#cornelia was actually really cool to do

[sso-montana]

Cornelia Saint-Claire

I bet she's a bitch; her ego must be so demanding But coincidence takes a whole lot of planning watch and learn (Ah) emulate me (Ah) watch and learn

Rosse: Coincidence

Cornelia belongs to @salty-medley

[jfleamont]

Hey for your jily muse, out of order <3

Okay this is unforgivable, I know. You sent this prompt over two months ago. TWO. This ask has been sitting in my inbox since the 18th of January, so you probably won't even remember sending this but I promise you I've been thinking about it constantly and waiting to have free time to work on it and I have this tendency to leave things unfinished so this is me working through that as well lol

Without further ado, here it is ❤️

Out of Order - 744 words

Evans is in the boys' bathroom. She's in the boys' bathroom and she's crying.

One of her hands is gripping the sink, while the other fruitlessly wipes the tears that keep escaping.

She hasn't noticed his arrival, and Sirius doesn't bother clearing his throat. “I'm sure there's a perfectly logical reason for this.”

She makes a startled noise and turns to face him, her expression a mixture of anger and sadness. It's comical, really, so Sirius laughs.

“There is,” she mutters as she wipes her nose with the sleeve of her jumper. Her voice lacks the edge she usually aims at him— and at James, too, though Sirius can't help but notice a slight difference there.

He walks towards her and hands her his monogrammed tissue - he's never used it for this purpose specifically, but it has proved to be useful during the occasional prank or after a rough full moon - which she grabs immediately. She doesn't thank him, but he doesn't expect her to.

“Ah well, that's all I needed to know. It's not like you're invading my personal space or something.”

She lifts an eyebrow and eyes him curiously, looking more like her usual self. “I'm sorry, is there a plaque or an inscription that I haven't noticed? Does House Black monogram bathrooms as well as tissues?”

“Not that I'm aware of, no. Don't give my mother ideas, though, she might actually try to do that.”

She makes an attempt at a smile, but it quickly turns into a quiet sob.

“Apparently there can only be one crying girl per bathroom, and Myrtle has claimed the one across the corridor as hers so it's out of order,” she explains as she tries to regain control of her emotions, “and I thought this one was empty since everyone is heading down to watch the match.”

“You were right... for the most part. Why aren't you going then?”

“No reason,” she replies, her voice even, but she's not looking at him.

Sirius thinks he knows why. He suspects it has to do with the good luck kiss that Cornelia Kettleburn gave James at breakfast and how quickly Lily disappeared after that.

“Cool. I'm not going either. Fancy going to the Astronomy tower for a smoke?”

She looks taken aback. “I— wait, why aren't you going?”

In truth Sirius wants to go, and James is going to kill him for this, but lately he's been claiming that he no longer has feelings for Lily, and Sirius hates being lied to, so technically this is just payback.

“James got on my nerves so I'm skipping the match in protest,” he adds with a shrug and it's the truth, because it wouldn't be fair to lie. “So, are we smoking or not? Got a fag I can borrow?”

She's not an idiot: she knows this is an olive branch of sorts. Sirius can tell she's deciding whether to believe him or not; after a moment she sighs, and Sirius knows he's won.

“Haven't you got your own? Merlin, you're cheap,” she says while producing a pack of cigarettes from her satchel and handing it to him, a smirk on her face. He's glad to see that she seems to have calmed down significantly.

“I'm trying to quit so I stopped carrying them around,” he replies and grabs one, putting it in the breast pocket of his vest.

“Looks like it's working,” she notes as she fixes her appearance in front of the mirror and readies herself to leave the room.

“Absolutely.”

“Why are you mad at Potter anyway? Thought you two were inseparable,” she asks as she walks towards the door, a step ahead of him so that he can't see her face.

“Can't tell you, it's a secret.”

She huffs. “You lot are starting to sound ridiculous with all these secrets,” she whips her head towards him, her disapproval clear on her face, though he's almost certain this is just another way of disguising her curiosity. “Is this little group of yours a cult or something?”

“It's a counterculture,” he explains as he exits the bathroom, “how else are we going to beat those bigoted dickheads? The only way to fight a cult is with another cult.”

He's just joking, but the idea doesn't sound half bad to his ears.

Apparently Lily disagrees, because she snorts. Loudly. “Not sure about that logic but you do you, I guess.”

“Thanks for the support.”

“Anytime, Black.”

[slotumn]

Apparently I'm having a lot of 3H worldbuilding thoughts this weekend. This post is on: on what Adrestia (+Agartha) was after, exactly, by invading Faerghus first in most routes

So the ideological/political explanation is that Faerghus is close to the Church and will defend them so you automatically have to go after them if you go after Church etc etc very cool, but what do they get, materially, by going into the frozen north first thing? That they don't have as much of in Adrestia (or Leicester)?

Metal and mines, apparently:

On top of this, regions adjacent to Faerghus— Duscur and Sreng— are also known for metalwork and weaponry.

Of course you can say it's because the Slithers have deeper infiltration up north (with their involvement with Duscur and Western Church plus Cornelia) so that obviously makes it easier, but I think it's the other way around. Meaning, I think the Slithers put more effort into infiltrating Faerghus because of the metal resources.

Following from that, I think the decision to invade Faerghus first in non-CF routes was a compromise between Edelgard/Adrestians and the Slithers, where Edelgard gets the ideological/political points but Slithers get the material benefits. Ideological stuff listed above aside, if you want to do wide social/civil reforms and make Fódlan less myopic, wouldn't it be more practical to take over the country with fertile farmlands and ports and industry and finance and trade first?

Well, that's what the Empire does in CF, where the Adrestian side presumably has more leverage on operations thanks to having Byleth and the Creator Sword on their side. Situation's a bit different in Hopes but I think it's interesting that in SB, the official invasion as led by Adrestia (instead of Lonato jumping the gun) does end up waiting until after securing the pact with Leicester.

Back to Houses though, it's not hard to see why Slithers want metal and mines. They want to make weapons, and not just regular weapons, they're out here making big fucking mechs. Probably fantasy computers (which also require metals, including precious metals) to operate them, too.

And on the one hand, seeing the Agarthans drag all the actual spoils off to their underground lair so they can make whatever fucked up weapon that they'll use for their own goals probably pissed the Adrestians off. But on the other hand, what can they do when the Agarthans are also providing the military technology (ex: Aymr) that the Adrestians use for their own goals?

Given all this, I think in non-CF routes, by the time Byleth wakes up again, the Empire is actually in a far worse state than we think. The Adrestian troops who are actually doing the fighting are stuck up north where they haven't made much progress in years, and any material gains they have there just go straight into Slither pockets. Back in Enbarr, the Adrestians and Agarthans hate each other even more than they already did at the beginning of the war and are probably doing everything they can to sabotage and spy on one another, while fighting a war on the same side.

At that point, the greatest common motivation the Adrestians and Agarthans would have in finishing up conquering the continent is probably the prospect of finally getting to go at it with one another.

And the letter Hubert leaves in SS/VW telling Byleth about the Slithers: the suddenness of that plot point aside, let's just appreciate how petty (complimentary) that is, politically. "I know you killed us and all, but we really hate the guys we were doing this group project (war) with. Can you kill them too. Thanks."

Tl;dr the Adrestian-Agarthan war councils in non-CF routes probably gave multiple people high blood pressure

[random-brain-dumps]

I made a post about having random headcanons or au's for characters in books, shows, movies, etc. These are sometimes based on a little truth or sometimes 100% unrelated to the character. I wanted to share a few more! As I did last time, I'll try to provide as much explanation as possible, but sometimes there really isn't any as it's my own fantasy. As it's Pride Month, I'll share a few pride headcanons I have!

-Norway (Hetalia): he's a vegetarian (or vegan) (I have no reason for this hc, it just came to me one day and I thought it would be interesting if the other nordics struggled to comprehend Norway not eating meat, eggs, or dairy with them at the dinner table at first, then getting used to it and learning more vegetarian and vegan recipes)

-Piper McLean (The Percy Jackson series): she knows a lot about cars and is very interested in them. She enjoys watching NASCAR (There's not really much reason for this hc; all I can think of is her being a tomboy and stealing a BMW with her Charmspeak; maybe stealing a car made her realize how much she likes them; everyone at Camp Half-Blood, especially the new younger kids, think she's really cool for it; her girlfriend loves it 😏)

-Henry Winter (The Secret History): is so deep in his Dark Academia Lifestyle that he forces himself to do things he doesn't like just because he thinks it looks cool (I can specifically imagine him being far too stubborn to get electric lights for his home and only using his lanterns and candles because of the aesthetic, even though the low yellow lighting ruins his eyes and gives him even more headaches)

-Ponyboy Curtis and Johnny Cade (The Outsiders): they kissed once while in the abandoned church and vowed to never speak of it again (mostly based on the way they interact in the movie - Johnny getting Pony a copy of Gone With the Wind, them watching the sunset like they're in a romance film, snuggling in the church; they probably felt flustered and embarassed about it; I realized I wasn't the only one who thought they looked a little fruity together when I watched clips and read the comments 💀)

-Tori Vega and Jade West (Victorious): Jade hated Tori in the beginning because of jealousy, then grew to like her and become attracted to her, and Tori shares the same feelings (Jade subconsciously tries to test Tori to see if she can handle her, but Tori is tough; Tori also admires Jade and stands up to her, while also caring about her; despite them bickering, Tori is almost always willing to help Jade; they have some soft moments in the show; NickRewind even made a video about Tori and Jade being a good couple)

-Scipio Massimo/Fortunato (The Thief Lord): He is attracted to boys (I actually have this backed up! Cornelia Funke (the author) had responded to a tweet: a fan asked if, hypothetically, Scipio had a girlfriend, how would she be like, and Cornelia answered "I think he would fall in love with a boy"! So maybe this could be considered canon? Even though it's not in the book? You can find this tweet if you scroll for a while on Cornelia Funke's Twitter; I had this hc before I saw the tweet, and I don't have any reason for it)

[haveyouseenthis-childhoodshow]

Have you seen this childhood show: Jane and the Dragon (2005-2006), Canada and Aotearoa (New Zealand)(English)

Commentary/Context/Memories: No user commentary.

[Mod A: OMG this unlocked a memory for me! This show is kinda freaky with the mo-cap animation today, but it was a pretty interesting show (haven’t seen it since it came out so idk). I was a huge Alanna of Trebond girl because I thought it was so cool how she was the best fighter in the kingdom with a sword; this show is basically the same premise as those books except with a dragon sidekick! Jane was supposed to train to be a lady in waiting, but when the Prince is kidnapped by a dragon, she secretly sets out to slay the dragon, only to actually meet and become besties with the dragon instead as Dragon can talk and is over 300 years old (this context is in the theme song not the actual show). The rest of the show is based around the shenanigans Jane gets up to while training as a knights apprentice (her reward for saving the Prince) in a fictional English castle and her relationships with all the people who live there. Dragon helps Jane do her patrols (by letting her ride on his back) and she helps Dragon discover his family (as he is an orphan). I had a women knight phase when I was younger (with Alanna, Joan of Arc, the Princess Knight by Cornelia Funke, Jane from this show and later Brienne of Tarth) and I am still obsessed with women knights today (so can it really be called a phase if it never ended haha)]

[myrammmortal]

Chapter 23, shut up bich! Birch! Bitch! Yeah, that one!

AN: dhut da fok up biches!1 ur jus jelos koz I gut 10000 reviowz!1 fangz 2 raven 4 da help n telin me bout da boox gurlu rok letz go shopin 2getha!

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX666XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The door opened and Proffesor Rumbridge and Cornelia Fudge stomped out angrily. Then Till and Rumbridge sawed us.

“MR. WAY WHAT THE BEEP ARE YOU DOING!” Rumbridge shouted angrily. Till blared at her.

“Oops she made a mistake!” he corrupted her. “She means hi everybody cum in!” (in what?)

Well we all came in angrily. So did all the other students. I sat between Oliver and Richard and opposite Frau Schneider. Crab and Goyle started 2 make some morbid jokes. They both looked exactly like Ville Vollo. I eight some Count Chocula and nine som coffee from a cup, I normally use my hands. Then I herd someone shooting angrily. I looked behind me it was………Vampire! He and Richard were shooting at eachother. It was really impressive for Richard to be sitting next to me while shooting at Potter.

“Vampire, Richard WTF?” I asked.

“You fucking bustard!” yelled Richard at Vampire. “I want to shit next to her!1”

“No I do!” shouted.

“No she doesn’t fucking like u, you son of a bitch!” yelled Richard.

“No fuck you motherfucker she laves me not you!” shouted Vampire. And then……………… he jumped on Richard! (no not in dat way u perv) They started to fight and beat up each other. I begged them to stop trying to shit next to me, I prefer my bathroom time to be my alone time but they didn't listen to me. It must be my radiant beauty curse again.

Till yelled at them but they didn’t stop. All of a sudden…… a terrible man with red eyes and no nose flew in on his broomstick. He had no nose and was wearing a gray robe. All the glass in the window he flew thru fell apart. Also he had no nose in case that wasn't clear. Britney (that bitch that does have a nose) that fucking prep started to cry. Vampire and Richard stopped fighting….I shopped eating….Everyone gasped. Da room fell silent………………….Volzemort!

“Paul Darkness Omnipotentia Landers…..Paul Darkness Omnipotentia Landers…….” Darth Valer sed evilly in his raspy voice. “Thou havfe failed ur mission. Now I shall kill thou and I shall kill Vampire as well. If thou does not kill him before then I shall kill Richard too!”

“Plz don’t make me kill him plz!” I begged.

“No!” he laughed crudely. “Kill him, or I shall kill him anyway!” Then he flew away cackling. I guess he didn't plan on checking I actually killed someone. Which is bad practice for an evil overlord. Always make sure your victim does as they're told. That's just Evil 101 and I totally had that in this sad excuse for a school because I'm goffik.

I bust into tears. Richard and Vampire came to contort me. Suddenly my eyes rolled up so they looked all cool and gothic. I had a vision were I saw some lighting flash and then Voldremot coming to kill Richard while Richard slit his wrists in a depressed way. Less work for Evil Overlord McGee if he does it himself I guess?

“No!” I screamed sexily. Suddenly I locked up and stopped having the vision.

“Paul Darkness Dementia Raven Way Landers Paul Darkness Dementia Raven Way Landers aure you alright?” asked Richard in a worried voice.

“Yeah yeah.” I said sadly as I got up.

“Everyfing’s all right Paul Shadow Edgelord Omnipotentia Landers.” said Vampire all sensetive.

“No its not!” I shouted angrily. Tearz of blood went down my face. “OMFG what if I’m getting possessed like in Da Ring 2!”

“Its ok gurl.” said Frau Schneider. “Maybe u should ask Proffesor Sinister about what the visions mean though.”

“Ok bich.” I said sadly and den we went. 

[kresnikcest]

uhhh hello. i was recommended xillia 2 as a cool (background) sibling relationship and pointed to your blog specifically, and i've been scrolling through your posts but i have absolutely no idea what's going on lmaoo ;-; uh. please, please don't feel pressured to if you're too busy or tired or just don't want to, but could you possibly direct me to some starting resources 👉👈

.......... i thought it was kaira but it was actually @asphaltaxismundi who recced me and x2 omg thanks <3 (i have also heard good things about FMA 2003, it's on my list for whenever i fall out of love with X2, but i third it!)

i'm warning you now though x2 is not a media you consume from start to finish because. yeah they're almost entirely built up in Japanese-only side material. if you play the game you'll be pretty disappointed, but the manga's English translation is incomplete... hhhhhhh

so i'm just gonna write you an abridged recap of them and if you're still interested i'll collect all the links to the translated stuff... be warned, this is LONG. i have so many feelings about them.

Ludger is 20, Julius is 28, Ludger's memory of things is that Julius raised him. They live together in an apartment in the big city with their cat, Rollo.

Ludger admires the hell out of Julius and wants to be just like him and join the company that Julius works for so he can follow in Julius' footsteps. His personality varies across adaptations/player choices, he can be quiet and polite or outspoken and kind of snarky but canonically he does always hold Julius in high esteem, even if he's mad at him for being secretive. And Julius is SO secretive.

Julius is supportive of Ludger and cares a lot for him, and especially adores Ludger's cooking. He's super popular with girls because he's high-key famous, but he's like. brocon of all time. Literally just adores the crap out of Ludger. He's like the archetypal sweet caring protective big brother character tbh.

(manga scans are by blasteriifx and the translation is by flagfighter unless otherwise noted)

(He seems quite stern when you first meet him in this setting, but he's actually like. the SOFTEST--)

I don't want to explain too much about Xillia 2 lore because I assume you just want the fun sibling stuff, but basically, their family is part of a clan of people called the Kresnik clan who can inherit special powers (called the Chromatus) that are necessary for completing what is called "Origin's Trial", and if they fail all humans will die.

The company that Julius works for, Spirius Corporation, is run by a branch of the Kresnik clan, and specifically by Bisley Bakur, Ludger and Julius' father (though Ludger's doesn't know he's their father).

Bisley is making the most concentrated effort to complete the Trial, but the Chromatus is rare (and using it will eventually kill the person) and he's very pragmatic about saving humanity and will do anything and use anyone to do so, including his family, and Julius discovers this eventually just before he meets Ludger which causes him to cut ties with his father and hate him.

(Not necessarily Bisley's fault though, Julius was born when he was 15 years old and the woman who would eventually become his wife, Cornelia, was 22 and his family tutor, so it's pretty much implied Bisley's family were equally pragmatic about things.)

So after Julius' mother dies working on the Trial (Julius eventually comes to believe Bisley sacrificed her, and canon sort of agrees with him), Bisley sleeps with Cornelia's sister Claudia (Ludger's mother), who runs away when she finds out her son will have a Chromatus, leaving behind Julius who she'd mostly been raising in his parents' absence.

One thing I haven't really touched upon is that Julius is fucked up as a kid, especially once Claudia is out of the picture. Having a Chromatus and working on the Trial involves going into alternate universes, and destroying those universes (usually by killing a specific person who's most different to the "real" world), so people who inherit the Chromatus are basically committing a lot of murder… Julius has been doing it since he was 11, and since the company line is "those worlds aren't real", he eventually gets into the mentality of "if the world is going to be destroyed, you can do whatever you want" so he and another teenager start competing to see who can kill the most people in the AU worlds.

Anyway, 13 year old Julius accidentally finds where Claudia and 5 year old Ludger are in hiding, and Claudia freaks out and thinks he's there to take Ludger back to Bisley. It's not even clear if she recognises Julius is her nephew, but she tries to kill him and Julius kills her in self-defence.

(My machine translation this time. Also his hair's the wrong colour, idk why none of the official art ever remembers that Ludger's black hair is dyed as a teenager. he's supposed to have all silver-white hair as a child)

(By the way, Ludger and Julius are half-brothers and cousins. This isn't relevant to anything except it makes their family tree look a little bit fucked up, which I personally find hilarious.)

Ludger gets amnesia from the trauma and no longer remembers his mother or her death. Canon gets questionable around here, but it's pretty universally agreed upon that Julius adopts Ludger so he can take advantage of using Ludger's Chromatus pocketwatch (which will make Julius more powerful).

He doesn't really care for Ludger himself, so they're pretty distant for two years even though Ludger just thinks his big brother is the coolest, but eventually...

You, my half-brother through our father, and my cousin. You who had lost your mother, the only family you had. I spoke to you warmly through the pain, I got close to you, and I took you home with me. I faked our blood ties to take your watch as my own, just so I could make myself stronger. I wasn’t worried at all about the fate of my very young relative. All I wanted was power. It was selfish of me. And still… You had burned your hands, clumsily preparing dinner. You waited for me to come home, looked straight at me and told me “welcome home” with a smile. It changed that awful me.

7 year old Ludger, wanting to make a small show of gratitude and make his brother happy, made a clumsy attempt at cooking. He discovered his brother’s favourite food, and presented him with a tomato dish. Julius had always been cold, but his lips quivered and he smiled, looking as though he was about to cry. Seeing that smiling face, Ludger finally understood that he was needed.

Or as I like to summarise it...

Julius: oh shit this kid loves me

And then he learned morals for him. And how could he not. Look at this sweet child

(flagfighter's translation)

SO. For the next thirteen years they grow pretty close and chill with each other and are wholesome and sweet and it's adorable because Ludger doesn't even have that much of a social life outside of Julius? Like it's mostly unintentional because Ludger needs to befriend the prequel game cast when he's 20, but after he graduates high school he stops talking to the two (2) shortlived high school friends he had and is more worried about...

(my machine translation)

Meanwhile you remember Julius is constantly lying for years and years about all the murder he's doing and that he killed Ludger's mother and Ludger knows NOTHING, he's just spending what free time Julius has off-work being cute and arguing Rollo's diet ;-;

“Only because you keep feeding him canned food when it’s not time for a meal. Don’t you think he’s gotten fat?” Julius picked Rollo up and nuzzled their noses together. “He’s saying you’re fat, but you look perfectly healthy to me, don’t you, Rollo?” “Meow!” “Stop that, if a cat’s fat it’s because of the owner. Do you know how dangerous it is to a cat’s health if they’re overweight, Julius?” Ludger’s lecture continued on, but Julius found his scolding pleasant. He took a sip of coffee and murmured that it tasted good, then diligently listened to his brother’s lecturing.

So Julius has been hiding Ludger's existence from official records to protect him from their father. When Ludger tries to apply to join Spirius, Julius sabotages him and rigs his exam so he'll fail. Ludger is bummed out but accepts that he couldn't make it and eventually gets a different job as a train station cook. Unfortunately on his first day the place gets attacked by terrorists and Ludger ends up meeting Bisley, Bisley sort of gloats to Julius that he knows Ludger exists now, and Julius just decides right then and there to murder him.

The manga adds additional context from Ludger's POV and i adore it for that ;-;

But yes, Julius is canonically ready to just murder the fuck out of their dad right in front of Ludger if it keeps Ludger away from the Trial. Which is already quite delightful... Then Ludger gets unknowingly dropped into an alternate universe where that version of Julius is trying to kill both Bisley and Ludger because Ludger met Bisley and admired him and chose him over Julius...

Anyway, after that, Julius is framed for trying to assassinate the CEO and goes on the run, while Ludger is eventually blackmailed into joining Spirius and using his Chromatus. Julius refuses to explain anything to Ludger and keeps trying to keep him out of things, which Ludger finds frustrating, and Ludger does find out that Julius sabotaged him earlier, but the manga makes it pretty clear that in the end they're both just worried about each other.

(revised machine translation proofread by yume-x-hanabi)

I won't recap the rest of the story, but I'll do a quick note that there's a lullaby Julius hums to Ludger called the Hymn of Proof.

(old not great machine translation but i can't be bothered to open photoshop and fix it)

Which btw in the game Julius describes as "a song about longing to see someone". This scene, btw, is immediately followed by Julius trying to kidnap Elle (the little girl Ludger befriends who is unbeknownst to both of them, Ludger's daughter from an AU world), because he can use her powers. I kind of love it when Julius switches between seeming so fond and sweet and then getting very serious.

But, ultimately Julius just wants Ludger to be happy. When he sees Ludger is desperate to save Elle, he understands that sentiment because he feels the same devotion to Ludger. The manga plays it out a little differently though...

Anyway Julius pretty much disappears from the plot after this point, and eventually returns for the endgame. I mentioned earlier that the Chromatus will kill its users eventually, and Julius is actually secretly dying, and once he dies he will create an AU world and disappear from the "real" world.

And near the end of the game, it's revealed that a specific human sacrifice is needed to reach the Land of Canaan (plot important place to complete the Trial) and stop Bisley and save Elle (who went with Bisley to protect Ludger), and the only options left are Julius or Ludger. Julius, of course, offers his own life, because he's already dying, and encourages Ludger to come and kill him.

Even for the sake of saving the world...

And well. Here I will leave you with the two ways this goes down.

Ludger refuses to kill Julius (bonus: unused dialogue)

Ludger agrees to kill Julius

Both are pretty tragic, but they sort of feed into each other. If Julius dies, the world he creates is a world where everything is peaceful and everyone, even Bisley, is alive, but if you pay attention to the NPC dialogue (not shown in the video) it becomes... very obvious that Ludger is not friends with any of the characters he is in the Prime Dimension, and that this is a world where Elle will never exist, not as Ludger's daughter or in any other form.

Which ties directly into the ending where Julius lives, and he admits a world where Ludger chose him over everything else is 'maybe' the world he wanted too.

And it FUCKS ME UP SO MUCH that Julius never ever EVER makes that known? Yes it's known he adores Ludger yes he tries to take Elle from Ludger (ultimately for pragmatic reasons, he needs Elle's specific powers, but I wouldn't say he's not not jealous that she's proof Ludger will leave him) but given he immediately changes his mind when Ludger is so attached to her he's willing to risk his life for her, Julius is NOT openly possessive over Ludger and that makes me lose my mind. Like deep deep down he does want Ludger all to himself but, consciously? What's more important to him is Ludger's happiness.

Meanwhile Ludger... loves his friends, certainly loves Elle, and it's easy to forget because Julius is so rarely relevant in the main story, but Julius is also so important to him. He didn't even want to leave Julius as an adult. Even if he agrees to kill him, it's devastating...

There is also a story parallel I didn't touch upon, which is Elle's father, the alternate version of Ludger. He also murdered his friends to protect his daughter from Bisley (who wanted to use Elle to save their world), but he also murdered his version of Julius, and years later he can say that in the end Julius only cared about protecting Ludger. It's uncertain because Victor isn't a very reliable narrator, but you can pretty clearly see where the parallels are that, Ludger can do pretty horrible things to protect the people he loves, and Julius can supersede Ludger's happiness in favour of keeping him alive.

(Mind you, X2 literally ripped me away from the depths of my SPN obsession and has now surpassed the length of time that my SPN rennaissance lasted, so I did initially go into X2 thinking Julius was perhaps controlling and Ludger wanted his own space, except... no... and it's devastating...)

But then we get the little fun bits of Bad Ending Ludger's thoughts and the guidebook summary and the staff commentary and the music that plays being called "the bond more important than anything else"...

I am so normal about them. They love each other so much.

I know you were specifically asking about sibling stuff but, yeah Xillia 2 all around is so good for non-romantic "I'm gonna murder people to save the person I love" feelings. Which is why if you looked at my recent posts it's not actually about the brothers 😂

anyway if you actually got to reading all this rambling you could maybe... reach out to me again... and i'll yell some more about them with actual sources and better explanations...

[hapigairu]

@deathbirby mentioned you on a post “when I read a 3h fic involving the nabats I...”:

@hapigairu lol go right ahead

​Thank you!

So... um... I thought the idea of the fic was to have Edelgard in the Blue Lions or something? Why does it look like a retelling of CF? "rhea forces edelgard to transform into a nabatean and it's very body horror-ish. she's like a mad scientist, completely crazy, insane, delusional and everything you would expect from CF fanfic rhea." That sounds like something Cornelia would do, not Rhea. Dunno how cruel Rhea is supposed to be there, but the whole mad-scientist with horror-ish vibes is very much a Cornelia thing. I am very confused. "rhea talks about the red canyon tragedy and seteth even mentions how he's heard her screaming at night babbling for her mother to come save her and it's just.. kinda shrugged off cuz bad things in past doesnt let you do bad things now (hmmm hypocrisy)" I mean... that's true that you can't justify doing terrible things because you had a traumatic past, obviously... Except Edelgard can for some reason? What? Also if someone's traumatised to the point of "screaming at night" (though I don't think Rhea would do that, I could see her crying when she's alone though), maybe don't shrug it off and help them regardless of what they've done? Which... Rhea did some questionable things (and still it wasn't out of malice at all), but absolutely nothing so evil that she should be denied compassion or help? Am I crazy in thinking that?

"also something where the holy tomb splits or something (rhea had a hand in that im pretty sure because of course) and sothis's dragon corpse is in there and that alone makes draconic features appear on the nabateans (pretty sick idea all things considered)" Splits? But yeah, that's a neat idea (the whole draconic features thing)! "edelgard's sibling (???) is a massive rhea simp and very zealous because of course"

Sibling? Okay, why not. Maybe they didn't all die, which... good for them and Edelgard! I don't think it's a bad idea at all, especially since the drama potential can be very strong. But how did they end up simping for Rhea if they were basically prisoner of the Agarthans? How does that happen? I'm guessing it's explained, but... it better be a very good explanation for it to make sense. And yeah... of course you can't like Rhea without being a zealot. *sighs* "the agarthans are more sympathetic?? like you can have an agarthan standing next to seteth without him losing his shit. also the holy tomb is apparently an alien mothership now because why not (thales said that. why is thales even alive idk)" The Agarthans are just so comically evil that I can understand wanting to flesh them out and add some complexities to them. Personally, I'd like to think that some Agarthans living in Shamballah are really not cool with what Thales and the others are doing, but freedom isn't exactly a thing in Shamballah when it comes to "Surface Dweller Sympathisers" or something like that. Cause no group is a monolith and surely, there must a minority of them -however tiny- not okay with their leaders? Like, younger people who are just done with having to hear about Thales' hate spiel and just want to live their damn lives? Idk, maybe I'm completely off-base with this lol. But yeah, I can't see Seteth be totally calm and collected when someone who likely participated in murdering his race stands near him. Just... nope. "epic final battle against rhea! you got edelgard, hubert, jeralt(??) and byleth all up against rhea! and she holds her own quite well. and then byleth gets knocked out and sothis takes control to scold rhea. and because even her own mom is against her rhea loses her will to live (not literally but she actually does lose her immortality as punishment??)" That's...uh... huh. Sothis is a bad mom and somehow it's her daughter's fault because it's always her fault? Seems a bit fucked up if you ask me. "oh and you get fun moments where edelgard yells at rhea during the fight and throws arguments at her. she thrust nobility onto humanity (false), she made herself a false idol (??), etc." Ah, yes. Rhea is the reason why nobility exist. What's that? What about Brigid and Almyra? The fact that they have nobility shall be either ignored or still be Rhea's fault somehow. And like, we don't know exactly how the Church was created IIRC? Yeah, Rhea had a hand in it, but she wasn't the only one I'm guessing? It reminds of a fanart where -after the battle against Nemesis- some soldiers said they fought for her and she was really moved. Really nice fanart, hats off to whoever did it. "if im not mistaken, the author of the fic is a "agarthans are actually natives and sothis was a colonist" believer. so that should give you a general idea." Yeah, that checks out. It's such a shame that, for all the discussion about how everyone is supposedly morally grey (lol), not many people are actually trying to give Rhea and the Nabateans nuances. She's far from perfect (and she knows it actually) and she has so much potential as a morally-greyish but ultimately good person. But not even KT/IS (IS a bit more with FEH) are interested in being fair to her, so it's no surprise most people aren't either. And, ofc, no hate to the author. It's just disappointing to see that the Rhea hate is so prevalent.

[fireemblems24]

Azure Gleam Ch 6

Dimitri fans stay winning. The only route where I actually feel the need to put spoilers in the title - at least for anyone who's played Three Houses.

STORY

Oh, wait, we DON'T fight at Arianrhod battle? Count Rowe falls off screen? Man, Edelgard taking Ls all over the place.

I love how Arianrhod is unconquorable but fell right away. Lamo.

Is Edelgard keeping Aruendel imprisoned? I thought she had no clue where he was.

Dimitri struggled with his revenge issue for a moment there.

Annette is so smol. 😭

The way Dimitri says "Imperial snake" with so much venom.

Someone came with terrible news. Count Rowe escaped. Should've just killed him.

Oh, wait, they got attacked by mages. That's TWSITD? And Dimitri knows they're behind Duscur? Suspecting Cornelia is behind it. Glad that we'll get to deal with her again. She's a great villain.

MAP & SIDE BATTLES

Mannnn between the hurricane, not having internet, and last week being a nightmare for work, it's been sooooo long since I played AG. I had most of GW Ch 6 done when the hurricane came through, so it really has been like 2, 3 weeks? (not that I'm complaining, the flooding is just getting even worse in some areas)

Ahhhhh, I'm always so happy when I remember Flayn and Seteth are on this map.

Man, thinking about Post-CF Flayn makes me so sad. Like I know some people think it's oh so great she and Seteth can live, but they'll spend the next few hundred years on the run, terrified to trust anyone with their true identity. And Flayn hates that. She wants to hang out with friends and go to school. The fact she gets that teased and gets tossed into an even worse way of life if she survives CF is so sad. And she has to see everyone celebrate Rhea's death and act like her race is responsible for human greed too.

Ingrid knew Miklain was abusing Sylvain 😭

Dimitri's no nonsense. He's like "if Miklain acts up, kill him" to the soldiers. Like, that's hardcore.

Mannnn, Sylvain is interesting here. He's supporting Dimitri's decision with Miklain I'm betting in no small part because he wants to undo the reliance on crests and knows Miklain could help that.

The bubble over Felix says "It really pisses me off." So Felix being Felix. Annnnd Felix is annoyed with Dimitri for not telling him everything. So more Felix talking about Dimitri, lamo.

Man, the Blue Lions are always so intense. Everyone here is talking about Miklain or Ashe finding a way to deal with Lonato's death or Duscur generals talking about murdered family. AG goes hard.

Ohhh, if Dedue trusts Duke Infan, than I do too.

I was right about Dimitri and Count Gloucester, he just admired Rowe for surrendering quickly and sparing the people.

I get to kill Count Varley. Cool.

Why does Dimitri know so much about which plants you can eat 😅

ASHE & DEDUE C SUPPORT

Ashe is such a cinnamon roll. He's already wandering around while it's late outside and stopped to pick some yarrow because of its healing properties.

Gardening bonding incoming. Ashe noticed Dedue's hobby.

They're both missing the greenhouse :(

Dedue wants to visit Lonato's garden. He also wants to know why Lonato knows so much about herbs. Good question.

Dedue's into medicinal herbs.

These two are too sweet 😊

FELIX & MERCEDES C SUPPORT

He better be nicer to her than last time. I'd love to see her chew him up, lol.

Ohhhh yesss, we're finally talking about Felix's cat thing. Felix really is a cat in human form.

Felix taking in injured stray cats 😭. Mercie and Jeritza did too 😭😭. And they had to hide it because they wouldn't killed it 😭

Mercie "We left my brother behind. Next sentence. "Still, I wonder what happened to that cat." 🤣 Jeritza found dead.

Cat is attached to Felix and won't leave. 🤣🤣🤣 People (and cats) ignoring Felix's being tsun is what I live for.

Mercie is like "quit whining, Felix. You have a pet cat now." lamo.

FELIX & SYLVAIN C SUPPORT

Oh, this time it's Sylvain calling Felix out for fighting reckless. It's a reverse uno from their Hopes' supports.

"You don't look like a man who's achieved some fantastic new enlightenment." Sylvain just slayed Felix.

Now they're arguing about who got in trouble more as kids. I love that, lol, makes them really feel like childhood friends.

Ten bucks says Felix got in the fight defending Sylvain's honor (or Dimitri's).

Sylvain's like you can't die because you mean too much to Faerghus and Dimitri. And then talks about how much Felix means to Dimitri.

Wait, wait, wait - important line here "reforming the entire social structure of pretty much everything . . ." Sylvain on Dimitri. Eat shit "StAtUs QuO dEfEnDeR" argument.

Soooo the "Sylvix" support so far is all about . . . Dimilix 😅

I don't mind this in the slightest, but I suspect someone on the writing team was a shipper on deck OR they were as sick as I am of people saying "CF Felix makes sense because he HaTeS dImItRi."

Felix throwing the same arguments at Sylvain. Good on him.

"You're the complete opposite of integrity." Felix, that's your friend 😭😭.

So Sylvain did some growing up it seems.

SHEZ & RODRIGUE C SUPPORT

Finally got Rodrigue's C support. Took long enough.

Shez complaining about the cold brings back memories lol. I used to live in the North.

Hearing her talk about lamp-lit streets covered in snow makes me miss winter sooooo badly.

Cool detail that messengers ride pegasus during the winter. I think someone mentioned that on here before.

Lamo, Dimitri and Felix followed a pegasus and nearly froze to death as kids. Poor Rodrigue.

Man, this is why the Blue Lions are the best. All these little stories from the past in the supports. Other houses don't get this.

SHEZ & DEDUE B SUPPORT

Shez looking out for Dedue. Good.

Soldiers giving Dedue shit 😭😭.

Shez can sympathize with the soldiers. Wtf. No way. I'm questioning them. (I could either agree with them or question them)

Dimitri put Dedue in a position often given to nobles. Good. Deserved.

Shez says she naturally get's under people's skin, and Dedue's just like "true." lamo.

Commoners bonding over the resentment nobility feels towards them for Dimitri elevating them.

I like how Shez's solution is to just prove themselves. It feels very shonen lead and like what Shez would say.

This was a good support balancing being about both characters.

FELIX & INGRID C SUPPORT

Nooooo, not Glenn 😭😭😭😭

Ingrid found a spur. It's Felix's, but actually Glenn's.

Ingrid's calling Felix out for being a softie for keeping hold of a memento.

And now he wants to give it to her 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 I'm actually tearing up in real life over this. I'm so over attached to this group.

Glenn told Ingrid before anyone else about his promotion 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I was not expecting that support. That support needs a warning. How did that??

Felix being sweet is my weakness, though.

Not going to lie, sometimes going through support after support feels like a chore. But never with the Blue Lions lol.

SHEZ & SETETH C SUPPORT

Fodlan's #1 husbando support incoming.

Seteth thinks Shez could've impacted Fodlan's future if she continued to study at the Academy and it wasn't shut down.

Seteth admits he's suspicious of Shez. Which . . . I mean it's Seteth.

Man, every time someone doesn't trust Shez, it just makes me love Dimitri's take on her powers even more.

Seteth defending Rhea. You love to see it.

Lamo, he wants Shez to stay away from Flayn and Rhea.

What's funny about that is Shez doesn't have a C support with Flayn (B & A though), so it's almost like she listens until they're more familiar with each other. And OFC Rhea doesn't have supports . . . . again . . . .

MAIN BATTLE

I love how Byleth sides with whoever you're not playing as lol.

Dimitri wants to help Shez achieve her goals (defeating Byleth), and Shez is like "appreciate it, but focus on the war" lamo.

Dimitri is obviously projecting. Shez is explaining how they're not THAT upset about Byleth killing their former teammates. And she's like "you gotta get used to death when it happens all the time or it's too much weight." I think we ALL know where this is heading.

Shez is like "you've let things weigh on you too much" too true.

Though it's kind of sweet that he's trying to help Shez out lol. In his own way.

Awww, yeah, Dimitri over here suggesting they recruit Byleth now. I'm pro-Dimileth, tbh. Even IF I may prefer other ships a bit more, I still think it's pretty sweet.

Dimitri's like "what if we pay more than the Empire?" Like, Dimitri, WHERE ARE YOU GETTING ALL THIS MONEY??? Lamo. He's already in the poorest nation taking in all the refugees from Edelgard's mess and paying an army. Like he must have a finance genius working for him or something.

Kinda cool that AG suggested recruiting Byleth first.

Time to recruit Bernie. Never again will I leave her alone with Edelgard when I'm not monitoring her.

I feel like this is the most tactics I've seen a Fodlan leader use in a map battle ever. Dimitri's giving orders to explicitly ignore Byleth, which is different from every other route that says to attack Byleth before pulling back. He's doing it because he knows Byleth is too strong. Same for the Death Knight, who they trapped. It's pretty cool, actually. No one else has done anything like this.

Dimitri forced Jeralt to retreat right away, lamo. And then beat up Alois. I think . . . my Dimitri might be a tad over leveled. He's level 30. Everyone else is level 20. I may . . . use him a bit more than the others lol. But he just . . . kills everything.

Pretty smart tactics actually. Dimitri had all the strongholds captured, then focused on getting the Death Knight, then on Byleth. So securing the area, then picking off the threats.

Oh, cut scene. Sothis! I think Shez woke Sothis up. But let's be real. It was actually Dimitri who did all the work. Legit I had everyone else picking off Jeralt's reinforcements. My Dimitri took Byleth on by his lonesome.

Oh, Byleth and Sothis fighting??? Ohhhh. What's going on?

Sothis kicked Arval's ass lamo.

I'm sure I'll eventually get this discussion on the other routes.

Shez's rivalry seems so low key. Shez prioritizing recruiting like Dimitri suggested, lol.

Sothis is being a dick to Byleth. ngl. Kinda treating Byleth like a car she's driving.

Arval and Sothis seem to hate each other more than Shez and Byleth do.

I just . . . can't get beyond Alois abandoning his family to follow Jeralt around.

Oh, Byleth hair-color changed. Don't know if that just happened or not. Yep, Byleth just said something. Jeralt seems alarmingly unbothered his kid now has mint-colored hair and eyes for no actual reason. Like what if you woke up one day and -bam- you're a redhead. Wouldn't you be a bit, um, concerned?

Alois saying nothing about having to fight his old friends. Oh, there it is, finally. Man, they really stripped Alois of all his character and turned him into what the fandom claims Leonie is, a mindless Jeralt simp. But he has his jokes, I guess??

Nice to see Jeralt isn't interested in fighting Rhea. Just ignoring her. Fair enough.

Wait . . . Dimitri is leaving? Does that mean I don't have him? OMG. I need him. He's my OP unit. No.

Oh, Sreng. That's cool. They're actually getting involved. And Gautier is in trouble :( Will Sylvain leave too? Or is this the next battle?

Ohhh Annette called them peaceful. Ouch. Sylvain was quick to correct her, though. Poor girl just didn't know. Appreciate they gave them a realistic reason to attack though. Needing fertile lands was a real world reason stuff like this happened.

Yes, Shez, tag along. Please. Don't make Dimitri leave all on his own. I need him ahh. Oh, great, that's not where this is going.

DEDUE AND RODRIGUE. NO. Why. This sucks. Ugh. I lost 3 units this chapter???? WHYYY? Unless I am with them?

Leaving Felix in command is cool, though.

Dimitri just said "protect every last one of them." Oh, the change there lol.

Annette comes to like Dimitri's elbow lamo.

XXX

[chuuyrr]

ur CRAZYYYY for the song related abilities, i love them smsmsm🥹 lavander haze sounds so cool. what’s ur fav ts song btw? and what song based ability would u give urself?

tysm dear anon !! ˃̵ᴗ˂̵

my favorite ts song as of the moment is cornelia street, followed by death by a thousand cuts, haunted, and king of my heart <3 but my top five fave albums are actually reputation, lover, fearless, speak now and midnights. ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)

i guess a song based ability i would give myself would be karma is a cat (karma) because when i was writing that to the stray cats fic of dazai, i actually based reader on me hehe.

i really like feeding and petting stray cats wherever i can, and i am a strong believer of karma—what goes around, comes around

and i actually have never been the kind of person to seek revenge either. i just let karma do its thing, because just like what i wrote in my future upcoming post, karma bides it time and it will come to you, one way or another !! ˶‘ ᵕ ‘˶

i forgot to mention it, but i took inspo from the lines of the song, the "i feel the lavender haze creepin' up on me," and,"surreal, i'm damned if i do give a damn what people say," was where i got the idea of making lavender haze as an illusion based-ability.

[painted-fanbird]

Thinking about the Inkworld trilogy and Mistborn Era 1, and how they handled books 2 and 3 and why I like the Inkworld better lol

Why compare them? Because Inkheart was the last series I read before Mistborn, and I adored it, but more relevantly they’re formatted similarly. both trilogies have first books that function as standalones, followed by two connected sequels turning them into trilogies

The actual analysis is under the cut both because of massive spoilers for both series, and because this is long and I’m not about to be clogging up your dashboard lol

I adored The Final Empire (book 1), but Well of Ascension (book 2) and The Hero of Ages (book 3) were both major misses for me. Though I didn’t love tWoA, I did find it generally fine. tHoA on the other hand I actively dislike. Contrasted to the Inkworld trilogy, where Inkspell (book 2) is actually my favorite! With Inkdeath (book 3) as my second favorite. Inkheart (book 1) comes in third, but I still love that book. The other two just speak to me XD

Inkspell expands on the loose ends left in Inkheart very naturally, and I love that! Inkspell opens with Dustfinger returning home, which works perfectly since he just vanished into the night at the end of Inkheart with Farid. It additionally sets up Orpheus, and once we’re in the Inkworld we meet up with the rest of our loose ends! Basta and The Magpie. Additionally, Inkspell has the advantage of the Inkworld being generally unknown to us the reader. Cornelia Funke has basically free rein to do what she wants as long as she doesn’t violate the whimsical, magical vibe she’s already established in Inkheart. Which she does not, and Dustfinger’s initial return to his world is literally my favorite scene in the whole book <3

tWoA, by contrast, doesn’t really do this imo. The biggest loose ends we’re left with in TFE are allomancy as a whole, the missing atium, and low key OreSeur specifically. tWoA chooses to focus on literally none of this in depth, instead focusing on the government and the Siege of Luthadel. Which is logical, obviously rebellion take overs will have some kinks they need to iron out, but it doesn’t pay any serious mind to what TFE set up and I find that to be a let down. We get a little bit of Allomancy exploration in Duralumin, but that’s it. The atium is relevant exclusively because the invading armies think Luthadel has it, but there’s no anything about it outside of that. OreSeur is just straight up dead! Though I did love Vin and TenSoon, that was my favorite part of the whole book <3

tWoA also squanders one of the things I adored about TFE, the character dynamics. The whole crew was so fun, and it was such a delight to see interact with each other and Vin. In tWoA they’re barely even there! Dockson, Kelsier’s best friend, has literally three scenes in the entire book. He dies in the third one. Clubs? Also has like three scenes, including where he dies. Ham is marginally more present, but Spook is only in like two scenes himself. We see the most of Sazed, which is cool because I like him <3 Instead of focusing on the crew, tWoA introduces new characters! Which are… hit or miss. Tindwyl and TenSoon and Allrianne my beloved <3 Then there’s Zane. Whom I can only describe as a Gary Stu and frankly I want to pick Sanderson’s brain and find out what the hell he was thinking when he made Zane because by all accounts he makes no sense lol

Inkspell and Inkdeath however, introduce new side characters without usurping the focus on the main cast. This is admittedly helped by Inkheart having a smaller cast in general XD But Dustfinger, Mo, Farid, Fenoglio, Resa, and Meggie if you squint (her squandered potential is another post lol) all remain major players, and continue to interact with each other like the did in book one. It’s great <3

tHoA is where things get particularly dicey for me lol. In tone and in plot. I just found it to be depressing, boring, and I do not like Ruin and Preservation. I don’t generally enjoy plots on a cosmic, god fighting scale to begin with, and I actively hate twist, “it was him all along!” villains. I find them to be boring, and feel that they remove agency from the villains prior to them. Also, I think they were set up poorly. If you removed them from the plot, literally nothing changes with TFE, and very little would change in tWoA. Not ideal for a villain you’re about to claim was here the whole time.

This book also continues the trend of no one talking to each other by scattering our protagonists to the four winds! Vin literally only talks to Elend, and maybe Ham once this book. Spook is in Urteau with Sazed, Breeze, and Allrianne, and his message never makes it to her. They literally don’t talk once and that’s a damn shame considering what they could have had. Tonally it’s just death and distraction all the way through, and that’s just,, blegh. No thanks.

Also everyone is so grim faced and boring, I hate this version of Elend, there’s no sass, no bite to him anymore. Just a grim and dutiful general who insists he’s struggles with doing hard things but then does them anyway. I also hate that his character arc goes unfulfilled! My man spends the entire book being worried about his inability to keep people safe, then he gets beheaded after watching an entire squad of soldiers get slaughtered by koloss. Like sure he saved the world but uhhhh yeah that’s not a satisfying conclusion. (Elend as a character was actually just generally not utilized well by the narrative imo. Raise your hand if you remember that this man was forced to sleep with a skaa girl at 13 years old she avoided romance because of it!)

Vin is also kind of boring, which is deeply upsetting because she was a fav in TFE and tWoA. She’s just so,, grim. And nothing else. It sucks. Also I don’t think her arc was done well here either. I love the idea of her finally coming to terms with the two parts of herself, but it felt forced! Vin spends basically no time as Valette after book 1, so it feels dragged out. We did not have to wait to book 3 to resolve this, we could’ve sorted this our way earlier lol

Also the whole thing with Sazed and the prophecy is just,, wut? I’m not a fan of the implication that Sazed is less of a man because he’s been castrated, and since I just generally don’t like Ruin and Preservation in general turning Sazed into god is just not where it’s at for me. It felt bizarre and out of place tbh

Inkdeath, on the other hand, does not have these issues. It’s villain, The Adderhead, was firmly established and was also the primary villain of book 2. He is not a god. He’s a king who was seeking immortality and was kind of foiled. A man, at his core lol. Tonally it is pretty grim at the beginning, but when Dustfinger is brought back, about 1/3 of the way through, the plot takes a notable hopeful upswing. Things aren’t easy, but they’re looking better now <3

I’ll also be the first to admit that Inkdeath’s clear cut happy ending is my preferred story ending lol, which is absolutely major points in its favor XD

I also think Inkdeath handles its characters well. Meggie and Farid do kind of end up on the side, but Mo, Dustfinger, and Resa all really shine. This opinion is helped by the fact that Mo and Dustfinger are my favorites, but I think it holds merit outside of that. They’ve been primary characters since book 1, are continuing to participate in the main plot together, and I find their arcs to be constant and wrapped up very nicely <3

TL;DR: I think tWoA and tHoA squandered their potential by introducing new plot threads instead of focusing on established loose ends, and committing several character assassinations by book 3. Inkspell and Inkheart did not do this, they followed up on their loose ends directly, kept the focus on the characters introduced in book 1, and did not go suddenly off the rails in the climax, instead ending with my preferred traditional fairy tale ending <3

[naylor]

tbh i kind of mentally checked out of taylor and fandom during lover (still loved her music but the easter eggs quite literally fried my brain and i needed a break lol) and i haven’t really checked back in but i will definitely say the new switfies who popped up during folklore are the ones causing problems (i mean the fandom has always been wild but it has gotten Worse since 2020). like why are people leaving flowers on cornelia street. why are we translating “he can’t handle her fame” as “he doesn’t support her”. why are swifties incaple of being normal about things

the new fans who joined during the pandemic are certainly a big problem because i don't know what happened that fried teenagers' brains but they're really acting like doing these things we had agree a long time ago wasn't cool to do were okay, actually, so we have gone back to the early 2000's where celebrities couldn't take a shit without someone photographing it except this time it's they actual so-called fans instead of the paparazzi and they're putting those pictures all over the internet encouraging others to do the same; but there's also a lot of people who have been here for a long time also acting like those things are suddenly okay too.

[logicallyphan]

Did I ever tell you guys about the time during interactive introverts when I hit my head so hard I might have gotten a mild concussion and it was all Phil’s fault????

So basically he jokingly said to look under our seats for something and I bent down AND WACKED MY HEAD SO HARD ON THE SEAT IN FRONT OF ME I SAW STARS. I don’t remember much of that show.

Also another tour story, when WAD happened I had to pee so bad throughout the first half of the show I thought I was gonna die. I had to leave right before intermission bc I had no clue when it was and I had to GOOOOO. Also when I met him I was so shy I didn’t say anything :((( so sad I didn’t even think of anything to say before hand. Love that teddy bear of a man tho lmaooo

When I saw tatinof, one thing I remember about that tour is that the theater didn’t have an elevator but the m&gs were downstairs I guess and dan and Phil went to go do a meet and greet with someone in a wheelchair right in the front by the doors where we all were standing for some reason??? (I don’t like how they did that tbh they actually could’ve went back from the front more and had it been less of a show…) And everyone but me freaked out lmao… I got pushed against the fucking door bc there was no crowd control.. that was really scary. Also I remember seeing marytn and Cornelia (apologies if I spelt their names wrong) so that was cool.

If anyone has any tour stories, pls share them!!! I love reading them!! :)

[kyogre-blue]

And here's the second half: lore, Shambhala, and Nemesis:

Blue Sea Moon, the 7th month...

The Agarthans were unable to drop nukes on Garreg Mach. They tried before, but their nuke got redirected onto Aillel, the lava valley. This is because the Holy Tomb is not just a grave but also a "sacred vessel for a power that repels evil." Sothis built it herself to protect her children from "the evil light."

The dragons gathered in Zanado because it's close to the Holy Tomb.

Additionally, using the nuke was what let Hubert figure out Shambhala's location. Since they presumably didn't want Edelgard to know that, they likely held off on this trump card until our advancement forced their hand.

It's only thanks to the Death Knight warning us that we escaped.

They might be holding off on sending any more in order to avoid giving us any further chances to trace them. We're not on Hubbie's level, so they are correct to guess we couldn't track them from the one instance.

Rhea is coming with us... she wants to "learn the truth" about the Agarthans, which is... interesting.

Ignatz points out that Solon called us beasts and himself the Savior. Who was he saving?

Dedue left off screen :(

Edelgard was the last heir of her family. She said whoever takes the throne next should take it by virtue of merit and not blood, and totally meant it.

The military minister surrendered, but Cornelia ran off. Bye, we don't know who you are.

Yup, Shambhala is across the Airmid river, so it's in Imperial territory. For what it's worth, the nuke drop on it shows a forest, and it seems to not be that deep down, even.

It's also just... a giant tron city. There are mecha (Titanus) and also magictech turrets (Viskam?). The turrets are apparently "incomplete."

Thales is willing to let Shambhala be destroyed as long as they get their vengeance, presumably by killing Rhea?

This missions is actually really complicated, and I lost a bunch of units. Speaking of this, I wish there was a mode between casual and classic, something that puts a penalty on a unit you lost but doesn't outright remove them. Casual is a little... TOO casual.

Thales went down to an accidental crit from Leonie. I was just trying to soften him up from outside his little bunker, and yet... Oh well.

Claude finally makes the connection that the children of the goddess are dragons (shock) and that Rhea is the Immaculate One (we literally saw her transform five years ago).

Rhea tanked 3 nukes, but let 3 through. We're all fine tho. Interesting that the nukes seem to launch from elsewhere.

"With the destruction of Shambhala, the ambitions of the Agarthans are over." Cool. I guess Cornelia can't do much on her own or something.

btw, I like how Nemesis's coffin had chains around it.

Rhea says she's the last of the goddess's children.

She explains how Sothis came from far away long ago. She used her blood to create her children and they shared knowledge with humans to create an advanced civilization. But the humans turned away from her and began to wage wars. Eventually they began to consider themselves as gods and challenged Sothis herself. The world was scorched and most humans were wiped out. The Agarthans are the survivors of that time who retreated underground.

Sothis took a long time to restore the world, and then fell into slumber at the Holy Tomb. Her children settled nearby in Zanado. Until Nemesis murdered all of them.

Rhea called herself Seiros and wandered the land looking for revenge. She gathered the "remaining children" and they killed Nemesis at Tailtean Plains.

Suddenly, cities in the east report that they're being attacked by an unknown force. This is affecting the East Gronder Thoroughfare in the old Hrym territory. Then they cross the Great Bridge of Myrddin. Holst tried to fight them and got injured.

The children of the goddess can't match Sothis's power, or the power in her blood, which Nemesis possess. But this seems to imply that the Agarthans got hold of his body after he was killed?

Because it's hard to imagine they could recreate him from scratch otherwise.

We finally spell out that the Elites took the blood of dragons by force and made weapons out of their bodies.

Rhea explains that she placed Sothis's heart (crest stone) into Byleth, and that's why Byleth can use the "full power" of the Sword of the Creator.

Which is like.... did they make an artificial crest stone for the artificial Nemesis's artificial relic? These dudes got real good at counterfeiting, which makes me wonder why they kept needing to kill people and grave rob.

I forgot to check where this swamp even is. Also, disappointed that the "Agartha loyalists" aren't bone white like their leaders.

Claude literally gives a friendship speech. Tbh he also had the best damage against Nemesis and critted too. Lone combat might have been too much, but maybe if I used all those stat boosters I was sitting on... Oh well.

51:12 playtime

I also forgot to check what was the last month. I just wanted to get through it as quickly as possible lol

Oh, right. I proposed to Flayn. Byleth tells her the truth, and she asks if you're a dude or a female goddess. Why is that a concern, Flayn... This is disappointingly unromantic. I wish I could have banged your dad or your aunt, don't hold it against me.

Battle data wasn't very interesting. Most of the later chapters were finished in single digit turns. The black tower took the longest at 21 turns. I had to walk all that way...

Claude's endcard with Hilda mentions that he went home to be king, but tbh I don't even remember when, if ever, he explained that part of his background.

THE END

[chickawah23]

Initial thoughts on MidnighTS

Jack’s production on this album is my favorite thing about this album and that is saying a lot. It is so cohesive in unique ways. I love it. Lyrics wise, it’s layered and every play through and read through is something new. I have some lyrics I’ve already noted. I can’t wait to keep listening. Vocally, I actually like a lot of the choices she made on this album. She flexes her range and she makes some really cool choice harmonies. Her cadence for the most part is really a star on this album. She’s fitting full sentences in these rhymes. The overall album. This one doesn’t feel like it has to be listened to in order other than Mastermind being the last song. Maybe my thoughts on that will change as I listen over the weekend.

Here are my initial thoughts on each track:

Lavender Haze

I like this.

Lmaoo swifties’ homophobic projection comes back to bite them. But I bet they already deleted all their hate videos and death threat posts/comments.

Maroon

Interesting. This song feels like it’s tied to Dress and Cornelia Street.

Anti-Hero

“It’s me, hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.”

I like this song a lot. One of my favorites

This and Mastermind tie together in my mind and it is an interesting area to explore.

Snow on the Beach

Lmao I know some of y’all were probably pissed at Lana just doing harmonies lol

I really like this production. It feels like there is a muffled ticking clock at the beginning and the end. Maybe it’s picking a steel bridge guitar or banjo idk. But I like it.

You’re on Your Own, Kid

This song grows on me with each listen. The way she sings the verses reminds me of how Hayley Kiyoko sings in “well…”

Midnight Rain

I like the production the warped reverse is an interesting loop. I like this song. I like her cadence through this song.

Question…?

.👀. Kissgate. I like how this song builds. I like this song.

“And what's that that I heard? That you're still with her? That's nice, I'm sure that's what's suitable and right, but tonight.”

Vigilante Shit

.👀.

Bejeweled

I need to hear this a few more times. I like her cadence.

Labyrinth

I liked this on the first listen. I loved it on the second. The lap(or chest) pat beats in the production. This is one of my favorite right now.

Karma

This song is interesting. I like the production. I would drive with my windows down to this production.

Sweet Nothing

I like this song like I thought I would. Her cadence on this song will make this a great song to play as a duet piano instrumental.

I love the pulled back wind instruments. Great work. Please Taylor don’t say anything to ruin this song for me. Or do. Idc it’s your work.

Mastermind

I love this production. One of my faves. I love this song. I honestly love this song. One of my favorites. This song is great. That transition into the chorus is perfection. Great closing song. Love it.

I’m exhausted so my thoughts are rambly and will likely change with a full rest.

[breval]

w.i.t.c.h. reboot

first a disclaimer, I can read Italian but I'm a novice so there are nuances I probably missed.

Also I'm probably super biased because I read the OG comics when I was a teenager so I'm really attached to them.

That being said

There are quite a few things I liked and quite a few I disliked, I think it's a mixed bag really, but I think it has potential if they're really planning on writing more books and not stopping at just one.

I think part of the problems of the reboot are that they tried to fit a whole arc into a hundred pages. There is no place to breathe. And that's probably a Disney is a big capitalist corporation that wants money and doesn't want to invest in it so they just plumped for one book problem.

(spoilers behind this line)

So first the things I dislike :

The colours, everything is completely washed out if you want to make it pastel you can do it without everybody looking all ashy and grey.

The transformations, they're very bland and boring, no wow factor at all either in the transformation sequences or in the new costumes. It has lost a lot of the magic. ( where are the sparkles?)

Taranee completely changed personality, that's just not Taranee anymore I'm sorry, and Will and Elyon to a lesser extant, the other had some changes as well but I didn't mind as much.

While talking about Elyon I absolutely hate her new design? Like why? The OG one was so much more interesting?

I'm not overly fond of Susan redesign and completely changed personality either.

I don't really know what to think about the parents because we don't really see enough of them.

So far I don't really like the fact that they changed Christopher into young Sheldon.

I think the fashion was a bit more bland as well but I think that's probably a the fashion of the early 2000s was really crazy and now it's not kinda thing

Second things I don't mind or even like :

The fact that they've changed the back stories a bit, like why not? It's a reboot lets keep things interesting

They made Cornelia a middle child with an influencer/actress big sister, I find that quite interesting as a dynamic and I'm intrigued to see where that go. Also her parents are divorced now.

Irma and Christopher share the same room, well it makes sense in today society? People don't have money.

It seems to me (but then I'm not Chinese), that Hai Lin and her family are a lot less caricatural than in the OG series.

Irma is not white now? I thing that's cool. Also they've added a back story about her mum dying at sea because she was an oceanographer and so now Irma is super afraid of water. And again that's interesting hopefully we'll get to explore that.

I actually don't mind that they're all on a football team, why not?

I'm a bit ambivalent about the new design, they're quite cute in some ways, but in other I feel that they're a bit bland, in a the characters are not super defined way. But it really depends like Cornelia as a cool nose now?

==

My conclusion is, this

It's a baby, it needs a lot of space to grow and wasn't given any which is a shame.

I hope they're going to write more because I think it could become quite good .

I still prefer the OG, but again I think I could come to enjoy this if there is more.

==

What I find a bit dumb though, is why change nearly everything personality wise with the girls. Like they're not really the w.i.t.c.h. anymore, why not write this story with completely new characters but in the same universe if you were going to do that?