#Their lance can turn into other weapons but they prefer the lance form unless they don't have their shield in hand

[spidersandtomatos]

A friend opened my third eye when they suggested GK with a whip.

[lxiewrites]

Please don’t tell your husband

ao3

“Thank you again, Paladin Keith, we are extremely blessed to have you as our witness—“

Keith made some sort of affirmative noise, the chattering of the diplomat of the Vex region fading into the background as he looked around. His surroundings looked like some sort of twisty purple-pink monstrosity from a Dr. Seuss book.

If he asked to have someone else take over for this job then his eyes wouldn’t be straining from the extra day-glo pink but the planet’s leaders asked for him specifically months ago, and Krolia thought it would give them an extra edge in the coalition negotiations once the planet was reunified.

“—I hope our protection is satisfactory for you, Paladin Keith, though, I am sure one of the greatest heroes of the universe could take care of himself, hoho—“

He wondered how Lance would’ve handled this. He probably would’ve been chatting up a storm and getting the leaders on his side before this trust ritual. Maybe he would’ve been able to avoid it all together. He’s not too sure how he would feel trusting someone not to shoot him in the back after years of being enemies… except for Lance that is. But they weren’t really enemies and they worked it out without actively shooting at each other.

Ugh, he missed him.

“—it’s such a pity the Tnokians forbade the Blue Paladin from coming but what can you do, they’re as trusting as a rejiin, but I’m sure everything will go accordingly, ahaha—“

“I’m sure,” Keith said. Lance really didn’t like Keith going by himself. Quite possibly because the last few missions he got hurt but the planet Venkan was peaceful for centuries even with the divided people. But Keith basked in the attention lathered on him anyway.

“—completely safe. As soon as it’s over we shall host a feast! Un-unless you wish to return to your husband if you prefer—“

“Uh-huh,” Keith murmured, eyes scanning the purple hills for any sign for the Tnokians. The Prime Vex was right, the faster they started the faster he could go.

Keith didn’t know much about the planet’s time but he was pretty sure they were late. It’s just been him, the Vex’s leader, and five Vexian guards standing on a stupid purple hill for at least ten doobashes past the agreed time.

He looked to the Prime Vex, who looked like a blob of yellow jello with a bulbous nose and beady eyes squeezed into some sort of formal attire. He cut off the nervous rambling of the Vexian. “Excuse me, Prime Vex but shouldn’t they be here already?”

The Prime Vex’s nose quivered, Keith still hadn’t decided if it was also his mouth or if his mouth was just hidden somewhere. “Ah, Tnokians are always late. It would be a surprise if they ever arrived on time. But they should arrive shortly—ah, there they are!”

Keith could see a similar group of jello blobs marching their way up the hill, their jelly-like bodies jiggling with every step. They looked completely indistinguishable from the Vexians except their formal attire were robes that flowed with them versus the Vexian’s stiff suits loaded down with medals that tried to contain their jiggling.

“Red Paladin!” The Tnokian with the purple robes cried, their beady little eyes lifting into upside-down crescent moons. He grabbed his hand and shook vigorously. “It is a pleasure to meet you!”

“Please,” Keith said, extracting his hand. “Just call me Keith.”

“As you wish Paladin Keith!” The Tnokian looked to him to the Vex that was silently standing next to him, leaning close to whisper, “I suppose you are bored out of your mind waiting with a Vex.”

Prime Vex jiggled with a huff, nose going up into the air. He walked over to one of his guards and took their lasergun. “Let us conduct the peace ritual.”

Keith cleared his throat, arms crossing as he backed away from the two Primes. The Vexians and Tnokians entourage flanking him on either side. Keith closed his eyes and took a deep breath, blocking out the disgruntled mumbling on either side of him.

“I, the former Red and Black Paladin of Voltron, will witness the peace ritual between the Vexians and the Tnokians. At ten paces the Primes shall turn and trust the other will uphold peace.”

The peace ritual went without a hitch. The Primes stood back to back, taking a step at Keith’s count. At the count of ten they turned around and both shot into the air, upholding the peace between the two factions.

He wasn’t entirely sure what he would’ve done if one of them shot the other, but he was just glad he didn’t have to deal with a civil war.

Both of the Vexians and Tnokians walked back in a big group to the Vexian castle for the promised feast. He walked behind the Primes, the tentative peace unfortunately did not mean they would hold back disguised barbs at the other.

“How is the court in Tnok? Oh, I’m sure you would meet much more beautiful Venkans once we establish peace parties.”

“Mmm, didn’at Vex have the worker strike? I’m sure the parties in Tnok would be much better—“

“But it’s almost winter on your side, yes? So dark and gloomy.”

Keith gritted his teeth, his patience for these hoity toity jello minions wearing thin. Behind him was not much better, veiled insults flinging like gunfire on a battlefield. This must have been why this planet was so “peaceful” the past centuries.

He pinched the space between his brows where a headache was forming, trying to block out the chatter when a familiar whirr booted up behind him. Lunging forward he pushed the two Primes to the ground, lasers sounding off behind him.

Rolling, shield activating, he took out his bayard, the form falling into the familiar shape of his sword as he kneeled in front of the Primes to give them cover.

Except no one was shooting at the Primes.

Each of the bodyguards were shooting at each other.

Each of them flinging worse and worse insults at each other ranging from how ugly their wives were to how they enjoyed their mothers’ company.

Keith could feel a steady heat building in his chest, racing up his face until it felt like he could spit fire. He threw down his sword, the end sticking into the purple grass, his shield dematerializing. “Are you KIDDING ME?!”

He marched over and yanked a Tnokian back by the back of his blue robes, his shots firing into the sky. “This is supposed to be a peace ritual!”

The Primes rushed over, commanding their men to stop firing.

Patience yields focus was on loop in his head. Breathing deep he took the Tnokian’s laser gun at shot at the Vex’s shield until it disintegrated, their weapon falling to the ground a second later. He wasn’t as good of a shot as Lance but he picked up a few things over the years.

He shattered another shield. “Everyone, stop! Shoot—gah!”

Fire burned through the thin under armor of his Paladin uniform, his side in agony as his skin bubbled from the laserfire, barely protected from the armor. His breath hissed through his teeth as his hand hovered above the wound. The flesh bubbling and oozing and fire engine red.

The Vexian Prime rushed over, the rest of the guards lowering their weapons gaping at him in horror. The Vexian Prime’s swollen yellow hands fluttered over him. “Oh! Oh dear Vishka. Vishka, Vishka, Vishka, are you all right?!”

Keith gritted his teeth, his side throbbing from the burn. He didn’t know if it was second degree or third degree but it felt like third degree. Tears streamed down his face unbidden, trying to breathe through the pain, gingerly dropping to the ground. “Do you have. Healing pods.”

“No, but-but we have excellent healers! One of you go! Go get a healer!” The Prime Vexian turned back to him, “You will be all right, Paladin Keith, don’t you worry! Vex has the finest healers of the planet. Just—let’s keep this between us, no need to discuss this with your husband.”

“What?”

“We have heard stories of the Blue Paladin, fearsome stories of when you have been in danger.” The Vexian bowed his head, hands coming up in a pleading gesture. “Please, do not tell your husband of what transpired.”

Keith groaned and tipped over, burying his face in the soft purple grass. “Don’t worry, you’re not the one he’ll be mad at.”

[noneatnonedotcom]

The Enemy Above

Onboard the VCS Wicker Man a young huntsman sat, beside him, the crew of the ship hurried about their jobs. The previous captain, having suffered a wound in a recent skirmish with atlas, was missing leaving jaune in charge of the bridge and the team of huntresses down below. 

Team ABRY or ambry as they were known, had been formed in battle. The white fang had assaulted the dust stores used for the ships in Vale. Only a timely intervention by blake (their resident secret faunas who wasn’t so secret to jaune) had seen the scheme thwarted. And only the assistance of yang and ruby had let him actually pull off his plan to stop them.

After that, he’d claimed blake as a fellow hunter and ozpin had shown up to back his claim (a good thing too as a faunas outside of menagerie was unheard of and would have resulted in her getting jailed alongside her former comrades, it likely would have been death for her and they both knew it) the only cost for the assist was that their new team become permanent. They’d done more missions in their time as huntsmen-in-training of vale than most adults and with the war between atlas and vale heating up had been stationed on a frigate to hopefully stay out of trouble. The betrayal of team CVFY and the revelation of velvet to be a faunas had quickly put the kibosh on that.

Now having had the ship repaired they were returning to vale proper to get their new captain to work in concert with jaune.

“Sir Arc,” came a voice to his side “we’re picking up something strange on the radar”

He looked over at the crewman “what kind of something?”

“It looks like another ship”

Jaune frowned, he wasn’t sure they could handle another fight “have there been any reports around this route before?”

“No sir no reports”

Jaune frowned “none at all?”

An older crewman came over to look “ah, the kids just picked up a radar reflection, see there? The other ship is copying our exact speed and turning” the older woman looked to jaune “nothing to worry about Sir Arc”

Jaune frowned more, he could feel it in his gut something wasn’t right. And after the last few times, he wasn’t willing to risk it just being a feeling. He touched a button and called down to his team “ruby, yang, blake, report to the bridge immediately. Weapons with you. And pick up my armor as well, would you?”

It was yang’s voice that came over the line “feeling fancy captain? You want the cape with it?”

“I’m not a captain yang, and yeah I got the feeling I’m gonna have to make an impression here” he sighed as she signed off “helmsman alter our course a little, bring us close to that peak into cloud bank”

“Aye sir” came the voice and jaune went to the ready room, trying desperately to suppress the feeling of dread he felt 

Onboard the AS Anguilla, a young Weiss Schnee stalked her prey. She was young the youngest specialist in the Atlan naval core but she was the best, second only to perhaps her older sister winter. 

Some whispered of buying her station at the start of the war but she had shown through her victories that they were simply idle chatter of the lesser classes. She was the best of the best. And that was why she had to question the point of sending her after this Jaune Arc.

Yes, he was just as young as her and still in a command position but the valeian savages didn’t have their own robust command structure. He likely had no real tactical training and no further support. If there was any advantage to the lance doctrine of vale it was that it was utterly chaotic and the brutes seemed to thrive on that.

His ship was a standard ship of the primitive people, a frigate class. Though she noticed the above standard set of three five-inch guns of a strange make on the deck of the ship. It was a gravity dust forged hull, with hard light dust forged armor plating, it was faster than her own cruiser but her own weapons were something to behold. 

Nine eight-inch-guns, and ten smaller 5-inch guns of her own. Her hull was also made of gravity dust forged steel and her armor was a true hard light shield an advancement that had seen her ship through combat action after combat action. Her heavy cruiser was also equipped with a heavy MAC cannon. Something that was more than enough to see her through taking vale itself. For what ship or station could hope to survive a ball of molten plasma the size of a small ship fired at it?

Yes, this would be a simple mission and she would go home to her sister with just another feather in her cap.

“Okay so let’s assume you’re not going insane,” said blake sitting on a chair as ruby and yang helped their leader into his armor “why the cloud bank, all they have to do is wait for us to break out of it when we run they can just go above it. At least for a short while”

“And if it’s as big as you say,” said ruby grunting to latch a final strap “even out coil guns aren’t gonna do much”

“We have a couple of tungsten rounds left from our fight with CFVY,” said yang

“So… we’ll be able to hurt them a little before we blow up?”

“We can’t outrun them,” said jaune “we’re faster but the range they have would mean we’re gonna be full of holes before we can even get a radio signal out”

“We still don’t know they’re there,” said blake “there are no reports of anything being wrong around here”

“Exactly,” said jaune latching his cape onto his armor “we’ve got no reports, none! When was the last time you had a huntsman not complain about lack of combat? Or even Grimm?”

Blake’s eyes widened “oh shit, and you’re saying it has to be a big ship because-”

“ a small ship wouldn’t be able to destroy a cruiser before they could radio out for help,” said ruby

“And a ship without reach wouldn’t be able to stop the smaller ones,” said jaune nodding his head

Yang blew a strand of hair out of her face “this is why I prefer fighting on the ground, less thinking involved”

Jaune laughed “that’s typically because I’m too busy screaming to come up with a plan”

Ruby smiled “but you always look out for us”

Blake nodded “it might still be nothing,” she said closing her book “but I’m more than willing to trust your judgment”

Yang cracked her knuckles “so what’s the plan?”

“We go into the cloud bank, they’ll have t follow us because they’re trying to convince us they’re a radar reflection. We jam the radar once we’re in”

“We’ll be blind then,” said blake 

“But we still have that weather device thing installed, we’ll be able to see them based on cloud displacement,” said jaune with a smirk

“And they’re big enough that we’ll actually pick up on it unlike us who will look like an eddy in the wind if they’re even carrying meteorological equipment” blake finished for him

“They should be,” said ruby “a ship that big would be a shame to lose it to something as simple as a summer storm”

“WE’VE LOST RADAR” came the shout of her crew 

Weiss cursed “clever bastard, had us figured from the start, well you can’t hide for” she froze he wouldn’t be hiding, he was a smart enough commander to know she was chasing him  “ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT, SHIELDS UP! HELMSMAN GET US OUT OF THIS CLOUD BANK!” she shouted orders at a rapid rate barely getting her ship’s shields up in time to block five of the six rounds. The first somehow tearing through her hull like tissue paper.

“FIND HIM!” she shouted as her crew scrambled to get their other systems working “DAMAGE REPORT!” 

“HULL BREACH ON LEVEL FOUR. CIRCUITRY WAS HIT BUT AUXILIARY SYSTEMS ARE FINE. HE MISSED OUR WEAPONS AND ENGINES BY A FEW INCHES WE WERE LUCKY MA’AM” came the voice of penny hooked into their intercoms

“HOW LONG TILL WE’RE COMBAT READY?” asked Weiss shouting to be heard over the alarms

“WEAPONS ARE ONLINE, FUEL FOR SHIELDS IS LOW. WE’VE LOST THE ABILITY FOR A DRAWN OUT ENGAGEMENT MA’AM. I RECOMMEND RETREAT HE’S BEATEN US”

“NOT YET HE HASN’T!”  shouted Weiss “HOW MANY EDDIES DO WE SEE?”

“WHAT?”  asked a crewman

“HOW MANY!”

“SIX”

“FIRE ON ALL OF THEM!”

Jaune cursed as dust rounds flew past his ship exploding and tossing them about. She didn’t know where they were but she was just going to fire on every eddy. And eventually, she’d hit them, what was her game? She wouldn’t panic unless! “Full astern!” he shouted as the ship moved back rapidly not a second too soon as in the exact place he was before a massive light passed through the open-air scenting the air with ozone 

“OH FUCK!” shouted yang summing up everyone’s feelings on the matter

“WHAT WAS THAT?!” yelled blake covering her ears 

“JAUNE!” shouted ruby clinging too him

“Open fire and move us out of here, I want continuous fire! Not a second for them to get that ready. Use out light ammo we’re not getting through that shield!” he did his best to keep his voice level. Right now he needed to get distance. He just had to make it to nightfall but to do that he needed to prevent that weapon from firing and he was guessing that something like that required a lot of power. Maybe enough that they had to drop their shields to use it. If not…

Well, fuck it shooting it made them all feel better at least.

The gunbattle lasted hours as flashes lit up the clouds. The wicker man could fire and move but all it would take is one hit and they were toast more to the point the enemy ship had exited the clouds earlier and now the only reason he knew where the damn thing was was that it wanted him to shoot at it so it could shoot back, meanwhile unknown to the vale ship. The fuel for the shields was running low. The stockpile of hard light dust was not infinite and that initial shot had been plenty lucky but the constant firing gave her own crew a chance to catch them as the angle of impact gave them away. 

The sounds of battle faded with the setting of the sun as The Anguilla surveyed the cloud bank below it. 

“We’re out of hard light dust ma’am” came the words of Penny “I would recommend retreat”

“We run and he’ll gun us down,” said Weiss “the second we give away our position he’ll fire and now we don’t have the shields to protect us” she cursed her own temper. She just had to be the best. 

Now her crew’s blood was on her hands

“Our only hope,” she said raising her voice “ is to find them before they find us, and destroy them. I’m ordering complete silence”

She sat there, they sat there. For hours. Eight in total of complete silence. And in the first, she’d realized that jaune Arc had to be doing the same. It would be the one who blinked first that would lose. 

The tension was the worst part of it. The constant fear.

It was at the end of the eighth hour that she heard it

“MY BODY IS A CAGE OF FLAMES” came a voice in the darkness she sat stunned as the crew began to bring their guns about

“THE BURNING YET VERDANT GIANT!”  what was he doing?

“RETRIBUTION, A SHRINE THAT PRESIDES OVER HUMAN AFFAIRS AND PURIFIES THEM” had he lost his mind? Was the pressure just too much for him?

“I AM THE ONE WHO DESTROYS!” 

Weiss realised it too late “NO WAIT!”

Her men fired and the flash of her guns lit up an automated message buoy floating through the clouds

“THE WICKER MAN!” three sets of five-inch guns fired tungsten rounds from their electromagnetic barrels. 

Of course. That’s why he was able to pierce her hull so easily once he got past the shield

They tore through her ship hitting the engines. The force of the explosion knocked her out.

Her last thoughts were “he’s a sorcerer. Able to pull the very thoughts from my head”

Jaune stood overlooking his med bay, really it was the brig but they’d had to refurbish it for the crew they’d dragged from The Anguilla.

“This all of them?” he asked Ruby as she walked up behind him

“Yeah, only these ten, standard crew was three hundred and twenty-two”

Jaune tried not to let the number get to him “it’ll be worst for her” he said looking at the captain “I know the feeling”

“You did pretty well I’d say”

Jaune shook his head “I’m not made for this Ruby. That entire battle those men looked to me and…” they both fell silent

“What if I had made the wrong choice?” he asked in the quiet of the room

“Then we’d adapt,” said Ruby “we’re not like Atlas, we trust you jaune but we’re not helpless without you. If you made a mistake we’d have called you on it. Just like I’m doing now”

He turned to look at her only to catch a non plused look from Ruby  “you’re an idiot, jaune” she said in the stunned silence “you’re your own greatest critic and if we caught anyone talking about you the way you talk about yourself we’d kick their ass. You won today, against a ship you had no business winning against. They had you beat in firepower, tech, they had every advantage and a commander almost as good as you on top of it, and you pulled victory from the jaws of defeat. You saved us. Have some damn pride!”

He chuckled shaking his head “we’re taking a vacation the second we get back to vale”

“Oh can we visit patch?” asked ruby surprising jaune

“Yeah we really should check on the old man huh?” said yang appearing out of nowhere 

“Already taking him to meet your father huh? Asked blake with a teasing tone

“I-i- no it’s not, well I wouldn’t mind... The thing is” ruby flushed red and tried to force a sentence out 

“Eh captain here wants to give me or ruby a shot I wouldn’t mind,” said yang with a smirk. “or maybe you want us both, so greedy captain” a wink and Jaune let himself get caught up in the moment blushing and stammering.

When they got back to vale, he’d most likely get a bunch of medals or something. He’d be paraded around as a hero for all the little huntsmen in training and that would bring all sorts of troubles for his team and him but for now, he’d just bask in the comfort of yang ruby and blake all acting like they were flirting with him and pretend it might actually happen one day.

He had his team, that was all he needed

________________________________________________________________

so this was an experiment, please give my some feedback about it. but the general idea is that it’s based off the ideal huntsman system i speculated about a while back. it’s based off some space battles i watched way back when and i did my best with it. 

if you can guess which battle in particular i’m mimicking let me know too but seriously let me know what you thought of the story

[raymondshields]

For the ask game, all of them~?

Dove - How do you express love?

Wish I fuckin’ knew! :p I suffer from chronic Wants To Help disease, it’s genetic, I got it from my dad. I do a lot of verbal affection, my executive dysfunction prevents me from doing much in the way of actual actions but I’m working on it. I really enjoy listening and talking and being open and talking deep stuff. But mostly I just. I Wanna Help.

Record Player - Love songs or breakup songs?

Love songs, mostly ‘cause I don’t care for breakup songs. Don’t need ‘em, don’t want ‘em. Unless I can assign them to a character. (Most of the songs I listen to are Character Songs. Seanan McGuire’s Follow Me Down is an Albafica song, I don’t make the rules.)

Stargaze - Celebrity crush?

[vague shrugging in the general direction of Gemini Aspros, I guess??]

Planter - Do you have a green thumb?

I wish. :’) It’s kind of ironic. I’m a plant. Why can’t I grow my fellows.

Linen - Do you prefer being friends with someone before starting a romantic relationship with them or starting straight into love?

If I never met Kiril and didn’t have that connection with anyone, and acknowledging that I’m aro; I’d go for the latter. If we start dating, and then I find out your personality sucks, then I’m just brutal enough that I can ditch you when I stop enjoying your presence and not feel bad about it. If we start as friends first, that’s a nightmare, because I won’t want to ruin that, and I’ll stay forever pining and going ‘haha... unless?’ and while that’s fair and genuine, that’s when it sucks the most, because that’s when I get jealous and territorial and can’t do fuckall about it. I’d rather a few moments of brutality over basically ripping apart a relationship I genuinely loved because I suck at humaning.

(That being said - Kiril and I started out as friends, and I wouldn’t change us for the world. And my jealousy and brutality turned out to be useful. @ Fuckhands McGee: suck it. I win.)

Valentine - Do you like pda?

FUCK YEA. I mean, I don’t mean ‘eating each other’s face’ or public sex. But I have the most rock-solid relationship of anyone I know who isn’t flat-out married (Bird and Wavy are marriage goals, tbh) and I will show that off. Look at how much better we are than everyone, look at how we’re nothing like you, and you will never have anything like what we do with each other. Look upon us with disgust, if you want. I’ll keep laughing, because there’s an honesty here you’ll never find. 

I’m a jealous, territorial, prideful bastard. It turns to smugness sometimes. I’m allowed.

Succulent - What are you looking forward to?

Please world. Give us a damn vaccine so I can go back to school and get my life back on track. Please. Right up until quarantine I was finally getting better. The stupid consolation everyone told me that college would be better was actually right. End this nightmare. I want to be free.

Bath bomb - What is the best form of self care?

Me not being quarantined with Kiril is homophobia, I hope y’all know. But I really do enjoy the far and few between days where my entire family is out and won’t be home until way late, so I have the day to myself. It’s rainy in the early morning, I get up actually early, do some witchcraft and my chores, it stops raining and gets sunny and warm with a little bit of wind, and I go get breakfast, spend the late morning out on the bike, come home, bring lunch home, spend the afternoon doing more witchcraft or writing, make myself dinner, take a walk, and either code or watch a movie and shower and head to bed and I do not get bothered by my family.

Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but cabin fever and never getting any actual home-alone time is killing me. :’)

Roadtrip - Where is the farthest you’ve been from home?

Washington DC, and slightly closer, Montreal, and even closer, Burlington Vermont! DC was a work trip with my dad, we went for a week in early August and I will never do that again as long as I live. 40C and humid, ugh, I was melting. (It was awesome, though.) Montreal was my grade 7 Quebec trip, during the Carnivale de Quebec which did so not live up to the hype. Burlington I flew out in February to go visit Kiril and Lance, and I really wish I’d been able to stay longer, and spend more time with Lance and Kiril. We never did manage a movie marathon, pity. Maybe next year!

Brown Sugar - What is making your heart warm today?

I got tea, and Kirilka’s being Adorable as usual, and ideas for Camp NaNo, and I think I finally have the works of a design for my toyhou.se bios! 

Pearls - Do you want to get married?

Kiril and I are engaged, so yes. Bring a weapon you know how to use. You’ll need it. (We both know why you’ll need it, and there is an actual reason. But we’re not telling. :p)

Seaside - Ideal date?

Going to see a Shakespeare play and have high tea in full formal with Kiril, of course.

Luna Moth - City or country?

City! I like wilderness pretty good, but farmlands n prairies? Nah. The moor is probably the closest I could get to open plains and like it, and even then, we’ll see when I get there.

Cupcake - Are you in love?

You bet!

Romcom - Is your story a comedy or tragedy?

Neither. I’m an epic poem.

[tacticsroom]

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (Unit Review)

Available at 5★ (Special Hero)

Lvl 40 Stats (Flaw/Neutral/Asset)

HP: 33/37/40 Atk: 32/35/38 Spd: 33/36/39 Def:  21/24/28 Res: 21/25/28

Neutral BST: 161

Max Dragonflowers: 5

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Skills

Weapon: Fiddlestick Bow+ (300 SP)

Mt: 12. Rng: 2.  Effective against flying foes. Grants Def/Res+4 to allies within 2 spaces during combat against sword, lance, axe, dragonstone, or beast foes

Bow. Can be refined. Can be inherited.

Assist: Dance (150 SP)

Grants another action to target ally. (Cannot target an ally with Sing or Dance.) 

Cannot be inherited

Special: None

A: Caldera Dance 2 (240 SP)

If Sing or Dance is used, grants Atk+3 and Def+4 to target.

Can be inherited.

B: None.

C: Spd Tactic 3 (240 SP)

At start of turn, grants Spd+6 to allies within 2 spaces for 1 turn. Granted only if number of that ally's movement type on current team ≤ 2.

Can be inherited.

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Analysis

Dancer Nephenee comes as an offensive refreshing unit, which means she will be able to provide support to her team in the form of dancing and even buffing, while also being able to pull her own weight on the front lines even. With 35 Atk and 36 Spd, Dancer Nephenee beats the once feared Bridal Cordelia by a single point in Spd, but she also has the dancing utilty on top, so it’s safe to say Dancer Nephenee is one of the best infantry archers in the game, and also one of the most versatile units even: she can stick to her role as support if she were to receive an unfavorable flaw/bane, or make her an hyper-offensive unit with a Brave Bow or a Firesweep Bow build.

Dancer Nephenee also had the luck of being introduced in 2019, meaning that her min-maxed statline eclipses almost the entire roster of colorless infantry archers’s. While she may lack a PRF weapon and a better movement type like Brave Lyn or Claude have, Dancer Nephenee is still a very strong offensive unit that can support in a way no other archer can do. She also can have a rather decent Def/Res stat: they are sitting at a lowly 24/25 respectively at base, but with the correct asset/boon (super asset/boon in Def’s case) she can rise either of them to 28, throw in refine and an A skill that boosts her stats like Fury and she can become quite bulky. Her being a colorless archer also helps her, since she will have no color disadvantages bar Raven tomes and it will be way easier to stick her into most teams without having to adjust to color-balancing issues. 

Dancer Nephenee prefers an asset/boon in Atk and Spd, while she prefers a flaw/bane in HP and Res (keep in mind both of these are super flaws/banes, meaning she will lose 4 points instead of 3).

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Similar Units

Cordelia: Perfect Bride (36/35/35/19/22)

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (+1/+0/+1/+5/+3)

Takumi: Empty Vessel (37/31/34/25/24)

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (+0/+4/+2/-1/+5)

Lyn: Brave Lady (35/33/35/18/28)

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (+2/+2/+1/+6/-3)

Claude: The Schemer (39/33/37/20/21)

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (-2/+2/-1/+4/+4)

Jamke: Prince of Verdane (38/36/32/29/17)

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (-1/-1/+4/-5/+7)

Noire: Shade Seeker (36/32/36/27/20)

Nephenee: Sincere Dancer (+1/+3/+0/-3/+5)

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Builds

Budget/Low Investment

If D!Nephenee’s role is desired as a support unit, then she can keep her base kit, unless she is on a team where Tactic skills won’t work, then she can replace Spd Tactic with a Drive skill, or even Close Guard since it works well with her Fiddlestick Bow.

A Spd refine and Fury boosts D!Nephenee’s Spd quite nicely, rising it up to 41, 44 Spd with an asset/boon. It’s recommended to swap Caldera Dance with Wings of Mercy since the latter provides global support and it can be used in a clutch in a GHB/LHB.

Offensive 

Having one of the best offensive statlines for infantry archers in the game, it’s not a bad idea at all to make D!Nephenee a frontliner bruiser despite being a dancer. With 35 Atk and 36 Spd, D!Nephnee has a lot of offensive bow options: Brave, Firesweep, Slaying, Bouquet, Big-Catch, etc. 

For the Brave Bow build, a +Atk/Spd asset/boon is recommended, but not required. While 38 Spd may seem good, in today’s standards it’s a bit low to reliably quad, so she may require team support. If she was unfortunate to get a Spd flaw/bane, she can always ditch her Spd completely and focus completely on Atk, and instead of going with Life and Death/Desperation she can use Death Blow 3/4 and either Chill Def or Spd. 

The Bouquet Bow build is a player phase offensive set, since D!Nephenee shouldn’t really be tanking on enemy phase anyways. With a Spd refined Bouquet Bow and Swift Sparrow 3 (SS2 can work as well), D!Nephenee gets a massive boost to her offenses without even taking IVs or buffs into account: if she initiates combat, her Atk raises to 59 and her Spd to 51, which is way too good for a dancer.

Def Smoke is chosen as her C skill as a way to support her allies, but also for herself if she is ever used along with 3 other dancers to clear a GHB/LHB map (just remember to take off her dance skill so other dancers can, well, dance her.).

Ranged Tank

With the right asset/boon, D!Nephenee can also become quite bulky, and thanks to Guard Bow, she can be an excellent ranged tank in a similar way like Faye does, but the difference is that D!Nephenee provides the dancing utility to the team, while Faye does not.

Combine Guard Bow with Distant Defense on her A skill and as her Sacred Seal she gets +18 to her Def/Res when in combat against a ranged unit, so she would have a total of 42 Def and 43 Res before any IVs, buffs or refines. 

Since a lot of characters have gotten a Raventome refine, Cancel Affinity is chosen as her B skill so she won’t have to fear the likes of Boey, Cecilia or Sophia. Atk Smoke is useful for the occasion she has to tank more than one character at once.

Arena Support/Heavy Investment

With C Duel Infantry, D!Nephenee can also be used on the higher tiers of Arena either as an offensive refresher or a full support dancer. 

While she has a rather limited pool of supportive bows, the ones currently in the game are great (Fiddlestick Bow and Kabura Ya). She can use her native bow along with drive skills, or run a triple chill build with Kabura Ya, Chill Atk on her Sacred Seal, and either Chill Def or Chill Res, depending on what type of damage a bonus unit deals.

To further boost her score in Arena, a Def asset/boon is chosen, though it may not be necessary provided she has C Duel Infantry. Aether is also there merely for Arena points, and Hone Atk 4 is there both as an extra support skill and for Arena scoring.

[kcwcommentary]

VLD8x03 – “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

8x03 – “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”

One thing this episode has going for it is that it’s not difficult to follow the plot. There are so many episodes this season (last episode being one of them) that are incredibly convoluted and confusing. This episode is not one of them.

One of my biggest criticisms about this episode is that it doesn’t feel necessary. Given how much the confusing plot of this season could have benefited from the confusing episodes slowing down and telling the story more clearly, having okay but unnecessary episodes like this one contribute to the season as a whole being confusing. My second main criticism results mostly because of the episode’s title. I don’t think this episode properly depicts a prisoner’s dilemma story, and I would never have compared this episode to the prisoner’s dilemma if the episode had not been named that. It makes me question whether the writer of this episode, assuming he named the episode, actually understands the prisoner’s dilemma. My third main criticism is that Keith presents information about the Ranveig’s superweapon creature that he wouldn’t know based on what we saw of this creature and Keith’s involvement with it in 5x05 “Bloodlines.”

A Galra base detects “six hostile ships,” the five Lions and the Atlas, and almost instantly open fire on them. The Atlas takes out the Galra ground cannons. I guess the Rebels’ ships were being stored on the Atlas because, despite the initial Galra statement that there were “six hostile ships,” the Rebels are here, and Matt and two others dive down to the base. They somehow are able to shut down the base’s power. So, the Galra switch to using some weapons satellites. The show lampshades by having Hunk say, “How did we miss those?” This is the kind of lampshading that I less of a problem with because it’s relatively minor. The show also gives two layers of explanation for how they could have missed them: Allura says the satellites are cloaked and Pidge says that they wormholed past them. Voltron forms to deal with the satellites. I do not know why Voltron needed to use its giant wings upgrade to destroy the satellites; it makes the use of the wings less important when they’re used for what comparatively is a mundane, unemotional task like this.

There’s a montage of Garrison personnel detaining Galra, tending to some wounds, now that the Voltron Coalition controls the base. In command of the base is Lahn, previously seen as a lieutenant of the base in 6x01 “Omega Shield” that the Paladins worked to protect from radiation when the base’s shielding system is damaged. In that episode, Lahn initially turned against his base commander because the base commander recognized Lotor as the Emperor and the base commander worked with Voltron to repair the shield. Lahn got over himself when Hunk yelled at him in that episode. So now, Hunk greets Lahn, but Lahn is back to disliking Voltron. He now identifies, not with the rank of Lieutenant, but as a warlord. This episode doesn’t avoid acknowledging Hunk’s past interaction with Lahn, but I don’t get why Lahn is anti-Voltron now. The way “Omega Shield” ended, Lahn seemed to appreciate Voltron.

Lahn says, “Sendak only attacked the Omega Shield after we pledged loyalty to Voltron.” Uh, no he didn’t. Sendak attacked because they pledged loyalty to Lotor, not because they pledged loyalty to Voltron. I can understand the three-year absence of Voltron could lead to Lahn becoming a warlord, but it feels regressive that he’d be so instantly antagonistic toward Voltron now. It’s like the development of “Omega Shield” is, while acknowledged in this episode, also kind of being ignored by this episode.

Shiro says that they’re there to ask him “to join the Voltron Coalition, to help provide stability to the universe.” Unless I’m misremembering, this is the first time (aside from working with Lotor) that the Voltron Coalition has actively solicited Galra membership in the Coalition. I like that idea a lot because it suggests and symbolizes a new stage of development in the Coalition. Who would have thought back at 3x01 “Changing of the Guard” when building the Voltron Coalition became a major element of the protagonists’ goals that they would eventually be trying to talk Galra into joining?

Lahn asks, “What’s the alternative?” and Shiro replies, “If you want peace, if you want to end this war, there can be no alternative.” Is this supposed to be where the episode’s title is relevant? Is this supposed to be the decision that Lahn, as the titular prisoner, is faced with making? The prisoner’s dilemma is a game theory thought experiment about cooperation, but it’s about two prisoners and whether they’ll cooperate with one another to remain silent, whether one will defect to turn on the other, or whether they both will defect out of thinking the other will defect. The prisoner’s dilemma says that while the most beneficial option is if both prisoners cooperate with each other and remain silent, because both will know the other is offered a benefit to defect and speak against the other, that each will most likely speak out against the other to blunt the effect of the other speaking out against them. So, Lahn is a prisoner here being offered a deal, and he’s debating whether he should take it or not, but who’s the other prisoner the existence of which creates the dilemma? It’s a very specific episode title, and the episode doesn’t really match that specificity.

Keith tries to say that despite “victory or death” being the Galra tradition, that things can be different. Lahn yells, “What do you know of the Galra?” Keith states his being part-Galra and being a Blade of Marmora. Lahn does not have a high opinion of the Blades, calling them “mutinous.” Lahn tried to commit mutiny against his base commander and against Emperor Lotor in “Omega Shield.” Lahn really is hypocritical, applying his traditionalism only when it’s convenient; his supposed preference for Galra tradition was something he rejected in his argument with his base commander, while his base commander cited Galra tradition as proving Lotor’s legitimacy. Of course, here, Lahn expresses racist negative opinions of anyone who’s only part-Galra.

The base receives an odd, repeating communication, which Lahn identifies as a distress beacon from a Galra sentry. Pidge has trouble processing the communication to learn the location it was sent from because apparently Team Voltron used EMPs during their attack, but their usage was never actually shown as part of the attack sequence earlier, so this narratively comes out of nowhere. She does eventually identify the communication source as a Galra cruiser. Lahn identifies the ship as one of several he sent on an assignment sometime prior.

The story feels a bit contrived in removing the Atlas from the upcoming action by having Shiro say it will take them hours still to process all the Galra. So, Voltron alone is going. Lahn reacts incredulously by saying, “Voltron is going to save the Galra?” They literally saved him in “Omega Shield,” so it makes no sense that he would think it absurd that Voltron would save Galra.

Keith takes Lahn with them. Lahn tells them that the ship was “out gathering munitions.” Allura’s reaction is odd, she asks him, “Were they buying them or stealing them?” They’re the Galra, why would she think they were stealing weapons from someone else? For that matter, why would she think they were buying them? The Galra produce their own weapons. Just because the Galra Empire is fractured does not mean that their production facilities have all ceased functioning. Her comment makes no sense. Lahn says, “If you must know, they were salvaging them from an abandoned Galra base.”

They arrive at the cruiser, the one is intact, the others that had been part of the same mission are mostly debris. Keith and Lahn teleport into the cruiser with Cosmo and open an airlock so the other Paladins can jetpack in. Artificial gravity is off. Keith assigns tasks to everyone, and Lahn grumps about being given orders. Hunk and Lance and Keith are looking for survivors in different parts of the ship, while Allura, Pidge, and Lahn are to examine the ship’s security logs to try to figure out what happened to the ship.

Given the problems this series has with its story across its seasons, this really is comparatively minor, but I noticed it and it personally gets to me, so I’m going to talk about it. Allura, Pidge, and Lahn are on the bridge, looking at records. Lahn uses jetpack-like thrusters in his boots to ascend to look out a high window. When he gets to what position he wants to be in, his boot thrusters turn off, and he stops ascending. But they’re in (very near) zero gravity right now. There is no counter force to stop his movement. His boot thrusters just turn off, there is no counter thrust to null his inertia. So, he should keep moving upward instead of becoming stationary. This is a show set in space, so I’m going to often pay attention to how accurate a show depicts physics. This show was inaccurate in this depiction. Again, I totally recognize this as comparatively minor. If my problems with this series was limited to stuff like this, then this show would have been amazing. But I can’t help that I do still notice errors like this.

Lahn says, “Everything I’ve spent years fighting for taken away in an instant!” What instant is he referencing? The Galra Empire didn’t fracture into a civil war “in an instant.” It happened over time. Allura tries to sympathize with Lahn by talking about how she lost her planet and her family; from her perspective, she did lose them in an instant because they were in a state of existence, then she was knocked unconscious, then when she regained consciousness they were gone and it was 10,000 years later. So, in an instant for her, yes, for him, no. Lahn ridiculously (as in I think the director’s decision to have him react this way is ridiculous) suddenly erupts in anger, “You’ve never had to earn power, it’s always been given to you.” Not true, of course; Allura has totally had to struggle to put together a force capable of pushing back against the Galra (not that I necessarily expect Lahn to know this). “You’re looking for something you once had,” uh, Lahn literally just a few seconds ago said he was too. “Security, peace, happiness. Those things have never been part of a Galra soldier’s life.” His rant suggests that he wants those things despite his seeming to also condemn those things. It’s spastic and weird. Allura says that there is a way other than through force to get something one can call one’s own. The show heavy-handedly has a shadow pass from over Lahn’s face as she says this to him.

Again, is this supposed to be the prisoner’s dilemma he’s supposedly in? But also again, the prisoner’s dilemma requires a second prisoner that he would have to be considering acting against. Is the Galra Empire as a whole supposed to somehow be the other prisoner? The concept of the prisoner’s dilemma is that it actually would be best for both prisoners if they cooperated with each other and neither of them accepted the offer from the people imprisoning them. If Lahn is one prisoner and the Galra Empire as a whole is serving as the other prisoner, then is the show actually trying to say that Lahn would be better off not accepting the Voltron Coalition’s offer? I really cannot think that the show is intending to say that, but since they, through the episode’s title, is applying the prisoner’s dilemma to this story they are effectively saying so, that is if the Galra Empire is supposed to be functioning as the other prisoner. Also, part of what makes it a dilemma for the two prisoners is that they think the other prisoner will turn against them out of self-interest, but the Galra Empire, if it’s supposed to function as the other prisoner, is not capable of accepting an offer identical to what is being offered to Lahn. The Empire cannot join with the Coalition against Lahn. So, that’s a huge part of the premise of the prisoner’s dilemma that just does not make it applicable to Lahn’s situation.

Pidge does her thing and determines from its shadow the shape of a creature that seems to have attacked a guard in a security video. Lance and Hunk then discover that creature draining energy from the ship’s energy crystal, the process of doing so causes the creature’s shape to alter. Somehow the creature hears the radio communications from Pidge and Allura coming through Hunk and Lance’s helmets. The audio is played as if their communication is being broadcast externally into the room, but it should only be in their helmet, so the creature hearing it feels contrived. Also, everyone having helmets on suggests that there is no air in the ship, so sound wouldn’t carry whatsoever, so the creature shouldn’t have been able to hear the communication. It seemingly attacks Lance and Hunk but is revealed to have only run past them.

The creature uses the ship’s still active security system to see Keith and Cosmo on a camera. A Galra sentry seemingly asks Keith, “Who are you?” Keith identifies himself, and the sentry seems to ask, “Where are the rest of the Galra,” and Keith states which planet they’re on. Then it’s revealed that it was the creature technologically manipulating the sentry to be able to ask its questions of Keith. It then attacks. The creature, like too many on this show, has an energy blast from its mouth.

Pidge says, “Keith and I were in communication just before we got disconnected.” That is such a tautology, and I have to imagine that writing it to be a tautology was unintentional.

The ship starts moving, heading toward the Galra base. Keith arrives on the bridge to join the rest of the Paladins and Lahn. Lahn confirms that this ship was sent to get supplies from Ranveig’s base, which we last saw in 5x05 “Bloodlines,” in which this creature was revealed as Ranveig’s rumored superweapon. Keith says that the creature was created “to destroy Galra and only Galra.” Keith continues, “Ranveig found the creature in the quantum abyss and experimented on it with Lotor’s quintessence. He trained it to take out his Galra enemies, but he couldn’t control it. The beast couldn’t differentiate between adversaries and allies.” There is nothing in “Bloodlines” about the creature being created to destroy only Galra, nothing about the creature being found in the quantum abyss, nothing about Ranveig being unable to control the creature. “Bloodlines” has Kolivan say, “We’re not sure of the weapon’s specs,” and that episode doesn’t even reveal that the weapon is a creature until the very end when Krolia uses it to kill the Galra commander who attacked the base. What Keith is saying now in this episode sounds like he’s supposed to have gotten this information from “Bloodlines,” but there’s nothing in “Bloodlines” to suggest he did. Keith isn’t even shown in “Bloodlines” to explicitly learn that the weapon was a creature. So, the new details about the creature in Keith’s exposition in this episode and his even having that information is a retcon.

I really don’t like the idea that the creature was created to only kill Galra. I think it would have been more interesting if the actions of the creature in this episode came from the creature trying to avenge itself against the Galra for the suffering that they subjected it to. It’s been shown in this episode to be able to manipulate computer systems, so it is clearly intelligent. It would have been nice to have seen the Paladins sympathizing with this abused, intelligent creature rather than blowing it up.

Keith claims fault for what’s happening now, but I don’t understand how he could feel fault for this. He did not release this creature, his mother did. Again, he never knew what the weapon was during that episode, and he had no idea that Krolia planned to release the weapon on the Galra as part of an escape plan. This is absolutely contrived in order to create justification for Lahn’s distrust of the Paladins. Lahn now says, “It’s what you’ve wanted from the beginning: something to get rid of the Galra for you.”

Keith wants to use the self-destruct of the ship to kill the creature. The creature shows up on the bridge and attacks. The group tries to make it through a door, but get separated, Keith and Lahn on the side with the creature, everyone else safely through. The creature tries to mouth-blast Lahn, and Keith knocks him aside and shields the blast. The creature comes again for Lahn, who screams, “Victory or death,” but Keith uses his bayard to create a large rifle cannon and shoots the creature. The creature touches a wall and melts the wall away, which is not an ability it has ever been shown to have. The spot in the wall that the creature is at when it melts through does not match with the spot it’s shown to have melted through after it’s done so. This spot afterward is in holographic display, yet the display keeps functioning; something is wrong with the animation there.

Keith asks Lahn, “Do you trust me yet?” and then blasts through the door to get out. The creature comes at them again, Keith blasts a hole in the side of the ship so that they can be blown out into space. The ship explodes. The Lions come for their respective Paladins.

Back at the base, Lahn gives a big speech to a bunch of Galra about how they’re needed to try to create stability, about how Voltron has twice helped him out.

I know that Axca came to Earth at the very end of last season, so it would make sense that she hooked up with Voltron and the Atlas after that. But it feels weird to have her just randomly standing in a group shot listening to Lahn. Also, it’s weird that she came seemingly unexpectedly to Keith’s father’s grave, but we haven’t gotten any conversation between them about her doing so.

Pidge later informs the group that information she gained from the Galra cruiser suggests there’s another mecha from Honerva, and Allura again suggests to Shiro that they need to adjust their mission to account for knowing Honerva is out there. Shiro’s obstinance does not match his character whatsoever. He says, “Thousands of innocent souls are waiting to be liberated from what remains of the Galra Empire, we can’t just change course.” Of everyone, Shiro in the past has seemed the most willing to modify the group’s plans to accommodate new information. But I guess that can be handwaved by saying that wasn’t the real Shiro but the clone. Keith suggests that the group split up, that Shiro and the Atlas continue doing what they’re doing, while Voltron goes and looks for information about Honerva. This is totally contrived to keep Atlas from being able to help Voltron.

Then Keith infamously says, “Voltron is stronger now, more than ever.” And it’s an absolute insult to those who’re offended by the show’s unceremoniously booting Shiro out of the position of Black Paladin so that Keith can have the spot and the resulting revised Paladin roster.

The episode ends at the pyramid on Oriande. Honerva creates a wormhole with the pyramid and one of her mechas goes through it.

So, unlike many episodes this season, this one is not a disaster. It’s not a great episode either. It’s just okay. I still think that titling it “The Prisoner’s Dilemma” creates a lot of problems since using that title invites analyzing the episode compared to the elements of the prisoner’s dilemma concept. This episode does not successfully represent that concept. I personally find it annoying that Lahn is back to disliking Voltron despite their previously having saved his life, his base, and all the Galra stationed on that base. I find it annoying that Keith has a lot of information that he’s never shown receiving about the creature. I find it annoying that the episode is separating Voltron and the Atlas because doing so totally feels contrived. These criticisms are small compared to the major criticisms I have about the much of the rest of the season, so that results in this episode not being bad, but again, just okay.

[residentanchor]

The Seeds We Sow 15

<<Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Summary: The final showdown Word count: 6340 Warnings: Blood, death, injuries and wounds, fighting (let me know if I missed anything)

“We are approaching the base of the mountain soon. We should be close.” Roman nodded at the guard who spoke before turning back toward the woods. The paths had disappeared a while back as they foraged through the brush.

Logan cleared his throat and gained Roman’s attention before speaking. “If she can transform into a dragon like Virgil had seen, it probably would be best to take her out as quickly as possible before she gets the chance.”

“Not only that.” Virgil pushed himself upright in front of Roman, struggling just a bit. “If she does manage to transform, you probably want her on the ground. If she gets airborne then we’re all dead.”

Roman hummed to himself as he kept his eyes on the trees before them. “Then we shall go in, get Patton, and put an end to this once and for all.”

It wasn’t much further before the silence amongst them broke. “Do you think we have a chance?” Everyone turned to Morgan who sat atop her horse, gripping the reins tight. “I mean… Do you think we can stop someone as powerful as a dragon witch?”

“Of course we can!” Roman smirked and perked up a bit. “No one is invincible! We know her trick and we can prepare for it!”

“Maybe.” Morgan looked over at her king. “I mean, we don’t exactly know how powerful she is.”

Logan nodded in agreement. “That may be true, but Roman isn’t wrong either. She isn’t invincible.”

Virgil grunted out in pain as he shifted on the horse slowly. “There is one thing we know for certain, transforming must take a lot of magic. So, if we screw up and she does transform, all we have to do is tire her out until she can’t maintain it anymore and turns back.” He snorted out a small laugh. “If you can survive that long.”

“I never told my parents.” Virgil turned and looked at Morgan as she hunched over on herself. “I never told them when I left. I know they’re worried, but I never thought about how they would feel if I never came back. I didn’t think about not coming back from this.”

“We’ll make it through this.” Roman ushered his steed to pick up the pace. “I promise it, I will make sure you all make it home safe.”

---

The coven of Dragon Witches had spent most of their history hiding in the shadows, even before they became the Dragon Witches of today. Long before magic was frowned upon, the witches lived in harmony with dragons as one. They bonded with the creatures and made pacts, traveling and living together in harmony. It was a partnership that benefited both sides, however, things always tend to change. People saw dragons as a conquest, a challenge to hunt for sport and display proudly. The witches helped them retreat into the biggest mountain and stood guard, offering to protect them the best they could. In exchange, the dragons shared their magic to help the witches keep them all safe.

Throughout history, the dragons grew old and died out, leaving the witches behind, but not without a final parting gift. They aged far slower than normal, taking on more characteristics of their friends and partners until one day, long throughout history, their small transformations turned into final, complete ones. They stood tall above the trees, wings on their backs and fire in their hearts--literally.

They remained hidden to keep themselves safe. Humans had hunted them all down just for fun, so they remained in their normal forms and kept silent throughout history until they forgotten about, a folklore and a myth.

That is until the queen showed up.

They heard the rumors that she had been searching far across the kingdom for anyone with magic that would listen to her pleas, but most would turn her down. Either the request was simply too big to fulfill or they were afraid of the repercussions of performing the magic. It had been outlawed but as long as it was out of sight, the king simply let it pass.

When the queen arrived and begged for a solution, they suddenly knew. The cost would be too great to fulfill… but they could pay for it. They gathered and discussed their terms before agreeing. The sacrifice was worth the reward of finally being free. They promised no harm would come to the royal family on their watch until the child was born, in exchange for their freedoms and their location to remain hidden.

After the queen had left once the ritual had been performed, they had hoped for the best. Everyone was wary and tense about the situation but hopeful for the future. Everyone except one particular witch who paid a far greater price than the rest. Who had stormed off and left for a few months, heartbroken and stricken with grief. The one who would return and find her entire coven, her entire family, had been murdered, the promise broken.

---

Roman pulled his sword from its sheath, the sound of the metal piercing through the air. Roman heard his men behind him shuffle about, taking their formation as he gripped the hilt of his sword. The witch stood there, eyes still glowing as she flexed her fingers.

“This is your last chance, witch,” Roman held his head up high and ignored the panic racing through his heart. “I would much rather prefer a peaceful conclusion to all of this. Is there nothing that can be done?”

“Surrender your life to me and I will let the rest go free.” Roman frowned a the witch’s request and she simply shook her head. “Then their blood will be on your hands.”

She watched the guards lunge forward, only a few keeping back to protect Roman. The first one to approach raised his sword up high, swinging it down and aiming across her chest. The witch merely smirked, holding up her hand as her long, pointed nails flared out as she swung her arm up to meet the blade. Her hands glowed and the sword met with an almost invisible opposing force, her hand forcing the blade back as another knight ran forward.

The witch met each one, blow for blow. Attacking with her nails, magic extended out just a bit and made it look like they had been replaced with actual claws. The knights took turns, surrounding her and attacking, pushing her back little by little. Roman was in shock at how well she put up a fight, tensing up as each blow was matched equally. It sounded almost as if metal was meeting metal with each clash, her magic turning her hands into fierce weapons as she swiped at each one, neither side landing a hit.

She reached up and stopped a strike when another guard took a swing as she attempted to block it as well. Both hands had met with swords as they pushed, her hands quivering to meet the force and push back. Roman began to panic as she smirked, falling down to one knee as the two guards finally had her pinned. She took in a deep breath and slowly let it out, light gray smoke slowly pouring out. In a quick huff, Roman watched panicked as she disappeared, his two knights holding their ground as they also disappeared. The smoke was much lighter than the blackened version he had seen previously but it still left him unnerved.

The smoke billowed out and dissipated as the two knights pushed back, coughing as they stepped away from the witch. She stood up slowly, the smoke appearing only around their ankles as she clapped her hands together. The knights suddenly stopped coughing and looked up at her as her eyes flickered to the king before her.

Raising her hand, she pointed to Roman and continued to smirk. “That little prince over there is your new target.”

As the knights turned around, Roman recognized the hazed overlooks in their eyes as they went to meet him head-on. The other knights intercepted, screaming at them to snap them out of their trance. “What did you do?”

“Oh, don’t worry one bit, little prince. They just started feeling a little… hazy.” Swords clashed together as the knights around Roman gripped on their lances, holding them out as if to challenge anyone who dared approach. “It was so much fun doing it at the castle, after all. It’s a simple trick, really.”

Roman watched the witch as she stared at him through the skirmish, knights clashing with knights. “Lucky for you, I know it’s an easy spell to break.”

“That is true, it doesn’t hold out long.” She watched as Roman’s knights finally grabbed a hold of the two entranced ones and banged their heads together. They stumbled back and blinked around, a bit lost. “The point is to cloud their minds with magic, it doesn’t work on those who have practiced. Fortunately for me, you don’t have anyone like that with you right now.” She took in a breath and released more of the gray smoke, filling the air around them, it quickly filled the area as it swirled and danced around each knight.

Roman grabbed his cape and held it up to his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut as the smoke billowed and passed over him.

“Your majesty!” Roman blinked and peered through the smoke but was unable to see the source of the voice, though it didn’t sound like one of his knights. A harsh gust passed by in a brief moment and swept the smoke away, but the damage was done.

The knights were coughing and falling to their knees as they gasped for breath. An itch in Roman’s throat caused him to shake as well, a pit of fear in his chest. He pulled the cape away and looked over, his eyes watering a bit as they stung from the remainder of the smoke. Morgan stood at the edge of the clearing, hands lowering as she looked at him in panic. Had she used her magic to clear the smoke away?

His coughing grew and he turned to his knights, watching them all fall over motionless and unconscious. He looked up panicked as the witch smiled, stepping over them and making her way to him. “Oh, I’m sorry, did you think the smoke could affect you?” Roman blinked and took a step back, still in his right mind. “No, magic is the reason you breathe so my trick could never work on you. Well, not unless I gave it to you in doses over a long period of time like that servant of yours. You know, the one I had kill your father? Poor boy had no idea what he was doing.”

“H-henry.” Roman held his sword up and grit his teeth. “His name is Henry!”

“Oh, you haven’t killed the poor boy yet? I was sure your silly little test would have him burning from the inside out.”

Roman charged forward with a cry, swinging at the witch who caught his sword easily. “Oh, you make this much too easy for me.”

A sudden flash of light shot out at the witch and she cried out, stumbling to the side. Looking over, Morgan had her hands up and stared at her with pride. “He’s still not alone!”

“Of course not.” The witch stood up and smirked. “So you know some magic,  but it’s still hardly trained. You two won’t be a problem.”

The sound of frantic footsteps quickly racing toward them caught their attention, watching as Logan and Patton stood at the mouth of the path to the village. Patton gasped and grabbed Logan’s arm, quickly saying something before racing forward.

The witch sneered and stomped her foot as Patton approached. “I gave you the chance to turn and run while you could.”

Patton kneeled down next to one of the guards as he checked his pulse. “I’m not much of a fighter, but I can’t leave them like this!” He reached down and grabbed a hold of the knight, dragging him across the ground and out of the fray. Logan quickly approached and did the same to another guard, looking at the witch and turning away quickly.

“Fine, get these ants out of my way.” She turned back to Roman and sneered. “You so much as step in to help then you’re not going to get the luxury of getting away a second time.”

The witch ran forward on the offensive, leaving Roman with little time to fight back. Her attacks were fierce and full of anger as he spent all his attention on keeping her claws away from him as much as he could.

Once another blast of magic hit her right in the back, she grimaced and stretched out an arm, eyes flashing and throwing Roman back just like the day before on the balcony. He slid across the ground and groaned, leaning up as quick as he could. He saw Morgan also on the ground, the witch’s hand facing her as she was also tossed aside. The witch growled and smoke filled the area one last time, but not the same pale gray one as before. The blackened smoke billowed and engulfed the scene as Roman scampered up, looking over to find Logan and Patton on the side, every one of Roman’s knights out of harm’s way.

The smoke billowed more and more as it reached the tops of the trees before the ground shook. Something massive moved in the shroud of darkness before something flared up. A massive gust of wind took over the entire area as everyone braced themselves, fighting to stand upright. The wind nearly pushed Roman back before it started to calm down and he glanced up. A massive dragon with long, swirly horns stood before him. It stepped forward and its claws dug into the ground, digging up the dirt as if it were nothing. A plume of black smoke left the dragon’s nose as she seemed to glare down at Roman, its wings flared outward and the tail quickly slamming against the ground causing the Earth to shake and tremble once more.

“So you finally show your true form, Dragon Witch?” Roman smiled and hoped it hid the nervousness on his face. “So be it.”

The dragon reared her head back and roared out to the sky before facing Roman. Her jaw shut for a moment before she released a red-hot flame as Roman scrambled to run out of the way as quickly as he could. He kept running until he was behind the wall of an old stone building, the fire licking the edges but keeping him safe. Once the fire had drawn back, Roman peeked out and saw the witch flap her massive wings before he ducked back behind them to hide from the enormous gusts of winds. The dragon suddenly cried out as the winds stopped and Roman peered around the edges. Morgan stood to the side, hands swirling with light as she kept throwing it at the dragon witch. Taking the opportunity, Roman ran toward Logan and Patton who had his knights safely tucked away on the side. Roman dropped his sword and picked up an abandoned bow before turning and taking aim. He watched the dragon carefully as Morgan kept her distracted before taking the shot. It didn’t hit his exact target but it tore through part of the wing, the dragon witch crying out in pain. Roman spun around and retrieved his sword before grabbing a few spare arrows, running away from the two to keep them out of harm.

He notched an arrow once more and took the shot much quicker, the dragon witch ignoring Morgan’s attacks as she turned her attention onto him. It bounced off of her scales and Roman let out a curse, grabbing another arrow. Just as Morgan shot a blast at the dragon’s face, Roman let loose another shot and it tore through the same wing, hitting a closer target as the dragon witch let out a louder cry and stumbled. Roman dropped the bow and charged, pulling out his sword once more and attacking the legs of the dragon on her injured wing’s side, causing her to stumble and fall.

Roman ran out of the way as the dragon stumbled and tried to regain her balance, turning around and throwing a glare over at him. She turned her neck and growled as Roman spotted flames building in the back of her throat. He panicked and sprinted as fast as he could, hoping to get out of the way and somewhere safe while he still could. Just as he spotted a hiding spot behind another similar demolished building, the witch cried out and halted his retreat. Roman quickly spun around and watched as Logan withdrew his rapier from the witch’s claw before quickly retreating, standing at the ready.

Roman hissed as he watched the witch cry out in pain at her claw before he looked over at Roman. “The deal was to stay out of it!”

Logan shrugged and held his stance, not turning away from the witch. “Well, letting you die would be rather cumbersome for me in the future.”

“Stand back, Logan. I have this under control!” Roman looked up at the witch as she turned to Logan, staring down at him with an angered snarl. “Get out of the way!”

To both their surprise, she seemed to relax a bit as her eyes flickered around the ragtag group of misfits. Roman prepared himself for another attack as her eyes looked over at Patton who stood watch over Roman’s men. Some of the men seemed to stir but none woke up or began to move around. She then turned to Morgan and swung her tail swiftly, managing to catch the poor girl off guard. She held up her hands as they started to glow but took the full brunt of the attack, getting knocked off of her feet as she flew out of the clearing and rolled a few feet before lying motionless on the ground. The witch turned back to the two royals and watched as Logan stood defiantly before her.

Roman wasn’t sure what noise the dragon witch was making but based on the smirk on her face, he could swear it sounded like the witch was laughing. She looked over at Roman before she shot a plume of the gray smoke out of her nose, shooting straight to the ground and swallowing the whole area. Roman covered his mouth quickly with his cape and squeezed his eyes shut as the smoke flew passed them. Slowly opening his eyes, he watched Logan cough and wave the smoke away, his fighting stance completely gone as he gasped for fresher air.

“You guys okay?” Roman jumped and looked at around before spotting Patton with a hand on Morgan’s back. He stood up and jogged over to the clearing, his eyes never leaving Logan’s form. “She’ll be fine, how are you holding up?” Patton looked at Roman with worry before looking back at the other.

Roman sucked in a sharp breath as he looked at Logan, the prince finally managing to calm the coughs and stand back up, facing the dragon. “Patton, stay back!”

“Why? Is Logan okay?”

Roman couldn’t bare to look over at Patton as he watched Logan carefully. “Please be okay, please be okay...” The witch looked over at Patton and let out a growl. Before Roman could react, Logan turned and ran out of the clearing. “Shit, PATTON! RUN!”

Patton watched Logan charge at him and he shifted back a step. “What?”

“Her smoke, Patton! She’s controlling him, you need to get out of the way!”

Patton felt as if the world slowed as he suddenly saw Logan pull back his rapier and lunge forward, swiping at him as their eyes met. Patton felt his heart drop as Logan’s glazed look stared back as he moved out of the way of the attack as quickly as he could. He felt the blade graze his shoulder as he stumbled back, fortunately not deep enough to do more than bleed and sting.

“Logan!” Patton ducked and dodged another swing, stumbling more than gracefully moving out of the way. “Snap out of it, Lo! You’re smarter than her, you can break free of this!”

Patton cried out as Logan managed to graze his side, Patton tripping over his own feet and falling backward, gripping the wound tightly as he stared up at Logan in fear.

Roman wasted no time making his way across the field before the witch stepped forward, blocking his path. He cursed under his breath before he was forced to turn his attention back to the witch. She lunged forward, snapping her jaw as Roman rolled out of the way, not bothering to look back as he could feel her searing hot breath on him.

The witch turned her attention back to the other two as she witnessed Patton rolling away from Logan’s downward stab. He shot up and stumbled before Logan pulled his sword back, turning and holding it up, preparing for another attack. One of Roman’s knights slid and stood in front of Patton, holding out a sword to defend him, eyeing the prince closely. “Prince Logan, please snap out of it! You’re only upsetting Patton!” The healer smiled a bit at the knight’s attempt before Logan charged forward, his rapier clashing with the knight's own blade. The knight held his own and pushed back, parrying a vertical strike and holding the prince back.

“Logan, wait!” Patton blinked and held onto the wound on his side, surprised Logan had actually held off on his attack on the knight as his eyes flickered to the healer’s gaze. “Lo, please, snap out of it! It’s me, Patton! You just rescued me and told me how stupid it was to try and take on the dragon witch because I could get hurt! You weren’t supposed to jump in and get hurt instead!” Logan slowly lowered his sword and the knight backed off, the prince still eying Patton all too closely. Patton smiled and walked around the knight while he held his arms out, just like he had back in the cottage. “Come on, Lo. I know you can do it.”

Logan froze and gaped as a breeze passed by them, Logan dropping his sword suddenly as Patton gasped, covering his mouth. The witch reached out, swiping her claw forward at her useless puppet, piercing Logan twice with her razor sharp claws. One pierced his shoulder and the other his stomach. As she pulled her claws back, the prince fell like she had cut his strings as Logan crashed into the ground. Patton cried out and raced forward, checking his pulse and moving his head into Patton’s lap.

Patton wiped at his face, feeling the tears stinging his eyes as he held up his hands. “Damn it, Logan!” They glowed a fierce blue before he placed each one on one of Logan’s wounds. “You better not die on me now!”

The witch turned and faced Roman, the king watching on slack-jawed. He blinked and turned to look up at the witch who didn’t seem fazed at all by what she had done. Roman stumbled back a few steps before dropping his sword, eyes never leaving hers. “Fine.” The witch watched on as Roman lowered his head and slowly lowered himself to his knees. “That’s enough. You win. Just stop, please.”

“Roman, what are you doing?” Patton glanced up from Logan, looking at the other in panic. “You can’t just give in!”

Roman shook his head and looked up at the witch. “I can’t. Not anymore. I don’t want anyone else to die for me. You win.”

“Roman!” Patton turned his attention back to Logan as he bit his lip. He couldn’t move without risking losing Logan, but he couldn’t sit by as Roman gave in. “You have to keep fighting!”

“For what?” Roman didn’t raise his voice. “Don’t you think enough people have died? I just want the fighting to end.”

The low gravely growls of the dragon dissipated as she surrounded herself in the blackened smoke once more, replacing the noise with cold, chilling laughter. “Oh, finally!”

“Your majesty, no!” The knight who had defended Patton turned to his king, distraught at the circumstances. “You can’t do this!”

“My king!” Roman looked over and saw a few more of his knights coming to, all watching him in panic at what he was going. “You musn’t!”

“Listen to your little prince.” The witch walked forward with a slight limp before stopping before Roman, kicking his sword away. “Finally seeing how hopeless it all is, do you?”

Roman shook his head and glared at the witch. “I’m tired of fighting you just so you can spill more blood.” He shut his eyes and grit his teeth. “If giving up is what it takes to stop the bloodshed then I give.”

“That’s your plan?” Virgil pushed and stumbled into the clearing, managing to stay upright on his feet as he struggled for air, wiping the sweat off of his face. “To give up? We came… all this way… for you to just give up?!”

“You were supposed to stay at the cottage!” Patton yelled while keeping his attention on Logan. “That was the one thing I asked you to do!”

“Yeah, and I would love to still be there.” Virgil placed a hand on his head as he pushed his hair out of his face. “Unfortunately I got kind of tired of seeing Roman’s big plan blow up in his face over and over.”

“Like you can do much. Go wait and I’ll heal you and send you on your way.” The witch waved Virgil off and turned back to the kneeling king.

“No.” The witch stopped and slowly turned back to Virgil who stood up best he could. “I don’t care if Roman think’s he’s ‘protecting us’ by sacrificing himself like an idiot, you’re going to leave him alone.”

“Oh.” The witch crossed her arms over her chest as she turned around and faced him. “What do you think you’re going to do about it?”

“What will you do once you kill him?” Virgil looked over to the knights who were waking up one by one, watching on cautiously and preparing to pounce the moment it was necessary. “You’re surrounded. We’ll all try and stop you. Roman is the only reason the kingdom is standing.”

“I don’t necessarily care.” The witch turned back to Roman who was looking over at Virgil before she stepped into his line of sight. The monarch looked up at her and he stared back up before lowering his head once more. “His life wasn’t his to begin with and-”

“That’s the whole point we’re trying to make!” Virgil took a few steps before his legs gave out but it did not deter him from shooting the witch a scowling glance. “It’s not Roman’s life, he didn’t do anything to you and what have you done to him? You’ve taken everything from him to the point he can’t fight back!”

“Exactly.” The witch smirked and held out her arms. “That’s all I wanted! I want what was taken from me returned.”

“Virgil, stay out of this.” Roman didn’t look up from the ground as he spoke. “This isn’t your decision to make.”

“No, it’s not!” Patton looked up from Logan, his hands gripping onto the bloodied fabric that was the prince’s clothes, his hands soaked and stained red. He looked at his new friend on the ground, tears still running down Patton’s face. “It’s hers and it’s outright stupid! What would come of his death? You’ll just be taking the life your daughter gave away, then what? You’re not getting it through your stupid head!” Patton blinked the tears from his eyes as he kept his focus on Logan as best he could.

“The king took my child!” The witch snarled and turned back to Roman. “I can never get her back, but at least I can set her life free.”

Patton gasped as someone grabbed his arm, looking down and finding Logan stirring, The Prince had blindly reached up and started to pull himself up until Patton put a bit more pressure onto his wounds. “Logan! Logan, you need to stay still, I’m trying to heal you but I can’t if you don’t stop!”

Logan resigned and laid back down, shifting his head in Patton’s lap. “What’s going on? I don’t… recall what happened.”

Patton laughed and was glad Logan couldn’t see the state he was in. Patton had lost a bit too much blood at this point but had completely foregone his own wound to head Logan’s. “Well, Roman is talking to the witch right now.”

Logan audibly groaned and shook his head. “Please don’t tell me… that moron is trying to do some stupid self-sacrificing move that will get us nowhere!” Roman perked up at Logan’s words, the prince dropping his arm from grabbing hold of Patton. “The witch complains about how her life got ruined and that it justifies her actions but she’s a bigger idiot than he is!” The witch rumbled out a low growl in Logan’s direction. Whether the prince heard or ignored her wasn’t clear as he kept talking. “She lost everyone and it turned her bitter. She took everyone from Roman and what is he doing? Giving in to help save others because despite what she thinks, Roman is a better person than she ever was!”

The witch reached down and placed her hand on Roman’s head. “There’s no point in arguing anymore, he’s made his decision!”

“Roman, snap out of it!” The king looked up and saw Virgil struggling to his feet but remained on his knees, too weak to pull himself up further. “Before I come over there and kill you myself! She’s taken enough from you, you have to fight back! You need to!” Roman felt the witch run her fingers through his hair as he glanced up at her. “If you die, what about everyone else? What about your kingdom? What about us?”

Roman took a slow breath in and felt the witch let go of his hair, her hand trailing down and her nails grazing his throat. He reached up and grabbed her wrist before he sneered up at her. “You killed Reggie. You killed my father!” He tugged on her arm as he stood to his feet, getting close to her face. “You’ve killed everyone I’ve ever cared about, and all you can blabber on about is how unfair your life is.”

“My daughter-”

“I DIDN’T DO THAT!” The witch pulled her wrist from Roman’s grasp and stepped back as he shouted at her. “I had no control over any of that! Everyone who did is dead, what’s the point of spilling more blood?” He stepped forward and shoved the witch, catching her off guard as she stumbled back, regaining her balance. “Her life is my life and what have I done with it to warrant this much anger?” Roman placed a hand over his own heart. “I haven’t killed anyone! I haven’t taken anyone from you! Hell, apparently half my staff knew magic and I apparently am suicidal enough to invite them along to try and stop you!”

The witch held up her hand, her nails shining with the same magic she attacked with before. She didn’t have time to pull her arm back as Roman socked her in the face, his fist making a lovely crunch as he smashed her nose. Stepping back, she cupped her face as blood gushed down. She growled at him but didn’t get the chance to do much more as Roman grabbed her shoulders and kneed her in the gut, stepping back and taking a look around until he found his sword. He picked it up and spun around, the witch keeled over and gasping for air.

“You think… that just because you had a change of heart… means that you’ve won?” The witch shot up and swiped at Roman, his sword meeting with her claws as they clashed. “I will have your head, little prince!”

Roman grit his teeth together as he pushed back. “That is KING ROMAN TO YOU!” He faltered back and the witch stumbled forward, leaving herself open to attack. Swiping his sword, he managed to catch her side and slice through, blood flying from the swing of his blade. “Virgil!” He turned and watched the servant on the ground as he pointed. “Patton was injured and needs to be taken care of. If he stops healing Logan, they’re both dead.” Roman turned to Patton who sat near his knights, all of them helping each other up as they watched on. “Men! Those who are able, take your positions! We’re bringing her down!” Movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention as he looked over, spotting Morgan doubled over in pain on the ground. “Stay there and don’t move! We shouldn’t be much longer!”

Roman spun around and held out his sword with a smirk on his face, much more confident than he was a few minutes ago. As quickly as it had returned, however, it was gone. The witch reached out and grabbed Roman by the throat, squeezing and lifting him an inch from the ground. In his shock, he dropped his sword and reached up, grabbing her wrist and trying to peel her fingers from his neck. “Aww, poor little prince. Got so close before it all backfired.” Roman gasped as she squeezed tighter, snarling at him. “You have to die, there’s no way around it! I did not get this far just for you to ruin everything!” Roman kicked and the witch barely flinched at each impact. “I have to do this, don’t you see? I have nothing left! Killing you is all I have to live for!”

Roman heard a cry and he fell to the ground, coughing and reaching for his throat. Glancing up, he saw Morgan stumble to the ground after apparently tackling the witch from strangling Roman further. Just behind her were a few of his guards, pulling Morgan away from the witch and pointing their swords at her to prevent her from moving. Morgan shoved the guards away and stumbled forward, catching herself before she fell once more.

"On your word and we will take care of her." Roman slowly stood as he nodded at his knights, making his way over.

"Witch-" Roman coughed at the soreness of his throat before continuing. "Witch. You are guilty of murdering the former King Asher by use of magic, abusing your power and you have left a trail of innocent blood in your wake. Any last words?"

The witch fell back to the dirt and shut her eyes. "Just this, little prince." She smiled up at him in an odd sense of peace. "I'll bring as many of you with me as I can."

Roman jumped and shouted for her to be stopped, but the witch had already kicked her legs out, taking a guard down before rolling out of the way of the blades. Two had gotten hits on her but it was as if she was numb to the pain, reaching up and swiping her nails at another, clawing the flesh away as they fell back. Her eyes turned golden as she faced another, a small plume of black smoke coming from her mouth before she shot out a blast of fire. The guard had jumped back but was not fast enough as the flames caught half of his face as he fell over, rolling around in pain to disrupt the flames.

Roman charged forward before he stopped, Morgan, having stepped in his way. "What are you doing?"

The young woman did not answer as she charged forward, catching the witch's hands with her own magic. The met head on but the witch quickly overtook her, spinning and throwing Morgan onto the ground. A resounding crack rang out as the witch smirked, holding out her sharpened nails to swipe one more time.

Roman charged forward as the young sorceress hit the ground, lunging with his sword for the witch. He pierced her back and froze, almost hoping it was enough. The witch tried looking over her shoulder before slumping as Roman pushed his blade in further. He paused before pulling it out quickly, watching the witch spin to look at him one final time before she dropped to the ground, finally motionless.

Roman looked at his guards and frowned. A few had been taken out by the witch at the last moment, his heart heavy at each he saw that lay still, covered in blood. The others who could still move checked each of their comrades, one even going over and checking Morgan. Roman held his breath as the guard reached forward, checking Morgan before they slowly pulled away and looked up at him, shaking his head.

The shaky breath that he let out hit him harder than he thought. Roman turned and covered his mouth, holding back the tears that were itching to spill over.

"ROMAN, WATCH OUT!"

Roman only heard Virgil's voice before he felt something sharp pierce his back as he fell forward. He could hear his guards scrambling and shouting as the ground approached quicker, darkness falling the king before he even met with the dirt.

@logicallyanxious-morallyromantic @2coolturtle @dragonsight9 @queer-human-being @fanficptsd General: @tatergator27 @helloisthisusernametaken @entitydark @lightningbug04 @moonstone-fox @rampantlesbian @echomist13 @another-sandersidesblog @thesynysterunknown @roo-kangas @singjoanna @unikornavenger @rememberfateau-nowoffical @sanders-sides-trasshcan @sleepyssnail @jemthebookworm @spectralheartt @fandomsofrandom Final Chapter >>

[twitchesandstitches]

MILF Fleet Weaponry

When it comes to battle, the fleet generally prefers cool and aesthetically pleasing tools, married to their low budgets and tendency to salvage what they can, for their personal defense needs. Utilitarian firearms are not as popular as, say, swords and rocket-shields. Part of it is a somewhat post-modernist disdain for warlords and imperial expansionists, who do tend to prefer such weaponry, as guns lacking in romantic culture and brutal bone-crushing weaponry.

The highly individualistic nature of the fleet means that everyone gets their own weapons to suit their tastes or loots particularly memorable pieces from fallen foes, but a few common bits of weaponry are as follows.

Due to the use of magic, programmable matter and other weirdness, non-lethal is always an option no matter how counter-intuitive it might be, and it is always there first option. They are doing their best to be the Good Guys, and the Good Guys do not kill! Not unless they don’t have to. One might wonder how they work this out with their preference for swallowing enemies whole, and the answer is: everyone has their bits of cognitive dissonance. That, and digesting enemies doesn’t actually mean they’re dead, most of the time.

Additionally, this list mainly refers to function, not origin. For instance, for practical purposes it doesn’t matter if a beam sword is a Star Wars style lightsaber, or if it is a Cybertronian flame weapon; the overall effect, barring the technological differences, comes out to pretty much the same, but the individual weapons here can vary hugely even among the same types for that reason.

Framework blades/other kinds of melee weaponry: Complex energy manipulation devices or programmable matter that reshapes into forms so violently they cut, so that they are effectively futuristic versions of weapons like swords, axes, and other cutting instruments of all sorts. Many extend energy fields that cut or impair, with the general effect of more mundane weapons and the same shape. A wide cutting implement on a long shaft works as well as a halberd or axe, and is called the same thing. They’re called ‘framework weapons’ because the device itself is a kind of framework that produces the actual cutting edge of blade, and is usually shaped pretty much the same as the recognizable versions of weapons.

Beamswords: your classic weapon that projects a blade of concentrated light, plasma or what-have-you that cuts through solid matter really well. An elegant weapon, for a more civilized way of duels and honor. These particular ones create blades by harnessing the wielder’s magical energy, so the stronger they are, the larger the blade and the more powerful it is. A weak user will be able to deflect, but a powerful one can cut through outright impossible materials and make a REALLY big blade, too. Variants include laser blade on a pile, double beamswords, laserswordchucks (two laser swords joined by a chain and flailed around in a really pretty fashion), and the outright ridiculous great beamsword, a huge power pillar with dozens of beamswords protruding from it. When powered up, they all ignite to full length, making a massive weapon that puts the air on fire, and is most popular among giant fleetmates.

Chainweapons: Imagine a chainsaw. Now imagine… it’s a sword. Now imagine that it comes in many different varieties and possible forms, for each variety of weapon that’s used in melee, and the technology adapted to be more useful in a fight than an actual chainsaw would normally be. Commonly the edge is a liquid metal that, when excited with a magical capacitor, explodes into frenzied razor-sharp action. Most popular among the crew are chainswords, chainfists and chain-axes… mostly among salvagers, since they’re really useful for cutting up loot and doing repairs.

Power weapons: a retrofit to a basic melee weapon that applies an offensive force field to the weapon, and combined with a magic capacitor, allows it to cut through almost anything, so even old school weapons can stay relevant. Rumors suggest one that’s dropped will go right through the planet’s core, but this is probably just hearsay.

Power fists and power boots: Amped up weapons that power punches and deadly kicks, though the latter are quite popular with the sheer number of crew mates who have massive thighs and would like to make use of their sheer leg muscle power. The boots universally offer enhanced jumping skills, too.

Laser weapons: A catch-all term for firearms that, despite the name, don’t actually shoot lasers. They make use of a container of magical energy that is charged all on its own as ammo, and the weapons shoot a concentrated beam that can stun, daze or pierce as needed. Generally the weapons can fire on full automatic for that good rapid fire DAKKA DAKKA effect, though they’re not exactly precise. A variant shoots long-range, high power and precision sniper shots. Much larger ones that venture on being cannons are way more accurate, but take longer to recharge between shots. And another has multiple rapid fire barrels to shoot hundreds of shots a second! A few models can morph into different varieties, depending on the situation; these are valuable and highly prized. Also you usually put bayonets on them. There’s not much reason for it, but it looks cool. Some, carrying on this notion, are designed to also function as melee weapons, often incorporating lances into their designs. They’re usually pretty dang big, too.

Retro Firearms: Rare treasures originally manufactured by mega-corporations that are now interstellar states unto themselves such as Vladof, Torgue and Maliwan, these legendary weapons were big during the pre-Collapse era and the technology of how they work isn’t well known anymore. Consisting of pistols, rocket launchers, shotguns submachine guns, assault rifles and sniper rifles, these weapons do all kinds of bizarre projectiles from explosive rounds, to bolts of electrical energy, to acidic bursts, and all of it is converted from otherwise ordinary ammunition places into them. Doesn’t matter what kind of ammo, somehow the guns know what to turn them into. (If you are familiar with Borderlands, assume that they have access to Legendary and higher weapons… but a very, very small amount of them. These are RARE among the fleet, very valuable weapons that have a lot of prestige to them.)

Rocket Weapons: Melee weapons modified to have thrusters built into them to give them an extra kick or boost, such as hammers that smash with a mighty explosion, or tremendous swords that got have a dozen boosters built into them. Most popular among the giants like Gems, Transformers or trolls, due to their sheer size. Rocket shields are also popular, boasting thrusters to repel nearby attacks or launch the wielder at foes like a cannonball.

Oversize Weapons: Ludicrously oversized weapons, like swords bigger than a man is tall, hammers with heads bigger than the wielder, and any melee weapon of similar dimension. These are astonishingly popular among the crew, since they’re surprisingly easy to make and result from magical processes; magic flows easier with these kinds of shapes, and their strange geometries demand BIG weapons to inhabit. By attuning with them, wielders can use them easily despite their cumbersome size, and by adding on other trait like rockets or power fields, they can become very nasty indeed.

Some favorites in this field include: shieldswords, blades so massive they can double as shields or physically transform into shields with an ingenious system of flexing internal hinges, gigantic firearms called mega-guns that combine the nastiest aspect of rocket launchers and assault rifles at the same time; mega-rocket hammers that can speed up cars all on their own, and ever more bizarre weapons.

EXplodey Ammo: The crew doesn’t use bullets. They’re mean, make nasty holes, aren’t really possible to make non-lethal, and anyway, who uses gunpowder weapons these days? Instead, they make use of something that replaces bullets in every possible way: TINY GRENADES/RPGs. These projectiles, distilled in the armories and ranging from grain sized to bigger than your head, are perfectly safe until they are launched from firearms and impact something, at which point they burst and explode. The exact effects of this are determined by the smart systems on the firearm itself; they can literally daze people through magical distortion, damage non-living materials but not people, or be more lethal when warranted. Assume non-lethal unless monsters are involved. At any point, unless specifically stated otherwise, the crew uses this ammo as their go-to projectiles for firearms.

Pushgun: Like a puntgun, but with rather more force. These massive weapons, easily as large as the person using them, are a wonder of the crew’s inventiveness and their signature firearm, and physically resemble a combination of a personal cannon and a siege engine. A magical capacitor provides a horrifyingly powerful launching effect superior to chemical propulsion, and any ammo they slot in is fired effectively, often the explodey sort or whatever trick ammo they might want. These weapons are hugely versatile; with multi-barrel options, they can have absolutely absurd rapid fire capability, incredible range, and excellent recoil. IT’s a combination of a minigun, a rocket launcher, and a sniper rifle all at once! ...With the slight issue of the maintenance being absolutely brutal; they require a LOT of careful clean up. Still, the design is being improved everyday. (If you’re familiar with the heavy bowgun from Monster Hunter, imagine that but with more magitech.)

Empowered weapons: Weapons treated to possess powers such as those given to crewmates; guns that shoot fireballs, hammers that literally shake the earth, power fists than turn whatever they hit into malleable rubber… the possibilities are many. However the resulting weapons MUST be massive in order for the power to take hold, and usually are incredibly complicated processes. The resulting weapons tend to be rather unpredictable, as well, and have even more drastic frailties than ordinary powers do, but they are a great deal more convenient than switching to a new power set.

[agentmarymargaretskitz]

In Every Reality, I Will Find You

(My submission for Captain Canary Week, Day 2- Established Relationship)

AO3

             The crook and the assassin slunk back to their room once the discussion in the bridge had wrapped up. Heaviness hung over them as they thought about what had happened in the past few hours. They’d managed to lose the Spear of Destiny to the Legion of Doom, who had now recruited Lisa and brainwashed her to do their bidding. Mick had ‘betrayed’ them, although Leonard and Sara knew he was faking it to go undercover and retrieve it. Now, everyone on the ship was running on borrowed time before the Legion used the Spear, unless they somehow managed to get it back first.

“So what happens if something happens to Mick?” Leonard asked finally as they laid on their bed together.

Sara sighed and turned towards him. “I don’t know if we’ll even have enough time for a new plan if things don’t work out. We’re already running out of it. Besides, don’t you always expect the plan to go off the rails?”

“I do,” he nodded. “But I have to believe Mick can do this, even though he has a slim chance at getting the Spear back and surviving.”

“I should have gone.”

“No, it should have been me,” Leonard said, holding up a hand when she tried to protest. “Sara, I need to tell you something before the Legion activates the Spear.”

The blonde pushed herself up on her elbows to look down at him. “What’s that?”

“Sara, I-”

Before he could finish the sentence, something changed.

Leonard found himself standing on the porch of a cabin in the woods, moonlight shining down on him. For a few moments, the only thing he could remember was his own name before it all started to come back to him. Mayor Darhk, one of his employers, had contacted him to come in and do another clean-up job for him. The Green Arrow had finally been dealt with and the body needed to be disposed of, so the mayor had called him in to do his job.

Picking up the axe, Leonard swung it down to continue his dismemberment of the body.

~~~

             Sara Lance waltzed out of that mayor’s office with Amaya. They’d just brought in another so-called hero for Darhk. She hadn’t cooperated well, so Sara had snapped her neck. All in a day’s work for a hired assassin, and now she could go back home and sleep for a while.

“Oof,” she grunted as she bumped into a man in jeans and a dark brown jacket. “Watch it.”

“You watch it,” the man snapped back.

Sara narrowed her eyes at him. “You realize I could kill you and it wouldn’t even make me flinch?”

“True, but then Mayor Darhk would have to find a new cleaner for your messes.”

Amaya raised an eyebrow. “So you’re the one who makes sure no one finds the bodies?”

“Yeah,” the man muttered. “Now, if you excuse me, I have a job to do.”

He stalked off. Sara watched him go, feeling something distant linger in her.

Quickly, she squashed that feeling and kept walking.

~~~

             The headlights and the voices Leonard heard while disposing of another body in a new location made him stop. Pulling out his gun, Leonard crept through the trees in time to see Lisa’s partner, some guy he’d never gotten to know, knock his sister out. A man with a mullet was across from him, lowering his hands and talking with the guy. Leonard might be estranged from his sister, but no one hurt her without dealing with him.

“We have to get out of here,” the one with the mullet was saying.

“Like hell you are!” Leonard yelled, coming out of the trees with the gun up.

Both turned to him.

“Len?” the one who worked with Lisa gaped at him as the other’s jaw dropped. “Snart?”

“How do you two know me?”

“It’s a long story,” the mullet guy said. “But you need to come with us.”

Leonard shook his head. “The hell I will. I saw what you just did to my sister.”

“She’ll be fine,” her partner said. “Pretty’s right. You gotta come with us.”

“Why should I?”

“Have you ever felt like your life didn’t make sense? Like something was wrong but you couldn’t figure out what?”

He had felt those things, but he couldn’t given them the satisfaction of that.

“You have,” Lisa’s partner nodded. “So has this idiot. I know you don’t like things that don’t make sense. You want to figure out what’s wrong, then come with us.”

“What he said,” Mullet Guy nodded. “Look, Snart, you have to trust us.”

“Yes, because knocking out my sister has given me good reason to.”

“You’re not gonna get through to him,” Lisa’s partner sighed. “Sorry, Snart, I’m owed this one.”

Leonard turned in time to be met in the face with a punch that knocked him out cold.

~~~

             With Lisa’s tracker on Mick Rory, Sara and Amaya were able to track down him, Leonard Snart, and Nathaniel Heywood to an apartment rented by Raymond Palmer. They burst into the room, weapons ready to take them out. The kill order had been given for all four men, which had somewhat surprised Sara since Darhk preferred to interrogate his victims before he had them killed. Still, it didn’t both either of them.

There were four men in the room when they entered. Rory, Heywood, Snart, and Palmer all in one pace. Sara zeroed in on the cleaner almost immediately. His eyes widened at the sight of her.

“Sara?” he uttered.

“She’s not gonna remember you,” Mick muttered to him as he pulled out his gun. “They work for Damien Darhk.”

“Wait, what?” Palmer whipped his head between the two groups.

Sara twirled her swords. “This should be fun.”

“Crap,” Heywood muttered. “Ray, you have an extra charge in your gun?”

“Give me a minute.”

             Sara nodded at Amaya, signaling for them to advance. They had a mission to take all them out, and they would not be failing it. The men were ready to put up a fight while the janitor began working on some strange gun. Sara was even impressed when she saw the cleaner pull out a knife and using it with his gun to start fighting. His technique with the knife was similar to hers, striking up that strange sense of familiarity she got whenever she was around him.

Not that she was going to let that affect her in this fight.

Sara made a move and tackled him before he could get a hit in on Amaya.

“Sara, this isn’t you,” he hissed beneath her. “This world is wrong. Can’t you see it?”

“Yeah, because you’re still alive.”

“I know you feel it, Sara, because I felt it too. Don’t ignore it!”

She scoffed. “So I’m supposed to take advice from the guy who cleans up the bodies?”

“That’s not who I am!” he yelled, trying to get up before Sara planted a foot on his chest. “In our world, the real world, I’m a thief and you’re an assassin. But we’re both heroes!”

Sara smiled as sweetly as she could muster. “Oh, you’re a hero?”

“Yeah!” Heywood called out from where he and Palmer were running around a table from Amaya. “We all are!”

“How wonderful,” Sara turned back to Snart. “We kill heroes.”

She raised the blade to drive down into his heart when she was pulled off of him. Mick Rory held her tight as Palmer picked up the gun. He tried to aim at Amaya, but she made a break for it. Sara broke out of Mick’s arms just as a purple beam struck her in the head.

It all started to come back to her. The island and the league. Dying and coming back to life. Her father and her sister. Getting recruited for the Legends and traveling through time. Meeting Leonard and forming a bond with him.

“Sara?” Ray asked. “Are you back?”

She nodded, shaking her head.

“Good,” a familiar voice drawled. “I almost forgot how vicious you can be, assassin.”

Sara turned toward it, her lips turning up into a small smile. “Len.”

“Welcome back,” he replied. “You’re not going to try and kill me, are you?”

             Sara walked quickly over to him, running her eyes down his body to make sure she hadn’t hurt him during their fight. Once she made it to him, she stopped and reached a hand out to him. He wrapped his hand around hers, a confirmation that he was real and he remembered her. The relief she felt in that action nearly overwhelmed her when she realized this was what she’d been thinking about since she had become Darhk’s puppet.

“I didn’t even realize I missed you, crook” she chuckled.

He finally smiled. “Me neither, assassin.”

She pushed up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck. Leonard linked his around her waist before his lips pressed against hers.

Sara wasn’t sure how long it was before someone cleared their throat.

“Uh, we still need a plan of what to do,” Ray piped up. “As great as it would be, true love’s kiss isn’t going to bring us back to our reality.”

[her0icmismatched]

Headcanon; Nephenee has PTSD

Picture this, you live a simple life, out in the country with your brothers and sisters, growing up on the family farm, with aspirations of leaving home one day and becoming a royal knight. Nephenee used to dream that, all the while slugging through each day, making sure her chores were done, and to take the time to look after her many brothers and sisters, being the eldest, she has the most responsibilities.

She made frequent attempts, as she got older, to persuade her father and mother to let her leave home and enlist in the crimean army, but is promised she’ll be allowed to go after next harvest season, and the one after that, and the one after that. Nephenee favored the lance, frequently practicing in the family’s barn with a pitchfork against a bail of hay, or a wooden plank. Despite how good she is, her father constantly tells her ‘no’.

No you can’t go.

No, we need you for the harvest.

No, we need you to tend to the cattle.

No, you need to look after your siblings.

No, girls don’t fight.

No, we’re country folk, being a knight is for royals.

No, they’ll think you’re nobody because you bail hay instead of fighting wars.

This built up Nephenee’s insecurities about herself (and her deep loathing for her country accent and drawl), and only fueled her drive to one day pack her bags, leave Ohma, and head to Melior.

Finally, her chance came, in the form of Daein invading Crimea. Unguarded and unprepared for Ashnard’s onslaught, a conscription notice is put up throughout Crimea, ‘Any able bodied lad or anyone who can swing a sword, report to the nearest camp’.

Nephenee doesn’t even bother asking permission, she packs up her bags, takes her pitchfork, kisses each of her siblings good bye, and rushes off for the Ohma camp.

Her first day at camp, she’s made a laughingstock for showing up without armor or a proper weapon. The general denies her a chance to prove herself, unless she comes back with the proper equipment. Angered, she tries to tell the general where he can shove it, only for everyone to laugh at her once more, because of her accent and drawl.

Ashamed, Nephenee is about to call it quits and leave the camp, when she happens upon a familiar face. It’s Brom, everyone knows Brom, he tills the fields back in Ohma. But, what’s this? Brom’s coming with a pack on his back, a full suit of armor, and a spear in his hand. He meets Nephenee at the foot of the camp, and asks why she’s upset, to which Nephenee pours out all her frustrations on Brom, Brom then offers her the pack. Said he had planned on giving the armor in the pack to one of his daughters, but they were all too frightened to enlist, and as it happens, he’s carrying a spare lance.

Nephenee returns to the camp, insisting she’s someone else and trying to hide her accent. Now adorned in blue armor with gold accents, and carrying a spear rather than pitchfork, she demonstrates the skill she developed from years of impaling hay bails, and impresses the general, only to let it slip she was the girl the entire camp mocked before.

It’s because of this, she felt it best to hide her accent, hide who she was, and almost never take off her armor.

She’s a soldier now, she can’t go back to being a country girl.

Nephenee the soldier, is most decidedly NOT Nephenee the farm girl.

Nephenee the soldier talks like a soldier.

Nephenee the soldier does not speak in drawl.

Nephenee the soldier uses spears, not pitchforks.

And Nephenee the soldier is definitely not here to win someone’s heart, specially not one of the soldiers who tried to make a move on her while she was washing herself.

Probably should have mentioned she preferred women, and that she didn’t care for guys who peeped on her while she washed in the river. Yet another reason never to take her armor off or drop her spear.

Finally, after hasty training, it’s time for their first real deployment, their first battle, it’ll be along the Gallia Crimean border, they’re to reinforce the royal knights. The general berates all of them on the way there, saying ‘most of you will definitely die’, and ‘the only heroes are the royal knights, the rest of you are just here to take a sword to the gut for them’. Nephenee can’t help but notice the commanding officer keeps leering at her when he mentions who he thinks will die first.

But she’s ready, ready to prove herself, after all those years of begging papa to let her leave home, those years clawing for the opportunity to be a real knight of Crimea, all that humiliation she suffered in basic training, she’s finally going to prove everyone wrong!

She freezes.

The Daein army vastly outnumbers them, even with the Royal Knights present, they are easily overwhelmed, Nephenee can only watch in horror as people she trained with are mercilessly cut down left and right. Brom comes to her, tries to get her to snap out of it, Brom is as terrified as she is. Nephenee finally snaps back to reality when she sees a cavalier coming up behind Brom to strike him dead, gripping her lance, she lets out a scream and impales the horse and rider.

Her first kill, her first real kill. She grips that lance so tightly it might break, the screams and clashing of steel echo in her helmet, and she rushes in, killing each Daein soldier she finds. She stops, in her horror, seeing just who she is killing, these aren’t Royal Daein soldiers, they’re enlisted, like her, just young people from country villages. She pulls her spear out of the neck of a boy who looks no older than her brothers.

Is this really what she wanted?

Before she can think, she’s clocked upside the head by the butt of someone’s spear, and when she awakens, she’s in a prison cell.

She can hear Brom somewhere inside the prison, and the voice of another knight, she was sure she had heard that voice during the battle.

That night, Nephenee doesn’t sleep, all she can hear are the screams, and the clashing of steel, and every time she closes her eyes, she only ever sees the face of that Daein boy she killed.

Those images continue to haunt her, even after she’s rescued by Ike and co. But she’s still Nephenee the soldier, she has to be, she can’t go back to being the country girl now, the country girl never killed anybody!

Eventually, the war is over, Crimea won, Daein lost, it’s time to put away her armor and her lance, and go back to Ohma, tending to fields, cattle, and her siblings. 

Only, she can’t, every night, she can’t sleep, she goes to the barn and attacks hay bails with her pitchfork.

She can’t look at any of her siblings without seeing young Daein soldiers slain by her hand.

One night, she couldn’t go to sleep and put on her armor one more time, patrolling the village in case of a bandit attack. An attack that never came, only a group of villagers who were scared of the ‘crazy woman running around town with a spear’.

Maybe there’s nothing to worry about, maybe the fighting IS all over, but not for her.

At least, that’s what Nephenee thinks, until she wakes up, and finds her father has locked up her armor and weapon.

There is no war

there is no fight

Daein lost Crimea won, you’re a farmer again.

Only she’s not.

She breaks down, screaming about everything she saw, how the glamour of being a knight was tainted by the horrors she saw and inflicted. She can’t go back to being the farm girl, even if that’s what her papa wants.

Their hand is forced yet again, this time with the Crimean revolt. When word that Ludveck is inciting rebellions in the various villages throughout crimea, another conscription notice is passed, this time, encouraging young boys to take up arms against their Queen. Nephenee is horrified to see her brothers answer the call, her own siblings, going to join a revolt against a Queen that Nephenee had fought alongside years ago. It’s shocking to her that they would be so easily caught up in Ludveck’s propaganda, but that a bunch of children would so willingly join an insurrection!

She begs her papa to let her become a soldier again, that she’ll bring her brothers home. Heartbroken, but understanding that only Nephenee can knock sense into them, he unlocks the chest he put her armor and spear in. Nephenee rushes off to stop her brothers, then find Brom.

Along the way, Nephenee catches up to her brothers, armed with wood ‘armor’, and farming equipment. Nephenee goes to talk sense into them, but the boys start insulting her, getting mad that ‘Nephenee got to fight in the war but we had to do chores’. Nephenee continues to plead with them, this isn’t right, not only because Elincia isn’t the weakling Ludveck wants Crimea to think she is, but the fact that Nephenee’s brothers are only CHILDREN. 

Getting mad, one of the boys attempts to strike Nephenee with a pitchfork, which she blocks, then, on instinct (her soldier instincts taking over), she bashes him and knocks him over with her shield. She stares wide eyed, she just turned her weapon on a child, not just a child, her own brother, and now he’s on the ground, crying, with a bloody nose. Her other brothers start insulting her, but now, Nephenee won’t have any of this. She puts her foot down, and orders them to go home.

They refuse, and her other two brothers attack her too, because Nephenee isn’t their sister, she’s a monster who beat up her little brother. Nephenee easily pushes them all over and quickly breaks their will to join the insurrection. She makes them go home this time. They all say they hate her, to which Nephenee replies that that’s good, because she probably won’t be coming back.

Their sister is gone.

Nephenee the country girl is gone.

Only Nephenee the soldier remains.

[kaette-kita-slayers]

July-December 2015 Q&As

Here’s the rest of 2015!

July 2015

Q: Is there any connection between the Elmekian Empire and Elmekia Lance?

K: [Elmekia Lance] was named that because it was developed in the Elmekian Empire.

Q: I recall that Mazoku have to fight using only their own power, or their existence itself will be threatened, as beings of mental energy*. But Shabranigdu gave Xelloss talismans that draw on the power of the Demon Lords of other worlds, and Xelloss used them. Is that okay for a Mazoku to do? I worry about whether using someone else's power might destroy Xelloss. * (This is one of those terms that's simple in Japanese, but a little harder to render in English. It literally means “mind-form”.)

K: He was obligated to pretend to be human, so it wouldn't really have been a problem.

(I honestly don't know if this question is about Slayers or something else, sorry!) Q: Ramika loves cats. Does her teacher, Nero Griffa, like cats, too? Or does he not particularly care, and feel like "If you have enough free time to bother with a helpless creature like that, then why can't you devote yourself further as an apprentice?"

K: Nero Griffa loves hamsters. I think he started down the path of darkness because his pet hamster died, or something.

August 2017

Q: Is the Eternal Queen called that because she's immortal? If she isn't immortal, then does that mean that each generation of the queens of Zephilia possesses the mind (ghost?) of the Aqualord? Also, the Knight of Ceipheed, Luna, can slice up a dragon with a kitchen knife, so can the Eternal Queen do the same?

K: The Eternal Queen isn't completely immortal, but she has a near-immortal lifespan and changes very little physically. The Eternal Queen has inherited the Aqualord's "knowledge", and Big Sis has "power", so they won't necessarily be able to do the same things.

Q: I'm curious about which have personalities you like and which have personalities you hate, among the characters you've written, in both the main series and short stories. If you had to choose---not characters you like or hate, but just personalities---who would you pick?

K: It's not "hate" so much as "have difficulty with", but the truth is that I think I'd have trouble dealing with Lina and Gourry. Someone as pushy as Lina would probably be irritating, and having to explain everything from start to finish like you would with Gourry would also be irritating. There's not really anyone whose personality I can specifically say I like.

Q: Which of these would the Mazoku (especially Xelloss) prefer: the occasional negative emotions of anger and sadness that humans with their eyes on the future feel, like Lina's group, or the extreme negative emotions experienced by the type of humans who would do anything to achieve what they want, like Rezo?

K: Mazoku each have their own preferences. Similar to how some people like fish, while others like meat.

September 2015

(No entry)

October 2015

Q: Lately, a lot of light novel authors have been writing scripts for anime other than adaptations of their work. You were in charge of the script for the Slayers movie, so have you ever wanted to write scripts for other anime?

K: No. Writing a few scripts really drove home the difference in how you have to present things in scripts and in novels. Plus there's the strictness of the deadlines. Most of the time with scripts, you have to be really fast, so I felt that specializing in them would be rough, honestly.

Q: In honor of the surprising spotlight on Lantz at the Slayers 25th anniversary exhibition, I have a question. Did you intend for Lantz to return from the beginning? I heard that the editorial staff was surprised that volume 3 ended up being more interesting than plotted, so when you were writing the plot, did you plan for him to return?

K: As I was plotting it out, I did plan for him to return. However, before I started writing the plot, I hadn't had any intention of bringing him back.

Q: Flare Dragon Ceipheed has the Flare Dragon Sword*, and Ruby Eye Shabranigdu has the Hungry Bone Staff*. It seems like they have weapons for their personal use that require a human form. Do the gods and Mazoku take human form by default, rather than adopting human forms to blend in with humans? Also, Sherra's Dulgofa may be an exception, but are Rashatt's sword or Xelloss' staff support items that increase their combat strength? I would very much appreciate it if you could answer this, if you don't mind. * (I have no idea if there are official/accepted translations for these?)

K: I think I've discussed this before in Megabura's* newsletters, but the Flare Dragon Sword only exists in legends, not in reality. The Hungry Bone Staff is indeed patterned after human weapons, but only because it happened to be the most convenient option at the time, no other reason. As for your other question, they're only external support items, so even if they happen to be useful, they don't actually increase their combat strength. * (The official fan club)

November 2015

(No entry)

December 2015

Q: When Zel was a kid, did he never even once study at school or the Sorcerer's Guild side-by-side with children his own age? If not, then when it came to the reading, writing, and arithmetic that children study, did he learn that from his parents, who were educated by Rezo in academic and magic subjects? In the Slayers Anthology, Zel gives Amelia some advice that makes him sound like a bookish young man, so I wondered who he learned about things other than Shamanistic Magic from. Or did Zel have another teacher aside from Rezo who taught him about subjects other than magic?

K: There's no such thing as compulsory education in that world, so unless you specifically enroll in a large school, you'll essentially never study side-by-side with other people. In Zel's case, I think he learned a variety of things from Rezo and his associates. Such as Noonsa.

Q: How do they develop new magic in the Slayers world? Do they do things like research ancient tomes and records of the Mazoku left behind in in folk tales, then pedal home on a bike from work at the Sorcerer's Guild, thinking up Chaos Words and muttering to themselves like "Darkness deeper than twilight... nah, that's not it...", then pack themselves a lunch on a nice sunny day and go out to some deserted mountain or ocean to try it out?

K: Different people have different methods of devising new spells, but the basis of it is always learning and analyzing preexisting spells. Building on that, they can proceed by trial and error, doing things like picking up information from ancient writings and adding that in, or combining it with the procedure for a different class of spell. It's common for people to attempt to create new spells, only for them to have no effect.

Q: I think there was a place in the main series where it said that even among pure Mazoku, it's easier for high-ranking Mazoku to take human form. In that case, what determines the appearance they end up with? Is it a reflection of the Mazoku's personality? Or can they choose to look however they want? This is an extreme example, but could Xelloss turn into Lina or Gourry? (as in, transforming himself)

K: Basically, if a Mazoku takes on human form, it all depends on the Mazoku's intent. So Xelloss could look identical to someone else. However, he wouldn't do it, because unless it were a necessity, it would be a problem for his sense of self and identity as a Mazoku.

[multiimuse]

Dilan HCs

Odds for your boys tbh. B)

I’m never trusting u with meme powers again, kitty.

ANYWAY.

1. What does their bedroom look like?

Relatively neat, if still rather dusty in corners from years of disuse. Sparsely decorated with a bed and a nightstand, a dresser and a closet. He has a (probably) useless decorative lance mounted on the wall above his dresser, and and a small lamp on his nightstand. There used to be a bonsai on the dresser, but Aeleus rescued it  took it away a few years before the garden fell, when Dilan’s attempt at using it to relax nearly did the poor thing in. (He’s considering trying again, but it would probably meet the same fate if he did.) Overall? It’s not very personal - it’s just the place where he sleeps. His space is the kitchen.

3. Do they exercise, and if so, what do they do? How often?

Dilan’s more likely to be caught moving than standing still, honestly. If he’s not cooking or working on putting the castle in order, odds are he’s exercising or training. Keeping in good physical condition is important to him - one of the few things that had little to no change during his time as a Nobody. And it’s certainly better than sitting around letting whatever he’s feeling catch up to him. As for what, specifically, he does, he rotates through routines so that he can generally keep from overstressing any one area.

5. Cleanliness habits (personal, workspace, etc.)

Unless he’s been actively working up a sweat (which is admittedly rather often), Dilan tends to keep himself and his personal spaces presentable and neat. It’s easier to get things done when everything is kept neat. Really, that’s all it’s about - it’s not so much a personal preference as it is practicality and training. (Although when it comes to the kitchen, it’s also about avoiding contamination and bacteria, because no-one wants food poisoning and unwashed dishes are gross.)

7. Favorite way to waste time and feelings surrounding wasting time

Dilan doesn’t waste time. If he does something, it’s because it needs or should be done, for some reason or another - and idleness is something he outright refuses to indulge in. Even if that reason is simply to try and make himself feel better? It’s worth doing.

9. Makeup?

Hahaha no. He does groom his sideburns though? (Sorry ladies, those eyelashes are all natural.)

11. Intellectual pursuits?

He prefers to leave science to the scientists, but Dilan does have a soft spot for history. Knowing what happened in the past can prepare one for the future, after all. (He’s also rather interested in nutrition, mostly because it ties into cooking and being able to balance good food with needed food is important.) Really, though - he’s just not that interested in research.

13. Sexual Orientation? And, regardless of own orientation, thoughts on sexual orientation in general?

It isn’t something Dilan thinks of much. He fell for someone exactly once, and it ended so badly that even decades later he’s not willing to even consider the concept of being attracted to anyone. (I as mun would tentatively label him as both demisexual and demiromantic, but neither he nor I know if heteroromantic or biromantic or panromantic; it’s something to find out if it ever comes up, I suppose.) As for views of it in general? Love is Stupid and he’ll recommend avoiding it, but doesn’t actually care one whit what anyone’s orientation is. It’s just not a thing that he thinks about one way or another.

15. Biggest and smallest short term goal?

Right now, his biggest short term goal is getting his temper back under better control. Living so long without it has gotten him out of the habit, and the sheer intensity of it’s rather overwhelming. His smallest is to make sure Braig keeps eating because he doesn’t trust the man to look after himself right now.

17. Preferred mode of dress and rituals surrounding dress

He... tends to stick to his uniform, really? After years of wearing the organization’s coat he’s not exactly prone to thinking about alternate clothing. It... doesn’t really feel right to wear the guard uniform like he has been, either, but - there’s something comforting about it, something that makes it easier to reintegrate into his life as Dilan. Maybe he’ll branch out in the future, but right now, this works. (As for rituals, unless he ended up wandering into the kitchen in the middle of the night and fell asleep there, you’re not likely to catch Dilan leaving his rooms without him being fully dressed in his uniform. He isn’t particularly comfortable with leaving things done only halfway.)

19. What do they think about before falling asleep at night?

He tries not to, actually, beyond lists of what he needs to do the next day or going through what he’s already gotten done. Thinking too much leads to feeling, and he’s really not fond of how free the heart is with forming emotions to even the littlest things. 

21. Turn-ons? Turn-offs?

NEXT QUESTION BECAUSE THIS ISN’T RELEVANT.

(On: When someone isn’t intimidated by his temper, who has the fire to match himself. Touches to his collarbone. Massages. Soft voices reading aloud in the evenings. Off: the slightest sign of distress, strong perfume, poor manners at meals.)

23. How organized are they? How does this organization/disorganization manifest in their everyday life?

He’s relatively organized? It’s again not so much a personal thing as it really is just the discipline required to be a decent guard. So things tend to be kept in order, he keeps appointments, etc! However... his temper can easily throw that all into disarray. When he loses his temper he tends to throw and/or misplace things, or lose track of time until he’s finally calmed down again. It’s another reason why he wants to get it under better control again.

25. How do they see themselves 5 years from today?

That isn’t something Dilan’s letting himself think about too much - it’s easier to take everything one day at a time. Providing the worlds are still standing in five years, he imagines he’ll be in much the same place he is now: rebuilding his life, whatever method it takes.

27. What is their biggest regret?

He has two: that he never saw his daughter after his relationship fell apart and as such has no idea what her ultimate fate was, and that he did not stop Xehanort, did not even step in, when he knows that he should have. (Perhaps it wouldn’t have made a difference in the end, but that doesn’t negate the responsibility he feels he bears.)

29. Reaction to sudden extrapersonal disaster (eg The house is on fire! What do they do?)

He’s a guard, so he’s trained not to panic - instead, he’ll respond to whatever it is as calmly as possible and if it’s something he can deal with, he’ll deal with it. If it’s not? Get everyone he can out of the way and keep them there until someone who can deal with it has been informed and is on their way.

31. Most prized possession?

If anyone were to ask, he’d state that it was either his weapons or his cooking knives. But the true item he prizes above all others is a soft child’s doll shaped like a knight. He never got to give it to the one meant to own it, but he kept it safe for her on the off-chance that someday he might. Eventually, it simply turned into a reminder that he can’t bear to let go of. (And he’s just about as possessive of it as, say, the Beast and his rose. Never touch it without permission, if you even have been given the right to know that it’s there.)

33. Concept of home and family?

The castle is his home, and its denizens his family - or as close to one as he has or bothers to think about. Family, to Dilan, is made up of bonds of loyalty that can never be broken - if they are easily shattered, then they were never family in the first place. If any physical location could be considered ‘home’, it would probably be the castle kitchen - it’s where he’s most at ease, where his path is most likely to cross with the people he cares for, and where he retreats when he needs to do so.

35. What activities do they enjoy, but consider to be a waste of time?

He doesn’t really waste time, so if an activity could be considered as such he doesn’t let himself try it long enough to find out if he likes it or not. ... He probably should, just to branch out a little more, but it would take some persuading to convince him that anything that might be seen as a waste of time (movies, meaningless doodling, etc) is worth giving a shot anyway.

37. Are they more analytical or more emotional in their decision-making?

He tries to be analytical, but that was far easier as Xaldin. Now that he has his heart back, there’s something of a push-and-pull going on in his decision making. So unless he forces himself to calm down, his first reaction is going to be emotional. (Have I mentioned he really didn’t want his temper back, yet? Because he sure didn’t.)

39. What recharges them when they’re feeling drained?

Cooking, mostly. Dilan uses it to unwind, to de-stress and to be productive in the face of more overwhelming emotions. If he’s too drained to even manage that, however, he’ll simply make some kind of tea and relax at the table until he’s doing a little better. If he’s hit that point, however, he’s not likely to be social, so it’s usually best to leave him be and let him make the first move.

41. How misanthropic are they?

He’s... pretty misanthropic. Naturally a little suspicious and guarded around others, his relationship falling apart led him to drawing farther back, guarding himself further and making it that much harder to trust that anyone has good intentions, and then, after what happened with Xehanort... well, by now he’s more or less given up on humanity as a whole, or bothering with people he doesn’t already have some connection with. (There are a few exceptions, but they are exceptions.) 

43. How far did they get in formal education? What are their views on formal education vs self-education?

Dilan’s family wasn’t particularly wealthy, so that while he had formal education up through the end of high school, that’s where it ended; he enlisted upon graduating, and anything he’s picked up since has been self taught. Primarily, this includes cooking, but he’s also picked up more than he would like to know a few things from being around Ansem and Even for so long. He has no strong opinions on formal versus self-education, save that he wishes more people were taught how to defend themselves - a silly thought, perhaps, before the Garden fell. But now? Now, he’s willing to bet more than a few survivors agree with him.

45. Superstitions or views on the occult?

He doesn’t really have any? Dilan isn’t a superstitious person by nature, and tends to not do a lot of thinking about occult matters. His mindset is more or less one of ‘if I don’t think about it, it won’t affect me’ - which works well enough until you lose your heart and start living an existence that is neither truly living nor existing but still somehow something. (Now that he’s himself again, he’s still trying very hard not to think about such things.)

47. If they were to fall in love, who (or what) is their ideal?

Hahahahahaha, ha. ha.

Never again. (Ideals are for idiots and children, anyway.)

49. If this person were to get into a fist fight, what is their fighting style like?

If it’s to the point of a fist fight, it’s usually because Dilan’s too angry to think straight, so the only thing he’s focusing on is releasing his anger onto his opponent. Thus it lacks in his usual finesse and precision... but given that he’s still strong, and fast, and trained in combat, he’s... still pretty dangerous and not one you really want to piss off to the point he’s throwing punches.

[calligraphist-artemisia]

Day 1: Trust

For Pidge Ship Week 2017!

Summary: After spending weeks as a prisoner on a Galra ship, Pidge finds herself being rescued by the most unlikely of people. Pairing: Keith/Pidge (also featuring mentioned Hunk/Lance

Also on: AO3 and fanfiction.net

Day One: Trust

Pidge still wasn't sure how things had gone so awry on her mission. She and her team had planned everything out, down to the last detail. And even if things did start to go sideways, she could think fast enough to make it through.

Or so she thought.

The door slid open with a noisy hiss and Pidge scrambled to press her back against the wall. Her face morphed into an angry scowl as she defiantly met the eyes of one of her jailers. Nothing good ever came of one of Zarkon's officers paying her a visit, but she refused to back down.

She was so caught up in her act of stubborn rebellion, that it took her a moment to realize there was something different about the Galra soldier in front of her.

He was smaller than the others. Most of the Galra she'd met towered over her, making her feel like an insignificant child. He was still taller than her, but only in the same way that everyone was taller than her. And his eyes... she had started to grow used to the solid yellow-orange that all of the others sported, but his were different. He had violet irises set against the yellow. And they were focused on her face. Or, more specifically, on the light purple markings decorating her cheeks.

“So you're the Altean,” he remarked.

Pidge bristled and resorted to her usual defense: sarcasm. “No, clearly I'm Arusia. Maybe you should get your vision checked.”

The Galra didn't react to her statement. He just stood there, studying her.

“What do you want?” Pidge snapped. Her limited patience had already worn thin.

“I need you to trust me.”

Whatever Pidge had been expecting, it wasn't that. She gaped at him. “Excuse me?”

He glanced over his shoulder, one furry ear twitching as he listened out for something down the hall. Then he looked back at her and repeated his words a little more slowly. “I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

What the quiznak was happening? Was he serious? He was Galra – the enemy – and he was asking her to trust him? It had to be a trap. Obviously it was a trap.

Still, there was some part of her whispering that he could be trusted. It went against everything her mind told her. It was entirely illogical.

“I can do that,” Pidge told him.

He raised an eyebrow in clear disbelief. “I know you're lying, but I appreciate the attempt. Follow me,” he said as he turned and walked out of her cell.

Pidge followed him, fully prepared for an ambush waiting on the other side. When she stepped through to find it was still just the two of them, she released a breath of air she didn't know she'd been holding.

The Galra chuckled in dry amusement.

Her face burned with embarrassment as she continued following him. She had to be smarter than that. If his plan was to betray her, he'd wait until her guard was down – or, until he thought her guard was down. Pidge just had to stay alert and ready to react to whatever he might throw her way.

They walked for what felt like hours, through halls that all looked exactly the same to her. A few times, he had her duck out of sight of passing sentries. Pidge didn't think much of it until the fourth time he hid alongside her and was forced to press close so they would both be hidden in the shallow alcove.

“Damn. Didn't think there would be so many,” he muttered to himself.

The whisper of doubt about him having bad intentions returned, a little stronger than before. Her friends would have referred to it as “gut instinct” and she knew it was something they relied on more frequently than she liked. Pidge preferred listening to the more logical, (and reasonably) paranoid part of her mind, which refused to trust any strangers, but especially an unfamiliar Galra soldier.

His hand found hers as he tugged her back into the hall and set off at a near sprint around the corner, where they soon had to take cover once more.

He cursed again, that time in the language that never failed to strike a chord of fear in her heart. Pidge reflexively flinched away from him, ripping her hand from his grasp.

The Galra looked down at her, at first to see what she was doing, but then a look of unmistakable concern appeared on his face. “Are you okay?” he quietly asked.

Pidge shakily nodded, not trusting herself to keep her volume in check.

He eyed her for a moment longer and then leaned forward to get a quick look at the hall. He pulled back with a frustrated sigh. With a fluid motion, he unsheathed the dagger strapped to his belt. “There are more sentries than I expected. I didn't want to fight our way out of here, but I may have to. Just stick close and I'll keep you safe, okay?”

In any other circumstance, Pidge would have been furious by the insinuation that she couldn't protect herself, but in that moment, she found herself rendered speechless at the sight of the blade in his hands.

The glowing violet of the insignia on the hilt gave away his true affiliation.

Pidge reached out and grabbed his arm, her eyes wide. “You're with the Blade?”

His brow furrowed in confusion. “Uh, yeah? Wait, you didn't know? And you still trusted me? How st-”

A sudden shot against the archway of their hiding spot had the Galra cutting himself off mid-sentence to instead growl darkly in frustration. “Stay here!” he ordered, yanking his arm from her grip and charging into the hall.

Pidge stamped down the impulse to follow him anyway. She'd only be a liability in the middle of a fight, especially without any kind of weapon to use. What she wouldn't give to have her bayard with her.

She closed her eyes and focused, wondering if she could somehow summon it to her hand, despite the massive distance between them. All she felt was the heartbreaking ache of separation between herself and her team.

“Hey.”

Pidge shrieked as the Galra suddenly appeared in front of her again. He glared at her for the high-pitched sound, his ears flicking back in agitation, and she quickly apologized.

“We have to go. More guards will be on their way soon,” he informed her. “Follow me.”

Pidge found herself struggling to keep up with him as he quickly led the way toward what she really hoped was the ship's hangar. By the way he kept shooting looked at her over his shoulder, he was equally as annoyed by her inability to keep up.

Around them, alarms began to screech.

The doors noisily slid open behind them and Pidge wished desperately that she had any kind of weapon in her hand. She didn't need to hear her rescuer's demand for her to run, she was already moving, her survival instinct kicking into high gear. She sped past him, but didn't have time to notice the surprised expression on his face even as he matched her speed.

Shots rang out, clipping at their heels and the wall around them.

“Hangar's the to the left!” he shouted as they neared the end of the hall.

There was no time to slow down.

Pidge slid as she tried to round the corner as quickly as possible, nearly smashing her right shoulder into the wall in the process. Her right hand tingled as they neared the hangar doors.

The closed hangar doors.

Which could only be opened by a Galra.

Quiznak.

Her companion realized the problem at the same time she did. They didn't have time to get the door open before the guards and sentries reached them. He couldn't go try and hold them off either, because Pidge couldn't access the doors on her own. And without a weapon, she couldn't try and hold them back for him either.

Unless...

Pidge looked down at her empty hand and concentrated. She knew the feeling of calling her bayard, if she could only reach it...

A pulse of green light and the weight of her small weapon in her hand had Pidge grinning triumphantly. She met the Galra's surprised violet eyes and issued her first command to him. “Get that door open! I'll handle them!”

Then she was sprinting forward to take out the first wave of sentries as they marched around the corner. Before they could begin to take aim, she lifted her bayard and shot it at the legs of one in the back so she could yank it forward and knock down all of the sentries in front of it. With some glee, she unleashed an electrical shock through the cable, rendering the robots immobile.

Without wasting time, she recalled her weapon and prepared for the next group, which was as easily taken out as the first.

“Altean!”

Pidge looked back to find he'd gotten the door open. She retracted her bayard and turned to run just as a pair of guards began to climb over the unmoving forms of the robotic sentries. One of them fell with a shout of alarm.

She darted past her Galra rescuer and took refuge in the hangar. He followed seconds later and effortlessly closed the door in the guards faces before smashing a fist into the console, effectively locking the door. The only way anyone was getting in, was through force.

“What the hell was that?” he demanded, rounding on her the moment it was clear they were face. “You could have gotten yourself killed!”

“Hey, I got us in here without getting shot at! The least you could do is thank me!” Pidge snapped right back.

“I'm supposed to be rescuing you, not putting you in more danger!” He responded hotly. “Where did you get that thing anyway? It doesn't look like Galra tech.”

“It's not. It's Altean,” she replied shortly. She crossed her arms over her chest, but kept a firm grasp of her bayard, not quite willing to let it go. She wasn't sure if it was just a fluke that she'd been able to call it the first time and she wasn't willing to risk not being able to do it a second.

Panicked shouting erupted on the other side of the door. The broken console sparked ominously and the door itself groaned, as if in protest of something.

Both of them turned to it in alarm.

That was all the warning they got before a blast shook the hangar.

Pidge screamed as she felt her feet lift off of the floor and she began flying backwards through the air. She flailed, trying to right herself enough to see what was happening, and caught sight of her unnamed companion as he went soaring in the air next to her.

The blast hadn't come from the door, which remained firmly shut. It came from outside the ship.

Pidge reached out and tightly grabbed the Galra by the arm before aiming her bayard at a stable-looking pole near one of the walls. She only had one shot at keeping them from being sucked out into space.

The blade of her weapon wrapped neatly around the pole, circling around to catch on the glowing green cable. The pair jerked to a stop, suspending in the air.

“We have to get to a ship!” he shouted at her.

Pidge bit back a sarcastic reply, instead taking a moment to look around the hangar. There was only one ship close enough that they stood a chance of reaching.

Movement at the gaping hole in the hull had her forming a new plan on the spot. She turned her head to her new friend, meeting his violet eyes with her steady amber ones. “I need you to trust me. Can you do that?”

His expression was puzzled, but he nodded in agreement.

Pidge let go and they were both sucked out into the void of space.

But only for a second.

They landed, hard, on cool metal. Pidge felt warm arms wrap around her middle right before impact, which took away some of the roughness of her landing. As they caught their breath, darkness briefly closed around them and they felt the ship they were in shift as it began to move.

Blue light soon lit up around them as a new door slid open and a figure in white-and-blue armor stepped through. He raised an eyebrow and let out a low whistle at the sight of them.

“Whoa, Pigeon, you sure move fast! Though, I have to admit, I never would have expected your tastes to run purple and furry. Guess that explains all the time's you turned me down, huh?”

Pidge could recognize the teasing in his voice even on her most oblivious days, but she was too relieved to see her friend to take the bait he was so enticingly dangling in front of her. “Lance!” she choked out, her voice giving way to a happy sob.

Lance smiled softly. “Hey, there. Happy reunion later, alright? Wanna join me up front so I can pilot Blue back to the Castle? I've got Shiro and Hunk screaming at me to get my ass in gear.” He tapped the side of his helmet, indicating the comm system. And then his gaze fell on the disgruntled Galra next to Pidge and he let out a sigh. “Keith can come too, I guess.”

“Keith?” Pidge repeated, taken aback by the very human sounding name. She looked to the Galra next to her, who was carefully avoiding her gaze. “What kind of name is that?”

“What kind of name is Pidge?” he asked in response.

“A nickname,” she said defensively. “My name is Katie.”

Lance looked between them for a moment longer and then threw up his hands in disbelief. “Yup. I'm so not listening to this lovers' spat. I'm not talking to you, Hunk!”

“That's an Earth name,” Keith noted with some confusion. “But they said you're Altean. And your markings...”

Pidge reached up to brush her fingertips against the pale purple crescent decorating her right cheek. “I'm not even half. Someone in my family was, once, and that bloodline got passed down to me. The only reason I look like this is because of my exposure to Altean tech and magic over the past three years. I grew up on Earth. Same as you, I'm guessing.”

“For a while,” Keith reluctantly explained. “One of the Blade found me on Earth when I was eight. He brought me back with him and I've been training ever since.”

Silence stretched between them. It was more awkward than uncomfortable. Pidge was dying to pry more into his life. After all, it wasn't often that she met someone who was part alien like she was. (Actually, she'd never met anyone else like her. Shiro and his prosthetic arm did not count, even if it was alien technology.)

Before she had a chance to try and ask more, the ship jostled to the side, throwing Pidge over on top of Keith as they slid into the wall.

“Sorry!” Lance's voice reached them, slightly muffled. “I've just got to – Hunk! They're on your tail!”

Keith groaned and rubbed his head. “I see his piloting skills are as bad as his pick-up lines.”

Pidge grinned at the comment. “Believe it or not, he used to be worse.”

“Are which one? The piloting or the cheesy lines?”

Pidge outright laughed as she crawled off of him and stood up. “Both, if I'm being honest. Dating Hunk has mellowed him out a bit.” She held out a hand to hep him up and was pleased when he actually accepted it. “We should get up there before he starts doing barrel rolls.”

Keith winced at the thought of it. “That sounds unpleasant.”

“Oh, it is,” Pidge assured him, walking over to the door. She pressed a panel on the side, which lit up blue before the door slid open.

“Hey, lovebirds, you're just in time!” Lance called back to them. “Hold onto something and prepare to have your minds blown by the greatest piloting the universe has ever seen!”

Pidge groaned and grabbed the back of Lance's seat, planting her feet firmly on the floor. Keith quickly copied her motions.

“Remind me to tell Shiro he needs to have a talk with him about this. Again,” she muttered to her fellow half-alien.

“Will do.”

“Seriously? I'm not that bad,” Lance said, a little wounded.

Pidge exchanged a smile with Keith and then braced herself for whatever came next.

[relnhart]

The Blanegard Family, and some history on Reinhart. (To be continued)

Reinhart Blanegard age 24 A farmhand at bentbranch meadows. Has a scar going from the nape of his neck on the right side to across his chest. (received from a Coerl attack when he was 16) Joined the lancer's guild 5 years after the Calamity. Raised his own red chocobo from birth. Has a huge crush on Taimu Dolores. Has a basic understanding of Thaumaturgy and Conjuration. Did not consider himself worthy of the title of warrior of light until given Hraesvelgr's Eye. Titled as the Viridian Dragoon, as Estinien is referred to as Crimson and Shiro as the new Azure Dragoon. Cannot hold his liquor and gets drunk easily. Prefers not to drink because of this.

Reinhart Blanegard, Son to Elaena Blanegard. Is the heir to a bloodline born from Allagan expermentation, who used human slaves as guinea pigs to further their own twisted ends. Tiamat had imprisoned herself in Azys Lla, mourning over her beloved Bahamut and the monster she created throught the help of Ascian machination. The Allagans took full advantage of their prisoner, taking her blood experimenting with it. Among which were transfusions into human hosts, Creating mindless thralls turned dragon to send out as monsterous reinforcements for their armies. One such dragon overcame the deadly effects of the blood and eventually regained their human form, seeking out to live their life peacefully away from Allagan rule. This person would later be the progenitor of the Blanegard bloodline. with each generation carrying that slight bit of draconic essense. Though not apparent at first glance, Traces of their draconic ancestry can be found in dominant hereditary traits, such as two toned hair colors. Reinhart's case being black and dark green. A small Draconic rune symbol embrazoned on their body a sa birthmark, and their eyes taking on a draconc appearance in times of extreme duress (A faint blue energy exudes from them, as well as their pupils stretch more vertically to match that of a dragons). Likely connected to Tiamat herself, when confronted with extreme sorrow, regret, or anger. Emotions that Tiamat feels since her imprisonment. Lastly would be their greatest treasure, the dragoon soul crystal. It's creation made when Zaryn Blanegard, the first of the line, gave his life defending his homeland and family in Mercydia from the Allagans. His lover kept the soul crystal safe, until it's purpose was made clear to her grand daughter, who was gifted with the echo and carried the crystal as a warrior of light. It would later be passed down generation to geenration.

To begin the story of Reinhart, we shall start with his mother, Elaena Blanegard. Elaena Blanegard is the daughter of Wilfred Blanegard and Vivian Gallione. Will heralded from the central continent Isalbard, an accomplished Dragoon who fell in love with the budding Red Mage Vivian of Gyr Abania. Her skills not of the greatest calibur but was always determined to make a difference to those around her. The two would settle in Ala Giri and later raise Elaene there. Elaena is what some may call a prodigy, others a perfectionist, Solitary, and quiet. She was adept at learning both lance and magic, but sometimes would struggle to find common ground with her peers. Often being teased doe her quiet nature. She hated losing though, so she works hard to stay at the top, this in tandem with her quiet nature made her hard to approach at times. Then the Garleans invaded Eorzea. The campaign to defend her homeland would span across the country. Her bold tactics carried a certain uneasiness to them. But The ferocity of her resolve inspired many to follow. Alas, Gyr Abania was fated to fall under Garlean control despite her efforts. It was around this time she would meet Reinhart's father, An Ishgardian midlander by the name of Cross Volieur, of House Volieur.

Cross Volieur was born into the noble family of House Volieur, Who's forefront role was that of a mercantile house, Making a lucrative business out of winter coats and quality furnishings. Cross himself though was far removed  from the expectations of his father, he'd rather keep a quill in his hand as an author rather than Learning the ins and outs of running his family business. As the eldest son of the house, he upheld sole responsibility to keep a commendable reputation in Ishgardian society. Cross himself liked to speaked his mind freely, to the ire of his parents. Being scolded again and again that his was the attitude of the commoners. Regardless, he was a rebellious soul, never wanting to step in the heels of his father's footsteps.

With a last attempt to keep his son in line and to keep a good repuation with the family name, He set Cross up for an arranged marriage with the daughter of one of his competitors, to ease tension between businesses. It was around this time Ishgard would get involved with the defense of Eorzea against the Garlean advance. Cross, wanting to escape his fate, gave up his scholarly studies and joined up with the Ishgardian military. Making the promise to uphold his duties as heir to his father's legacy upon his return. With the help of some of his freinds at the scholasticate as well as his commanding officer, they landed him a deal to work as an on site correspondant. letting him write in his free time about the war at the Eorzean front. His written articles would later boost morale among the soldiers and the Ishgardian populace.

Cross' life as a soldier took getting used to. He initially saw enlistment as a means of escape. He rarely took his training seriously got an earful from his commanding officer on more than one occasion. His behavior also cost him the ire of his fellow men, seeing him as a liability than a soldier. He was later forced into the roll as an errand boy in the medical ward for a week, and i was there he got his first taste of the harrowing truths about war. He spent most of that week frantically delivering medical supplies throughout the ward to the chirugeons that needed them, rarely having a moments rest. His time there forever changed the man, making him realize the responsibility of having the lives of his comrades rest upon his shoulders, he turned his attitude around and took his role as a soldier seriously from that point onward.

Cross would then set out with the rest of his squadron, having been tasked with meeting up with the joint efforts of the Immortal Flames and Ala Mhigo. It would be here that Cross would meet Elaena, although only by circumstance as soldiers. Cross of course being a no name private, and Elaena appointed as a leiutenant. The next month would be of them systematically sabotaging Garlean outposts, communications, and intel. This mix mashed unit slowly became clsoer as a whole, and began seeing themselves as one cohesive unit rather than the three seperate forces they  were composed of. They would be periodically receive orders, and carry them out discreetly. Never directly engaging Garlean forces unless under the cover of surprise. One night however did not go in their favor. One order was meant to be a standard surveillance sweep in Northern Thanalan. An encrypted Garlean message was decoded and the Immortal flames decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Their unit was to confirm the location of a convoy of prisoners and report for further orders via linkpearl.

The convoy was located in the dead of night, with some prisoners taken out for exercise under close watch and then loaded back onto the ground transports. Theyw ere then given the task to ambush the Garleans and liberate their captives. The ambush was successful, Many of the guards were taken out without notice, What was odd though was that upon closer inspection, they were unarmed Garleans. . . that were chained. That moment of realization was when their trap sprung, they were quickly surrounded by Garlean forces and the transport emptied out with the prisoners, armed with Garlean weapons.

The Garleans were using glamour prisms and swapped appearances with their captives. Someone tipped them off about the raid and they were fully prepared for it. The guards that were taken out were in fact the prisoners they were tasked with rescuing. Too much risk was involved to take the extra time needed to confirm the true idenity of the guards they ended up slaying. They were given order to retreat and sustained heavy losses in the ensueing conflict. of the 27 remaining soldiers of their task force. Only 8 managed to escape, 2 of which would later succumb to their injuries. Elaena took the substantial loss hard, she had never faced such an overwhelming defeat. She was always known as calm, quiet, and collected. But the lives she had sworn to fight alongside were now gone, she was the sole survivor of the Ala Mihgan's assigned to this unit. Much to everyone's surprise, she completely broke down. She couldn't give orders the next day. The Link pearls they were given were not working, perhaps by some interference from Garlean technology, none can say. They were deep in enemy territory and needed a way out. Yet her words carried trepidation with each sentence, She doubted her capabilities and could not bear to give orders out, fearing it may be their last. It was also at this time the draconic nature of her eyes took hold once more, some curiously asked her about it. She explains to them it's a trait from her father's side, it's not completely understood, and is linked to their emotions, commonly grief, sadness, and anger.

Although some may be consumed by tragedy, Others would be defined by it. Cross would later take lead, spurring what little morale was left from the remaining squadron, and slowly sneak their way out of Garlean controlled terrirtory. He made it a point to keep talking, whether it be about food, politics, the weather, anything. Silence only brings them back thoughts of that harrowing night. Encouragement to talk about home kept their spirits from breaking. After some prodding even Elaena started to open up a bit more during their travels. It would be a week before they reached the first signs of Eorzean controlled territory, Their rations gone, they subsisted soley on wild game and vegetation.

Cross gave a full report to Ala Mhigan command at an outpost near Gyr Abania. Given leave and much needed rest while they await further orders. Elaena was taken in for psychiatric evaluation diagnosed with severe PTSD, Having react negatively to the sounds of gunfire and magitech cannons. Ealanea would given considerable severance pay for her outstanding service to the realm. Even offered a full time position as a battle instructor for the Theordrain's elite guards. She declined, and spent time with Cross and the others. Showing them around her homeland. The two grew close and eventually started dating, Cross comming to visit when he was on leave. A year of this would pass before they would get married. Elaena took up body guard jobs for caravans to help keep her skills sharpened, refusing to let her shortcommings stop her from honing her skills. She would eventually move in with Cross in ishgard, though her name and deeds would be known throughout most of the realm, They did not reach the ears of Ishgard. She saw this as an opportunity to reinvent herself. She hid her famed spear at the bottom of a canyon in Coerthas central highlands. hoping to bury her bloody past along with it.

Cross' father though dismayed at his son's actions, welcomed her with open arms, working out some sort of other deal with the rivaling family. Elaena took up Carpentry under the tutelage of Cross' father. Another two years would pass, Cross would continue his military career, and Elaena would continue to impress her Father in law with her adeptness and determination. Or stubborness as he would say. Elaena would bear a Son, Reinhart. Cross father around the time grew ill, and though overjoyed to see his grandson, he did not live long after his birth. It was only a month later that treachery would befall the rest of the Vollieur Family. Cross would be caught with a Dravanian Idol, of how he came into possession of one, none are certain. He never had any motive or reason to side with the heretics. Nonetheless, His other family memebrs would also be caught with one as well. Someone was setting them up, but due to the timing of Nidhogg's awakening, Tensions about heretical activity had been a all time high. Judgement from the high Inquisitor was swift, there was no such investigation made.

Of course they were all sentenced to fall from Witches Drop and prove their innocence before the fury. One by one they did, many forcefully. Elaena  would eventually jump, of course using the training she had to disperse her fall, and then fake her death. Cross begged them to spare his son. It was decalred that due to him being so young, he couldn't possibly be tainted by such blasphemers yet, and would be spared. Relieved. Cross Jumped off peacefully, landing near Elaena, Miraculously he survived the fall, only barely. His injuries would be too severe to survive. Having been satisfied, the Inquisitors would wisk Reinhart away to be orphaned in the Brume. After their departure, Elaena would get up and spend a few moments with Cross. Whom, barely alive would let her know Reinhart will be spared, thank her for the love they shared. and to Save their son, before finally passing on. She set off down the canyon and recovered the lance she buried some summers before. Kept in a case to help resist the weather.

She returned, The look of fury in her eyes, Blood was taken from her and it will be repayed in kind. Obviously the guards stopped her at the gate. She refused to stand down and jumped the gate. and evaded pursuit until she was within the city's walls. Walking out in the open near the front gates, for all to see. Many saw her, afraid, she firmly planted her lance and called out the Inquisitors. That Justice will be had. Laying bare the false accusations made against her and her kin, and that no trial was made in accordance to their laws, and now that the enirety of House Volieur was condemned to the Witch's drop. She was but one woman in the eyes of the the inquisitors. But the scene she made caused quite an uproar with the populace, and one soon became many. Not wanting to upset the delicate station they had made for themselves. She had survived the drop, the inquisition countered that she is a heretic for surviving the fall. But the populace was beyond outraged for their conduct. House Volieur would be claimed innocent, but she would not. She demanded her fair trial there then. They could not sweep this fiasco under the rug, they demanded a trial, and a trial would be had.

By combat, she chose. Elaena fights one of the heavensward champions, though victorius, she loses one of her eyes and gets a deep scar across her face from the battle. She retires back to Gyr Abania with her son and lives in peace with her parents for a few years until Reinhart is the age of 5. Garlemald encroaches closer to the Ala Mhigan border and the mad king of Ala Mhigo continued to opress his people. For fear for her son's safety, she makes passage to Bentbranch meadows and requests Gustavian to take care of Reinhart while she joins the resistance in Ala Mhigo alongside The Crimnson Deulists as a Red Mage, leaving behind her soul crystal with Reinhart They slay the mad king and are immediately set upon by Garlemald's forces, who were lying in wait for the moment to strike. Many of the Crimson Deulists fell to Garlemald's assault upon the palace.

[velkynkarma]

Okay. So. I’ve had some time to come down off the mind-is-screaming-internally S2 high and think about a lot of stuff that I saw on my first playthrough. I still intend to go through and re-watch more closely for details. And I have NOT hit that level of ‘instantly knowing when and where scenes and tiny minuscule important details happen’ yet like I have for S1, so some thoughts might be jumbled or more explainable on a second pass. But for now, my reactions, my pros, my cons, my thoughts, and whether or not I’ll still be writing for this series.

Buckle up ‘cause like everything else I write this is gonna get long.

So as I mentioned last night, there were things I liked about this season, and there were things I didn’t. Let’s start with those. PROS:

Everyone gets a moment of sheer badassery. Everyone. Both in their Lion and on their own. Shiro’s combat scenes, Keith’s fights, Lance’s sharpshooting, Allura’s staff fight, I mean the list goes on.

One of my favorites was Hunk when mind controlled, though. Because holy crap—did you see how brutal he was when he had no inhibitions holding him back? He went to town and he messed Lance up pretty good. This says quite a lot about his character that I thought was really interesting. Hunk has has a lot of combat ability and potential, but he holds himself back, partly out of anxiety or that he doesn’t really believe he can do it, and partly because he doesn’t prefer the fighting method when there are other options. Hunk can absolutely fuck you up if he really wants to. He chooses not to. That’s big.

In general, just...absolutely gorgeous fight scenes. The choreography and movement of the characters was superb. As someone who studied animation I was blown away. Beautiful work.

All the Lions got an upgrade of some kind, some kind of special weapon. It kind of bothered me in S1 when the Red Lion got its giant super-gun at the last minute because it felt kind of deus ex machina, but I am glad at least that it’s become more established this is a thing all the Lions can do as long as you connect with them enough.

The Black Bayard has been recovered. Hell. Fucking. Yes.

There were just so many great character interactions and bonding moments. I love that we had a variety of different team-ups to see how different characters interacted with each other, especially in cases where they hadn’t previously. Hunk and Keith, Lance and Pidge, Lance and Shiro, Keith and Shiro, Lance and Hunk...just a lot of great interactions

There were so many “what the actual fuck am I watching” moments for me but I was laughing through all of them, so no complaints there. (Space mall. Just. Space. Mall).

Lots of moments when I laughed out loud or grinned wildly

Shiro losing his fucking cool because he’s human, yeah, I like seeing that haha

Slav. I just. As a person with obsessive compulsive disorder I related with this guy on a fundamental level. I’m not quite as bad as Slav is but man do I get what it’s like to have to do really stupid shit to just progress on a day to day level. (Also, he’s funny).

Zarkon and Haggar’s relationship was explored a lot more, which I really found interesting. In S1 they were a well-oiled machine and worked together perfectly. They also clearly trusted each other. S2 changed that up with Zarkon’s Lion obsession and Haggar wanting to focus on the internal spy and finishing off Allura. I’m curious to see where this will go and if it will form a rift.

Also: Haggar can be tricked. Her magic is not infallible. I suspect the Blade of Marmora has a technique or something to resist druid magic, otherwise they’d have been hardcore fucked centuries ago, but I find this intriguing all the same.

Blade of Marmora: “Come unarmed.” Haha but okay unless you literally disarm Shiro you can’t disarm Shiro and they know that so I’m genuinely surprised they didn’t throw more of a hissy fit over this one.

Not gonna lie I actually really liked the design of Zarkon’s armor-mech. Almost more than Voltron. Dem wings, man. Dem wings. Also, on that note, why the heck does he even need Voltron or the black lion when he’s got his own single-person mech that he can control without having to recruit four other people to work with him?

They basically confirmed false memories are entirely possible for Shiro since Hunk gives us a breakdown of how that arm actually works a little better. The Blade of Marmora may have been real but there is still so much fic potential here I’m foaming at the mouth over it.

CONS:

I’ve got a few cons, but well, let’s get the big one out of the way first. Galra Keith. (And since I know this can be a controversial topic and my feelings on this one are complicated, let me first preface this with an assurance that I have zero shade towards anyone who liked the Galra!Keith theory in S1 or likes the canonization of it in S2. This is just my opinion and in no way does it invalidate yours).

Okay, unpopular opinion time: I’ve never really been on board with the Galra!Keith theory (which I guess is no longer a theory, but yeah). I’ve never really made a big deal of it though because frankly it’s not my place to lecture others on what they want to like or not. I mean, hey, it’s fandom. Like what you like, just don’t cram it in my face. I was content to ignore Galra!Keith tags and go about my business. But the reason I was never really fond of the theory is I could never make it work, with the details presented in S1. And lord knows I tried, anyone who knows me at this point knows I love theorizing and analyzing this stuff. But it just felt so circumstantial. Most of the “evidence” people would point out in S1 could have supported a dozen different kinds of theories. The only real unexplained piece was Keith’s inexplicable draw to the Blue Lion at the beginning, but even then, I didn’t consider this an immediate indication of Galra blood per se. The show also has magic in it, after all; he could have also had some kind of sixth sense or other ability. It just wasn’t enough to go on. And above all I simply could not reconcile any kind of Galra presence on Earth when in S1 they were fully presented as devourers and conquerors. There was no way Zarkon could have known about Earth, especially if the Blue Lion was also on his radar, and not shown up to just take what he wanted and blast it out of orbit. Zarkon takes. He doesn’t have patience for stealth and subtlety when he owns half of the known universe, and I couldn’t see him having a single soldier on Earth without immediately taking advantage of it. Whether that was Keith, or some parent/ancestor of his, didn’t really matter. It just didn’t mesh with Zarkon.

S2 drops a few new details that flesh this out a little better. The existence of a stealth-oriented resistance certainly would justify how some Galra individuals could theoretically have been to Earth without immediately summoning a full fleet to blow it out of space. If they knew the Blue Lion was there they might even have a reason to target Earth specifically, if only to keep it hidden for as long as possible. I am mollified by this, at least, since it does provide some possible answers to the big plot hole issue I had with this theory. But I don’t know. Galra!Keith still feels too…contrived. Too convenient. It just doesn’t feel natural to me, in a series and plot that has otherwise put a lot of focus on naturally developing story as it goes. Each episode drops details that lead to the next episode, smoothly and subtly, but something about Galra Keith just feels very ham-handed. I’m having a little trouble coming to grips with it. Maybe they’ll drop more information in season 3 that will smooth this out more, but right now I’m just…really not a fan of this piece. On the plus side, while I am not really a fan of Keith having Galra heritage, I do kinda like that most people on the ship are just like ‘oh okay you’re part alien whatever.’ Like it isn’t drawn out into a huge drama spectacle. When it’s first officially revealed only Shiro is actually present and I half expected Keith to beg Shiro not to tell anyone because he’s scared of their reactions, just because they’d want to play up the reveal drama for a few episodes, but there wasn’t any. Everyone just knew. Learned off screen even, other than for Shiro, because there is no scene when Keith comes forward and says ‘hey so yeah, turns out I’m part Galra?’ to the team. And with the exception of Allura, nobody really reacted. Hell, there wasn’t a “reaction episode” like you would have expected with a theme like this. It almost felt underplayed. Or, treated as not-really-that-weird-a-thing, like in Keith and Hunk’s episode together, in which Hunk continually draws attention to the Galra heritage but not really in a hateful way. And I kind of liked that, because while Galra!Keith feels a little on the cliche side, at least that kind of response shook that up a little. And, not gonna lie, on a completely aesthetic reaction, I am just super fucking glad that Keith didn’t like…hulk out Galra style. I’m not a fan of Galra designs in general, I’m glad Keith didn’t just magically turn purple and all that. (Though this really does beg the question of how much his biology is affected by that Galra heritage. We know it’s affected his sixth sense at least somewhat since he appears able to sense and interact with all the Lions, and we know it lets him interact with Galra tech which is…weirdly convenient…but otherwise he looks perfectly human). Anyway. That’s my thoughts on Galra Keith, which was the biggest con for me. The rest are less controversial. OTHER CONS:

Pidge and Lance didn’t get to use their bayards to create new solo weaponry for Voltron. This makes me sad as I really wanted to see Voltron get a badass sniper rifle or a chain-whip thing like Zarkon had. I did like that everyone got to work together to make the super huge-ass sword, but I would’ve liked seeing some new weaponry too.

Thace. I just wasn’t feeling it with this guy. I know we’re supposed to feel sad when he dies, but honestly? They didn’t give us any chance to bond with this character or establish anything to really connect to him with. We see him resisting the Galra and tricking Haggar which is cool and all, but it just kinda felt like he was there. There was no emotion there, no connection. When he makes his heroic sacrifice I didn’t feel any kind of heartache because it was just like ‘oh...that NPC died. Eh, that sucks.’

We only got 1 Shiro flashback. Granted it was a big one, but like Shiro said, I still have so many fucking questions.

Hunk and Lance kinda got a little flanderized. I get that Hunk likes food, and I get that Lance is kind of the obnoxious-hormonal-teenager trope, but I think it got pushed a little too far in some scenes. They also got less development this season than the others, which wouldn’t really bother me as much if it had been fairly even across the board, except it wasn’t. Half the story was about Keith. Look, writers, I know we asked for more character development for Keith because he needed it pretty bad, but whipping it to the other extreme end of the spectrum wasn’t quite the solution?

The Red Lion’s abrupt change in attitude just seems…strange to me. I’m not sure how I feel about it. This is a Lion that you really have to work to get to like you and it’s ‘very unstable.’ It’s rather abrupt about face to the point when it just randomly keeps rescuing Keith was…well. The first time was awesome, but after a while it kinda felt overused. *flat sarcastic voice* “Oh boy. Keith is in trouble. I wonder how he’ll get out of this one.” On the other hand, I almost wonder if this is in part a reaction to Keith piloting the Black Lion, if only for a short while. I wonder if Red is trying to do the same thing right back—prove itself to its partner? I don’t know. I’m conflicted on this one. But to me it lacked subtlety in the same vein as Keith’s story.

That cliffhanger. Just. That cliffhanger.

RANDOM THOUGHTS, QUESTIONS, AND WISHLIST ITEMS

Okay. The final plan. Cool and all, but like...the fuck didn’t they just wormhole Zarkon’s ship into a sun or black hole? Like. C’mon. Even corrupted-Alfor-thoughts thought of that plan. They didn’t even have to re-imagine it. They had precedence. They were ultimately planning to destroy the ship anyway, and at the time they made their plan they hadn’t even considered trying to recover the black bayard, which were the only things they’d lose. They could have saved so much hassle. (The answer is of course that there wouldn’t be much of a show after that, but still).

As stated I’m not really a huge fan of Galra Keith but man, if I am being asked to accept this as canon, I fucking demand that he gets to dual-wield his Blade of Marmora with the Red Bayard. Because we already know he’s ambidextrous in with his sword. And that would be too fucking cool.

Okay so Matt’s not a prisoner anymore. He got rescued by rebels or something. Cool. Uh. Where’s the love for Sam Holt though? Where the fuck is Pidge’s dad? Please tell me somebody rescued him too? The man just wanted to find existence of life outside Earth he didn’t sign up to be a fucking war prisoner give the guy a break.

Also I kind of laughed when Shiro was all “hey Pidge don’t worry it’s okay Matt’s a survivor like you” because this is literally the same guy who was like “yeah Matt you gonna die unless I fight this guy for you since you have zero combat survival capability and both of us know you’ll be dead in like ten seconds.” And now he’s with rebels. Escaping. In a violent situation. I wonder how that’ll work.  

They were really pushing Multiverse theory in this season and I find that very intriguing. I wonder if anything will come of that.

Okay but the presence of a human-themed shop on a random space mall really both intrigues and puzzles me. ‘Cause this means there are regular visitors to Earth, or at least people know about it outside our solar system, when previously it sounded like we were in the space boonies and no one had ever heard of us (which is why it was a great place to hide a Lion). Earth obviously did not have robust inter-planetary trading since the Kerberos mission was all about discovering life outside Earth, and Lance thinks Pidge is crazy for believing in aliens waaaay back in S1Ep1. So. What gives? How?

The insane animation style change happened again for Shiro using his bayard and then everyone screaming. I guess they have a 1-pivotal-moment-per-season rule with that.

So we knew Altean Haggar was coming, that one just seemed kinda obvious. What I actually find more intriguing is that Haggar’s hair is white. Now granted we only have a few Alteans to work off of (Alfor, Allura, Coran, and now Haggar), but Coran has repeatedly implied Allura has extra abilities and has referred to her (or other Alteans who did the Balmera ceremony) as “sacred Alteans.” Presumably, this is something linked to the royal line, and so far every royal Altean we’ve seen has had white hair. I’m wondering if Haggar is a relative. Of course, this is all circumstantial evidence and pure conjecture. It’s also possible that hair color can be shapeshifted, or white hair isn’t associated with the royal line, or a dozen other things. I’m not holding my breath, but I am curious how Haggar fits into the planet destruction.

Overall I did like the theme they were going for this season, which is that your blood does not define you or decide what “side” you’re on. We had some good Galra (or just neutral ones, like the restaurant owner, or ones that just did not fit the ‘cull the weak, be the best warrior’ mentality we were largely led to believe the Galra were in S1). And we have Bad Alteans, although honestly I’m sure everyone saw that coming already.

I feel like there were a LOT of subtle nods to or jabs at the fandom in S2 too. Lots of theories came true of course, but there was also a lot of dialogue that seemed to deliberately poke fun at some theories or fan favorites. Sometimes it was funny and sometimes it felt kind of insulting or trollish. But this is hardly a surprise, I guess, considering how much they played with us right before S2 dropped.

ON WRITING:

So am I still planning on writing for Voltron? Well. I’d like to. I liked the majority of this season, it was fun, my heart was pounding through most of it, and it left my mind a screaming wreck by the end. It was intense. But it was mostly good. I enjoyed it. There are a few problems I need to figure out though.

Galra Keith is probably the biggest wrench in my fic-writing plans at the moment. I’m not…really sure how to process this. Characterization is the most important part to me when I write, and I always try to stay as true to the characters as possible based off the canon material we’re given. To me it is absolutely vital to do that character justice. I feel that is what a responsible writer should do. So even if I write stuff that isn’t centric to his heritage, or even to Keith, it’s now still a core part of his character that needs to be considered when determining his actions, thoughts, goals and motivations, especially considering some of his actions in S2 as a direct result of that. It’s something I need to keep in mind when I write him, but it’s also not really a theme I’m a fan of. I am certainly not petty enough to write it out of existence because I don’t like it—that’s not fair to the character either, and I detest that kind of blatant disregard for a character’s core traits, it’s not responsible writing. It’s leaving me a bit puzzled as to how to proceed. I’ll need some time to think on it. I need to figure out how to get on board with Galra!Keith in a way that still leaves me comfortable writing it.

(Plus, not gonna lie, it totally tanked an idea I had in mind where I was intending to use Keith as the main POV. Okay, I may be a tad bitter about that. I liked this idea. Oh well). That cliffie is another issue. At least we can work with the S1 cliffhanger. What do you do when a character has disappeared? Are we gonna have to establish they got him back every time? Or set it at an indeterminable point somewhere between all the action? Except there wasn’t really any point during which they slowed down. Just. Gonna need to think on that one. And as previously mentioned in this post, I’ve got a nasty case of the obsessive compulsive disorder, mixed with being an insane perfectionist, and it’s driving me bonkers now that some of my fics are canon inaccurate. I’ll get over it but man. It bothers the hell out of me.

ANYWAY. There’s my thoughts. In one long, super post. If you read through all that, congrats.

[thehallofgame]

Review: Valkyria Chronicles

Release: 2008

My Rating: 8.5/10

              In the same way a fresh coat of paint can be enough to sell a house a fresh take on the tactical RPG genre was enough to sell this game to me. Valkyria Chronicles doesn’t do anything revolutionary with their gameplay or their story, but their world war 2 inspired setting is enough to make this game feel fresh.

              On a continent that looks very similar to, but isn’t quite, Europe a war between two major military powers breaks out. The empire to the east is more or less an analog of Russia and Germany as one super-country, while their opponent to the west is called the Federation and loosely resembles the allied nations. Between these two countries lies Galia, a formerly neutral and independent nation that is invaded by the Empire at the beginning of the war. The game follows a militia unit with one prototype tank and a whole lotta spunk to their name. Through skill, luck, and stubborn determination the unit manages to find themselves meeting all the enemy elite and fighting the most pivotal battles of the war.

              World War 2 can be a pretty touchy subject, and for the most part Valkyria Chronicles tiptoes around heavier issues for a lighter, slice-of-life-anime tone. Sometimes it works, sometimes it feels a bit forced and unnatural. This is exemplified by a group of people called the Darcsen, who are inspired by the treatment of Jewish people during the second world war. Sometimes the game feels like it’s on the precipice of a serious commentary on racism, but it always pulls back at the last moment. The game often does this, sets up a strong story thread and doesn’t quite get all the way to the payoff. That said, many of the characters are very endearing and are written with an appealing simplicity and honesty.

              The way that the narrative is structured has a lot to do with the often jerky nature of story continuity and tone in Valkyria Chronicles. The chapter menu is presented in the form of a book, with the player selecting what scene to view or battle to participate in at will. New events in the core story are unlocked in chronological order but as the player can also return to the capital city to manage resources as well as unlock and/or view bonus chapters whenever they like, it’s easy for the pacing to be blown to tiny smithereens. On one notable occasion, the militia has been ordered to infiltrate and liberate an enemy concentration camp whilst a beach vacation side-story becomes available at the same time. It feels a little odd and disjointed, though this problem abates about halfway through the main story.

              The game is also very-text heavy and focuses a lot on the interpersonal relationships of the young militia members rather than the actual plot of the game or progress of the war. This keeps the tone light, but the sheer amount of dialogue can be overwhelming when there are about four dialogue cutscenes for every combat encounter.

              Combat itself is fun, and surprisingly solid despite a myriad of minor issues. The player controls a militia unit centered around a tank called the Edelweiss. Squad size varies wildly with mission, but is usually 8 to 10 units. Tanks are unique units piloted by tank commanders. There are also five classes of infantry at the player’s disposal. The scout, which is what the tank commanders are classed as on the rare occasions they must leave their tank, is a fragile unit with a lot of mobility. Shock Troopers are much slower than scouts but can deal a lot of damage and, more importantly, take a goodly amount of damage before falling. The final front-line unit is anti-tank lancers, who are very slow but carry a lance-mounted anti-tank shell that is the only thing, other than another tank, which does significant damage to enemy tanks.

              There are also two types of support unit. The sniper is extremely slow and extremely deadly, able to take out any exposed enemy foot soldier with a shot to the head. The final class, the engineer, is a bit more of a puzzle. The class is introduced as an all-around useful unit capable of carrying ammunition out to troops, repairing broken cover, acting as a medic, removing mines, and repairing damage done to friendly tanks. This is misleading, however, as the Engineers are incredibly fragile and it’s better to never let them get hit at all. Their use for anything besides following behind the tanks and keeping their HP up is limited, though their use as a minesweeper is occasionally essential.

              Some battles will stipulate that certain party members must be present for story reasons, but usually, the squad composition for each mission is left up to the player. At first, this sounds like a golden opportunity to tailor the squad to the player’s preferred strategy or play style, but the game quickly undermines this. A few, story-important characters have command points attached to them. Command points are the currency the player spends to take control of a character or give stat buffing ‘orders’ each turn. So, naturally, the player will almost always want to put characters in their party that give them more Command Points. Each character also has a list of soldiers they prefer to fight with. Fighting beside preferred party members often confers buffs or activates special soldier-abilities. The final thing to consider is that each of the up to twenty recruitable squad members have a list of preferences for where and how they fight that will confer situational buffs or debuffs. By the time the player has judged how best to juggle these values and the specific needs of the mission there usually isn’t any space left to bring discretionary characters.

              This isn’t as punishing as it could be, however, because a series of ‘bases’ on every map allow the player to swap out units or replace those that have fallen in battle. This keeps the party evolving and responsive to scenarios and also prevents the most difficult maps in the game from feeling petty or impossible. Retreating or calling in a new unit costs a command point each but it’s an investment well worth it. Likewise, though walking into ambushes or cross-fires can often feel unfairly deadly, a fallen character isn’t instantly dead or even KO’d for the rest of the mission. If a friendly team member can reach their fallen ally within three turns the team’s medic will evacuate the ally and their slot will open up for replacement. That slot can be filled the next turn by selecting a new troop from a friendly camp, and the same evacuated party member can be re-summoned the turn after that. However, falling in battle does have some consequences. If a Command Point bearing Leader Unit falls their command points goes with them, even if they’re latter re-summoned. Additionally, if the three turns winds down without rescue or an enemy soldier reaches the KO’d trooper first, the unit will die permanently. Or, in the case of the Leader Units, retreat for the rest of the battle even though they’ll be available for the next chapter.

              The mechanics of gameplay eschew the traditional grid-style of tactical RPGs and instead give troops Action Points to move around the map with. This essentially means that each character can move a certain maximum distance each turn and then choose to fire a weapon, heal some health or simply wait. The same character can be selected multiple times each turn, though they will have significantly less AP each time. This, combined with the use of cover mechanics and enemies who fire continuously on a controlled character in their line of sight, lends a sense of urgency and bouncing in and out of cover that isn’t typical of tactical RPGs.

              Explosive weapons and sniper rifles have a limited number of uses per turn. The player can deplete these fully in one turn if they wish but will only recover one bullet/shell per turn unless an engineer brings them more by being physically run to the other trooper’s position. This only works one way. A troop cannot approach an engineer to receive more ammo. Similarly, a player can end a turn with leftover command points which will then be added to the pool for the next turn. The enemy works on this system as well, which is hefty incentive to knock the enemy down before they can build up a pile of points.

Not that the player needs extra incentive to end the missions quickly, as the ‘grade’ assigned at the end of the mission is mostly given based on the number of turns the player required to complete the objective. This can be frustrating to veteran players who’re used to strategically eliminating all the enemies on a map. Rather, in Valkyria Chronicles, all that needs done is for the core objective to be completed. If a player can do this in one turn without killing a single enemy or very few turns after losing nearly everyone in their squad it doesn’t matter, their grade will still be good. It can be counterintuitive and maddening to do this. But it needs to be done because experience and money gain are tied to mission grade.

Money and experience points are essential to keeping the unit up to par with enemies. Each class levels up as a group and requires a given allotment of experience. Upon achieving level eleven each class becomes an ‘elite’ version of that class with new weapons and dramatically improved stats. However, there is another, expensive drain on experience. This is in the form of a mysterious gentleman who offers to teach the player special orders with which to control the battlefield. These orders can be the sole reason troopers surviving lethal damage just as well as it can mean the difference between victory and defeat for a whole mission. Similarly, finances have two separate places they can go. The first is into improving weapons and armor which is a priority for the obvious reasons. The other is into the pocket of a war reporter who’s attached herself to the militia. Buying stories from her unlocks bonus chapters and missions. In addition to providing expanded story content, these bonus chapters provide experience and money in a more interesting way than replaying old maps via the skirmish system.

The setting and combat system is interesting enough on its own, but Valkyria Chronicles excels at level design. Many of the maps are inspired by famous battles of World Wars I & II and others are inspired by the lore of Valkyria Chronicles. The vistas and visual stories present on these battlefields can be stunning for their content alone. This is despite a simple, pencil-drawn anime aesthetic. Moreover, this game also manages the difficult challenge of making bosses feel punishing and yet fair within the combat system. Valkyria Chronicles walks that delicate line with confidence and the result is often exhilarating. It’s not often that a player gets to enjoy the thrill of cracking just the right strategy to defeat an opponent without also feeling like they’ve been banging their head against a wall for endless hours.

Despite a few major issues, and a slew of minor irritants, Valkyria Chronicles is a solid and quite good game. It stands out as one of very few innovative series in an elderly and often stagnant game genre.