#I personally am VERY intrigued by son of nyx

[bogboyfig]

UNREAL UNEARTH SPOILERS AHEAD - PROCEED WITH CAUTION (complete tracklist + line teasers)

Organising these here so I can go insane in peace:

Revealed Tracklist:

#1 'De Selby (pt.1)'

"At last / When all of the world is asleep / You take in the blackness of the air; / The likes of a darkness so deep / That God at the start couldn't bear."

#2 'De Selby (pt.2)'

"What you're given / What you live in / Darling it finds a way to live in you / And your heart, love / Has such darkness / I feel it in the corners of the room."

#3 'First Time'

"Remember I once told you about / How before I heard it from your mouth / My name would always hit my ears / As such an awful sound / And the soul, if that's what you'd call it / Uneasy ally of the body / It felt nameless as a river / undiscovered underground."

#4 'Francesca'

"If I could hold you for a minute / Darling, I would do it again / I would not change it each time / Heaven is not fit to house a love like you and I."

#5 'I, Carrion'

"I've reached a rare height now / That I can confirm / All our weight is just a burden / Offered to us by the world / And though I burn / How could I fall? / When I am lifted by every word you say to me / If anything could fall at all / Its the world that falls away from me."

#6 'Eat Your Young'

"Come and get some / Skinning the children for a war-drum / Putting food on the table selling bombs and guns; / It's quicker and easier to eat your young."

#7 'Damage Gets Done'

"You and I had nothing to show / But the best of the world / in the palm of our hand and darling / I haven't felt it since then / I don't know how the feeling ended / but I know being reckless and young / Is not how the damage gets done."

#8 'Who We Are'

"Darling we sacrified / We gave our time to something undefined / This phantom life sharpens like an image / But it sharpens like a knife / We're born at night / So much of our life / Is just carving through the dark / To get so far / And the hardest part / Is who we are / It's who we are."

#9 'Son of Nyx'

" ... / ... / ... "

#10 'All Things End'

"And all things end / All that we intend is scrawled in sand / It slips right through our hands / And just knowing / That everything will end / Should not change our plans / When we begin again."

#11 'To Someone From A Warm Climate

"'Uiscefhuarithe' / The feel of coldness only water brings / There are some things that no-one / teaches you, love / That come as natural as a dream / you didn't know you were in / And darling, all my dreaming / Is only put to shame / And darling all my dreaming / Has only been given a name."

#12 'Butchered Tongue'

"So far from home / To have a stranger call you 'darling' / And have your heart / Be lifted like a child up by the hand / In some town that just means / 'Home' to them / With no translator left to sound / A butchered tongue / Still singing here above the ground."

#13 'Anything but'

"In a shot I'd swap my body for a body of water / Worry the cliffside top as a wave crashing over / I'd lower the world in a flood / or better yet I'd cause a drought / If I was a riptide, / I wouldn't take you out."

#14 'Abstract (psychopomp)'

"The poor thing in the road / Its eye still glistening / The cold wet of your nose / The Earth from a distance / See how it shines / See how it shines."

#15 'Unknown / Nth'

"You know the distance never made a difference to me / I swam a lake of fire, I'd have walked / across the floor of any sea / Ignored the vastness between / all that can be seen / And all that we believe / So I thought you were like an angel to me."

#16 'First Light'

"The sky set to burst / The gold and the rust / The colour erupts / You filling my cup / The sun coming up / Like I lived my whole life / Before the first light."

[the-sapphire-general]

My Thoughts and Feelings About Lunafreya Nox Fleuret

It has been quite some time since I made a post like this, so I did not write the future posts I have been planning, but I wished to write this post before the others. It is an unexpected one since the idea was never one that I considered, but I now desperately want to reveal my own views on Final Fantasy 15's main heroine, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, Princess and Oracle of Tenebrae. It will only be a single but lengthy post, so prepare yourselves for it. Major spoilers for both the game and the movie Kingsglaive will be included, so if you are unfamiliar with FFXV, stop here and watch the movie and play the game (in that order) to understand everything. Note that this will be a rant to an extent, so either be civil or leave. You have been warned, and I will not be obligated to repeat it again. This post is dedicated to @cellarhapsodos.

Lady Lunafreya, or simply Luna, is the Princess of Tenebrae, which was conquered by none other than the Nifelheim Empire. Her mother Queen Sylvia was killed in the process and has since been imprisoned for twelve years. Ravus, her brother, joined the empire thinking that King Regis Lucis Caelum abandoned him and let Tenebrae be claimed by the enemy. Growing up, Luna knew that she had a purpose just like her beloved, Noctis, Regis's son, and was determined to fulfill her goals as the Oracle to heal those from the Starscourge and assist Noctis into becoming the True King of Light to end the darkness that threatens to fall over Eos.  

Now this all seems intriguing, but this is only scratching the surface. I am not going to just discuss her story. I will be discussing about Lunafreya herself. I will begin by explaining my reasons on writing this post in the first place. Apparently, Luna is hated by who knows how many people, their comments ranging from she is a weak and bland character, is completely useless, and has no purpose but to be Noctis' love interest. The list goes on, and I want to say something. Lunafreya does not deserve such hatred. Cue the dramatic gasps from the majority of Luna haters! Yes yes, my opinion differs from yours. Keep yourselves under control and let me continue. Luna has been accused of being a horrible Final Fantasy heroine, some saying she is the worst. Ummmm...What? How is she the worst character? Well, their arguments are these: She is useless, irrelevant to the plot, bland, robotic, has little screen time, sexist, weak, passive, and a damsel-in-distress. First of all, people can have their opinions, but they treat their opinions on Luna as if it is pure fact simply because they did not like some aspects about her. Though not all are like that, so I should not phrase it like that. Second, some also tend to go overboard with these opinions, implying that Luna should be despised by everyone. 

Luna was responsible for her part in trying to save Eos from the Starscourge. She was the one who prevented it from getting worse while alive, and she healed those that were tainted by it. She, as the Oracle, helped those who needed her and without her, so many people would have been dead and the nights would have become longer and longer. And that happened when she died in the hands of Ardyn in Altissia. Darkness fell upon the world for the past ten years and people died and daytime no longer existed. Worse, some people turned into daemons! So when Luna died, the Starscourge advanced to such an extreme, nobody was safe.  

Also, Luna had the Ring of Lucii, and she took it with her from Insomnia to Altissia despite the dangers of doing so just for Noctis to take it and fulfill his destiny as the King of Light, but guess what? It was her duty to take it to Noctis, and if she had not done her part, he would have never gotten the ring. When King Regis insisted on having her meet Noctis, Luna declined by saying the empire would follow her wherever she went. She protected Noctis from Nifelheim, even though she longed to see him after twelve years. More on this later.

Another thing to point out is Luna spoke to the gods. It is obvious that she did considering the vision of her standing before Titan. Before Noctis and his friends met them, Luna was already ahead of them so Noctis could participate in their trials. Awakening the gods, however, took a toll on her for it was killing her. In fact, healing people infected with the Starscourge must have done the same thing. But despite the possibility of death, Luna stayed strong and continued on her own journey to not only assist Noctis but to play her role in saving the world from darkness. Ravus even redeemed himself because his love for his sister was stronger than his hatred for losing his home to Nifelheim, and he wound up helping Noctis as well.  

An Oracle is not an easy role to fill, and Luna knew that when she was young. She knew but did not express fear. Her fate, the loss of her mother, the twelve years in the lands of Nifelheim, did not phase Luna, and remained brave through and through even if it meant she might die. It was her duty to protect her people and restore light into the world. Even after she died, she still healed Noctis so he could survive Leviathan's trial. So if you remove Luna, Noctis does not participate in the trials, or if he managed to do so, he would have died by Leviathan and the world is doomed. Game over.

Next is Luna's personality. Arguments include she is robotic, emotionless, and bland. Clearly, they did not read or watch Twilight! Bella Swan fits that description, not Luna. Luna is kindhearted, compassionate, and selfless from beginning to end. She kept herself away from Noctis to protect him from Nifelheim. She helped Ravus change his affiliation from the empire to Noctis. She healed her people and gave them hope. She loved Noctis and healed him so he could survive. Luna placed everyone's interests before hers because she cares about them and assisted Noctis into fulfilling his destiny. She expressed subtle fear and doubt, but did not let it overcome her, and she did whatever it took to achieve her goals and assist Noctis. She was even a bit reckless, such as jumping from a crashing ship. People say she and Regis knew of a possible future. Personally, Luna would have made it alive if Nyx did not jump, but again, as Oracle, Luna knew about the future. That is something an Oracle can do if I am not mistaken: see the future. Or maybe she saw bits of it. Either way, Luna knew what she was doing. She was not a suicidal person. A suicidal character like her would not have waited for Nyx to help her. She would have fought back regardless if her opponents were dangerous, and she would have risked her life and possibly died too soon. She would have gone to Noctis even if Nifelheim would follow her and put her beloved and his friends in grave danger. She's stubborn and careless, but also clever and intelligent.

Speaking of Noctis...This sparked a lot of hatred, and I want to say this. Her goal is NOT just related to Noctis! People say she only exists to support Noctis. Noctis this, Noctis that! Luna did not focus entirely on Noctis if you paid attention to the movie and the game. She wanted to protect people, and she did everything she could from healing to preventing the Starscourge from advancing. She wanted to stay strong for everyone so she could fulfill her own destiny as the Oracle. She did not do all this just for Noctis. All of this was her choice aside from it being her duty as the Oracle because she was a good person who cared about others. Assisting Noctis and wanting to be with him were her secondary goals. What is wrong with wanting to help the one you love??? You would do the same would you? And what was bad about her wanting to be with him?? Luna kept in touch with Noctis for twelve years by writing to him. They knew each other as children prior to the invasion, so the romance was not forced in my book. Now if they never knew each other, then it would have been, but it is not. Although the marriage was intended to be an arranged marriage, that did not make a difference. Luna loved Noctis already, and he loved her back. They would have gotten married anyway even if it was not arranged. So Luna's desires to see Noctis again is not a weakness, it is not anti-feminist, and it is not bad. I mean, how would you feel if you had not met your beloved for years? Would you want to see them again?? Luna longed to be by Noctis' side, and she placed those interests aside to help those in need even if it hurt, and never had the chance to be with him until the afterlife. Those who say that love and romance make a female character anti-feminist or whatever should reevaluate their views or else it could make girls and women believe that if you are in love, you are not strong. That makes no sense. Yes, if a female character focuses only on her love for a man and that is all that defines her, then that is bad. But Luna?? Noctis does not define her. She does, and she has shown it countless times and people still are unable to see that.

I confess that I used to hate her. I really did. I was influenced by ridiculous feminazis like them, and I kept seeing her the way they did. Their arguments were my own, but just like with Ardyn, my friend (who I mentioned in the very beginning) convinced me that she was not the way I thought she was, and she was right. I reevaluated not just how I see Luna, but all my feminist beliefs in general. To put it this way, I now see the light. Lunafreya Nox Fleuret is a proactive heroine because of everything she had done. She is similar to Aeris Gainsborough, not entirely but there are some similarities? Like they love flowers, they are kind, compassionate. And I used to hate Aeris as well, but my friend made me rethink that as well. Like Aeris (or Aerith), Luna is a heroine in her own right. Though Aeris had more screen time and such...Well, I never said they were identical. lol?

The only argument I can agree with the fandom is that Luna does have little screen time. I see that, and I want to see more of her because she is a great character. She did so much between her departure of Insomnia and her arrival to Altissia, and I am curious about what happened during that time period. Yes, she died, but that does not make her weak either. She died for a bigger cause. Even after death, she still helped. She fulfilled her calling as the Oracle until the very end, and she did not want to die at first, but she accepted her fate for all of Eos, not just for Noctis. I nearly cried when she did when she was talking to Ravus about wanting to be with Noctis. Seeing that scene again to check out the additional content in one of the latest updates of the game made me feel the same way. Despite her little screen time, Luna was still interesting. So if a character has little screen time despite everything they have accomplished, they are terrible?? But what about, say, Rose Quartz from Steven Universe? She has little screen time, but she is still compelling. But Luna is not? That is rather hypocritical to me. Luna will have more focus on her! She is getting her own DLC. May I remind you that FFXV was in development for ten years and they wanted to release it already? They released it even though it was not finished. Why else are we getting DLC and additional cutscenes and such for the game??  

Yes, she was not shown fighting during certain times where she could have. But think about it. When she was kidnapped, Luna waited for Nyx because if she were to fight, she would risk her life and her goal to not only take the ring to Noctis but to prevent Eos from falling into eternal darkness and dooming the entire world. And I admit, Luna's decision of letting Luche put the ring on was clever. She never even warned him about the consequences. It was gruesome, but clever. And no, she did not just stand and let him take the ring. She tried to run, so she is not passive. Now she did not fight. Like I said, she did not want to risk her life. She was clever enough to let him put the ring on because she knew what would happen. Though not fighting is not always the solution in her situation, so it is obvious that she will fight in her DLC.

What I hate is people judging Luna over petty things, and what set me off and leading me into writing this post is because someone said she could not be redeemed. Luna may not have been shown more often, but it is her goals and actions that matter. Luna is strong, and she does not have to be physically strong, speak loudly, and not show emotions to be strong. That is something that annoys me, and although I was saving this for my future posts regarding feminism, I will say this now. A strong female character is not an overly masculine, emotionless, weapon-wielding, butt-kicking woman who should not be interested in a man or show vulnerability or else it disempowers her as a character. Nowadays, female characters HAVE to be this way just to be strong, everybody is forgetting that female characters come in all shapes and sizes and that strong female characters mean compelling and well-written characters! And these same people believe that if a female character shows any feminine qualities such as kindness, optimism, wisdom, dresses, pink or purple or any feminine colors, make-up, jewelry, hearts, and so forth, then they are automatically weak and terrible. 

None of those things are bad in a character. You just insulted a majority of women, real and fictional, who happen to be kind and optimistic, enjoy these things, and being involved in romance by calling them weak. Rose Quartz is feminine and her theme color is pink, yet people like her. Hypocritical much? Hate to break it to you, but Luna's appearance, personality, and relationship with Noctis does not make her weak. And just because she was in danger a few times, it did not make her a damsel-in-distress. There is nothing wrong with needing help to achieve her goals. I am still surprised that she did not show fear several times, especially when guns were aimed at her. I would have panicked, so I envy her for not even flinching or screaming. She's a strong-willed, independent, kindhearted, determined, and selfless woman that wants nothing but to protect others from darkness and reunite with the Prince she loves with all her heart.

Now not everyone hates Luna to the extreme, and not every one of those who are not fans of her are feminazis. But there are people who are like that, and I am simply stating that people take things out of proportion. I am not trying to generalize anyone or anything. People may say that she is weak or whatever it is I have mentioned, and that is alright. Their opinions are valid and I do not expect to change everyone’s minds because things do not work that way. Excuse me if I sounded as if my opinion is the correct one. It is not, but it is an opinion I wanted to share with others and it is an opinion that some can agree with, so please do not be offended. I like Lunafreya just like many others, others hate her, others have mixed feelings, and others are neutral, but it does not matter. We all have our opinions, so please let us respect them.

[joo-yksan]

ARC review up on GR.

4 stars.

Ace of Blades, written by Michael Nyx Knightley, was a very interesting read. I did have expectations and this book surpassed it. Why, you ask? The characters did it for me. Transmasc and gay protagonists? Queer best friends? Hell yes, I dived in headfirst. And the beautifully framed plot! Of course!

On a personal level, the pace was just right for me, neither too slow nor too fast. All the chapters were connected, and there weren’t many time skips, so I liked that.

Nox Caldwell, a trauma surgeon, a forty year old fraternal twin, lived in Stony Hollow. He was close with his family, but his grandfather always treated him badly, because Nox was trans masc.

Curtis AKA Olivier Duchesne, a philanthropist and a millionaire, moved to Stony Hollow with his two sons for reasons.

Nox hated Curtis’ guts the moment he laid his eyes on him, because he was tall, intimidating and frustrating. But not for long, I say. Curtis is a born charmer, and Nox soon found himself wooed into his life. He discovers secrets about the infamous Olivier Duchesne and about himself. He needs to stay alert at all times. Even hanging out with his friends proved to be disastrous.

Okay so this book also happens to be the author’s debut novel. To say I am shocked would be an understatement. He has some real talent for writing, and when I say that he should keep doing this, I hope that his books would find great successes.

I could not give this book 5 stars because I couldn’t find closure on the love triangle. I really enjoyed the moments between Curtis and Nox, and even though the ending part was cool, I wish it were a clear picture on where they stood. What was to come next. And they never kissed. Hah, after such life-threatening, splendid saved-in-the-nick-of-time-to-be-alive scenes, that’s what you’re worried about? Hm, yes, to me the romance matters the most, and I was sad they didn’t lip lock at all:(

To sum it up, this is a marvellous and intriguing novel, well written and worth reading. You know I am choosy when it comes to writing styles and I loved this author’s one. I definitely recommend giving this book a try. Good luck to the author on this book and the next, which I guess will be an addition to the series?