#Candidate Matching

[sophies-junkyard]

I’m in the South. I’ve got ears to the ground. Republicans are SWEATING at the prospect of Kamala being nominated. They’re not sure Trump can beat her.

Let’s prove them right.

[allelitewrestlings]

credit: scott lesh

[hartpisces]

jb ig post

[perfunctory-idols]

Beck at his and his grandfather's "Playing with Matches" exhibit in New York, September 1998

Photo by Clair Holt

Clipping from the San Francisco Examiner.

[simination]

Amber Linder, leaving her hotel - Tomarang, 25th of august 2024

Actress Amber Linder was seen leaving her hotel yesterday. She looked meeting-ready wearing Alfire Blazer by Toksik, Peggy pants from @sentate's A/W 2020 collection (Patreon, FREE), @dallasgirl79's Kiri Half D'Orsay pumps and Birkin Faubourg Bag by @bergdorfverse (Patreon). Bracelets by Toksik and earrings by @pralinesims, hair by @teanmoon.

[noirandchocolate]

*sipping banana whiskey on a Wednesday night*

What if…guys what if. The Yiga Clan’s Blademaster exam historically wasn’t really that easy. What if Tears of the Kingdom simplified it (Doylist explanation) or the Clan changed and simplified it over the 100 years since the start of the Calamity for some reason (Watsonian explanation)?

Because. It just feels too easy. Even if the person attempting it isn’t Link, with access to fast-travel points and sky islands to drop from. The guy at the Blademaster Station who’s apparently in charge of administering the test even marks the locations of the frog statues on Link’s map! Come on. That’s too easy. And has nothing to do with swordsmanship either! It can’t be that simple.

*pours another shot*

Yeah I think…. There’s got to be more to it. Or there was. Way back when. (My primary headcanon focus is always on AoC timeline anyway.) I think! The banana offerings are just the first part. And the statutes are placed new for every candidate. And you have to journey about to find them yourself. It’s meant to test your scouting, perception, and overall survival skills, to make sure you’ll be useful on missions outside the Valley. Can you spot the statues? Climb/teleport up the cliffs? Be in the harsh wilderness of the Highlands and desert for a period of time? (Don’t worry, there’s always (more or less) someone around monitoring you, you (probably) won’t die, they’ll grab you and you’ll just fail the test attempt.)

But then if you can do it, that’s not all. I think! The exam has also got to include tests with the two-handed weapons Blademasters traditionally wield: the windcleaver and eightfold longblade. Tests on technique and form, performing certain strokes, draw speed, things like that. There would also be tests on the arcane arts like the Earthwake technique.

And then—!

You have a match with the Right Hand! Who’s the lead Blademaster teacher/mentor. You don’t have to beat them of course (and in the case of Sooga, you probably wouldn’t), you have to impress them. Hold your own. Get a hit in where you can. Show off everything you know, against the person who probably taught you a lot of it.

Oh and then if you manage to succeed at that?

You fight Master Kohga. And try to do the same. Imagine! Having to try countering all that magic, all that power! It’s a true test, to make absolutely sure you’re good enough for one of the elite martial positions in the Clan!

Afterward, the Master and Right Hand confer and make the final decision whether you pass and become a Blademaster or not. And then you get given your official blade (either type, your choice) and a lil’ feast/party to celebrate you joining the ranks.

*downs the rest of the drink*

Anyway that’s what I think.

(I also think it would’ve been fun in TotK if passing the exam earned you not just a pristine eightfold longblade (easily breakable and lost) but info on the locations of more Clan branches you could travel to to get the pieces of an actual Blademaster armor. Like you could do some kinda additional lil’ quests to get them, to make it more interesting/worthwhile. The Footsoldier-style armor gives you stealth and a set bonus nighttime speed boost for that light fast build. Maybe the Blademaster one could give stealth but the set bonus is proficiency with two-handed weapons? Either letting you swing them faster or they all get a little attack+ bonus?)

*waves glass on my way to bed* ANYWAY THAT’S WHAT I THINK.

[tacobellabeanburrito]

Question for a Good Omens Au for Ace Attorney, who do you think would be the angel and who do you think would be the demon?

[theywannamakeme-theirqueen]

Sisters Catherine Deneuve & Françoise Dorléac in their hotel room in Rochefort on June 13, 1966. They are about to start filming Les Demoiselles de Rochefort directed by Jacques Demy and Françoise excitedly shows the photographer (Philippe Le Tellier) an article mentioning the film. 🎞️🤍

[joowee-feftynn]

im interested in knowing what species of bird inspired the hippogriff's plumage in dungeon meshi, since griffins are very obviously bald eagles lmao

[subwaytostardew]

Ingo and Emmet are technically celebrities back in Unova, or at least Nimbasa, it would make sense if a paparazzi or journalist or someone from the news came from Nimbasa to see and report back to the city what the twins are doing. They're nosy and you know what sells? Whether or not the celebrity is dating, it could be the husband protecting the farmer from bad publicity or them being super proud of their spouse! It's not a date per say but it'd be an interesting event give or take.

Kade and I were talking about this, but anything to do with paparazzi and publicity will probably have more to do with Elesa. We don't want to stray too far from canon, so most celebrity antics will be more to do with being associated with her.

They're technically celebrities... but not quite! They don't exactly have much star-power of their own in canon. When you disembark on the Battle Subway and talk to the other random NPCs, pretty much everyone hates them; they all say stuff about how Ingo and Emmet are suspicious or weird (I remember that vividly because it honestly made me feel a little sick and I had to put down the game for a couple of days ;;;>.>). Few can appreciate their autism. 😔

The competitive battling scene isn't particularly big in Unova (outside of Blueberry Academy but... that's pretty contained). Dedicated battlebrains like Hilda and Hilbert don't make up a significant amount of their passengers. Most passengers are just average people on their commute to work. Most people challenge the Battle Subway for the sake of it (a bit of a tourist attraction like the carnival area nearby), lose really badly, get discouraged, and never come back unless if they need to use the subway to get somewhere.

In the railfan scene, they usually aren't even special guests at train conventions! They're regular attendees who had time to befriend Cilan at their leisure. He's probably the only person who does their stamp rally!

Being a Battle Facility Head doesn't necessarily constitute celebrity status. Lenora has a perfectly normal husband and marriage with no drama whatsoever! All the Unovan Gym Leaders have other jobs and lives of their own; similarily, submas are just conductors first and foremost. It wouldn't be so absurd for a middle aged train conductor to settle down with some farmer.

They're just some guys. They're even worse in Stardew as regular old train conductors; there's no battling scene to draw in challengers and the scenery itself doesn't even have much worth visiting! It's a sad truth, but most people wouldn't notice if they went missing *cough* they will. The "main plot" for them is how their relocation cough bringing that to the spotlight had a bit of a toll on them mentally.

On a sillier note, I do like the thought that most people were interested in them (superficially). Ingo did end up winning first place in a Unova sexyman poll for being tall, dark, and handsome. Emmet's still bitter about being voted third place despite being his identical twin. The Battle Subway got busy when people were under the impression that Ingo was a edgy, brooding, gentleman but that perception was quickly turned around the second he opened his mouth. The hype died down for them after a year so now they're back to being just some guys.

Anyways... Probably the closest thing we have to a "paparazzi" event on our itinerary so far is just Cilan being submas' number one fan (one and only fan?) as usual.

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[tarblooded]

Creature spotted at the club (its me im creature)

[virtchandmoir]

livefreemiranda: A week in Phoenix brought such great food, plants, friends, vibes… and FOOD! We kept saying we loved every bite of the weekend. Swipe for a list of places I loved…plus plants, friends, and vibes.💛🌵🥰 (And save for your next PHX area adventure!)

[sexygaywizard]

Given that the person who is running the poor little meow meow contest has statistical evidence that the Vriska polls are being botted and 95% of the comments and tags on the Harry/Vriska poll are in support of Harry, even if he loses, we will know who the real winner is and so I won't be too sad about it--- but I am sad about it because I want to be able to see the numbers behind how hard Harry is actually sweeping right now because i KNOW my mans is SWEEPING

[drinkingbitterboy]

note to self: post more alex closet cosplays when i need a pick me up/ego boost.

thank you to everyone for being so nice to me 🥹

[moe-broey]

Also I underestimated how difficult doing Fatesawakening-esque portraits for Moe would be because that Thang emotes with its whole fucking body. Like I feel like if you go through all my drawings (ref sheet/more recent drawings where you see it more in action, esp my comics), you see the emotion (or something more complicated) in more than in just its expressions. It's in the body language, and silly hair physics.

Plus that isn't even factoring in attempting to pin down just a few "main" emotions -- which is already a fucked up and difficult thing to do with Moe specifically, because sometimes the way it emotes outwardly doesn't match what its saying or feeling internally!!! And it is just extremely expressive in general (except for when it isn't.)

My guy is so restricted by this format it's so sad. Like an animal in an enclosure that is not suited for it 😔