and kills as many of the fish as possible to tapping on the screen. The length of this process varies greatly throughout the game, but it generally only lasts a few minutes.

One of this game’s strongest qualities is its reward structure There are two primary types of rewards the player can earn. The first type of reward is additional fishing spots. Unlocking new fishing spots gives the player access to new types of fish and greater fishing depths. The second type of reward is items the player can purchase at the fishing shop. The shop offers items to make fishing easier, add new mechanics, increase reel length, and modify Billy’s appearance.

Another strong quality of the game is in its background audio, which marks the transition between gameplay phases. Prior to fishing, there is a windy and mysterious track that makes the player question what may be below the surface. When dropping the line, a calm adventurous song is played that gradually changes as the player reaches new depths. When reeling the line, the soundtrack becomes more upbeat to help the player prepare for the fast action ahead. Finally, when shooting the fish, the music becomes more somber.

I played the game for a little over 30 minutes and was able to make it to the third area. The absurdity of the game was initially enticing, but it quickly grew stale and repetitive. As a result, I don’t have any interest in continuing to play the game. The only thing that I would carry forward from this game is the changing of background music to help differentiate phases of gameplay.

Deceased Pixel. (2016). Super Mega Worm [Mobile game]. (n.p.): Deceased Pixel, LLC.

Game Title: Super Mega Worm

Genre: Arcade

Target Demographic/Player Type: 12+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App with In-App Purchases

This violent arcade game places the player in control of a wyrm that is prophesized to cleanse the entire world of humanity. The main mechanics in the game revolve around the wyrm’s health bar. The bar constantly depletes due to hunger, so the player must frequently consume flesh to restore the bar. The also reduces whenever the wyrm is attacked by military units that become increasingly powerful with each passing level. While fighting against the military, the player must have the wyrm consume a certain number of humans in order to progress to the next level.

One of the first problems I had with the game was its control interface. It was clear that the game had been designed with a classic console controller in mind, rather than tailored to a mobile device. I was able to use the digital controller just fine, but I could never shake the feeling that the game would feel significantly better on a different platform.

Excluding theme and looking at the game from a strictly mechanical perspective, I thought it was well executed. The movement and control of the wyrm was extremely fluid and everything went together towards making the player truly embrace the role of an ultimate destructive being. However, when considering the game as a whole, it is simply an exploration into mindless and violent destruction with very little challenge. I began to lose interest in the game the moment that you were required to consume a mother that is pushing a baby carriage. Perhaps it was for shock value, but I really didn’t understand the allure of that design choice.

I played the game for a little under 30 minutes, which allowed by to reach the 20th level. At that point, I had grown quite weary of the unnecessarily long levels that boasted nothing but prolonged violence. I have absolutely no interest in continuing to play this game. My takeaway from this game is that I will certainly not be using a digital controller, as it detracts from the sense that the game was made specifically for a mobile device. A game should feel natural to the device it is played on.

Ubisoft. (2015). Rayman Fiesta Run [Mobile game]. Rennes, France: Ubisoft.

Game Title: Rayman Fiesta Run

Genre: Platformer

Target Demographic/Player Type: 4+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App with In-App Purchases

From the limited time that I played this highly-polished platformer, it has been challenging to understand the narrative. The main character Rayman, along with other player characters, is on a journey to free creatures called teensies. The number of teensies the player frees in each level depends on the number of “Lums” they can collect. For reasons unknown, this journey takes places in a world primarily composed of sweet foods and festive music. As far as player inputs are concerned, there are only two main abilities of the player. The player can make their character jump by tapping one side of the screen and hit by pressing the other side. Each level that makes up the start of the game can ordinarily be completed in about a minute.

The first praiseworthy design quality is how the game handles instructing new players. The only explicit instruction they give in the first level is that you can jump by tapping on the screen. Everything else is up to the player to discover. The level is arranged in such a way that the player can’t progress until they discover various different uses of their jump ability. With no presence of threat nor chance of failure, the player learns how to collect lums, that water can be jumped into and out of, how to wall-jump, swing, and launch from limes. At the end of the level, the player is shown a nice visual that clearly show the relationship between collected lums and rescuing teensies.

I made sure to play enough of the game to unlock the punch, but I stopped shortly after once I had played for 30 minutes. Even with the introduction of the punch, this game was relatively easy compared to my skill level, so it is unlikely that I will ever return to this game. One thing that I would like to take from this game is its effective display of numeric information in the form of a representative visual. Finding interesting and novel ways to display the data of my capstone project would certainly be worthwhile to keep people from being overwhelmed with pure numbers.  

Hemisphere Games. (2017). Osmos [Mobile game]. Nelson, Canada: Hemisphere Games Inc.

Game Title: Osmos

Genre: Physics-Based

Target Demographic/Player Type: 4+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

There is a slight hint of narrative in the game, which indicates that the player is in control of a blue mote that is always seeking to grow by absorbing smaller astrological bodies and enemy organisms. The base mechanic that makes up the entire game is the process of absorption, which occurs when two bodies collide. The mass of the smaller body is absorbed into the larger body. While never referred to as organisms, the enemies display behaviors that are akin to those exhibited by intelligent organism. These behaviors include aggression, avoidance, and disruption. In order to properly utilize the mechanic of absorption, the player is able to expel mass to propel their mote in a desired direction or orbit.

The vast emergent gameplay that this game offers is certainly one of its strongest qualities. Utilizing only a few types of enemies, two types of maps, and a random assortment of astronomical bodies, there are near limitless combinations of interesting scenarios that can be created. This emergent gameplay is further aided by the ratio of operative actions to resultant actions. Consider the player’s ability to expel mass. This one action can be used to move the player, keep enemies away, store mass, influence the absorption between bodies, and change the movement path of other bodies.

In total, I played for about 45 minutes, which was enough to complete the first two chapters of the Odyssey mode. This was by far my favorite game to play out of this entire bibliography, so I certainly intend to keep playing this game when I get the chance. The emergent gameplay of this game is something that I would like to capture in my own capstone project. This quality is critical considering the limited time I will have for development.

Popcannibal. (2012). Girls Like Robots [Mobile game]. Atlanta, GA: Adult Swim.

Game Title: Girls Like Robots

Genre: Puzzle

Target Demographic/Player Type: 4+

Monetization Strategy: Paid App

[ellcrys]

Hillbilly Elegy - Thoughts & Notes

This review here from a fellow alum probably summarizes and reviews the book better than I can ever hope to myself, but here are some of my notes as I read through JD Vance’s memoir—

“Why didn’t our neighbor leave that abusive man? Why did she spend her money on drugs? Why couldn’t she see that her behavior was destroying her daughter? Why were all of these things happening not just to our neighbor but to my mom? It would be years before I learned that no single book, or expert, or field could fully explain the problems of hillbillies in modern America. Our elegy is a sociological one, yes, but it is also about psychology and community and culture and faith.” [p.144-5]

‘Hillbilly Elegy’ by JD Vance provides much-needed insight into how the problem isn’t simply a matter of politics and getting the policy ‘right.’ It doesn’t start at the welfare level. It starts at something much more fundamental - how people live their lives. I’m jumping ahead of myself (and I will talk about this more later), but too often the people who are making the policies are coming from "well-off” towns and cities that simply don’t understand the giant cultural divide between the “poor” and the “well-off” communities. Part of what Vance discusses in his book is how back in Middletown, people don’t make good ‘rational’ decisions. How can a welfare policy that depends on people making ‘rational’ decisions and investing ever work in an environment where people simply don’t follow the conventions of ‘rational’ thought? [Side note: I use quotes on ‘rational’ because here, again, we see different cultures at work: Middletown’s ‘rational’ may be completely opposite to a costal city’s ‘rational,’ hence introducing yet another problem in creating effective policy]. Policy will never work, not until you intervene at the psychological and sociological level. It’s that kind of problem. It boggles my mind how many, many people do not keep a budget; in my world, keeping a budget is simply what you do. So if I build a policy under the expectation that people will budget their money, then that policy has already failed before the pen even hits paper.

Vance doesn’t go into actual policy-making or how to solve the problem; that’s not what his book is about. It’s about painting a picture of a kid growing up in the rust belt. And he does that well. As mentioned in the above-linked review, Vance doesn’t really have a way with words. His prose is simple and he tells more than he shows, but the words are easy to digest, and I suppose that’s perfectly fine, perhaps even better, for the purposes of this book.

Of note is one important theme that Vance keeps going back to: how his Mamaw saved him. And that is definitely an important lesson. Many times you just need that one solid anchor in your life. It’s all a kid needs. And we need to do more to give that opportunity to all children everywhere, especially to those who live in struggling neighborhoods. That’s where we need to intervene, not at the policy level, but at the sociological one. Unfortunately, the sad truth is that we liberals don’t see this world; we don’t see this world that that Vance describes. We don’t even know it exists. The result is that we go into these policy meetings trying to solve a problem we don’t actually understand. Of course the policies won’t be effective. We have a long bridge to cross indeed.

“The legislators debating the merits of payday lending didn’t mention situations like [see: p.185]. The lesson? Powerful people sometimes do things to help people like me without really understanding people like me.” [p.185-6]

Other notes:

On lifestyle: “Social mobility isn’t just about money and economics, it’s about a lifestyle change. The wealthy and the powerful aren’t just wealthy and powerful; they follow a different set of norms and mores. When you go from working-class to professional-class, almost everything about your old life becomes unfashionable at best or unhealthy at worst.” [p.207]

On networking: “I had always thought that when you need a job, you look online for job postings. And then you submit a dozen resumes. And then you hope that someone calls you back [...] Successful people are playing an entirely different game. They don’t flood the job market with resumes, hoping that some employer will grace them with an interview. They network. They email a friend of a friend to make sure their name gets the look it deserves. [p.214] Vance doesn’t fault networking; he simply analyzes how it’s different from what he is used to. I make a note of this here, however, because I have strong thoughts on networking. Put simply, networking is a necessary component of the hiring process. Anyone can look good on paper. And there are too many papers. How does one filter the hundreds, thousands of applicants for a job? They don’t; they get a recommendation from someone they trust. It’s a filter mechanism. Networking is so, so important. [See p.220 for mentorship advantages as well]

On personhood vs culture: “How much of our lives, good and bad, should we credit to our personal decisions, and how much is just the inheritance of our culture, our families, and our parents who have failed their children? How much is Mom’s life her own fault? Where does blame stop and sympathy begin?” [p.231] My dad has always valued personhood over culture and tends to fault people for not trying hard enough to dig themselves out of a shitty situation, even if that situation (institution) is against you. But that doesn’t sit entirely right with me. How much of the problem is the institution, and how much of the problem is the individual person? The easy answer is that it’s a balance. But then it becomes a question or where the two sides sit on the scale.

On policy: “People sometimes ask whether I think there’s anything we can do to ‘solve’ the problems of my community. I know what they’re looking for: a magical public policy solution or an innovative government program. But these problems of family, faith, and culture aren’t like a Rubik’s Cube, and I don’t think that solutions (as most understand the term) really exist.” [p.238]

Final thoughts:

What I think is the most important message about this book is that even though Vance was simply lucky to escape his roots (note: this is not to say that he didn’t actively try. Nevertheless, had the chips not been stacked in his favor (mostly due to luck), then even if he had tried his hardest he still might not have escaped), the fact remains that he was able to escape, and telling his story now shines a bright light on what the problems facing working-class America actually are. Because Vance was lucky, escaped, and is telling his story, we are able to see this life that had previously been hidden to us, just as his Yale life, as Vance said, had been hidden from him due to the cultural and economic divide. We can see now which variables helped him to escape, and use that as a guide to see where we need to intervene.