#after all what better way to scout for generational talent

[bleachbleachbleach]

Hello again, ti's I! I've hit a major stumbling block in my academy calculations (either the seireitei has an astronomical death rate 10x real world examples or I messed up my beginning calculation and have to do the whole thing from scratch ToT) but I have to ask: how often do shinigami stand on air in soul society?!

In the human world that's all they do, in heuco mundo I can think of several examples off the top of my head, but in soul society? I can think of *maybe* one example that isn't filler or film. Their buildings are built on a 2d plane for a people that can move in 3 dimensions. Do you have any memories or screenshots of people running on air in ss? Do you know if there's any explanation?

(Do either of you have memories of irl class exercises that involved multiple year groups??)

[DO YOU REMEMBER ASKING THIS, ALMOST A FULL YEAR AGO? LOL. Trust that we never forgot!]

whipplefilter:

What do we know about the atmosphere?

According to Renji, the Living World has a relatively low concentration of reishi in its atmosphere; 

according to Ishida, Hueco Mundo is reishi dense;

and according to Byakuya, so is the Royal Realm.

What do we know about sky standing?

We've certainly seen shinigami stand in the sky in the Living World, no question. Until earlier this year I honestly assumed they could do this anywhere and didn't think about it, and it wasn't until a few months ago it occurred to me I couldn't think of any examples of this! (NB: In the time elapsed since I wrote this, we've gotten 999 examples of shinigami sky-standing in Soul Society in TYBW lol. ALL THE SAME--)

We also have a lot of examples where they are explicitly not sky-standing in Soul Society. Every battle that immediately comes to mind definitely takes place on the ground, to the detriment of the buildings and rooftops. (When I say "every battle that immediately comes to mind" I mean Hitsugaya showing up to fight Ichimaru in socks and Kira, Hitsugaya, and Matsumoto causing roof damage as they tear after each other after discovering Central 46 dead. Rumor has it there are other fights that happen in Bleach.)

The existence of Zabimaru Express also kind of makes it seem like it's not as second nature to sky stand in Soul Society:

[DiamondDust Rebellion]

-> Below the cut, 2 theories about how sky-standing might work!

Renji also ran down all the Soukyoku Hill stairs, which seems like maybe something that wouldn't have happened if he could have simply Tony Hawk'd it through the air.

I briefly trawled some forums that said that Quincy showed shinigami how to sky-stand in Soul Society, and that Vizard sky stand in Rukongai in TBTP, but neither of those things rang any bells for me. I would happily be tagged in someone else's post if you remember either of these things happening, though!

How does sky standing work?

We know shinigami are able to stand in the sky by concentrating reishi particles under their feet. But what… what does that mean…

Theory 1:

In order to stand on air, you need to be less dense than air. If you can gather reishi under your feet and sky stand, maybe reishi is less dense than air. If you gather enough of it beneath you, it can also suspend you. Kinda like… imagine the atmosphere as a liquid, and concentrated reishi like little air bubbles under your feet as you sky stand.

* Caveat 1: Of course, Shinigami are already made of reishi, but they don't float off into space in the Living World, so not all reishi is less dense than air. But I think we're asked to believe that reishi can take on multiple forms/states and cannot be described as any one thing with any one set of characteristics--shinigami are reishi that understands itself to be corporeal: It holds the memory of blood and weight and flesh. Free air reishi understands itself to be free air.

** Caveat 2: I don't think it makes sense for reishi motes to be knocking around with, you know, carbon dioxide and nitrogen and hydrogen and whatnot in the Living World, so I feel like the units of measurement when thinking about density/displacement don't even actually track in exact computational ways. Like, they can probably occupy the same molecule-sized space simultaneously. We know shinigami in their fleshy-reishi state of being can sit on beds and crash into buildings in the Living World, but they can't eat (easier to imagine interaction with a hard surface than it is to imagine the entire chemical process of digestion? if a shinigami was well-studied enough and concentrated hard enough, could they pull off an autonomous process in the Living World??). Regardless, we know there's various and ineffable forms of interaction between the physical and spiritual worlds, so maybe trying to separate them into discrete categories is the wrong move.

My theory about why sky standing might not work as well in Soul Society is because there's more reishi in the atmosphere and less more-dense-than-reishi Nothing, so it's more cumbersome to gather it under your feet effectively.

BUT THEN. THEN. Why is it possible in reishi dense environments?? I'm going to be honest with you, we just watched the whole Hueco Mundo arc (NB: again, this was like, last winter lol) and I have zero memory of anyone sky standing. I'm not saying it didn't happen; I just have no memory of it. I do have memory of Byakuya BUNNY HOPPING THROUGH THE DESERT, which sure is a Choice if sky-running on an even plane was an available option.

And then Byakuya spends a page and a half hypothesizing as to why they can't sky-stand in the Royal Realm:

[Bleach 628]

Something something Quincy blah blah, but the relevant part here is that Byakuya seems very certain that normally they can stand in the Royal Realm, and that this is due to the reishi dense atmosphere. Why he would be certain about this, I don't know, but I don't think he's just freeballing. Byakuya doesn't freeball. Maybe he aspires to be Soul Society NOAA incarnate, and that's why he wants to be friends with Hitsugaya. ANYWAY. 

Why would Byakuya's whole spiel here be true? I don't know. If we're assuming it's easier to do in the Living World and not as easy in Soul Society, just based on how often we do or do not see them doing it--this throws a spanner in the works. Maybe they can sky stand in Soul Society, but it's distracting and tedious to sky stand. So if they're not worried about destroying human buildings/killing people, they just resign themselves to destroying the Seireitei on the regular and condemning Joe Shinigami to several lifetimes of new construction. 

Theory 2: Solid vs liquid vs gas particle states

ippoddity: This theory requires us to review a bit of high school chemistry. To review, in order of reishi concentration levels, from low to high: Living World < Soul Society < Hueco Mundo = Royal Realm. Somewhat related to the previous theory, we can think about reishi particles existing in different states of matter, which relates to their availability for usage in situations like sky standing. 

[particles in states of matter]

Let’s think of the reishi concentration in the Living World as existing in a gaseous state. In this state, particles are in the lowest concentration, because they’re constantly bouncing around in a free state. But, this also allows for skilled reishi manipulators to “grab” those free particles flying around and craft them into platforms to stand on, so they can stand in the air. So even though there’s overall a lower concentration of reishi particles (gas particles floating around in the big ol’ Living World container), they’re easier to scoop up and pack together into a different shape.

In Soul Society, reishi particles might exist in more of a “liquid” state. Meaning they are pretty high in concentration, but not as freely available to manipulate and use for purposes like standing in the air. Since there’s less freely available particles, we don’t see any shinigami sky standing. But for example, as seen in Ishida vs Mayuri, a Quincy can come on by and suck up the liquid reishi particles and craft them for their own use. Maybe there’s some kind of Quincy ability to apply energy to a reishi particle, so that it goes from a liquid to a gaseous state, thus “freeing” it up from the more dense state so that they can use it. 

The most high concentration reishi realms are Hueco Mundo and the Royal Realm. Particles are the most dense in a solid state, and in this state, particles are the least available to use. This is why solid shapes are fairly stable and don’t go around changing very much. Solid states like all their particles to stay packed together, so they’re not available to use for other things (like gathering random particles to stand in the sky). If all reishi are in the “solid” state, then they can’t be grabbed and used for other things, like sky standing foot platforms.

I’m sure there are plenty of loopholes and exceptions to this theory, but it mostly holds up, at least until the TYBW arc I think?

Note: This theory is only half thought out, as my knowledge of chemistry and states of matter is loose at best. It probably doesn’t hold up well if you examine it too closely, but maybe you can get the gist of it!

[blorbocedes]

perhaps this is me being shallow and i’m not trying to insinuate that every driver on the grid has to be gunning for a wdc but i don’t understand why anyone would turn down a rb contract at this stage? i mean if the rumours about alex refusing the seat are true i just… idk i know he’s been personally victimised by helmut marko before and been through the rb ringer but he’s a much better much more skilled and experienced driver right now and if it were me i’d personally want to test my skills against max. rb is the most coveted seat right now, it’s an opportunity to get regular podiums and even wins if max messes up or you’re simply faster. i don’t enjoy this “running from a fight” mentality (not saying that’s what alex is doing rn cause ofc there are other things at play) and it is in fact one of the reasons ****** sorta fell out of my favour. anyway i hope this makes sense haha not a native speaker, and not trying to be rude i just… don’t get it. i had similar thoughts about lando before, when horner said they’d talk to lando and then he’d only use that as leverage in his mclaren contracts. but baffling to me to come all the way to f1 after dedicating your life to it and then just going “nah” when you have the chance to be in the best car cause the other might be better than you. i mean when max got to rb daniel was the guy who had just pulverised 4-time wdc vettel, and you didn’t see him hesitte to jump in the car mid-season

when you sign a redbull contract now, you know you're effectively going to play second driver until 2028. yes Alex is a more complete driver now and would prob fare much better vs Max now, but he's also been through the RBR ringer like you said. going back would mean adjusting to an entirely new car while Max has only driven redbulls, AND getting scrutinised 2x because of his prev performance. anything below p2 is considered underperforming in the best car, and that's a lot of pressure and ofc your ego having to handle being "Max's bitch." pulling a rosberg against a generational talent is not easy. at Williams alex is personally more involved and treated as team leader and the car has improved from being the worst back marker to a solid midfielder, with Alex outdriving it.

also. job security in f1 is notoriously limited with 20 seats and rookies from f2 vying to get in. let's say alex goes to RBR. he either has to hope they let him drive until 2028 and finally get a shot at the championship (if 2026 regulations don't turn it into a junk box) and no second driver is getting a 5 year contract. Valtteri went from the best car to a backmark/midfielder. He's not even in question when silly season rolls around for the Ferraris and Bulls, despite being a solid second driver who picked off wins when Lewis dnf'd. they might scout him for Audi because they need an experienced driver for development. your career moving from the best car can only go Down. Alex already had a year off from f1 as a reserve driver when RB booted him, whatever choices he makes -- it'll be with a long term goal in mind.

Alex has said recently that if the Williams doesn't improve, he will look at other options -- as he should! He's being scouted by multiple teams. The improvements of the Aston Martin and even Mclaren have shown absolute backmarkers can become podium contending cars within a season! you'd prefer to succeed with a team that knows you and will accommodate to you than a top team where you're expected to play someone else's defense. Which brings me to lando. Lando is in the curious case Max was in 2017/18, where all the top teams were courting him. He had offers from Ferrari and Merc, while nobody knew if the RB Honda deal would work, and the RB was DNFing every other race. redbull convinced max to stay, that they'll develop the car around him and they will become a top team. I'm sure mclaren is doing the same to lando, that's the only team he's driven for and he's getting paid Very Well, the team principal is literally invested in his business, and they started this season around p19/p20, and finished it on podium. the results are there, why would he move to rbr to pick off max's crumbs?

do you know who absolutely did run from a fight? daniel. bc RB had no outright driver hierarchy in 2018, they literally stated they wanted to win a championship with daniel -- but max was too much of a rising star and daniel dipped, leaving the only team his career had anything notable from.

[britishassistant]

Gale’s Excellent Adventure (3)

Once upon a time, the sight of Elminster strolling into his general vicinity would be cause enough itself for gladness and joy.

Now though, as Gale watches the wizard follow the scouting party into their camp among the strange red-leaved trees, he’d do anything to ensure the man vanished into thin air as he’s so fond of doing whenever the tab comes due.

“Elminster? What are you doing here?” He hears himself ask.

“The very same, Gale.” His old friend scolds. “And a fair bit miffed he is too, finding himself forced to expose his best pair of boots to so many miles of country road on your behalf. Why, if your young friend hadn’t lead me here, I’d be wandering still.”

Yuu ducks their head as they mumble a reply, skin slightly too dark and too vivid a pink to really show them blushing. It dawns on Gale that they might be starstruck.

The already short wick of his patience is rapidly dwindling with every passing moment.

“Yes, yes, yes, be that as it may, you said you’ve come here on my behalf, did you not? For what purpose?”

“I was bid to spare neither time nor my own self to find you.” The older wizard intones. “She sent me, Gale. You know of whom I speak.”

He can’t feel his fingertips or toes. There’s a feeling weighing down the pit of his stomach, but he’s unable to tell if it is elation or despair.

“But why?!” He hears his own voice demand. “Out with it Elminster, tell me!”

“Young man, has your time away from Waterdeep washed away your decorum as well as your patience?!” The scolding tone is a familiar but unwelcome reminder of Gale’s mentoree days, usually when he’d forgotten to take proper precautions. “Nigh a tenday I’ve gone without honest fare worthy of the name—drank naught but what the sky entitled my thirst! Why, some bread, cheese, and a cup of wine would appear unto me a feast! Surely you won’t begrudge me a mite of rest and respite before I get ‘out with it’?”

“We can always share a meal afterwards.” Yuu offers diplomatically. “Gale’s cooking is excellent, and it’s always best to enjoy the small pleasures only once all business has been cleared out of the way.”

Elminster inclines his head, a grandfatherly smile on his face. “And a great kindness that would be, my child. Even now, I do treasure my fond memories of his culinary talents! See Gale? Even in these barren parts, the art of hospitality can beget inspired new acts if only one keeps up the practice.”

“Oh, for the love of…” He mutters, rolling his eyes.

“Fine, fine!” Elminster raises his hands, a twinkle Gale does not trust in his eyes. “I’ll turn a deaf ear to the clarion calls with which my scorned stomach beseeches me. Graver matters are at hand. Plenty to digest, after all. A good deal to stew over, if you will. Words ladled with import should be savored so as to better absorb their meaning, wouldn’t you agree?”

And there goes the last of Gale’s patience. “Elminster!”

A shadow comes over Elminster’s face, dropping the facade of genial old man he enjoys donning to delight the unwary.

After hemming and hawing for a moment, the older wizard sighs. “Gale, m’boy, I’ve come to address a most pressing matter. So I shall speak plainly, without any of the frills that usually ornament my speech.”

Gale feels his throat go dry. There’s a sudden warmth at his side, and he looks down to see Yuu glancing up at him, concern writ in their brow.

“I’m here on behalf of Mystra. The message and charge I bring you are hers.” Elminster says, slowly.

“Wait, so you’re here as an actual, divine messenger?” Yuu pipes up. “Is this usual for you, Master Elminster?”

“Oh yes,” Gale adds, leaning in conspiratorially. “After all, it would hardly do for Mystra to ever deign to dirty her delicate feet on these roads. What if she gained a callus?”

He feels rather proud of Yuu’s surprised snort of laughter, and of Elminster’s disapproving stare at the two of them.

“You know where you went wrong, Gale. We needn’t dwell on that here and now. But even so, you are to be given a chance at redemption.”

He can hardly believe it, his heart soaring. “Mystra is considering forgiveness?”

Elminster sucks in his teeth. “She is considering what she considers forgiveness. Mystra knows well of your misadventures, and how they have brought you into contact with that more dire of evils, the Absolute. Given that she is forbidden from interceding herself by Lord Ao, she feels it is imperative that, given you have provided yourself with the perfect subterfuge through misrepresentation, you ought to obtain absolution through ensuring this threat is annihilated in such a way that is nigh unutterable in its thoroughness. In such a way that only you are capable of unleashing.”

Gale’s not sure he can feel his limbs. His head feels somehow light, floaty.

“I beg your pardon?” Yuu asks, voice gone low and dangerous.

“Mystra wants me to detonate the orb in my chest to end the Absolute.” Comes his voice, as though from far away.

“I, I understood that bit, although I will say my informed and final response is fuck that and fuck Mystra all the way to Amn.” There’s a flare of warmth and slight pinching around part of him that Gale determines is his hand once he focuses. “But what in all the hells does ‘subterfuge through misrepresentation’ mean?”

Somehow, impossibly, Gale feels his blood run even colder.

“While I know not your reasons for doing so, Mystra has judged that you have done well to pass yourself off as infected, to integrate yourself with these fine adventurers who were key to uncovering this cult’s machinations.” Elminster continues, condemning him almost gently. “But she decrees it is time to end the theatrics, Gale. You have placed yourself into the prime position to destroy the Absolute, and earn Mystra’s forgiveness. I have been instructed to gift you the means to do so.”

The feeling of the orb’s grasping hunger suddenly diminishing as if muffled does nothing to soothe the looming dread he feels hanging over his head.

“Gale, what’s—this is. What he’s saying is all nonsense, isn’t it?” Yuu beseeches, horror evident in their tone. “Isn’t it?”

Gale opens his mouth, to tell a lie, to explain himself—!

Under the teenager’s piercing gaze, he finds it closing without a sound. His shoulders slump.

A myriad of emotions flash across their face as they stumble away from him, each slipping away like quicksilver before he can identify what they could possibly be.

They bury their head in their hands and let out a short, slightly despairing scream.

“Yuu?” Comes Shadowheart’s worried query, like she and everyone else haven’t been eavesdropping from the first word. “Is everything all right?”

“Right.” Yuu states, pinching the bridge of their nose. “Right. Raise your hand if you knew that Gale does not have an illithid tadpole in his head.”

There’s a moment of silence.

“What?!” Astarion laughs, only a tad too high-pitched. “Why darling, that’s patently ridiculous!”

“Yes,” Shadowheart cuts in quickly, a conciliatory smile on her lips. “If he didn’t, we’d have all noticed in a matter of days, right?”

“R-right!” Wyll confirms. “And besides, Gale’s been nothing but a loyal and faithful companion to us for our entire journey thus far.”

“Too right!” Karlach agrees. “He didn’t even eat that many boots, really!”

“The wizard is integral to this camp.” Lae’zel insists. “Even with the ghaik tadpole, losing him would be the gravest error a fool could make.”

“So all of you then.” Yuu concludes with a fold of their arms.

“Every last one of you knew Gale was uninfected, and yet none of you saw fit to tell me, even when you knew we would be bringing him face to face with the Absolute’s forces? Knew what could have happened to him, if Minthara, or Priestess Gut, or the duergar had worked out he was uninfected?”

There is a long, uncomfortable silence.

“Well—!” Wyll starts.

“And don’t say we would’ve been able to protect him, because how could we properly arrange that if not everyone knew he needed it?!” Yuu blinks furiously, voice growing strained. “Gods, it’s just—! What did I do that—?! You do know I care about all of your wellbeings, right?!”

He blinks at them, discomforted at the not unfamiliar feeling of being chastened.

Karlach murmurs, “Course we do, soldier. Course.”

“Then in that vein,” Yuu jerks themself upright, advancing on Elminster so quickly it gives Gale whiplash. “Master Aumar, you would say that a great deal of your current notoriety and positive reception among the general public of Faerûn is contingent on the stories various bards, including the renowned Volothamp Geddarm, have spread about your magical prowess, yes?”

Gale is unsure that they should be calling the man who attempted amateur eye surgery on them “renowned”.

At any rate, Elminster humors them by nodding along. “Well, I would owe a certain part of my acclaim to Volo and others of his ilk, yes.”

“So you would agree that if, all of a sudden, those stories suddenly took a turn that cast you as a villain, a, a reviled cad whose deeds even devils frowned upon, your current existence and reputation would become much harder to maintain?” Their head is cocked to the side like some sort of demented corvid, eyes blazing coldly. “Or, for example’s sake, the existence and reputation of a goddess who may not thrive on faith but would certainly be diminished from her current station by a lack of it? By people renouncing their worship, tearing down her temples, that sort of thing?”

Elminster, Gale notes with a certain amount of trepidation, is no longer smiling. “Take heed of your words, young one. What are you implying?

“Nothing, really. Just, it’d be an awful shame if Mystra’s cult became as accursed as that of Bhaal or Bane.” Yuu murmurs silkily. “And let me assure you, Master Aumar. If anything happens to Gale of Waterdeep, I will personally ensure that Mystra is ripped from the Weave so I can hunt her down like the dog she is.”

Gale can’t quite hear what Elminster says in response to that. His heart is beating too loudly in his ears.

Yuu tilts their head. “You were the one to pronounce us god-killers. You don’t get to be surprised when we say we’ll fulfill the role you’ve given us. But perhaps I’m getting ahead of myself. All those in favor of telling Gale’s miserable ex to sod off?”

“Aye.” Wyll’s voice startles him as the Blade of Frontiers appears at his side.

“Aye.” Shadowheart steps out of nowhere to flank his other side, mace in hand.

“Fuck yeah.” Karalch snarls, looming in a way that promises barely contained violence.

“If this so-called goddess cannot recognize the intelligence and guile of one of her most exalted paramours, then she is far from worthy of the title.” Lae’zel decrees, one hand on the hilt of her greatsword.

“Well,” Astarion heaves a dramatic sigh. “It would be such a waste of a perfectly good cult. And a perfectly good Gale too, I suppose.”

He can’t help rolling his eyes, even as he has to blink away the sudden wetness springing to them.

“My child, I have no wish to place Gale in harm’s way,” Elminster soothes. “He is a dear friend, and nothing would make me happier than to see him whole, happy, and freed of the orb. But as Mystra’s chosen, I have the duty to deliver whatever missives she demands. The obligation to see them through, however, is something I am happily liberated from.”

Yuu’s hackles are still raised, so Gale attempts to clear the frog in his throat and sets a hand on their arm. “Thank you, Elminster. Even with this sorry news, I’m, I’m glad that it was you who I received it from.”

Elminster thankfully has the grace to nod to him. “I see I have throughly worn out my welcome, so I will take my leave of you all now, with the hope that a day may come when we are able to break bread together as promised. However, before I go, take heed of these words.”

He stares off into the distance, like he used to when tracing out certain threads in the Weave to form the most beautiful patterns Gale had ever seen. “Like moons make swell and wane nescient seas, so too do the sky-strewn gods ordain the fates of mortal days. And yet—a notion born of lonely hours—come ebb, come flow, come all that is beyond the breadth of our dominion: be a moon unto yourself.”

Yuu squints at him. “…Yeah, no, I’m sorry, but I’m training to be a bard and I can’t even make any sense of that.”

Elminster chuckles. “Then perhaps I shall leave the twists and turns of phrasing to storysingers like yourself and Volothamp. Farewell, my friends. May we meet again under more favorable circumstances.”

And with that, his old friend vanishes into thin air.

The rest of the camp stays gathered around him for several moments, which does nothing to help his runny nose or inconveniently leaking eyes.

Gradually though, the rigid, battle-ready postures slump slightly, weight shifting from foot to foot and back again.

Karlach, bravest of them all, decides to take the plunge. “Yuu—”

“Don’t.” The teenager’s voice cracks like a whip as they pull themselves away from the group, shoulders still tense and trembling despite the absence of danger. “Not. Not right now. Just.”

“Come now darling, be reasonable.” Astarion coaxes, feigned impatience thinly veiling what Gale realizes might be genuine worry. “After all, this is hardly the first time any of us have kept secrets from you before, is it? Water under the bridge, surely.”

The glare they give in response to that particular pacification is enough to have even Gale flinching back slightly.

Then the tailless tiefling buries their face in their hands with a harsh exhale.

“Give. Give me five minutes.” They say, not looking at him. “Just. Just give me that and I’ll be. I’ll be better, I promise.”

Without waiting for an answer, they stride off between the trees, small form vanishing into the gloom.

“I feel I may be missing something.” Comes the deep voice of the druid from behind them.

“Hardly.” Pipes up a voice from around about hip height. “It’s rather simple altogether.”

Gale looks down to see that gnome Yuu is inordinately fond of frowning hard up at them all.

“After all, should you discover that your dear friend has been going behind your back and maintaining all sorts of deceptions and consorting with those who can only mean him ill, well. I should think that one has every right to feel a sense of, of betrayal when those sorts of things happen.”

“Can we kill him?” Astarion hisses, not quite quietly enough. “Please, can we? I’ll be ever so quick, I promise.”

“Yes, because that’s precisely the way to get back into their good books!” Shadowheart retorts. “Why not just murder Scratch or Munch too while we’re at it?”

“Nonsense. The dog is of great strategic value, and the cub has the potential to grow to be a strong ally.” Lae’zel dismisses. “The gnome is an acceptable loss.”

“Wh—I can hear you plotting my demise!” Barcus Wroot squawks.

“Nobody is murdering anybody.” Wyll decrees firmly, ignoring Astarion’s irritated click of the tongue. “But, it may be best if I to go after them. Make sure they don’t wander too far into the curse and get hurt.”

“You sure?” Karlach asks doubtfully. “They don’t exactly look like they want company. Might be better to let ‘em vent, yeah?”

“I’d rather ensure they’re alive to be cross at me than hollowed out by the shadow curse and left to rot.” Wyll insists.

“While that is a wise course of action.” Halsin rumbles, setting one hand on Wyll’s shoulder. “I am not so sure that it would be best for you to undertake it, my friend. This issue is one that must be treated at the root, rather than merely balming the symptoms.”

He pins Gale in place with an intent gaze. “What did you seek to obtain by feigning infection, Gale of Waterdeep?”

His mouth is dry as his tongue uselessly attempts to wet his lips.

“I wanted to help. I longed for the chance, amidst all my folly, to prove that surely I could do something good, for once?” The words croak out of him, shame a blazing bonfire in his gut as they escape. “I just—! I couldn’t bring myself to go back to my tower and lock myself away again. A stronger man, a wiser man would have. Alas, I am neither.”

He waits for the recrimination, for the disgust at his pathetic display. For the demand, finally, that he take his leave now that he is of use no longer.

Instead, he feels a large hand come to cup his arm and squeeze.

Halsin’s eyes are kind when Gale looks up at them. An oak inviting shelter in place of thorns warning intruders away. “I believe that, should you explain all of this to our young friend, you will find you have more of both qualities than you credit yourself for.”

It only takes half a minute or so of walking before Gale comes upon a raised, dilapidated shack that is miraculously within the light of the torches they set up at the perimeter.

The wood creaks under his boots as he climbs the steps, then passes through the empty doorframe.

His eyes pick out a faint glow of light through the worn boards of the walls, which he’s able to use to pick his way towards a doorway and peek through it.

What greets him is a ruined bedroom, the remnants of some family’s lives and furniture, and a small fire struggling valiantly in what’s left of a hearth. A strange, lumpy figure is silhouetted by the flames.

“Yuu? Is that—” He gets close enough for the figure to resolve itself into three. “—ah. May I inquire as to why you’ve embarked on a new career as a bedroll?”

Scratch gives a little whuff where he’s lying across Yuu’s chest, unable to move much from where the owlbear cub has its head pillowed on his back, the rest of it gently crushing Yuu’s legs.

“Helps.” Comes the small reply. “The, the weight. Keeps me here. Makes my thoughts stop corkscrewing my brain.”

“Huh.” Gale considers this. “So, if we gave you a particularly heavy rock—”

“Doesn’t work as well.” Yuu says. “Maybe if it were in a backpack? But being soft and fuzzy is part of it, I think. One of my friends from Night Raven, a druid. He’d wildshape and do this because he worked out it helped. Stop me going off the deep end during the Descent.”

“Hm.” Gale has never found the Descent of Elturel into the Hells a pleasant topic to contemplate by any means, but he’s only recently developed the visceral hostility he feels towards the event with every reminder that Yuu was one of its unfortunate survivors.

They must misinterpret his vocalization, as their eyes dart to him, blue irises glowing eerily against black sclera.

“Well,” They clear their throat as they begin to shift upright, nudging at Scratch and gently displacing Munch the owlbear with a displeased chirrup. “I suppose it’s been near enough to five minutes—”

“Actually, I was wondering if I might, might join you?” Gale’s words trip over themselves in his haste to get them out. “I feel as though I. No, I unequivocally owe you an explanation. An apology, at the very least.”

They pause in the act of sitting up with a weary sigh while one hand pinches divots into the bridge of their nose. “Gale, you don’t—! I’m not going to abandon you out here, or impose some ridiculous punishment, or whatever it is you think will happen if I’m not pacified—”

“That, This isn’t about making excuses for myself!” He insists, perhaps a trifle too heatedly for the tone he’s trying to set.

Watching the teenager tense, staring up at him warily with a protective hand on Scratch’s back, that leaves a foul taste on the back of his tongue.

With a few grunts as his knees protest their ill-treatment, he sinks down to a seated position next to them on the hard, uneven floor. He has no idea how they could stomach lying on it with two animals atop them.

“I didn’t come here to beg clemency in hopes of lessening any retribution.” He does his best to keep his voice soft and level, intent to soothe. “I came to apologize because I took advantage of a misunderstanding to mislead you, even as I imposed upon your trust and aid. You did not and do not deserve that, and I would like to make this wrong right by whatever means you deem fit.”

The tiefling stares at him in silence for several moments.

Munch the owlbear decides to live up to his name by taking small, cautious nips at the laces of his boots.

“You get a furrow in your brow,” They say abruptly. “And you tilt your head to the right slightly whenever I say or do something you disapprove of.”

Gale can only blink at the non-sequiter.

“Shadowheart tilts her head forward and exhales through her nose,” They continue, “But Lae’zel rolls her eyes and clicks her tongue. Astarion does this sneer with his left eyebrow arched, Wyll scrunches his nose like there’s a bad smell, and Karlach scoffs and crosses her arms right over left instead of left over right.”

“That…is oddly specific.” Gale declares, reduced to stating the obvious. He tries to covertly tug his laces away from Munch’s beak without getting bitten himself.

Yuu shrugs, fingers carding carefully through the fur of the dog in their lap. “I notice. I’ve always had to. We keep seeing so many others who don’t make it, who become gnoll food, prey for the Absolute, or orge food, or Hells, Nadira survived the Grove and then got tortured to death by Gith!”

Gale searches his memory, but is unable to match a face to the name. “Sorry, who was…?”

“The lady we saved from the bugbear, with the soul coin. The one Shadowheart didn’t like.” Yuu clips out. “Point is, she’s dead, and I have no worldly clue if the others from the Grove are as well, and the only reason I can parse as to how I’m somehow not is that all of you are with me. And given that I have unfortunately grown rather attached to the lot of you, if there is anything I can do to ensure that we stay together, that we survive whatever Moonrise Towers and the cult will throw at us, I’ll do it.”

Tremors wrack their frame as they speak, words pouring faster and faster as if escaping a dam.

“And I thought I had it under control. I thought I knew how to keep everyone happy so they wouldn’t get fed up with the kid who isn’t even a real bard and just fuck off. I actually thought, ‘hey, maybe this time I’ll be able to keep all my people safe!’ And then it turns out you weren’t hiding what I thought you were, and everyone else was in on it too, and to top it all off a fucking goddess has ordained your demise, as if I could have seen that coming.”

Their shoulders round as they slump in on themselves, curling around Scratch while the hound noses at them, letting out a soft whine.

“I’m scared.” Gale has to lean in to catch the whisper of the words. “I’m so, so scared. I barely know what to do, and even if we’re, we’re fine now, I can’t stop thinking about what would happen if we weren’t. About what could happen so we aren’t. And I’m so tired.”

Gale will be the first to confess he’s never truly had much experience with offering comfort. Tara, his mother, and Mystra all were far too indomitable to need soothing from him, for all that the former two seemed to exist in a permanent state of mild worry about his wellbeing and exploits. And though he has obtained some trifling experience on his travels of late, he still feels very much a dilettante rather than an expert. All the more so when an overeager owlbear cub has decided his subtle attempts to extricate himself must be precursor to a marvelous game of tug of war, and has been in the process of removing one of his boots from his person.

But it feels right to reach an arm around Yuu’s shoulders and tug them into leaning against his side, his other arm coming up to encircle them in a loose embrace.

There’s a tense moment.

“What are you doing?” Comes an honestly bewildered voice in the vicinity of his shoulder.

“Ah,” His fleeting confidence begins making its way to the door. “Hugging you?”

“Huh. Why?”

“Seemed the thing to do. Best way to express my sentiments, though I’ll admit I’m out of practice.”

Then he feels the weight of their head settle slightly more firmly on his shoulder, body shifting closer to him, horns poking his chin.

“S nice.” Their voice is small.

Gale rests his chin out the crown of their head, exhaling.

If their shoulders begin to hitch under his hands, and if he feels the fabric over his own begin to grow ever so slightly damp, well.

He won’t be the one to tell.

As touching as the moment is, however, it becomes rather difficult to maintain once Munch’s tugging at his boot starts to feel like it’ll take his ankle off along with it.

“Augh, ow, ow, stopit, OW!”

Yuu pulls back to look. “Ah—no, see, pulling’ll only encourage him, hunting instincts, can’t help them. C’mere Munch! Come on!”

At the sight of the teenager’s outstretched and wiggling fingers, the owlbear finally releases Gale with an excited hoot, near bowling him over in its eagerness to shove its head into Yuu’s hand.

They snort out a laugh as they pet between the tufted ear feathers. “There we are, there’s my fine fellow, this is what you were after all along, wasn’t it? Yes, yes, you’d like more, wouldn’t you? Your wish is my command, mi’lord Munch.”

Gale can only sit back and huff out a chuckle as Scratch, who had admittedly been quite patient during up until this point, began whuffing and pushing himself into Yuu’s space for petting himself, forcing them to split their attention and hands between both animals.

He reaches out and tries to mimic their scratching motions on the owlbear’s forehead.

Munch lets out a pleased coo, butting his head insistently into Gale’s hand instead.

Yuu hums, a soft smile playing over their face. “He’s saying that he won’t bite you anymore, no matter how delicious you smell. You’re a friend now.”

“Well, if it saves my poor boots, I’m glad to be.” He jokes, his tone softening to sincerity as their laughter fades away. “I’d enjoy getting to be a better friend to you, as well. You needn’t shoulder all this on your own, Yuu. We aren’t about to, to vanish the moment something goes wrong. I mean, look at Lae’zel! You asked her to turn on Vlaa’kith—!”

“That was different!” They try to argue. “She would’ve died in that machine, and if we’d given up the artefact—!”

“But she trusted in you, trusted in all of us enough to turn her back on everything she’d known and believed without question, because of the flaws we helped bring to light.” He takes a hand away to tap their chest, returning it to the owlbear at the disgruntled grumble. “Karlach’s only hale and hearty because you convinced Wyll and us that there had to be more than meets the eye to the situation, and lo and behold! Halsin, Barcus, the tieflings in the grove, the druids, the gnomes, the myconids, that rather unpleasant pregnant woman, all of them owe us their lives because you convinced us to intervene, and you could not have done so were you not someone worthy of the faith we placed in you. Someone we would need to be most foolish indeed to abandon, and I, for one, pride myself too much on my intelligence to ever submit to being a such a thing and would strongly discourage it in anyone else.”

There’s a moment of quiet as Gale lets them digest his impassioned tirade.

“You know what would really convince me of the truth of all this?” The gaze they meet his with is all steely conviction, forged in the fires of their journey thus far. “If you would swear to me that you wouldn’t blow yourself up to destroy the Absolute, or for any other reason.”

He can’t keep eye contact, dropping his face to scrub one hand over it and through his beard. “I—! It’s hardly that simple, Yuu, you cannot tell me that should it grant us the opportunity to rid the world of the Absolute for good—!”

“—It wouldn’t be worth it.” They retort, head held high. “A world without you in it, Gale of Waterdeep, is hardly one that merits saving. It comes far too high at the cost. And if you’d like me to, I will march back to camp right now and ask all the others to tell you exactly the same, since you’re so keen on doubting my word.”

The lump is back in his throat, and he nearly forgets the point he wants to argue. That he must argue.

“It’s not that I’m doubting any word of yours, but, but why? I’m hardly anyone—maybe I was worthy once, while Mystra favored me, but that does no credit to my name now, especially not with the long list of fraud to add to my person! I’m not even infected, for pity’s sake! Like as not I wouldn’t even be here if I had simply told you the truth from the outset!”

“Gale. You’re a talented wizard with whose knowledge of illithids is only outclassed by Lae’zel.” Yuu says, tone flat. “Who is a devotee of a people whose entire culture is dedicated to destroying them. If I’d known you were uninfected when we first met, I’d have given you all the gold in my pockets to keep you with us, and then some. Even more so once I worked out what a kind and loyal man you are.”

“Oh.” Gale replies. “Hm.”

“The offer doesn’t stand now though.” They take no small amount of glee in informing him. “You’re trapped by the cute owlbear and all of our friends loving you. Such a shame. Should have taken it when you had the chance.”

He rolls his eyes for the second time that night, elbowing the giggling teenager. “Be serious, you.”

As their mirth subsides, the two of them stare into the struggling fire, the animals accompanying them slipping off into dozes with the weak crackles from the hearth.

“I cannot swear to never activate the orb.” Gale starts hesitantly. “That would be far too reckless and irresponsible of me, regardless of what anyone says given the threat we face. But. But I will swear only to consider it as a final resort. Only if all other options have been exhausted, and there seems to be no light out of the darkness we find ourselves in.”

“And that’s the best I’m going to get?” Yuu asks. At his nod, they exhale heavily, jaw set. “Fine. But only after all other options have been tried and failed. And I do mean all of them, no matter how…unpleasant. Do you so swear?”

He holds up his hand, solemn. “On the Weave itself, I swear. May it recognize and enforce my vow.”

There’s a slight tingling in his vocal cords, his fingers, around the newly muffled orb in his chest. Magic taking his words and binding them tight as any promise ring.

Yuu smiles shakily at him.

“Well. We’d best be getting back to camp then. Need all our heads together if we’re going to think our way out of this.”

“Right,” Taking the hand they proffer to pull him up as he steadies himself on aching knees, Gale smiles back. He feels lighter when he follows them out of the cabin than he has since he woke aboard the Nautiloid.

“Excellent. Lead on.”

[nite-puff]

Ultimate street artist ?? Tell me more about them please !!! (it's kinda funny because i have an OC who's the Ultimate street fighter lolol )

Ultimate Street Fighter??? That sounds fun!! And yeah, it is kinda funny.

But anyways! Sour Patch!

I feel like Sour Patch had one of the more “normal” upbringings in the cast. He wasn’t born into a cult or raised by a mercenary group. He just kinda grew up in a big family with a lot of siblings.

Being the middle sibling in a chaotic household, he was left to his own devices a lot of the time. He was quiet and didn’t like to bother his parents or siblings with his problems, so he turned to his imagination and a pencil and a piece of paper. Art became his main form of expression at a young age, but he was still very shy and didn’t let anyone see his work due to the fear of being judged.

A friend of his was actually already into street art and tagging when he first heard about it. He visited their workshop a couple of times and tried out painting with things like spray cans and stencils while he was there. He found he quite liked it and visited more and more often to do it more. It was then that his friend was basically like “if you like doing this stuff so much, why don’t you try tagging something with me?” It took a lot of convincing (because doing something like that was WAY out of his comfort zone), but he eventually caved and went out that night.

He realized that night, that the process of doing street art and breaking the rules felt sort of liberating to him. Being the quiet, “good” kid of the family left people not expecting much from him. So him going behind everyone’s back to do something no one would’ve even thought twice of him being capable of made him a little excited. And it was fun. Boy, was it fun.

What he didn’t expect was for his piece to generate some buzz the next day. Pictures of it ended up on social media, people were talking about it at his school, it was even covered by a local news station. He may have let his ambition and emotional high get the better of him, and his piece was much grander than he remembered it being. Best part, no one knew it was him. People talked about this mysterious artist like some sort of vigilante with a secret identity, and he felt great about it. That way, he can still be the normal quiet kid in the day time.

So he went out again and again. And he painted again and again. And his art got people’s attention again and again, each time more than the last. All while convincing his family that nothing was going on. He loved it.

He actually has no idea how the academy found out it was him doing the street art, but he still found an invitation in his mailbox to enroll as the Ultimate Street Artist. At first, he didn’t want to go for fear of leaving his hometown behind and being found out as the mysterious street artist, but his friend also convinced him to go. He had talent, and it would be stupid to reject an opportunity to share it more. He did, after some phone calls with the school to make sure they kept his identity a secret. And he told his family that was actually scouted as the Ultimate Lucky Student through forging a fake letter of invitation.

It was great, and all going to plan. But he didn’t take the killing game into account.

[kyoto-division]

“All things truly wicked start from innocence.”

Ernest Hemingway

Third member- Kanade Alarie

Kanade is the third and final member of Starlight specters. A rising star in the acting world she’s known as everyone’s favorite little sister among the residents of Kyoto.

General information

Name: Kanade Alarie

MC name: Spooky

Age: 18

Gender: Female

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Blue & Purple

Height: 5’0

Scars: several on her stomach, five scars on each wrist, one on the back of her neck

Tattoos: None yet

Likes: Ghosts, her girlfriend, exploring abandoned buildings, her job

Dislikes:Thinking about the past too much, hospitals, the sight of her own blood

Personality

Kanade is an innocent seeming individual, often she’s seemed as childish by some people who haven’t known her for very long. Those who do know her seem to know a little better.

She’s a tad bit naive and unaware of how certain things work. She didn’t have the best of childhoods and thinks acting the way she does would make people happy. After all…she can be happy if other people are happy right?

Background

Kanade is the youngest child in her family. Her life wasn’t the best from the very beginning- her mother’s behavior hadn’t even hit its peak yet. She spent most of her life in the care of her older sibling who she lovingly referred to as her hero.

If you ask her about the trauma she suffered at the hands of her mother she’ll look at you funny. What trauma? She hardly remembers a thing! That’s a bold faced lie- she just doesn’t want to make you sad. She doesn’t want to admit that the memories of that hospital room keep her awake at night. She doesn’t want to admit that she knows she meant nothing to the woman who she was forced to call her mother.

Let’s not think of the sad. Let’s talk about her biggest passion in life- acting. She loved movies and stage plays from a young age- often being captivated by a certain actress from Gion division. She’s always been a member of any drama club her school offers.

The absolute joy from the crowd is what she loves the most.

For awhile she would hang around a small family owned shrine in Kyoto- her best friend was a shrine maiden named Mina. Eventually the two grew apart during the Darling Divaz era. Around this time she was also scouted by Mitsuru Kagome- a talent scout working for a company named KJ Entertainment.

Joining the starlight specters seemed to skyrocket Kanades career even further. Offers to act in movies and tv shows came in left and right. She also met her now girlfriend Criss Hiromi at the time.

Mic + Speakers

Kanades mic takes the form of a mic one would wear on your collar.

Her speakers take the form of a large coffin on the ground. The lid is open and three ghosts that bear an odd resemblance to the ghost in the groups logo.

Trivia

She’s confirmed to be a lesbian. She’s dating Criss Hiromi of Akihabara

Kanade is left handed

They use She/They pronouns

Kanade doesn’t have a very good sense of self worth

She sometimes gets nose bleeds at random

Kanade gets cuts and bruises with ease

Her bio mom is dead- she loves her adoptive mom more

Their best friend is Kanra Akemi from Edogawa division- the two often torment Jyuto Iruma together

[himiko-yumehellno]

It's kind of interesting that SDR2 – the game with the cast who almost all used to be Ultimate Despairs – has the most characters whose Ultimate talents do not fit them. Or at least, don't properly describe them.

Ibuki and the numerous translations of her talent.* Teruteru insisting everyone call him the Ultimate Chef and not the Ultimate Cook. Twogami straight-up lying about his talent. You could even make a case for Akane and how her main theme seems to be fighting, not gymnastics, almost like she was given the wrong title for her talent, and Gundham, whose title is fitting if people remember to include the adjective in it and don't just call him a breeder, which can leave a bad taste in the mouth. And of course, there's Hajime Hinata and Izuru Kamakura. Need I say anything there? It's almost fitting, in a way, that most of this cast were Ultimate Despairs – the class that best showed that the culture Hope's Peak had created surrounding Ultimate talents and titles was ultimately (hah) flawed, with many of their "symbols of hope" not even being able to properly tell people what makes them these symbols; what their talents and titles are, without them being in some way inaccurate.

It also contrasts with DRV3, where the entire cast was literally made into Ultimate talents and titles, much like Izuru was. For all Tsumugi's speech about choosing hope or despair, none of them could ever actually be Ultimate Hope or Ultimate Despair – they have no wiggle room, no sense of self beyond their talent, none of the flaws or symbolism Hope's Peak had. They truly are nothing more than fictional characters from the moment the game begins, but in choosing to walk away from both hope and despair, they can choose to walk away from only being their talents and titles.

Of the three games, it's the first that sets the precedent of what an Ultimate is, and this class best shows what a properly scouted and named Ultimate might be like. Even with minor translation issues for some of them,* the talents fit their owners in terms of them, they describe them and what they can do well, and the only case of an "incorrect" talent was Kyoko not remembering hers. But they're more than just their talents, too, even if they heavily impact their life. They're people, not characters molded into talents like DRV3, or symbols with unfitting titles like SDR2. They set the stage for Ultimate talents and titles and did it well, and this allowed the two main games after them to ask so what do either of these things even mean? What does being an Ultimate mean?

I don't expect any more mainline games, but if we ever do get another one, it better bring some new questions to the table, or be prepared to ask these questions even harder. I do think there's potential for more aspects of these questions to be explored, but it won't be easy to find, and I have no idea how they'd ask them in a way that works with the ending of V3.

Ah, well. I'll save the speculation for if another game is ever announced. For now, I just find this overarching theme and the way each game pokes and prods at its base concepts really interesting.

ʕ⁠·⁠ᴥ⁠·⁠ʔ

*One might ask about the different translations for Hifumi's and Kiyotaka's talents and why that's different from the translations for Ibuki's. The thing is, while the translations of Hifumi's talent generally center around the nerdy artist and writer theme he has, and the translations of Kiyotaka's talent generally center around his model student/rule stickler personality and behavior, Ibuki's translations are more varied, and have a lot of different implications about her music skills. Ultimate Light Music Club Member implies she has a focus on light music. Ultimate Rockstar implies she has both a focus on rock music and a "rocking out" kind of celebrity life. And Ultimate Musician implies she's a master of all forms of music, from singing to acoustic guitar to pipe organ to the zither to the tuba. Very different translation issues, which is why I consider Ibuki's talent indicative of a broader theme and the other two's not to be.

[originalwinnercheesecake]

My Personal Ranking of the CBS ghosts season 1.

 Okay so I gave CBS ghosts a chance about a year ago when I kept seeing the trailer and thought it sounded like a cool idea. Honesty I am big fan. Yes the first 3-4 epsidoes drag some, yes even after it picks up its cliche sometimes. But the show isn’t going for some fantastical, new original, no one has seen before. Its a American reboot of an already existing British comedy (I have not seen BBC, I do not have the streaming service it is on), that’s goal is just have colorful characters, make it’s audience laugh, and have the occasional really deep/sweet moments sprinkled into the comedy. For those goals I would say it succeeds. I laugh at most episodes, and a lot of the sweet moments (Alberta telling Issac about her father, Jay pulling out all the stops to for Sam during their homemade prom) hit. As for the characters I wanted to do a ranking list for them all through season 1, but never got around to it. With season 2 about to start I am telling myself that I cannot watch an episode until I do this. From the bottom up. slight spoilers may be below for anyone who hasn’t finished season 1

12.) Elias Woodstone: I do not like him as a person, or as a villain. I can generally “like a villain as a villain” when they are written to be very good at being bad.But Elias was bad in a way that was not funny, it was disgusting. When he learned what happened to people he walked through, he did it them on purpose. I am glad he is in Hell

11.) Stephanie: The cliche bratty teen, mean girl.I kinda understand why; she died on what was supposed to be this really magical night, and never got to finish growing up. Feeling sorry for her is not the same thing as liking her though. Her needing to sleep 364 days a year also kinda turns the lights out on most stores and development she can receive.

10.) Flower: Flower has felt human to me exactly once. When she talked about Basketball, how she played it a lot as a living and was really knowledgeable about it, but because she is a women who grew up in the 40′s-50′s before dying in the 60′s no one took her talent or knowledge seriously. Other than that one time I have found her completely unfunny, and to just be a collection of every annoying pot-head and stupid hippy cliche I have seen in every other sitcom and cartoon to contain potheads and hippies. I do not blame her actress. Of the main casts of ghosts, Flower and Sass get the least screen time, Maybe with more time the actress and could get more of a handle on flower and make her better. Maybe.

9.) Nigel Chessum: Okay let me make it clear I do not dislike Nigel. I think he and Issac are cute. The reason he is so low is that in season 1 he shows up so little we do not learn anything about him more than “Cute British guy next door”. I fully expect to move him up on this list once we see more of him in season 2.

8.) Nancy: Nancy was in 3-4 episodes last season, with 1-2 minor appearance and 2 bigger ones. I did not like the way she treated Pete in her first big appearance (how she kept embarrassing him and then threatened him). But by the next episode she really grew on me , and I love that her and Pete become real friends once she is able to help him to start standing up for himself. Also I am glad that she has not been forgotten about in season 2. Here’s to hoping she will make no less than 4 appearances this season too.

7.) Pete Martino: Pete is a nice guy, and I don’t mean that as in a “nice guy” (Yet,. Please don’t tun him into one later down the road), I mean that as in he is a genuinely nice guy. I love his bromance with Jay, and I am rooting form him and Alberta to eventually get together... While I like most of his stories I just do not think his whole boy scout schimick is as funny as some of the other characters.

6.) Trevor Lefkowitz: If I say “suit wearing playboy who works a sleazy uper-class wall street type job in NY,but is actually a real bro and a not completely terrible person” am I talking about Trevor or Barney Stinson. Well if I said that “the comedy of them is Legend-wait for it-dairy” I would be talking about Barney Stinson. If I said “You know what? They are kinda cool” I would be talking about Trevor Lefkowitz. Trevor is a pretty funny, kinda cool character. But he is written so much like a Stinson knock-off, and no one is ever gonna top Neil Patrick Harris’s performance as Barney in regards to that particular genera of playboy.

4-5, 4&5?) Hetty Woodstone & Issac Higgentoot: Do not make me chose between these two besties. My opinions on them are largely similar. I think both characters faltered some in the beginning of the show when the writers and actors were not sure completely how to portray them. But that once the characters were understood they hit it out in almost every episode. I also think these two had some of the best exploration/development out of everyone in season 1. I loved watching Hetty re-examine her life and beliefs, and become more of a modern day feminist, while still maintaining the elegance and class from her time. Issac is the first time I have seen a closeted queer character in a sitcom be in control of deciding when they want to publicly express that part of their identity, and up until they decided to them not being ready was written as being a fair reason to wait, that other character respected. It should be portrayed that way every time, but for the sake of drama it isn't. It was nice to see here.

3.) Thorfinn: The big, burly, scared up guy with a questionable past...is actually a big softie and adores small children and animals. This is one Cliche that I absolutely love and am here for. It doesn’t hurt either that Thor is absolutely hilarious. He had to be in my top three.

2.) Sassappis .Sass is in my opinion the funniest ghost out of them all. I love his dry wit and cynical humor, and I have since all the way back in episode 4, when he pretended to be an accountant who died at a Halloween party (and was totally convincing at it for a second). The reason he is second is that he was just criminally absent and underused in season 1. More Sasappis in season 2.

Da da da daa

1.) Alberta Haynes: Can we give a round of applause to Danielle Pinnock? Is it any wonder I put Alberta as the top when this actress has brought A level game to her character since the beginning and with each thing we learn about Alberta, Danielle’s acting has only gone up. Alberta is loud, she is sassy, she is boss, and powerful, You really feel her sadness when talking about how racism kept her father down in his career, and she feels like she let him down because it affected hers as well. You feel for her again when she tells Pete that when alive she always chose bad guys because maybe deep down she thought that she didn’t deserve to be with a good man, and now she thinks she missed every chance.

Alberta killed at season 1 and there is so much they can still do with her in season 2. Give me more backstory, work on solving her murder, work on getting her and Pete together (they are a slow burn right?), with her connection to Alexa put her in charge of music stations at the B&B, she would be good at it.

That’s my feelings on the Ghosts for season 1. IF you want my feelings on the livings. Farnsby neighbors are annoying. the construction guy Mark is alright. I like Jay as a main better than Sam, because he has more of a range of emotions happy/sad/excited/concerned/mad, while Sam’s type-A personality seems to means she always has to act perky and almost always has to be enthusiastic.

[sporadically-writing]

Nyla Sixx

Basics

Full Name: Nyla Sixx

Nickname(s): TBD

Age: 20 in Star Wars: A New Hope

Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

Appearance

Species: Human

Skin Tone: Tan

Eye Color: Green

Hair Color: Dark Brown

Hairstyle: Loose ponytail

Makeup: None

Build: Brisk and Agile

Height: 5′ 3″

Style: Hiking/Nature/Exploring style clothes that usually coincide with the colors and temperatures of the places she is surveying

Personality

General Personality Traits: Strong Willed, Determined, Adventurous

Strengths: Intelligent, Strong Minded, Tenacious

Flaws: Aggressive, Combative, Prideful

Habits and Mannerisms: She often goes out exploring by herself when she has down time, she has a bad habit of not telling anyone when she is leaving. She always manages to be back in time for anything to happen though; Taps her foot when impatient or thinking; Paces; Has a tendency to yell; Mutters rude coments to herself

Secrets: She would never tell anyone how scared she gets sometimes. She doesn’t want to doubt the work the Rebellion is doing. She believes in it very strongly and for sure wants to see it through, her brain just plagues her with “what ifs” far too often

Regrets: She never looked for her family after they got separated, she might have been able to find them but she had assumed they’d died, she didn’t even look for them (and she definitely won’t now, the rebellion is too important for her to get distracted, but it bothers her)

Skills/Talents: Surveying areas, Survival skills, Stealth, Nature Exploration, Biological knowledge, Theatrics

Likes: Exploring, Quality time with friends, Puzzles/Challenges

Dislikes: Being trapped, Tedious talking, Inactivity

Sense of Humor: Sarcastic

Guilty Pleasure: Hugs

Defining Moment: Deciding to step outside the box of her scout job and actually do some fighting for the rebellion with Luke, Han and Leia when they all first met

Relationships

Friends: Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, R2-D2, C-3P0

Family: K-9S519 or Skip (Dog shaped droid), Rhyssa Sixx (Mother), Sidias Sixx (Father), Javin Sixx (Younger Brother), Rey Skywalker (Daughter - eventually)

Enemies: The Empire, The First Order (eventually)

Lovers: Luke Skywalker (eventually)

Relationship Status: At the time of A New Hope, single

Reputation: She gets the job done to the letter that she is required to do so. She is good at what she does and is nearly a perfect soldier in terms of abiding by the mission she is sent on

Miscellaneous

Current Residence: Yavin 4 (in A New Hope)

Collections: Photos of her family; Small toys for Skip; Maps she’s drafted of various terrains; Surveying/Survival tools; A knife and a sniping blaster

Accent: American

Voice: Raucous and Authoritative

Signature Quote: “Oh, you’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Song: Wolves of the Revolution - The Arcadian Wild

Backstory

The Sixxes were a family that tried to make the best of what they had in the age of the Empire. Things were tough but they made do, living a modest life, trying to keep themselves out of harm’s way. That is, until one day, the empire made that impossible. There was a crack down on their home planet and in the ensuing chaos, Nyla was separated from her family. Not knowing where to go or what to do, she ran somewhere she knew she would be safe, the woods. She knew those landscapes better than anyone, having explored them with her brother practically all their lives to that point.

She waited, all the while beating herself up for her own cowardice, before deciding to return home. When she got there, things were not the same. Her family was nowhere to be found and Stormtroopers were everywhere. She was caught shortly and forced into a mining operation until she and her fellows rose up and found a way to escape. This rebellious activity and the rest that followed, brought her on a few adventures eventually leading to her coming to Yavin 4, the Alliance’s main base. She, given her skill in navigation and stealth, was given the rank of Scout and was sent on many missions for the rebellion like this, surveying areas either for hideouts or to ensure that an empire occupied area was truly deserted.

It was on one of these missions that she came into contact with a droid. She had been tasked with inspecting an abandoned town. The whole place was deserted, all Nyla could find being some leftover supplies the rebellion could use. She was about to leave when she heard some mechanical whimpering around a corner. Nyla cautiously inched toward the area, blaster in hand and ready to fire in case things went south. Instead, she found a small, clearly injured, K-9 droid, one clearly meant to be a companion to a child. It looked like whatever had cleared this town out hadn’t noticed it or didn’t care. Nyla brought the droid home with her, bringing him to someone who could fix him up. K-9 unit S519 is what the collar said. Huh, Nyla thought, that kinda looks like “Skip.” The little droid followed her around everywhere and everyone just assumed the robot was her s at that point, so she brought him with her on missions, utilizing his skills like any other dog’s. They make a great team.

Nyla and Skip were eventually sent on a different kind of mission. They were usually just sent for surveillance or mapping, anything she brought back would be very appreciated but it wasn’t the primary reason she was sent away. This time they were sent for retrieval. See, Princess Leia Organa had given the plans to the Empire’s super weapon to another little droid. The droid, in the chaotic attack on the Princess’ ship, was lost. Someone has to find it before the empire does. So, Nyla and Skip set off on a mission to Tatooine, wholly unaware of the adventure and the people that await them there.

[catzy88]

Is the Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel rivalry finally about to become reality?

Rogers Place in Edmonton is the stage for Connor McDavid versus Jack Eichel, as division rivals, when the Golden Knights visit the Oilers on Saturday night.

The star centers were drafted No. 1 and No. 2 in 2015, heralded as one of the most talented duos atop the draft in some time. They began their NHL careers eight years ago in opposite conferences, but Vegas’ trade to acquire Eichel last November brought the two competitors closer.

They’ve both had plenty of success on an individual level, with McDavid and his two Hart Trophy wins far outweighing Eichel’s accolades to this point. But neither has won at the level they desire. At least not yet.

Now that they’re both on teams with Stanley Cup aspirations, they’re standing directly in each other’s path as divisional foes.

This has the potential to become the NHL’s next great individual rivalry.

“Any time they play, that’s going to be watched by a lot of people — and should be,” said Mark Seidel, chief scout of North American Central Scouting, who has watched the two develop since their pre-NHL days.

“They’re the best players on both teams. It’s not that different than (Sidney) Crosby and (Alex) Ovechkin, how they used to be when they went head to head. It’s the next step of that rivalry. I think it’ll be that way for a long time to come.”

McDavid and Eichel have played against each other only once in the last 1,000 days. They’re certainly further along in their careers than Crosby and Ovechkin were when their rivalry began, but in leading two of the most talented teams in the Western Conference, they could see a lot of each other moving forward.

“You’ve got two highly competitive guys,” Seidel said. “Connor is legendary. I don’t like how Jack gets portrayed as a sulking superstar. He wants to win something fierce.”

There’s no question that McDavid has been the better player to this point — and that’s no surprise.

McDavid was seen as hockey’s next can’t-miss star before he was even a teenager. He was always the youngest player on his minor hockey teams and always the best. He entered the Ontario Hockey League and dominated that league for three seasons. All he’s done in the NHL is produce. In his six post-rookie campaigns, he’s been the scoring champion four times and finished in the runner-up spot twice. He paces the NHL in goals (15) and points (32) this season in just 17 games.

“I don’t think anyone should compare themselves to him,” Eichel said of McDavid. “I think with what he’s doing, and the way that he plays, he’s just on a level of his own. I don’t try to compare myself to anyone. I just try to be the best version of me.”

McDavid has 729 points in 504 NHL games. He doesn’t turn 26 until January, but his place as a hockey immortal is already secured.

The difference between McDavid and Eichel is vast, which is more a credit to the former than a slight against the latter.

“Connor McDavid is one of the top 10 greatest players ever, maybe top five, and Jack Eichel is a superstar,” Seidel said. “There are 20 superstars in the NHL today. In all ways, Connor has certainly been better.

“It’s unfair to Jack because you’re talking about a generational, top-10 forever player.”

Eichel’s been no slouch, though, with 401 points in 427 career games despite playing the vast majority of them on a struggling Sabres squad. Finally back to full strength after neck surgery and surrounded by a talented cast in Vegas, Eichel is hitting his stride.

He’s nearing a 100-point pace for the first time in his career, leading the Golden Knights in goals (10) and points (21) as they’ve built up the best record in the Western Conference. Perhaps more impressively, he’s taken over all three zones. Eichel has used his unique combination of speed and strength to muscle the puck away from the opposition and convert those takeaways into immediate offense.

“He’s big and he’s a power skater,” McDavid said. “He’s a great player.”

Vegas’ top line of Eichel, Mark Stone and Chandler Stephenson is tops in the league in expected goal share, and Eichel has been on the ice for 13 goals for and only four against at even strength.

This stat visualization from WaveIntel shows McDavid’s individual stats are otherworldly, but whether it’s the result of playing on a stronger overall team or his own defensive improvements, Eichel’s on-ice metrics are vastly superior this season, especially defensively.

“They’re both world-class players,” said Sharks forward Timo Meier, who was selected at No. 9 in that draft by San Jose. “McDavid is no doubt the best right now, but Jack has shown that he’s up there, too, and he’s a player that’s very hard to play against.

“Seeing them play against each other, and competing, is fun for the fans. Obviously two really hard players to defend and play against. The skill sets they have. The way they can beat you in multiple ways. Both have unbelievable speed, so they are two of the top superstars in the league.”

McDavid had been viewed as the No. 1 pick in the 2015 draft for years. There were times when Eichel got his name in the conversation during the 2014-15 season — even if it was just whispers — but McDavid was the wire-to-wire leader.

“He was a good player (that season),” McDavid said. “He was playing in college and our paths never really crossed. He’s a guy I’ve gotten to know a little bit around the draft stuff. He’s a guy I quite like.”

Meier is from Switzerland but played his draft season for the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Halifax Mooseheads, so he heard plenty of McDavid-Eichel scuttlebutt.

“You could definitely tell how big the hype was around these two guys,” Meier said. “You see these guys and you compare yourself. You always want to be the best.”

The 2015 draft lottery was a made-for-TV special, designed so everyone could find out which team got the right to draft McDavid. Eichel, who was unable to attend the event in Toronto, was merely an afterthought.

“They really weren’t that close,” Seidel said. “The term ‘generational talent’ gets thrown around way too much, but Connor truly was that. The difference was his skating.

“You just knew his skating was going to be that much better than everybody else’s.”

Never was that afterthought status surrounding Eichel more obvious than when then-Sabres GM Tim Murray, whose team had the best odds to land the No. 1 pick, compared the slide down to a player getting the call that he’d been cut from the Canadian world junior team. He added that he felt bad for Sabres fans.

“From our standpoint, you’re talking about a guy who we felt — and it hasn’t changed — was so much different than any other prospect that we’ve seen in so long, probably since Crosby,” Seidel said of McDavid.

“Jack was a really, really good prospect — certainly, a high-end prospect — and the second-best prospect that year. But the gap was significant. There was no team that was going to try to trade up to (No.) 1 and take Eichel over McDavid.”

Eichel didn’t let the noise get to him. Quite the opposite, in fact. He reportedly told teams in his draft interviews that he’d be better than McDavid. That clearly hasn’t come to fruition, but he’s done just fine in his NHL career.

Eichel has now joined McDavid as the best player on one of the Pacific Division’s best teams.

In the Oilers’ case, that descriptor is more projection than reality at this point. After reaching the final four last season, they’re a middling 9-8 so far with below average underlying numbers.

McDavid has been one of the few standout performers. In addition to his remarkable counting stats, he’s the only Oiler to be at least even in goals for, shots for and Corsi for percentages at five-on-five — per Natural Stat Trick. He drives the bus; most others hop aboard when they can.

The way things have gone for the Oilers, it might take a gargantuan effort from McDavid on Saturday for them to beat Eichel’s Golden Knights in the first matchup in the new head-to-head battle.

“I can see how people want to make that a story, but it’s so long ago now,” McDavid said. “I don’t think people are talking about the Taylor Hall and Tyler Seguin (draft) year. Time kind of fades (things). He’s a great player. Vegas and himself are off to a great start.”

There’s obviously no rivalry at the moment. The two have only played against each other nine times.

“Honestly I don’t really look at it like (a rivalry),” Eichel said. “The draft is so long ago, and it’s one or two days and you’re past it. You might use that hype for one season, and you get past the draft and all that comes with it pretty quickly. At the end of the day, you’re going out there with your group, competing against another group, and that’s really just the mindset for everyone.”

In the nine regular season meetings, Eichel has a slight edge with five wins. Eichel has five goals and five assists, including two game-winners, while McDavid has three goals and five assists. The games themselves, however, were little more than a novelty since the Sabres were awful and the Oilers often weren’t much better. Now, the circumstances have changed.

Edmonton advanced to the Western Conference finals last season, and Vegas has gone at least that far in three of its five seasons. After an injury-riddled 2021-22, the Golden Knights appear to have returned to a familiar perch atop the Pacific Division. As each team’s top player, McDavid and Eichel will play major roles in that race — starting on Saturday.

“You always like challenges, as a group and as an individual,” Eichel said. “That’s a big game for us. They’re a team that we want to establish ourselves as competitive with.”

There’s a mutual admiration between the two players as they embark on battles as divisional opponents. It extends beyond the respect they have for each other’s abilities on the ice.

Both players have endured serious injuries that had the potential to drastically alter their career trajectories.

McDavid suffered a torn-in-half PCL, torn knee joint and cracked front tibia when he went crashing into the goalpost in the final game of the 2018-19 season. He returned in time for the next campaign after a grueling summer of rehab work.

Eichel suffered a herniated disc in his neck as a result of a hit in March 2021. The Sabres organization urged the star forward to undergo disc fusion surgery, but after discussions with several doctors, Eichel decided on artificial disc replacement surgery — a procedure that had never been performed on an NHL player at that time.

After months of dispute, Buffalo eventually dealt Eichel to Vegas. He had the surgery performed shortly after, in November 2021, and returned to NHL action three months later. Eichel was in a difficult situation based on the rules written in the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and NHLPA — which place some control over medical decisions in the hands of the teams — but he remained steadfast on his decision and eventually had his preferred surgery.

“As athletes, as hockey players, I think everybody understands injuries are part of it, and it’s a scary thing,” McDavid said. “Just to see him go through that situation was troubling.

“Players should have a say in what happens to their own body. We’re the ones that have to live in that body for the rest of our lives. I thought he did a good job of standing up for what he thought was right and getting the procedure that he thought was right. It’s good to see him back on his feet.”

The two aren’t close friends, but have followed each other’s careers after sharing draft day in 2015.

“I’ve known him for a while now,” Eichel said of McDavid. “I’m friendly with him if I see him in the summer. If we’re at the BioSteel (offseason camp), or whatever. I wouldn’t say we’re calling each other and seeing how we’re doing, but when I’m around him we converse, catch up and things are good.”

Eichel finished ninth in Hart Trophy voting in 2019-20, his last full season. He’s back to that level now. Of course, McDavid has consistently been on the shortlist of the league’s best players for years.

Eichel’s early work and recent resurgence, coupled with McDavid’s dominance through seven-plus seasons, has already established the two as one of the best 1-2 draft combinations in NHL history.

The standard-bearer remains Hockey Hall of Famers Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne, who were selected with the first two picks in 1971. Seidel already has McDavid and Eichel ahead of the 2009 pairing of John Tavares and Victor Hedman. He ranks them as the best duo since the 2004’s Nos. 1 and 2, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin — two more surefire Hall of Famers.

“The top of that (2015) draft is as good as we’ve seen in a long time,” Seidel said.

Winning will only heighten the legacy of the player who does so.

A playoff matchup or two during the next few springs will no doubt kick a nascent rivalry into overdrive, as it did with Ovechkin and Crosby’s battles.

Ovechkin and Crosby have 63 head-to-head meetings in the regular season and have faced each other in the playoffs four times.

Considering McDavid and Eichel’s ages, and the current landscape of the Pacific Division, a playoff series or two between them isn’t hard to imagine.

“(For Eichel) to go head to head with McDavid, that would be a seven-game series that I would certainly pay to watch,” Seidel said. “Fans want to see the best players on the ice and those are two of the best in the league.”

(Photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)

Source: Is the Connor McDavid vs. Jack Eichel rivalry finally about to become reality? via The Athletic

[peach-jelly-lemon]

All the David lore I have compiled so far

If you want all his content his tag is ‘david the least weasel’

Earlier life 

- before he was mutated he lived in a foster home in new york city

- he had a secret pet weasel he found when he was ten and he named it slinky

- the oozequito got into his room while he was studying and cause that was the last animal he touched: weasel boy

- was mutated when he had pretty much just turned 15 (he is slightly older than raph and when the outbreak happened raph was newly 15)

- ran away cause what the hell else do you do this isn't teen wolf and scrounged around in alleyways for a few days until one of big mama's 'talent scouts' found him 

Time in the battle nexus 

- big mama is cruel but not stupid 

- for the first few weeks she offers him a nice room and stuff to eat, and just tells him she'll eventually expect 'an interesting performance' from him

- one of her assistants makes him a cowboy persona and he gets better at wielding survival knives and guns

- about a month into the pampering, she tells him that she expects him to fight in her battle nexus if he's to continue staying with her, and describes it as 'showy, not deadly'

- he thinks this seems pretty reasonable

- pleeeeaaasssseee welcoooommmee the westeeeerrrrnnnn weaseeeeelllllllll

- he goes into his first fight in way over his head cause he assumes it'll be acting and pulling punches to give a nice show

- its not

- his fighting style of 'scraping for survival' becomes a fairly big hit, people like watching him flail around and sneak past things

- he saw Leo and 'Rat Jitsu' outsmart big mama in s2ep1 and thought it was really cool and inspiring

- after almost both the show seasons go by, his popularity is dwindling, so big mama introduces him to deadly fights

- he can't handle it, so he makes a deal with her that if he can beat the current reigning champion then he will never fight for her again 

- he ends up winning after managing to knock out the champion and then deliver a final blow (with his eyes shut tight) 

- around the season 2 finale a little bit after his 16th birthday, he's set free 

Afterward + the mystic library 

- David is all but physically kicked to the curb and told congrats you won now you're homeless

- he wanders the hidden city for a few months, stealing food and clothes and doing odd jobs for people

- he hears about the mystic library one way or another and decides to hang out there during the day but can't really stay long there or ask for a job in outgrown, overworn clothes

- so he just goes about this for a while until the librarian notices how often he's there

- her bats bring him to her one day and she asks about his situation 

- seeing no real reason to lie, he tells her all about the battle nexus and having nowhere to go, she asks how old he is and he says 16

- emotionally, at least, she immediately adopts him

- takes him under her wing (literally)

- she gives him a little spare room at her place and they pick out some new clothes, get him fitted for some glasses, and he gets a part time job at the library

- that all takes a while. He's not prone to trusting maternal figures that quickly yet for obvious reasons so that's over the course of a year or so

- by the time the movie starts he has gotten comfortable with her as his mother figure and has picked up a lot of her mannerisms 

The turtles 

- David is slightly older than raph (by a couple months) and is 5'11, also aroace

- a few months after the events of the movie, the turtles head to the mystic library to try and get some more info on mikey's powers (without asking draxum first, per Leo's wishes)

- in ridiculous disguises of course cause they're definitely banned from the library after last time and wanted in various parts of the city

- David knows generally why anyone on the banned list is banned but it's usually from being too loud and not blowing up the kiddie room, so he is actually familiar with how the turtles look out of curiosity 

- he also recognizes Leo from when he was in the battle nexus but doesn't place that yet

- anyway they all meet cause david recognized who they were and followed them through the library 

- one because he has orders to kick them out and two because he wants to know how the hell they blew up the kiddie room that one time

- he's like heyyy so I do have orders to kick you out of here BUT if you answer some questions of mine I totally never saw you at all wink wink nudge nudge

- the questions being about the kiddie room and more specifically to leo about the battle nexus once he remembers where he knows him from

- 'BLUE JITSU' 'HWHAT'

- anyway they all become friends, him complimenting leo about the battle nexus gives leo a little crush, and they agree to talk more about it later when he's not working

- eventually after almost a year him and raph get into a qpr (leo gets over the tiny crush and they stay good friends) and they spar together a lot, raph helps him train properly and associate combat with something other than trauma and survival

- they play with Cassandra and buddy too (assuming he didn't get crushed in the s2 finale cause that might have happened I don't remember) those capture the flags are intense

[bythedeepsix]

Hmmm according to this I am a:

True Neutral Human Bard/Wizard (4th/3rd Level)

Ability Scores: Strength- 12 Dexterity- 15 Constitution- 15 Intelligence- 16 Wisdom- 15 Charisma- 16 Alignment: True Neutral- A true neutral character does what seems to be a good idea. He doesn't feel strongly one way or the other when it comes to good vs. evil or law vs. chaos. Most true neutral characters exhibit a lack of conviction or bias rather than a commitment to neutrality. Such a character thinks of good as better than evil after all, he would rather have good neighbors and rulers than evil ones. Still, he's not personally committed to upholding good in any abstract or universal way. Some true neutral characters, on the other hand, commit themselves philosophically to neutrality. They see good, evil, law, and chaos as prejudices and dangerous extremes. They advocate the middle way of neutrality as the best, most balanced road in the long run. True neutral is the best alignment you can be because it means you act naturally, without prejudice or compulsion. However, true neutral can be a dangerous alignment when it represents apathy, indifference, and a lack of conviction.

Race: Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Primary Class: Bards- Bards often serve as negotiators, messengers, scouts, and spies. They love to accompany heroes (and villains) to witness heroic (or villainous) deeds firsthand, since a bard who can tell a story from personal experience earns renown among his fellows. A bard casts arcane spells without any advance preparation, much like a sorcerer. Bards also share some specialized skills with rogues, and their knowledge of item lore is nearly unmatched. A high Charisma score allows a bard to cast high-level spells.

Secondary Class: Wizards- Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out http://www.easydamus.com/character.html what kind of character you'd be.

Detailed Results:

Alignment: Lawful Good ----- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Neutral Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (19) Chaotic Good ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Lawful Neutral -- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21) True Neutral ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (24) Chaotic Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (21) Lawful Evil ----- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Neutral Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13) Chaotic Evil ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Law & Chaos: Law ----- XXXXXXXX (8) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXX (11) Chaos --- XXXXXXXX (8) Good & Evil: Good ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Neutral - XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13) Evil ---- XX (2) Race: Human ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXX (13) Dwarf ---- XXXXXX (6) Elf ------ XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Gnome ---- XXXXXXXX (8) Halfling - XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Half-Elf - XXXXXXXXX (9) Half-Orc - XXXX (4) Class: Barbarian - XX (2) Bard ------ XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16) Cleric ---- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Druid ----- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Fighter --- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Monk ------ XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Paladin --- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Ranger ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXX (14) Rogue ----- XXXXXXXXXX (10) Sorcerer -- XXXXXXXXXXXX (12) Warlock --- XXXXXX (6)qWizard ---- XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (16)

[mayhighfilms]

How does Mayhigh Films help you with brand video for your product?

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[aceoxide]

EN3 Analysis Part ????: I Kneel

So yeah. EN3? Great. Not only is it a solid gen overall, from what everything the other talents have said it seems like the management shakeup was enough to make things better for both EN3 and the rest in general.

So I am definitely willing to admit that my doomposting was just that, doomposting of an overly cynical idiot. The higher ups realize that streaming is an important part to vtubers as a whole and are at least willing to give the girls some way to stream when they're in Japan and not just putting them recording hell.

So yeah managements get a W from me... this time anyway.

As for Advent themselves, this is definitely feels like a fresh refresh for HoloEN as a whole. Seems like management learned from hard lessons from Myth and Council and the talents let their voices be heard. And the members are what would you expect from the recruiting/scouting department of cover, all pretty damn talented in their own ways. Shiorin and the Twins are definitely going to bring something new and shake things up in the future, and while Bijou and Nerissa are hella good as a streamer and singer respectively.

Also another really important thing is that their senpai have more members to collab with now! That cannot be stated enough, especially since many of them have been wanting proper kouhai for so long.

Though it'll be a bit before we see them for real after they're comfortable with their new roles, but I'm looking forward to what Advent on HoloEN are cooking up in this new season.

also omega is dead yay

[ramrodd]

Why are liberals lying about Clarence Thomas? He's broken no law. The Left claims he "broke a longstanding tradition" by accepting trips, but those were all personal and the invites came from someone who's been a best friend for decades.

COMMENTARY:

Clarence Thomas is a very confused Negro. Like Colin Powell and Michael Steele, Thomas is a product of a Republican variation on Affirmative Action, the Token Black theory. Democrats have routinely produced exceptional executives like Vernon Jordan and Bob Johnson and Oprah, but the unchecked white supremacy of the Dixiecrat element of the Body Politic as it shifted around after Reconstruction and Wilson’s implementation of Jim Crow laws in the federal government, but the people around Nixon knew that the GOP had to hold its nose and elevate likely candidates in their talent pools to establish a farm system at the top f the GOP which could constantly scout for talent in the African American community for Republican versions of Vernon Jordan

I am personally ambivalent about Vernon Jordan. Nixon and Daniel Patrick Moynihan based their accelerated promotion theories of the movie Putney Swope, which is a very subversive parable about the unintended consequences of the Token Negro program. What happens in Putney Swope is exactly what both men intended for their civil rights program embedded in Affirmative Action . And, when you consider the success of unlikely figures like George Forman and Magic Jordan, it worked better than advertised.

Putney Swope works his way up the Republican corporate career ladder to success as a Booker T. Washington corporate shoe shin boy and, by a fluke, is made the Chairman of the Board of a major Madison Avenue “Ad Men” organization in the middle of the “Ad Men” era of CEO’s butt fucking the girls in the typing pool as part of his Executive Compensation As Chairman, Putney makes a pretty rapid transition to a W.E.B. Dubois Fortune 500 Cassius Clay and just runs the table with his advertising campaigns, which have become SNL political tropes. And that’s what happened to Colin Powell and Michael Steele: they slipped the yoke of racist expectations and, in the case of Michael Steel, is the future of the GOP for any man or woman who aligns naturally with Jack Kemp’s brand of Republicanism. That was exactly the intent of the Nixon-Moynihan Affirmative Action civil rights aspiration, generally, and Nixon’s design for the future of the GOP with the GOP Toke Black program.

Clarence Thomas was a Booker T. Washington Step’n’Fetchit career government worker on steroids when his intensity of purpose caught the Token Black selection committee and he’s ended up on the Supreme Court. But instead of shrugging off the yoke of slavish dedication to corporate expectations and allowing his intellect to flower along the lines of at least Frederick Douglas.

Instead, he adopted David Duke as his personal path forward, and to ensure domestic bliss whit his white woman who was the literal spawn of the John Birch Society

Strictly Speaking, Clarence Thomas is an equal opportunity bigot on the example of his Grandfather. I suspect that he and Harlan Crow are genuine friends and, more important in this fraught season,, kindred spirits. Clarence Thomas was all in on the white supremacist agenda of the John Birch Society at Yale, the Academic Cathedral to William F. Buckley’s campus strategy for the Nazification of America with a consciously subversive and seditious political strategy to overthrow the US Constitution. John Bolton, who was at Yale with Thomas, has dedicated his career to achieving the hegemony objective of the John Birch Society. Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow are singing authentically from the same psalm book. Both of them are perfectly content with the triangulation of the Federalist Society with Citizens, Heller and Dobbs decision. That’s why Clarence Thomas got the job.

The criminal connection between Clarence Thomas and Harlan Crow is January 6, which is a consequence of the the success of William F. Buckley’s Nazification of America. You need to take One Eyed Elmer Rhodes rants seriously and connect the dots to Ginni THomas. That’s the actionable constitutional theory.

The fact that he was a Rush Limbaugh Ditto Head tells me he had a 2nd rate mind, like Antonin Scalia.  It’[s a characteristic of libertarian logic. It’s why Thomas Jefferson is a favorite of the John Birch Society: until he became President, he was a reliable voice of libertarian logic and a constant source of moral umbrage of the spoiled child of unearned wealth and privilege that anticipates Fredrich Nietzsche. Scalia wasn’t interested in the law: he was content to demonstrate how clever he was at fashioning exhaustive defenses of his pretzel logic skirty precedent and outright Fascist sophistry.

The relationship of Thomas and Crow is not a crime and needs to be respected on that basis, prima facia. The triangulation of this friendship with Ginni Thomas creates the cloak of treason

Just for the record, Thomas Jefferson abandoned his dependence on libertarian logic to rationalize his narcissism as moral righteousness and exchange Fredrich Nietzsche  for George Washington as President

[stingslikeabee]

rude + melissa... chinhands

send me a pair name and I’ll tell you what I think it would be like if they had a child . not accepting

Name: Jarah Drsydell and Jasmine Drysdell (to the extent that Rude doesn't want to associate his name officially, of course - otherwise, they would also have his surname! The names are either associated to flowers or honey in a tribute to Melissa/Lilian and the HBI). Gender: A couple of twins (Jarah being male and Jasmine being female). General appearance: Despite the mixed genes, Rude's appear to be more dominant - both kids have darker skin than their mother and closer to their father, raven-black hair and also grow taller than Melissa (although Jasmine wins by a narrow margin whereas the boys make her look tiny in comparison). Jasmine's eyes, however, are very unique and lighter than her brother's, perhaps one of the cases where Melissa's heritage came through more evidently. They both can gain muscle and weight easily and have larger bone structure than an average Midgarian, but only Jarah seems to be interested in a fitness routine to benefit from their genetics. Personality: A good example of cloning themselves - Jarah is quiet, very observant, will only speak when he feels he has something to add and 95% of it is very insightful, would change his path to avoid stepping on a flower; Jasmine abhors silence, makes friends as easily as she gets in trouble, universally considered the life of any party and cannot stay silent in the face of injustice of any kind (to the point of sometimes endangering herself and requiring saving from her father/brother/kind bystander). No one has any trouble believing Rude and Melissa to be their parents, really. Special talents: A bit on the unexpected side since these are not the things people would immediately guess about either of the twins - but Jarah is really good with drawing, illustrations and arts in general (almost as if he translates everything he sees on paper so others can see it as well); Jasmine has a knack for massages - just like Melissa, she has a similar need for physical connection and that developed into working out tension off the bodies of the people she's close to (and she's good enough to make tough people cry when she gets the right spot). Who they like better: Curiously enough, they're both sufficiently well-mannered to never outright admit they have a favorite, but Jarah feels more comfortable with his mother and Jasmine with her father. Perhaps because of the 'mini-clone' aspect, they do find themselves at ease with the parent that has the opposing personality traits (maybe because this made that relevant progenitor easier to manipulate, haha). Who they take after more: Jarah is mini-Rude, Jasmine is mini-Melissa, it's really that bad. The only thing that may potentially throw someone off (in Melissa's case) is because of the skin color - she's much paler than her daughter, but their mannerisms and approaches are so similar that usually any doubts about a familial connection will disappear the moment they part their lips to speak. Personal Headcanon: Jarah has the right build and discipline to be a professional coliseum fighter or wrestler, but he doesn't enjoy violence in that way; despite being scouted by agents before and offered opportunities to be a professional, Jarah turned them all down and he just really likes being fit for his own personal (health) purposes - he speaks of joining the WRO one day and helping with rebuilding efforts and going where he is most needed. Jasmine, on the other hand, has her focus set on the stage - she would love to have a career in something artistic for the masses (like television, cinema or theater), all endeavors that Melissa very much supports and would have loved to do it herself if she had been given the chance (although she never pressured Jasmine into this - the girl just has a similar need for attention). Faceclaim: Regé-Jean Page (Jarah) and Logan Browning (Jasmine).

[muu-kun]

@nvrcmplt asked: PChan & Muu!!!

Name: Courtesy of Muu, who wanted to take reference from Pchan's full name of varying consonants and vowels, took to naming their child Scoutasio. Scout for short.

Gender: Having been raised in a household made up of parents who hold little concept of gender as a normative concept, it was no surprise their offspring took on the title of nonbinary as well. And while introduced by Muu personally to the pronoun set xe/xem, they've shown no clear disdain for any other form of acknowledgement as the backhanded nature behind any of them is simply water off the duck's back.

General Appearance: Takes far more after Pchan than Muu in regards to physical appearance, but really what complaints can the human have when his genes must be far more recessive than those of an aliens.

Personality: Temperament wise, Scout is a definite reflect surface to what xirs parents have in common. Jovial curiosity, wonderment enticed by a merit tied to mirth, and an incredible sense of tenacity to counteract any kind of diversity thrown at xem by life itself.

Special Talents: As a lucky advantage in life to be raised by an autistic jack of all trades that was always taking up a new hobby growing up, Scout had access to a wide range of activities from an early age. Unless it was somehow harmful to xirself or others, nothing was off limits on self expression in accordance to Muu personally. Where their own skills to lie, though, is in the way they can star gaze and read an astrological chart like no other. As a parent, Muu always wanted to encourage an open availability to both their backgrounds by making astronomy an open conversation even from an early age. Having one parent from another planet and another who so frequently described the before of life as being made from a glitter from the sun that chose to explore what life on Earth was like worked together to create a child unexpectedly interested in stars and the greater meaning to life they must have kept to themselves.

Who they like better: I think as much as they grew up admiring and feeling inspired by Muu for certain things, the parent xe ultimately favors more is undoubtedly Pchan.

Who they take after more: Interestingly, both but in the most unique of manners. Scout most definitely mirrors a young and self assured Muu as well as an older and wiser Pchan that had to grow back into confident in their sense of self worth. Scout was luckily raised to never feel like masking was a requirement in life, so it is unsurprising either parent comes through when they themselves realizing masking isn't their responsibility either.

Personal Head canon:

Thankfully did not acquire Muu's short genes. Scout goes on to reach a solid height of 178cm, which they are well comfortable with because what sense would there be to mourn or wish for what they'll never know.

Sex was most definitely a topic commonly conversed about within the household. So much so that it acquired Muu a reputation for being controversial amongst other parents, and yet he never stiffled himself to nullify their opinions of him. It was always of importance to him to ensure Scout was educated on the harmfulness of shameful language, as well as of outdated terminology. And when it would eventually come around to being told by his sixteen year old child that they and a classmate copulated, the same age he had been when he engaged in physical intimacy for the first time as well, Muu didn't skip a beat in rounding up the family to a day trip to the botanical gardens after brunch. A much more heartfelt sentiment than the "You better fucking your back" text he sent out to the classmate's parents as a warning to keep their kid in line, or they'd find out what the nonexistent opposing term to orphan felt like.