#anyway accuracy isn’t my priority

[oboetemasuka]

Spent 50 minutes handwriting bad-things-to-Amane part 3.

Tried to get in Shidou’s mind about priorities.

Considered bothering my family friends about medical accuracy, but Christmas isn’t the time to show up out of the blue and explain what Milgram is. (Joke about “all Filipinos are nurses”)

My mom saw me scrawling in my notebook and asked if I’m writing a novel. Explained to my mom in short terms what a fanfic is.

Woke up the next morning and transcribed the fic on my sibling’s laptop. Every word I wrote stabbed me in the side.

What do you mean this chapter is 736 words?

File name is ate_fic_dont_touch.rtf, where “Ate” means “older sister”.

Pass fic off to someone to beta read and melt from embarrassment.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoy it when I post it!

[mermaidsirennikita]

The best part about everyone losing their shit about The Serpent Queen is that I watched the pilot and not only is it the best product Starz has put out in years based on money spent, writing, and casting—it also possessed way more attention to historical detail than anything the Tudor shows have been serving…. Maybe ever?

Not y’all being too simple to realize that a woman can be presented as Not Always Good and sympathetic at the same time…. And letting that cloud any openness to the show at all.

[crystalelemental]

Did it really have to be all 24 options at once, DeNA?  I feel like this is a Dick Move.  The last few times you did something like this, it was multiple different scouts so you could get a couple options.  Now we have to pick just one?  I don't like it.  And somehow you didn't even include the SC alts, or the recent Summer alts.  So there goes like every high-priority pick I had.  Ugh. Anyway, with so many options, I’m sure plenty of you are wondering who’s worth it.  Here’s my perspective:

Winter Rosa - Has some utility at 3/5 with Hail on entry and her trainer move giving a whole +5 total buffs, albeit to randomized stats.  Her only consistent buff is attack, and she doesn't offer much besides this and Hail support.  Anything below 3/5 is outright bad, and 3/5 is only useful for Summer Steven combos.  Grid expansion when?

Winter Siebold - A lot of people dunk on the guy, but honestly, Scald's burn and Octazooka's accuracy debuff isn't terrible utility.  Natural Hostile Environment is actually great for that burn rate.  It's just that he's not that strong and his utility is a bit awkward and there's someone else who can burn reliably in this very pull that's better in like every way.

Winter Erika - Don't.  All she does is heal, and she's not even that great at it.  Sycamore is outright better than her as a free option.

Winter Skyla - There are better Flying damage dealers.  She's not inherently bad, but Tri Attack isn't the best DPS, most multipliers are inconsistent given her setup, she can't reliably self-buff, and of course there's the issue with Flying Zone being unavailable due to her alt having it.  1/5 really doesn't offer anything either, so like...I can't recommend it.

Winter Leon - Finally, someone legitimately good at 1/5.  Leon's got strong Ice damage, and a solid freeze chance by default on an AoE attack.  The AoE doesn't even penalize his freeze chance because it's a passive skill.  Winter Leon's fairly strong, and flexible in his setup options, but definitely needs support to make it come together.  Still, a very solid 1/5 pick.

Winter Nessa: Not really useful until at least 2/5.  Hail is okay utility, but very little uses it.   1/5 just doesn't offer enough to really stand out compared to Candice.   And at 3/5...her sync nuke is still worse than Candice.  Her DPS is better, and she can have a high flinch rate, which is her real niche.   But there are tons of flinch bots in the game, so like...I don't think she's all that great.

New Year Lance - Hey kids, do you like HYPER BEAM?  Do you like the CRIPPLING INABILITY TO BUFF?  Then boy of boy, is LANCE DRAGONDICK your man!  Good at 1/5 for the raw damage, but woefully dependent on team support, including both special attack/crit buffing, and Rain.  If you don't have SS Kris, you cannot perform optimally with this guy due to lack of Flying Zone or Rain in every other comp.

New Year Lillie - Decent 1/5.  Crit buffing is solid, and evasion buffing is fairly unique.  Applying condition shield off her trainer move is also valuable for Gauntlet, as it stops things like Cresselia from ruining your life.  Leech Life is okay damage for healing, but really wants the 3/5 for best performance.  She also has Team Sync Regen, which is really nice if you're willing to EX her.  Functional, but nothing groundbreaking, I would say.

New Year Volkner - A decent 1/5 pick, due to being some of the highest Electric-type damage in the game, and a special striker for the dreaded Electric-weak Aaron.  But.  If you got Archie this month, Archie's Thunder is stronger, and better off-type.  Archie requires less setup or support.   Archie's move can never miss under rain.  EX Hau is capable if you need F2P, and we're getting two Pikachu for anniversary, at least one of which is confirmed to be about damage and is undoubtedly stronger.  I'm just saying, there is a lot out right this second that's really good for Electric damage, and the guy who got massively struck by the on-type bat DeNA was swinging around in that era isn't my favorite pick here.

New Year Sabrina - Decent 1/5 pick.  Sabrina offers some nice utility, like Endure on a healing move, Condition Shield to block status, and the coveted combination of special attack/crit buffing.  Granted, the crits, as well as the special moves up next effects, are RNG based and improbable, but she can do it 1/5.  The real issue is that everything legitimately nice about her as a unit is 3/5.  That's when you get the MPR, the defenses and speed buffing potential, Recuperation, All Ramped Up.  1/5 Sabrina is fine, but she doesn't shine until 3/5.

Palentine's Dawn - Speaking entirely on her own merits, Dawn is one of, if not the best pick for a 1/5 acquisition.  Her debuffs are fantastic, her buffs are solid and apply healing, and she's not a terrible tech nuker for Gauntlet in a pinch.  But.  Lucian exists.  If you're looking for new utility, and you have Lucian?  There is no need for Dawn.  Lucian is outright better on Growl utility alone, but then has an absurd sync nuke and better self-buffing on top of it.  Personally, I love debuffers and can't get enough, so I advocate for her still, but it's something to be aware of.

Palentine's Serena - Serena's got really interesting and unique utility that...isn't always what you need.  She can buff speed, which is rare for Gauntlet where it's most needed, and can debuff speed to the tune of -2 AoE.  That's really nice for Cakewalk sync nukers like...most of the common gachas.  She even has AoE paralysis, which is pretty handy for Electric-weak Phoebe, and Paralysis is the best status to have in Gauntlet.  Any damage utility only starts to matter at 2/5, but her general utility tools are, I think, fairly under-appreciated.

Palentine's Marnie - Steel Wish is the main draw most go for, but I think that undersells Growl utility, her debuffs giving a nice defensive debuff, and her Team Sharp Entry, the latter two of which activate twice thanks to Mega Evolution.  She has a lot of solid utility 1/5.  Damage is just low, speed is horrendous which isn't great for your other slow steel types, and special stages can and will break you.

Palentine's Bea - Bea sucks.  Only sets Hail on entry, and all her useful tools are 3/5.  She can kinda buff offenses but not crit, and has Potion I guess.  There's a better Potion user with better buffs in this list, there are better offense buffers, Hail isn't super useful and she can only do it once. I do not respect Palentine's Bea, and demand a better Hail support.

Spring May - Spring May's damage is not good, and the amount of needed support is insane.  Setup phase is slow and requires first sync, but even after that needs some accuracy or missing High Jump Kick will kill her.  She really doesn't have anything particularly useful.

Spring Burgh - Legitimately good, I just don't like him.  Defensive buffer that can cap crit and gives the rare accuracy.  Can technically buff offenses but inconsistently.  He's SS Blue, but can reliably cap crit 1/5 and buffs both offenses at the same time.  So better SS Blue.  Yes, I am making this argument.

Summer Steven - The other Ice damage guy.  If given the choice, Leon should pretty much always be the pick.  He's way stronger, and freeze is a strong effect.  But I do like Steven resetting Hail every sync.  It's a funny gimmick for Moltres.  I don't think he's bad, just outclassed.

Summer Lyra - Bad.  Damage too low, speed bad, can't really buff herself, needs both offenses for sync and move damage.  At least she can hit sleep on sync, which is funny.

Summer Gloria - I don't respect this alt.  Her only good option is the Water damage, which is fine, but do you really need Water damage?  There's like a billion Water type damage dealers, and most are better self-setup units.  Also, you’d be using Intelleon, and is that really what you want for yourself?

Summer Marnie - Great self-setup, solid damage, still just not that interesting to me.  I can't say she's bad, and a lot of her good tools exist at 1/5.  She's honestly one of the better picks.  It’s just...if I, personally, we looking for Fairy damage, I’d go P!Serena, because I like utility being baked in.  But Marnie’s objectively stronger, so...

Halloween Acerola - Bad.  Damage is bad, MP limitations make it worse. She can confuse but not as well as Sidney, and Confuse isn't super useful.  She's just not good.

Halloween Hilbert - Good damage, but Double Edge.  1/5 offers one (1) stack of Standfast, which will still get you killed pretty fast.  2/5 gets most good tools, but I do not love recoil strategies.

Halloween Caitlin - My beloved.   She's really good.  Desperately wants 2/5 to be virtually perfect, but isn't terrible 1/5.  Buffs a ton of stats, has healing per sync for the team, and is unstoppable under the "permanent field effects" condition in CS.  But...honestly does really want 2/5.

Halloween Morty - Not bad, actually.   I appreciate status application, even if it’s Burn.  The main thing is his 2/5, where he gets access to Overwhelm and Vigilance.  While his damage needs 3/5 and is still not that impressive, those are interesting defensive tools for a guy who can buff his own defense to cap.

FINAL THOUGHTS Given that most pulls would be 1/5, the ones who work well 1/5 are: Winter Leon, NY!Volkner, P!Dawn, P!Serena, P!Marnie, and S!Marnie.  All of these options either have enough power 1/5 to accomplish their main damaging role, or their primary utility is baked into their moveset and passives.

If you’re willing to candy to 2/5, H!Caitlin is, as always, my pick for the best.  She’s an incredible buff support who gets virtually every tool she wants at that move level.  Spring Burgh gets Vigilance, a Potion MPR, and basically becomes actually useful at 2/5, just like SS Blue.  H!Hilbert also gets pretty much everything of value at 2/5 as well.  W!Nessa becomes an option thanks to Hail MPR turning her into a Moltres counter, though she kinda wants 3/5 for the flinch rate.  P!Serena gets her Inertia sync nuke so she gets better with this.  H!Morty goes from a Burn bot to having Vigilance and Overwhelm 9, which could be useful for an odd sort of tank in Gauntlet.

The ones who become significantly changed with 3/5 are NY!Sabrina, NY!Lillie, and Palentine’s Bea.  NY!Lillie has good tools 1/5, but 3/5 is when she gets to actually play as a respectable sustain tank, which is an entirely different unit in my eyes.  You go from having some niche but fun utility, to actually being a threat.  NY!Sabrina has literally all of her useful tools locked behind 3/5; if you don’t 3/5 her, the tools are okay, but significantly worse off.  Palentine’s Bea gets access to Hail every sync, buffing her own defenses, and double Potion MPR, to actually have an identity she cannot establish at lower move levels.

Pretty much everyone else is a “recommended against.”  But I will make some notes.  NY!Lance is really good at any move level, if properly supported, but note that optimal support requires SS Kris to access needed Rain multipliers and Flying Zone simultaneously without being a bad comp.  Summer Gloria is in a similar boat, not really having much in her grid to help damage output, but having decent enough base damage that all she needs is the significant support for offense buffing.  Lastly, Winter Skyla isn’t entirely terrible, though she needs similar setup help to Gloria.  Her issue of not having access to Flying Zone hurts, but isn’t a death sentence.  But her damage is really low without Rising Tide, and her utility is either ridiculously inconsistent (Tri Attack status), or a dime a dozen (oooh, a 60% flinch rate, never seen that before).

My personal recommendation is either one of the optimal 1/5 picks, or a 3/5 pick.  Caitlin and Burgh are solid 2/5 picks, but generally speaking, those two are at least solid 1/5, while the 3/5 ones are so life-changing that I think they’d take priority.  If you’re looking for a new acquisition, play to what your roster needs in coverage.  Ice, Fairy, and Electric feel like fairly unique offensive typings, so any of the damage dealers are good.  P!Dawn has a powerful debuff set, if made somewhat redundant by Lucian, while Serena’s options are incredibly unique, if not always helpful.  Marnie offers great utility for Steel teams, but often won’t contribute a ton beyond attack debuffs and Zone without higher move levels.

“Which one are you picking?”  God, I don’t know.  I didn’t ask for this to be so hard.  I was hoping there’d be like two more of these after the next datamine and I could pick a couple out, with only minor conflict, but nope.  Guess that’s not happening...

[queenofnohr]

Twisted Wonderland: Idia Shroud Scary Outfit (R) - Voice Lines + Personal Story

Voice Lines

Summoning Line: Th- th- there are some events even I look forward to…… Is there something wrong with that!? Groovy: Once you see what’s under this helmet, you will never know peace again…… Fuhihihi! Set Home: Wah hah hah! Here comes the Pumpkin Knight~! Home Idle 1: Every time I told Ortho, “Trick or Treat!” he gave me cheap candy, then got mad when I tricked him anyway. Home Idle 2: Events can only be enjoyed if you mind your manners. That rule holds true in every world. Home Idle 3: This is the time of year where every social game has a big event going on, so not having enough time in a day is overwhelmingly apparent…… Home Login: Fuhihi…… Happy Halloween. Huh? What’s with that face? Is it really so strange to see me excited about something? Home Tap 1: Being able to hide my face with the helmet is such a relief…… But it’s a little hard to breathe with it on. Home Tap 2: Wh- What are you going to dress up as……? There’s no way you’d be satisfied with just putting on a headband or hat and calling it a day, right? Home Tap 3: Lions are supposed to be members of the cat family, but Leona isn’t soothing at all like them. *sigh*, I wanna bury my face in a cat’s fur. Home Tap 4: I can guarantee it. Otaku who hate Halloween…… Don’t exist! Home Tap 5: Fuhihi…… The armor is quite durable since it was made with a 3D printer. How much did it cost to make? If you care about that sorta stuff, you’ll lose.

Personal Story: I’ve Done a Good Job~

-Ignihyde Dorm-

Idia: I finally completed my Pumpkin Knight costume~!! *sigh*...... It was so hard to balance doing limited-time events in online games and making my costume…… The amount of times I ended up watching the whole movie even though I only meant to check the costume’s accuracy is too many to count. But what else did I expect from “Pumpkin Hollow?” It’s a masterpiece among all of horror movie history. Mysterious incidents that happen one after another in a peaceful village surrounded by fog. Villagers found with their forms completely changed. And then the culprit, the Pumpkin Knight who has a pumpkin for a head, confronts the two investigators dispatched to uncover the truth surrounding the incidents! Not to mention the complete lack of CGI in this day and age due to the director’s enthusiasm and commitment to making full use of various practical effects, and of course, who could forget the totally unexpected and outrageous plot twist of the investigators quitting their jobs and becoming pumpkin farmers after being charmed by the cursed pumpkin! You can only get this stuff from B-grade horror!! I totally understand its deep-rooted popularity with hardcore fans. I also handcrafted all the costume parts from scratch to give the original my utmost respect. Taking into consideration the need to march in a parade, the helmet and armor were made with highly-durable yet ultra-light polyurethane. The vines affixed to the base of the armor are made from highly flexible silicon. It makes for a realistic reproduction of vines’ natural curves and volume. Now then, not being able to move, or the whole thing falling apart pathetically…… those are catastrophes I’d like to avoid at all costs. I’ll put the cursed pumpkin on my head…… there we go. Alright, all ready to take a test run outside. There seem to be lots of people on campus, but…… I wonder if that place will be okay?

-Woods Behind Campus-

Idia: The elbows have sufficient mobility, and there are no problems with the strength of the joints either. Hmmm, it’s actually really comfortable to wear! As expected of me, I’ve done a good job~. (However, the head parts need adjustment. Visibility is poor because my top priority was making it look like it was hollow.) (I wonder if I could put a small camera at the top of the helmet and run the feed to view on a head mounted display……) *mutter mutter*……

Crash!

Idia: Uwah……!? Ouch…… Did I trip on something? It’s difficult to see near my feet, so I’ll have to make improvements to that, too…… Leona: You bastard, get off of my stomach, now! You’ve got some nerve to use me as a rug. Idia: Eek, that’s Leona’s voice! S-s-s- sorry, I didn’t think there’d be anyone around! I’ll get out of your sight immediately, so……

Clang, clang...

Leona: Ow! Oi, don’t move so suddenly, Pumpkin-boy! You’re gonna rip my tail off! Idia: Eh, your tail!? This is bad, I can’t see anything with the pumpkin on…… (Oh crap, the end of Leona’s tail is tangled with the ivy parts on the costume!) (My commitment to remaining faithful to the original is backfiring……) Leona: Tch, so it’s you. You rarely go outside, and yet you have the nerve to get into trouble. Hurry up and do something about this. Idia: Awawawawa…… (Using that tone while he’s knocked on the ground! He must be livid!) (“This ill-tempered guy’s tail got caught on my armor and now I’m in a tight spot,” is so not a “My hair got caught on his clothes, kyaa~ ☆ meet cute,” kind of plot hook.) (No, I don’t have the luxury of thinking about that in this situation.) J- Just hold on…… I’ll get it unstuck right away…… (Even though I said that, isn’t it impossible in this position? The range of movement in my arm is restricted, so I can’t reach at all.) Leona: ...... Idia: (Ah—! This is bad—! The more I try getting it unstuck, the more tangled it gets!) Leona: *growl*...... Don’t put your hands all over my tail. Idia: No, he’s the one who has more hands free, right? Could he help out a bit more? Actually, in the first place, this totally isn’t a place he should be napping, right? He’s totally cutting class...... He’s the one who blocked the path in the first place…… Isn’t he so proud of how tall he is? I’m not the one at fault, Leona is the one who should be apologizing…... Leona: ......Oi, I can hear everything you’re saying. Idia: H- Huh!? I- I was just joking…… hehe. (Oh, that’s right. Beastmen have really good hearing.) Leona: *sigh*...... You’re slow and inefficient. You don’t have scissors or anything, do you? Idia: A- Actually I do. I brought a repair kit just in case the costume broke…… huh!? (No way, is Leona gonna cut his own fur!?) Leona: Good grief, took you long enough. Idia: (Is he for real? Isn’t this a cool-guy maneuver only reserved for pretty-boys in manga!?)

Thud!

Idia: Huh? Thud? WHAAAAAT!?!?!?!?! You cut the vines I worked so hard on——!!! Leona: You were being too slow so I cut it myself. You should be thanking me. Idia: ...... Leona: Aren’t you glad it was me you tripped over? If it was someone scaaaa~ry it wouldn’t have ended this amicably, now would it? Honestly, aimlessly walking about with a tacky pumpkin on your head. You’re a real nuisance. See ya. Idia: ............ ......H- Huh~~~!? Did he just call the Pumpkin Knight tacky? He must not have eyes if he doesn’t understand the charm of this design……! That’s why I can’t stand Savanaclaw students; they’re all so rowdy…… Though I pity him for not being able to comprehend the greatness of the Pumpkin Knight. Just you wait! By the time the parade rolls around, I’ll have the equipment completely upgraded! And he’ll recognize just how cool the Pumpkin Knight is!

-

*Small note; I usually use (parenthesis) interchangeably for both whispering/talking quietly to oneself and for internal monologue that is put in parenthesis in the game itself. Here, however, since Idia uses both and it’s important to differentiate between them, (internal monologue is in parenthesis like this), while whispered dialogue is completely italicized, like this.

[mysewingadventures]

Historical Accuracy of Costumes in Period TV Shows - Anne With An E

I was very surprised at how well my historical accuracy post about The Aeronauts did, so I decided to write about another one! This time I’ll be talking about the fashion in Anne with an E, but I’ll be mainly focusing on the kids’ clothing because kids’ period fashion is something that’s very rarely talked about and we know very little about.

First of all, if you haven’t seen Anne with an E, please do, it’s an amazing adaptation of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables novels which I adored reading as a kid, but unfortunately I barely remember anything from the books so watching the show was kinda cool going into it without knowing what exactly was going to happen. But anyways, enough about the show, let’s get to the fashion. A little disclaimer: some of the fashion choices made by the department are very closely tied to the plot so I might be spoiling a little bit, but I won’t be talking about any big spoilers or plot points!

So, the story takes place from 1896 (season 1) to 1899 (season 2), so we’re in the late Victorian time period.

First up, we have this dress that Anne wears at the beginning of season 1. It’s obviously way too small, very simple and plain.

It was very typical for girls to wear aprons as an outer layer so they wouldn’t get their dresses dirty, we can see that all throughout the show with all characters. But here we have something that looks odd to someone who might not know the story and Anne’s upbringing. She’s an orphaned girl, this is the only dress she has and has had for years, hence why she grew out of it. It’s plain, simple, she’s a poor girl who goes from one family to another and has to work to earn her stay. In her surroundings, nobody would have given her a new dress, or even an older but fashionable one. I’m assuming she got it at some point just because she didn’t have anything to wear and "as long as it would do the job, it was good enough."

Now, let’s fast forward a little bit until Marilla decides to finally make Anne a new dress. She mentions having some fabric laying around, so she uses that to sew the new garment.

It’s still very plain and not fashionable for the time, but it’s a garment that fits her, which was Marilla’s top (and arguably only) priority at the time. Marilla is one of a kind, she’s the direct opposite of pretty much everyone else in Avonlea. I won’t get too deep into her characterization, but Anne’s fashion reflects Marilla’s mindset that I just have to mention how she’s a woman who lives in a classist society without really becoming a part of it. She’s old fashioned at first, sure, but her priorities are different from all the other families. While everyone else cares about how they present themselves to others and how they are viewed and their reputation, Marilla stays true to herself and doesn’t change for anyone. They’re not poor, meaning they could afford pretty clothing if they wanted to but to Marilla, this is clearly a waste of money and she values other things more in life. Okay, sorry about this little ramble about her but it’s important to know to understand why Anne doesn’t have the most fashionable dresses aside from the Cuthberts being “poorer” (despite still being middle class).

When Marilla announced she wanted to make a dress for Anne, Anne immediately requested puff sleeves, which is understandable considering they were very fashionable in 1896. Anne has never had puff sleeves before and all of her friends probably did, so it’s just natural for her to want her new dress to have them.

So, puff sleeves... Enter Matthew who has a soft spot for his daughter and doesn’t share the same strict world views as Marilla. He goes out to Charlottetown to get a dress custom made for Anne, which has... *drum roll* puff sleeves!

It’s this beautiful blue dress which Anne falls in love with and wears on every special occasion. With the lace and the frills it almost feels a little too much for a child, as girls’ dresses were usually similar to adults’ but less decorated and more simple. Anne does stand out a little when she wears it to school, but the dress was clearly not made for everyday wear, she was just too excited about it not to wear it.

Here’s a cast photo (I couldn’t find any other ones where you can properly see other girls’ dresses without the aprons) and you can see that they’re generally less embellished than adults’ clothing of that time and just a little frilly.

Unless I am missing something, this was the only puff sleeve dress that Anne owns up to the end of the show, and that is because puff sleeves suddenly aren’t as fashionable anymore in the following years. The dresses still have a wider sleeve at the top but nothing that comes close to a puff sleeve.

Let’s move on with my favorite Anne dress.

I love this dress so much because it’s quite simple but still has that elegance of the Victorian era. So maybe I’m biased but I’d say it’s absolutely accurate! I’ve definitely not been thinking about making a replica and wearing it just for the heck of it. It definitely seems child-appropriate and more like an everyday dress than the previous one.

I’d also love to talk about Diana’s dresses for a moment as she is the richest girl in town (I believe? It could be Josie I’m not sure) but her dresses are always on point and beautiful and just a prime example of rich girls’ dresses of that era. Here’s one of her and her sister Minnie May wearing the same white Sunday dress.

You had to be rich to give your kids white dresses with not even an apron. Sure, you wouldn’t wear an apron on a Sunday dress, but you had to be either rich enough so your kids were used to having the best manners and wouldn’t get dirty or you had to be able to afford to get a white dress dirty. The Barry’s are both of those things.

There are many more dresses that were shown in the show but if I mentioned all of them, I’d still be writing tomorrow! Maybe I’ll make a part 2 someday. However, I couldn’t finish this post without mentioning the iconic... Just see for yourself.

And... I have contemplated for a long time whether I should say this or not as all I’ve ever seen about this dress was pure adoration but from a personal point of view, I... don’t like it. I’m sorry. And that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not historically accurate, it’s just not my favorite personally. But I’ll get into the historical accuracy.

I had to rewatch almost the entire episode to see the dress in its full length, and after searching through a lot of fashion plates I have only found one that resembles it kind of.

But I’m still not 100% satisfied. The bodice almost feels a little outdated? If I had to guess I’d say this dress was more 1889 than 99. The skirt is historically accurate, though, as well as the sleeves. The blouse is laying a little too flat for 1899 and so is the bodice, it would have been more pigeon-breasted, just like the dresses you can see in this previous scene.

Granted, not all dresses in this scene have that silhouette and not all dresses in 1899 had that silhouette, but it just looks a little wrong with that particular style. A reason for that could be the fact that Marilla made it and maybe she just wasn’t completely up to date with the latest fashion trends and/or recycled an older dress, which is both something I could totally see her do. But then again, it could totally be something worn in 1899 and no one would bat an eyelash. Just because something isn’t common doesn’t mean it’s wrong! Actually, the more I look at it the more it looks right.

This brings me to another point I wanted to mention, which is the length of the kids’ skirts.

This is a photo I found in which they are approximately 14/15 years old.

According to a guideline I found from 1900 that I can’t include because of the 10 photos per post limitation but will link here, the hemline for that age should fall right above the uppper edge of the boot. The length we see them wear is appropriate for 4-8 year olds!

But that’s really the only thing I have to criticize. There’s not a lot of info we have on kids’ clothing so it’s hard to make a general statement but these are the things I noticed while watching the show and afterwards while doing research.

PS. The hats are all very cool and accurate! So many hats! After the lack of bonnets in some other movies seeing hats in a period film just make me happy 😊

[downwiththeficness]

In the Bond-Chapter 13

Summary: Lilah often wished she’d never said yes to working with the Gecko brothers—usually while dodging gunfire. At no time was she regretting that decision more than when she’s hanging upside down from the ceiling, staring down a group of hungry culebras and one (1) extremely powerful sun god.

Word Count: ~2,600

Warnings: None

A/N: This is an AU of my Story In the Blood, which can be read here. Basically, this fic explores what would have happened if Lilah had met up with Geckos before she met Brasa.

Taglist: @symbiont13

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Lilah swung the shopping bag in one hand, the other shoving the keys into her pocket. She’d ended out keeping the SUV Brasa had lent her the week previous, claiming that she liked the ‘rental’ so much that she’d made an offer to buy it outright. It was a believable lie, Lilah had a habit of picking up and dropping off cars on a whim. Easier to keep under the radar when no one knew what make and model she drove.

The air conditioning in the bar hit her hard, goosebumps rising along her arms. It was nearly empty, as it usually was mid-afternoon. Too late for the morning crowd to stay, too early for the night crowd to meander in. The room smelled vaguely of liquor and the sun streaming in through the windows cast unfamiliar shadows over the floor.

She noticed that Kate was sitting at the bar, nursing a soda. For once, Richie was nowhere to be seen. Lilah sidled on up to her, dropped the bag on the floor as she took a seat, and signaled to bartender.

“Bourbon and coke.”

Kate smiled at her, “Isn’t it a little early to be drinking?”

This was said with a smile that could potentially be described as sly. Lilah, like Seth, didn’t exactly adhere to a strict schedule when it came to alcohol. Too many nights that turned into days that turned into diving into a bottle to forget.

“It’ll be five o’ clock in...three hours,” Lilah quipped as she took the glass from the bartender, “Close enough.”

Lilah sat with her drink for a while, enjoying the fact that there was little to no activity going on in the bar. Aside from Kate and the bartender, the room was pretty much empty. She realized that she had spent almost all of her awake hours the last few days either catching up on what had happened while she was gone or in some kind of meeting.

Seth had taken a more active role in managing the staff, and he consulted with Lilah daily about one thing or another—usually some sort of internal conflict. She’d taken to writing down some basic policies and procedures for him to reference so that he wasn’t knocking on her door in the middle of the night with questions. Despite having just come back from a three month vacation, Lilah still needed to sleep.

A question floated across that train of thought, “What’s Richie been up to?”

Kate gave a little shrug, “The usual, trying to maintain some sort of order with our nocturnal friends.”

“Oh?”

Nodding, Kate added, “Its not just Brasa’s people that are struggling to adjust. We’ve had some kickback here, too.”

To give herself a moment to think, Lilah took a slow pull from her glass, “And how is that going?”

“Well,” her voice had a soft tone of uncertainty, “They aren’t super happy that we’ve done some population control. Kind of kills the mood when we’re trying to get them to buy in to the new way of doing things.”

“I can imagine.”

Given what Lilah had seen in the cave not a few days before, she had a good idea of what Seth and Richie were facing on the other side of the fence. They offered work and beds to those who could staff the bar, but didn’t have the organization or power that Brasa seemed to have. It was lucky that Richie had such a mind that he could predict attacks with an uncanny accuracy. Otherwise, or both brothers would be dead by now.

Rolling her neck, Kate offered, “But, there are a surprising number that want to assimilate—they miss their old lives, you know?”

Lilah did know. There was still a part of her, slowly dwindling, that wanted to go back to the night she met Seth and tell him to fuck off. Everything would have been a whole lot simpler now, if she had. On the other hand, she wouldn’t have met Brasa. He’d become so critically ingrained in her everyday life that the thought of him not being there felt too strange to contemplate.

“Are you gonna talk about it now?” Kate asked without provocation. She had pushed her soda away and was fixing Lilah with a narrowed look.

Lilah blinked, “What?”

With a sigh borne out of frustration, Kate turned on her stool and faced Lilah head on, “The bond. Are you going to talk about it?”

Stunned, Lilah felt her jaw unhinge as she stared at Kate in shock. She went over her recent memories to double check that she hadn’t given it away. Lilah had kept it hidden, she was sure of it.

Kate laughed, a high, clear sound that made Lilah flinch, “Richie told me about it months ago. You can’t hide that kind of thing from other culebras. Its supposed to be obvious, for safety’s sake. Keeps them from crossing boundaries accidentally.”

Lilah continued to stare, her chest tightening as she slowly began to panic. She’d ask Brasa about how it was ‘obvious’ later, when her mind had stopped spinning. For now, she had no lie to put things to right again.

Kate noted her stricken expression and laid a gentle hand on her arm, “Its okay. I won’t tell. I just thought you might need someone to talk to. I know I did.”

Dear holy fuck, but Lilah really needed someone to talk to. All of these months and months of keeping her mouth shut had built up in a way that took an immense effort to subsume.

After another moment’s pause, Lilah blurted, “I don’t know how to handle it. Its everywhere, all the time. And… the worst part is that I don’t care. I’m still struggling to accept it, but I want to keep it.”

The dichotomy of being both ashamed and deeply satisfied by her relationship with Brasa was the thing that kept her chest tight, her shoulders hunched. It sat next to her as she tried to sleep at night. It needled her in the quiet moments between tasks. Lilah rubbed at her forehead, feeling a headache coming on.

Kate’s smile was serene, “That’s good, because if Richie’s anything to go by, Brasa wouldn’t allow you to break the bond, even if you wanted to. He’d die to keep it intact.”

Lilah’s brows came together, “What does that mean?”

“Exactly what I said. He’d do anything to keep you with him. He kind of has to, anyways.”

“What does that mean?”

Kate lifted her hand to signal the bartender, “Two of what she’s having.” Then, she turned back to Lilah, “Listen, I don’t know if its matches up exactly with how my bond with Richie is, but Brasa is the one bonded to you, not the other way around.”

Lilah looked at her blank faced. The book had definitely not put it that way. Brasa had said he was the elder, he had said that he would be expected to lead.

The bartender brought their drinks and Kate fiddled with the little straw, stirring the ice around, “You’re weaker than he is.”

Lilah sneered, “Is it that obvious?”

Kate rolled her eyes, pushing Lilah’s glass at her, “Its always the strong party’s responsibility to protect and serve the weaker. Evens the playing field when—is it fate? Whenever whatever that decides these things steps in.”

“I don’t get it,” Lilah said blandly.

Honestly, she was getting tired of feeling confused. All these shifting realities were difficult enough to track and follow. She didn’t need to feel stupid on top of it.

Giving another little shrug, Kate took their drinks from the bartender, setting one in front of Lilah, “He’s like a billion years old and a literal demigod. The bond would weaken him long term, if he didn’t build you up, if he didn’t lend you some of his power.”

This rang of familiarity, and it made Lilah’s skin tighten with awareness of how she had never put two and two together. Still, the pieces weren’t locking into place cleanly enough for her to feel like she was on steady ground.

“What the fuck does that mean?”

Swirling the amber liquid in her glass, Kate fixed her with a coy smile, “It means that a large part of his life will be spent listening to and anticipating your needs. In return, your blood will make him stronger than he ever was, or ever could be without it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Welcome to supernatural mating practices,” Kate deadpanned. “None of it really makes any sense.”

Lilah turned the whole thing around in her mind, “So, he has to do what I say?”

“He is inclined to do as you ask, but your safety and protection is his priority, above all.”

There was something in the statement that didn’t sit well with Lilah. She was used to commanding some sense of obedience during jobs, but this was far more intimate. It felt wrong to know that she could just...ask for something, and he would do it without question.

“But,” Lilah continued, “I don’t want to order him around.”

Kate set her glass down, “I don’t doubt it. I’ve had to learn to watch my words around Richie. If I even look at something in store for more than five seconds, It’ll be waiting for me when we get home.”

Lilah thought about it. Brasa hadn’t bought her anything, that she could tell, but he had given in to her will on numerous occasions. She couldn’t believe that she hadn’t figured it out yet.

“Have you had the dreams yet?”

Lilah snapped back to attention, “Dreams?”

“Yeah,” Kate prompted, her expression taking on a little excitement, “Where you’re sharing them?”

“Uh,” Lilah drawled, embarrassed, “A little.”

Kate nodded sagely, “If the bond is stressed, you’ll have more of them.”

“Why?”

“No idea,” Kate said as she fiddled with her glass.

There was a long silence, both of them lost in their thoughts. Lilah considered how far she’d come in her bond with Brasa, and how far she still needed to go. There were so many unknowns, and she feared that her reticence would eventually lead to him leaving her. And yet...Kate had said that he couldn’t—that would lead to worse things. Lilah could handle rejection, but eternal resentment was not something she was prepared to deal with.

“What’s he like?”

Lilah looked up at the question, her brows rising, “Who?”

Kate shot her a knowing look, “Brasa.”

Lilah considered the question, her breath flowing out of her lungs in a soft sigh, “He’s accommodating.”

“And?”

Lilah felt another little wave of embarrassment well up. She wasn’t used to disclosing this kind of information, and the thought of gushing to a girlfriend about a lover made her cringe. Still, this was likely the only person in the world who could really understand what she was going through, who could put things into perspective and help her make good decisions.

“He’s...smart. So smart. Every time we talk about the business, I feel like I’m taking a master class. And, he really listens to me, wants to know my opinion on things.”

“And?”

She thought further, “He’s attractive. Sometimes I look at him and I just…”

As she trailed off, Kate nudged her, “Have you had sex yet?”

“No,” Lilah admitted, “Although we’ve made out a few times—fuck, that makes me sound like a teenager.”

Kate chuckled, lifting her glass to her mouth, “That’s what I felt like, too. Although, I was actually, like, seventeen when Richie and I met.”

This was a story that Lilah had been waiting to hear. The two of them were so diametrically opposed in personality that the match seemed unlikely. She had asked Richie just the one time about how they got together, before Kate had been rescued from Amaru. His only answer was that he ‘kidnapped her.’

“Yeah?” Lilah prodded lightly.

“Yep,” she sat the glass down, “I don’t think either of us knew what was going on. Not until much later.”

“When did you finally figure it out?”

Kate pushed her dark hair from her face, her gaze contemplative, “After Amaru—in Xibalba, actually. We had a little time to talk when we were traveling between worlds. Richie had learned a lot while we were separated.” She paused, a smile forming on her lips, “He had to do a lot of convincing, but what Amaru knew, I knew. And, she knew about bonding. Even though I put it off for a bit, I knew eventually I would have to come to terms with it.”

Lilah felt the question she wanted to ask rise, and she almost tamped it down, but her lesser instincts kicked in, “Do you regret it?”

Kate shook her head, “Richie can be a real asshole, but he loves me. And all the other things that he is, all the things that make up our relationship, they satisfy me in ways I can’t describe.��

And that was exactly how Lilah felt, when she took the time to examine the bond more closely. All the restlessness of her life settled into a soothing, temperate pace when she was with him. Her eager ideas gained focus and precision, her impulsivity checked.

“You’ve given me a lot to think about,” Lilah said as she slumped in her chair.

Kate gave her sympathetic look, “I was trying to help you unload a bit of what you’ve been carrying around.”

To be fair, Lilah did feel lighter. There was still the issue of dealing with Seth and his temper when he found out, but she found that she liked having a secret ally in all of this. It lent her a small bit of safety that she appreciated.

Lilah glanced at her, “Does anyone else know?”

Shaking her head, Kate put her finger to her lips, “Its our secret, for now. But, it’ll come out eventually. Like I said, you can’t hide this kind of thing for long.”

“I know,” Lilah admitted, “Brasa is willing to keep this under wraps for the moment, but I can tell he’s frustrated by it.”

Kate watched her absorb that for a moment, then added, “Pro tip: Sleep with him.”

Lilah said her name in almost a yelp, shocked by the directive.

“I’m not kidding,” Kate said on a laugh, “Sex and blood are cornerstones of their relationships. They’re what bind them together, like it or not. Give him those things, and he’ll settle down enough so that you can figure this out.”

Lilah thought about it, then said the thing that had kept her hiding this secret for longer than she would like, “Seth is going to hate me.”

Kate acknowledged the statement with a salute of her drink, “He might not like it. He might mope around for a few months—hell, he might take off entirely. But, he’ll be back. He just has to have his tantrum first.”

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“How?”

Kate lifted a shoulder, “He did the same thing with Richie when he was turned. Ran off for a bit. He’ll come around. Once he realizes that being a big baby about it means that you won’t be in his life anymore.” She paused a second, then, “We’re a family, you know? All of us. And, the most important thing to Seth is family.”

“You think so?” Lilah echoed.

Kate smiled warmly, “I know so.”

[thompsborn]

Happy FFWF! What kind of representation do you try to prioritize in your work?

happy ffwf!!

this is such a hard question but i think my main priority is honestly mental health?? like. i want my characters to be realistic when it comes to mental health. i don’t want sugar coated “and the next day they were fine” or carbon copy every character copes and recovers the same way or anything like that—not to say there’s necessarily anything wrong with that, because some people read that and find it beneficial and comforting and it’s fiction and you can do whatever the fuck you want so long as it isn’t harmful to others—but i find it important to myself to have diversity and accuracy in representation of mental illnesses and not even just mental illnesses but also just how the brain copes and processes and reacts?? if that makes sense?? which is also why i write angst so much because i find it so interesting to explore the depths of that and where it can go

anyway, tldr: mental illnesses/brain stuff :D

[out-of-this-town]

Warming up

Fairy Tail, Nalu, fluff  

This ended up being a little longer than planned, but I hope you like it :)

This is the first piece of fanfiction that I’ve written and English is not my first language, so please forgive small mistakes made while writing. Constructive criticism is welcomed.   (ao3)

It sounded like a bad idea the moment she heard it and yet, Lucy still got dragged into it anyway.

A snowball fight. A snowball fight against Gray and Erza.

Of course it could have been worse. At least she had Natsu on her team instead of against her. But still. Death had never seemed so close.

Leaving the battlefield was only allowed after receiving a critical 'critical' hit. Meaning a snowball to the head, stomach, back or chest. And while Lucy wanted to leave this game as soon as possible, getting a snowball launched at her face via Erza or Gray was not something she wanted to experience. Which meant she would have to try her best to stay in the game. Great.

Hit on the legs or arms meant you weren't allowed to use the injured 'injured' limb. That meant crawling or rolling after losing one's legs. Losing both arms would probably mean spitting the snow toward the opponents. Again, getting drool covered missiles spat at her face was not Lucy’s idea of fun.

Use of magic was not allowed which at least made it a little easier to face off against an ice make -wizard and someone with an infinite amount of shields at her disposal. But Lucy was still sure that she would not escape this game without some impressive bruises.

"I could be reading, at home, where it's safe and warm," Lucy muttered as she looked on to where Virgo and Gray were using snow and ice to construct low walls and pillars to hide behind during their battle.

"Lighten up, Luce! This is gonna be so much fun." She looked to where Natsu was grinning like a maniac and rubbing his hands together in preparation of destroying their friends. Lucy felt a small smile tucking at her lips at the sight of her best friend's excitement. How someone could look that adorable while planning on ways to maim his friends, she didn't know. Maybe it was the earmuffs and gloves she'd forced him to wear?

All too soon, Erza was announcing the start of the game. The two teams headed off to the opposite sides of their battlefield and Virgo was quick to return to the spirit realm. It seemed that despite her love for pain, even this was too much for the spirit to handle.

Lucy sight with defeat as she found herself hiding behind a snow wall, watching as Natsu made a pile of snowballs. He was rolling them to be as hard as possible, claiming that it would make them fly faster. Lucy suspected that it had more to do with the damage inflicted on impact.

"Here, take these." Lucy was startled to find a pile of snowballs dumped in her lap by a very serious looking Natsu. "You go right. I'll take the left since that's where Gray is hiding."

Lucy grabbed a hold of the dragon slayer before he could sneak off. "Hold it. As soon as I leave this spot, I will be killed by a snowball. I'm not moving. You can deal with those two on your own."

"C'mon Lucy. This won't be fun if you're not in on it," Natsu whined as he did his best impression of puppy eyes.

"Not a chan- wait... were you trying to leave me to deal with Erza?" The celestial mage shot Natsu a horrified look.

He had the decency to look a little sheepish before answering. "Erza might go easy on you but she'll definitely end me. Besides, I wanna beat Popsicle using his own element." Natsu grinned proudly as he showed her a ball that was more ice than snow.

"This is Erza we're talking about. She won't risk losing by going easy on anyone," Lucy said, snatching the iceball from him and throwing it carelessly over her shoulder. No way was she allowing the murder of a friend.

A few seconds after the ball of ice had left her hand, a thud followed by a pained groan could be heard. Lucy froze in place as her heart sunk to her stomach. Natsu was the first to move and look over the wall.

"Ha! You nailed him in the shoulder, Lucy! Serves him right for trying to sneak up on us." Her gaze snapped up to a gleeful Natsu.

"I did?" Carefully Lucy followed Natsu in peeking over the wall. Her eyes immediately landing on Gray who was lying on the ground and holding his right shoulder. "I did! Look, Natsu, I landed a hit!"

Lucy couldn't keep the excitement from showing in her voice or the wide grin that formed on her face. A grin that dropped a moment later when Gray directed her with a seething look that promised vengeance. Eyes wide, Lucy did quick work of ducking back down.

"You're going to pay for this, Lucy!" Oh, dear Mavis. She really should have stayed home. If Gray didn't finish her, Juvia would when she heard Lucy was responsible for her beloved's injury.

"You wish, Ice-for-brains! Since Lucy got you with a half-assed throw, you ain't gonna survive it when we start putting in actual effort!" Lucy opened her mouth to tell the dragon slayer off from further provoking the enemy, but a new voice made her stop as pure terror started to run through her.

"Lucy did this? Well, I'm impressed. She was the first to throw as well as to land a hit. It seems I have underestimated how big of a threat our Lucy is." Oh damn oh damn ohdamnoh- "Gray, change of plans. From this point forward, Lucy will be our number one priority!"

Erza sounded serious. Very serious.

Natsu dropped back down to sit next to her, face blank. For a moment, Lucy worried that he might be upset over no longer being considered the biggest threat in this battle. That worry was quickly replaced by dread as Natsu grinned at her.

"Looks like there won't be any hiding for you." He offered her a new snowball. "Here. I'll distract and you throw. This is gonna be so much fun!"

After one last defeated sigh, Lucy took the offered projectile and gave Natsu a determined nod. Might as well go down fighting.

...

Nearly an hour later, Lucy found herself enjoying the game. Sure, she was still terrified every time she moved from a safe spot, but it had become a thrilling sort of fear. After taking the first hit on her left arm and surviving the experience, it wasn't that bad. Hurt like hell, but wasn’t that bad.

Natsu had lost his left arm and right leg and was therefore dragging said leg behind him as he moved. Gray didn't have his arms in use, but had found a previously unknown talent of rolling snowballs with his bare feet and then kicking them with surprising accuracy. Lucy had only lost that one arm and had taken to turning that side toward any incoming snowballs, using it as a shield -a decision she would no doubt regret once she saw the bruises in the morning. Erza, of course, was still uninjured.

As Lucy dove down behind an ice pillar, she was pleased to discover Natsu grouching behind a wall next to her hiding spot.

Natsu's eyes lit up as he noticed her presence. "Lucy! Nice to see that you're still around. With all the screaming you did back there, I thought that Erza got you."

"Nah. She was close though. Saw my life flashing before my eyes and all that." She couldn't hide her bright smile.

"Well, you're just in time to see me give Ice princess a face full of snow. I know exactly where he's hiding and there is no avoiding what's coming to him." With an evil smirk and a tight grip on his snowball, Natsu turned around to peek over the wall.

Just then, Lucy saw a flash of red. Without thinking, she launched herself at Natsu, knocking him down from the side as something smacked hard against her back. The air was pushed from their lungs at the hard landing, both of them too shocked to move as Lucy lay on top of Natsu.

"The hell was-" Natsu's words were cut off at the sound of a pained moan from the girl on top of him.

"I don't think I'm going to make it," Lucy whimpered, only half joking.

"Wha-", mitten covered hand brushed through remnants of a snowball on the her back. "Shit. That's definitely a critical hit."

Lucy only groaned in response.

"You took an Erza throw for me," Natsu said in awe.

"Don't remind me. I'm going to feel it tomorrow." Lucy buried her cold face in the warmth of Natsu's neck, only now realizing how cold she'd gotten. Her arms were already trapped beneath him, his high body temperature doing wonders to her cold fingers.

"You sacrificed yourself for me." Lucy made a noise of protest as Natsu tucked her head away from it's hiding spot. She had given her life to save him, the least he could do was warm her. "I swear I'm gonna avenge you."

Lucy let out a little laugh as she returned her head to it's previous spot. “You’d better.”

A small shiver worked it's way through her and Natsu was quick to wrap his arms around her. "You cold?"

"Mmhm."

"Here, let me just..." instantly, Lucy could feel the heat radiating off of Natsu grow stronger. She couldn't help the pleased sound that left her.

This was nice, she thought, lying in Natsu's warm arms and letting her tired and cold body rest. Why didn't they do this more often?

"Hey, dummy! Did you forget that magic isn't allowed? Don't even try to deny that you're using it, I can see the steam from melting snow!"

Natsu grumbled a curse at the sound of Grays voice and held her a little bit closer.

"Shaddap! Ya monsters killed Luce! Let me mourn in peace before I get back to kicking you're sorry asses!"

"What?! Erza got Lucy? Oh man, I wanted to be the one to do it!"

Lucy ignored the rest of the banter around her in favor of enjoying the warmth of her best friend for a little while longer.

...

Groaning, Lucy collapsed face-first into the softness of her bed as her bruised body gave up on her. Natsu seated himself on the floor next to her bed, chin resting on the mattress. His face was the definition of sulking.

"I don't care what Erza says, it was cheating. No way was anyone dodging that monster of a snowball. It was at least five times my size!"

"To be fair, we never did discuss what were the allowed snowball sizes." Lifting her head from the pillow, she gave him a small smile. "Besides, you got to take out Gray. Isn't that what's important?"

The memory brought back his bright grin. "Did you see his face? That dumb-ass really thought that he would get me. And next year we'll beat both of them." With a determined twinkle in his eyes, Natsu smacked his fist into palm.

Lucy winced at the thought. As much fun as she'd had, another round of this might just be testing her luck. As the saying goes: it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye...or limb...or life.

Natsu turned grim as he noticed her pained expression. "Your back still hurtin'?"

"Hm? Oh, that. Not so much. Only when I move. Or breath. Erza might have really been tying to kill us."

Without warning, Natsu slipped his hand under her shirt and the heat from his palm instantly eased the pain radiating from the sore spot on her back. A small shiver worked through her, as he started to knead the abused muscles.

“Don’t tell me you’re cold too.” Natsu rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Honestly, Luce, how did you survive before meetin’ me?” Before Lucy could protest, he had slipped in bed with her. One hand stayed firmly on her back and the other slipped under her head and around her shoulders, her nose pressed against his chest, as he held her close.

“You’re one to talk. I don’t think you’re capable of feeding yourself since you’re always raiding my fridge.” Lucy snorted as she snuggled a little closer. She knew she should be kicking him out of her bed and yelling at him for how improper this was, but... she didn’t want to. Natsu was so warm and comfortable, and he smelled like campfire and summer nights. Why was she always so quick to kick him out when he tried to sleep next to her?

“Hey! I’m only here to make sure you don’t get yourself in trouble when you’re unsupervised. Feeding me is a small price to pay for safety.”

“Hah! Small is far from the amount of money I have to fork out to keep you fed. Besides, I’m not the one blowing up -” Lucy forgot what she was about to say as she looked up. 

They were so close. Their noses nearly touching and Natsu’s breaths falling against her lips. Were his eyes always this dark or was she imagining things?

Slowly, she felt his hand slipping away from her back in favor of brushing aside the hair that had fallen on her face, his thumb stroking against her cheek.

“Still cold?” Natsu asked in a low voice.

No. “A little,” she whispered, afraid that any loud sound would break the feeling in the room.

“Want me to stay a little longer?”

Lucy bit her lip, knowing that she should refuse. “Yes, please.” She didn’t.

Natsu released a breath she hadn’t known he was holding, before moving to press a gentle kiss between her brows. 

“Sorry you got hurt, but thanks for today. I know you weren’t all that excited about playing with us at the beginning.” He nudged her nose with his as he brought their foreheads together, eyes locked to each other. Was it always this difficult to breath?

“Yeah, well...” her voice sounded far too breathy to her liking, and forming a sentence had never been so hard. “It’s always more fun when we’re together.”

And, of course, Natsu just had to respond by giving her that grin of his that made her heart do odd things. For a moment, Lucy thought that he would kiss her. Or she him... But they didn’t. 

She wasn’t ready for that quite yet. Lucy didn’t think he was either. They were best friends -partners. She wasn’t willing to risk what they had right now.

Slowly, she pulled away before burying her face against his chest. Natsu held her closer, before breaking the heavy feeling in the room by cracking a dumb joke in a true Natsu manner. The rest of the night was spent talking, joking and teasing each other, and Lucy fell asleep without ordering the dragon slayer out of her bed.

For his part, Natsu made a promise to himself, that by next year, not getting kicked out of Lucy’s bed would be normal.

[ianmrid]

Pokémon!

Thanks Baz! I hope nobody is going to expect that quality of article going forward: we are returning to my articles, full of run-on sentences, typos, and inconsistent use of apostrophes.

Anyway, Pokémon Platinum: Completed!

However, unlike in Generation 3, I know I’m not done yet. My Pokédex needs some work, but that is because I have been holding back a few pokémon that I want to use in the other pair games in Gen4; remakes of the Gen2 Johto adventures, HeartGold and SoulSilver!

I am very excited to play these as they are often cited as the best games in the whole Pokémon franchise, so I will be saving my graphs, my top tens, and my artworks until I have wrapped them up, so for now, let’s focus on my Platinum team.

Ziggy the Empoleon: Probably my second-favourite fully-evolved starter this generation, Empoleon has a great typing in Water/Steel, and is just a badass-looking emperor penguin with a trident face! It partly gets its name from Napoleon, and it is even the same height as it’s namesake. Due to the Napoleon connection, my Empoleon was named Ziggy after the scene in Bill and Ted’s Excellent adventures where Napoleon goes to the Ziggy Pig restaurant. Unfortunately Ziggy had to carry three of the required HM moves - Defog, Surf, and Waterfall, but on the plus side, Surf and Waterfall are both decent moves in their own right. Finally I added the STAB Steel-type Flash Cannon move and the HP-recovering Shell Bell held item, since with a type combo that already provides a lot of good resistances, this just made Ziggy even harder to take down!

Crocus the Toxicroak: Another interesting new type combo in Fighting/Poison, I really like Toxicroak’s design, and it is nice to see a Frog-based pokémon who doesn’t have to be Water-type. Toxicroak isn’t the strongest pokémon, and gets completely wrecked by Psychic-types, but Crocus still managed to hold her own. I gave her the Fist Plate to hold to power up her Fighting-type STAB Brick Break, and then rounded out actually useful moves with another STAB - Poison Jab - and the Dark-type Sucker Punch which gives some priority that also has the benefit of being super effective against those dangerous Psychic-type opponents. As with every team member in Gen4, the last slot went to an HM - in this case, Cut.

Hodgeheg the Shaymin: A rarity for me; including a Mythical on one of my teams! In fact Shaymin is only the second Mythical I have used, following on from Mew on my Gen1, Pokémon Blue team. I used the event Shaymin from Diamond or Pearl so that I could nickname it - Hodgeheg might not be one of my most inspired, but I like it - and because it was at not too high a level for me to use from early on. Shaymin actually has a second form - Sky Form - which is Grass/Flying, which is accessed when Shaymin holds a Gracedia Flower, but I much prefer the far more adorable Land Form. With the held item slot free, I gave it a Miracle Seed to power up Grass-type moves and loaded its moveset up with those. Seed Bomb for power, Leech Seed and Giga Drain to damage while healing, and Synthesis for pure healing power! Combined with some good stats, Shaymin was very tricky for opponents to take down.

Sukhoi the Garchomp: The pseudo-Legendary of the Sinnoh region, Garchomp is an insanely powerful Dragon/Ground-type and  I named mine Sukhoi after a Fighter Jet, since Garchomp seems to be a sort of land-shark crossed with a plane. I rarely love using these really powerful pokémon, but they often require a lot of levelling up, so when trying to complete the Pokédex, it often makes sense to use them on your team and not have to just level grind them at the end. Sukhoi however, was one of my favourites from this category, partly due to the Ground-typing and my love of using STAB Earthquake on everything. The region’s Champion, Cynthia, also uses a Garchomp as her ace, so it was fun to see who’s was best. (Spoiler: it was mine). I rounded out the move set with STAB Dragon Rush (plus a held Wide Lens to improve that moves shoddy accuracy), Flamethrower for coverage, and of course an HM; Rock Climb.

Blimpy the Drifblim: Blimpy might not be my best nickname, but I never actually planned on using the Ghost/Flying-type Drifblim when I originally caught and named it. I’d ear-marked Rotom for this slot, but I really needed a pokémon that could learn the HM Fly, and Drifblim fits the bill. Luckily, I still really like Drifblim - it’s a bit fragile, which isn’t too surprising given it’s a balloon - but it helps mitigate that with a huge HP stat. I gave Blimpy STAB Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt as some much-needed Electric-type coverage, and also a Wacan Berry to hold. This was useful in reducing damage taken by Electric-type attacks and using it up would also activate the Unburden ability, doubling Blimpy’s Speed for the rest of the battle.

Bangs the Glaceon: Finally, Bangs - named for his Jess-from-New-Girl hairstyle - was another pokémon I didn’t originally plan on using. However, strong Ice-type coverage is just so useful that in the end I decided Glaceon would be the best choice. It is quite late in the game before I could finally evolve my Eevee as you need them up near an Icy Rock, only found near Snow Point City. Once this was done, Bangs just really needed Ice Beam (powered up by an increased chance to land a critical hit through the held Razor Fang) in order to destroy a lot of the Elite Four and the Champion. The other moveslots were given over to the remaining HMs; Strength and Rock Smash, as well as the ever-useful Toxic.

Meet the team:

This was definitely not the exact team I thought I would be using, as both the required TMs and the dire need for some Ice-type coverage - especially when fighting Cynthia - led me down a slightly different path, but I like it when the team grows a little more organically sometimes!

My time in Sinnoh is now drawing to a close, but I’m very excited to head back to Johto and finished off my Gen4 Pokédex - starting with Pokémon HeartGold.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki Hana no Shou Hijikata After Story Translation Attempt

My attempt at translating the “ Hakuoki Shinkai Hana no shou Stellaworth Early Reservation Bonus’ HIjikata Toshizou short story [ 「薄桜鬼 真改 華ノ��」ステラワース早期予約特典　ブロマイド 土方歲三] from Chinese to English with lots of editing and mtl help...

The Shinsengumi oni-tan drama is going to take a while to translate since i’m worrying more about accuracy since the recent translations i added to my list were only available as jpgs... and none of the text extractors i’ve used have been able to extract an error-less version of all the words... also doesn’t help that the text is really small on these images so on some of the more complicated characters just can’t be replaced by me rewriting the word on google by hand... *sigh*. 

On a side note, please check out my updated tumblr page since I put together a list of some of the Hakuoki dramas that I’m looking for as I translations for them (”Stuff I’m looking for” creative title, i know.). That list will probably won’t be updated anytime soon since anything I don’t have the audio for (in relation to the dramas anyway) has a very low priority for me to work on.

-------------------------------- 

Hakuoki Shinkai Hanashou Stellaworth Early Reservation Bonus Hijikata Toshizou After Story 

Translation by KumoriYami

A few months after the Republic of Ezo's surrender to the new Meiji government-

The man known as the demon vice-commander, former Shinsengumi vice-commander Hijikata Toshizou has been living in a secluded house in the mountains.

Hearing of the Meji era's turbulence, but here, such tension cannot be felt/ (Despite) hearing of the Meiji era's turbulence, such change cannot be felt here.

“Hijikata-san.... No, Toshizou-san, it's time to get up. It's almost noon.”

He heard someone calling him from beside the bed.

Her name was Yukimura Chizuru. Due to unfortunate circumstances, she lived with the Shinsengumi and had continued to follow Hijikata to Ezo, eventually becoming his partner [the translation doesn't use the word 'wife' here].

"Really, quiet down [Hijikata probably says 'shut up’ here]. It's just oversleeping a bit. It's not like (I) have anything to do anyway/there's anything to do anyway.

Hijikata did not rise from bed and bluntly spoke.

"Although that's true..." 　 Chizuru softly muttered, then quietly whispered.

"........Hijikata-san has changed."

"Really?"

Hijikata gently rolled over to her side. He glanced at Chizuru who was now looking at him with a bewildered expression.

He looked up at the ceiling, muttering to himself.

"When I was vice-commander, the schedule was full everyday, and it was impossible to sleep for a long time/sleep in."

"Because the Hijikata-san then would blame/get upset at those who overslept."

Recalling their time in Kyoto, Chizuru laughed.

"That so..."

Although it hasn’t even been a year since the end of the war, it felt like more than a decade ago.

He believed that he had done his duty as the Shinsengumi's vice-commander together/along with Kondou-san, fighting as (true) warriors until the end. (Though) Nowadays, it was not good to reminisce about the secular world.

(I don't know/wonder how the surviving members are doing now...)

He heard that Shimada, Souma, as well as Saito, survived. According to rumours Souma had surrendered to the new government as the chief/representative of the Shinsengumi.... that is to say that the Shinsengumi surrendered.

Because of the new government's surveillance, we were unable to get in touch with them and could only hope that the name “Shinsengumi" would not become a hindrance/burden to the surviving members.

(I once thought that as long as I could die in battle, I would die without regrets...)

As Hijikata thought of this, he turned his gaze to Chizuru who was at his bedside.

At least now he can still live like this, just because of her(/At least now he has a reason to live because of her).

"Toshizou-san...?"

Noticing that his expression seemed a bit lost , she worriedly called Hijikata's name.

Wanting to dispel the embarrassment he felt, he reached to put/pull Chizuru in his arms.

"Eh...!?"

With a yell/yelp, she fell to the bed.

"Tha-that, Toshizou-san!"

Because of his abrupt behaviour, she couldn't help but yell/scream/raise her voice. Although they have been living under the same roof for a few months, it seemed like she was still not used to this.

In order to hold on to Chizuru who was trying to get up/away/escape, he tightened his grasp.

"What's wrong? Is it strange for a husband to treat his wife like this?"

Hijikata secretly smiled to himself at her reaction, asking her slyly.

"(It's) not strange... but, the food is going to get cold."

"Isn't it better to heat it up later? Compared to this..."

Having spoken, Hijikata made such a suggestion as he peered into Chizuru's eyes.

In his eyes/opinion, Chizuru seemed to be embarrassed as she lowered her eyes/gaze, though he did not see any signs of rejection.

Hijikata narrowed his eyes, seemingly urging her for a kiss.

Chizuru's ears were red as she whispered shyly.

"That... Toshizou-san, it's still day time?"

"What about that? There's no one watching."

"Isn't not that there is no one watching...."

Chizuru fell silent after she spoke/after Chizuru finished, they fell into silence, Hijikata held her before him, and kissed her lips in a predatory manner. 

He then used the strength of his arms, tightening his grasp on her, to ensure that she could not escape as he deepened their kiss.

She seemed a bit bewildered at first, but then Chizuru also began responding to his kisses. Hijikata felt that she was very cute. 　 When their lips finally separated, Chizuru seemed unable to move and leaned on Hijikata.

“Really, you'd (think that you would) be used to this by now?”

His teasing words made Chizuru speak up/respond with indignation.

"That's because Toshizou-san always moves so abruptly. It wasn't like that before..."

"This is the real me. There's no burden (for me) to bear, no need to wear the mask of a demon anymore."

No matter what happens, she will not leave Hijikata - this strength and determination of hers is something that she has shown him countless times.

After, Chizuru buried her face into Hijikata's chest and spoke/replied.

....Regardless of how Toshizou-san looks/appears/is, I love it/you.

Such words/this sentence was/is the sweetest honey in the world, so Hijikata thought.

End

———

I’ve been able to translate a tad faster since I recognize more words now (though it’s a bit harder for me since i grew up learning traditional characters and the simplified ones make my head hurt at times... so i’ll be dragging my feet on some things)... but without the audio (in any Chinese dialect) my speaking ability isn’t really going to improve... *facepalm* 

i also just noticed that i made errors in the two toshizous drama subs... im going to blame the hai toshizo vid for those errors in spelling..... ah ha ha.... oh well. T.T idc enough to fix it...also I can’t translate the 9th biyroi since I can’t access it...also havent bothered checking which ones are inaccessible to me either..  *sigh*.

[docfuture]

Princess, part 4

     [This story is a prequel, set several years before The Fall of Doc Future, when Flicker is 16.  Links to some of my other work are here.  Planning to update this once a week until it’s done–next update is planned to be up by November 10th.]

Previous: Part 3

     Back at her section of Doc's HQ.  Flicker's personal shower was a customized array of converted waterjet cutters.  She set the cycle to 'potential biohazard decontamination' and turned the pressure and temperature all the way up.  The high pressure streams helped a little.  She used emotional and memory compartmentalization as a coping mechanism, but it was fraying around the edges.  She'd been able to achieve temporary detachment from the events at the Box, but other issues were creeping back.  Burnout wasn't helping, but it was better than unmanaged anger or frustration, so she'd take it.  Could be worse.       She dressed after a medibot scan and checked alerts.  Doc had listed his debriefing as 'optional' but she went anyway.  Might as well get it over with.       Doc was in the main control room.  A rows of vid screens nearly covered one wall, and Flicker noted that the upper left quadrant was still set to Doc's preferred 'remain even-tempered while on a voice call with someone obnoxious' mix--science news feeds and a set of difficult-to-decipher regional heatmaps.  She sat down in one of the observer chairs and Doc turned to face her.       "I should have slowed down after he stopped struggling," she said.  "Getting to the Box fast didn't matter."       "Hindsight," said Doc.  "And it's not clear going slower for a longer time would have been less painful for Hermes--he was getting dragged by the leg at hypersonic velocities regardless.  You did everything reasonably possible.  You stopped the rampage.  He's gone and unlikely to voluntarily return any time soon--his mystique is shattered.  Remember, it took us over a month to catch him the first time."       "However."  Doc tented his hands, his face concerned.  "You still aren't managing your pacing.  If you made a mistake today, it was to go on patrol at all--you were only marginally at yellow when the alert hit.  I had a discussion with the Database integrity AI.  Some of your telemetry on the return trip was very disturbing.  And the EMT at the Box reported that you showed signs of combat stress reaction--thousand-yard stare and complete lack of facial expression."       "Fine," said Flicker.  "I'll skip patrol tomorrow."       "I think you should take a longer break.  Your stress is--"       "Journeyman is more than two hours overdue for his scheduled check-in.  I'm not going on vacation when my partner is potentially in trouble."       "I'm not suggesting that," said Doc.  "You can stay on-call for his backup without handling response for anything else.  And he did request a 24-hour buffer before we take any action when he isn't on Earth."       "... Yeah, he did."       Now I have nothing pressing to do except worry about my partner.  Great.       Doc was still studying her.  "There were some patterns in the probability manipulation flux levels I measured that bother me.  Hermes' summoning may have been used as a mask for something.  I'm going to be gathering and analyzing more data.  If you wish, you could assist in some tests.  They should be stress-free."       "Okay.  I can try that."       *****       Flicker had her own place, but its suitability as a permanent home was still largely theoretical.  The location had been a rail maintenance shop in a long inactive part of the Iron Range, where she'd been able to secure several important concessions regarding allowable levels of noise and plasma in return for cleaning it up without allowing any contamination to get into the groundwater.       It had a full Database backup node, up and running smoothly--sub-microsecond latency was part of Flicker's minimum requirement for 'home'--but everything else was progressing more slowly.  It was more than a cot in a workshop next to a giant underground server room, as one of Doc's sysadmins had joked, but not a lot more.       It was, however, far enough from Doc's HQ to run some esoteric causal isolation tests for probability manipulation--and rule out certain forms of influence that were otherwise difficult to detect.  Flicker was quite willing.  Glancing at her Machiavelli study context after the weight of the day's events sank in had turned her stomach.  The tests were emotionally neutral--better than anything else available.  She sat at her high speed interface keyboard, watching several graphs and responding to a verification program controlled by a random number generator.       It let her go away for a while.       Update, sent the Database, after a long time.       Flicker sped up.  Yes?       Journeyman has checked in.  Message for you:  "Back.  Will call when home."       Something positive to focus on.  Finally.  Location.  Running updates.       Check in at Antarctic secure drop.  Current location undefined.       Flicker slowed down slightly to wait on the updates and felt her emotional reaction start to kick in.       Bangkok...  Undefined...  Tabriz...  Undefined...    Amsterdam...  Undefined...  Las Vegas...  Undefined...       He was skip-porting, staying just long enough to send a blip from his phone then porting again.  Was he worried about pursuit?       Rural Kansas.       She waited.  The location didn't change.  What is he doing in Kansas?       Buying groceries.       Okay.  Estimate probability he'll be there for at least ten more seconds.       98%+.  However, there is a 94%+ chance he will be at his home within five minutes.       Groceries implied at least a short stay.       Flicker got up from the keyboard and made sure her travel pack had a fresh change of clothes--it had been a while since she'd used it.  'Off-duty' was not a state of mind that came naturally anymore.

     Flicker was waiting on Journeyman's doorstep when he ported in.  He was in an outfit she'd seen before; a stylized armored vest over archaic-looking clothes.  His shapeshifting hat was wide-brimmed and black.  He looked like the handsome villain from a poster for a historical drama with skilled costumers but no concern for accuracy.       "Hey," she said, then held out her hand, fingers spread.  "Yellow."  Not great, but able to handle immediate priorities.       "Hey."  He touched his fingertips to hers in their personal substitute for a high five.  "I'm at yellow, too," he said.       "What's up?"       He waved his hand.  "Paranoia, probably.  But, you know..."  He took a breath.  "We can talk inside."       He scowled at the multiple locks on his front door.  Flicker knew there were invisible wards on it as well.       "Can you just port us both?" she asked.       "I got into this mess because I was overconfident at the wrong time," he said.  He put down the grocery bags, stuck out both arms, and moved them slowly upwards in a smooth arc.  Faint green fire trailed from his fingertips.  "Sorry for the wait, but I'm not going to get sloppy at the end."       After finishing with the wards, he pulled out a set of keys to unlock the physical locks.  "I'd like to close this properly after we're inside.  You willing to leave it unvaporized if something comes up?" he asked.       "Do you still have a replacement emergency exit window handy?"       "Yep."       "Then yeah," she said.  "I'll use that if I have to go in a hurry."       Journeyman heaved a sigh after they entered and he closed the door.  "Now we can--"  Something chirped, interrupting him.  "Great."       Flicker sped up and checked her sensors.  There was no sign of anyone or anything else living or recently mobile inside.  The chirp had sounded similar to a low battery alert from a smoke alarm, but had come from midair.  Whatever was amiss, it wasn't anything she recognized.  She turned to Journeyman and slowed down again.       "No obvious intruders," she said.  "What alarm is that?"       "Higher than expected magic level."  He waved a hand to silence the alarm, then pulled out his glasses from a vest pocket and put them on.  He used them for detail work and distinguishing subtle magic.  He looked around the room before turning to Flicker and doing a double take.       "False alarm," he said.  "But you certainly have a fine magical glow about you this evening."       "Should I worry?"       "Depends on how you got that way."  He paused to put the bags of groceries on the kitchen counter, then he took off his hat and tossed it onto the hat stand, where it transformed into a flat cap.       He looked back at her with a raised eyebrow.  "Did you, like, beat up a demigod and take his lunch money or something?"       "Does Hermes count?"       Both eyebrows up.  "...for this purpose, yes.  Would that be why you're at yellow?"       "I was already at yellow from my shift when he showed.  But my day improved when you ported in alive."       A short laugh.  "Mine too.  You up for telling me what happened?  Is he, ah..."       "I didn't kill him.  And he got away, off Earth, because..."  Flicker shut her eyes to try to organize what she wanted to say.   "Can I show you the feed from my visor cam?  That's easier than just talking.  I'm pretty burned out.  Doc strongly suggested I take time off.  But are you expecting an attack?  I got really worried after you missed your check in."       "Not a direct one.  Not anymore.  Certainly not with you here."  He pulled off his vest and dropped it on a chair, revealing blotches of sweat on the shirt underneath.  "The magician part of the 'Byzantine interdimensional magician mess' should be over.  But I've been reliving an old style, an old set of habits, as cover, and I'm not all the way back yet, so--"       Flicker frowned at a cut in the outer fabric of the back of the vest.  "That looks like someone stabbed you in the back."       "Yep.  That was a while ago.  I left the cut to discourage anyone else from trying, then forgot about it."       "You forgot about being backstabbed?"       "Eh.  He was okay, he was just testing me.  I finessed it.  He laughed when his sword broke because I warp cut it, then I asked if he was done yet.  Wasn't even in the top ten most stressful things that happened that day.  Not incidentally, I could use some time off, too.  But you had a bad day involving magic, and I wasn't here to back you up, which I regret.  So tell me, or show me, whatever you want.  We can use the TV--it has one of Doc's data scramblers, and I warded it so no one can use the speaker as a mic."       "Okay."       Flicker set up a playback of highlights from her visor, edited by the Database, then joined Journeyman on the couch.  "I had already hit my patrol limit for the day and was reading something kind of depressing when the alert hit..."       Flicker described events tersely and spent the vid segments watching Journeyman's reaction.  He had red hair, a light complexion with freckles, and a very expressive face.  Unfortunately, Flicker wasn't very good at reading faces.  He looked intent and slightly alarmed--which was his default with anything important.       His eyes widened slightly at her exchange with Hermes in the Tyrrhenian, and he spent the replay of the transfer at the Box with his hands clasped in front of his mouth.       "...and after I decontaminated, Doc was really insistent I stay off duty for a while," Flicker concluded, after the replay segments finished.  "But you were overdue, so I killed time running some tests until you ported in."       Journeyman met her eyes.  "Whoof.  Lots of things I could say.  Most aren't urgent, since he lived and you didn't spill any blood.  Anything you wanted to ask me about first?"       "Well, Doc said Hermes' escape wasn't a big problem.  I'm not so sure.  What do you think?"       "Heh."  Journeyman shook his head.  "He didn't escape.  He got boomeranged when his summoner died--I'm actually more concerned about how that happened, because the whole thing sounds fishy.  I'll have to see if I can find out who the summoner was.  And I really don't think Hermes is going to be eager to come back to Earth again, which will make him rather more difficult to summon, even if someone wanted to."       "Why not?"       "Because you live here."  Journeyman waved a hand.  "You delivered one of the most thorough pseudo-mythological curb-stompings I've ever seen, followed by a disturbingly effective bit of operant conditioning.  And that 'fire is hot' bit where you changed your voice? That--"       "My voice changed?  I was just trying to speak clearly when I was tired and out of patience."       "Yeah, well, you didn't sound like a superhero.  You sounded like an angry goddess.  To me, and to Hermes.  You saw his eyes."       Flicker looked away.  "You know how I feel about being called a goddess."       "I do.  But if the shoe fits...  And I'll need to check on a few things.  You're likely to get a lot of weird or disturbing messages.  For sure when whatever vid the Box recorded leaks.  But that's not urgent."       Flicker sighed.  "I get plenty of weird emails already.  Enough for my Database bots to do robust statistics on small fraction subgroups.  I look at the results sometimes when I'm having trouble getting to sleep."       "Then rejoice, for your somnolence-aiding samples will surely grow."       Flicker snorted a laugh.  "Thanks.  There's another thing that bugging me a bit, though."       "Yes?"       "Hermes didn't seem to recognize me.  So how did he learn that claiming to know about my biological parents was a plausible trick to try?"       "Ah."  Journeyman looked down and said nothing for a moment.  "What did Doc have to say about it?"       "Nothing.  And I didn't bring it up because I didn't want to restart the old argument I've had with him since I was twelve.  He was more concerned about some probability manipulation detector anomalies.  He'll probably want to talk to you about them, eventually."       "Ah."  Journeyman put a hand to his mouth.  He looked worried, like he was trying to solve a hard problem in his head and failing.  He stood and shut off the TV, then walked over to the bookshelves.  After standing silently for a while he turned back around.       "You said you were reading something unpleasant when the alert hit.  What was it?"       "A heavily annotated translation of Machiavelli's The Prince.  I've started trying to learn about politics."       "Oh.  Yeah, that would... Damn it.  Okay.  You asked a question.  I have a theory about the answer.  I owe you an explanation, but it's going to lead somewhere pretty dark, and I'm not sure you're up for it right now.  And I have a nasty suspicious mind, and my paranoia dial has been turned to 11 for a while.  I could be wrong about any or all of this.  I don't know anything.  Like whether this is safe.  But I don't think it's safe to leave it for later, either."       Flicker sped up.  DASI?  Any idea what's going on?       Yes.       Care to enlighten me?       Not at this time.  It would not aid your memory integration and could create an incomplete information bias hazard.  Listen to Journeyman.       Flicker stared at her visor display for a long subjective time.  A hazard if she didn't listen...       She slowed back down.  "It isn't going to get any less dark if you wait, is it?"       "No."       "Then go ahead."       He came back and sat down on the couch beside her, clasped his hands in front of his face, then turned to look at her.  "So.  Let's start with why you're sensitive about your biological parentage.  You told me about your fight with Doc about your DNA tests.  I'm afraid I'm on his side.  DNA tests are easy to spoof with probability manipulation if you have any kind of divination or you know how they work.  Takes hardly any power.  I can do it, no sweat.  I could even put a ward on someone to make a DNA test on their blood match the DNA of the tech that did the draw, so they don't get outed as a non-human by a drug test.  Hypothetically."       "Uh..."       Journeyman waved a hand.  "That said, I think that if your biological body has two parents and if you were conceived by sexual reproduction, then you're right--Doc is probably your father.  It's still the simplest explanation."       Flicker looked down.  "Doc won't assume that.  He told me that wherever my body came from could be a lot weirder and still be less unusual than my speed powers."       "He has a point.  But let's go ahead and assume it for the moment.  He's not the problem, is he?  Your mother is, because she's definitely not human.  You're on pretty firm ground there because of your strength and healing ability.  And you aren't happy with what that implies."       "No.  I'm not."       "Sooo... Suppose a demon shows up at Doc's HQ tomorrow and says 'Hi Flicker, I'm your mother', and Doc says 'Could be her', and runs some tests--you know he would--then says 'Yup.'  How would you feel?"       "I would have many questions."       "I'm sure," said Journeyman.  "But how would feel?  Happy... or angry?"       Fury.  Flicker sped up.  DASI?  Is anger a reasonable response?       He did not ask for justification.  Is anger an accurate description of your projected emotional state?       Yeah...       She slowed back down.  "Angry.  Very angry."       "More angry than you were at Hermes today?"       Flicker took a deep breath.  "I... don't know.  Maybe.  Why did you say 'demon'?  You usually--"       "Say non-human person or something.  Yes.  Demon isn't a great word.  Emotionally loaded as hell.  But it's the one that gets used.  It's the one you think, right?  So maybe you can understand why she might not want to drop in for pizza and chitchat?"       "If she knew, but--"       "Now suppose she doesn't stop by, but someone tells you her name.  Would you want to go have a little talk with her?  Maybe while you're still angry, because of those many questions that haven't been answered yet?"       "... Yeah."       "So can you see how her name could be used as an attack, against you or her, even though you want to know it?  And the correct name might be worse than a lie or mistake?"       Another breath.  "Yes."       "So.  Back to your question.  I think Hermes was primed with a hint that you were sensitive about your biological parents, either by the summoner or by someone else before he was summoned."       Journeyman waggled his hand.  "I suspect that the whole thing might have been a premeditated attack aimed at you that didn't quite work, but I'm less sure about that and it's messy to explain.  If it was, the probability manipulation Doc picked up on was probably part of it.  And it might not be over."       "But if Hermes planned to attack me--"       "I don't think he did.  I don't even think he was the weapon--that would be the summoner.  I think Hermes was ammunition.  And the planner was someone who had really good intel.  A seer at a minimum.  You got hit at about the worst possible time, and I don't think that was an accident.  But we're getting into wild-eyed paranoia territory now.  Both you and Doc are swimming in a sea of probability manipulation, against and for you, because you're both so important to the survival of Earth.  So it's hard to sort things out.  Anyway.  Are you ready for the not safe part?"       "Okay..."       "You gave him more than one chance to talk.  And he didn't try 'I know who your parents are' right away.  Not until the last thing he said, right after you went angry goddess.  I think he recognized something."       "What?" said Flicker.  "He'd already seen me."       "Your voice changed.  I think he heard a resemblance to someone he'd met.  And guessed she was your mother."       "You really think he could tell just from a bit of voice?  Why?"       "Because that's what I thought, about someone I've met.  At the same spot in the recording."       "Do you think it's the same person?"       Journeyman looked down.  "Important question.  Any name occur to you?"       Flicker's mind whirled.  "No."       "Okay.  Not sure my guess is right.  But I'm a lot more sure that if it is right, she doesn't want you to know who she is.  At least not right now."       "Who do you think she is?"       "Aaand now we start with the dark part.  I'm not going to tell you.  You'll eventually learn, if I'm right and we all live that long."       Journeyman looked back up and met her eyes.  "But not from me.  I won't be the weapon."       Another breath.  And a lot of anger that wasn't a projected emotional state.  "What was the point of making this so... personal, if you won't tell me?"       "You asked the question, and it's a threat exactly because you take it so personally."  He looked to the side.  "I have another reason.  It's more personal for me, and the rest of the dark part.  I'll tell you, if you want to hear, but it will take a bit.  You up for it?"       "Yes."       "Okay.  But you're stressed and burned out and angry and probably a little buzzed from that hit of magic you picked up, and I'm tired and stressed and hungry, so I'd like to fix dinner first.  You want some?"       "We can get takeout, you don't have to--"       "I cook to de-stress sometimes.  That's why I got groceries.  And it will give you a bit of a break, too.  Are you hungry?"       "No... but I probably should be."       Journeyman smiled.  "Great.  Food coming up!"  He stood and headed for the kitchen.       Flicker felt a sense of emotional whiplash as she watched him.  But he hadn't brushed her off or ignored what she wanted...       My partner.  Helping me remember things I shouldn't forget.

Next: Part 5

[cbk1000]

Bit of a work rant. Sadly, it is not of the ‘so I think my trash boss might possibly be fucking her daughter’s boyfriend’ variety, so you do not need to sit down (though you are certainly welcome to do so). This is just me being irritated about people not pulling their weight.

So, a little relevant information: I work with a team of three people. Right now we’re handling a merge project, which means we go through and look at duplicate pairs of patients to determine whether or not they’re true duplicates, or if they were marked as such in error. Sometimes it’s really two totally different people, sometimes it’s just that we don’t have enough information to merge the charts. If, however, all the demographics match and we determine that both charts are in fact the same person, then we have to merge them, which is a whole long, fairly complex process across multiple systems; I’m not going to get into it, because you really don’t need to know how we do it, and unless you use the specific programs we do, it’s not going to make sense anyway. We have a quota we’re expected to meet, which is 10 merges in a day, and 40 uniques (uniques meaning we’ve determined the charts don’t match, and then we have to mark them as unique records). This is absolutely, totally doable; I complete way more uniques in a day (I’m not sure how many, because we can’t really track that the way we do our merges), and I average about 13 or so merges, but 14 isn’t unusual, and I’ve done as many as 15. I have been doing this for about a month and a half, to give you some context; one of the other women I work with (the one who actually trained me) has been doing it for about three years, and the other woman at least a year or so. Needless to say, they are both a lot more advanced (or should be) than me.

Both of these women work mostly from home. My trainer does come in sometimes for the socialisation and also to walk me through some more complex stuff that she needs to show me (she’s taking time off in a few weeks or so because her daughter is having twins, and so she’s been training me to take over her work lists), but mostly we talk via IM or sometimes on the phone. The other woman never comes in, unless we have a meeting.

When my co-worker was training me, she made some comments that made it clear that she was pretty frustrated with our other teammate because she doesn’t do nearly the amount of work that she should; she’s also really slow about getting back to someone if they have a question about something work-related, and she makes a lot of mistakes. On training days, we were actually doing quite a few more merges than her. We were really cracking along pretty good considering the fact that I was being talked through everything, but she still should have been able to outpace us. Once they let me free in the wilds to do merging on my own without someone sitting next to me holding my hand, I was pretty much right from the get-go meeting and even exceeding our daily expected quota. The lady who trained me made a couple of remarks about how it was nice to have someone who did as much work as her. Also, I’ll mention that in the first couple of weeks, I caught a couple of mistakes this other lady had made--pretty big ones. Also to the second power, my trainer has been doing audits on all our work for the last few weeks or so, and she’s caught several other issues with this lady’s merges, and says that it’s pretty typical of her to make fairly serious mistakes. I don’t know what her percentage of accuracy is, but I’m going to bet it’s not great, because from what I’ve observed over the last few weeks, three merges a day seems to be a pretty typical number for her; today it looks like she only did two. So probably in a week she’s doing close to what I do in a day, and messing up on several of them. I suspect the work from home aspect might be somewhat contributing to this; my co-worker said she was more productive when she actually worked in the office (I don’t know if she was excessively productive, or just not as bad, and it sounds like she probably still made quite a few mistakes). So I don’t know what she’s doing, but she has to be taking advantage of the fact that she’s working from home to screw around. Otherwise I can’t fathom how you could do so little, or why she seems to be away from her computer so often.

 Fast forward to Tuesday: my trainer comes in to show me how to make up a worksheet that she emails out daily. We also sit and catch up a bit (I like her a lot; not only is she a good co-worker in the sense that she’s super helpful and gets a shit ton of work done, she takes the piss out of me a bit, and I like that in a person). She goes to talk to our boss about some issues that cropped up while she was out of the office (our manager has been on vacation for the past couple of weeks) that she wasn’t trained to deal with, and comes back to let me know what our manager said. The merge project is enough under control that our manager wants one person to handle the daily worklists: our co-worker. She wants me and my trainer to start training on some aspects of the actual billing cycle (she actually was going to start me on it this week, but apparently they were having a big issue and it wasn’t a good time to start training someone new, so I’m supposed to start on it next week). So we’re not really going to be merging anymore; however, neither of us want to forget how to do it, so we decided we should handle the audits so we’re still familiar with the process, which she’s fine with. 

I told my trainer that I hoped this other girl picked up the pace a LOT if she’s the only one doing it, because while it is possible for one person to handle the worklists at this point...it’s not if they’re going at her pace. (I should mention that we have several daily worklists we pull from; we split up pairs alphabetically. These are the lists that need to be complete daily, and then if you’re done early, which I always am, and I know my trainer always is, then you go to another historical worklist that has literally thousands of patients on it. So there’s still plenty of work for three people, but that last worklist isn’t a priority; the daily ones are what we really need to focus on, and one person could easily handle those in a day.) My trainer said she hadn’t wanted to be negative because the manager doesn’t like that, but she did tell her that our co-worker’s work output isn’t quite what it should be, especially if she’s going to be taking over. So the manager is going to talk to her about taking over the merge project while my trainer and I move onto other things, and I’m curious how that will go; my trainer said she’s not going to like having to do it on her own. 

Our manager later stopped by and talked to me about it all as well, and said that she wants me doing some posting stuff because they’re behind, and also because she thinks that it’ll suit me, because it’s a lot of information getting thrown at you at once, and it’s fast-paced. (I already have a reputation at the office for picking stuff up very quickly, so now people expect me to actually...do things. Bleargh.) She said she wants this co-worker on merges because she seems to really like working from home, and that environment sort of suits her (and it does in a way--she’s a big homebody and not very social, and clearly very shy; she seems like a perfectly nice girl, but full disclosure, incompetence reeeaaallly annoys me, so I’m a little soured on her already). I didn’t mention that it doesn’t suit her actual work output, because I don’t want to be That Bitch already about a co-worker, and I’m not going to be working on the same project as her for very much longer anyway. But today on my drive home I was thinking about how much it agitated me that she only did two merges today. My boss pulled me away to work on some other stuff for the rest of the day around 10:30 this morning, and I had already done seven damn merges. SHE DID TWO. IN ONE ENTIRE DAY. WTF ARE YOU DOING??? It’s giving me flashbacks to school when you had to do group projects and there’s always that one fucking asshole that doesn’t do fucking shit but you all get the same grade anyway.

Anyway, this was way too long for me to essentially be like, “Lol my co-worker doesn’t do jack shit but other than that shit’s good at work”, but you guys know how I be.

[crystalelemental]

suitsongirls replied to your post: karnilla74 replied to your post: ...

Personally, I disagree about accuracy, for most things. I think there should be a special hone claws. Also, with no chance of missing, Magma storm would be obscene. That said, what if water moves couldn’t miss in rain, fire and/or grass in sun, rock in sandstorm (because fuck ground), and ice moves in hail? This naturally doesn’t effect sheer cold. More viable accuracy boosting moves though!!

Lava plume and Scald completely negate their 90bp counter parts (is there a 90bp water move?).  They should be nerfed to 70BP, and the missing moves (fire blast, blizzard, hydro pump, stone edge) should have their power boosted to 130.    

There is no issue in Pokemon moves that could not be solved better by reducing BP or PP.

Let’s take the Water moves as the example.  Hydro Pump, Surf (that’s what you’re looking for), and Scald are essentially, Power, Balance, and Status moves.  Right now, the Power move also suffers bad accuracy, but is generally well liked for the ability to one-shot opponents should it hit after boosts/Choice item enhancements.  Status moves are also pretty highly prized depending on the secondary effect, with Scald being most notable because nothing in the game gets away from it without taking some horrific effect, while Balance moves like Surf aren’t generally preferred at all.

If we remove accuracy, Power moves become the top preference over Balance when it comes to attacking in all scenarios, because there’s no longer that gamble.  Good.  Because PP should be that gamble.  Remove PP Max, and they get five shots.  Again, I firmly believe one of the reasons high-power moves are still chosen despite low accuracy is because 8PP is too much, and you can still spam them.  Cutting that back to only ever getting 5 means you’re a lot better off.  Cutting healing moves to all be 5PP also means one-shot attacks aren’t quite as necessary anymore; it’s less likely they’ll win via stall against the Balance option.  PP stalling suddenly matters a lot more.

Status moves should definitely suffer the BP penalty, I agree.  70BP seems fine.  Still strong enough to matter, not so weak that Technician goes crazy, and not strong enough to essentially perform the same function as the Balance move.  But, these status moves also have 15PP, which is way too much.  I’m honestly going to say 5PP again.  They have tremendous effects with a high rate of activation, there’s no reason for them to be so spammable.  10PP is the absolute maximum, giving them a bit more utility than the Power moves, but still below the Balance moves.

Essentially what this causes is a more meaningful tradeoff.  Power moves are good for one-shot attacks, but you have to be really careful with them at 5PP and no way to increase that.  If you’re using this offensive thing to solely take out a threat to your main sweeper, that’s the better pick.  If this Pokemon is meant to survive throughout the game, Power is not the optimal choice anymore.  Now you have to ask what this Pokemon is doing.  Is it aiming for more an offensive or defensive presence throughout the game?  If offensive, you want the extra power, Surf is best for a combination of damage and long-term utility.  If you’re going more defensive, you can take the hit to power in exchange for something that offers greater support in the form of secondary effect.  You create a scenario where the decision still matters, and accuracy is wholly irrelevant.  And really, when you get down to it, consider that literally everything that isn’t on stall opts for Power over Accuracy anyway.  If that’s the case, accuracy isn’t doing it’s job.  It’s obsolete, and we need a new way to balance the options.

As for things like Magma Storm, cut the damage.  Then again, Thousand Waves also traps and attacks at the same time and has 90BP, so maybe Magma Storm is just fine as it is, frankly.  But if we’re worried because it’s a trapping move that adds damage every turn, just lower the damage.  Things like Fire Spin have 35, so maybe let it have 60.  Not quite double, but a nice exchange for a signature move.

One-shot moves are something that can’t be allowed to have perfect accuracy.  Those are like...the only things I can think of that need to stay at like 30%.  Frankly, I’d say take them out of the game entirely.  I hate instant death effects almost as much as accuracy checks, and think both go entirely against the spirit of a good player experience, but it’d be a lot harder to just remove existing moves than it would be to just remove the concept of accuracy.

As a last addition, another thing that could be argued is “What’s the difference between Spore and Sleep Powder if you take away accuracy?  Why should Spore matter?”  Fair point!  To fix that, Sleep Powder should have negative priority.  Sleep is the most devastating of all status, and I think it’s then fair to say all default sleep skills like Hypnosis and Sleep Powder suffer priority penalty.  Sure, you can get that move off.  If you survive to use it.  Spore would be the one exception, happening without negative priority.  It’s basically the death of fast sleep users.  Sure, this means my Lilligant will suffer tremendously, but I have faith that such a change would be part of a larger improvement to the meta.  A meta in which specially offensive Grass types can all have access to Earth Power, instead of just a few of them.

[mysewingadventures]

When you don’t have as many garments as you’d love to have, you have to make do with what you already have and maybe find one or the other piece in your closet that might do the trick just fine.

I’ve been sewing for about a year now and sewing takes a lot of time, especially when you have to work or go to school (or when you’re stuck in quarantine with no fabric stash). So sometimes in order to wear something as close as possible to the original way, you’ll have to use a bunch of tricks. Here’s what I did with my more or less improvised 1890s ensemble:

You’d wear your corset on top of a chemise. I don’t have an 1890s chemise (I should probably really make one, they’re not that difficult to make 🤔) so instead I used...

A tank top.

It’s important to have a layer underneath your corset to prevent your body from getting squished in the wrong places. It’s just more comfortable and also prevents your corset from getting too sweaty. I’m not sure if washing a corset is really a thing. Now this corset isn’t exactly a model corset as I realize now I’ve made a lot of mistakes making it, but as long as I don’t have the one I’m currently working on yet, I’ll keep using this one. It’s too big on me and I’ve made some mistakes with the boning channels and because of the flossing it’s not exactly pretty on the inside, but it’ll do for now. I’ve sewn about 80% of it by hand as I made this before I got my new sewing machine. I had a machine from the 50s, but some things do not exactly get better with age. I did everything except sew the panels together by hand and it took me all of January.

Anyways, next up would be a corset-cover to smooth out the edges of the corset. I’ve really been wanting to make one but something always comes in between and I never got to, so instead I’ve been using either a bandeau bra or another tank top. Here I chose this pink top as it matched the color of the blouse I’d be wearing on top of it and since it’s a little see through I didn’t want to use a bandeau.

This smoothes out the edge just fine. Obviously it’s not what would have been used but like it gets the job done just as much. Corset covers could have been ruffled or not, depending on what suited the style of the dress or blouse.

Now, finally - the blouse. This one is store bought, I got it from a cute little boutique that I unfortunately don’t remember the name of. The tag says Flamant Rose but I’ve looked that up and gotten no relevant results.

(You can totally see the top in this picture but I promise you it’s not as sheer irl as it looks!)

It’s not exactly spot on 1890s but it certainly has that vibe (this is still a makeshift, not 100% accurate look). The sleeves also aren’t really puff sleeves and maybe you’ll be able to tell in the following pictures as it’s not super obvious from this angle.

And now comes the skirt.

Yes, I’ve skipped the petticoat for this one. Truth is, an 1890s petticoat was never really on top of my priority list because all I’ve wanted to do was make this skirt and call it a day and it kind of also holds its shape without one. Originally, this skirt was even intended to be knee-length as I prefer to make clothes that I can wear on a daily basis but I’ve decided to make both - in one. On the inside, there’s a band with button loops that you can pin the edge of the skirt to. Takes a lot of work though and because of the sheer volume it makes you look like a pastry. Should’ve thought about it beforehand but whatever, now at least I got a Victorian skirt. It also looks like it’s sitting rather low on the mannequin but I’ve sized her waist down to make the silhouette more dramatic. On me, the skirt sits perfectly at the waist.

Now, as a little cherry on top, something I completely improvised out of scrap fabric without even looking up a pattern.

I’ve always loved these little capes so one day I thought why not? I had a bit of fabric left from the skirt so I just sat down and made it. I do realize it’s not 100% accurate, but like I said, I mostly eyeballed all the measurments and didn’t have a pattern. This was also the first time I got to try my new sewing machine so I really just wanted to make anything.

All in all this might not be the most accurate ensemble, but I put a lot of time and effort into making the skirt and the corset and the rest just kind of came together. And most of the time it’s not accuracy what counts but fun while making it and fun wearing it.

[moczothe1st]

Let’s Play Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Holy War, Part 17: Leif and Let Leif

Part 16

Welcome back to Fire Emblem IV: Genealogy of the Goddammit it’s another desert map. We just beat one of those, dammit! *sob* Damn you, game. Damn you to Hell. Tell me your story, you bastard.

And wide, inspiring courage anew in the Empire’s victims. Still more uprisings erupt across Jugdral, but once again, precious few are properly organized and are easily crushed, and the death toll climbs ever higher…

Leonster, a kingdom in the Thracian Peninsula…

(FIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNN!)

But they have suffered a devasating loss before King Blume’s vast hordes and are stranded in hostile ground.

The oasis city of Darna,

(Guess which one of these faces will be recruitable.)

In Rivough, Seliph and the warriors of his liberation army now prepare themselves to embark on a journey and come to the aid of their allies in far-away Leonster. Each warrior sets aside their worries as, under Seliph’s leadership, they prepare for the new battle on their horizon.

(Well. Finn is back, but he’s not exactly a bundle of sunshine, huh.)

Finn: This is a crippling blow to our army. We’ve lost most of our might in one fell swoop.

Leif: This can’t be happening… I thought this was our chance… was all of this useless all along? Damn it all! I’ll kill Blume with my bare hands!

(Damn, Leif is way less chill than his dad was.)

Finn: Please calm yourself, milord! This isn’t the end quite yet. I’ve just had a word with King Lewyn. He’s sending Prince Seliph’s liberation army to back us up. Until then, no matter what, we must endure the siege milord.

Leif: Prince Seliph, you say… He’s the son of my father’s old friend Sigurd and Empress Deirdre, right?

Hair Wings are the Best: I think we should abandon the castle for now, and seek refuge in that western church.  

Leif: Hm, you’re right. I suppose we don’t have much choice now.  Very well. Our priority is to play this out defensively for the time being. Until Prince Seliph gets here, we must endure…

Blume: Buffoons, all of you! Do you really think I want to hear excuses? I want Leonster seized! No more delays! If you waste any more time on this, then we’ll have to contend with those Isaachian mongrels as well!

(So blume takes after his dad, then. Good to know.)

Moustache: Y-yes milord! We will strike immediately, milord!

(Dammit all, I let Dew die childless specifically to avoid a character like you.)

Girl!Dew: But I can’t afford to dawdle now. Still gotta get out of here, and quick…

Do the Dew: Do you have any idea how tough it was to get my hands on this sword? If you want it, come get it, nincompoop!

Shanan: W-wait!

Priest Whose Name I have Already Forgotten: And they absconded with Balmung?! You fools! Go seize them! Now!

Mook: Y-yes, your grace! But, er, your grace… surely a master of dark magics of your caliber could crush common thieves such as these with a single blow, even from here?

I think it was Cthfuzorc or something: I’ve misplaced my book of Fenrir.  My men are scouring the shrine to find it, but so far it has yet to emerge…

Trying Not to Laugh: Understood, your grace. In that case, my clan and I will take a few mercenaries and pursue them. We swear to you, your grace, that we will have the treasure back where it belongs post-haste!

Lewyn: the order’s fell mages infest the desert, mercilessly assaulting anyone they find in it. People’ve taken to calling the region the Desert of Death… a fitting name, really.

Seliph: I can only imagine how awfully travelers struggle here! I wonder… perhaps it’d be possible to seize the shrine from the Order?

Lewyn: Heh, I thought you’d never ask. There’s always a way, but this one won’t be easy. We may need to make sacrifices.  

Seliph: So be it. At this point we’ve little choice. Not to mention, Shanan is likely still in the desert… for now, let’s focus on taking control of Yied! All else will begin there!

And here we go, the first REAL chapter of generation two. And what I mean by real, of course…

THERE’S AN ARENA! SCREW LEIF AND SHANAN, IT’S TIME TO SPEND FIVE HOURS DOING GLADIATOR COMBAT, BITCHES.

Seliph: Seven wins, gained four levels: +8 HP, +3 Skl, +3 Str, +1 Mag, +2 Luck, +2 Def, +1 Res

Julia: Three wins, gained one level: +1 HP, +1 Speed, +1 Magic, +1 Luck

Oifey: Seven wins, gained one level: +1 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Luck

Ulster: Seven wins, gained two levels: +3 HP, +1 Skill, +1 Strength, +2 Speed, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Larcei: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +3 Strength, +2 Speed, +2 Magic, +1 Luck

Lester: Seven wins, gained two levels: +2 HP, +2 Strength, +1 Magic, +1 Speed, +1 Defense

Dermott:  Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +1 Skill, +3 Strength, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Fee: Seven wins, gained three levels: +3 HP, +2 Skill, +1 Strength, +3 Magic, +1 Luck, +1 Defense

Arthur: Seven wins, gained three levels: +5 HP, +2 Skill, +4 Speed, +1 Magic, +3 Luck, +1 Defense, +1 Res

Johan: Six wins, gained one level: +1 HP, +1 Speed, +1 Defense

Dammit, Julia.  She’s unfortunately too slow to deal with the Myrmidon hanging out at Rank Four; he doubles her and she can’t hit him with any sort of accuracy. We’ll try this again at the end of the map. And speaking of the map…

So here’s what we’ve got. To the west of us is Yied Shrine, which is full of Loptyrites, and the desert between us and them is just silly with Dark Mages. Shanan himself is to the west of the Shrine; and directly south of it are two additional castles that we’re going to have to conquer eventually because of course we will. However, they don’t go hostile until we take Yied, and we can’t get the rest of the army to Lief’s rescue until we take them, so we’ve got a war ahead of us.  Lief himself is directly south of our starting point, at the neutral castle Leonster, and directly south of him is the end-of-chapter boss. He has two units to protect him, and despite being told to run away, the three of them can often hold out on their own.  But there’s a lot of villages down there and we want those bad. So we’re gonna abandon the castle… AND CHARGE.  

Now. Before we get rolling, I do believe we have five new people to look at.

First off, Shanan. Like Oifey he’s a pre-promote, joining as a Swordmaster despite being level 12.  However, he has some factors that make him more useful than Oifey in the long run:.First of all, his growths in everything other than HP and Skill are very much on the low side, but his base stats are so high it hardly matters; he’s not really going to get significantly stronger, but who cares when he’s already strong enough to fight 90% of the game’s enemies right now? Even if every level he gets is mediocre at best, he’ll probably still be fine for the endgame.  Second, his abilities are great, joining up with Pursuit, Adept, and Astra ready to rock.  Third…

Dewlette: Wait… give it back? Is it yours?

Shanan: Yes, it is! That’s my family’s ancestral blade, Balmung. I’m the only person capable of using it. You’ve nothing at all to gain from keeping it.

DewTwo: Wait, so how’d this thing end up in Yied, anyway?

Shanan: It belonged to my father, who died in Grannvale’s war with Isaach. Someone must’ve stolen it from him after he died.  I only recently learned that it was being kept at Yied, so I came to retrieve it.

Dewlightful: Hang on, hang on, hang on! Could it be… are you Isaach’s Prince Shanan?!

Shanan: I am….

One, Dew, Three times a Lady: Really?! It’s really, really you?! Wow! Oh my gosh! This is incredible!

Shanan: Er…

Dew it To Me One More Time: No, really, I’ve heard all the stories about you! All of them! I’ve been a huge fan of yours for so long, but I never thought I’d actually meet you!

Shanan: …

Don’t Dew Drugs: But you’re here! You’re really talking to me right now! It’s like all my dreams’ve come true!                                                                        

Shanan: … Yeah, I think I get the idea. My sword, please?

COULD YOU JUST INTRODUCE YOURSELF ALREADY: Oh, right, sorry! Here ya go.

Shanan: Balmung… my holy sword… It’s finally mine… hm? Ahh! What is this power…?!

Screw it, her name is Patty: Woooow! This is incredible…

And there we go. Balmung is pretty excellent, enough to push Shanan into a tier higher than his growths would otherwise allow; it gives the same broken stat boosts as Forseti, falling behind it only by virtue of not being able to attack from a distance. Since he’s currently alone against an army of dark mages and mercenaries, he’s gonna need it.  

Well, okay, he’s not alone, but he might as well be because Patty is, unfortunately, a level one thief. She’s, as you see from the Minor Odo and Minor Ullur blood, the daughter of Bridget and Holyn, and one of the pairs of kids in the game who inherits the gear of her opposite gendered parent; she gets Holyn’s gear and swords. Unfortunately, even with her Odo blood, she can only use swords up to B-rank, and I was a dimwit and didn’t leave Holyn with one of those for her to inherit.  So she only has her default weapon, a Sleep Edge, which is unfortunately kind of too heavy for a fragile speedster to really put to its best use. Like Dew before her she will eventually turn out pretty good; better than Dew himself by a good margin due to having Holy Blood growth boosts and inheriting Holyn’s Luna skill, but she’s… gonna take some babying.

And now a member of the other pair of kids who take after the opposite parents. Prince Leif, son of Quan and Ethlyn, and heir to his mother’s swords (unfortunately not her staves because… well, because Fire Emblem hates the players, and despite being the same class as Lachesis, who could use staves, he can’t until he promotes). As a Prince, he starts off on the weak side and becomes a demon god when he promotes to Master Knight; he’s a little easier to get there than good ol’ Lachesis was, though, on account of having much better growths and inheriting Adept and Critical from his parents. However, he’s also going to need some babying to achieve his full power.    

All grown up and ready to kick ass, Finn is unchanged from his appearance in the first generation stat-wise, and still has all his kick-ass old spears. Our Finn turned out really well, you may recall, and so he’s going to be doing a lot of the legwork in keeping Leif alive.  He’s also only 32 EXP away from promoting, so he should be improving himself even more by the end of the map.  I’m frankly amazed; I’ve never gotten a Finn that was able to hold up in the endgame of the second gen, but this one may actually pull it off.  He’s already slightly better than Oifey without even getting his promotion stat boosts.

And last but not least, Nanna.  She’s Beowulf and Lachesis’s daughter, and Dermott’s sister, and a fairly solid unit. If nothing else, she’s a Troubador like good old Ethlyn was, meaning she has staves and a horse. Her growths are pretty below-average for a second generation unit, but she’ll never be useless simply by virtue of being a healer with a huge range of movement. And with Pursuit and Accost from dear old dad, she should turn out to be a pretty solid combat unit as well if she gets lucky.  

… Don’t be like Ethlyn, Nanna. She isn’t even your mom, you just share her class. Please.

*whew*

All right, that’s it for new units, so let’s rock.  The main army begins moving west towards the desert; there’s a small army of dark mages in their way, but too far away from us to reach on this turn.  Dark Magic is a pain in the ass as you may recall; it’s outside the weapon triangles, which means nothing has an advantage against it.  Even Light magic only manages ‘neutral’ and all other magic is inferior.  So…. I’m not in a huge hurry to fight them, but Julia will be pulling her weight here, I tell you that. Leif, Finn, and Nanna, on the other hand, begin moving south toward the many villages in their section of the map. There are, of course, tons of bandits, so we’ll need to rush if we want to kill them before Blume���s army reaches us.  

End turn.                                                                                

You… you guys can stay out in the desert if you want…

But my cartoonish terror aside, only one enemy can actually reach us this turn, a mercenary who takes a shot at Shanan.

It coulda gone better for him.

On our turn, I move most of the army to the north; I want Julia to bear the brunt of the mage assault, backed up by Arthur with his book of invincibility. I also take this opportunity to have Oifey have a chat with Dermott.

Oifey: Sir Finn, you say… you’re eager to have the chance to see her again, aren’t you?

Dermott: Yes sir! I can hardly wait!

Oifey: Heh. You’ll have to give this battle your all first, then! How about a quick lesson?

Dermott: Yes, sir! I’d appreciate that!

Normally I would say that during a battle isn’t the right time to be exercising, but it gives Dermott a permanent +1 boost to his Strength, Skill, and Defense, so I’m not gonna complain.

Now, Patty and Shanan.  The thing about this situation is that Patty really cannot fight anything here, so Shanan is gonna have to carry this situation while she hides.  But while the enemy is coming from the east, there’s also two enemies south of them coming along the ridge.  

And guess what, of course Patty can’t fight them either. So this is gonna be a dance.  First, the mages are the biggest threat. They have very little chance of hitting Shanan while he’s got his ubersword in hand, but if they hit he’s fucked. So let’s deal with that first.

One down, a small army to go.  

And Patty is safe for the moment. The two swordsmen should both die on Shanan this turn, so she can move in again around the time the southern wing starts getting close. Neat.  And now for Leif’s team;

Leif and Nanna use mad teamwork to barely defeat a single enemy. I’m so… proooud?  Nanna follows up by liberating the village, stopping them from ever touching it.

Passive Aggressive: Lord Quan… Lady Ethlyn… I pray you’re both proud of your son… please, kind knight, accept this Speed Ring. I’d like you to wear it proudly to your battles.  

… I wish I’d let Leif have that instead of Nanna, but I forgot it was there. Eh, I’ll cope.  I have Finn make a run for the farthest village he can reach, the goal being to kill the bandits more than loot anything. He’s actually got funds left from his own army days, so he doesn’t really need the money. I just want to stop these jerks from torching the money which will be divvied up later amongst my noble men. End turn! The dark mages move in and one takes a swing at our girl Julia.

“SECRET PRINCESS… BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAM!”

And over near Yied…

Shanan you are the man. Forget prince, my man, you’re KING.  

…. Fuck, story is happening. What now? Do we really need more enemies? Really?

(Celice and Serlis were common fan translations for Seliph’s name before Intelligent Systems confirmed an official one. Someone’s in the writer’s booth is being snippy~)

Bramsel: The Empire’s put a hefty price on that boy’s head. Let’s make sure we’re the ones to rake in the bounty, shall we? Keep our border locked down for the time being. The best option is to let them run themselves ragged, leaving them wide open to our strike! Instruct commander Jabarro to put his squad on standby. His services will be needed in short order!

(Okay, game, that’s literally just Eldigan with a different colored shirt. You could at least try to keep these things a mystery.)

Ribbons: Oh, that’s good. I guess I’m a bit worried about how you’re gonna have to go and fight too, Ares…

Ares: What sorry excuse for a mercenary would I be if I refused to join a battle, Lene? Never mind one which, rumor has it, will oppose Sigurd’s son… never would I deny a chance to personally slay the spawn of my father’s mortal foe.  

Lene: Hee hee! You’re still going on about that, are you? Oh, you dolt.

(Lene Burn!)

Lene: I mean, think about it. Both your father and that Sigurd man were knights, weren’t they? And isn’t killing part of a knight’s job? It’s like my job. Sometimes I have to dance for foul, leering men! I hate it, but it’s part of the work. I have to just deal with it. We’ve all gotta do what we’ve gotta do to get by in life. I dunno… I just don’t think it’s right to hate someone for doing their job.

Ares: Lene… I understand. I’ll have to think it over for a time, but I do understand…

And with that (and a very off-putting few seconds of movement while the other enemy faction down in Leif’s area moves around aimlessly) we have our turn back. Julia strikes down her foes with the power of a queen.

And Arthur powers up the Invinci-cannon.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm that’s the stuff. I discretely move Lana back toward the castle because I realize I forgot to repair all her staves, while everyone else moves to the west, getting ready to intercept one slow mage coming up through the desert.  Julia is our queen and she shall slay the bulk of these filthy peasants, but she’s kind enough to leave her leftovers for the other, lesser souls.

Oh, and Shanan is here too.

Actually not bad! Like I said, his growths are actually not great, and Defense is one of his less impressive stats at the moment, so I’ll take it.  And finally, the Leif team.  

… I missed you so much, Finn. Leif and Nanna need to team up and use the power of friendship and proclaim the power of Sailor Moon just to kill a bandit, while Finn is just BAM, BRAVE LANCE, DONE.  Weapon Triangle? For bitches.  

End turn!

You are nothing to her, worms.  

And that’s the only combat for this turn, barring someone taking a shot at Shanan and missing.  Which, speaking of, I think it’s time for Shanan to start moving on. See, the boss in Yied Castle actually does find that tome he was talking about in the opening cutscene if you wait to long, and then he starts blasting you.  So the guy who missed him last turn gets to live, because he’s moving in to slaughter the castle defenders and assassinate the boss.  And we add one more kill to the Daughter of the World-ender.

Estuans interius

Ira vehementi

Estuans interius

Ira vehementi

Julia

Julia

 But there’s a lot of them, and if I let her kill them all, the game will last forever. So I have some peons take a shot.  

… I hate dark mages.

Lester if you wanted to make me happy, gaining a point in damn magic wasn’t the way to do it.  I have Fee start running across the desert to join Shanan, since she has enough resistance to be trustworthy around these jerks, and have Seliph move onto a forest in the range of one mage. My hope is that he’ll dodge this one while Julia crushes the others, then everyone can gang up on the sole survivor.

See, Lester? This is what being reliable looks like. Finn has weapon triangle disadvantage and he’s still wrecking these jerks.  Just for that, he gets some money that he doesn’t need.

Apparently Not Sure What ‘Terrifying’ Means: Then there’s Tinni, a young mage… Blume’s niece she may be, but that girl’s still got a kind heart on her. She’s come to our aid and the aid of our neighbor villages time and again… she’s nothing like her family.

FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORESHADOWING. Let’s wrap things up with the Friendship Team.

Not bad. I would normally complain about the lack of offensive growth of any kind, but Speed and Defense in the same level really makes up for it.  End turn!

… And luckily, the AI is kind of dumb, and prioritizes Julia because it can’t miss her. Thing is, it also can’t kill her. She doubles the dark mages, and Nosferatu heals her when she hits them. So they hit her once, and she hits them back twice and eats their health to get back to full power.

…. Oops. Did I leave Leif in enemy range? Well, he’s doing well so far, no biggie. Our turn begins on a fairly strong position with one exception: A dark mage is close enough to Patty he might attack her. If that goes wrong, I’m screwed! I messed this up badly. Patty, run. Run, Patty. Run.

…. Fuck. She can’t run. I… ugh. Okay, well. Patty has one shot at this and it’s very, very unlikely she’ll pull it off.

… Nope, didn’t do it. If he’d fallen asleep from getting hit by her Sleep Edge, she could have maybe held out until Shanan got back to her, but he didn’t and as a result she’s dead on the enemy phase regardless of what I do. Reset.

All right. Looking ahead on things with the foresight of someone paying attention to where units are actually standing, I do a few things differently.  First, Shanan kills the last enemy in his area so Patty can’t get caught in a pincer.

That done, Patty runs over to hide under his skirt.

Two, remembering well that Lester got creamed, I hand it to Johan, who also can’t miss but hits somewhat harder.

Good job, Johan. You’re not gonna be marrying Larcei, because something about you worries me. But good job. Team Leif, meanwhile, does exactly what they did before and it goes about as well, only Leif actually gets a somewhat better level!

No magic, of course. He takes after his mother, after all. Okay! End Turn, and let’s try this again.  

And hey, Julia remembers she has Adept and kills two of the mages she only wounded last time! Her dark power grows.  She also gained a slightly different level, but I lost the screenshot: +1HP, +1 Magic, +1 Speed. I’ll take it gleefully.  

… Less Gleeful, but Nanna will fix that right up.

Right then. Our turn starts, and the main army has only two mages left to kill. Arthur wipes out the one Julia crippled earlier…

While Julia moves herself to intercept the final one. In fact, this is mostly a turn of moving, because few people make any real attacks. Shanan moves toward the boss, Patty moves to hide behind him, the army moves toward Yied, and Leif… moves back toward the castle he was told to abandon.

Yeah. Yeah. We’re not giving up. Fuck that. Nanna patches him, and he makes a run toward Leonster! He is going to defend his home. And hopefully gain some needed levels.  

… This might end badly.

End turn!

Well, Julia’s back to not killing things. That’s nice. Well, it’s our turn again, and she’ll fix that.

Yum.  Shanan finally starts the attack on Yied proper…

And Leif takes up position to wait out the siege.

This is a risk. I’m very much not sure it will work. But the enemy army is almost entirely armor, which means only one of them can attack Leif at a time, and with the castle he gets a bonus to evasion and heals every turn. If he manages to kill all these fuckers and gets mostly decent levels, he will be pretty much set for the rest of the game.  Don’t be like your mother, Leif.

End turn.

…. Nothing happens on the enemy phase, so.  At this point, Shanan could just walk up and shank the boss, but if he does that Patty will die to the other units in the area. So instead he runs up to hit this guy…

And Patty once more hides under his skirt. Fee, who has finally arrived after a million years, takes up position to intercept the incoming swordsman that’s behind them.  I forgot to repair her spear after her arena runs, but she should be able to hold out.

I’m… not doing well on this map.  

Now, Seliph is needed to liberate Yied and Larcei has a conversation with Shanan, so I send the two of them into the desert while the rest of the army starts moving south.  As soon as we take the shrine the rest of the map opens up, and I want soldiers in position.  Similarly, Nanna and Finn move into position to support Leif if he needs it; hopefully he will not, between his bitchin’ sword and strong defensive position. End turn…

FEE! DODGE!

LEIF! DON’T EMULATE HER!

Hoo boy. This may have been a mistake. Um… okay, guys. Take your shots. Don’t fuck this up.

Light Bright, on! It doesn’t kill the armor, unfortunately, but Leif is technically hitting him from a distance here and can’t be countered, so it works out. Shanan, can you please shank the boss?

Damn, you sure can. Um… end turn. Patty will die if she attacks anyone. This is bad. This is super bad.  Unless for some reason the enemy all go for someone else, we’re a bit screwed. In fact we might be screwed anyway if the swordsman can double her.

OH THANK YOU JESUS. The remaining mage attacked Shanan, and when the sword guy hit Patty her Sleep Edge worked for once and caught him, so he’s immobilized for a few turns.  Oh. Oh, man. Thank you.  We live another turn, though this is still gonna be wonky to get out of unless the enemy AI futzes up again and keeps trying to zap Shanan. Leif, as well, gives a good showing…

One down, way too many to go.  On our turn, I have Shanan clear out one of the two remaining mages:

And move Patty behind him, and…

And win. The battle for Yied Shrine is over, and despite fucking up like seven times, we came out on top. The sole remaining mage can only attack Shanan, who he cannot one-shot and who definitely can one-shot him in return. The swordsman down in the corner there is asleep for five more turns, so Patty can plink him to death and get some much-needed Experience.  

Leif kills another armor, meanwhile, and continues his long but sure ascent to godhood.  It’s never 100% safe to assume in FE, but with two levels in a row that good, I’m reasonably sure that Leif will hold the castle against all comers.  Once we get him to an Arena he should be well on his way to outright amazing before the end of the chapter. End turn.

*sniff* Everything is coming together for the end, I swear.  What follows is going to be very boring, as barring a few more armors spawning in Leif’s area, there’s no threats left. So it’s going to be nothing but Seliph wandering the desert like Moses while we plink away at enemies.  So here’s the highlights.

Shanan: You went and took back Isaach behind my back, did you, Seliph? I can’t thank you enough!

Seliph: No, we’d still be in Tirnanog if not for you. You inspired us. You gave us your courage. If not for you, we could never have taken to the field!

Shanan: Heh, you’re starting to put on a bit of muscle there, aren’t you? You’re finally starting to…

Seliph: Shanan…?

Shanan: Hm? Oh, it’s nothing. Pay me no mind, Seliph.  

Seliph: Anyway,we’re finally starting to challenge the empire! Not bad, wouldn’t you say?

Shanan: Heh, not bad at all. I’ve waited so long for this day… we all have, really.

Seliph: Thank you, Shanan!

(Seliph gains +1 Skill from this, because… um… it was… a very… skillful discussion?)

Larcei: Don’t worry about it! The important part is you’re safe. I, er…

Shanan: How’s your sword arm doing? Any stronger?

Larcei: Yes, but still far below your prowess, sir.

Shanan: How about a quick lesson to patch that up. See, raw power isn’t quite enough here. Try putting a bit more spirit into it… and swing!

Larcei: Nnnn-yah!  Like this, sir?

(Must be, because she gets +2 strength from that. Hell of a workout, apparently.)

(Nanna, I swear to God if you don’t get some magic growth I will shave your ridiculous 80′s hair.)

(Fucking finally. I realize that was quick for you, but for me it was like twelve turns of sand and non-threatening combat that wasn’t even worth showing.)

Lewyn: They had no choice. Trying to build new lives on the surface would have led to their mass persecution, or even being burned at the stake. I suspect that at first they weren’t really bad or unusual people, but before long, their life here twisted them into what we know them as today.

(Not to question your wisdom, Lewyn, but they probably could have built a life on the surface if they didn’t insist on worshipping a god that eats children.)

Seliph: I can hardly believe it… It’s as if they were being tortured for the sins of their long-dead ancestors…

(Well, I mean, dude, they did keep worshipping Loptyr. Who, again, eats children.)

Seliph: All my life, these people have been branded as ‘the dark cult’ or ‘devil’s kin’. I can hardly imagine their pain… hold a moment. This scribble on the wall… is that a child’s penmanship? It’s a prayer. And it begs for the return of the dark god… was loptyr the only hope these people had?

(No, forgetting Loptyr and moving on to the worship of… I dunno, Fluffingor, god of soft things. That would have been a good hope. I’m all for freedom of religion, I know people like to keep to their faith, but when your god eats children you really need to reconsider.)

Lewyn: Yeah… Consider this a lesson, Seliph. Good and evil can’t be easily reduced to simple, black-and-white ideals. If you must hate, hate the evil that lurks in us all, not the individual.  Never forget this.

Welp. As much as I’d love to sit around and debate morality with Lewyn (Again, my counter-argument would be ‘don’t worship a child-eating demon’, but you’d be shocked how applicable that is), we’ve taken the castle and I’m very tired. You guys take a nice week off while I sleep. I should wake up by the time the next update is due. Maybe.

Resets: 21. Level One Thief syndrome is a terrible thing. 

Part 18

[idolizerp]

[ LOADING INFORMATION ON POIZN’S MAIN DANCE STEELE…. ]

DETAILS

CURRENT AGE: 28 DEBUT AGE: 20 SKILL POINTS: 15 PERFORMANCE | 05 VOCAL | 15 DANCE | 05 RAP SECONDARY SKILLS: B-boying

INTERVIEW

SHITSTARTER.

only in not in such strong terms –– it’s no secret that steele believes actions to speak louder than words. sometimes it’s as if his main mode of communication is dance. but aside from that, aside from his lifeblood and everything that’s made him who he is today, it’s glances from the background. freakishly tall ( 6’ 5” towers over heads everywhere in asia ), you’ll often find steele standing in the back. to occupy his time ( and to earn that blessed attention ), he makes faces at the camera, rolling his eyes at certain things and giving incredulous ‘ are you kidding me ? ’ expressions at unsympathetic lenses. this wordless candor is what builds him up in the early days.

steele is no - nonsense, but he can have a dry sense of humor. often times you’ll see him lifting his brows at a group member, engaging in a slight chuckle. other times he’ll poke and prod within his group and spark play - fights between members with just a look, his face holding a treasure trove of inside jokes.

so, he is wordless. but even when very little noise leaves his mouth ( and people never seem to get enough of the rich depths of his voice ), steele has a lot to say. or, at least, that’s how it was in the beginning.

over time ( after a single scandal ), though, his snarkiness becomes a detraction. critical and scathing glances are amplified. every single movement is read too far into. why did he cross his arms at that specific time ? is there some beef between them ? did he yell at that person for getting into his light too ? really, he blows up at ONE PERSON and the whole world seems to think he’s a ticking time bomb ready to explode.

the truth is, that’s the old steele. he’s almost thirty; he understands that screaming at people isn’t productive or acceptable. and he also doesn’t believe letting such anger and resentment fester within him is worth his time. the way his face sits coolly unmoving now says as much. no longer is he the funny background guy. steele is the handsome man with the big brows who doesn’t say much. who scowls, but that’s only because that’s how his face is built. forgiveness is a slow and long time coming, but 99 is convinced that keeping his mouth shut and his expressions blank is the key to resetting it all.

“ don’t comment on anything, don’t even blink in someone’s direction because it’ll be taken the wrong way. ” they don’t yank on his chain, instead leaving rather forceful suggestions, but he lets the ‘ or else what ? ’ die on his lips nevertheless. steele / jieping / everything in between knows the answer : “ or else we’ll send you packing. ” they don’t need to squish him like a bug like midas would, because they know that they can just drop him instead of offering to renew his contract, leaving him flat on his ass. and isn’t that just the single worst thing in the known universe ?

so, nowadays, it’s less. ‘ oh my god, look at steele’s face ! ’ and more ‘ who’s that really hot guy with the chin in the back ? he’s so good - looking but he doesn’t say anything. ’

and steele preens at being called hot / sexy / et cetera, et cetera. so, all in all, it’s not so bad.

BIOGRAPHY

PART ONE: PHANTOM BLOOD

keep your head down. don’t start any trouble. we’re tight on money as it is. just finish school. get a good job. help mama out with the bills.

an easy five - step plan enacted on august 17, 1990, 9 : 36 am cst after a difficult birth and an extremely large baby boy. only a mother and father are in the waiting room, waiting to take their daughter and grandson home to guangzhou. the father is a potter, the mother a seamstress, and the daughter a secretary. the not - son - in - law is nowhere to be found, and he never reappears in their lives after the grandson’s birth.

three incomes are still just barely enough to keep the grandson ( jieping, “ hero of peace ” ) fed and clothed. so the boy starts to help out where he can, bouncing to an inaudible tune on his mother’s lap as he helps her sort through letters and take down messages for her boss with shocking accuracy for a boy of seven. this intelligence is never developed further, his free time spent more on menial chores than stimulation and socialization.

at the very least, they indulge his passion for dance, scrounging around enough to send him to classes for a few years from the ages of five to eight before they run out and he has to drop out. jieping never begrudges his family for that.

he never lets what few friends he has know that he does not, in fact, own seven pairs of the same pants –– but, in fact, two that he recycles over the week. it doesn’t even matter, anyway. once he’s done with step five, he’ll have all the pants he wants.

PART TWO: BATTLE TENDENCY

have nots like jieping tend to hold a lot of resentment. bitterness. once his mother manages to wrangle enough money to ship him off to a private school in beijing, he starts to see just how much he really does not have. rolexes on the upperclassmen, his peers deciding to go out for milk tea every other day while he sits in his lonely apartment counting his monthly allowance and stretching it as thin as it can possibly go. while the others get to avoid the oppressive smog either by being driven everywhere or from the safety of their own vehicles, jieping invests in masks and filters.

he walks everywhere, even through the seedier parts of town late as night as long as they get him to his destination quicker because he knows the only place he’d really be understood is the underground dance scene. there, he’s nameless, but his talent is admired. self - taught, crew - less, he spends more time than he expected giving vague non - answers when his identity is questioned. dancing is his priority ; he’s not the type to show up to an underground club hoping to get recruited, though the interest is, at least, flattering. jieping isn’t there to make a name for himself. he’s just there to move. and if he puts on a good performance, trapped in his own world as he is, that’s just negligible.

back at school, it doesn’t improve matters that he’s something of an unkempt lad, often yelled at by administrators to start tucking his shirt into his pants and to wear a normal belt or else insert - empty - threat - here. if people look at him long enough, they’ll start to see his father in his face. if they’re malicious enough, they might even use his existence to blackmail a high ranking official who has yet pay a hefty fine for secretly siring another child. but then they see the way jieping’s thick brows draw together and his fists clench and decide that it’s better to be on the good side of a young boy who’s too tall to be only thirteen.

he has no qualms with punching out fellow students, though this only happens three times in his entire career at beijing huijia private academy. the knuckles on his left hand catch on the cheekbones of rich kids that are too proud to admit that they’ve been beaten up by a dirty commoner. the so - called ‘ charity cases ’ start to look up to jieping. their accounts of his bravery and heroism are inconsequential when antis dredge up this part of his past.

see ? he was always aggressive. what a prick.

PART THREE: STARDUST CRUSADERS

“ it’s a vacation, ” he tells his mother. “ you’re supposed to relax. ” they stand in front of her estranged elder sister’s daunting apartment complex in gangnam. he’s fifteen, scrawny with long hair and an underbite, bruises all over his arms and legs from failed attempts at b - boying. he’s learning, getting better, but he just doesn’t have the upper arm strength to hold himself up very long before crashing down. his mother thinks he’s getting into fights again instead of hanging around with underground dance crews, and, frankly, that’s a little hurtful.

jieping’s never met his aunt before, the woman leaving six years before he was born. all he knows is that she’s something of a socialite ( ex - trophy wife ), and she’s friends with lots of powerful people. when he meets her, he notes with some distaste that she doesn’t seem very fond of his mother. but when he tells her he likes to dance, her eyes light up and he’s taken off - guard.

as if his mother is a nonentity, jieping’s aunt starts interrogating him, nodding as he drops some names from the chinese underground scene that he’s sure she doesn’t know, and after an hour of probing, she eyes him, and asks, “ you know, i think you’d thrive in sopa. ” she knows people, she can get him an interview and audition and is even willing to help him take care of the costs.

jieping blinks. “ what ? ” he barely speaks korean, his elective language being english. jieping’s only experience with korean was being his friend’s study buddy, whereupon he picked up a few basic sentences. to say nothing, of course, of the fact that he wasn’t even intending to pursue a career in dance. and that … he wasn’t expecting his mother to seem so enthralled by the idea. his aunt tells him that sopa’s not planning on accepting new students just yet, but if he’d like to enroll for the next school year, he should let her know by the end of the week. seeing as they’re staying in her loft, he’s probably going to be pestered until the day they leave.

he mentions it off - handedly to his mother as they’re preparing to go to bed that night and is taken aback when she tells him to consider it. “ how do you know she’s not lying to us ? ”

didn’t he know she used to be a dancer, leaving home because their parents thought her dreams were too frivolous ? that her career came to a screeching halt when her relationship with an idol was exposed and she was ( publicly ) cast to the wayside ? she probably sees some of herself in him.

( not like that’s troubling. no, not at all. )

“ if you really like dancing, baobei, ” his mother tells him, her hand cupping his cheek, “ if you really love it like you used to when you were young, then you should take her up on it. she’s even willing to pay for everything. ” oh, and it always comes down to money.

if he stays with his aunt, his mother won’t have to send him red envelopes anymore. she can use her meager paycheck on herself. purchase some new clothes, finally fix those clunky heels. maybe even break out the hotpot all for herself. jieping chooses to think of it this way rather than acknowledging the fact that it sounds like his mother’s just trying to get him out of her hair –– or, her wallet, as it were. he makes his decision that night. it’s the day before new year’s eve. a little early to be making resolutions like this, he thinks, but it doesn’t hurt.

living with his aunt isn’t as bad as it seems at first, culture shock –– which she helps with –– aside. he thought he’d profoundly dislike her, but it turns out the woman actually gives good advice. in addition to whipping his korean into ( amorphous ) shape, she teaches him actual technique so that he doesn’t end up hurting himself, and she even takes him out to eat with a bunch of her b - boy friends when his acceptance to sopa is finalized. it sparks the start of a very close kinship, expressed by wandering into her room in the middle of the night to ask what a certain word means in this one context or by massaging his calf after a long day of practice.

when jieping actually starts to get some real instruction, he skyrockets. one of the “ best damn dancers in this school ” according to the chair of the department of practical dance, most likely to succeed, his teachers all rave about his potential. the other students grumble about the fact that a non - native –– a boy from across the yellow sea –– is their superior. his area of focus is singular, they gripe. he’s not even interested in pursuing anything else. the only reason the faculty likes him so much is because he could’ve gone to hanlim, and all they expect him to do is dance, anyway. the man can hold a tune, but that’s not exactly difficult to do. so what if he’s actually pretty steady even when dancing ? his rapping is average, and that’s mostly because his grasp of the language isn’t as strong as it could be. a singular skillset and the vestiges of natural talent in other areas aren’t worth all that attention. a lump of clay could become a beautiful vase, but jieping’s never seemed interested in metaphorical pottery. maybe the praise will actually start to seem merited when his grades in everything other than dance stop being terrible.

jieping doesn’t care much when they relentlessly mock his accent, but it does drive him into fluency if only to stop that avenue of attack so he can have his peace and quiet. it’s a pity about his looks, the frequent chin jokes tossed his way, but braces have cleaned him up quite a bit and when he cut his hair ( enough that you could finally see his eyes ) he really wasn’t too bad looking. maybe that’s why he never really gets anywhere until after graduation. in the end, it turned out all the attention he received from the faculty was only meant to keep him from transferring schools when he figured he could get a better education elsewhere. they were waiting for him to seek out companies on his own and leech off of that ( “ we knew he had what it takes ! ” and other -isms thereof ), but when he kept to himself and instead looked into jobs in teaching dance, the favoritism all but vanished in his third year. from “ one of the best ” to “ a very good dancer. ” if only they’d told him how they really felt from the get - go.

“ have you thought about what you wanted to do ? ” his aunt asks him almost a year since he’s been out of school. he helps out at her studio in the meantime, his pockets still lined with her money. it makes sense that she, too, is trying to boot him out of her life –– or, she’s just trying to get him to reach maximum potential, if he wanted to be optimistic. which he didn’t. “ i think you’d do well in the idol circuit. you’re intense. it’s fun to watch you dance, and it’d be a waste to keep it to my studio or the underground when you could have this massive audience. you’ve got that flare about you, y’know ? ”

he thinks of her old boyfriend, the one who almost ruined her life, and makes a face.

“ oh, come on. don’t tell me you didn’t think of it ! you went to school with at least a couple of trainees, didn’t you ? and they didn’t pique your interest at all ? ”

if he shook his head, he’d by lying, but … he’s also something of a realist. him and idol life probably wouldn’t mix –– though not exactly a wild card, he’s got something of an independent streak. he only plays by the rules he likes, and that’s not the most desirable thing for companies looking to hit it big with their next boy group. even the phrase boy group makes him feel a little weird.

his aunt rolls her eyes. “ i know what you’re thinking. you’re too cool or whatever for it, they’ll spend every second of every day trying to control or contain you. i mean, that’d probably be true if you were in midas or msg. but 99’s pretty lax in comparison. koala.t is a maybe. kjh is too new to be reliable, in my opinion, but you could definitely go for the two other ones i mentioned. it’s just something to think about. i can probe around to see who’s currently casting, if you’d like. ” then, as an afterthought, she compliments his shower singing, ruffles his hair, and then flounces away.

jieping scowls at the kitchen counter, sighs, and then makes his choice. he might as well shoot for the stars, right ? even if he misses, he’ll land near the moon.

PART FOUR: DIAMOND IS UNBREAKABLE

99 gets him by chance, a coin that landed on heads leading to him attending two rounds of auditions and an interview.

being added into the company in april of 2010, in the midst of planning poizn out, doesn’t leave him a lot of room for bonding. so he doesn’t really do it. his skill as a dancer is acknowledged by the others, and he’s fine with that. his height intimidates a lot of them, and choreographers grouse about where they should put him in formations so that he doesn’t block people who are ear - height and below. his fairly average performance in rapping and singing is something of a shock, though it’s generally acknowledged among the teachers that he’s nowhere near good enough at either to be given a ‘ lead ’ anything. “ a little boring, ” the vocal teacher says. “ uninspired. but it could be something, if you tried. ” ‘ if ’ being the operative word.

all they know is that he’s a main dancer, through and through. impeccable technique, electrifying ( and just the perfect amount of terrifying ) stage presence. the name of his aunt’s studio sitting prettily at the top of his resumé definitely helps matters, as do his actual good looks once the stylists get their hands on him. he’s got the makings for poizn, they declare. he’s a little surprised. he’s not really friends with the other boys in the lineup, and he’s still something of a greenhorn in 99. to have them push him so far so soon is a little nerve - wracking, and no amount of arm pinching is waking him up from this dream.

what is he going to do when they offer him the spot ? say no ?

and so that’s that.

being an idol is an … acquired taste. he doesn’t expect everything about him to be so relentlessly marketed. his dry humor, which he’d been using to endear himself to his group mates, is suddenly now his shtick. his name ? steele ? some reference about how he’s a tough guy, unbendable, and flashy and shiny all at the same time. sturdy, holds the group’s performances together with his undeniable skill. it’s all coming up roses.

their reputation starts to take a few hits because of scandals before long ( what does 99 expect when looking for bad boys to fit the concept, anyway ? ), but jieping pays it no heed. he likes to think of himself as a good friend, offering support where the others need it, but he also manages to keep himself afloat by 1. ) staying out of trouble and 2. ) looking as if he doesn’t approve of his members’ choices in public. widened eyes as someone dodges a question about a past scandal and stretched lips that indicate a level of ‘ oh jeez ’ are enough to make him go viral for brief moments at a time. for a while, he’s the ‘ good ’ member ( if not the condescending foreigner ), even when cures realize he’s prone to somewhat malicious teasing. he does a good job of masking the slight resentment and weariness of being around constant fuck - ups.

but this good faith doesn’t last long.

2016. dumb and dumber. jacket shooting. he lets his temper get the best of him, becoming one of those rich idiots he hates the most.

( all because of a missed phone call. if he’d slept at an appropriate hour instead of practicing all night, he might’ve been able to catch his mother one last time. semi meets sedan. who’s going to win ?

the public never finds out about this. )

“ what do you think you’re doing ? ” it’s not so much of a roar as a boom. everyone freezes, even his group mates look up at the normally pleasant and quiet man with shock. “ you’re in my light, you idiot ! how is the photographer supposed to take pictures of me when i’m drenched in your shadow ? no, don’t walk that way. knowing you, you’ll just trip over the cable and take out the thing entirely. do you guys just fuckin’ hire anybody these days ? jesus christ. dumb and dumber. guess this song’s about you, huh, moron ? ”

shaky cell phone camera. shaken production assistant. jieping goes viral again. for all the wrong reasons, of course.

at least he realized he’s messed up. every comment that calls him out for his shitty treatment of this particular staff member is absolutely right. he shouldn’t have snapped like that. no matter how tired, no matter how stressed, no matter the deep grief paining his heart, nothing warranted taking it all out on someone who was just trying to do their job. it would have taken less than ten seconds to politely ask the p.a. to move. he might’ve received a smile and apology in return, rather than a young woman bursting into tears. he hates that there are cures that come to his defense. he wants to call them out, but after posting a handwritten apology on instagram, 99 strongly implies that they’d like him to keep mum, more consequences forthcoming.

this isn’t what he wanted. when he calls his aunt for advice, it’s the first time where she doesn’t know what to tell him. she’s disappointed in him, that much is clear in her voice, and he feels even shittier. “ i didn’t think you were that kind of person. ” he’s not, and he isn’t sure if she believes him. but she goes with him, hand in hand, to the funeral back in guangzhou, and it seems like all is forgiven, even if he never ended up explaining himself.

he’s only allowed to be there for two days and he’ll half to spend half of their promotion time benched. nobody recognizes him, mask covering his face, though there’s a slight murmur that maybe tall jieping grew up into this giant after all. he doesn’t make a fuss when he comes back, and 99 pretends that he never left. fans are none the wiser, though jieping’s sure the information is floating around somewhere now.

( his first reappearance on a music show is lukewarm. it doesn’t surprise him that the cheers are quieter than usual. )

poizn looks empty without their main dancer, someone says. if jieping had any amount of sense, he’d leave that empty space for brighter skies. maybe become a recluse like his aunt, teaching other young hopefuls to dance. she really did see a lot of herself in him, didn’t she ?

jieping’s mother didn’t raise a quitter, though, so that kills the thought immediately. it comes to a halt with a crunch of glass and steel.

PART FIVE: GOLDEN WIND

even though it’s two years in the past, 99 still reminds jieping to keep on his toes whenever interacting with anybody. his resting bitch face did him no favors as soon as his snark became an unfavorable mark upon him. he has to be neutral or friendly. no in between. if he can manage to work his way up to happy without looking terrifying, then that’s even better. but any ounce of negative emotion will be read for filth, so it’s in his best interest to stay away from anything pointing downward.

forgiveness comes slowly, given a slight boost when it comes out ( against jieping’s will ) that he personally apologized to the p.a. in question and even took her out to a dinner that went around six figures –– all out of his own pocket. but that’s not enough, because they’re all just waiting for him to scream at someone else.

he’s only two years away from turning thirty, so he figures he should start to act like it. and he does, stopping to think about things from an ‘ adult ’ and ‘ responsible ’ perspective as opposed to ‘ well, i’m doing just fine all on my own. ’ he sacrifices his isolationist tendencies for kindness and encouragement, wanting to show his juniors and the public alike that he’s grown up and decided to show that he really is a good person, just caught at the wrong time.

he tries to pick up where his aunt left off with her vague but pleasant advice, aiming for a wise - beyond - his - years vibe. and if all else fails, then he could at least be the calm respectful one sitting in the back. adult, jieping reminds himself. with a capital a. songs like love scenario and rubber band hinder this a little bit, at least on stage, but he finds that perseverance is the key to everything. so he’ll just keep working at it until he finds himself where he wants to be.

he doesn’t need to hole himself up in a fancy apartment in seoul, waiting for a cousin’s kid to show up and tell him that they enjoy b - boying. he doesn’t have to be a repeat of his aunt. he can claw his way back to the not - top.

it’s not like a guy who stands at 6’ 5” can afford to be scared of heights, after all.