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realm-sweet-realm · 2 years ago

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A Road Further, chapter one: New Journeys

The protagonist of Scarlet/Violet moves away, and the lives of the Paldea trio go on.

Nemona is ecstatic when Geeta decides to take her under her wing and groom her to be the next head champion of Paldea, and doubly so when it means competing against champions of other regions in a worldwide tounament. With Geeta’s very rigid ideas of how a champion should act, Nemona will have to find a balance between respecting authority and forging her own path.

Penny’s crimes begin to catch up with her as her parents send her to live with her uncle Looker in hopes that he’ll set her straight. But as Penny’s skills turn out to be quite useful for crime-solving, she might find out that her weird uncle Looker isn’t so lame after all.

Between the loss of his dad and his three friends moving away, Arven is crushed. When Clavell tries to cheer him up by introducing him to two Alolan exchange students including the tech-savvy Sophocles, Arven hatches a desperate and ill-advised plan to bring back his father.

I hope you all enjoy this.

---

The sky was grey and heavy as Arven walked Miraidon to what would be its new home in the Lighthouse Laboratory. Penny and Nemona followed behind, carrying supplies for the creature. Arven shifted the bags of Pokémon food he’d been carrying into one arm and stroked the creature with the other, trying to quiet its whining.

“I know,” he whispered. “I miss him, too.”

Not long after the annual treasure hunt, Florian’s mother had been transferred to a new location for work and they’d had to move away. They’d been forced to leave Miraidon behind, and Arven to try to find one of his father’s old lab techs to look after it. He wasn’t looking after it himself longer than he had to. It was just too much of a reminder.

There wasn’t much to be done at the Lighthouse Laboratory. The three students put down a giant pet bed for Miraidon, scattered its toys, fed and watered it, and they were done. Arven had called Penny and Nemona out for emotional support more than anything.

“Thanks for being here,” he said to the girls, sitting down on one of the old tables in the laboratory. “You know, I played it cool in front of Clavell, but losing my dad is... well, it’s a lot to process. I mean, apparently he did love me, but now I’ll never get to actually spend time with him. It kind of hurts knowing what could have been. But hey, at least now I have you two.” He gave them a smile. “Between that and all the schoolwork I have to catch up on, I won’t even have time to think about it!”

The two girls exchanged an awkward look.

Penny was the first to speak. “Actually, my parents are sending me away to live with my weird uncle Looker in Kalos. Probably for a whole year. They found out about the whole Team Star and stealing millions in LP thing and want to scare me straight.”

Arven got up, fists curled and teeth gritted. “Seriously?! But Geeta and Clavell let you off with community service for all of that! And you have a job lined up after graduation. How many 14-year-olds can say that?”

“Yeah, but they said that ‘it’s still a felony,’ and ‘I need to learn to respect the rules before I run into someone who won’t let me break them.’ It sucks.”

Nemona spoke up next. “...And Geeta wants to train me up to be the new head champion. Which means I’m leaving the Uva Academy, too. I’m really sorry, Arven.”

“Oh. Well, at least I’ll be able to reach you by flying taxi since you’ll be in Paldea.”

Nemona shared a pained look with Penny. “…She’s starting by taking me to a world championship event in Hoenn. It’ll only be for a few weeks!”

Arven felt like the lifeline he’d caught was disintegrating. He’d be all alone at school again, at the time he most needed not to be. It took him a second to blink back tears and figure out the right response. “Oh. Well, that’s amazing! I’m so happy for you. Are you excited?”

Finally released from the expectation to act sympathetic, Nemona’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “So excited! You have no idea. I’m going to get to battle some of the strongest trainers in the whole world! Up until a while ago, even meeting them would have been a dream come true!”

“Great. You’ll finally have some people who can keep up to you. I’ll watch all your matches.”

“If you can find time while digging yourself out of the homework pit,” Penny quipped. “But yeah. We’ll be watching. ...Assuming uncle Looker lets me. Or I can find a way around his rules. Which I will.”

“You heard it. We’ll keep in touch,” Arven agreed, crossing his arms. “Assuming Penny can go a couple weeks without doing something stupid and getting her phone privileges revoked.”

Penny jabbed his arm. Arven jabbed her back.

Nemona smiled. “You guys are the best! Yeah, let’s keep in touch!”

---

Nemona squinted into the sunrise as she tried to make out whether the flying taxi on the horizon was La Primera’s or if she still had a while to wait. She’d shown up twenty minutes early. Some might call that overkill, but one couldn’t take this too seriously, and Nemona had read that Geeta liked to be early.

As the flying taxi neared, Nemona could see that it was Geeta. She stood up and ran to it, getting in before it even touched down.

“I’m glad to see that you’ve kept your passion for battling,” Geeta said. Even in the early morning, her image- the suit, the elaborate hair, her gentle smile- was just as flawless as she’d been every time Nemona had seen her. It almost hadn’t sunk in yet that she’d be working for her. She’d be spending the next few weeks learning to be just like her.

“Oh yeah! I’m not gonna let you down.” Nemona replied. “Oh my gosh. Do you think Cynthia does autographs? Do you think I could get a picture with Blue’s blastoise? Or maybe...” Nemona caught something vaguely disapproving in Geeta’s eyes. “Uh, sorry, I’ll calm down.”

“No, go ahead,” Geeta assured her. “It will be best for you to get your excitement out now. Once we’re at the airport and especially once we’re there, you’ll need to keep that excitement under wraps. You’re representing Paldea, after all. You have to act like you belong with the other champions, because you do.” Those last three words were a jolt of energy to Nemona’s heart. “No autographs. Pictures are fine so long as they look professional.”

“You got it!.”

As it turned out, they had plenty to talk about on the flying taxi ride and then the flight to Hoenn. Nemona already knew a good deal about the champions and the teams and strategies they used, and Geeta helped fill in the gaps of her information. After getting settled at the hotel, it was late and Nemona was tired, but her energy came right back when she told Nemona that some of the champions were already competing.

“I thought that the tounament didn’t start until tomorrow?”

“The brackets will be announced tomorrow,” Geeta explained, “but for now some of the champions are doing some unofficial one-on-one matches to warm up the audience. Would you like to watch them?”

“Watch them? I want to join them! Let’s get down there,” Nemona replied, already running for the door to their hotel room.

“No,” Geeta said gently, making Nemona stop dead. “I’d like us to watch them from here, where we can discuss what they’re doing. It will be an important lesson for you.”

“Okay.” Nemona sat back down on the bench next to Geeta.

The television displayed the tournament arena. On one side of it, Diantha strode in alongside her gardevoir, mega-evolving it to the audible delight of the crowd. On the other, Cynthia glided down from the bleachers on the back of her garchomp, sliding off of her at the last moment and landing nimbly on her feet as the dragon took her position in the ring.

“Begin!” shouted the referee.

“Garchomp, Poison jab!” Cynthia ordered. Her garchomp lunged, her claws coating themselves in purple fluid.

“Ice punch,” Diantha returned. Gardevoir’s fists covered themselves in ice, and she countered the first jab. Garchomp was darting in and out of Gardevoir’s range as Gardevoir stayed stationary, blocking only as many quick but relatively weak jabs as it took and clearly taking more damage than it was dealing.

“Wait, why's she doing that?” Nemona asked. Gardevoir didn’t have the attack or speed for this, but with her special attack, a good dazzling gleam would have-

“Because,” Geeta explained calmly, “This is what everyone came here to see.”

“Ah,” Nemona said as she watched the garchomp’s speed and footwork.

“Dazzling gleam!” Diantha ordered. Gardevoir gathered energy and blasted a powerful beam of pink energy from her outstretched hands.

“Dig,” Cynthia retunred. Garchomp quickly dug into the ground, only its tail getting grazed. Earthquake would have been more powerful and maneuverable, but this was more of a sight to see.

“Send it into the earth, Gardevoir,” Diantha ordered. The gardevoir ran over to the hole and sent dazzling gleam down into it, filling the hole completely and leaving pink light overflowing from its edges. A roar of pain emanated from it. And yet, Cynthia seemed unworried. She closed her eyes and smiled as the ground behind gardevoir opened up, releasing pink energy and a battered-but-still-fighting garchomp, her claws coated in poison. Gardevoir barely had time to look back before a powerful hit took her out.

“Cynthia and Garchomp are the winner!” the referee announced, pointing his flag to Cynthia. The TV screen showed a close-up of her smile before cutting out to sports commentators.

“Wow!” Nemona beamed, clasping her hands together in excitement. “Man, it’s like they’re coordinating with each other in real time to give everyone the best show possible! Like, to show everything their Pokémon are capable of, while also trying to win as a second goal. That must be even more challenging than just winning!” Nemona gripped the pokéball at her belt, her body yelling at her to go and try out this new challenge.

“Yes, exactly,” Geeta stated. “You are a great trainer, Nemona. You will have no trouble at all upholding the Pokémon league standards, I’m sure. But I’ve brought you to this tournament so that we can work on your image and showmanship. Part of a champion’s job is representing their region, after all. There is much to attend to- we’ll need to design you a perfect outfit and figure out your trademark mannerisms and a team including a trademark Pokémon.”

“Oh, man, a trademark Pokémon!” The mere thought that one of her Pokémon could be as iconic as Cynthia’s garchomp or Diantha’s gardevoir... or Leon’s charizard or Steven’s metagross or... Nemona couldn’t help it. She let out some little squealing noises.

Nemona smiled. “Yes. I suggest you make a list of candidates for that role. We’ll go over them tomorrow morning and find just the right one.”

---

The heavy door that separated the prison from the outside world slammed shut, nearly making Penny jump. Looker walked in front of her and gestured for her to follow.

“This is what happens to people who break the rules,” Looker explained, stone-faced as they passed by cell after cell, each one containing two miserable, dead-eyed prisoners, two cots with thin mattresses and thin blankets, a metal toilet, and little else.

“People won’t keep giving you free passes forever! And there won’t be a warning for when they won’t. Every rule you break could be the one that puts you in here! Yes, even now. Stealing as much currency as you did could have given you more than two years, and once you’re sixteen, you would have been transferred to a place just like this! We don’t want that.”

Only if you get caught, Penny thought as she followed behind him, but she thought better of saying it. She settled for nodding along instead, with a face that she hoped said “I’m taking this seriously,” but might have been more along the lines of “how much longer until you shut up?”

“I love you, Penny! And that’s why I have to do this. You’re going to work here after school for the next semester. Maybe the next year if it’s necessary. I promised it to your parents, so to make sure it’s all the time you’ll spend there!”

The two ran into a gruff-looking security guard, who Looker handed Penny off to for a tour of the facility and explanation of her duties.

It was late by the time Penny was off work, done with dinner, and could escape to the room that Looker had her set up in. It matched the rest of the house in containing a functional amount of furniture- in this case, a bed, a desk and chair, a bedside table, and a closet with hangers- but nothing else. When one worked for the international police, one moved too frequently to make a house a home.

Penny sat down at the desk and pulled out her rotom phone, only to realize that its usual rotom had been replaced with a sharp-eyed parental control one. When exactly Looker had managed that was beyond her. Penny sighed. It was a good thing she’d prepared for just this situation. She opened the window and then dug into her eevee backpack and pulled out a plastic baggie of dead batteries interspersed with red and green loose wires.

“Want a snack?” she asked the rotom, firmly holding her phone in one hand and dangling the bag in the other.

The rotom nodded vigorously. Penny could feel it trying to get loose and float over, but she held the phone firmly. The rotom pulled until it popped out of the phone. Penny threw the baggie out the window, and the rotom chased it out. She closed the window, got up, and laid down on her bed, ignoring the creature as it tapped the glass. This should give her a few hours at least.

The phone’s screen was filled with new texts from Arven, Nemona, and the ex-members of Team Star. She could respond to them later. For now, she brought up the internet and typed “how to get fired from a prison job without getting killed.”

If Looker was going to give her a hard time, she’d give him a hard time right back.

—-

Late morning light filtered through the curtains as Arven laid in bed, phone in hand and Mabosstif curled up on top of him. He was missing second period and had missed his classes yesterday as well, but who cared? Clavell wouldn’t suspend him while he had nowhere else to go, and he was almost beyond caring if he took an extra year to graduate. He was scrolling through a some long-winded excited ramblings from Nemona when he heard a knock at the dorm room door.

“Arven?” came Clavell’s voice. Arven scrambled out of bed, almost kicking Mabosstif in the process. Thankfully he’d gone to bed in his clothes the night before, so he could pass as having been up for a while. He’d say he had to catch up on some important school project and had thought it was more important than a couple missed classes. Hopefully that would make Clavell go away.

Clavell opened the door and stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking like we wasn’t sure what to say. After pausing for a moment, he crossed the room, sat on Arven’s bed, and gestured for Arven to sit next to him. Arven obeyed. “How... how have you been handling the professor’s death, really?” Clavell asked.

“I’m fine,” Arven replied.

“...And your three friends being away?”

Arven closed his eyes and looked away from Clavell. “I’m fine, alright? I’m used to not having anyone around. It’s fine! Just punish me if you’re going to and go.”

Clavell took a deep breath. “I’m not going to punish you, I just thought...” Clavell shook his head as though reconsidering something. “Actually, very well. There is something you can do for me as punishment for the missed classes. Two exchange students are arriving today from Alola. If you could give them a tour and get them settled into their dorms, that would be wonderful.”

“Okay,” Aven replied. He had a strong sense that this was to get him moving or to cheer him up somehow. He would have thanked Clavell if it weren’t being framed as a punishment.

“Excellent. Stop by my office and I’ll give you the details. And let me know if you need anything.”

Hours later, the flying taxi touched down in front of the academy, containing a green-haired girl in her early twenties, a little boy playing on a gaming device, and their luggage.

“Hey,” Arven said to them. “Welcome to the Uva Academy. My name’s Arven. I’m going to be the one to show you around.”

“Mallow,” the green-haired woman replied, “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too. first thing’s first, let’s get you guys set up in your dorms. I’ll lead the way.”

Arven navigated the crowded halls, checking every so often to make sure that Mallow was still following.

“So, what brought you to the academy?” Arven asked.

“Well, I aged out of being a trial captain- that’s like our equivalent to gym leaders, and only people under twenty can be one- so I thought I’d try to figure out what I want to do next. I’m probably going to be a cook, though. Alola is just so good for growing ingredients. Berries are the obvious ones, but you wouldn’t believe how many medicinal plants grow there. Maybe I could be some kind of healer!”

Okay, Clavell had definitely put him up to this to cheer him up. “Wow, you’re into cooking, huh? Me, too. And as for medicinal plants, trust me, I know more about those than I ever wanted to. But at least the little collection I got out of it can make anything taste great.” Arven stopped in front of their dorm room doors and turned to Mallow. “The teachers let me use the home ec lab so long as I’m out and it’s clean by the time it’s needed. Want to show me what you’ve got?”

“Yeah! Oh boy, I knew I didn’t bring those dehydrated rawst berries for nothing!”

“You brought dehydrated rawst berries? Oh my God, we need to put those in a stew, right now! I swear, they’re like the only thing that’s better dehydrated. Or un-dehydrated, as they’ll be once we’re done with them.”

“Sounds good! But only if you show me which of those healing herbs we can add to it!”

“Oh, you bet.”

“Can I help?” the little boy asked. Arven realized that he hadn’t spoken until now. He didn’t look older than eight or nine, maybe ten, and between the short, round physique, the bad haircut, the quietness and the resting grouch face, Arven predicted that he’d be spending most of his free periods at the academy alone, and that was if he was lucky enough to fly under the radar of bullies.

“Of course you can join us, little buddy!” Arven replied, giving him a big smile.

Mallow smiled down at the younger boy. “This is Sophocles. He’s also a trial captain. He invented a machine that can summon totem Pokémon, and he’s made a lot of other really cool stuff, too! His parents wanted him to come here so he could expand his horizons and hopefully make some friends.”

“Oh. He’s good with tech, is he?” Arven’s brain had practically shut off once he’d heard that, and it was currently screaming at him not to do what he was about to do. “Do you like robots, little buddy? Have you worked on them? Ever programmed anything?” he asked, crouching to get down to Sophocles’ level. Hopefully his voice sounded less suspicious to Sophocles than it did to his own ears.

“Yeah,” Sophocles replied nervously.

Arven’s heart was beating hard, the way it did when one was about to do something that could get them in immense trouble. “Oh, well, in that case the academy might just have a special field trip for you. I’ll be leading you on it, alright?”

“Okay.”

Arven stood up straight again. “Pack for a couple nights. I’ll meet you right outside Mesagoza at eight tonight.” Arven started for his room to pack. Going back to Area Zero would be risky, even with a gym leader-strength trainer coming with him. And who knew what the distant future would be like once they got to it using the time machine. But maybe, just maybe, Sophocles would be able to reprogram his dad, get him to come home and act like a parent to him.

Arven looked back to Sophocles and Mallow, the latter of which had definitely realized something wasn’t right. “Uh, your room numbers are 309 and 310. See you guys for your tour later,” he called out before running off.

#Looker's speech patterns are so weird lol! I hope I did an okay job at copying them.#pokemon #arven #nemona #penny #chairwoman geeta #looker #director clavell #trial captain sophocles #trial captain mallow #my fanfiction

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lazodiac · 1 year ago

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I've been neglecting posting my stream/video posts to Tumblr, so I'm gonna start doing that today arbitrarily. Yesterday was Ar Tonelico with the ever lovely @qwertystop, so I'll be posting that.

If you want to see all I've written about it, go to this link (please note that it used to be for my Majora's Mask LP and other stuff that happened during it, and has stayed as a consistent thread for the conveniance for a friend): forum link!!

And without further ado... Ar Tonelico 2 stream 30!

We return to Ar Tonelico 2… and are seemingly closing in on the finale!

youtube

In this exciting episode, the bulk of it is taken up by Luca's 8th Cosmosphere, wherein we're at perhaps one of the most core, vital parts of her being. Befitting what we went through last time… it is her love of Reisha, which she has shoved aside when the relationship turned sour. But now we're here, and relationship is mending… and to do that we need to fix Goro. It's only a temporary fix, stabbing Nenesha in her brain-bits so that she subsides for awhile, but it works, and Reisha's lullaby echoes through Luca's mind. Croix then, in turn, greets every Luca personality we've seen and lets them know that despite what happened on the last layer, he still loves them. He still approves of them and what they do for Luca, because every part of her that she sees as fully negative does have positive traits. It's something… vital, to remember about oneself. Croix succeeds in this genuinely rather romantic gesture, and at the very bottom of it all is the purest concentration of Luca- a Lucca that ahs gone through all the development of the main game, all the trials of the Cosmosphere, and is now at her most base and raw.

… befitting the early part of the game, and for symbolism reasons that DO make sense but ARE quite strained, this is her in a bath towel. And because relationships are complicated beasts, finally seeing Luca's true self is only the beginning of our journey, and she is afraid for us to see this (symbolically, mentally) naked version of herself. So into the Paradigm Shift she runs, still nervous, still afraid, but… still moving onward. You can do it Croix, the next stage'll be the last, where you'll begin your life together in earnest… and like Goro and the Clearnight Bell said in level 8, you'll learn that even going this far is still just the beginning. We just need uh… 20 thousand more points to do it.

So, as you may or may not be aware, I'm a bit of a romantic. I love romance, I love love, all that jazz. While some of the symbolism is a bit on the nose, and some of it is a bit slanted sense wise, this scene was really quite good. I especially liked the emphasize that yes, now that Croix has finally dug through all of Luca's past trauma's and self constructions and pageantry of protection and self-loathing… now is when the actual work BEGINS. The task of loving those you care for does not end with simply removing all of that negativity, it is simply the start of a new chapter. It's like how some of the best romance series have them get together… and then make it clear that now that they're together, it is time for part 2: the actual being together part.

After that, we return to the Infelsphere to get Metafalica. Infel and Nenesha don't interrupt this time, and we get one final reunion between the girls, their memories of each other, and Reisha. Remembering their dual promises to protect the other, they reach a perfect sort of unity and are thus granted the Hymn Crystal for the Pastalian version of the song… and with the installation, Cloche learns how it works and what task remains ahead of her, from an imperious and doubting Infel. She's a genius after all, if SHE can't do it, it's clearly a fault with reality. It's not user error at all!

Unfortunately, even knowing what the method for Metafalica is (uniting literally every single person in the land in song, exposing her truth to them all, and borrowing the power of a thousand thousand voices) there's still from logistically problems in our way. First and foremost, whoever is currently in charge of the Tower will try to kill us if we sing it in earnest. This much is a given. So we gotta fix Raki and maybe ask said figurehead goddess politely and/or with spears to no longer try to kill us. But to reach the Tower, we need Frelia to be able to summon it back from the void she hid it in… something that will require a lot of power. Which will involve dropping half of what little remains of Metafalls into the Sea of Death.

This is… a very brutal proposition. I kind of like it though- we have our solution to the environmental problem the continent is facing, hooray! It isn't a win button. It doesn't do everything over and save everyone. It's not as easy as singing the song. We need to unite people, we need the power to do it, we need to find the people in charge of this crisis and make them understand they either allow us to fix the world or we shove them in the dumpster. It's honestly kind of cool to see a solution this… nuanced, for lack of a better term? It feels like this sort of thing could feel like a Problems Dragon, but they make the work to make it feel legitimate and real.

Part of that is Cloche's speech. This genuinely rather climactic and powerful scene has Cloche talking to the people, as she does as Holy Maiden, to drum up support for Metafalica. To let people know they've got it, for real this time, we swear it is going to work, and don't worry we won't be going to war with anyone (we might have to stab someone though). And the people… are honestly kinda of sick of it. It's perfectly reasonable, after the last two times (which happened… like, what, within weeks of each other?) involved a squad of murder-wizards that kidnapped people at random, and everyone nearly being forcibly downloaded into the D-Drive of a barely functioning computer. Things are tough! Even after Cloche sings the intro to Metafalica, opening her heart to them, there's doubt and derision. Someone straight up tells her to die!… but in the end, those negative feelings are drowned out by cheers.

People, on the whole, WANT their world to be saved. They want good things to happen. Even jaded people, who've given up on good things happening, do want them to happen. They just doubt a no talent ass clown like the government (represented by Cloche) can't do anything about it. But god damn if we aren't going to do our best! Somewhat predictably, and for reasons that make a genuine amount of sense, the government leaders Cloche and friends talk with to discuss the unfortunate truth of having to drop some of the continent does NOT go over well, no matter how much cheering the crowd did. While we work on a way to make that happen… Shun points out that all of this is irrelevant if we don't actually have the Song of Revealing Tower, which is down in an area that is half beneath the Sea of Death. So lets go get it, no pressure!

… and that's our episode. God when this game is good, it's REAL good.

#LP #Let's Play #Streaming #Ar Tonelico 2 #informative #fun with languages #Youtube

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coffeeandcalligraphy · 2 years ago

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would u ever explain the circley levels of hell chapter/plot/theme structure bc i am very curious 👀👀👀

WELL NOW THAT I'VE FINISHED MY DEGREE!! yes absolutely!

I'll make a video explaining this too since it might be helpful to hear me explain it with... my face, but this circular story structure is something I'm calling orbital plot structure. Luckily for all of us, I wrote up a detailed memo for my workshop which I'll share below (with lots of expansion)!

Disclaimer: The following is all my original writing theory AKA I came up with all of this myself AKA this method is in early development. You're welcome to share it/use it wherever, just link back to me! This also means when I think more, there may be more to say, LOL.

TL;DR: the orbital plot structure consists of two elements: the thematic satellite and the "scene" rings that orbit the satellite. I've shared two versions (the original and the modified version) below!

Orbital plot structure

The orbital plot structure consists of two essential components: the thematic satellite and the scene rings. We have a core theme (the “satellite”) that every single scene “orbits” around. Every scene links back to the theme.

Plot progression/movement comes from the rings rippling outward (indicated by the outward pointing arrows). However, this movement is still deeply connected to the theme (indicated by the unfilled arrows pointed inward—we are pushed out by the theme like an exhale but naturally brought back toward the theme like an inhale). The amount of rings will differ for each work.

This plot structure may work well for theme-driven stories and chapters between 1500-3500 words.

Example:

Below is an example of the classic orbital plot structure for the first chapter of my novella, BODY BACK (chapter update HERE!). That chapter is called "Living Pictures."

The theme for this chapter of course is "life as a living picture." Every single scene is necessitated by this theme and therefore precipitates the next scene that is also necessitated by the theme.

Here is a breakdown of how each scene links back to that theme:

Scene 1:

Harrison floats fully-clothed in a pool that belongs to a wealthy couple. He is jaded and also thinking about God

Explanation: This scene quite literally IS a living picture. Harrison feels unreal/otherworldly and not like an actual human person.

Scene 2:

Harrison describes the couple who own the house/pool. The man is a realtor, and the woman stays at home mostly, but walks dogs on the side.

Explanation: Harrison projects the couple who owns this home into "living picture" mode. He doesn't see them as people, but merely as The Realtor and The Dog-Walker.

Scene 3:

Harrison contemplates his “easy” Las Vegas life since moving in with his mother, Suzanna.

Explanation: Harrison explains how HIS actual life in Las Vegas has felt like a living picture (he also resists this idea at the end).

Scene 4:

Flashback: Harrison recalls drawing his new sort-of boyfriend, Jeremiah.

Explanation: This flashback with Jeremiah is ALSO a living picture. Heightened language. Dreamy imagery. He doesn't feel present, but like a snapshot in a moment.

Scene 5:

Harrison describes his vices (smoking and his ex, Lonan lmao, comparable) which trickles into a recurring dream/nightmare of Lonan.

Explanation: This scene is AGAIN a living picture--more dreamy language (it's quite literally a dream too). Lonan is captured in this memory, even though this moment was once real and not a photo.

Scene 6:

Distracted by the dream, Harrison is caught by the couple. The man seems unimpressed by him, though the woman (Sadie), perhaps realizing how young he is, invites him inside for tea.

Explanation: We SHATTER the living picture (LP) here. Harrison isn't living in a dream state, he's actually very much in the real world where breaking into a stranger's pool is NOT okay. LOL.

Scene 7:

Harrison observes the couple’s “catalogue” home while Sadie makes tea.

Explanation: Sadie and her husband live in a home that is also picturesque. BUT, he quickly notices something is amiss--she doesn't actually seem to genuinely exist in its pristineness and niceties, just like Harrison doesn't exist in the niceties of his "new" life in Las Vegas. This is why I ended the chapter here--he's addressed the theme.

You'll notice I didn't include the arrows in the above diagram--I've only included those for demonstration purposes to show how movement in this type of structure works. You know how water ripples in a circular pattern when you drop a stone into it? That's how this story structure progresses--every scene revolves around that stone in the centre.

^^ A visual for you!

Typically, in western storytelling, we think of structure like this:

This diagram is known as Freytag's triangle/pyramid, and it's a useful way to understand stories (though... not my favourite for many reasons, but a great place to brainstorm your own writing theory). In diagrams like this, it's easier to see the movement of a story, since the line naturally moves left to right.

You could ABSOLUTELY map "Living Pictures" on the above structure, but I personally prefer the orbital plot structure for this particular series of books (Moth Work x Feeding Habits x BODY BACK) because of how deeply thematic they are. Because those projects are very internal and driven by complicated emotional exploration into central themes, it only made sense to map my own story structure that was reflective of that.

To clarify, I don't mean that other structures can't contain theme. Of course they can! But this plot structure is specifically built for thematically-driven work (this would NOT work if your work was not thematically-driven).

Funnily, the orbital plot structure is what my brain "sees" as I write chapters in this series (I don't follow this structure for every project). So while some people outline, brainstorm, etc, in advance of drafting, I start drafting with this in mind. Usually I don't figure out the theme until I'm through the first scene, or sometimes until I'm done the first draft, but when that theme is identified, it's very easy for me to either mould the rest of the chapter around the theme, or revise it around that theme.

If I'm stuck while drafting a chapter, it's usually because something about the theme isn't clear--consciously or subconsciously--to me.

Also: because of the nature of this structure being quite specific to a theme, this is probably not the best fit for very long works/chapters. But I'm sure you could try!

Speaking of longer works...

Orbital plot structure (modified)

The modified orbital plot structure follows the same principles of the orbital plot structure with two essential components: the thematic satellite and the scene rings. Scenes continue to orbit the “satellite.” However, a new element—fossae/dips—are introduced in the case of longer word counts (3500+).

The amount of rings and dips will differ depending on the project (there can be more or less than what is pictured above). These dips serve as scenes that may not be as closely related to the theme but that still move the work toward another thematic scene/“bump.”

I'm not going to include a physical example of this because that would be... a teeny cumbersome, LOL, but this is just an option for people who like the orbital plot structure idea but don't feel like they want to write scenes that are extremely thematic every single time (or their work wouldn't fit that original model).

To note: The dips/bumps don't need to be uniform. Two dips can follow each other, just as three bumps could follow each other. This will depend on you and the work.

But good writers don't gatekeep <3 so here's a written version of chapter six of Feeding Habits that follows this structure quite nicely. For the sake of clarity, I'm going to call the fossae/dip scenes "dips" and the thematic scenes "bumps."

CW: Dead animals, blood, violence

THEME: Indissoluble bonds

Scene A:

DIP: Harrison gets back to the NYC apartment he shares with his mother after running errands to ward off either the spirit that haunts their walls or to rescue whatever is stuck in them. His mother preps for a dinner as Harrison has invited his old pal Reeve over.

Explanation: This scene MUST happen to get us to the following "bump," and that's because we get some critical exposition here: Harrison has had to go to a hardware store for supplies to cut open the drywall in his apartment as he and his mother can hear something in the walls, AND, Reeve is coming over for dinner at Harrison's request. We're not sure why.

Scene B:

BUMP: Harrison removes a litter of kittens from behind the drywall. One of the kittens is dead. Strangely, a German Shepherd puppy is also in the litter.

Explanation: What does it mean for Harrison to find a single dead kitten in a litter of live kittens? Does that kitten have a bond to its litter, despite now being gone?

Scene C:

DIP: Reeve appears in a glamorous blur and makes an interesting first impression on Suz who seems slightly stunned and endeared by her.

Explanation: We need this scene to get us to the next bump--this is Reeve's intro and also introduces the "bond" she'll later form with Suz. The entire chapter title, "Blood Sister," comes from the women's bond. What does it mean to feel connected to someone as if you had actually done a blood pact? And is that similar to the bond between the kittens? ...And the bond between Lonan and Harrison...?

Scene D:

BUMP (subtler): At dinner Reeve confronts Harrison about his “straight-edge” lifestyle since moving to NYC and he realizes her judgements about his life being monotonous are very true–he lacks purpose.

Explanation: This scene gets us to an important realization for Harrison: he feels like something is missing in his life. I wonder WHAT (the answer is Lonan lol).

Scene E:

BUMP: Harrison and his mother clear the dishes and Suzanna confronts him on the fact that he hasn’t told her that Reeve is in fact Lonan’s sister. Suz knows the boys’ relationship is complicated, and plays Devil’s advocate by outright asking Reeve how her brother is. Reeve, who hasn’t seen Lonan longer than Harrison, has assumed Lonan lives with them or is close by, and feels semi-betrayed that Harrison has kept his whereabouts a secret.

Explanation: This one is more explicit of a bump. Why hasn't Harrison told his mother Reeve's true identity? Is it because he's not ready to even think about Lonan who he still feels inextricably connected to??? Yes!

Scene F:

DIP & BUMP: Reeve and Harrison drive to a garden and he’s reminded of the event that lead to him and his mother’s return to the east. Harrison meets Winona outside a convenience store, the same woman Lonan meets in ch.6 of Moth Work. She takes him to her mansion where she’s hosting a party and introduces him to her husband. Harrison makes multiple bad decisions which you can probably figure out for yourself!

Explanation: This scene almost serves as both a dip AND bump as we slowly "dip" into exposition. But the relevance and "bump" of this scene becomes abundantly clear when we realize the woman Harrison follows home is the SAME woman Lonan follows him in Moth Work. Indissoluble bonds driving you to do the same thing?? LMAO I love them <3

Scene G:

BUMP: Harrison wakes up in Winona’s house and is confused to see her and her husband standing over his leather jacket. If we remember what happened in ch. 6 of Moth Work, Lonan gets beat up by Winona’s husband and has Harrison’s jacket & angel chain stolen. We can assume from this scene that Winona has a) recognized the jacket and b) chosen him to come back to her house for the purpose of also beating him up (which happens).

Explanation: Again, why do Harrison and Lonan make the SAME decisions and have the SAME thing happen to them? Is this because they have an indissoluble bond? That theme is actually dropped explicitly in this scene. (Also a tangent: in the MW version of this scene, Lonan loses the fight--black eye art is the aftermath of that--and therefore loses the jacket, but in FH, Harrison stumbles out of there with his jacket HAHA so he won. Lonan is a loser. <3)

Scene H:

BUMP: Reeve and Harrison jump a fence into a garden to give the dead kitten an unorthodox “water burial” in the garden’s fountain. Reeve confronts him on why no one has seemed to care about her whereabouts for the last year, and also suggests the only reason he wanted to see her now is because he misses Lonan. Harrison miserably drinks too much wine.

Explanation: In this scene, Harrison contemplates the indissoluble bond between the dead kitten and its litter--it's gone now, but was still a part of that collective, just like Lonan is gone now from his life but is still part of his collective. Harrison accepts that yes, he indeed still feels connected to Lonan, and actually, deeply misses Lonan (like the kittens--do they miss their sibling now that its gone?). He literally writes out Lonan's name in the snow as an expression of admittance to that truth (THAT'S GAY AS FUCK HARRISON, GAY AS FUCK).

Alright, I couldn't help myself, here's an illustration to show what that chapter looks like according to this structure. You can see I only used one ring because I don't have that many scenes. Now that I think of it, for this modified structure, a single ring would work well for one story/chapter (whereas in the original structure, one ring equals a scene), unless you have 60 million scenes (or you use act breaks within chapters). *High five!* we've made a development as I wrote this post.

A hint about orbital structures: some crime TV shows use this structure IMO, ESPECIALLY episodes that follow crimes that are geared at revealing something about one of the central characters. Look at many of the Criminal Minds specials OR at any Hannibal episode and you won't be able to unsee it LOL.

Let me know if you have any questions! For writers who have very visual brains like me (or writers who've described their processes as "sculpting" words like myself), I hope this is useful!

#asks #writing #amwriting #writerblr #writeblr #this was FUN!!!#I love writing theory <3 #not when it's written purposefully to be only accessible to academics tho <3 #that writing theory can... go away LOL #so I'm HOPING this makes sense!#also anon I'm 100% stealing “circley levels of hell” and calling this that from now on <3 #that's exactly what it is <3 #also it's lowkey a crime that i so badly don't want to get my mfa due to the exclusivity of academia because #wouldn't i be slaying the literary world with all this CREATIVE and DETAILED writing theory #rip all the students i'll never have LMAO #BUT SIKE I HAVE ALL OF YOU <3

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xxntiimulti · 2 years ago

Text

「FALLEN | chapter ¹」

pair: loki x fem!reader

chapter summary: loki never knows when to stop. pushing the limits with his trickstery and leaving a bad reputation for himself from his people and towards his family and odin finally snaps.

masterlist | next part >

disclaimer: none

word count: 2.6k

notes: check masterlist for full info of the LP series.

Loki sat up in a daze feeling dirt all around him. Still not able to comprehend what had just happened, he sat there for a few minutes before looking down and realizing he didn't have any of his armor, having just been stripped off him just a couple of minutes ago.

He wore a gray shirt, one he uses before putting on his royal outfit and tight black pants. Loki looked up at the dark sky, seeing all the stars and moon just shimmering at him before letting out a loud scream of frustration as he remembered what had just happened.

Loki walked through the halls of the palace humming a simple tune while reading a book. Screams of frustration and humiliation ran over the walls making him slightly smirk knowing that he once again caught off guard all the servants and workers with his mischief. He closed his book and entered his room which he had already reached by the time every single little trick he had planted had been done.

For the past two weeks Asgard has been in shambles and while not quite literally like having other realms, kingdoms or planets attack them it was more of their own prince playing a really sick joke on them which they were tired of. No one knew what exactly ticked off their younger prince, Loki, but whatever was it they were the ones to pay for it. If they already didn’t dislike or fear him enough from his cold demeanor or his terrible attitude this had to be the last straw.

People at the stables had to go through the torture of putting the horses back in place, people at kitchen having all their ingredients mixed up or not being able to open the cabinets, servants tripping over the slippery hallways etc.; it was all a chaos. Complaints sprouted from the workers and even the outside were affected by a really strange sort of vandalism that couldn’t be exactly called that since all Loki did was ruin the perfect decorations and replace them easily with different decorations of different holidays.

This didn’t go unnoticed by the All Father, Odin nor the All Mother, Frigga who were just as tired of having to apologize to their own people because of their son’s actions. And while Frigga was the one more accepting of the childishness Loki displayed, seeing it as more of a misunderstanding and Loki just finding this a way to vent, Odin didn’t see it that way and was tired that his reputation as a King getting tarnished for not being able to control a prince childish actions of mischief.

While the punishments didn’t go much far than just a simple not being able to go to battles or losing the privilege of time to train actual seidr (which Loki detested the most since each week he always found an interesting spell to work on) or just having to undo his spells and help around; it didn’t really affect him that much.

Battles? He could care less about it. Afterall, it doesn't matter how much of a good performance he pulls off, he would always be overshadowed by his older brother, Thor.

Training did tick him off a bit, but the thought leaves his mind once he starts reading books he has been wanting to read. It is a win-win or lose scenario depending whether the book ended up being good or not.

Didn’t matter what punishment he was given, he would always rise again to create a new catastrophe, or so he thought.

Thor’s birthday was coming up and Odin decided to throw him a full banquet with many people happy to celebrate who they believe to be the best heir of the family, hoping for the crown to be passed down onto him. It wasn’t full of sunshine and rainbows either with the people getting suspicious of the young prince who for the past week hasn't done anything of trickery. Not a single string of decoration touch, nor the kitchen where they were preparing their prince's favorite meals, nothing. It was turning a bit eerie.

Thor, knowing well his brother, walks to his brother’s room where he knocks loudly enough for it to echo the empty halls. He heard a bit of shuffling before the door opened where Loki gave a bored expression and an impatient one.

“Anything that I can help you with, dear brother.” Loki seethed the last words giving a little fake smile.

Thor chuckled at his brother’s way of talking, giving his own smug smile. “Nothing wrong brother, but haven’t you noticed it has been awfully quiet. Like you know, no screams or nothing.”

Loki raised an eyebrow. “You sure you haven’t heard screams because I’m pretty sure the people are out there screaming for their oh so lovely prince tells a much more different story.”

“You know what I mean Loki.” Thor said, giving him a pointed look.

“No, I really have no idea of what you’re saying, Thor.” Loki replied even though he did know exactly what he was referring to.

Thor shook his head and sigh, "Loki, I know you–

"No you don’t." He interrupted, not pleased at where the conversation was going.

Thor send him a side glare, Loki giving him the fakest smile he had ever mustered.

"You know what you're doing and you better stop Loki. It would not end well–"

"Oh dear me, how can I ever survive not going to the libra–

"Loki." Thor said sternly, making Loki stop as they stared at each other intensely. "Look I know you are preparing the biggest trick you'll ever have played and all I'm saying is don't do it."

"How low of you to think of me like that brother." Loki said in a fake tone. "I wasn't planning anything."

Thor sighs and places his hand firmly on top of Loki's shoulder. Loki tried to shake it off, but it didn’t budge one bit.

“Look at you Thor, you’re just a child worried for nothing. Begging for their oh so special day not to be ruined. What are you 500 years old?” Loki mocked.

“Loki this is not for me, this is for you. Our father is at his brink and I don’t want you to do anything…” Thor strung out, he felt as if saying more, but the current situation and Loki acting hostile didn’t allow him to do so and could only hope Loki managed to catch the real worry that he has for him.

“And why this sudden care brother.” Loki clicked his tongue.”Been hearing the latest gossip haven’t you Thor.”

Loki saw Thor’s shift a bit and softened his grip letting it slide to his side. “You have.” Loki darkly chuckled.

“Gossip or not, we both know that dad is at his last rope.” Thor whispered harshly, noticing that a maid had just passed by quickly. “So Loki don’t do anything that might get you in more trouble than you already are. Do it for mother.”

Loki noticed the last line that Thor said knowing that it would have an effect on him, but this time he wasn’t going to let that slide. “I promise brother, I won’t do anything on your happy day.”

“Odin, please calm down!” Frigga yelled walking fast to be able to catch up to Odin who was draggin Loki to the bifrost. “All-Fat-, father, where are you taking him!” Thor demanded while also trying his best to take off the silly decorations put on him by the people.

Loki tried to shake off from the restraints put on his hands, but not even his seidr worked and for the first time ever since he started his jokes, he was scared for what was going to happen.

He had done what Thor had warned him not to do, but he couldn’t help it. It was so tempting and just so perfect and just everything clouded his mind when he did it. Was it because of jealousy, frustration, sadness, a mix of everything or just wanting to ruin everything, he didn’t know.

The party had started perfectly. The decorations were in the right place, all the food untouch from the trickery of the prince and everything was going well till the party; chaos erupts.

Now the decorations were once again changed, but formed into foreign language and nobody thought of anything till one found out that it contained really burglar words targeted towards the guests. The food turned all spoiled by Loki’s magic, the table and chairs were a mess and all this seemed to be just pure childish antics till it affected the All Father, Odin and the All Mother, Firgga.

The trick that Loki had planned to be on Thor resulted with the All-Father falling for it and the All Mother. Odin’s face and Frigga’s dress stained with the ink that exploded from the cake. It seemed like nothing harmless and something to not be given the biggest punishment, but it was the disrespect that astonished everyone in the room, even if that wasn’t the intention.

They had now arrived at the bifrost where the guards forced Loki down, in a kneeling position, in such a harsh manner with little to no respect. “I’m your prince!” Loki yelled. “Treat me as one!”

“You’re no prince with the way you have behaved!” the All-Father yelled, still cleaning his face that was filled with ink. The ink itself would be easy to take off if it weren’t mixed with a spell that Loki did that made the ink ten times harder to take off.

Loki stayed there quiet, but he had to bite his tongue to do so and the only thing he could do was glare daggers at Odin. He glanced towards the entrance of the bifrost where Frigga and Thor had just arrived, ready to defend him.

He wanted to let out a slight smile, but he knew if he did, whatever Odin was thinking of would be worse and Loki could already start imagining what the old man had planned for him. Being at the bifrost was a enough giveaway that he would be banished from Asgard for who knows how long.

Loki was worried, but the more he thought about it, he shrugged at the thought of being powerless. He’s pretty sure that with his skill tongue and powers would be enough to get a good position at whatever hierarchy he’s being sent off to.

“Don’t think that you would get away that easily from your punishment, Loki.” Odin said, signaling Heimdmall to open the bifrost. “Open it Heimdmall!”

“Odin, please don’t do this.” Frigga pleaded standing in front of her son. “Give him any other punishment.”

Loki sighs, looking down not wanting to see his mother plead for him. He also didn’t want to see the stain dress that reflected upon his trick that wasn’t meant to be for her. He could never imagine doing that to her.

Thor also stepped up. “Father, that trick was meant for me. No need to send him away.” Thor said. “I hold no grudges against my brother’s tricks done to me.”

“Both of you only think of what Loki has done to you, but never think of our people as well.” Odin started, grabbing Loki from the forearm, somehow with his old bones being able to lift him up. “Tricks done all this time and many of them affected our people. Frigga remember all those times our people came up to us and complain about our son’s doing, wishing that more was done than just a sorry.”

Loki didn’t dare to look up seeing that with just a push he would be thrown. He started to feel the gust of the bifrost opening upon him. “He’s not a little kid anymore Frigga. He’s willingly doing all this for whatever childish reason he thinks he has. If he wants respect, he would not have it. If he wants glory this is not the way to do it. He needs to learn respect and earn it because being here in Asgard seems to not be working.”

It was quiet. Frigga and Thor couldn’t even refute that no matter how much they wanted to defend Loki. They knew that others were also affected through Loki’s tricks. Frigga had an idea as to why he did it because even through Odin’s words there are flaws, but she couldn’t do much about it cause she knew that Loki would continue to vent his frustration on others.

Odin looked at Loki and harshly stripped his cape away, shocking everyone. Loki looked up to Odin trying to take off his restraints, not wanting to be sent off like just a pile of nothingness. “Father!” Thor yelled.

The next words that came out of Odin were ones Loki wished to never have heard.

“Through your stupid actions, you’ve disappointed, fear and disrespected your people who you honored to protect and rule. You are unworthy of these realms!” Odin roared, walking away from Loki. “You’re unworthy of the loved ones you have betrayed.” Loki wanted to scream hearing that line. His heart pounding so harshly against his very own chest, feeling like he couldn’t breathe. “I now take from you your power! In the name of my father and his father before, I, Odin AllFather, cast you out!”

Odin raised his sword and pointed it at Loki, a blast landing directly at him launching him to the bifrost. Loki heard muffled yells, but was blocked from what he felt to be a lot of energy leaving his body and all his armor breaking.

After his scream which he much needed, he stood up and walked around feeling his feet bare. Loki looked around seeing that everything was pretty much empty, just grass and pavement that was surrounded with light. Loki was scared to say the least., although he didn’t show it. Wherever he was, it was strange and dark, only hearing really weird noises from the distance to what he presumed to be animals.

He looked around for a bit more, still standing in the same spot he landed on.

He walked to the pavement, feeling the rocky cold floor and looked for where to go.

He tilted his head seeing a strange poll that had just changed its color, red to green. A strange loud noise was heard from behind him - he turned around and a bright white light came at him at an insane speed.

The strange object dodge him and even if Loki didn’t know what it exactly was he knew it could’ve been his death. The object stopped just a few feet away from him, the door opening seeing a young woman come out from it.

Loki couldn’t see her quite well as his vision blurred, quite tired from all the things that had just happened in the blink of an eye, he closed his eyes and fell just faintly hearing the concerns of the young woman.

"Odin, when are you thinking of bringing him back.” Frigga snapped, clearly upset at the whole situation.

Odin and Heimdall had both been whispering at each other, Heimdall telling the All-Father that Loki was in the hands of a Midgardian woman who is deemed to be a good person and someone probably able to help him. He looked towards Frigga who was breathing heavily, clearly still distressed about the situation.

“He’ll come back once he learns his lesson.” Odin firmly said, looking down at the Bifrost. “When he finally sees that there are other ways to confide his emotions, when he shows respect to those inferior to him and when he shows compassion towards those like him, then he would be granted to return, but until then we’ll just have to wait.”

#loki x reader #loki x female reader #loki laufeyson #loki fanfic #loki fanfction #loki au #loki odinson #x reader #minor angst #lost prince au

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telvanni-nerevarine · 5 years ago

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So I got to thinking about all the new people to the ffvii fandom that are probably brought in by the remake and thoughts I'd compile a list of content for y'all to get caught up. I recommend you play/watch in the order I list to avoid spoilers.

OG. It's almost always discounted on steam, and is ported to every iteration of PS, and still decent price. If you dont have the ability to buy it, then I'd personally recommend blacklightattack or eyesonfinalfantasy on youtube, both have very sound and thorough explanations of what's going on and are 100% type letsplays.

Crisis Core. Most of us dont have PSP I assume, I do not remember who I watched play it, but I know cryotic has a let's play. Cutscene movies exist but that's a lot of funny content cut out so I recommend a lp instead. You have plenty of time till episode 2 of remake is out and it's about to be summer break. Dont worry.

Optional:--You can watch last order now or wait till watching a let's play of before crisis. It's on both youtube and watchcartoononline, possibly kissanime as well.

Next is before crisis. There is a youtube lp with english translation that should show up with a search. I recommend it before the books and AC because it explains a lot of things without spoiling too much.

On the way to a smile. Thelifestream.net has both a translation of text and audio books of each chapter. You can also watch the animated Case of Denzel chapter, but that is optional. Most anime websites should have it. Also optional is The Kids are Alright, a book talking about Reno's childhood.

Advent Children. I recommend it after OTWTAS because it doesnt quite make sense otherwise. Please ensure you watch complete (extended) edition. Can also be found on most anime websites.

Maiden Who Traveled the Planet. Dubious canonicity, book during OG following Aerith. Only read after dealing with OG. Will spoil stuff. Is also on thelifestream webpage.

Dirge of Cerberus. 3rd person shooter where you play as Vincent. You probably dont know who he is at time of reading this if you're new, but will know by the time you've gotten here after doing the rest of the list. It's a but wonky but there are let's plays and cutscene movies galore. A+ on story, D- for controls. Last mandatory part of compilation of ffvii.

Recommended:

Maiden Who Traveled the Planet. Also on tls. Spoiler heavy, read after OG.

The ultimanias and reunion files. On tls. Essentially the books that explain stuff that you normally wouldn't otherwise catch.

Dissidia, and 012 and NT. Cutscene movie recommended. NT was a disappointment to fandom but is still canon.

FFX and FFX-2. Canonically same universe as seven. Humans in VII came from the world in X.

Theres a youtube animation series called The Death of Cloud. I dont recommend it personally, but it's got official square recognition. Not canon. Spoiler heavy.

FF Mobius Fatal Calling event. Cutscene movie is all over youtube. Event I believe is actually over. Spoilers but minor.

Brave Exvius, World of FF, and Record keeper have events and stuff. Also theres that music game.

Kingdom Hearts series has instances with FFVII characters. And notoriously hard Sephiroth hidden boss fights.

TLS has alternative translations of the games Japanese text archived, and revealed scenes that are still in the OG VII's code but not accessible by the player without mods. Like the speech Sephiroth was meant to give and more Honey Bee content, and removed character dialogue. Also has like, early concepts and art that are massively different than what came out. Just, explore thelifestream. It's a good site for all things ffvii. And has interesting forums and podcasts.

Also if you like sefikura, check me out on AO3 and FFN @ YanderePuppet. Best content recs I have for other authors and ffvii stuff would be asreoninfusion , RavenclawKohai, and waifujuju.

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black-streak · 5 years ago

Text

Little Pistol - Millstone

Chapter 4

First Previous Next

This feels almost like I'm starting a new story and in a way I am. Tim's story. His side of this world in creating. That being said, for those who only got into DC and Batman and the Robins through the Maribat fandom, this actually gives a lot of background on Tim that isn't normally covered from what I've seen. Or at least, not in depth. Sure, I'm giving my own perspective on how canon events could of turned out, but all the way up to Damian taking up Robin is technically canon compliant.

That being said, here we go. (Song is Millstone by Brand New. All songs are featured on my Timinette Angst Playlist)

LP Taglist

@zalladane @moonlightstar64 @amayakans @elmokingkong @queen-in-a-flower-crown @karategirl119 @dreamykitty25 @danielslilangel @melicmusicmagic @xahriia @sassakitty @yin-390 @zotinha456 @indecisive-mess-named-me @heldtogetherbysafetypins @theatreandcomicfreak @alexandriamw @messymessyml

Permanent list

@naoryllis @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @my-name-is-michell @maribat-is-lifeblood @dast218 @novicevoice @shizukiryuu @princess-of-fangirls @bigpicklebananatree @pirats-pizzacanninibles @abrx2002 @breemeister @darkthunder1589 @thestressmademedoit @severelyenchantedwonderland @isabellemasen @multi-fandom-freak0221 @fantasyloversblog @bzz75 @cloudiedraws @jardimazul @orbitsvt @gingerdaile @sotheresthatthought @kadmeread @novaloptr @unabashedlyswimmingtimemachine @crazylittlemunchkin @18-fandoms-unite-08 @tiny-goddess-of-chaos @ladybug-182 @toodaloo-kangaroo @the-alice-of-hearts @vixen-uchiha

~---~

Traveling downhill seemed so much easier than trekking up. In truth, it all depended on how you went. Slowly making your way on foot could end in braced, straining joints and burning calves from the effort of keeping balanced on steeper angles and rougher terrain. You could bike down faster, but you might miss everything that happens along the way or hit an edge and end up crashing to never see it through one way or another. Taken out of the race too soon. Running proved dangerous and much the same as a bike. One could always roll down the slope, but that leads to veering off course and coming up dizzy and disoriented. Falling was easy, but there was no control on how you went or how fast and many end up injured or lost by the time they hit the bottom.

Tim decided to mark his own path. He hadn't necessarily meant to find the bottom, it sort of found him to be honest, but nevertheless, he chose to make his way slowly down from the start. Twisting and winding carefully, every step deliberate and calculated until he stood where he is now, living in the brownstone with Jason Todd of all people. His would be murderer.

Funny how that worked.

It started early on, far sooner than most would guess, with his blackmailing his way into the mantle of Robin. Sure, it was ultimately Bruce's decision, but what else does one do with a kid with photographic evidence of your identity who saved your skin and insists on helping any way he can? Train him, send him around the world, and hone his skills under the nose of his parents, apparently.

Then his mother died and his father went into a coma. Bruce feared he'd fall to anger and vengeance, bringing up Jason as a reminder of what not to do.

It was interesting, the amount of times Jason was brought up as a form of warning. As a guidance for what not to be. It came to a point where he resented hearing the name, equated it to disappointment and idiocy. To brashness and brute strength. To death. His opinion of Jason was similar to that of a dumpster fire. Contained and expected, but needing to be put out before it could do any real damage to something actually important.

That was in part due to being a child who'd grown up watching Dick fly in the Robin colors and seeing how his successor performed afterwards. In some ways, the magic of the Robin suit transferred with its new owner, still amazing Tim with its ability to make Gotham a little brighter, a little safer. But the disconnect between Robin and Jason was too strong for him to see them as the same person. He still thought of Dick as Robin, despite knowing he wasn't in that suit. Then Jason died and soon after he began his training, not really out of desire to BE Robin, but more for knowing someone had to do it.

Then Bruce and in parts, Dick himself, kept reinforcing the story of Jason as something bad. As something to be avoided and better than. Jason was no longer a person at all in his mind. More of an urban legend told in bedtime stories to scare children into being good. It only furthered the disconnect he felt between looking at the case with the old Robin suit and hearing the name Jason Todd.

It was a while afterwards that his next step down occured, with his return to no man's land, his rescue and finally, his father barring him from Robin and Stephanie taking up the title. He didn't mean to feel resentful, but it happened nonetheless. He fought so hard to be good enough, to hold the Robin title and be worthy of it only to have it ripped away by Jack Drake's form of blackmail. Oh, the irony of it being the same as his own from long before.

It took manipulation and carefully working from the other side, but soon he convinced his father of his need to be Robin. Of how Gotham needed him. And Jack let him. Too bad it led to him being killed.

He faked an uncle to avoid being completely under Bruce's thumb. Wanted a say in his own life and felt adoption wouldn't be the way to go about it. Didn't want to replace his dead dad so soon after losing him.

Things went faster after that. Stephanie died. Then Kon. He switched his colors in remembrance of his fallen friend. Became a little darker. Colder. Distant. Bart died. He fell further. Stephanie was alive. She let him think she was dead. Batman knew and felt no need to tell him. She lied to him. Bruce lied to him. Everyone he loved left him one way or another. Jason tried to kill him. More than once.

Surprisingly, almost dying at his hands was what began to help Tim see Jason as he truly was. A human being. He opened up the files on Jason and began his own research, no longer taking his mentors for their word. If Jason was alive, he needed to know who exactly he was up against. And he did, now. He knew who Jason was. A guy who'd been just a kid, taken off the streets and thrown into the nightlife of Gotham. A kid who loved his mother and did what he could to keep her alive. Who did what he needed to keep himself alive. Who loved school and maintained perfect grades and read classic literature. Jason Todd wasn't some punk who died because he was a brash idiot who got in over his head. No, he was just a boy who found out his birth mom was alive and went looking for her. Who died trying to protect the woman who birthed him, despite being the one who betrayed him. The Robin costume wasn't magical. Wasn't it's own living thing. The mantel was only as strong as the one who wore it and Jason had worn it well.

Funny how the resurrected version saw who filled the suit now and decided to try and kill him. Guess he couldn't really fault him for it, though. Talia threw Jason in the pits and practically siked him on Tim. If only she had kept Damian to herself.

Tim took the child's attempt on his life to heart, despite the pardon to Jason for much the same. See the difference there was that Bruce didn't treat the two attempts the same. Both tried to kill Tim. But while Jason was condemned and seen as the enemy for it, Damian was barely punished. Sure, Bruce expressed anger and disappointment, but all and all, that was it. Quite frankly, Tim thought Jason was more justified and yet, he received the harsher treatment.

The injustice and unfair treatment of the Robins was never more clear than in that moment.

The true fall of Tim, however, was after Bruce died, leaving the others as orphans to battle over the cowl.

He never wanted to hold the title of Batman, but Dick was so reluctant and then Jason started posing as Batman, so Tim took him up. Just to put an end to it. To make the madness stop for just a second.

And finally, finally, Dick took his rightful place. After the loss of his father and adopted father and so many friends and teammates, Tim was ready for a semblance of normal. He'd worked under Dick before and it'd gone so well, he knew this is what they needed. What the city needed. Something was finally going to be okay.

But then it really wasn't. Dick gave his position to Damian. To the kid who killed, who tried to kill him. To an ungrateful, insubordinate, murderous child who held no morals or standard for anything that wasn't an animal. Dick took the only thing Tim had left and gave it away to the person who hated him most.

Well.

It should have come as no surprise that when Jason showed up, offering him refuge, a place to belong, a place at his side. He took it.

He took it on his own terms.

Taking up the mask, not behind Jason, but at his side, as his partner, Tim took over the Brownstone building and created his perch. His and Red Hood's basis of operation. Dick thought Gotham needed a cruel, brutal, ruthless Robin? Fine. He'd give it one.

Sipping on his mug of hot chocolate and looking out into the night, he couldn't help the twinge of a frown that creeped onto his face. The downhill descent was a difficult one, yeah, but one way or another, he found his way to the bottom.

#maribat #ml x dc #timinette #Dark!timinette #timari

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commentaryvorg · 5 years ago

Note

I think most people don't do Kaito's free time events maybe because, you already spent quite some time with him during the main game, so either people think that they don't need to know more about him or want to use the events to get to know more about other characters who don't get as much time on the spotlight. Which really fucking blows, but I can kinda understand.

I could kind of buy that reason, if it wasn't for the fact that nearly all of the LPs I've ever watched max out Maki's FTEs, or at least get pretty damn close. I'm happy that this at least is a thing - Maki is also very deserving of attention and the other character besides Kaito whose FTEs ought to be considered basically canon, because of course Shuichi would choose both of them if left to his own devices. But this means that apparently, a character already getting a large amount of attention and development in canon isn't inherently a reason for people to not consider their FTEs worthwhile. It should be abundantly apparent once Maki joins training that there's going to be plenty more of her in future training sessions, just like there has been and will be of Kaito - but in Maki's case, that doesn't stop people wanting to see even more of her in FTEs anyway.

I do, however, agree that there are some unfortunate yet kind of understandable reasons for people missing Kaito's FTEs, but I think they're a little different to what you propose.

I think part of it just comes down to Kaito's availability. For someone who's alive for every FTE chapter, Kaito has surprisingly few available slots - only twelve. (And one of those is while he's ill in chapter 3, which might possibly make people worry they won't get an event even though that's not how this game works, while another one of his in chapter 4 has him not show up on the map due to a programming oversight. Not that I've ever seen either of those things be the deciding factor to prevent someone from maxing him.) Admittedly Maki only has one more slot than that - but all of hers come after she's come into narrative focus and shown herself to be an interesting and important character, and nearly half of them happen to be when there's very few other options available. Meanwhile, a third of Kaito's possible slots are before the training session that should (SHOULD) cement him as one of the most important and likeable characters, and also happen to be when there's the maximum number of other characters alive that people might also be interested in.

So, maybe it's reasonable that it's so rare for people to focus on Kaito in chapter 2 when that'd mostly be out of personal taste in character types and not narrative importance yet (though there really should still be more people interested in Kaito just for that reason and I'm definitely not at all biased to think this). And then, by the time they get a proper chance to be able to focus on him after realising how important he is (which is totally a thing everyone does, right, cough cough I wish), it's chapter 4 and they're also probably wanting to focus on Maki, too. I remember one LPer who was at the start of chapter 4's free time, about equally interested in both Maki and Kaito with one FTE done so far for each, so he decided to pick one of them to focus on for chapter 4 in order to definitely at least finish that one... and he picked Maki. If he'd picked Kaito first, he'd have had time to finish Maki as well, if only he'd known!

I think this might have to do with the fact that the knowledge of Kaito's illness probably makes it seem like his potential death is going to be related to that, and therefore he's most likely safe as far as chapter 4 goes. And if anyone assumes that Kaito will still be around in chapter 5, they're never going to predict that he won't be available to hang out in it anyway. I've seen a lot of LPers reach chapter 5 with Maki maxed and lament that they would want to hang out with Kaito next out of everyone remaining, if only they could. Which is frustrating, but I get it. I absolutely wouldn't want the game's writers to have forced Kaito to be available in chapter 5 just for the sake of making him easier to max out, because that'd completely go against the place his character arc is in at that point, and that's way more important than his FTEs.

But another big contributing factor to people choosing Maki over Kaito in chapter 4 if they were considering both might just be that people will be inclined to think that Kaito is a less interesting character than Maki, even though this isn't actually remotely true. Maki after all has a big obvious Tragic Backstory that people would want to learn more about, whereas Kaito... never talks about his issues at all, making it far too easy for people to overlook the fact that he has them. Still, it should be perfectly possible to notice that Kaito has at least some kind of issues by chapter 4, what with the whole lying about dying thing! Which... is admittedly not something one would expect to get expanded on by his FTEs in particular (even though they definitely do help explore that more than a first time player would likely notice), so, I guess I kind of get it. I hope that's the reason people pick Maki over Kaito in that situation if they do, rather than just thinking Kaito isn't interesting at all. (Though I'm still not remotely convinced it is as much as it should be.)

It's still sad, though! It still shouldn't be so ridiculously unheard of for people to hang out with him more than maybe once or twice. Even if you're not necessarily expecting any deep issues from Kaito's FTEs, he's such a likeable person who's fun to be around and just watch be Kaito, and that alone should be more than enough reason for at least a reasonable fraction of players to want to spend more time with him and learn some more about what makes him so very Kaito. Like I mentioned in my response to the previous ask, even without his issues, Kaito is still a really interesting person on the surface anyway, in such a way that people should want to find out more about it - and his FTEs do expand on some of that!

It's like... I've also not seen even a single LP that ever maxed Gonta's FTEs (I think I've only seen one even hang out with him at all?) despite the fact that basically everyone generally loves Gonta and agrees that he is pure and precious and good and is heartbroken by trial 4. That should make at least some people want to spend more time watching Gonta make a friend and be his usual lovely gentleman self and maybe talk about why the gentleman thing is so important to him, even if they're not necessarily expecting any particularly groundbreaking new insights into his character, no? But they don’t and I am sad about it. Gonta is good and deserves an actually healthy friendship. (And, Gonta's character aside, I'd also be really interested to see what an LPer who is familiar with Chrono Trigger and/or Street Fighter makes of Gonta's second FTE, during a blind playthrough and not in the postgame, before they know the twist.)

#danganronpa v3 #danganronpa v3 spoilers #reply #thanks for the thoughts and for relating to my frustration over this!#Anonymous

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lexi-pup · 5 years ago

Text

Perfectly Perfect: Prologue (Self-insert fic)

Title: Perfectly Perfect

Rating: General for the time being. Maybe Teen and up later for possible swearing(Most likely) and sexy times(I doubt it though) but for now it’s G.

Relationship: Steelbeak x Self Insert Lexi

Genre: Family/Friendship and eventually Angst and Hurt/Comfort

Chapter Summary: Just a bit of backstory for my oc. Steelbeak will appear in chapter 1.

Other: This takes place shortly after the Double O Duck episode and in the year 2019. So the kids are 12 years old. Launchpad should be about 32 years old. I know Steelbeak is in his 20s but I’m going to bump him to be LP’s age. 5 year age difference(roughly) is a lot better to me than like 10 years. Since I think Donald and Della are about 36 or 37 now and she’s the same age as them.

Author’s Note:

Here’s the other dumb idea I came up with when I was suffering from insomnia the other night.

I was going to make her a bird but stuck with dog since the main family is all ducks and Duckworth is the only canine honorary family member/friend that I can think of.

Also the title was between Perfectly Perfect and Lucky One both by Simple Plan. After listening to both several times on loop, I felt PP was the better choice. So there’s a fun fact.

Prologue(You’re here!) - Next Chapter

During the summer and after her 6th Birthday, Lexi Lulu, a Dognose, moved from Ohio to Duckburg, Calisota.

Her and her family were fully moved in by the time she started Kindergarten at an expensive private school.

Lexi was always super shy and likely has social anxiety. But she still had friends back in Ohio. So having to make new friends at a new school that she never went to before was making her anxious.

To make things worse, she had to do speech classes due to her speech impairment. And as such, would leave during one of her classes every week to meet with the speech teacher. Usually it was during something fun like Gym or Art Class. But it was only once a week.

It was still the first week of school when a duckling named Della came up to her to see if she wanted to play. As the girls walked over to the little kitchen area, they introduced themselves.

“My name’s Della Duck!” Della said. “You weren’t in my preschool class, right? Or were you in the other one?”

“I’m Lexi. And no. I moved here during the summer.” Lexi replied.

“Oh cool! You’ll like Duckburg!” Della grinned.

As the two continued to talk and play, Della couldn’t help but notice something familiar to her.

“Hey do you do speech classes or something?” Della asked.

“Not yet. I think I’m suppose to start next week.” Lexi said.

“Okay. Maybe you’ll have that with my twin brother! He has a speech problem too. But you talk better than him. He’s in the other Kindergarten class though. I don’t know why they split us up both this year and last year.”

“I don’t know either. Does he have lunch at the same time as us?” Lexi decided to ask.

“Uh huh! You can eat with us and I’ll introduce you to him. You already have something in common!” Della nodded.

Later at lunch, Lexi and Donald met and instantly hit it off. As they expected, they had the same speech class together too. It made them both feel better that someone else had a similar problem and insecurity.

----------------------

The years went by and they continued to remain best friends. She was actually at their Uncle Scrooge’s mansion so often that he took to calling her his niece too and allowed her to call him uncle.

When they were teens, she started going on all kinds of adventures with the three of them.

Donald started college about a year or two after high school and met Panchito and Jose. But Lexi and Della chose to keep going on adventures instead of college for a while. Scrooge decided to let Lexi move into one of the rooms in the mansion since she was going on adventures so often.

At one point, Lexi was in a relationship with Jose, but they mutually broke it off when they knew they couldn’t move permanently from their respective countries. So he moved back to Brazil sometime later.

A few years later when she, Donald, and Della were about 25, Lexi decided to go to college and take a break from adventuring. During that time, Donald had joined the Navy and even started going on adventures again while Panchito returned to Mexico.

The summer after her first year, Lexi’s niece was born. Months later in the following year, Della had three eggs.

Fortunately, nothing happened to her brother or sister-in-law. Yet she was always watching her niece when they needed her to. Della took to helping more often when she found out about her own kids.

But when Della went missing after going into space, Lexi quit college.

The Ducks and McDucks had become like another family to her. With Della gone, Lexi knew Donald would need help raising the boys.

She tried to talk to Scrooge for months but he gave her the silent treatment. Or started yelling and threatening her. Simply misplacing his anger for what happened and taking it out on Lexi, especially after Donald took the boys and went no-contact.

Duckworth helped her move in with Donald for the time being since she was no longer welcomed to the mansion. But it made it easier to help Donald out while being under one roof.

As the kids grew up, she started being called Aunt Lexi by them. It started when her niece, Hailey, was over to play and called her it to get her attention. The boys asked if they could do the same since she was helping raise them and was basically their aunt despite not being related by blood or through marriage. Of course, they were fine with this. Lexi even saw them as her nephews too.

When the boys were about 5 or 6 and going to school, Lexi felt it was time to move out since the house boat was getting smaller as they grew older and bigger.

Lexi found a house nearby and began working from home so she watched the kids after school at her place since Donald, her brother, and sister-in-law worked until 5 or 6 PM.

They were still mourning Della and Lexi was still upset at how her friendship with Scrooge ended. But overall, everything was fine now.

At one point, they noticed the boys introduce Hailey as their ‘cousin’ just like how Donald and Della did with her. So knowing the kids were getting along great was enough to make them happy.

Sure there were fights, but nothing more than the usual sibling or other relatives fights.

That said, they struggled with money since even though they weren’t living together, she was still paying Donald child support to help out. After all, she lived with herself and her turtle. That was barely two mouths to feed compared to his four. And Donald struggled with keeping jobs.

When the kids were 10 years old, Lexi had gone out of town to visit family back in Ohio with her parents and her brother’s family. So Donald needed a babysitter since she wasn’t home at the time. His only option? The uncle they haven’t spoken to in 10 years.

She was surprised when she returned home and found out that they had reconnected and Scrooge allowed them to move in with him. Especially after the house boat blew up.

Lexi went to visit one day when she was off work and her and Scrooge had a talk that they both knew needed to happen. He apologized for taking his anger out on her all those years ago. And even offered her old room to her so she can officially join the family again.

She gladly took it and moved in shortly after Donald and the boys did.

Soon, she discovered that she would quickly gain another niece that year in Webby. The following year after Lena was brought back, she started considering her as another niece too.

It was now 2019 and about a month or two after the Moonvasion happened. The aliens that stayed on Earth are living peacefully now.

After finding out she quit college to help raise her boys, Della more or less forced her to go back to school despite being in her mid-30s now.

So here she was at the library. Hailey, Huey, and Violet joined her since they made their own little book club. So while they looked for a new book to read and sat at a different table in her line of sight, she sat at a computer to do her homework.

#Ducktales #Self Insert #Lexi the Dog #Steelbeak is coming next chapter

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tabooneko · 6 years ago

Text

DIABOLIK LOVERS LUNATIC PARADE – SAKAMAKI LAITO – CHAPTER 2

Hello, DL fans, you still alive~? Sorry for not being active during holidays, a lot of happened irl. But my friend is back to translate LP, so here is chapter 2.

It’s probably the first route where I feel that it’s actually Laito who is pretty poor here haha. He has to deal with Yui’s naivety even more than normal xD

Translation: @kiruriru-art QC: TabooNeko

PLEASE DON’T REPOST!

Enjoy~

Place: Mondstein Hotel, Guest room

Yui: Nnnu ... nnn?

(Laito's not here...?)

(Somehow I'm feeling a little dizzy... . He might have drunk a little too much...)

Laito: A, Bitch-chan. You woke up?

Yui: Laito-kun...

Laito: Though it would be good if you'd still be sleeping. Yesterday I got a little too excited. Nfu ♪

Yui: (… The way he says that...!)

Laito: Well, either way, let's relax a little more while we eat.

Yui: ...Fruits?

Laito: Yeah. I asked hotel's employees and they brought them for us.

There, Bitch-chan. Open your mouth~. I will fe-ed-you.

Yui: E … But …

Laito: It's ok, it's ok. Don't feel shy. Here, aaa.

Yui: A, aaa …

(… It's a really sweet strawberry.)

Laito: How is it? Delicious?

Yui: … Yeah.

Laito: Hmm. Then, I'll taste it a little too. Nn …

Yui: … !

Laito: Uun. It's sweet … Really tasty.

Then, here goes another one ♪ Aaa...

Yui: Nn …

Laito: … Hm? What's that? I've got strawberry juice on my finger.

… Will you lick it and make it clean for me? Here …

Yui: Eh?! L-lick it … ?!

Laito: Hey, hu-rry up …

Yui: (U … resistance may be pointless … )

…

Laito: Nfu. That's good … Somehow it started to feel a little erotic …

Hey, if you like it, let's stay all day on bed like that … Nn …

Yui: … That's no good! If we don't go looking for Earl's clues...

Laito: Ugh … Even though it started to feel good, Bitch-chan, it really is difficult to get you into the mood…

But, that's right. What to do about Earl's case.

Yui: …We're not going to that boy we've met yesterday?

Laito: Won't it be enough if we just let it be? I said it, right? He's scheming something for sure.

That's why, even when we'll go looking for clues we have to go ask someone else.

Yui: …

(It's true, it was a little suspicious that he could say so many helpful things … )

(After all, like Laito-kun said, it's better not to trust so easily … )

Laito: There's no other way. First of all what about we go to town and ask around about Earl?

Yui: …

(Ether way there's still a lot of things that we don't know about Earl, it would be good if we do it...)

(If it go well, there might be some people who know Earl's whereabouts...)

… Then, should we try it?

Place: Glimmer street

Yui: … I see. Thank you very much.

Laito: Uun, It's no good after all. But I knew it all along.

Yui: …

(I asked a lot of different people but … )

(Even though all of them heard Earl Walter's name or knew that he's living in that castle,)

(They didn't know any specifics about him … )

(… It's troublesome … What should we do …)

Laito: Hey, Bitch-chan. Why don't we finish here and go check another place?

Yui: Another place?

Laito: Un. A place where there is more people than here, hm?

Place: Saint nore Park’s street

Yui: … Hey, Laito-kun … A Place where there is a lot of people is …

Laito: Nfu. Obviously it's here. Saint nore Park!

Hey, look around you. There are a lot more people than yesterday, right?

Yui: … That's right but …

Laito: What's more, yesterday we only had chance to check that maze, right?

That's why I thought we should have fun again why we're here doing research ♪

Yui: Eee … ?

Laito: Come on, let's go~!

Yui: A! Hey, Laito-kun! Wait … !

***

Laito: Haa, it was fun! You really have the feeling for go-kart, don't you?

Selection:

- That’s not true.

- Fufu. Is that so?

----------------------------------------------------------------

Choice: That’s not true.

Yui: T-That’s not true…

Laito: Whaat~? Don’t be so humble~

Yui: (I don’t intend to be…)

----------------------------------------------------------------

Choice: Fufu. Is that so? (+)

Yui: Fufu. Is that so?

Laito: Un. Your handling of the steering wheel while cornering was above everyone else. It really surprised me.

Yui: (He's praised me)

----------------------------------------------------------------

(And … I'm glad Laito-kun seems to have fun … )

(That being said, I'm having fun as well but …)

(Now we're looking just like people who came only to enjoy the parade...)

(...I wonder if it's ok...)

(But, there are no changes in my physical condition … And the jewel is properly working, right?)

(Either way, we don't have any clues regarding the Earl...)

Laito: A, Bitch-chan! Next is this one! Let's ride this!

Yui: E, which one?

Laito: Jet coaster! If you're in amusement park, you can't miss it, right?

Yui: Jet coaster …

Laito: Nfu. It's ok if you're afraid. I'll be with you, right? What's more …

I would like to see your cute face miserably distorted by the wind pressure on the jet coaster.

Yui: Eeh … !?

(That kind of goal is it even… ?!)

Laito: That's why, please. Let's ride it together. Hm~?

Yui: (… Saying that he's already going to the place where the ride is … ?!)

Place: Jet coaster's Boarding Gate

Laito: Aaa, it was so fun~!

The feeling of being cornered bit by bit by nearly falling from the sky was quite overwhelming … !

Yui: (Ah … It's finished somehow … )

Laito: Now, let's check the photograph...

Yui: Photograph?

Laito: That's right. You know, on this coaster there are cameras set in the most scream-worthy points...

And in that moment, they take perfect photos of faces crooked in scared or pained expressions.

So? Don't you think it's a really amazing service? Nfu ♪

Yui: (Th-That kind of mechanism … )

Laito: Hm, but what's that? Bitch-chan, you have the same face every time …

That's boring. Hey, let's ride it one more time?

Yui: Eeh?! One more time?!

Laito: Nfu, Why not? I'm not satisfied.

Then, let's go for round two!

Yui: Wait… Laito-kun… !

Laito: Uunn, that pale expression... it's good! That's it! That's what I was looking for...!

Yui: …

(After that, how many times did we ride that... I can't anymore...)

(… Somehow, I don't feel so good...)

Ts...!

Laito: Bitch-chan?!

What happened so suddenly? Are you not feeling well? Hey!

Yui: I just felt a little weak... after...

(Ts... That weird feeling near my chest...)

(Could it be...)

Ts...

(That's bad... I feel like fainting...)

Laito: Bitch-chan! … Bitch-chan!!

Yui: U...nn...?

Place: Diamant's fountain

Laito: A! That's good! You woke up!

Yui: Laito-kun...?

(That's right... I didn't feel good near the entrance to the jet coaster...)

Laito: You fainted so suddenly, it really surprised me...

Yui: Could it be, that you carried me here...?

Laito: Well yeah. It's not like I could just let you lay there, right?

I was wondering if I should carry you to the hotel or if I should contact Reiji.

...You Ok now?

Yui: Yeah, I feel good now. Thank you...

Laito: You know... I'm sorry about earlier. I was having so much fun it seems like I got carried away.

I was thinking what would happen if you didn’t wake up.

What the hell happened?

Yui: … That's …

I myself don't know for sure...but it could be the jewel...

Laito: …it’s weakening?

Yui: ...It could be that.

Laito: …Then, there's no time to fool around.

We have to meet the Earl as soon as possible and ask for your heart back...

Yui: But, what are we going to do without any hints...

Laito: …If you worry about the hints, we have plenty of them so it's ok.

Yui: Eh...?

Laito: Then, follow me. … Can you stand up?

Yui: Yeah... it's ok but...

Laito: Ok, then let's go.

Yui: (Laito-kun, what on earth is he planning...)

Place: Glimmer Street, Aizen Alley

Yui: (Here is... If I remember right, here is the place where Mrs. Aji's shop is...right?)

Laito: I think it's around here but...

A, just like I thought... Bitch-chan come here. We're going underground.

Yui: Underground...?

Place: Underground passageway

Yui: (What is here...An underground canal...?)

(feels a little eerie...)

Laito: I think the 'underground passageway' that kid was talking about is here.

Yui: …

----------------------------------------

Young vampire boy: It's up to you if you trust me or not.

Anyway, if you're interested in what I've said, just come to the underground passageway.

----------------------------------------

Yui: (Could it be that Laito-kun decided to trust that boy...)

Hey, Laito-kun...Is it possible that what that boy from yesterday said...

Laito: Since we don't have any other hints, I thought we could see him and try to dance as he plays.

What's more, I'm worried about the condition of your body so we have to hurry.

Yui: Laito-kun...

Laito: Then. Yui-chan, come closer to me. Whatever happens you can't leave my side.

...You know, this place is especially lawless even in the out-lawn Devil World.

Even I can't tell what can happen here and it would be really troublesome if something bad happened to you.

Yui: U-un... I got it...

Laito: Then, let’s go.

…

Yui: …

(I feel like we walked quite a long distance, but because the surrounding is the same all the time I lost my sense of distance....)

(No matter how far we go, it's just the same canal...)

(Is this boy really here...)

???: Fufu. You’ve finally come.

Laito: Uwa!?

Yui: Laito-kun!?

(From above, something...!)

Laito: …Ouch... . Hey! What the hell was that!

Young vampire boy: You were late, weren't you. You made me wait.

Yui: (...This boy...!)

Laito: Hmph. Unlike you, we are a little busy, you know?

Young vampire boy: You're saying that but you just haven't found a way to get into Earl's castle, right?

Laito: ...We came all the way to meet you, so you'll tell us how to get in there, right?

Young vampire boy: Ok. But it's not like I'll tell you right now.

Laito: Ts... Why? The deal was different.

Young vampire boy: It wasn’t. I told you, haven't I? If you do as I say I'll help you...

Earl Walter is famous for his sharp ears. If I just tell you the way to get there here

We may get forestalled and won't be able to go inside the castle. That's why...

Laito: I got what you're trying to say. But

even though I think I understand, for now, I can’t trust you at all.

To begin with I don't even know where, to whom and what you are doing, it's obvious, isn't it?

That's why, first I need a proof that you are someone that can be trusted.

Young vampire boy: Proof...?

Laito: Un. First of all, I want you to show me proof that you're not Earl Walter's pawn.

Young vampire boy: Hmph. Unlike this miss there big bro is quite suspicious.

Laito: Nfu. Sorry but it seems like that's the case.

Young vampire boy: But, unfortunately I don't have any proof like that.

Laito: Hmph... I see... It looks like in the end we can't trust you and do as you say...

Yui: ...Hey, Laito-kun...

That's enough, let’s just trust him...

We don't know any other way and sometimes you need trust to move forward...

Laito: Uun, it's obvious that you would say something like that.

But, unfortunately, I can't just unconditionally trust anyone.

Unlike you, right? It's nothing new, right?

Yui: ...

(...That's right. Laito-kun has a reason not to trust people...)

(...I’m sure it’s because he knows better than anyone else the bitter feeling of being betrayed...)

(Laito-kun was that deeply hurt in his childhood when he was betrayed by Cordelia-san.)

Laito: …Yui-chan? What’s wrong? Grabbing my hand so suddenly...

Yui: ...It’s nothing...

Laito: Hmmm ... But I somehow do understand what you’re trying to say.

Since I am your servant for eternity...

Yui: Se, servant?!

Laito: That’s why, no matter how unwilling I am, I have to follow your orders.

That being said, fine. We’ll do as the kid says. That’s fine, right?

Yui: Laito-kun... Laito: So... take us wherever you want. We’ll do as you say.

Young vampire boy: Ok. Then follow me.

Laito: You heard him. Let’s go. Yui-chan.

Yui: Yeah.

(I don’t know if this is really the right thing to do...)

(But, Laito-kun...)

(No matter what’s in front of us, I will never betray you.)

(I swear.)

Young vampire boy: Ok, both of you sit here for now.

Yui: Here...is this your home?

Young vampire boy: Well, something like that? Anyway, we can talk safely here.

Laito: We don’t really have time to sit and relax at your home.

Young vampire boy: Don’t be in such rush, big bro. ...First of all, look at that.

Yui: A map...?

Young vampire boy: This is the secret map of this underground passageway.

Right now we’re here. And...

Here are the secret doors... meaning the entrance to Earl Walters’s castle.

Yui: The entrance to the castle...

Laito: May I ask something?

Young vampire boy: ...What?

Laito: That map...is the thing you got from Aji yesterday, right?

Young vampire boy: Tsk...yes, so...?

Laito: Hmmm. So you got that map thanks to us, right?

I just have one doubt, would Aji give up such a valuable map that easily?

Could it be that you... have tricked Aji as well...?

Yui: ...?!

Young vampire boy: Tsk...how annoying. That’s right. But, it doesn’t matter, right?

You two, thanks to that you got to know where is the entrance to the castle, ain’t that right!

Laito: Well, yeah. As a result.

Young vampire boy: If you keep saying unnecessary things I won’t tell you anything more. Is that still alright?

Yui: ...Laito-kun...

Laito: Eh...I got it. Do continue. And then?

Young vampire boy: The doors were certainly at that place. I checked yesterday and there’s no mistake. But...

The doors are sealed by some unique magic. A special crystal is required to open them.

Firstly you have to go to the mountain and get that special crystal.

Laito: ...Could it be, that you’re telling us to go and get that crystal or something?

Young vampire boy: That’s right!

Laito: ...You heard him. So, what are we going to do? Bitch-chan

Yui: That crystal... Is it hard to get it...?

Young vampire boy: If it was easy I wouldn’t ask you guys, duh.

Laito: Haha, that’s logical.

Young vampire boy: I think you got the gist of it but...

Trying to go inside earl’s castle is reckless enough by itself.

If you can’t even do such a simple thing, we have nothing to talk about.

Yui: (That’s true, it could be like that...)

Laito: ...Haa. We have no other way. Let’s do it.

Then, do you know where exactly we can find this crystal?

Young vampire boy: Of course. Inside the mountain is a cave made out of selenite crystal. The crystal is deep down there.

But, as you proceed down that cave, you’ll meet a lot of tests and trials.

Yui: Tests and trials...what does it mean...?

Young vampire boy: Who knows. I don’t know that. I told you all I know.

Laito: Anyway it looks like we just have to go and find by ourselves.

Shall we go then? Bye~! Thanks!

Yui: Ah, Laito-kun...!

Place: Glimmer Street’s back road

Laito: ...

Yui: (Laito-kun is silent since then...)

(Looks like he’s lost in thoughts...)

Laito: ...I’ve already said that before but I really can’t trust that kid.

Look, just think about it a little. Why do you think, would he tell something like that to some strangers like us?

I’m sure he’s plotting something.

Yui: ...

(As I’ve thought, it’s like that...)

Laito: ...That being said, there’s nothing we can do now but go and find that crystal as that kid said.

Ne, by the way, your body’s ok?

Yui: ...Eh? It’s fine, but why...

Laito: That’s good then. Anyway, for us to save you, it doesn’t matter if there is something fishy with this kid’s motives or not.

We have to hurry up and open said doors to retrieve your heart from earl’s hands.

Yui: (So he is worried about me...)

Laito-kun... About that... I’m sorry that I got us mixed in such a troublesome case.

Laito: Good grief. Why earl’s had to get his eyes set on your heart of all things...

It won’t be worth it if you don’t do everything I say after all this is settled.

Yui: ...Un, that’s right.

Laito: Huuh? That way of talking... Could it be that you want to do as I say?

Yui: Eh...? That’s...

Laito: Nfu. Then I look forward to that. You got me so eager right now.

I would this to you...and that...aaaah...just thinking about it is unbearable...!

Yui: (W-what the heck is he imagining...!)

Laito: Ne, Bitch-chan. When we get your heart back, to begin with would you get dressed in that?!

Yui: And “that” is...?

Laito: The costume that you can see on that display!

Yui: ...T-that...?!

(But it’s so extremely skimpy...!)

Laito: It would be absolutely amazing if you wore it and swung a whip or something.

And while we’re at it high heels, ok? And then, right...

Yui: (Somehow it seems I made some dangerous promise...!)

Laito: As for now, I’ll take today’s night to think about the requests~.

Then, let’s prepare for tomorrow. Today, let’s go back to the hotel early.

You’re tired and tomorrow a great adventure in the mountains is waiting for us.

For the time being I’ll be patient. Nn... *kiss*

Yui: ...!

Laito: Nfu. I’ll remind you to be sure but, it’s for the time being, ok?

Then, let’s go.

Yui: A! Don’t pull me like that...!

#diabolik lovers #diabolik lovers lunatic parade #lunatic parade #sakamaki laito #komori yui #laito sakamaki #otome game #rejet #diabolik lovers translation #lunatic parade translation #game translation #translation

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mezzopurrloin · 5 years ago

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Mezzo Plays Warcraft III: Reforged, Chapter 0-1: Chasing Visions

"We never paid any heed to the ancient prophecies."

"Like fools we clung to the old hatreds."

"And fought as we had for generations."

"Until the day the sky rained fire."

"And a new enemy came among us."

"We stand now upon the brink of destruction... for the Reign of Chaos has come at last."

Even if you've never played a strategy game in your life, you've likely heard of the Warcraft franchise in some capacity. This was a trilogy of real-time strategy games before getting totally overshadowed by the MMORPG juggernaut World of Warcraft, and the card game Hearthstone. The third Warcraft RTS in particular is known as a classic, and a remaster of it just came out, so what better time is there to LP it?

I'll be going through all the campaign stories in sequence, starting with the prologue, Exodus of the Horde. I've never really played Warcraft I or II, so I don't know that much of the historical background (and I know that literally entire novels have been written about it), but I'll try to point out relevant bits of lore if I can.

We open up with another pre-rendered cutscene.

"The sands of time have run out, son of Durotan."

"The cries of war echo across the land."

"The remnants of the past scar the land..."

"...which is besieged once again by conflict."

"Heroes arise to challenge fate, and lead their brethren to battle."

"...and lead your people to their destiny."

"Seek me out..."

All right, let's get into actual gameplay.

Thrall here was planned to get his own game at one point, called Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. While it was cancelled, the story was adapted into a novel, and it's still canon to his backstory. He was raised by humans as a slave, but eventually broke free, organized the clans of the Horde into a singular force, and succeeded Orgrim Doomhammer as warchief. He's also the Shaman class hero in Hearthstone.

Thrall decides to play along for now.

Normally I would skip the tutorial, but A) it has plot relevance, and B) it lets me talk about mechanics a bit. And it's a strategy game, there are a lot of those. The Move, Stop, and Attack commands are pretty self-explanatory. Hold Position has a unit stay in place without pursuing enemies or fleeing from attacks, and Patrol orders the unit to move between two points. Right clicking gives a move order, or an attack order if you right click an enemy.

Far Seer: Mystical hero adept with lightning and earth magic. Rides a great wolf.

Hero units are a new gameplay element introduced here, and have a few attributes that normal units don't. I'll get into most of that later on.

Fog of war is a common element to strategy games. Black fog represents areas you haven't explored yet, while gray fog is for places you have been to but don't currently have surveillance of.

Thrall arrives at an encampment and is joined by some of his soldiers. Multiple units can be selected at once, up to 12 at a time. That limit's kind of annoying, but not that bad since the focus of this game is generally on small armies.

Grunt: Basic warrior of the Horde. Has high HP and attack power compared to other basic units, but is also slightly more expensive.

All right, time to get into some combat. This weak little gnoll is no match for Thrall's forces.

If you give an attack order targeting an area, your units will move there and attack anything that appears in their path. This is quite helpful for when you just want to kill everything in your way.

The experience gained from fighting off the gnolls leveled Thrall up to level 2. This improves all his attributes and grants an extra skill point. In the campaign heroes will keep their levels between missions, but can only level up to a certain level in each one.

Heroes each have four different abilities they can learn using their skill points. In this case Thrall only has two, since this is just the tutorial. Each can also be improved by spending additional skill points on them.

Chain Lightning: Zaps an enemy with a lightning bolt that jumps to multiple enemies in range. Each jump deals slightly less damage. Additional levels increase damage and number of chains.

Far Sight: Reveals an area anywhere on the map, also revealing invisible units for a brief period. Additional levels reveal a larger area and cost less mana.

Mrglablblgh. The narration points out that these things make good targets for Thrall's Chain Lightning.

Electrocuting things solves everything.

There's a day/night cycle in this game, which usually goes by in real time. At night your units have reduced vision. Thrall also picked up a potion of mana from the murlocs. This item can be used to restore 150 mana points, and can only be used by heroes. There are a lot more different items in this game, and each hero has 6 inventory slots to hold them with.

Some neutral enemies will also sleep during the night, making it easier to avoid fighting them. I decided to fight this one anyway, though.

After a few more fights, Thrall eventually reaches the mysterious raven. It lands and transforms into a human.

This guy's name isn't really a spoiler, especially now since this game is so old, but for whatever reason he goes by "The Prophet" for 90% of the story.

Thrall asks why he should listen to this human.

He can feel the foreboding presence in the air.

The Prophet turns back into a raven and flies away.

That concludes this mission.

At the end of each mission you're given a score based on units, heroes, and resources used, but it doesn't really matter much in the grand scheme of things. Next time, we move on to another mission.

#mezzo's screenshot lps #let's play #warcraft iii #warcraft iii reforged #reign of chaos #thrall

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noa748 · 6 years ago

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tl;dr new reality

Going through/adding to old notes after months of not touching NR. There’s a good chunk of chapter written, but man it’s been a real struggle getting back into writing. It was always liberating to be able to work through certain internal struggles/insecurities via OC Brit, but now writing her feels like crawling into an old skin that doesn’t quite fit anymore.

Writing NR, weirdly enough, gave me the courage to start seeking real connections with people rather than keeping a safe distance to protect myself. Writing the cheesy friendships, putting myself in all of those different shoes, personalities and backgrounds, writing people cut from very different cloths learning to mesh and come together for a greater cause... the optimism of the Tales games is actually pretty infectious. I wanted to be a friend like Lloyd, and the more I envisioned it, the easier it seemed to make lasting friendships.

Unfortunately, life isn’t a Tales game, and sometimes you can’t reach people no matter how much you care. I wrote much of NR before I really learned what emotional damage was, or how shitty people can be. The lens with which I view the world has been altered, and it’s hard for me to put myself back in OC Brit’s headspace. Zelos as potential love interest is laughable to me now - he’s the last person I’d trust, but ironically the one I most relate to. I try to write Brit helping him work through his damage when I can barely process my own.

OC Brit is this... chunk of optimism in me that I’m fighting to unearth again. Getting back into writing NR isn’t going to solve my problems, but I think reuniting with the ToS crew has the potential to be just as therapeutic for me as it was when I was a lonely, depressed teenager dealing with my parent’s divorce.

Also, I SWORE I WOULD FINISH THIS BITCH BEFORE I TURNED THIRTY. How the hell am I already 26. Hoooooly shit.

Despite having beaten ToS a number of times, it’s been years since I’ve played and I’m having difficulty remembering certain details of the plot (as well as where the fuck I was going with certain plot points). I really need to buckle down and reread all six billion chapters of my damn story as well as watch some LPs. As I’ve changed jobs, for the first time in 5 years I actually have free time and adequate sleep so I can quite possibly write something.

For those of you who can’t remember where we left off, we are currently at the point in the game where the group visits certain places in Tethe’alla so that the Tethe’allans can decide which world they want to stay on. This will be my time to get used to writing all these children characters again. Feel free to send me links to some good ToS fanfics, those will get me thinking again...

As a bonus, here’s a snippet of the next chapter (hint: they’re all playing Two Truths and a Lie)

“Okay. Soooo… let’s see…” It was Zelos’ turn again, and he was grinning wickedly. “Oh, I know. One… when I was twelve, I had a pet manticore for three weeks. Two… I’ve had a fan gift me a doll made with locks of her hair. And three—I’ve dated five women at the same time.”

Sheena and I groaned, Regal pressed a hand to his chin, and Colette giggled and clapped her hands. Zelos was the worst, and he was winning this game by a landslide. He just had too many weird stories.

“What was the manticore’s name?” I demanded.

“Manny,” Zelos replied.

I smacked my forehead. “Manny the manticore? Are you kidding me?”

“C’mon, I was twelve!”

Sheena heaved a sigh. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why did you have a manticore as a pet?”

“It had a broken leg. I was nursing it back to health.” He shrugged. “In the sewers, of course. Nobody really knew about it.”

“Aw, Zelos, that’s so sweet! Manny must’ve been so cute,” Colette chirped.

I laid my head down on the table, stifling defeated laughter. This was ridiculous. How was Zelos even a real person? Okay, okay, what else… the crazy doll thing, that didn’t surprise me. Neither did the fact about him simultaneously dating multiple women.

“Who was this fan of yours?” Regal asked.

“It was actually one of my classmates at the University in Sybak,” Zelos laughed. “Said it was part of an experiment. I never really figured out what that one was about.”

“Please tell me you don’t still have this doll,” Sheena said.

“Hell no. I hid it behind some books in the library when she wasn’t around.”

“What were the names of your five girlfriends?” Colette asked.

“Trish, Lily, Kayleigh, Sophie and Leanne,” Zelos replied, barely even hesitating.

I felt my lip curl a bit. That jerk, he had me again. I was annoyed because a part of me wished I knew him well enough to be able to tell when he was fibbing, but I was failing so far. Nobody had caught him in a lie yet and this was his third turn.

Zelos glanced over at the clock on the wall. “Oh, time’s up. What do you guys say?”

“Manticore,” Sheena replied. Regal voiced his agreement.

“I think it was the doll!” Colette replied. “I really want to believe you had a manticore named Manny,” she admitted, sticking her tongue out and looking sheepish.

Zelos chuckled, and then looked over at me. “Brit?”

I paused for a moment, thinking. Zelos led a crazy life, that much was for sure. But the manticore thing—that was almost too obvious, wasn’t it? I really wanted to guess that, but I felt like that was another one of his outlandish true stories that he threw out as a decoy. As for the doll… Zelos had to have received a lot of weird gifts over the years.

But the five women? He had almost spouted out those names too fast, like he was just listing random names off the top of his head. If he was really that big of a man whore, I would think he’d almost have trouble keeping track of all the names.

“You never dated five women at once,” I said.

His smug façade actually crumbled and he stared at me in genuine surprise.

“Well. Not bad, spitfire.”

“Seriously?” Sheena gaped. “That was the one I thought was true for sure.”

“Course,” Zelos said with a snort. “That’s why I used it. Believe it or not, I’ve never actually had a girlfriend.”

The ninja frowned, staring at him. “Huh. I guess in the end that’s not so surprising. I remember seeing you messing around with your floozies, but it was always different girls every week.”

“Yay! I wish I got to meet Manny,” Colette said, still completely focused on the manticore story.

I couldn’t stop myself from grinning; I was fairly pleased with myself this time. Finally got him! Although that was an interesting fact I never would’ve guessed about Zelos. For someone who seemed so smooth with the ladies, it was strange to think he’d never actually dated. Was it because he didn’t want to commit, or because actually dating required a particular level of closeness?

Zelos seemed to see the question in my eyes, and offered a shrug. “Not like there’s a point to dating anyway, not when the church is bound to tell me who I can and can’t marry.”

Colette’s face fell, and she looked a little sad. “Oh… that’s right. Families of the Mana lineage are all from arranged marriages… it was the same for Father and Mother.”

That made a depressing amount of sense, and it shed a different light on Zelos’ womanizing tendencies. Why bother getting attached? It’d only cause more pain in the end, right? His own father had had an affair with another woman, who in turn killed his mother… the arranged marriage had both created and destroyed his family.

“Hey, hey! I’m not sitting here moping over things I can’t control, so why should you guys?” Zelos reached out and gave me a lighthearted shove. “Spitfire, it’s your turn!”

“All right,” I replied, leaning back a bit to think. What hadn’t I used yet?

After a pause, I grinned at everyone. “Okay… One. I’ve been on a train that goes underwater. Two… I’m actually allergic to wasabi. Three, I used to wear glasses.”

“A train that goes underwater?” Zelos huffed. “Y’know, I’m mad because I think it’s true. Why not just build a bridge? And I thought Tethe’alla had some backwards logic…”

“Now that must be an engineering marvel,” Regal commented, stroking his chin.

“Plus think of all the fishies you get to see while you’re on the train!”

I burst out laughing. “It doesn’t work like that, Colette…”

#new reality #noa748 writing

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amisbro · 6 years ago

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Point of View: Shining Live 1 yr later

(I considered making the “Point of View” part just “PoV” but ehh...here we are) Been a while since I have done something like this but it is that time of year when Shining Live is going to have an Anniversary and its my first full year officially with the game...this is why its being called “1 year” and not 2 so that we can get that out of the way. Yes this IS the first full year officially that I have had Shining Live installed coming up and that actually happens around the middle of the month which is always an interesting time. Its interesting because its timing is LITERALLY going to be around the following Aniversaries “Stand my Heroes” “Idolish7″ and then of course “Shining Live” To say the VERY LEAST this is going to be a brutal month for me just when it comes to mobages because the funny irony here is that I haven’t been playing really ANY of them that much right now. I think I play “Heroes” more on and off and I played i7 like 3 times But the big one (and the focus of this piece) is Shining Live...where are we nearly a year on from the time we came back to the game? There in lies the problem See when I first started playing Shining Live originally back when the game came out in English in January of 2018 (ironic when you think about when I started watching the Anime like 4 years earlier) I actually had a lot of fun with it and was enjoying it for the most part. I think I only really had one time I uninstalled it and that was brief because of the fact that DST had come up last year and I didn’t feel like playing the events at 1 AM in the morning ET. Okay that’s only a half truth...one of the other reasons I stopped playing the game at that time (and completely wiped my old account) was because at the time I had actually spent $$$ on the game which I was not proud of. Yeah at the time I had gotten one of my favorite Photos in the game (”Aqua Crystal” Camus) but after what happened I refused to keep up the account because of the fact that I didn’t like what I had done. At that time (after fighting the damn game and Google) I completely wiped out the account and eventually started over Here is the kicker about what I just said I had started the game in January but come early March I had deleted it completely. I could tell we were going to have a weird relationship When I eventually came back to the EN Server this was sometime in August and when this happened we were getting ready for what would come to find out to be the final two chapters of the main story with the last one eerily enough being on September the 11th! I had thought that in October we were going to get a new chapter but it was around then that they were making a few changes with one being the “3 pull Birthday Boxes” and the other being they were adding “Collection Events” which now meant the month was going to be hell for anyone that wanted to play every event The thing was that now you had 1 Set List event 1 Collection event And they were still going to do “Score Battles” too...matter of fact this month is #19 which makes things interesting especially with what they brought into the game earlier this year I think I was wiling to flat out give a pass to the idea of NOT having a story part for October because they were introducing the “Collection Event” and doing the update to the Birthdays...surely November would go back to normal right and they would double up? NOT QUITE! For reasons that I can’t fathom STILL the game’s final story update still remains 9/11 and the thing is that ,while I know its only a minor group of people, (including myself) that have started looking at their story passes as they go up and up and up with nothing to use them on it gets to the point of “Why Bother?” Why bother playing a game (even for the “reruns” that came up) when the company is just trying to distract you with the fact that they haven’t done a story update in almost 1 year and not explained (when they should have and no apologist can tell me otherwise) why in the God’s Name the game has not been updated as far as the story content. Oh but they DID manage one thing recently Because of an issue (which from my understanding only a small # of players got) the video ads have been disabled and they don’t know when they are going to come back...CUTE! Alright to be fair... If the ads aren’t working for one group of people and they do for another then that gives an advantage when it comes to LP hoarding later on so it DOES level the playing field in THAT respect...not in the respect of “Pay to Win vs. F2P” despite the fact that in Belgium they have discontinued ways to buy certain things because in that country they made Lootboxes illegal (NOTE: I am fully aware that there is almost nothing in SL that is considered a “Lootbox”. You MIGHT consider Gachas “gambling” but even then that is a stretch especially with the changes that were made to the Gachas recently...putting that out there) Now think about this November December January February March April May June July And now August It’s been damn near 1 year since we have had story content in the game and yet the fandom has been so trained to accept the fact that the story mode has all but been abandoned. In this time we have had Renewals for B-Project Idolish7 got a Part 4 AND had like 2 Lives (and I own one of them already) TsukiPara has had its 2nd Anniversary Oh and Stand my Heroes ,A3! and i-Chu have had Anime Projects announced along with Season 2 of Idolish7 for next year Do ya get it or nah? Like forget the fact that Shining Live has given some of the most paltry of rewards for the # of days you played the game but its just so funny to me that when you try to explain to people “This ain’t right!” They have become so conditioned to the fact that the game has issues with keeping people’s interest to the point ,and this is hysterical, where I got people on my twitter timeline that legit start showing how many story passes they have saved up because its been that damn long OR they now start making a hashtag about whenever they see a HEAVENS member pop up in the game at some point (I’m talking about when they show up on the Duet covers) You know this is funny that I am writing this because of the fact that there was a fan project or whatever you want to call it where I had been shown a link to “apply” for a position on the staff and I outright refused because honestly the fact of the matter was that I had gotten so frustrated with Shining Live that they couldn’t handle my honesty...PERIOD! No joke on tweets that the “Shining Live” twitter put out I QT’d them and let my feelings be known about the fact that they haven;t done anything for the people that don’t care about the flood of events we have and we just want to play the story (and have HEAVENS added too but I’ll take “story” at this point) and honestly it cost me a friend...oh well...pack up and move on Here is the reality and it smacks you in the face as we nearly are up to September I am going to hang around this game for as long as needed because all I want is to see when they are going to add to the story...might be announced for something in the Anniversary or it might be legitimately the 1 year anniversary (that would be creepy) but I think people deserve to hear how frustrated a person can be when you have a progression wall and you just can’t move on and its not because of your level or being out of story tickets but its because of the fact that a company is so infatuated with MONEY that they have basically said to the people that might not care about that to go dunk! Now I will say this Does this year of frustration hamper my enjoyment of UtaPri? No not really...there is a scene I saw from one of the PVs from MLKingdom that kind of Skeeved me that ,no matter how it gets explained away to me, its still creepy af and I have seen things on the a series about the “Deep Web” that made me cringe but you know how it is. I think its time that people understand that people are allowed to be frustrated ,pissed off or however they want to feel about the game. I wish more people would “get it” and understand but sometimes it feels like you are talking to a wall and that’s not fun! It just makes you miserable because trying to explain WHY you haven’t touched a game in a good long time and not being able to have a genuine conversation so you don’t walk away more pissed off than you already are is just not cool...at least playing “Mirror’s Edge” is FUN frustration and this just makes you want to pull your hair out! I’m morbidly curious about what is in store for Shining Live for 2019-2020 and here is hoping that come the time that we get to this point NEXT YEAR its a bit more of a pleasant experience My name is Amisbro...and this is my “Point of View”

#Amisbro #Point of View #Shining Live #1 year of frustration #hopefully next year is better

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docholligay · 7 years ago

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Aino’s 8: Chapter One--Spark Plug

This is for @yamadara87!! Happy birthday, and I hope you like it. Around 3500 words.

Minako Aino did not have to be a criminal. She had many gifts to leverage in her business life, a certain quality with people, a way of knowing exactly what people were going to say when, a gift for making connections and convincing people that what she said was true.

She put the confidence in confidence man.

However, Mina had observed that there were a great many things that people did for pleasure that they didn’t have to do: Running, golfing, sitting in front of a computer for hours, learning the words to speak about wines and their varied shades of flavor.

Her hobby was just slightly different.

Mina had a solid job, and Mina was well compensated and Mina was bored.

“You know,” she smiled at the man, overfilled with money and underfilled with any sort of charm, the woman on his arm as much an accessory as the Lamborghini he was about to buy, “some of our customers, who have a bit more distinction,” she smiled at him sweetly with a nod, “prefer to order the LP Spyder,” she shook her head and indicated to the Huracán in front of her, “but of course, this is a fine car, seen often around town, and--”

“No, no,” the man waved his hand and drew his arm around the young woman next to him, “we definitely want something a bit more, he smiled lasciviously at the woman, “charged.”

Bored.

It was so easy, talking men into this upgrade or the next, subtly chipping away at whatever sense of superiority they had until the only way to repair it was to add on another specialty package, purchase a custom upholstery, and of course always get a maintenance package with Mina’s preferred garage.

On this, Mina got the slight tingle of deception, at least. She should have been selling the plans through the dealership, but Haruka’s garage gave her a kickback, and she gave her old friend some extra business.

Haruka was a more talented mechanic than anyone at the dealership anyhow, and had been since they were kids, and so she told herself that this was very Robin Hood of her, despite everything else she did to her clients.

“Of course, you’ll want to add the lifting system and magento-rheologic suspension.” She said, as if it were not a question for a man of such discerning tastes.

“Oh, oh yes, how could I not?” he chuckled.

Bored.

But there was a bright spot on the horizon, highlighted in the newspaper Mina picked through as she sat in the uninspiring beige break room, eating her uninspiring cold pizza, tapping her uninspiring black pumps on the floor. She almost missed it, only half interested in the goings-on in the world even in the best of times, when something caught her eye.

A gala.

Normally such a thing would have escaped her notice completely, or rather, escaped her interest. But this gala was in an unexpected place: Las Vegas. She hardly thought that the fine people of this world would end up in a place so gauche, but as she read the article, it seemed, reading between the lines, that the Belmont Stakes had gotten a bit too egalitarian. The whole Triple Crown had, and they had made two separate stops for the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, ending the whole thing in Las Vegas for the Belmont.

And there was a Triple Crown contender this year.

Mina’s mind whirred. People bet for different reasons. Because they believed themselves to be luckier than they were was a compelling one, because they felt the thrill once and couldn’t stop was another, and a lesser one was that they enjoyed it in a simple and safe manner.

But rich people bet to show others they could, more than anything, and of all the odds placed on the Belmont, she liked those the best.

There was a quirk of the Nevada state law, Mina had learned, that required a casino to keep on hand all the cash required to pay out the bets placed. Even discounting the gala being held with those society prigs, there would be a wealth of cash in the vaults. But with them, her eyes began to glitter with possibilities, and images of her lying on a beach, attractive beach waitstaff serving her day in and day out, totally ignoring that she would very likely begin to find that boring as well.

The rub of it all was, of course, that she couldn’t leave the state.

She was still on probation.

But that was no reason not to dream, she thought, looking at the picture of the glittering and beautiful people printed in black and white in front of her on the society pages.

It wouldn’t do any harm to find out who was going to be there, right?

She opened her phone, and called an old enemy.

___

Michiru Kaioh was also bored, as it turned out, but her wealth and privilege allowed her to be bored in the sort of way that only the very rich ever know, absentmindedly strolling through the fine fashion halls of Milan, touring the Champagne region, on safari in Africa. In each of this places she stared at the beauty and wonder in front of her as if she were watching a rerun of Big Brother, arms crossed, with only an occasional smile when a question was asked her directly.

This was to say nothing of the multitude of dates she had been on, fine girls from fine families trying to ply her with expensive wines or decadent chocolates, dinners at the most exclusive restaurants, and river cruises up the Danube. They were all fun enough, for something to while the hours away, but nothing of it ever captured or excited her, and none of them ever held her interest for longer than it took to mollify her parents’ anxiety that she would never settle down suitably.

And so, she had turned to crime at the age of 18.

It had started in small enough ways, passing off a sketch done by a fellow artist as a genuine Picasso, that had never seen the light of day, “because, you know, it came out of Germany under unfortunate circumstances which are surely neither the fault of it or ourselves,” and it had gone so smoothly, and yet made her heart race in a way she knew not of, that the addiction was instant.

She had honed her craft carefully, the swindle, the gift of ingratiation, of how to say no without ever making someone feel ill at ease, how to dodge a question so beautifully that it became a ballet, all the things her mother had taught her about being a proper woman in society now a Swiss Army knife of tools against her own class.

It was the only thing which gave her a genuine smile.

Michiru had never been caught, and she had no intention of ever being, and indeed, though a fair number of her co-conspirators had been jailed for her multitude of adventures, Michiru herself seemed quite untouchable. The years had passed well for her, ever bolder, ever grander, ever more beautiful even as she reached her late 30s, and still terribly, boldly unmarried.

It was this boldness that allowed her to answer the phone when it rang, when ‘Do not answer and allow her to be grateful you hadn’t had her killed’ came up on her caller ID.

“You have precisely 30 seconds to explain your call.” She said simply.

Many would have started at this cool reception, but Mina would have been more startled if it had not been, given their history.

“How do you feel about stealing from every society fuck you’ve ever met at once?”

Michiru paused. “Not...disinterested. Go on.”

Mina had many gifts that might have benefitted her in civilian life, if she had cared to have it.

Mina laid out her plan, a take so great that Michiru was mildly annoyed she had not thought of it herself. Whatever else you could say about Mina, and there were a great many things Michiru had, there was a certain rough quality of creativity in her that was difficult to argue. It was the reason she, too, had been untouched, until she had been so foolish as to allow her reach to exceed her grasp, and had attempted to buffalo Michiru Kaioh.

“We only have three weeks to gather this, you know,” Michiru considered, “and I do hope you have learned a valuable lesson from our last dalliance.”

“I learned I can make more money with you than against you, and that’s all I care about.” Mina said flatly, “and if anyone can get something like this together in three weeks, it’s us.”

Michiru turned over her former associates in her head. “I have an electronics expert, and a man, so to speak, on the inside at the Bellagio security.”

One of the benefits of Mina and Michiru’s partnerships was that they knew as little as possible about the other, and both were comfortable never asking too many questions. It was the most comfortable uneasy partnership ever conceived.

“And you know an explosives expert.”

Michiru gave a chuff of a laugh. “Rei? I daresay she is the only person on this earth who loathes you more than I do.”

“Oh take a number! Don’t flatter yourself, Kaioh.”

“My mistake. There must be a great many people who loathe you, and god only knows how many people you have chosen to seduce in the middle of work, however, I assure you that Rei Hino has a long memory for such things and is often disinclined toward forgiveness.” She took a sip of her rosewater as the mist of the sea wafted in from the coast of Morocco.

“Well,” Michiru could hear Mina’s smile through the phone, “lucky you’re so silvertounged. You talk to her, I’ll talk to my people--I can supply us an acrobat, a dealer, and a mechanic. Probably. She gets mad at me. Says I let her go to jail too much.”

“Hm,” Michiru flicked her eyebrow as if Mina could see her, and in the way Mina generally knew people, she very likely could in some manner, “I will meet you in Los Angeles next week. In the meantime, I will attempt to curry favor with the planning board--it should take little, one of them has been after me for weeks to accept a social invitation.”

“And I’ll talk to actual humans. See you then.”

Mina hung up with not so much as a goodbye, but neither did Michiru require it of her. Any polite social interaction they might have managed had been buried at Mina’s attempted con, and at the quick correction of her arrest and conviction. She knew the venom Michiru carried now, and Michiru enjoyed the caution.

The Belmont gala. She already had her gown, something that delicately dripped off her shoulder in bright crystalline drops that melted to a seafoam’s lace down the bodice and skirt, the tenderest blues and pinks like watercolor underneath. It was couture and it was beautiful and it had not given Michiru a single smile until this moment, imagining herself in the intricate and graceful frock, smiling and laughing politely and making conversation as the entire betting pool was stolen out from under them.

She took another sip of her rosewater and looked out at the sea, glittering and twinkling as the eyes of someone who knows a secret, and she smiled dangerously, baring all of her teeth.

____

Rei did not consider herself a criminal, in the strictest sense. Certainly the things she did were illegal, but the law and ethics had parted ways some time ago on this earth, and so she considered herself more of a warrior than anything.

She enjoyed a certain amount of asceticism, and one could assume that she was punishing herself for some imagined flaw, until one spoke to her, and found her quite assured of her own impeccable nature. No, the spareness of her living was simply a quirk of her own mind, something she had taken up regardless of the vast sums of money she had accumulated with her work.

That people paid her was nearly immaterial, used only to fund jobs she believed in on the most personal levels.. She liked the feeling of bringing down corruption, she liked the feel of the fire and the explosion, and most of all she liked the way her reputation proceeded her, how her name was whispered softly and reverently in the underbelly of the world.

Rei had worked with Michiru Kaioh a handful of times, and as much as she loathed the gilded bourgeois of her very existence, there was something intriguing about Michiru that Rei could not deny, and kept her wrangled in, a sort of aura that shone off of her in pearlescent light.

Besides, she was not averse to being a traitor to her own class, and there had to be some inherent value in that.

And so, it was with this attitude that she accepted Michiru’s invitation to lunch. It surprised her not at all that Michiru was near the tiny apartment she had taken up on a foreign shore, as Michiru seemed to be everywhere at once.

That was easy when your family had a fleet of private jets.

The lunch was on the private balcony of Michiru’s suite, and no longer occurred to Rei to find such things noteworthy or unusual, and she had never found them particularly dazzling--Rei’s father had been a man of important political significance, and such things only reminded her of the times in her childhood when she had been trotted out like a show pony--but the food was good, and it seemed as natural as an office might be for another person, and so Rei sat.

“I trust you have been keeping busy?” Michiru smiled her knowing smile.

Rei gave a smirk. There was little chance that Michiru was not already aware of Rei’s work, and was simply making clever conversation the way she always did. The Amazon headquarters. Nestle’s water plants. They all had the mark of Rei’s work, and Michiru was no great fool.

But she kicked back and took a long drink of the filtered water in front of her.

“Always.”

Michiru cut through to it quickly. “I don’t suppose you’re looking for work?”

Rei grumbled at her. “Not after what happened last time.”

“Oh, Rei, we got off without a scratch, then, didn’t we? Aside from all that, that was four years ago,” Michiru looked over to where the waiter and butler were beginning to bring in a tray, “Ah yes, how lovely. I do hope you’ll forgive me the rudeness of ordering for you, but I was a bit afraid you might be tempted to flee, and I believe I still have some appreciation of you palate.”

It was ramen, though more high-minded than anything Rei was accustomed to eating, and certainly not something that must have been a simple ask in this place. She hadn’t seen a ramen shop in months, and her mouth watered, even as her mind warned her that Michiru was not unlike a siren in her dealings.

The service left, as Michiru nodded to them gracefully, neatly beginning to tuck in to her ratatouille.

“What if I were to tell you the target would be the larger international society? CEOs, family money, ambassadors, and the like? And that we could take them all in one night?”

Rei looked at her across the table, wishing she could be as disinterested, wishing that Michiru was not calling her back to that table for anything other than a polite lunch.

And yet, to imagine all of those people, covered in clothing that could pay for a child’s yearly education, laughing and drinking champagne, as she stole right from underneath them...well, Rei’s sense of personal satisfaction was occasionally greater than her sense of self-preservation, and Michiru saw her eyebrow twitch with the struggle.

“Horse racing. The Belmont Stakes, which I know you abhor,” Michiru took a sip of some crisp, clear white wine, “ but there will be a grand party, and a great deal of wagers laid, and,” she paused for dramatic effect, ”I heard Senator Hino and his new bride might be in attendance.”

Rei had worked on many personal skills over the years, at one time being as likely to explode as anything she set with a fuse, and she had learned to have a steadier hand, over time. To control herself and will herself into waiting for the opportune moment.

Unless, of course, her father was involved.

“What?!” She hammered her hand down on the table, rattling the bone china and crystal.

“I’ve often been applauded for my elocution, you heard me perfectly well.”

Her father. She’d heard that woman he married was at least 20 years his junior, besides. The head of some loan company, offering her father ever more the social clout and immense wealth that he’d reached for all of his life.

She had been invited to the wedding. She had pretended the wedding invitation hadn’t come at all, slipping it into the garbage without opening it, so she did not even, not really, know this woman’s name.

“You said maybe he’d come?”

Michiru nabbed a napkin at the edges of her mouth, where a bit of balsamic had disrespectfully flickered. “If I let him know of my intentions, and make some overture that he should attend, I think we both know he shan’t miss it.”

It was true. Senator Hino had spend a great deal of time trying to be invited to the inner circle of the Kaiohs and their social level, the rich and well-bred among the rich and well-bred. It was something Rei never longed for and yet was utterly sure that she could attain, if she had.

If Michiru invited him, he would come.

Rei looked at warily, but with an undeniable sense of raw desire for the work.

“I’m in,” She leaned back on the chair, “are we just dividing it 50/50?”

Michiru folded her hands in her lap. ‘Well, this will be a rather large operation, getting past security, observing the casino itself, et cetera.”

Rei nodded her agreement. “But evenly?”

Michiru paused for a moment, and it occurred to Rei that she may not know. Michiru had entered into crime for her own reasons, and while Rei cared little for the money herself, she at least pretended to, but Michiru’s wealth had made it nearly irrelevant, what the individual take was on any given job.

“Yes, of course,” she said finally, as if Rei was all the sillier for asking, “However, there is something I feel pressed to mention, as golden an opportunity s this may be, there may be occasion for you to practice some restraint.”

She sipped her wine delicately, as if the next point was hardly worth mentioning.

“We will be working with Mina Aino, I am certain you rememb--”

“What?!” The surprise and rage of a few moments ago repeated itself in near-perfect copy.

“You can defraud your father, or you can avoid Mina, but I am afraid you cannot do both.” Michiru looked at her pointedly.

Rei sat for a moment, considering her options. The things Michiru was offering her were tempting, and though they sometimes saw each other socially, when Michiru breezed and and out of her life, it had been a long while since they had worked together on a job, and Michiru’s jobs always had an element of creativity and danger.

She flicked her eyes up at Michiru. “Mina.”

“Oh come now Rei,” She said as if gently chiding a child, “it isn’t as if you ended up in prison, you just had a bit of..” she gestured softly, “a disappointed love affair. Aside from all that, it the most technical sense, it is her job, though we are sharing management responsibilities. So if we wish to play ball, as they say, we must play with the team on the field.”

In a contest of who Rei hated more, there were few people that would best her father, and so she smiled at Michiru and extended her hand across the table.

“Promise me we’ll take them for everything.”

Michiru smiled in return. “I vow to do my all to encourage him to wager with the greatest irresponsibility.”

Rei took a drink of the win in front of her, finally assured of her position. “And promise me I won’t have to deal with Mina.”

“In as much as is possible, I will try to ensure you do not fall in love with Miss Aino.”

Rei growled. “I was never IN LOVE WITH HER, it was just that one night and--”

Michiru sighed, smiled, and took a drink of her wine.

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emphasis-all-mine · 7 years ago

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Paper Skin Trivia/Headcanons

Well, here’s my (abbreviated) Paper Skin headcanon/trivia lists for the main characters. Let me know if you have any questions or want me to expand any more?

Lance

Cuban and Spanish, raised by his Mom and Grandma, came to US when he was 4.

06/21 ETA: Born a werewolf, as were his brothers and sister (werewolf bloodlines in this AU are Matrilineal and he's descended of only wolfmothers, more on that soooooon).

Refers to Cindy as Mama Garrett and Henry by his first name because he is still a little detached (was raised without his dad present in Cuba so it feels weird)

Loves to climb trees and go up high, instinctively longs to climb mountains.

Didn't do that great at school so he decided to put off college and wound up becoming a jack-of-all-trades and a self-taught chef.

Cooking helps him remember his mother, makes him feel closer to her.

Is a cat person, doesn't like dogs and especially hates coyotes and jackals instinctively. (Will try to maul a jackal on sight. Coyotes just get angry growls.)

LOVES cats of all kinds. Will befriend mountain lions during full moon much to their surprise, or break into a zoo and make nice with all the big cats if left unattended.

Okay so one time when he was a teenager he got into the Bronx Zoo and first tried to chill with the leopards/black panther in the jungle exhibit but it was closed, then he tried to go see the snow leopards & the tigers but couldn't get into their enclosures. Somehow figured out how to get to the Lions.

He mauled a rare deer and dragged it into the Lion enclosure to present to them and become an honorary member of the pride.

The Garretts and some other members of their pack had to break in and drag him away

The Lions were not happy that they lost their new pack member but got over it.

Whenever he visits the zoo as a guest you could SWEAR they recognize him and call out to him.

When he's a wolf he prefers deer or other hoofed mammals and second favorite is rodents. (Ends up eating birds just because of his natural tree-climbing instincts. Also he knows Hunk likes them so he brings him pigeons and quails.)

All time favorite thing he's eaten as a wolf was a Moose that he caught for Keith (will explain in a future chapter) with a very lost and confused Caribou as a runner up.

Least favorite is crow or birds of prey but he gets short-sighted when he's wolfy and sometimes just hunts for the thrill of it. He's taken down a red-tailed hawk and an Eagle owl.

Favorite music: Shakira (prefers her ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?-era stuff), Gorillaz, TV on the Radio, Robyn, Rihanna

Keith

Was brought into the Shirogane clan at around age 12/13.

Identifies as Asian-American since his Dad was part Korean but does not know where his mom came from. Assumes she was of a mixed background as well.

His dad was sired by Akira Kogane, who was of Chinese and Japanese descent so he wonders if that filters down with vampire progeny?

Speaks very little Japanese, enough to answer Shiro if he uses a well-known phrase but not enough to converse

Has a recurring nightmare where tree branches start growing out of his throat and choke him

Really wants a motorcycle but will settle for a car of his own. Doesn't want Shiro to buy it, he's saving his own money.

He's actually a very good driver and Shiro will let him drive his vehicles.

Studied outside of school with help from coven members that were teachers as also some help from Pidge and the Holts so he was able to get his GED at 19

Very glad he has Umbra for a pet because she is very good at helping him figure out the time of day based on her behavior and feeding habits (yes he forgets that his phone will tell him the time and weather conditions because he is so used to living completely indoors)

Has a bug-out room in the apartment he shares with Lance. It's much bigger than the closet corner and has room for some emergency supplies and he's put up some corkboards on the walls.

Prefers type O blood and tries to avoid AB because it's like OJ with pulp (there's too much extra antigens in it). Loves pork blood when it's Lance's recipe.

Favorite music: Dolly Parton, The Cure, MCR, Siouxsie & the Banshees and PJ Harvey

Hunk

Born a werewolf, mostly Grey wolf but there's some Asian/Japanese wolf ancestry

Full name is Tsuyoshi Garrett (born Tsuyoshi Seido but had it legally changed when Henry Garrett adopted him)

His mom is Cynthia Tsukiyama-Garrett, and birth father is Tsutomo "Tommy" Seido

He considers Henry Garrett his Dad, hence why he took his last name instead of going by Seido or changing it to Tsukiyama

Henry gave Hunk his nickname after his half-brothers teased him about being a "runt"

Was great at school and did some undergrad at Hunter, then left to go to culinary school.

He finished culinary school and worked at his Mom's bar while trying to figure out if he really wanted to work in a fancy restaurant that wouldn't give him time away for full moon stuff

First time he met Shay he choked on his own spit because his mouth went dry and he nearly passed out

Second time was a better impression, his little sisters both caught the flu and were in wolf-form and was finally able to be his sweet charming self because he was so focused on his sisters' well-being that he forgot to freak out that the pretty veterinarian was smiling at him.

Had a full blown panic attack when he cooked for Shay without knowing she was a vegetarian and inadvertently won her heart with how caring and concerned he was.

Is practicing making Kushari because Shay's family is Egyptian and he wants to impress them. He already makes fantastic hummus.

His preferred food as a wolf is any kind of fowl (sparrow, chicken, turkey, etc.) Secretly loves peacock, but resists the urge to break back into St. John the Divine's Cathedral to snarf one up.

Least favorite food as a wolf is any kind of seafood or fish. Loves them as a human but finds them too bony and briny when wolfed-out.

Favorite music: Matt and Kim, LCD Soundsystem, Beck, The Hold Steady, Broken Social Scene

Pidge

Irish-Italian, her parents are very lapsed Catholics

Currently in High School and will end up at Columbia after timeskip

Needs to study an animal before trying to shift. Often pictures or online video is enough but really does prefer to be up close and personal so she can nail any vocalizations that the audio distorts or doesn't quite catch.

Her dad has a mastery of most animal forms and also can do inanimate objects. Pidge will work on that next. It takes a lot of concentration and holding her breath

Keith is her favorite because he'll support her delinquency (he doesn't realize it) and she likes helping him figure societal conventions out. They talk or visit at least once a week if not more.

Pidge would make Keith do her homework as a way of home-schooling him (and it also reinforced whatever she was learning, meaning she'd ace every subject and test), it dropped off after Keith got his GED and started working. Schoolwork still is rather easy for her after so many years of teaching herself good study habits by tutoring Keith.

Shiro being ageless is a stable presence in her life, but she thinks of him as more of her brother's friend or like an eccentric uncle

(Pidge has many eccentric uncles and aunts due to her family being half fae descendants, and half metahumans)

Her favorite food is pancakes. Least favorite is eggplant.

Favorite music: Zoë Keating, Tricky, Portishead, Massive Attack, Modest Mouse

Allura

Was introduced to the underground supernatural community of NYC by her godfather, Coran.

Born and raised in London. Westbourne Gardens area.

Came to the US on student visa and goes to grad school for biochem. Phlebotomy is a way for her to make money and help out Shiro, as Coran's family has known of his for years

No, she doesn't know why Coran has that accent even though he's lived in Brooklyn for as long as she knows

Her pet "mice" are actually Degus. She likes carrying them around in her pockets or purse, they are very well-behaved.

She's never going to bring them NEAR Lance because she knows how much he loves eating fuzzy little rodents

Her favorite food is Candy Floss, least favorite is tomatoes.

Favorite music: Nina Simone, Lana Del Rey, anything Stevie Nicks has done, Ms. Dynamite and Kylie Minogue

Shiro

Names all his businesses after vampire things because he believes in hiding in plain sight (Shuten-dōji was the yokai/vampire that turned him)

Didn't return to his hometown after being turned into a vampire. Was too ashamed and scared he would hurt them. His neighbors and friends assumed he died in the Great Tenmei famine.

Despite his issues with aging, he's tried dying his hair but it looks awful so he just leaves the white streak

Was a very good horseback rider in his youth. Joined the military and was a skilled fighter.

It took a while for him to adjust to motor vehicles. He hit Hunk's grandmother with his car, (but that's how he found the Tsukiyama pack so it worked out and she was fine.)

First cat was named Bobō, a calico. Current cat is Kikō, a tabby.

Prefers type B blood but will settle for O or AB. Type A makes him sneeze after he eats.

Not really a music fan, prefers quiet. He really liked jazz when he first heard it so he sometimes puts on very old, worn-out LPs.

He answers to Takashi or Shiro. Shi-kun or Shi-chan to friends that use his honorifics, later Shiro-kun or Shiro-chan, when he took the nickname referring to the white streak in his hair.

He still has a bad habit of not responding if people address him by Shirogane alone.

(Because "Shirogane-san" was his twin's preferred name)

#em rambles #Paper Skin #paper skin lore #fic: paper skin #klance #vampire keith #werewolf lance #em answers #anonymous

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dyketectivecomics · 7 years ago

Note

{{ Okay, as a fellow aficionado of playlists, I HAVE. TO ASK. About those songs you've chosen! Throw 5k at me, I DON'T MIND! But I'm dead-serious and deadly curious about what soundtrack I should be imagining for Magic Fam scenes. ;P (Maybe pick your Top 10, because Attention Spans are a thing. but if you want to make it into a full-blown lyrical analysis project, I'm totally down for reading that, too.)

I tried to pare this down as much as possible (kept around 1k so theres that!) w/out being too rambly, & still including a bit over that 10 bc i can’t PICK THINGS, but without any further ado & in no particular order~

Have Some Magic Fam’s Greatest Hits/Must Hears (under the cut):

- I’d say p much All of Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nick’s is worth listening to, but some highlights i wanna point out real quick are gonna be “Hold Me”, “Little Lies”, and Nick’s “Whole Lotta Trouble”.While most of these will have the greatest frame of reference with an Idealized Version of John & Zee’s relationship, the purely mystical sounds that they bring into their music also lends itself to something that I can only describe as nostalgic for myself. My dad played a lot of Fleetwood/Nicks when i was younger & its the kind of sound that you can put on as bg, just allowing yourself to get lost in the music or let it drift softly w/out taking too much attention. It’s the kind of music that i absolutely see Constantine & Zatanna reaching as a middle ground (what w/ John being very punk rock, and Zee i see as being an absolute sucker for pop) Its just a very happy middle & represents an idyllic childhood I’d want for Raven.

-Moving up to Angsty Teen Years, and doing a lot of projection in the mean time: i’d push/encourage listening to Linkin Park and Flyleaf. But not their heavier stuff, no. Start with something like “Shadow of the Day” & “Leave Out All the Rest” (LPs) and “There for You” (flyleaf). I absolutely headcanon Raven (in any canon) being introduced to Flyleaf thru Aunt Alice (as a way to try to Connect through a musical middle ground for reasons that would be Obvious for anyone who knows the band’s history/focus a bit more on the lyrics for certain songs…). By the time Raven meets Rose (who would introduce her to LP) she’d absolutely start edging into a Goth/Emo/Scene phase. #LetRavenHaveACringyTeenPhase2kwhatever like, just imagine her screaming her head off to “One Step Closer” while Constantine’s in the next room like ‘not my style, but good for u kid’ while he slowly turns up The Clash

-Honorable Mentions bc they have more to do w/ general relationship dynamics include:“(They Long To Be) Close to You” by The Carpenters, this is v self-indulgent, bc Simpsons fans might remember this is Homer & Marge’s song. it absolutely falls in line w/ Fleetwood as being a Love Anthem during Rae’s childhood before John n Zee move slowly into their Little Lies phase if you will“Sins of My Youth” by Neon Trees, where you start to see some breakdown btwn the two. bc the reality is that they’re BOTH weighed down by things in their past, and unless they really WORK at those things (which 9/10 john usually ISN’T) then they WILL start to break apart. helps that theres an extra layer/theme of addiction which i think adds to the tone of the song as well as hits the nail a little on the head (which brings me to the next song…)“Demons” by Imagine Dragons, (gonna show my 2010s scene phase a bit here) bc this one is HELLA on the nose/cliche for all of them, BUT YA NEED TO BE A BIT CLICHE SOMETIMES OK? this song just WORKS so well for them all and its… not quite a bop, but like? its Good. it’s Been Good and I’m so sad that it got so overplayed when first released to the point of oversaturation, its a Shame“You Learn” by Alanis Morissette, funnily enough, i was listening to this one while driving, and like? so many little Zatanna & Raven ideas kept popping into my head. it really helped to help form ideas and tone of how i want their relationship to be, and provided a great stepping stone like getting into the zone for writing that most recent chapter of Retrieval (& @squiddybeifong i actually rlly wanna rec this one esp & feel free to give the rest of these, in case where you were wondering how trash my music taste is for this AU lmao)

TBH i think ima break my music library overall like this for this AU:

70s rock/pop absolutely encompasses Raven’s childhood, so ages 5-10/11. Anything 90s Punk/early Aughts Alt Rock is Raven’s Teen Angst Phase in SPADES. On the opposite end of that, Zatanna & Raven’s relationship could probably be encompassed by the feelings I get from listening to 90s pop/rock, and Constantine & Rae’s would be more U2/80s-ish, think “Sunday Bloody Sunday” or maybe “With or Without You” vibes would be better? NO WAIT “Stay (Faraway, So Close!)” THAT ONES DEF A GOOD ONE FOR THEM BOTH UGHHHH- everything else gets sorted into Particular Circumstances & Feelings/Events… and there’s couple of those so-

Last but not least, while I don’t see Raven being quite the romantic thats presented in this song, “The Only Exception” by Paramore also includes a lot of that great relationship angst that anyone who’s seen their parents go through bad breaks & have it negatively affect how they enter their own relationships… yeah, i’ve said a lot there, that probably didn’t rlly need explaining for such a simple song but like… it Works for this dynamic, esp since John & Zee aren’t MEANT to completely last in this. not without a lot of work that I’m still… trying to be sure that they want to work out, if that makes sense? (bc i know what *I* want but that might not necessarily be where they take me lmao)

tl;dr- i have shit music taste bc my own parents raised me on a lot of shit that they loved

#asked and answered #beyondthetemples #randywrites #au: magic foster family #TBH top three would probably be Only Exception. Stay. and Demons #like. for all of their dynamics and how they affect each other. those three would be like. Main Themes probably #but i just HAD to include EVERY LITTLE THING LFKD:JA:KFDKSJ #someone stop me plz and introduce me to more music #moms been playing a lot of clannad which has been.... an experience in our house rn #its not bad but like...... she Never Played it Before and i kinda understand why my dad stopped her lmao #anyways...... yeah *jazz hands*

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