#he really was such an amazing ally to gain. he's so high regarded.

[orcelito]

OK tales of arise spoilers ahead if anyone cares about it

I'm up on Lenegis now and I am having the TIME of my life with how relevant Dohalim is to all this. Like EVERYONE recognizes him. I'm realizing I have fallen for one of the best characters to fall for. I am Feasting.

[crackinglamb]

You Have Chosen Nydha To Be Your Companion!

Hopping off @little-lightning-lavellan's idea to take a DA:I OC and turn them into a companion, may I present Banal'ras Nydha (from Hope Is a Fragile Thing) and her wiki page.

General

Banal'ras Nydha looks human, although there is something that doesn't seem quite right about her. She has dark hair and skin and startlingly green eyes, and speaks with a low, raspy voice. It is often difficult to find her in a room. Nydha first appears, and is available to recruit, in the Temple of Sacred Ashes before attempting to close the Breach. She offers knowledge and combat tactics against demons. If dismissed, or never spoken to, she will then be spotted in Haven behind Solas's cabin. She will not be available to recruit at that time, although once the Inquisition is relocated to Skyhold, she will make an offer to travel with the Inquisitor. If dismissed again, she will become a non-interactive NPC in the Rotunda, usually found near the mural or atop the scaffolding. If she is never recruited, she will disappear from Skyhold after the final battle with Corypheus.

Nydha is not romanceable by any Inquisitor, but can engage in a relationship with Solas if a female Dalish Inquisitor has not done so. She is friendly and bonds well with most of the other party members, especially Cole, Dorian and, of course, Solas. She prefers diplomacy and tends towards mediation rather than confrontation. If a Dalish Inquisitor has romanced Solas, and has high approval, Nydha will offer comfort and sympathy upon termination of the relationship. If low approval, Nydha has nothing to say.

She has strong opinions on the plight of elves, slaves and mages. She is supportive of any measures that would improve the lives of them. Her early banter with Dorian revolves around debating Tevinter's practices and trying to get him to see a better way. She will also speak with Iron Bull about the shortcomings of the Qun, although never with the same level of disdain as Solas. While she never openly mocks the Chantry or Andrastianism, she isn't a strong supporter or believer and has no opinion on who becomes Divine.

Location

In Haven, Nydha can be found behind Solas's cabin, usually in the darkest corner. Once the Inquisition relocates to Skyhold, she can be found in either the Arcane Library or the Rotunda.

Approval

Nydha's approval level is based upon empathy. An Inquisitor who is helpful, respectful and curious will gain approval. Nydha has no opinion on quests such as Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts or the outcome of Here Lies the Abyss, but approves diplomatic resolutions to judgments. She will greatly approve allying with the Free Mages, and only slightly approve conscripting the Templars. Conscription of the Free Mages or allying with the Templars will result in full disapproval. She will greatly approve Iron Bull becoming Tal-Vashoth and keeping Cole as a spirit. Actions that are ruthless or cruel will lose approval.

A high approval Inquisitor will learn that Nydha was born in another world and 'crossed over' through the Veil when the Breach opened. She will tell the Inquisitor that her name was given to her as a gift from someone she met in the Fade. She does not, however, say that it is Solas (see below for unique Trespasser dialogue). She will say that her name means 'Shadow of Night', according to her translation. A Dalish Inquisitor can have special dialogue to recognize the name as being Elvish and can question how a human came to have it. Nydha will answer that it is because the native language of the Fade is Elvish, a remnant from when elves held all of Thedas before human arrival.

A low approval Inquisitor will not learn this part of her history and she will remain an enigma. If approval falls to zero, she will refuse to speak to the Inquisitor, although she does not leave and is still available as a companion.

Quests

Survivor In the Shadows – the quest for meeting Nydha initially at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. It begins upon speaking with her, and ends with either recruitment or dismissal.

From the Ashes – only available after either In Hushed Whispers or Champions of the Just, but before completion of In Your Heart Shall Burn, Nydha will ask the Herald to accompany her back to the Temple of Sacred Ashes to search for her few belongings. The Herald will find a journal, a bundle of unusual clothes and a single unmarked vial. Nydha will approve completing this quest.

A Better Form – Nydha will ask for help in stabilizing her corporeal body if Dagna is brought into the Inquisition. Resolution of this quest will involve having Dagna create a unique amulet that will act as a permanent grounding source, rather like a lightning rod. Components for this amulet are: 1 blank rune stone, 1 wisp essence, and either 5 dawnstone or 5 volcanic aurum (both imbue constitution bonuses). It will act as an Amulet of Power, granting Nydha an extra skill point. This is the only time such an ability will be available to her. This will also allow her to wear other amulets throughout the remainder of the game. She, and Solas, will greatly approve completing this quest.

Twice-Born – available during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC. Nydha, if in the party, will ask to speak with the Augur of Stone-Bear Hold once relations with the hold have been established. If she is not among the Inquisitor's party, she will be found in the main scout camp near Professor Kenric. What the two speak about will be unknown, but at the end of the quest, Nydha will inform the Inquisitor that she has been given the legend-mark Twice-Born from the hold's 'gods'. Cole will greatly approve completing this quest, regardless of whether or not he is in the party.

Note: This quest is not dependent upon approval, but is the only time she will speak with a zeroed out Inquisitor, should that level of low approval be reached.

Ability Tree/Specialization

Nydha is technically a rogue, and can utilize either a bow or double daggers. She has an autolevel preference for the Subterfuge tree, and has an additional, unique starting skill in Fade Cloak. This does not require further leveling to be active. It is the only skill that cannot be deactivated from her skillset.

She can specialize in either Tempest or Rift Mage, due to her nature as a being from the Fade. She is not otherwise a mage. Her decision on specialization can be influenced, as she will ask the Inquisitor's opinion. If no opinion is given, she will default to taking Tempest.

Combat comments

“Come get some!”

“Catch me if you can!”

(If specialized in Tempest) “Burn, baby, burn.”

(If specialized in Rift Mage) “Ooh, the stuff of nightmares.”

Kills an enemy

“Another one bites the dust.”

“Cool story, bro.”

“Then perish.”

Low Health

“This was not on my agenda today.”

“A little help?”

Low Health (Companions)

For all general companions: “I have your back.”

If in a romance with Solas: “Take a breather, fenorain.”

Fallen Companions

For all general companions: “I'll make them pay!”

If in a romance with Solas: “NO!”

Location Comments

Ferelden:

Hinterlands: “Why is it so big? Why is everything so big?”

Fallow Mire: “I have mud in unmentionable places. Can we go now?”

Storm Coast: “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and sky.”

If companions question her: “It's just from a poem I once read.”

Orlais:

Exalted Plains: “So much death. Can't you feel it?”

Emerald Graves: “This forest is old. Very old.” [laughs] “I always wanted to say that in proper context.”

Emprise du Lion: “Stay away from the bloody lyrium. And wear a hat.”

At Suledin Keep after Imshael, if Solas is in the party: “Ir abelas, lethallin.” (If romanced) Ir abelas, fenorain.”

Solas's reply (only translated if the Inquisitor is Dalish): “Ma serannas. Ea lam'an.” (It is in the past)

At the Pools of the Sun, regarding the trio of dragons: “Can't we just leave them alone? They really won't hurt anyone if we keep our distance.”

Hissing Waste: “You know, if you ignore the endless vista of sand, it's really quite beautiful. In a bleak kind of way.”

Western Approach: “Hot. Hot and blighted. I need a drink.”

Forbidden Oasis, upon reaching the second camp: “That's it, I'm never leaving.”

Arbor Wilds: “Mind your footing. This place is full of secrets.”

In Val Royeaux: “Pretty place.”

Frostback Basin: “I could stay here forever. Even with the varmints.”

The Descent: “Nice and dark, just the way I like it.”

At the Wellspring: “Wow...that's amazing.”

Trespasser: “Now it all ends, my friend.”

If the Inquisitor questions the statement: “You'll see soon enough.”

Companion/Advisor comments

Varric – Gotta watch out for Spooky, there's something about her I can't put my finger on.

Cassandra – She is an able fighter, but I would not trust her out of my sight, which is far too often.

Solas – She is secretive by nature, but I would assure you that she means no harm.

Iron Bull – She's a tricky one. Good fighter, lotta secrets. Good at keeping them too. I don't think I've cracked a single one that she didn't tell me herself.

Dorian – She's fascinating. I am not at liberty to say why, of course, if you don't already know.

Cole – Bright as the sun and scattered as the stars. She wants to help, just like I do.

Vivienne – She seems capable enough, my dear. But I would not dare to trust her. She is an accomplished player of the Game, for all her smiles and good cheer.

Sera – She's as bad as Creepy, although she's better at jokes. She's better at hiding than I am!

Blackwall – She knows something. She knows too many somethings.

Josephine – She keeps to herself and has caused no diplomatic incidents. I wish I could say the same for some of the others gathered here.

Leliana – I find it curious that I cannot find any solid evidence of her existence before the Conclave, but that does not automatically mark her a spy. However, her nature makes me no more inclined to trust her. I would be wary of her.

Cullen – Who? Oh, the...shadowy...person. I hear she can handle herself. I can't say I've spoken with her, so I don't have an opinion.

Trespasser

There is a unique dialogue tree available to the Inquisitor while speaking with Solas if Nydha was recruited as a companion.

“Did you know about Nydha?”

“Yes, I am the one who gave her her name. I found her while I yet slept, and she became corporeal after the Breach.”

(First branch) “Is she one of your agents?”

“No. She has only ever been my friend.”

(Special, if not romanced) “Your friend? It seemed to be more than that.”

“In another world, perhaps.”

(Second branch) “Is she joining you?”

“No, I would not wish her on this path.”

(Third branch) “She knew this whole time. Why didn't she tell me?”

“She had her reasons for not telling you. (If high approval) I hope you will not hold them against her.”

Regardless of approval, Nydha disappears after the Exalted Council. She settles in the Frostback Basin among the Avvar. A high approval Inquisitor will receive correspondence from her from time to time, but she will refuse to come back to the 'civilized' nations of Thedas, preferring privacy and isolation.

Trivia

If in the party during Here Lies the Abyss, the Nightmare demon will speak to her in Elvish. Her reply is a scoff and nothing else.

Nydha can be a third option at the Vir'Abelasan if she is in the party. If she is chosen to drink from the Well, Abelas does not object, although he will still point out that she will be bound as they are. If Nydha drinks, she will summon Flemeth and work with the Inquisitor to tame the dragon for the final confrontation with Corypheus. If she is in the party during Trespasser, she will be able to provide the password to the spirit guards, preventing a fight.

If Morrigan is allowed to attack Abelas, she will attempt to defend him and will argue that the witch is not worthy of the knowledge she seeks if brutality is her only way to get it. If there is a peaceful alliance with the Sentinels and Morrigan is chosen to drink, Nydha will slightly disapprove but hold her tongue on the matter.

If the Inquisitor drank from the Well, and succeeds in finding enough clues to determine that Solas is Fen'Harel, Nydha will appear saddened when the Inquisitor rebuts to the Viddasala that they already know. She will state that this was what she'd been waiting for. The Inquisitor will have the option to accuse her of knowing the whole time. She will answer yes, but she won't explain.

If Nydha is never recruited, and remains an NPC in the Rotunda, one will hear her occasionally speak with Solas. These conversations range in topic from books they are reading to the mural. Never about Inquisition business. There is a slight chance to hear them speaking in Elvish, and their words are not translated, regardless of Inquisitor's race. Solas's replies appear to be noncommittal.

Nydha will remark upon the Inquisitor's romantic choices, usually with something supportive and a hope that they are happy together. She will also comment something generally pleasant about each companion if asked. The exception to this is if Iron Bull remains Ben-Hassrath. Nydha will caution the Inquisitor to be careful of telling him too much since his loyalty is now unknown.

It can be implied from various interactions and from high approval conversation that Nydha was in fact aware of everything that would happen during the course of the game. She never gives a reason for keeping her silence on matters pertaining to what foreknowledge she had, although any input given during the game events is sound and often given in such a way so as not to risk suspicion.

It can also be implied that regardless of what Solas says during Trespasser, Nydha has actually left the Inquisition to join his ranks, or at least does not stand opposed to him. This is not confirmed, however, and according to her epilogue card, she is enjoying a quiet life in the Frostback Basin with no intention of ever interfering with Thedosian politics or events again.

[alternate-pokemon-next-gen]

Alternate Next Gen (Friends): Hyacinth Kanemaru

Hyacinth is the son of Harley and Solidad. Hyacinth decided that he wanted to go to the Pokemon school in Rustboro city and take the Pokemon contest class to be a coordinator like both of his parents. Hyacinth quickly met and befriended Danica and both were glad to be in the same class as the other. Despite Hyacinth being a new trainer, he has a lot of skill when it comes to showcasing his Pokemon in the practice contests everyone is assigned to partake in for class mostly because he paid attention to other Pokemon contests, he’s always happy to give others advice when they ask him for advice. Despite how he always gets asked for advice, he still mostly sticks around Danica, seeing her as his best friend. Hyacinth took after his father in personality, having inherited Harley’s flamboyant traits and not being afraid to show those traits, he enjoys female activities such as baking, shopping and other activities. He also has a mature side that comes out when he’s competing in a contest, it surprises everyone how he can flip his personality on a dime. He also holds Danica in high regards despite the fact, especially since both of them are seen as the best students in their class and one of the top students but he also sees her as his equal, often being his true self around her and only her. No one knows this, but Hyacinth has a sinister side to him that only comes out when someone really gets under his skin and no one knows that part about him because of how he acts around them normally.

His Pokemon:

Maractus- Hyacinth was given his Maractus when he was little, Harley had thought that Maractus was a good partner for his son and Hyacinth loved having Maractus by his side. Maractus is a jolly Pokemon that loves to dance and make maraca sounds as she dances with her trainer. Maractus is friendly and will often dance in an effort to cheer someone up if they’re feeling down. She enjoys partaking in contests and will often use her dancing skills to her advantage, which confuses her opponent and leaves them wondering where she’s going to go next and it makes them lose points because of how often their attacks miss her. Hyacinth also makes sure that Maractus is using all of her natural skills during an appeal round and during a battle round, something that always impresses others. Maractus is also affectionate and will always give Hyacinth a hug, she’s unaware it causes him pain but Hyacinth smiles through the pain and hugs her back. She wears two ribbons that’s tied to her ear like extensions. 

Caught in a Pokeball.

Ability is Water Absorb.

Moves are Petal Dance, Spiky Shield, Giga Drain, Sunny Day, Solar Beam, Helping Hand, Double Team, Grass Knot, Energy Ball and Hyper Voice.

Ledian- Ledian was caught by Hyacinth while he was in the Johto region looking for a Pokemon to add to his team and he caught Ledian. Ledian is a silly Pokemon that likes to pretend to be a superhero, something that Hyacinth caught onto and would work with Ledian by getting him to act like a hero during contest battles. Like most Ledian, he uses his arms to punch his opponents and aims to win with the quantity of his punches instead of the quality of his punches. He enjoys flying around at night and he likes it when his trainer joins him for his night strolls. Ledian enjoys using his punching moves the most and is glad that his ability gives a power boost to his punches, but he still likes using his other moves to assist his team during a double battle or just battling in general. Ledian also trains himself so he can master using multiple punching moves on all four of his arms instead of just one of his arms, he feels like he’s getting close.

Caught in a Net Ball.

Ability is Iron Fist.

Moves are Mega Punch, Power-up Punch, Drain Punch, Focus Punch, Thunder Punch, Dynamic Punch, Silver Wind, Sweet Scent, Acrobatics and Air Slash.

Starmie- Hyacinth caught Starmie as a Staryu while he was fishing one day and he was happy to add Staryu to his team. As a Staryu, Starmie was always focused on battling and training almost to the point where they would go for a while without eating or work themselves to exhaustion. It was until they had evolved into Starmie that they managed to calm down and later relax to the point they can loosen up their body enough they could easily escape a Pokemon that’s trying to trap them with Bind or Wrap. Starmie is also loyal to Hyacinth for putting up with them as a Staryu when they would refuse to rest after being told to multiple times and not doing so. Starmie enjoys shining lights in their core for others to see and likes to incorporate their core into their appeal performances, as well as creating water displays which they started doing after they evolved. Starmie enjoys being with their teammates and performing alongside them, especially Ledian who they get along with a lot despite how different they are personality wise.

Caught in a Lure Ball.

Ability is Natural Cure.

Moves are Rapid Spin, Power Gem, Psychic, Hydro Pump, Recover, Dazzling Gleam, Tri Attack, Brine, Ice Beam and Surf.

Swellow- Hyacinth caught Swellow when he was a Taillow a bit before he started his classes officially. As a Taillow, Swellow didn’t know much about contests and struggled a lot while he was starting out, he almost felt like he was holding back his team because of that and always felt bad when he couldn’t perform up to the standards of Hyacinth’s other Pokemon. After he evolved, he gained more confidence and managed to perform a lot better alongside his teammates. Swellow takes great pride in himself and his flying skills, he’s also very determined and refuses to back down when he’s facing a tough opponent which amazes anyone who sees his skills during a contest battle. He also improves his skills in dive bombing to make sure he never misses any kind of opponent he may be up against. Swellow always feels good when he gets complimented for how well he does during a contest battle and he’s always helpful with his teammates and is part of a lot of combinations where he’ll work with them, often providing himself as a distraction for his allies to use as a sneak attack.

Caught in a Pokeball.

Ability is Guts.

Moves are Brave Bird, Aerial Ace, Agility, Double Team, Steel Wing, Sky Attack, Boomburst, Rain Dance, Hurricane and Swift.

[prettycottonmouthlamia]

Voyager Analysis

Star Max HP: 15,592 Max ATK: 10,450 Star Absorption: 153 Star Generation: 15.1% NP Charge ATK: 0.56% NP Charge DEF: 3% Death Rate: 7% QQAAB Buster = 3 hits, Arts = 3 hits, Quick = 3 hits, Extra = 5 hits Base NP Gain: Arts = 1.68%, Quick = 1.68%, Extra = 2.80%

Voyager of the Stars A: Charges own NP gauge (30-50%) Grants self Debuff Immunity for 3 turns. Gains 10 critical stars. 8 -> 6 turn cooldown

Swingby A: Grants self Evasion for 1 turn. Increases own Quick performance for 3 turns. (10-20%) Reduces one enemy's Quick resistance for 3 turns. (10-20%) 8 -> 6 turn cooldown

Blessings from the End of the World (Cosmos) B: Increases own ally's critical star absorption for 1 turn (300-600%). Increases party's crtical damage for 3 turns. (20-30%) Increases party's critical attack chance resistance for 3 turns (10-20%). 8 -> 6 turn cooldown

Existence Outside the Domain C: Gains 2 critical stars ever turn. Increases own debuff resistance by 6%.

Independent Navigation A: Increases own critical damage by 8%. Increases own Arts performance by 8%.

Contact with Civilization D: Increases own buff removal resistance by 10%.

Pale Blue Dot Quick 5 hit Increases own NP damage for 1 turn (20-40%, OC) Deals damage to all enemies (600%-1000%) Deals 150% extra damage to enemies with Sky Attribute. Charges party's NP gauge by 20%. Further charges the NP gauge of Living Human allies by 10%.

Living Human: Asagami Fujino, Astraea, Chloe von Einzbern, Gray, Great Statue God, Illyasviel von Einzbern, Ishtar, Ishtar (Rider), Jaguar Man, Mashu Kyrielight, Miyu Edelfelt, Parvati, Ryogi Shiki (Assassin), Sima Yi (Reines), Zhuge Liang (Lord El-Melloi II)

Primary Role: Looper, DPS Secondary Role: Crit Support, Support Situational Role:

Voyager is a cute little satellite, and probably has an orbital cannon to take out creepy shotacons. Now that we've settled that, let's talk about Voyager for a moment. Voyager is our first Quick Foreigner, a class that honestly is rather unappreciated, and he comes out...not exactly swinging at first glance. He has a high HP, low ATK spread, which while isn't always bad, is usually not a strong point, and while his Arts card do okay in terms of NP generation, his Quicks and Extra are pretty terrible.

However, that doesn't really matter! Voyager's 1st skill is like Pioneer of the Stars, except it trades the 3 turns of Pierce Invul for 3 turns of Debuff immunity. Whether that trade is worth it probably is a YMMV moment, but I definitely quite enjoy that. Voyager of the Stars, as one might expect, is a fantastic skill, especially on an AoE Servant. It dramatically opens up CE choices and makes Voyager one of the lucky few who does not need to rely on K-Scope to loop. Which we'll get to, but keep that in mind for right now.

Voyager's second skill is both a survival skill and a rather good steroid. This ins't quite a Mana Burset since it is half buff and half debuff, but that also means that unless whatever you're fighting has both buff block and debuff immunity (DEMETERRRRRRRRRR), you'll always get some value offensively out of this skill. It's also Voyager's survival option, but thanks to the 3 turn duration on this skills damage buff and debuff, Voyager in a similar manner to Babbage can use this skill to defend himself and not lose damage.

Voyager's 3rd skill is similar to Lalters, except...stranger. It's a targetable, but somewhat weak, 1 turn star absorb, plus an AoE crit damage boost and crit chance defense boost. If you're wondering what that is, it's basically a buff form of critical chance down. This skill is fine and honestly not too bad, but its definitely the weakest of Voyager's skills. The crit buff is only 30% and the crit chance buff is only 20%, which hampers the usability. Voyager can easily enable crits, so its not too much of a problem to do extra damage, but its not the important part of Voyager's kit.

His NP is where things get, in a word: silly. An NP damage buff, increased damage against Sky enemies, and a guaranteed 20% NP gauge charge are all fantastic, but Voyager will even give an extra 10% towards specific Servants that I have listed above. The 20% NP gauge charge is the best bit though, and that's because Voyager is an AoE Quick NP user. His 20% NP charge lowers the amount of refund he needs to make from 50% to 30%, which makes Voyager much more consistent of a looper. However, he's not perfect in this regard as his NP gain is still pretty low, and most importantly, even with Skadi buffs his damage is super low for a 3-turn looper, meaning he'll either need to fight Sky enemies, use CEs other than K-Scope such as Golden Sumo, or be NP2+ in other to farm efficiently. His NP gain on his NP without his charge is roughly the same as Achilles, to put it in perspective.

On the other hand, you don't have to use Voyager as a looper, and this means that he's a pretty solid anti-Sky unit. His NQQ chain will generate quite a bit of stars and even an okay amount of NP. His big niche here is his NP charges on his NP, his good consistency, and counter-classing Berserkers. Maou Nobu is arguably better overall as she does way more damage, but Voyager still is pretty distinct.

Support: Skadi is the obvious choice, but Voyager also works really well with Sima Yi, Mash, and Waver due to being able to accelerate their NPs. Great Statue God can also work here as well. Voyager really likes supports who will increase his damage due to his damage being on the lower side, and not needing a ton in terms of consistency. 

CEs: Thanks to his 50% NP battery, a wide variety of CEs will work on Voyager. Quick up, critical damage up, Golden Sumo, NP damage up, you name it. He’ll even work well with his own Bond CE. The Berserker effective damage CE is also quite notable here, providing a strong stacking boost that will make Voyager do a ton of damage to Berserkers. 

Pros: -Fantastic NP consistency thanks to decent refund, amazing NP battery, strong steroid, and good crit star generation. -Provides good support for the party through his NP and 3rd skill. -3 turns of debuff immunity on a 6 turn cooldown -Anti-Sky niche making Voyager amazing against a fair number of Berserkers

Cons: -Very low NP damage if not fighting Sky enemies or Berserkers -Not completely consistent in DSS due to low damage and lower end NP generation -Quick cards have pretty poor performance overall

Voyager doesn't come out as one of the best Foreigners in the game. He's more niche, but probably the best overall for farming should you hit his sweet spots in that regard, and an amazingly consistent Servant. He can definitely perform well, despite his flaws.

Also, cute satellite.

[msjr0119]

Hold my girl

Part 2 - Homesick

No one really knows about TRR Main characters past …. Most of this series is based on flashbacks from her childhood. I’ve changed the main characters name to, Freya Johnson as Riley Brooks is used in my other series.

Freya is in love with Drake, but he hasn’t returned the feelings- instead just acts horrible towards her. Will Freya return back to Cordonia with the court or will she stay in the USA after the UN party.

Warnings: swearing

Ive lost my tag list for this series 👎🏻

Just tagging everyone- if you want to be removed let me know 😊

@annekebbphotography @burnsoslow @drakesensworld @ladyangel70 @kingliam2019 @bbrandy2002 @butindeed @bascmve01 @drakewalker04 @pedudley @captain-kingliamsqueen @duchessemersynwalker @insideamirage @of-course-i-went-to-hartfeld @kozabaji @texaskitten30 @ibldw-main @kimmiedoo5 @nikkis1983 @dangerouseggseagleartisan @gnatbrain @walker7519 @lodberg @cmestrella @hopefulmoonobject @addictedtodrakefanfic @angi15h @liamxs-world @rafasgirl23415 @notoriouscs @whenyourheartskipsabeat @jovialyouthmusic @nz1091 @yukinagato2012 @indiacater @seriouslybadchoices @rainbowsinthestorm @cordonianroyalty @custaroonie @beardedoafdonutwagon @dcbbw @qammh-blog

********

Freya got ready for the UN party, although she felt like not attending due to Drake’s attitude towards her. She’s been through heartbreak before, so in the back of her head she knew she’d get over him. If she didn’t attend, there would be questions and gossip regarding her absence. Adding the finishing touches, she was disturbed from her thoughts as Maxwell came bounding into the room.

“Is my lady ready?” Wearing that cheeky grin he always wore, she couldn’t help but laugh before returning to a melancholy expression.

“Yes.” Maxwell wasn’t convinced with her tone of voice that was now matching her facial expression, as she responded to him.

“What’s up blossom? You can tell me anything.”

“Nothing.”

“You sure?”

“Yes Max, I’m sure. It’s just being back home. The home that I abandoned. The home that I should have stayed at.” She lied, hoping that Max wouldn’t see straight through her. “I just miss my parents too. I saw Daniel before, you know my colleague from the bar. I feel guilty leaving him in the shit- he’s looked out for me ever since we were four. When my parents died, he was my rock.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

“Simple. No one asked.” Maxwell felt guilty now too- she was correct. When she came to Cordonia she was the glue that held everyone together- always asking about each and everyone’s past, listening to them ramble on about their self pity. No one had actually asked about her, maybe because she seemed so strong they all believed that she wasn’t hurting deep down. Maybe they believed she was invincible.

“From now on, you want to talk about anything at anytime time of the day- I’m your man. I’m so sorry. But you’re like my sister, I’m always going to be here for you no matter what happens.”

“Even if I decide to stay here?” Asking the rhetorical question, she didn’t want him to provide an answer- she hadn’t made up her mind yet as to where her future would be. “Anyway, come on Lord Beaumont- people will be wondering where we are.”

*****

Arriving at the venue, the two of them walked in arm in arm. The usual gesture for any type of ball. Fixing a fake smile towards the rest of the nobles- scrutinising the room they found Hana.

“Freya! You look amazing.”

“As do you Lady Hana.”

“Are you okay? You’ve been extremely quiet.” Hana asked looking concerned at her friend. She wasn’t the usual Freya they knew.

“Homesick right blossom?” Maxwell confirmed, winking at her. Not wanting to spread gossip even if it was towards Hana. He knew when the time was right, Freya would talk about it to Hana herself.

“Right.” She smiled at Maxwell, hoping he would understand that was her way for saying thank you.

“I’ll be right back Ladies.” Freya and Hana decided to just people watch - both wishing they didn’t attend. There was a morbid atmosphere surrounding them.

“Freya. You look absolutely stunning. Same to you Lady Hana.” Turning around to Liam, she smiled softly- even though he was engaged to Madeleine he still knew how to charm the women.

“Thank you, your Majesty. Welcome back to my city.” The two ladies curtised, Liam shook his head laughing- he treat them both as close friends, he didn’t expect them both to curtsy every time they spoke.

“It’s good to be back.”

“Freya is feeling a bit homesick.”

“Oh. Well maybe we could all do something together after the party finishes. What would you suggest?”

“Well you’re in the city that never sleeps. There’s a few things you could do.. Times Square, a walk around Central Park. I’ll let you all come to a conclusion. As a local I’ve done everything a billion of times.”

“Very well, excuse me- duty calls.”

Hana watched Liam walk away and her eyes caught Maxwell waving frantically towards them. Walking over to him, they could see the panic written across his face as well as sweat dripping from him forehead.

“Hana, Frey thank goodness you are both here.”

“What have you done? You’re acting very suspicious.” Maxwell explained how he got the country flags all mixed up and in a flap he couldn’t concentrate on rectifying his mistake. Drake confirmed this and elaborated on what else he had done incorrectly in a sarcastic manner of tone- as if Maxwell was some kind of idiot. Mistakes happen.

“Oh Maxwell.” The Ladies said in unison. Freya had avoided all contact with Drake until now- she knew she was stubborn, after all he always got ‘lumbered’ with her.

“How about you Sir Walker? Caused any diplomatic disasters yet?” She asked in a sarcastic manner, revenge for him talking the way he did about Maxwell.

“Johnson. Can we speak in private please?” Just apologise to her, that will be the first step.

“Whatever you need to say you can say in front of Max and Hana.” Maxwell and Hana looked at each other, they knew Drake wasn’t the type of person to need to speak to someone in private.

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Hana ran off towards the bathroom. Freya knew Hana, and she knew this was an excuse. At least she had Maxwell she thought.

“I need to check up on Bertrand.”

Not you too, for fuck sake. Freya thought.

“You look lovely. I just wanted to apologise for before.”

“Thank you. Apology accepted. Excuse me.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” Freya raised her eyebrows, thinking about how much of a hypocrite he sounded right now.

“Why are you such a jerk?”

“You know what, ignore what I said. I’ll leave you alone. I shouldn’t have apologised.”

“Have a good life Walker.” A good life? What’s she going to do ignore me for the rest of her life. Just tell her you love her you moron.

******

Leaving Drake, Freya decided to mingle with the guests- trying to regain her courtly friendships prove that she wasn’t the person that she had been stereotyped as. Adelaide waved her over, holding the bottle of champagne ready to pour it into Freya’s empty glass.

“Duchess Adelaide, it’s so lovely to see you.”

“As you dear, now I know technically we shouldn’t be allies- but I think you’re good for court. I’ve been watching you and I believe that you have gained many friendships during your time. Is that correct?”

“Yes, your grace. Some friendships, some enemies- but that is life.”

“Tell me some things about you. I’d love to know the real Freya Johnson.” Feeling slightly tipsy, what had she to lose? The more she thought about it the more she didn’t care anymore. After much deliberation, she had decided that she wasn’t returning to Cordonia- so the gossip about her may as well spread like wild fire. Who’s best to spill all her secrets out to? Duchess Adelaide- the gossip girl.

“The real me.. let’s see... my life has been a rollercoaster. I’m not American, well I am but I was actually born in England. I was adopted after my birth mother tragically passed away due to an overdose, then my adopted parents passed away when I was a teenager. I’m a qualified nurse- so if there are any medical disasters I’m your girl. There you have it. Nothing much more to say.” Adelaide for the first time was speechless, not knowing what to say- wondering if anyone else knew or had she just confessed all of this due to the drunk mind.

“Oh dear, you have been through so much. I didn’t know. Regina and Madeleine have painted such a negative image of you. Now you have this scandal hanging over you. If you ever need to talk we can talk over wine. Just let me know.”

“Thank you. Excuse me. I’ll have to mingle with some other people - but i will take you up on that offer at some point.” Lying knowing she would never take the Duchess up with this offer, she left keeping her head held high.

******

The champagne was being swallowed easy as if it was water, slowly beginning to affect her. Finding Maxwell, he explained how he had accidentally hit the Turkish ambassador with some bruschetta- regretting missing the scene, she comforted him. Freya then noticed Drake in the corner, her drunk mind was encouraging to jump into his arms- she had a school girl crush on him even if he was an ass with her- always getting ‘lumbered’ with her.

“Why do you keep giving Drake dirty looks, then change it to a swoon?”

“Max shut up please.”

“Am I missing something here? I thought you was feeling down because we were back in New York?”

“It’s me that’s missing something- I’m missing brain cells. I’m in love with him and he hates my guts Max.” Maxwell tried to gain her attention by waving his hand next to his neck.

“In love with who?” The familiar voice asked as he crept up to the two friends.

“Oh, erm. Daniel. My ex colleague. I’m in love with him, in a best friend kinda way- always have been we’ve known each other since we were four. I saw him before and he’s still pissed that I abandoned him without any goodbye.”

“Oh, I see. Why do you look sheepish Maxwell?”

“Erm. Erm. Well the truth is Liam.... I just threw bruschetta all over the Turkish ambassador. Freya here, was just explaining that she lost her brain cells that day she left here, and that Daniel is mega pissed still.” Feeling thankful that Maxwell had agreed with her impromptu excuse- she knew he was going be demanding questions once they were alone.

“Very well. Don’t worry Lady Freya, I’m sure he will forgive you in time. I’ll see you both soon.”

Watching Liam leave, Maxwell grabbed her hand- leading her out of the venue and up to the rooftop for some privacy.

*****

“So?”

“So?” Freya mimicked Maxwell, in an annoying tone of manner, knowing he was going to be persistent until she told him the truth- the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

“Come on blossom, you can’t drop a bombshell like that then not talk about it.”

“There’s nothing to say Max, I’m stupidly in love with someone who would never return the feelings.”

“When did you....you know gain feelings for him?”

“Honestly, probably Lythikos I started to fall for him. I know I was supposed to fall Liam, and I did try - honestly I did Max. Then when I was thrown out of the coronation- I knew I was madly in love with Drake Walker. We have this love/hate relationship. Sometimes he’s a good friend, then he’s an arrogant pig...”

“Have you told him?” Shaking her head, she began to cry before composing herself. “When you guys were sleeping before, I saw him and we went shopping then ended up in my old bar. I told Daniel that Drake was ‘my hot date’ and he looked disgusted at me. Said that ‘he didn’t like me that much and always got lumbered with me’. Asking him if he couldn’t take a joke and asking why he was an ass with me- he was just cruel. So I left him- Max there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Shoot! I said I was always here for you. Drake’s just being Drake.”

“I know. Erm. I’ve been thinking a lot since we arrived back here...” Maxwell looked concerned, not knowing what she was going to say- but vibes were informing him that it wasn’t positive. “I don’t think I’m going to return to Cordonia. I’ve had a fantastic time, meeting you all- I’ve loved every second of it even with the scandal- life has to have that bit of drama in it right?”

“What? No you have to come back! You’re my sister. Fuck Drake. Please tell me it’s not to do with Drake? You have me and Hana.. and Bertrand... and Liam...”

“Max I will come and visit, I promise. But I can’t be around someone that I love who doesn’t return the feelings. I can’t be around Liam when he has confessed that he loves me. I’m a qualified nurse Max, earlier on I applied for a job in Vegas.”

******

Maxwell escorted Freya back to the hotel after her heart to heart with him. Furious that she didn’t want to return because of one person especially. Heading back to the party- everyone tried to reach out to him wondering where Freya was. His mind was set on finding Drake and giving him a piece of his mind. Anger building up inside of him- he knew he had to escort Drake somewhere private.

“Walker. I need a word. Follow me.” Drake looked bewildered to Maxwell’s out of character personality- he had never witnessed him looking like he was about to explode.

“What’s up Beaumont?”

“You see here? I’ve just had Freya emotionally break down here, confess things to me that I never knew about.”

“So what? Where is she anyway? You’re usually both glued to each other. At least I’m not lumbered with her tonight.” Drake needed to keep his feelings towards her a secret- knowing that everyone was trying to clear her name, if they managed to do this Drake knew that Liam would instantly propose to her. Before he could think about it anymore- he felt Maxwell’s fist against his jaw.

“She’s gone back to the hotel crying over you! I’ve lost my sister because of you. What has she ever done to you? I hope your jaw hurts, but it won’t be as much pain as what she’s going through!”

“Why have you lost her because of me? She was probably drunk, hence why she was emotional. She’s done nothing wrong to me Max.... it’s all a facade.” Drake rubbed his jaw- before furrowing his eyebrows. Maxwell noticed the change in expression before Drake elaborated. “The truth is... once her name gets cleared, Liam is going to propose to her. If she had any brain she would say yes...”

“No, she wouldn’t say ‘yes’ Drake. She’s madly in love with you.”

“I’m a nobody Max, she may think she loves me but she will soon realise it was never me that she apparently loves. I keep acting like a jerk, to push her away from me- because I don’t want to get hurt, or get my ‘ice cold heart’ shattered when she marries the King. I’m a jerk that is madly in love with Freya Johnson.”

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit Reviews Final Fantasy VII Remake

For many people Final Fantasy VII was a gateway to the JRPG genre and the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy VII was actually the second game in the series I played and I loved this just as much as Final Fantasy VIII. In fact, I used to have a Spring Break tradition when I was in high school where I would play Final Fantasy VII from start to finish. The original Final Fantasy VII hasn’t aged well in the visual department, but the gameplay is still really solid. The Materia system is still regarded as one of the best advancement systems in any RPG, and its influence is still felt today in many titles. I still remember 15 years ago when the PS3 tech demo came out showing the newly remade intro to Final Fantasy VII and like many, I too wondered if this was the beginning of a remake of the game. 

Square Enix would deny this saying it was just a demo of the PS3 capabilities and rather than remake the game, they decided to expand on Final Fantasy VII, with a movie (Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children), a mobile game (Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII), a PS2 third person shooter (Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus), and a PSP Prequel (Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core). All these entries were not great, with the exception of Crisis Core, which followed SOLDIER Zack Fair and how he kickstarted the events that occured in Final Fantasy VII. 

Like many fans, I too entered the Final Fantasy VII Remake with extreme caution. My main worry wasn’t if content would change, but rather if everyone’s personality would mirror Advent Children. That was my biggest concern because Advent Children really brought down the cast quite a bit. Needless to say, they more or less kept in line with how they were originally portrayed in the original game with some extra moments where they all shine.

I want to first mention that as you probably know that the Remake only covers the Midgar section of the original story, which consisted of five in-game hours of the original. I do also want to mention that there will be some spoilers, but I won’t be spoiling the new things in the Remake, but rather spoiling the instances that the Remake shares with the original. I will have a spoiler discussion at the end which will be marked by the “Keep Reading” cut. Final Fantasy VII Remake will follow a episodic release and I have to say, Square missed the opportunity to call this Final Fantasy VII Remake: Disc 1. Then again, maybe that could have potentially caused confusion towards potential new fans.

You are Cloud Strife, an EX-SOLDIER and mercenary hired by AVALANCHE to assist them in their mission to take down the Shinra Corporation. Cloud will meet various allies to help on his journey that include: Barret, the leader of AVALANCHE, Tifa, a bar owner and member of AVALANCHE, and Aerith, a flower girl from the Sector 5 Slums.

Many classic characters get expanded upon as well. Biggs, Wedge, and Jessie get backstories and more personality. Biggs is just a big softie, Wedge’s personality is food, and Jessie’s personality is sexual harassment. I tried reporting her to AVALANCHE’s HR, but there wasn’t one and Barret wouldn’t listen to me, so Cloud just had to deal I guess.

For fans of the original, all the classic moments are still here. The Sector 1 attack, the Airbuster fight, Cloud in drag, all those moments are still present in this Remake. All of those moments are also really beautiful looking and even expanded upon in great ways that honor the original. They will definitely make fans of the original Final Fantasy VII just pause and admire the upgraded look of everything.

There were some places that got expanded upon for the sake of padding, but honestly it didn’t really much bother me, but to me it meant fighting in the newly upgraded ATB battle system.

The combat is the perfect evolution of the ATB battle system. You can attack and defend at will, but if you want to use special attacks, magic, or items, you have to let the ATB meter charge and fill up to use those commands. When you open the command menu, time slows down to give you a moment to find the command you want. You can even switch characters in the middle of battle to give them their own commands or even play as them during the fight.

I also love how some fights you have to really strategize how you’re going to handle the encounter. Staying as just one character isn’t going to cut it in some fights and there are some moments where you will have to take control of another character because they're better suited for that battle. You’ll also have to make sure go in with the proper Materia to expose weaknesses to gain the upper hand. Some of these fights are really hard and you’ll get pulverized for going in them ill-prepared and that’s just on the Normal difficulty.

The Materia system still works the same as it did with the original. You upgrade your materia by completing battles. However, now you can upgrade your weapons for additional stat boosts. Each weapon also has a weapon ability that you can learn. Once the ability is known, you can use that ability even if you have a different weapon equipped. You know how I mentioned earlier that having the proper Materia will help in a fight. Even though it’s not so much the case for weapons, there are 1 or 2 boss fight that you might want to consider switching weapons around for your characters.

Now, what about the other mode that Square advertised, Classic Mode, is that closer to the turn-based style from the original? No it’s not, in fact it’s Super Easy mode where attacking and defending happens automatically and you only worry about the commands, but even then you don’t have to bother much with commands as the game plays itself mostly. Don’t take this as me shaming anyone for playing this mode, if you want to play it on Classic, more power to you, but I also don’t want someone seeing it and thinking that the mode is something that it’s not.

Even though this game is a Remake, it doesn’t in any way erase the original game. The original Final Fantasy VII will always be there and it’s still worth giving it a look today if you’re curious about the rest of the story.

Now, I’m about to enter spoiler territory as there are moments that I do want to further discuss, so if you don’t want spoilers, I’ll give my score here and have the spoilers in the cut. Only go to the cut if you’ve played the game or don’t mind spoilers at all.

Final Fantasy VII Remake gets a 5 out of 5

Ok, Story Spoiler Discussion Time!

I have to say, I’m actually a big fan of the ending. I’ll admit when Sephiroth was introduced in Chapter 2, I was concerned that Square sped it up for the sake of the fans. When Barret was saved by Fate, I was concerned that it was just going to be a stupid plot device to make sure certain characters lived. 

Then the final chapter happened and everything made sense in a weird way. 

The fact that this is the same Sephiroth we’ve known since the original game, the fact that the Remake is actually a Sequel and what we experienced in the Remake was actually an alternative universe is something that I have to admit was a very risky gamble and I think it paid off. What happens next is unknown and now that anything can happen since this is actually a continuation of Sephiroth’s story occurring in an alternative universe, it opens a lot of possibilities and I’m excited to see what happens next!

I’m excited to learn more about how he got to this universe. Will the Prime Universe try to find ways to the alternate universe to continue to fight Sephiroth? Did fighting Fate alter the timeline of the alternate universe we’re experiencing. If anything, I think this was the best way to preserve the original, do a retelling of original events, alter them a little and then reveal that it’s an alternative universe that the original game has influences on. It also still makes the original important as it lets you see and experience how Sephiroth got to this point. It’s like the 2009 Star Trek movie and I have to say, I thought that was handled well.

Also, this hasn’t been confirmed by anyone in Square but I think Fate was a representation of the fans. Think about it, Fate was doing everything it could to make sure certain events played out exactly the same as they did before. Which is what the fans wanted in a Final Fantasy VII Remake, the same game, just prettier and modernized. With you fighting and killing Fate, I think it was Square’s way of showing what their thoughts on this was. They didn’t want to rehash the same story, they wanted to tell a new story. So by having Fate die, it showed that Square is going to do something new, but the fact that certain events still played out the same, also shows that Square will keep some of them, but at the end of the day, this is a new story. 

However, with that said, I still have concerns about the upcoming sequels to this game. Particularly, Tetsuya Nomura’s very recent quote that the team doesn’t know how many more sequels there will be and is in favor of doing smaller chunks of the original story. This concerns me that the continuation of this new arc of Final Fantasy VII’s story will go in the route of Kingdom Hearts. The first couple games will be great and amazing, and then it will start going downhill because Nomura will get bored, stop caring, and will start doing things because he thinks it’s cool.

There is some great potential and I hope that what happens next continues to pay off.

[stillness-in-green]

Changeling: The League (3/3)

Bonus Miscellanea!  A sampler round of various other villains and some AU-of-the-AU versions of the story and characters, including some alternate takes on characters using other game lines from the World of Darkness.  

This post is the last one I have in mind for the concept, but I hope everyone who was curious enough to read them enjoyed them.  There’s some fun stuff in this post in particular, I think--the Word of Darkness really is a very versatile setting.  Find the explanations and the League of Villains here, the follow-up with the Meta Liberation Army here, or just hit the jump for the bonus material.

THE MINIONS

All for One’s direct loyalists and followers.  All are dual-kithed or otherwise eyebrow-raising in kith/seeming combination, and all have a high enough Wyrd that their kith abilities are starting to evolve--serving AFO does have its benefits.  With AFO imprisoned back in Faerie and the cycle stalled out, AFO’s followers are finding themselves facing an unclear future, and so each is having to come up with what they want to do going forward.  Mostly want Tomura to come back and get things moving again, having little sense that there is a world out there that’s more “real” than the one they currently inhabit.

Kurogiri

Type: Palewraith Darkling, Chatelaine dual kith.  Once a caretaker for Tomura, he opts to find Tomura out in the real world in hopes of resuming that directive.  When Tomura does not show even a shred of recognition, Kurogiri opts to set up a bar in the local Hedge, making himself “available.”  

Mantle: Winter, season of secrecy.  Has a servant’s circumspectness with a loyalist’s desire to keep his secrets, as well as a deep, very old melancholy that even he doesn’t really remember the reason for anymore.  

Contracts: Fleeting Winter I, Sorrow-Frozen Winter I-III, Dream I-V, and Smoke I-IV.  For Smoke, he has the old 4-dot Smoke-stepping clause rather than the more modern Murkblur, which is something of a tell regarding his true age.

 Ujiko

Type: Chirurgeon Darkling, which shouldn’t actually be possible by the categorizations as the fae understand them.  He’s been in AFO’s hands for a long time, though.  Current fear: what’s going to happen to the realm if the cycle continues to stall?  Gears can only grind against one another for so long before something explodes!

Mantle: Autumn.  A mad scientist with a deep appreciation for breaking things open to find out how they tick.

Contracts: Artifice I-III, Shade & Spirit I-IV, Spellbound Autumn I-III, and Goblin Delayed Harm III.

 Gigantomachia

Type: Stonebones Elemental, Gargantuan dual kith.  AFO’s most loyal monster.  Would have tried to find Shigaraki sooner, but he’s far too removed from the human he once was to be able to find his way through the Hedge without aid.  Probably spends the first few parts of the story giving All Might trouble in Faerie.  

Mantle: Courtless.  Has no emotional affinities that don’t track back to All for One.  

Contracts: Oath & Punishment I-V, Communion (Earth) I-III, and Stone I-V.  Like Geten, a close replica of his canonical powerset.

OTHER VILLAINS 

Muscular: Bloodbrute Ogre.  Ex-gladiator; current terror.

Moonfish: Gristlegrinder Ogre.  Current cannibal; also current terror.

Mustard: Blightbent Elemental.  Looks cuter because he doesn’t have to wear the gas-mask to protect against his own fumes.

Stain: Razorhand Darkling, give or take a Pischacha dual kith.  Broken very deeply by Arcadia from the strict and upright man he once was, but Lost society was pretty much created to provide a safe haven for that kind of damage.  A Summer Court enforcer of some notoriety.  

Gentle Criminal: Windwing Beast.  Refuses to be ground-bound, and is posting videos of himself doing impossible stunts that are drawing some attention, for better or for worse.   

La Brava: Drudge Wizened.  Falls in love with Gentle for showing her that you don’t have to shrink into what other people tried to make of you.  Has absolutely dyed her hair bright pink.  Somehow amazing at stealth anyway.

Gag Inclusion That Makes No Sense With the Lore But Is Perfect Anyway So I’m Not Changing It: 

Overhaul: “Don’t be ridiculous.  There’s no such thing as magic.”  

A banality-riddled Dauntain, from the previous incarnation of the game.  This is how Magne survives--he doesn’t kill her, but rather nukes her glamour reserves/Wyrd score access so badly she has to spend the next three months in the motley’s Hollow living in as much fae decadence as they can afford her, dining on hedgefruit, pampering herself, and keeping up with her various dream pledges while she recovers.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSES, ALTERNATE TAKES  

Hero Court, Villain Court: There is a version of the story where Heroes and Villains are old labels from a time when the freehold was built around a now-collapsed Sun Court/Moon Court dichotomy, headed up by All Might and All for One.  In the days following the catastrophic last battle, changelings of the Hero Court and the Villain Court alike have begun picking up the pieces and realigned to what everyone hopes will be a more stable Seasonal Court model.  Endeavor is the Summer King, a changeling who somehow had four three children when it’s all but unheard of to have even one.

Final Boss Shigaraki: There is a version of the story that centers on Deku, and in that version, what Shigaraki learns is this: everyone and everything has an end waiting for them somewhere.  As the game story progresses through power creep and mounting stakes, dramatic revelations and shifting priorities, Shigaraki moves away from Autumn and becomes more attuned to the fatalistic but liberating philosophy of Dusk.  As such, he gains the Entropy Contract clauses, I-V.  In this fashion, Shigaraki is paralleled by Final Battle Deku, rising champion of the Dawn, who is likewise gaining mastery of the Contract of Shonen Protag Powers Potential.  Will they be enemies in the end?  Allies?  Either way, their fates are connected.

Changeling All for One: There is a version of the story in which All Might and All for One are both changelings, in which the entirety of My Hero Academia is a story being played out in some far realm of Faerie.  All for One here is not Shigaraki’s Keeper, but merely a mentor who, when expy!Kamino happens, takes the opportunity to get Shigaraki out, knowing that he himself has been gone from the world for far too long to ever make the return trip through the Thorns intact.  In this version, All Might is an unknowing Loyalist who follows Shigaraki out, determined to capture him “for the good of society”--which would, of course, entail dragging him back to Faerie.

Destro the Revolutionary: There is a version of the story in which Desto is not one of the Gentry, but rather a changeling from years past, one who was spearheading a huge movement advocating that the Lost should reveal themselves to human society writ large--that Faerie predation could never be stopped as long as humanity didn’t know about it, and changelings had the power to, well, change that.   And weren't they tired of living in hiding; didn't they wish they could tell their loved ones the truth?  And that was a message that a lot of changelings liked, but it was also a message that terrified changelings in equal measure, and so in the end, an operative/operation from the Seasonal Court freehold put Destro down.  

In that take, Re-Destro is a successor to Destro as someone who came out of a similar durance and the MLA is a group planning a retributive war against the Seasonal Courts for their perfidy.  Shigaraki and the League could either stumble across the plot or be actively approached as a potentially sympathetic party after Shigaraki's relationship to AFO comes out and endangers his position in his own freehold.  

Re-Destro the Prince: There is a version of the story in which Re-Destro is not a changeling at all, but rather a vampiric prince, heir to a forbidden blood discipline.  He and his followers catch wind of the League motley: not vampires, but not normal humans, either.  They seek the motley out to find out what their deal is and whether it will be a complication to the MLA’s plans.  Vampires are far more immediately dangerous than changelings, but changelings have so many wonderful little tricks up their sleeve, especially against people who are careless with their battle banter.  (But I’ll be real, I hardly know a thing about Vampire: The Requiem--I’m much more familiar with Masquerade.  This version of the story mostly exists because I’m a Shigaraki/Re-Destro shipper and I am not immune to adventures in sexy blooddrinking.) 

THE WIDE WORLD OF DARKNESS

There are many other spins one could put on various MHA characters that would be fun to explore.  I kept all the relevant characters fae (or Fae) because if I started thinking about all the things the characters could be, I would actually never stop--and anyway, I’m more familiar with Old World of Darkness meta than I am New World of Darkness.  A lot of the ideas were still fun, though, so for your perusal, here are some of the ones I came up with:

The Shie Hassaikai is an extremist Hunter cell dedicated to weeding out supernatural creatures of all sorts.

Ujiko is a wildly amoral retired Hunter running a mad scientist lab funded by dubiously sourced money from his fae patron, as long as he’s spending a requisite amount of time per month working on AFO’s projects.

There exists a Sin-Eater and his resident Geist who have become so tangled in each other that they no longer retain separate identities, and are now merely “Kurogiri.”  

Kurogiri is a changeling.  Yamada Hizashi is a Sin Eater.  Aizawa Shouta is a Hunter, and he and Hizashi both are trying to dig up information on what happened to Shirakumo Oboro, but neither one of them is anywhere near getting at the truth of the matter.  (This one might actually be true for the purposes of the main Changeling!AU story.)

Midoriya Izuru is a mortal taking his first, faltering steps into the great wide world.  He’s had no durance, no first change, no sire, no awakening--he’s just a young man who stumbles across a secret and has to decide what to do with it.

[alizrak]

Thrawn Treason Review

You know me. You know how much I love Thrawn and Zahn, but I’ll try to be as objective as I can with this.

At first I was going to give it a 8/10 but having these few days to go over my feelings and putting the issues I found to words, I believe I’ll have to make that a 7.5/10.  I liked Treason, but I liked Thrawn and Alliances better.

This is my spoiler free review comparison:

Thrawn 2017 - 9/10 I loved the heart this book. Just watching the struggles that Thrawn and Eli faced to get to the top was worth it. I was surprised by the revelations and implications the story had for the Galaxy at large… but especially by how emotionally charged the ending was.

Alliances - 8/10 Anakin and young Thrawn were amazing and so fun. There were several emotional scenes and a HUGE setting up for potential story lines now that we know Ezra and Thrawn are lost out there in the UR, but I’ll be honest and say I had a few problems with some slow parts.

Treason - 7.5/10 What I loved about Treason were the characters. I wish we could have explored them more but the plot didn’t allow it. If I had one request for Zahn in the next book it would be less math, more character development. There are other issues but I’ll explain them below the cut.

Now, the full review:

 [SPOILERS FROM THRAWN, ALLIANCES, OUTBOUND FLIGHT AND TREASON AHEAD]

Positive:

The story was very fast paced. There was always something going on, people doing a thing, going places, trying to stay a step ahead, not a moment to spare. Some parts from the previous books felt like they were dragging their feet so this was a change of pace. 

The book was mostly serious compared to the hilarity we got from Anakin and Thrawn, and even Vader and Thrawn in the last book, although there are a few fun gems too with Ronan and how everyone reacts to Krennic.

Zahn also did a splendid job to establish the grysk as a -real- threat. In Alliances I couldn’t help but feel the Grysk were too similar to the Vagaari but with more black mail. Now, we get to partially see how they keep their slave/clients in control which is… scary. Really scary. I even think there might be some Force domination at work but I guess the only way to be sure would be for Ezra to confirm it if he ever gets to meet them in the future with Thrawn.

The book it’s at its strongest when the main characters interact. I liked the personality of the new characters and they feel very distinctive from one another. Ronan was a rollercoaster of “I like him- I hate him”. Ar'alani was amazing to have back after reading her in Outbound Flight. Every time she talked with Thrawn, Eli or Faro it was a top notch experience. 

Faro is having second thoughts on her competence because she thinks she might have let down Thrawn in some way, Eli continues to be the goodest space cowboi in the Galaxy which I love and cherish, and Thrawn… well, Thrawn is Thrawn, which is both good and bad. Also the new Chiss girl was interesting but I hoped we could have learned more of them.

My issues:

The plot quickly shifts from a politically charged bet to get rid of pests, to a big conspiracy to con resources out of Stardust, to overly complicated battle plans against an invasion force that you must follow closely word by word to try to visualize and understand what is happening... or you will get lost. That’s going to be a problem for a lot of people. I struggled.

I actually felt tense and exhausted because there was no chance to catch your breath before we got another invisible Grysk ship or complicated puzzle to solve with science. When Thrawn explains a plan I honestly feel like I’m getting a class on astrophysics and thermodynamics. I didn’t need every little detail of how everything will work down to the angles because I started to get lost. Looking back I realize that perhaps a good third of the book might be comparing data, analyzing said data, making an intricate mathematical plan, revising the data and applying it. I commend Zahn for his amazing descriptions at how they get to a solution, but even for me it was a little too much. I feel a bunch of that time could have been used to develop a few other issues that we were misled to expect…

For example, we were technically lied in the premise of the book. The premise at the back was the one it was marketed by the publishers and SWs and speaks how Eli seeks out Thrawn to warn him about a big problem in Csilla… and that never happens. Not even close. They stumble into each other by accident when their respective “prey” encounter each other. That was a let down. I expected more information on Csilla and interactions between Eli and Thrawn. In fact, they were barely in the same room, let alone... alone. I’m starting to fear steps were taken from high up to tell Zahn to “tone them down”, going as far as hinting a possible female interest for Eli because Eli and Thrawn have undoubtedly gained certain popularity. I’d think this is the case, as even Zahn wrote Eli wondering why was Thrawn being so aloof towards him and chalking up to having to be professional in public. That’s too much of a coincidence. In any case, many of us came hoping to see how their friendship from the first book had evolved after such a long time... but it just fell flat.

Next is the inconsistencies with time. Those who are also fans of Rebels know that from the moment Thrawn leaves Lothal a number of events happen that critically endangered the TIE Defender project. We get at the beginning of the book one such scene: Thrawn speaking with Tarkin, asking him to come to Coruscant. We get it from Faro’s pov, allowing us to have another look at that talk and a little more of Thrawn’s insight on what might happen if they leave Pryce in charge. He assumes the Rebels will attempt to rescue Hera and might succeed given Pryce is emotionally compromised. The moment Thrawn left Lothal, a timer started in my head to the next scene linked to these events in Rebels: the very next day Thrawn would have a holocall and confront Pryce for her incompetence, he would look more than just displeased… he would be angry. A type of frustration that carried on to the finale where he seems ‘incredibly done’ with everything and he’s trying to salvage the situation as best as he can. That’s… that’s a big thing if we are talking about Thrawn. 

As a lover of Rebels and the Thrawn books I expected to get the answer that explained why Thrawn was acting like that. So, as the plot developed, battles were won, puzzles were solved and treasons were unearthed, I started to realize the book was running out. I wondered if something would happen at the end that messed everything up and his call with Pryce would be the last strand. But there was no call. The book ended. A whole week had somehow passed already. I was aghast. At no point it felt we were witnessing the events of several days. The book talked of hours passing by so I assumed this would be “Thrawn and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day”… but instead he seems satisfied with the results even though he lost the bet on a technicality and, just like that, Thrawn states he must return to Lothal in the brevity. So in the end, Thrawn simply gets a holo meeting with the Emperor who is not exactly satisfied with his results and questions a his loyalty a little, so they will talk about that after Thrawn gets the Jedi chamber into the Chimaera and brings back Ezra to him. Aaaand the book ends. I was… stunned.

There were no answers here. And Zahn didn’t seem to align the most important story arc of Rebels and how it affects Thrawn other than a mention at the beginning and the very end. For someone who is painfully detail oriented with their battles, this was a huge oversight. You could even argue this plot could have happened at any point in S4 but Zahn saw an opportunity to patch it right after Jedi Night. 

In any case. While we get a few lovely scenes with Eli and the Chiss… there’s one thing that has become what I regard as emotional highlight for the last few Thrawn books: even though Thrawn wins, he loses something that you could regard as personal. In Thrawn (2017) he loses Nightswan, a rival and almost an equal he hoped could become and ally, as well as “losing” Eli by doing the best for him by sending him away. In Alliances he let’s go of Anakin, both in the past and the hope that he can bring him back in the present. Even more importantly, in Outbound Flight he loses Thrass. But there’s no such thing here. Thrawn wins the battle but loses the funding bet and still doesn’t look phased.

Also, compared to the previous books, there was no point in which Thrawn wasn’t in control of the situation. In the first book Thrawn was a little at a loss with the politics and society which is why Eli was always doing his best to help him. In Alliances, the real danger was the possibility of Vader having the last word on whether or not help him retrieve the girls and stop the Grysk. It was something out of his control, and it showed. I hoped the third book was Thrawn facing an impossible choice, hence Treason. But it wasn’t. It was Thrawn slightly bending Imperial protocol and rules like we are used to by now. I suppose that’s on me. I wished we had seen *something* that Thrawn can't face with logic. Treason ends there, just as Ezra was about to become that *something* immediately after you close the book. 

Overall, the enjoyment of this book may vary at certain points if you don’t like math battles or care too much about the timeline. I don’t feel there wasn’t any big revelation like in the two previous books like Thrawn saying there were bigger threats than the Empire lurking int he UR and that he playing the long game to replace the Emperor. In Alliances we got the bomb with the Chiss navigators and how their powers work different than the rest of Force Users. I don’t feel anything in Treason gets to that level. Nothing happens that changes your perception of the Galaxy at large or even the story that was happening parallel to it Rebels. You could arguably skip this book but you would be missing some great Eli, Faro and Ar’alani content that makes this book truly shine.

I’ll reread it soon but now I’ll likely skip on the battles and focus on the characters because ELI IS JUST THE BEST AND YOU ALL KNOW IT. xD

[ghostwise]

Dragon Age Questions

@dirthara-mama tagged me for this! Thank you!! <3 I’ll tag @mabarihounds @antivan-surana and @vlwv 

01) Favourite game of the series?

Origins! It’s the first one I played, and each time I pick it up I find something entirely new in the experience. The characters feel like old friends, and the dialogue is really charming. It also has a ridiculous high-fantasy vibe that I love, which seems to be lacking in later games. I know it’s silly, I know it’s absurd and dated... but you just can’t beat that possessed rhyming oak tree npc…

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

When Inquisition was announced, I started seeing a lot of it on my dash, so a friend and I started playing the series! I was hooked pretty much right away.

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

I’ve finished Origins three times, DA2 twice, and I’m currently playing Inquisition for the first time!!  Exciting!

I also have a handful of unfinished playthroughs on Origins, which were attempts to create new Warden characters, but none of them got past the first quest. I just love my Mahariel too much… 

04) Favourite race to play as?

Elves! I love the worldbuilding behind them, the city elves, the Dalish, and the ancient elves. I hate pretty much everything about how these issues are handled in game, though.

05) Favourite class?

Mage!

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

Pretty much. I have tried to play as different characters so as to explore different outcomes and decisions, but again… I love my OCs too damn much.

07) Go-to adventuring group?

Origins: Hamal, Zevran, Morrigan, Sten. DA2: Renata, Varric, Anders, Isabela. Inquisition: Neluayo, Varric, Blackwall, Sera—so far!

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

Listen, I love creating OCs and putting ridiculous amounts of thought into them. It went from being a coping mechanism as a newly immigrated depressed and anxious child, to something I still love as an adult. I have a hard time picking one OC I put the most thought into…

But because I’ve played Origins the most, and played it first, Hamal has a lot more content in his tag than my other Dragon Age OCs. He’s my baby and I adore him.

09) Favourite romance?

Zevran’s, no question. I think he may be one of my favorite characters in the series, romance or no! I love his background and his personality and his character arc. My boy...

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

Nope!

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

Didn’t read any of them but I do own World of Thedas v1 and v2, and it seems each time I open it I find something new and surprising about the world. I love it!

12) Favourite DLCs?

I really enjoyed Return to Ostagar for Origins, and Legacy for Dragon Age 2. I know Inquisition has some amazing DLC content so I’m looking forward to that!

13) Things that annoy you.

The constant retconning, and rewriting of issues to suit a certain agenda in game. Especially regarding treatment of the mages or the elves. Like, I know this is a fictional narrative, okay? But it’s annoying to watch the story go from ‘Templars are unequivocally abusing their power and oppressing this group of people’ to ‘well they have good reason for it, sometimes you have to massacre an entire population because of one incident, it’s Gray Morality™ sweetie!’

Nah, it’s just bad writing! And it’s okay to admit that lol

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

I have no strong feelings on the matter. Would love to hear more about Antiva or Seheron!

15) Templars or mages?

Mages!

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

Same universe. I don’t have an interest in having multiple Wardens or Hawkes tbh, I... I get too attached lol

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

Hamal calls his mabari D’alen. He is the most spoiled mabari in all of Thedas, typically guarding the camp, never fighting or being placed in danger. Renata calls her mabari Nicolo, and she loves putting warpaint on him. The dog accompanied Carver at Ostagar and takes care of the family over their years in Kirkwall. I still need to name Neluayo’s hart!

18) Have you installed any mods?

A few for Origins (different robes for Morrigan and the realistic appearance mods for companions), and several for DA2 (dialogue tweaks and new hair/appearance options). But Inquisition seems kinda complicated to mod, and I don’t want to break the game hhhh

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

No, he wanted to find Tamlen and go back to his clan. He actually did take off after Ostagar, driven by anger and fear and homesickness. Alistair was devastated. Morrigan had to go and fetch him, convincing him to return.

20) Hawke’s personality?

A good mix of purple and blue, but let’s be real, Renata is pink. Whimsy, whimsy, whimsy.

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

I haven’t played around with armor creation yet… sounds fun though!

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Hamal would have gone after Tamlen. It’s his greatest regret. Even before encountering him as a ghoul, Hamal was never able to shake the feeling that Tamlen had survived. But Duncan shot down every hope, and there was so much going on after Ostagar… there came a point where Hamal accepted that Tamlen was gone. 

When he shows up again, too far beyond any help but a blade between his ribs? It’s not something he ever gets over.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Oh I love breaking canon.

Hamal never becomes Warden Commander. His political influence by the time of the Landsmeet is as perilous as you might expect of an angry and traumatized Dalish elf whose interest was more on surviving and defeating the Blight, than, say, being on any noble’s good side. The only reason he isn’t immediately executed is because he and his allies called in many favors and made many concessions. One being that he would leave the Wardens and not remain politically involved. Frankly, the crown and nobility hoped he would perish against the Archdemon. But here we are! 

Alistair becomes Warden Commander instead. Receiving the boon comes with challenges of its own. The Dalish receive all the land that was most tainted by the Blight. Reconstruction takes years and is still an issue during Inquisition era.

To that end, the political influence of the Dalish during Inquisition leads to a lot of changes for Neluayo’s canon too. Because the elves have a hold over much of the south, the Inquisition needs to ally with them to even gain access to those regions. Neluayo being Dalish herself smooths things over some, but she is really in a complex position, with the Dalish, with the Chantry, with the monarchy… being stationed in the Free Marches, Clan Lavellan is one of the clans that has yet to join the southern Dalish. It’s a huge stressor for her.

As for Hawke, I keep both her siblings alive. Renata needs her little sister ;; <3 They do all go their separate ways after events in Kirkwall though. Orsino is also alive. Varric was clearly covering for him!

And I know Hawke already has a VA buuuut I headcanon Renata’s voice to sound more like Brittany Howard’s! Because it’s adorable.

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

Not really. I never create them with any one source of inspiration or influence in mind.

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

I’m gonna leave Stroud in the Fade! Makes my life a lot easier lol

26) Favourite mount?

I’ll agree that the harts are amazing! And they’re just so TALL. Love those majestic Thedosian megafauna. The bog unicorns are cute too, they’ve grown on me, surprisingly. Ha!

[lightforgedeve]

What did i come back into?

Dear Journal,

Once again it's been a time since i last wrote, i apologize. I didn't want to lose you on this journey. 

It all started with the nightmares, at first i thought maybe they were the after effects of the fog i inhaled. However, it's still lingering and it's been leaving me to have restless nights, so i decided to investigate. At first i locked myself in Vyciels library to research, maybe see if there was a connection to the fog and the dreams. However, since it's still unknown to us what exactly what it was i couldn't find anything, it is knowledge beyond me. So i decided to seek help, at first i thought to talking to Vyciel about it all but i felt maybe she wouldn't be able to, i don't have a grasp of her yet.

I thought to head to talk to the Druids in Moonglade, i understand they know of or have access to something called the Merealid Dream, or something like that. It has 'dream' in the name so surely i would be able to get some answers. 

However, it seems to be a sort of realm that only very strong druids can venture into, and that it's a place that is connected to us all but we can't just wonder into. Something of such nature. I couldn't quite grasp it all and it took me time just to understand that, perhaps i wouldn't get my answers.

I decided to return home, with a heavy heart, i felt defeated. At first i wasn't sure how to move forward, but it was nice being back home. I seemed to have arrived at a great time, it seems the city has been flourishing in a new way while i was away. There was a celebration commencing not long after i came back. They were celebrating the city and Republic. Celebrating the allies we have and have gained over time, there were new faces for me to see as well as old friends which made me feel happy.

Some people received honors for their work thus far. It was a happy occasion. However, sad news did come to our attention. I have faith strength will come from it of course.

I also learned my Sister has also been having similar dreams as i have and she had been away as well, around the same time as myself. Her's are a bit different, they seem to focus mostly on just her and Aursuna, which from my recent studies does make some sense. As for Lyn'dara, Aursuna is her love after all. It's her duty to protect her, so failing in that. Well, i can't imagine how devastating that could feel. I have a sense, considering that's how i feel if i ever failed the High Vindicator.

I'm sure it's on a different level for her though since they are a pair after all. I'm glad to be home, and with finding out my sister is also having such dreams, i have hope we can find an answer together and move forward. Vyciel also seems to have a new uh child, i guess. It seems she has a few she is a mother figure too, asides one who really is her blood, which is in it's own way very strange and i don't really want to accept how it came to be as it seems to unnatural. It makes me feel a bit uncomfortable. I am glad she was able to talk to me of such things, so i'm happy to start learning about her.  However, i'm...unsure if i want to know these types of things.

I can't deny the feeling of wanting to know, and i know that there is something stirring in me to want to be with her. I can't lie in saying i don't feel angry to others that touch her or are too close to her. One of her children was holding her hand, i didn't know who they were and i was so angry, i wanted to yell at them and it frustrates me to no end when Vyciel is friendly with others or kisses their foreheads. It just seems inappropriate and i'm not sure how to go about it or understand these feelings.

I'll just have to give things time and hope they subside and move on as i grow closer to her in the future. I hope so.

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

Dear Journal,

You wont believe this! I couldn't! I was so shocked! I wanted to speak to my sister about the dreams and compile our knowledge, however i was distracted by the High Vindicator as he wanted to introduce me to his, get this, APPRENTICE!  He has an apprentice! I was never called such before! And yet, he now has one?! She's not even a Lightforged let alone a paladin! I was so super angry!

I go away for a short time, and then he has someone new to be under his wing. It really felt like such a sting. However he said that i had passed being his apprentice and just wasn't anymore, which felt really amazing. I wasn't aware he considered me as such and to know he thought of me that and that i graduated such a point already, it really makes me try and remember just how long we have worked together and think about all we have gone through.

I feel i am still not ready to be past that point in my life or training, i feel a bit honored.  Plus his apprentice is actually really nice, she's interesting. I'm rather excited to see how she grows and continues moving forward. She has a long way to go. I'm sure she's as old or even older then me, yet she really has a long way to go.

She reminds me very much like a piece of coal, or no, maybe a harder metal ah, storm silver ore differently seems more like her. She has a bit of a spark to her that's beautiful but scary at the same time. I can't wait to see what sort of gem can be polished out of her!

I think the High Vindicator will have to be a bit hard on her to get her in a direction and i worry how the effects will be taken. It will either be amazing, or it will go horribly wrong. I'm hoping with me helping i can ease them both and help the transition.

The first time i trained with him wasn't exactly the easiest battle i've been through, but it helped me understand him and i hope she can see through what he does to understand him too. It'll be nice having a comrade in such regards for a change.

She also spoke really easily with me about her life, well i'm sure it was hard for her, but it sort of caught me off guard. Apparently all i needed to do is listen, but...that's how i always am, i think. I'm always willing to listen to others to understand them, so long they feel they can talk.

It made me think about why Vyciel hasn't been able to do that with me. Maybe she's just not ready, or maybe she doesn't know how to talk about her life. I'm not sure. I mean, of course she's told me some things, i've mentioned them before, but it feels very different besides, it's not like i've told her much about me and my life. Well, she met my mother, i figure that's enough to understand me in a way.

I'm going to get some sleep, it had been a long day.

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

Dear journal,

Ho boy, i am not sure how to go about today. I went about my day as normal as ever, coming back home from Vyciels i happened upon Liaana, the High Vindicators new apprentice. She was going for a hunt and asked me to join her. So i went ahead to change and clean myself up and get ready for such a venture.

It was amazing to see Shamanistic powers preformed right in front of me.  She we talked about her gifts and talents for a bit and we ended up getting joined by Deya, whose another new comer. She happened to see us as she was going about her rounds i guess, so she joined us. We all sat together for a while talking, eating some rabbit, before heading back to the city.

Deya had left before myself and Liaana, once back we talked a bit more before going on our ways. I had to go about my own duties, then in the afternoon we met up once more to see about getting her started on some training. The High Vindicator soon joined us.

She did some basics for warming up. Then we went on to combat. Rules were simple, no weapons. I wanted to go a bit easy on her, but of course couldn't make it look like it with the High Vindicator watching. It was a bit more difficult then i expected and she used the same trap trick on me as she did on the rabbit! It's poor lil’ life flashed before my eyes, i think she should change her method of hunting, that was rather scary. Having the ground suddenly just vanish on me in such a way.

I did of course, as planned, lost. It was rather close, in some ways. She is talented and it was refreshing to fight some new type of battle. In a way.   I think i should start challenging myself in different type of battle situations more often, there are many different talents here that are different then demons that i am not used to. I wont learn till i attempt them in any case.

However, uh, well. The rest was a bit difficult. He didn't want us using our powers, and forgot to mention it. In his own round about way, he was apologizing for that. However Liaana gave a bit of a sassy attitude back into how she had asked about the rules. Which of course, set the high Vindicator off to teach her "manners" which was to knock her down and pick her back up to glare at her. Which..of course set everyone off who was watching. I was able to get myself in quick enough and stop anything from going too extreme and the High Vindicator walked off.

Liaana got checked over, of course she was fine. However that's when people started talking poorly about the High Vindicator. Dessendre and Bryceon were speaking of him poorly, claiming him to be terrible for hitting someone who already has injuries. Which normally i agree, but she can't be allowed to use that as an excuse to get away with things so of course i had to speak frank to the pair which in it's own course didn't work well.

I spoke with Liaana to try and better explain the situation and about how the High Vindicator can be. She seemed to understand and as i had hoped he returned and went on to apologize, in his own little way.

The evening tired me out pretty quickly, but i ensured to finish my work before getting to bed. The lack of sleep and the growing fear of my dream has only grown heavily in my heart, the fear lingers a bit in my wake and sometime's it takes me a moment to recall where i am and that things are fine. I've been seeking comfort in Vyciels bed more often, just feeling her near me makes me feel a bit better, her own body heat reminds me it's safe.

But i'm not sure how long it'll last, she has told me a short time ago that her own life is in danger, i think that's only escalated my feelings of fear. I had hoped to speak to her, but i don't want to bother her when she has her own worries and things to sort through on how to save herself and her Archive. I'll just have to make sure i'm ready for whatever way i can help her in her own journey.

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

Dear Journal,

I have made a knew very unsettling discovery, well i have found out many, many just horrible terrifying things. I am really not sure how to talk about it all and i don't think i can convey the shock and horror and just very strange day today has been. I'll try. 

I decided to do some scouting in the surrounding lands, see if anything was a miss and when i returned there was this very strange air around the city and it was heavy within. I decided to find the High Vindicator, see if anything happened while i was away. The Barracks was closed off, shielded by a shield i wasn't all that familiar with. Cassa'nara showed up and of course she was of little help as per usual when i asked her some questions, speaking in riddles as always like Vyciel does, which irritates me so! So went on to call out to the High Vindicator, and the shield came down. It must of been made by him i figured. I went on ahead inside and found him at his desk. One of Vyciels daughters was there, Presidium i believe her name was. However, she had the darkness of the void around her.

I went on to asking questions, however the High Vindicator stopped me and showed me a vision he had been having. It was, very, very much like my own. Different, but even more so similar to mine then even Lyn'dara's was. The fear, the darkness, the dread of no hope. However, there was a child within his own vision who he was guarding. It shocked me and caught me by surprise. He expressed how that had been effecting him as of late and causing him some troubles. I understand of course.

I was still curious about the rest of what was happening, he told me to leave it be. For then, i agreed. Understanding his own feelings towards such a vision, i couldn't imagine how much it was clouding his mind and effecting him. The fear and anger he must be feeling. I could understand if he never slept, not wanting to face those again each night. I know, i didn't want to.

I was soon invited to have some tea with Eveneah and Zedwynn. I agreed. I like to think i know Zedwynn enough to understand she doesn't usually do such things unless she wants to speak about something of importance. Of course talking of the old times would have been fine enough, but i felt uneasy and needed to know what had occurred to cause the High Vindicator to close himself from the others.

Cutting to the chase i learned of how Zedwynn was accusing the High Vindicator for harming Presidium. As she has bruises upon her body. Of course it made me understand why Vyciel had come to the High Vindicators office to be with Presidium, however i assumed someone else may of harmed her and that the High Vindicator was looking into it. I mean, who sits in a room quietly with someone whose harming them?

I got defensive of course and tried forcing a proper investigation, however Zedwynn and i didn't quite see in the same way so she left. I took matters into my own hands. I thought to calm myself and pray to the Light on the matter, however i ran into the person i wanted to talk to. Presidium was within the chapel on her own praying as well. I decided to see it as the Light had approved of my feelings and were happy to also show me that the man i looked up to was innocent.

However, it was uh, the news and information was a bit more then i could comprehend. After finding out that they, the two, him and her, the High Vindicator and uh Presdium that they uh, they are a couple of sorts it uh, really was just too much for me. I ended up fainting. Eveneah ended up happening upon the scene as well as my sister, as she was looking for me and they were able to rouse me. After such a moment i was being summoned by the Consul, i could barely bring myself together before i was brought to her properly. I already felt so weak and sick and the end of tonight, i'm really not sure if i'll be able to sleep and it wont be the nightmares keeping me awake this time.

The Consul spoke to me about the events of today and my investigating having now helped the summery of it was able to help her understand what needed to be done. Having such explained to me on just how severe what has transpired, i agree with the course.

I'm so angry, but i'm so tired.

I wouldn't be angry if he found someone to be with, finding a mate would be wonderful for him. However, she was already with someone and even though he was aware of that he and her still continued on their own way. That is just disgraceful. It's embarrassing and disloyal.

Of course, i had to have such things better explained to me and my own loyalties were questioned and tested due to my respect and loyalty to the High Vindicator.  My own relation with Vyciel was brought in as an example to help me understand. Apparently i have jealousy. I don't still understand what that means, but there are other more important things happening besides my own feelings. I am loyal to the Republic, they have taken us in and have done much for me and my own, not to mention the new growth and new friends and family i can be with. With such said, i'll act as the High Vindicators stand in till everything is sorted through and he returns to his place.

If he can. He had stumbled in upon our meeting about him, a complete mess. I have worries and fears on what had harmed him so. Whatever attacked him is a force to be recon with, however, i feel if this was something coming for us he would have warned us. Instead of blubbering on how he deserves to die, as that is apparently what we think of him. 

The Consul of course called for me to find Rosewood, not sure who that is, they must be an amazing healer. I couldn't find Rosewood, but i did find Eveneah who is an amazing healer! Though she said she is Rosewood, i think she's playing a thing called a 'prank' on me. I know i have mistaken her and Presdium before as they look much alike and wear the same clothing, but i think this was a bit too far at the wrong time, so i didn't press it and brought her with me. However, the Consul called her Rosewood, so i'm wondering if Eveneah lied to the Consul about her real name. I'm worried for my friend, i think i'll talk to her about it and make sure she's safe at a later date.

At the end of this,  the Consul gave me a parchment that weighs heavily on me. It's promotion papers for me to sign, i would be taking the High Vindicators place. She reassured me she is what the Republic needs now, and that i'm ready. Even Aursuna believes in such.

I have, many doubts.

[etcwrites]

Missing & Unknown

Lancelot Week Day 2 @lancelotweek

Prompt: love/hate

Rating: General Audiences

Status: Completed

Summary:

Lotor is still new to the alliance and Paladins of Voltron are a touch distrustful. But no worries, Lancey Lance has the perfect solution: A party! (Post S04)

AO3 Link

“Regretfully, I must decline.”

A line appears between Lance’s eyebrows, confusion bleeding into his expression and creasing his otherwise perfect skin.

His immediate response is to ask why?! Why would Lotor decline his proposal?

From every viewpoint, attending a party should make perfect sense. Besides being extremely fun, (because, please Lancey Lance knows how to throw a fabulous party) it creates the perfect opportunity to socialize with allies, solidifying their newly formed alliance and allowing Lotor to gain a little bit of trust.

“Decline?!” he exclaims, voice going high before he could control it. “You realize that half of the alliance distrusts you and the other half hates you, right?”

Lotor doesn’t even blink but still Lance can see how his words hit at the core. The prince must realize his situation as well. With his strategical thinking and innate need to analyze, Lance knows that Lotor perfectly understands the delicate situation that he faces. With barely a month under his belt as the new ally of Voltron (and with the fact that he is Emperor Zarkon’s freaking son) he stands on thin ice.

“I’m aware, Paladin of Voltron.” Lotor replies, voice soft but his chin up, looking almost adorably stubborn.

“No, no,no, no, no stop right there!”

“I apologize-“

“No, it’s fine. Just call me Lance. Not-” Lance grimaces at the formal words. “Paladin of Voltron”

For a second confusion passes through Lotor’s face, elegant brows rising before tension bleeds out his shoulders, slowly transforming into a smile. Albeit not a nice smile, but still a smile.

“Lance…” he repeats, voice pleased, commanding, testing…

A shiver runs down Lance’s spine before he can understand what is happening.

“Uh-“ he stammers, already feeling the color rising to his cheeks. “Yes, so…the party! Uh- I think you should attend, you-”

Lotor leans back on his chair, eyes travelling up and down Lance’s body to finally settle on his face. “I realize this is a personal party, a celebration of a birth date.”

“Yes, a birthday.” He replies, trying and failing to keep the color away from his face. Why does Lotor have to be this pretty and have such a perfect hair?! “But it is hardly an exclusive event. We’ll have ambassadors from the coalition, even a few people from the Blades. And there will be cake and decorations! Oh man, you know Hunk makes a mean chocolate and chocolate chips cake that you can’t even believe your taste buds! And music! Pidge found a way to download songs from her archive so things might get pretty wild, if you catch my drift!”

Lotor makes a contemplative noise at the back of his throat, head leaning against his fist, and a small smile settling across his face as he regards Lance and his nervous rambling. This time the smile looks softer…

“You seem quite excited for this event.”

“Well…yeah.” Lance sobers up and focuses on Lotor. “I want this to work. To achieve peace throughout the universe, we must first get to know each other.”

“Get to know each other?... Indeed…”

“Uh-“ Lance blinks, heart leaping to his throat at Lotor’s suggestive tone. He must be dreaming… “I mean! We must try to understand each other! And, what better way than a party, right?!”

For a second silence hangs between them, time stretching out and filling space. Lance prepares himself for another rejection, the amused smile on prince’s face unhelpful at easing his suspicion. However, when Lotor uncrosses his legs and leans forward into Lance’s space, he is entirely unprepared.

“Such a compelling case,” Lotor murmurs, long hair brushing against Lance’s knees. Then fixing his gaze on the other, he smirks. “Count me in…Lance”

Heat suddenly burns inside his stomach, sucker punching and rendering him speechless for a few seconds. As Lance takes a sharp breath, eyes fleeting across Lotor’s face, the other leans back with fingers linking and a knowing smirk settling across his lips.

“Uh…good! Sure thing!” He mentally shakes himself, rising to his feet in a smooth motion and turning to leave. “I’ll let you know about the details.”

With an affirmative nod from the prince, Lance turns back and moves out, all the while feeling Lotor’s burning gaze down his back.

Strange…

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

“You did WHAT?!”

Lance can see a vine popping across Keith’s temple and wow, does it look malicious, much like Keith’s entire aura right now.

“Hey!” Lance retaliates, indignant and high pitched, because he has pride (and really believes this might help them secure another alliance, but that’s beside the point and it has absolutely nothing to do with how pretty Lotor looked just minutes ago! No! Nope! NOT happening! )

“There is nothing harmful about it, so keep your hackles under control, huh, mullet!”

“We don’t even know his intentions or his agenda!” Keith continues.

“Ahh, yes… I side with Keith on this one, man.  I mean, this is Lotor we are talking about, you know evil crown prince of Galra, massive planner, schemer, because he looks like a schemer… You guys remember how he was always one step ahead of us, right?!”

Lance swallows down his sigh. Of course he knows what Hunk is talking about and he loves his best bud but sometimes the big guy worries too much.

“Guys, relax!” he gestures with his hands, palms turned towards them. “Everything is gonna be just fine. C’mon, it is just a party!”

Keith still looks like he is ready to give him another piece of his mind but Lance swiftly turns towards the mostly silent occupant in the room. “Besides, Pidge is okay with it, and it is her birthday!”

Promptly every other face turns to the girl, who is typing on the transparent tablet. “It’s fine.” she replies nonchalantly, eyes never leaving the screen. Lance opens his arms towards her and gestures as if he is presenting something. “See!”

Now Keith looks constipated and Hunk looks quite a bit sick but Lance is almost convinced he can turn this around and stop the team from harassing Lotor when a shadow lands on four of them, causing every head to turn towards the source.

Over the seats of the common room Shiro stands, looking down at them and for a second Lance thinks he is going to be reprimanded for taking liberties, only to relax as Shiro shares his opinion. “I think we all should try to see this as an opportunity to get acquainted with Prince Lotor and introduce ourselves as well.”

“I agree” As Allura moves to stand next to Shiro, Lance feels a warm feeling settle across his chest. He can only guess what it means to lose all of your family, all of your people and yet, find the strength to overcome your pain and even accept the race that caused such a tragedy.

She is amazing, Lance thinks. More than amazing…

“This is a chance to gain new allies such as Prince Lotor and strengthen our relationships with our existing ones”

“Also,” Lance intervenes, plopping beside Pidge and pulling her close with an arm around her shoulder “to have fun!” Turning to wink at Allura, he smiles brightly. “It is a birthday after all!”

At the corner of his eye Lance can see Pidge sending him a look but up close he also notices the corner of her lips turning up.

“Ah-“ Allura says, suddenly embarrassed. “Yes, you are absolutely right, Lance.” Her voice has gone soft. “It is to have fun as well.”

Across the room Keith’s scowl has no rival. Lance suspects, it is because he is allergic to having fun.

But finally, he thinks ignoring all of that. Something is going right!

Turning back to Pidge, he grins.

“Just leave it to me!”

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The party is… a disaster!

Well, probably that is an overstatement but where is the joy if it is not an overstatement!

Still…it is going pretty rocky for Lance.

And, don’t get him wrong, it is not the countless clueless aliens and their preferences towards juuust the right music. It is not the weird, weird gifts gathered around Pidge (seriously who gets a human being a purple acid bomb!).  Strangely… it is not Keith, with his stupid frown and sulking tense expression. It is not even Lotor, who is for the most part calmly nursing his drink beside the bar and basically keeping a low profile.

No! It is Matt and his stupid sibling love!

Lance grits his teeth as Matt once again hugs Pidge close, wide grins plastered across their faces and it is great to see them as happy as this, because a) cute, b) happiness is a treasure in vast freaking space and c) it means the party is amazing and Lance is proud of himself.

But…

It hurts.

Sighing Lance turns his eyes away and quickly excuses himself from the company of a few Balmerans. He seriously needs a drink to take the edge of, fingers clenching into tight fists as he desperately tries to control his feelings.

As he passes through the crowd he can feel longing settling across his chest, a sudden feeling of loss pulling at his heart. For a second his sister flashes in the shadow of Allura, in the way she flicks her hair over her shoulder , the next moment he can see his brother’s smile on Hunk’s face and –

Lance catches sight of Matt and Pidge -

-that warm feeling that surrounds his heart whenever his little cousin hugs him…

Lance turns his eyes away, heart squeezing painfully.

I miss-

No! He can’t deal with this right now. Not in front of all these people, not when it is Pidge’s birthday!

Moving towards the bar, he bypasses the various snacks and immediately reaches for the spiked punch.

Vaguely he is aware of another set of eyes watching him but at this point, he can’t find it in himself to care about anything. Pouring a generous portion, Lance turns towards the exit, the sudden need to be alone almost choking him. He needs space; he needs to be away from happy families, away from reunions, reminders and most certainly birthday parties.

Giving a fake half smile to one of the Olkari representatives, Lance pushes through the crowd, his eyes momentarily catching Lotor’s before turning away.

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

In the silence of an empty corridor, Lance leans against the wall, knees folded and eyes focused on the flickering lights scattered across the vast space. He wonders if he will ever get the opportunity to see his family again, to feel his mother’s warm arms, to hear his dad’s joyful laugh…

Space is too large, Lance thinks, pushing at now the empty cup. And Earth is so far away.

The sudden forlorn footsteps pull him out of his thoughts, head reluctantly turning towards the intruder. He really doesn’t want to explain himself to the team, their faces too familiar, too close… And he doesn’t have the strength to pretend for a member of the coali-

As Lotor turns the corner, Lance can feel his brows rising in surprise. In the low light of the corridor Lotor looks divine, regal with perfect skin and piercing eyes…. and entirely out of place.

“Uhm-“ Lance stammers intelligently. “What- why- why are you here?”

One of Lotor’s eyebrows rises, an amused sly expression replacing his neutral one. “As one of your guests, can’t I enjoy the various corridors of your castle?”

Lance can’t help his frown. “That doesn’t even make sense. There is nothing interesting here-“

“You seemed upset”

Lance’s voice hitches at his throat, a lump settling right at the center.

“I’m fine,” he tries, avoiding the other’s gaze and turning his head towards the stars. “Just needed some space.”

Lotor stays silent but takes one more step towards Lance. “Would you mind if I stay here for a while?” Before Lance can complain, the other leans against the wall beside him. “It was getting rather…tense surrounded by coalition forces.”

Sneaking a look, Lance pushes down his sigh. “Sure,” he says. “Though I find that hard to believe. And you should be trying to make friends, not hide in a corridor.”

“Ah!” Lotor murmurs, amusement clear in his voice. “Such a sound advice.”

This time Lance turns to glare up at the prince. “Hey!” he complains “I’m fine! This is just tempor-“

“You were excited for this party, were you not?” Lotor diverts, looking away from Lance and focusing on the stars. “ What changed?”

“Uh- nothing!” Lance exclaims, voice suddenly spiking. “Nothing changed… It is just-“

I miss-

Swallowing he stops, words choking him and his heart breaking under the weight of space, of distance, of endless war. He doesn’t know if he will ever be back, if he will ever see his cousins, his aunts and uncles, his siblings, parents… mom…

Before he can stop himself words tumble between his lips.

“My family…” Lance starts, vision blurring “when I was back home…”

He tightly closes his eyes for a few seconds, forcing himself to calm down, to gain control of his voice. When he reopens them, they are shinning with a new force. “We used to have these huge birthday parties.” He pushes on, voice getting stronger with each word, memories providing strength instead of causing pain, as he continues to share.

“And, ah- everyone came in. The house would be full! My cousins, all of them! They are all younger than me and oh, you should have seen it! When it comes to parties the first year is always the best one!”

Vaguely Lance can feel Lotor sliding down the wall to settle beside him.

“I remember Phillipa! She took her first steps on her birthday, that little rascal! She was adorable, trying to stay upright with her chubby hands grabbing onto the sofa-“

Suddenly stopping Lance bites his lip. Why was he even talking about these things?!...

“I guess…” he admits, voice small and low but finally ready.  “I- I miss them. There is only somethings you can share with your family”

Beside him Lotor hums, though Lance isn’t sure if he understands.

Silence stretches between them, filling up the space and almost becoming deafening.

“Where are your Generals?”

At the sudden question, Lotor’s jaw clenches, his fingers growing tense then gradually, deliberately relaxing.

Lance bites his lip. Abort, abort!, his brain screams at him. “You,” he starts, nervously cleaning his throat. “You don’t have to tell me. I just thought…it was odd.”

As Lance watches, Lotor looks away, eyes searching the endless space. This time the silence that comes between them is oppressive, restricting, almost making it impossible to breathe.

“It was me,” Lotor says, in the end, successfully throwing Lance into a loop.

“You? How so?” Leaning forward Lance rests his head on his palm.

For a second Lotor looks like he might give an honest answer, eyes thoughtful and fingers linked, before his face closes off. “Galra do not have the sentiments you have described.”

“Pffft! I don’t know what you are talking about” Lance argues, letting it go and trying to keep things light. “Keith is half Galra and he is such a ball of sunshine when it comes to friendship.”

Lotor looks unconvinced but soon his features relax as he catches up to the joke.

“But,” Lance continues. “ He still cares…”

The other turns towards the window once again. “I understand he is no longer a paladin.”

A sudden anger rises inside Lance, disappointment squeezing around his heart. Vaguely he realizes this might be a ploy by Lotor to gather more information, to identify their weaknesses and divide the team, but sometimes you gotta give in to get something in return. “He wanted to go another way, yes. But that doesn’t mean-“ A sudden lump clogs up his throat. And he knows he had agreed with the others when Keith asked to join the Blades of Marmora, he knows they had this giant group hug, showing their support and acceptance but still…the thought of Keith leaving -  It still hurts…

“-that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care about the team.”

Lotor hums once again, voice soft and contemplative. “Perhaps.” Then turning towards Lance he fixes his gaze on the other. “For Galra, loyalty and sincerity don’t come naturally. We-“  He pauses for a second, expression staying forcefully neutral, before continuing. “Survive… and do anything to ensure our goals, whatever they may be.”

Oh-

“It sounds lonely.”

That wasn’t what Lance had meant to say but once he says it, he can see how true it is. Beside him, Lotor looks surprised and even though it only lasts for a few seconds, it is enough.

Lance pulls his knees towards his chest, linking his long arms around his bent legs. “Whether in the shape of kin, relatives or friends, family is important.” He murmurs, looking at the floor. “They love you and stay with you even though you are not at your best. They are there to support you, to keep you in line, to show you what can be better, how you can be better. And-“

He pushes his lips together, fingers biting into his arms.

“- and I’m sorry you didn’t have the chance to find yours yet.”

When he looks up there is confusion on Lotor’s face as if Lance is an alien life form, hatching right before his eyes and once again Lance waits for that look to turn calculative, even turn into something similar to how he had regarded Lance before the party, amused, flirty, manipulative… But it stays the same.

Cleaning his throat Lance then leans back and shoves Lotor’ arm slightly. “Besides,” he points out, trying to lighten the mood. “You can’t really do worse than Zarkon. The guy literally tried to kill you.” Smiling Lance gives the prince a wink. “You can only go up from there.”

Shock is evident on Lotor’s face, brows raised and eyes wide open but before Lance can try something else to pacify the situation, the other speaks.

“You are a peculiar one, aren’t you?”

“What?! Peculiar? I’m peculiar?! I’ll tell you what Prince Lotor-“

Then suddenly there is a laugh, barely and short but it is a laugh, from Lotor nonetheless.

Lance grows silent, his eyes fixed on the other.

“I apologize” Lotor says his voice loaded with amusement, eyes soft. Then…

“Thank you…Lance.”

A new exciting energy passes through Lance, the way his name sounds in Lotor’s voice causing a shiver to run down his back. However, it is different than before. Now it feels warmer… better.

Lance cleans his throat, feeling color spreading across his cheeks.

The other gives him a half smile, a second later his face slowly closing off and smile turning into a calculating smirk.

But Lance can tell a first step when he sees one.

And for now, he’ll take what he can.

[hinasho]

so i made it to season 2 of vikings and it isn’t bad. but i do like the l*st kingdom more. like i know tlk was based on a book so it had a more rigid storyline to follow, but that’s not really any excuse for why vikings made all these storylines in s1 that either went nowhere or had extremely unsatisfying ends

the MOST unsatisfying plot line so far has to be the rollo vs ragnar dynamic. all throughout season 1, they kept showing us that rollo hates always being behind his brother. (i mean he’s a huge fucking follower maybe if he actually tried to take the lead sometimes then shit would change but i digress) he’s tried to take everything from ragnar behind his back several times, his wife, his title as earl, etc. and then at the end when he FINALLY decides to do smthg about it and join sides with jarl borg, it’s like played up to be this huge thing. then they have one (1) battle in the first episode of season 2 and rollo who wasn’t hesitating to brutally murder all his past friends is just like “nevermind” and surrenders. and then afterwards he goes “i always wanted to get out from your shadow, but once i did, there was no sun at all” and like. okay.

now him surrendering to ragnar bc he loves his brother so much, and the “no sun at all line” was really fucking good and i think the script writers for this season did do much better in regards to dialogue. but wtf is rollo even talking about. “there was no sun” you were GLORIOUS in battle wth. he was cutting people down like a fucking tank and was smiling while doing so. he makes it sound like he went through his huge angsty thing when really the only reason he gave up is because the show wrote it in. it felt rushed. extremely so. and now his “angst” is all about how everybody in town (the village?) hates him bc of what he did but i still can’t even wrap my head around why he did it and how fucking rushed that storyline was.

the characters. most of them are kinda... poorly written? like i’ve said i haven’t watched s3 or 4 yet and am only on episode 2 of the second season, but after watching the entire first season it’d be nice if the characters went through engaging development.

siggy could’ve been one of the most complex characters on the show, she lost ALL of her children one by one and her husband and then her status. she lost it all and that’s not even an exaggeration. so you’d think we’d have seen her idk doing some plotting to gain allies or smthg. but nope, she was perfectly happy i guess being lagertha’s hand maiden. fortunately it seems like the show is rectifying this in season 2 because she’s started forging alliances and etc. so hopefully this season lets us see siggy reach the high potential a character like this is capable of.

ragnar’s squad feel like just plot devices. now i don’t wanna keep comparing tlk and vk but in tlk uthred’s squad felt like a family. they laughed together, cried together, hung out, had fun, went through hardships, together. even when they weren’t necessary for the plot or for uthred’s development, his squad was still there and still played important roles. with ragnar’s, they just feel like the writers’ chess pieces and not in a good way. when one of them offered to sacrifice himself in the priest’s place, i didn’t feel one ounce of sadness. and when rollo was butchering the rest of them, i was more shocked at how violent he was rather than feeling sad they were dying. ragnar keeps bringing up one eye whenever he refers to the battle, but him and one eye didn’t even seem that close. just...... it doesn’t feel like there’s any connection/genuine relationship there.

now what i do think the show has done right is lagertha, bjorn, and floki. i LOVE lagertha. she’s strong and will kill anybody that wrongs her or her family, but she’s also genuinely kind with how she treats other women and those less fortunate. honest to god i loved her taking ragnar’s place as earl while he was out raiding. and i love the self respect she has for herself, ragnar brought up that stupid idea of him marrying aslaug after knowing how much what happened between them hurts her, and she without speaking one word to him, took their son and divorced him. that was fucking amazing. i’m in love with this woman.

bjorn is a complicated one for me. i like the bond he has with his mother. ragnar is a scoundrel and instead of bjorn admiring his father for it, he actually resents him because of how strong his love is for his mom. at the same time tho he’s just kinda annoying sometimes ahdjhcjs like he can be a hothead for literally no reason. but at the SAME time, he’s what? 13/14? he’s young! so he’s gonna be annoying sometimes and it’s okay. i’m really curious to see what happens when he gets older. i feel like he’s gonna come back and challenge ragnar or smthg

floki. gustaf skarsgård is an amazing actor and really brings the character to life with the subtle (or unsubtle) things he adds to it, like the constant yelling and jumps and maniancal laughs and etc. and then when rollo got baptized, floki’s anger was genuinely unsettling. he was pissed and more serious than we’d ever seen him before. a part of me still has the theory that he’s actually the god loki just toying with the vikings.

but like to end this random rant, a big part of the show just feels extremely directionless. even in season 1, most of the time when the characters were working UP to the smthg or a storyline felt like it was building, it would end extremely fast and feel unsatisfying. it’s like the show creates and ends several plot lines within a matter of 2 or 3 episodes. it’s just very rushed.

but i didn’t think it was that bad tho. i have my favorite characters which i already talked about before, and the dialogue in s2 is already fucking amazing. the characters will say lines that’ll have me go “oohhh that was a good one”. so hopefully this season will handle some of the issues i had much better and i’m curious to keep watching

[survivor-tierradelfuego]

Ep. 2: “My secret alliance is over before it even started” - Tyler

James Hayden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9f9uh2olp1Q&feature=youtu.be

Amy A.

Definitely more people coming up to talk to me and that makes me excited. Have had about 4 or 5 people tell me they wanna work with me and that’s amazing. Formed an alliance w Ryan and (totally forgot his name) called outsiders which is basically all of us not from USA. Hope they’re true allies. Excited for what’s going to happen next. 

Najwah

Tribal council was insane and intense. I understand why it's so easy for people to slip up when asked questions. My heart was racing to the point of me feeling nauseas haha. I can't believe we blindsided Neil. He took it well though. Aimee is feeling a little left out and I think she's taking it personally. I really like her though and would love to work with her too. I think it's about time we start a strong girls alliance. I may get Amy in on it too. And Sarah. We'll see. I can't guage where exactly I stand with people yet but people can lie lmao and I made more of those who lied very easily. Like James and Sarah. Watching them. 

Leanne

Mixed feelings on tribal. At least we are all still here, and at least I was on the right side of the boat. I didn’t have any bond with Neil so I didn’t care about seeing him voted out. But now I’m rethinking my relationship with Zach. What he decided to do today was dumb. Big moves just for the sake of big moves usually are. He kept repeating, the easy vote isn’t always the right vote, but sometimes it is, and I didn’t see a point in doing that, especially if it’s only for the sake of playing hard. You don’t play to go hard, you play to win! Of course I didn’t say that for three reasons. First, I didn’t care at all about Neil; he was perfectly expendable. Second, I still regard Zach as a close ally, at least for now. Third, once again no one will dare to be the dissenting voice. Right before Zach dropped that bomb shell, at least on me anyway, we were talking about how we trusted each other and wanted to go the distance together. He asked me who I was closest to, and I said him and Najwah. with Ben as a distant third, then floated the idea of starting a power trio with him and Ben. That’s when he told me Neil was the target. I asked whose idea it was, and he didn’t give me a name, he gave me reasons. I’m not sure if it was his move or not.

The other likely suspect is Cody, especially because when Zach brought the big group together, most were clueless... what’s going on here? Then Cody said, how about we summarize the events of the last hour? Well, I’d known about it for maybe a few minutes prior, but certainly not an hour. Cody at least knew about it before I did. I’m almost positive the idea was at least one of their’s.  right as it was all going down, when it was up in the air and I didn’t know which way it was going to go, Aimee messaged me and asked me for a name, and I told her Amy because at that point Zach made me promise to keep it confidential. I later found out that Zach wanted to bring her in but she had told him she was close to Neill. Oh, so *that’s* why you asked me who I was closest to. I’m wondering exactly who else he spoke to before he made the big group chat, and to what degree. He’s unpredictable, and I don’t like it. And in case I haven’t mentioned it, I very much don’t like making moves for the hell of it, with no good reason beyond that. But back to Aimee.

I don’t know if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that she got left out of the vote. I was on the verge of messaging her privately and saying, I have new information but you have to promise it stays between us: I just found out the target is Neil, but vote Amy anyway in case he plays an idol. If I were her right now I’d be pissed and confused, and I wanted her to think I was on her side, and build a relationship, especially if she thinks everyone else is against her. But I didn’t trust her enough not to rat me out. Besides, the reason she was left out in the first place was because she was close to Neill. How close I don’t know, and I don’t know if she would have fought to protect him. So I am happy to have been included and on the right side of the numbers. It shows I’m not on the bottom tier, which seems to be Aimee, The outsider, and Amy, Who wasn’t around. And I knew she’d vote for me, I knew it, I knew it, because if I were her and didn’t have any information at all, that’s exactly what I’d do. Doesn’t mean I liked it but fair is fair.

The group consensus is that we can vote Amy as an easy vote next time. I just hope *someone* doesn’t flip again without a good reason. Amy TI am shocked, but also not shocked. I knew I was taking a HUGE risk not jumping on the initial video chat, but I slid through this vote. I had a feeling an alliance formed there. I almost reached out to a few I thought would be in that alliance before this vote, but didn't want to look like I was scrambling. I am thankful to make it through to the next round, and after today I no longer have company and will be semi settled into my new apartment, so I am really going to try to be more active in video calls so that I can bond better with my tribe.

I fear I am the next vote otherwise. I am also going to bring this up, and I don't know if I should, but I will say it anyway. I am actually quite disappointed in the vote, but it falls in line with the pattern of all survivor votes: first vote is most always a person of color or an elderly individual, and we have no one old. Sure, it's a coincidence, and I didn't really know Neil, but it's not a great pattern to uphold. But as others quoted Sandra, a will do the same: anyone but me. Now I am playing from the bottom, which is nerve-wracking.

Pedro A

i feel like i will sit out ..cause i dont feel good about this challenge

Pedro A

Also we came from Winning and if i screw it up...it will be all blamed on me...so its better if i just keep my name out of this one

John B

Watching the other tribe's tribal council has me stressed because it seems like Neil went because he was a threat. That does not sit well with me because I already have Ryan telling people I have the "winner vibes" I need to simultaneously kick it into high gear and keep a low profile if that's going to be the tone for the game. hopefully we can kill this challenge, this feels like something that is going to be up my Alley because I love Survivor Trivia. Hopefully this goes well because I do not want to get voted out!

Zack M

ok. setting a scene. let's pretend this is big brother. wrong show but play along with me. hey neil. if you seeing this, it's nothing personal. you were out of the chat all day yesterday and then had everyone eating out of your hand within 10 minutes of being back. you were ready to play but not as hard as me. i started with cody, worked it up through ben, added sarah into the mix, and then sprinkled the rest in. the recipe for your ending. sorry about it! hope to stay friends outside of the house. 

wait .... but srsly ... i did that. I CAUSED A BLINDSIDE. what?! i'm shook. i can't believe these people are listening to me. so wild. honestly knowing 4 people drafted me really put the fire in me. i always draft and i hate when i lose. this is me winning for me and you. feel free to venmo me to show your support.

in all honesty. it was strictly a game move. neil was a threat. we all saw it. that's it. i know i could possibly have a huge target on my back but i feel like i'm playing a strong social game. i hope the people in my final 4 trust me (sarah, ben, and cody) because i'm ride or die for them. i asked to make sure getting neil out wouldn't hurt their game. look at me being thoughtful. hopefully they notice it and hopefully the rest believe all the lies i tell him. because truly, it was so last minute. *evil smile* 

Zack M

am i confessing too much? i don't know BUT challenge 2 is survivor knowledge and i have none. -oop. i'm a fake fan. i live tweet and forget. hoping my team pulls this one out because i'm going to MCDs for some chicken nuggets and then continuing with my social game. 

also, amy thanked me for keeping her but she didn't thank any of the other people in my alliance. does amy know more than we think? also, your'e welcome amy. 

Pedro A

I feel this challenge will be a MESS...we will for sure lose, ...Tyler is not even seeing any of the messages...and some people are seeing the messages and not choosing A PAIR....i kinda feel like we will lose...the other tribe will bring they're A game....i just hope at this point...THAT A MIRACLE WILL HAPPEN

Tyler H

Ok I’m very upset my secret alliance is over before it even started! But I don’t think I’m in a bad spot right now, I think I’m growing an army slowly and all I can do is hope we don’t lose the next challenge and I can gain momentum 

James Hayden

https://youtu.be/hvUgCa6joQc

Aimee

NEIL! BUDDY! I’m soooo sorry!!!! I had no idea the majority was going to blindside you like that! It was just horrible to watch. I’m gonna play my heart out for you! You deserved a chance to play this game! I hope you make it on the real Survivor! I don’t understand what made these people so threatened by you, I did not see anything of the sort. You were voted out I guess because you were pleasant????? Well...We’ll have to play Dead by Daylight on PlayStation once this is over for me. Take care of yourself and I’m sure we’ll talk again real soon.

As far of my read on the game....I am not clueless. The second the votes were read I knew Amy voted for Leanne, Neil and I were set up to vote for Amy and everyone else voted for Neil. I messaged people who bold-faced lied to me about the vote and they all confirmed my suspicions without me having to say anything about it. Hahahahahha. Do these kids really think I am that simple? I might’ve been recruited but this is absolutely not my first rodeo. 

Oh, and for the record... and this is obvious: Leanne Zack and Sarah are all working together. You heard it here first. Guys, your messages to me are extremely telling. I guess I truly am Michelle playing this game now...how fitting. But get ready for your girl to pull all the stops from the underdog position. It’s where I honestly will thrive.

Already hopped right onto Amy before anyone got a chance to set me up and say “oh well Aimee wanted to vote for you”. Yeah that wasn’t even true, everyone adamantly told me to do that and it was the majority. They set her up too. Also checked back with my girl Najwah (think we are in it to win it), Cody, as well as James and Ben. (Hoping these guys are being genuine with me too) Think that is my best bet moving forward. All 4 of these people claimed they were told last minute...which I believe. NOBODY bothered to tell Amy anything. It is absolutely bizarre to me that they thought me and Neil were so close that they couldn’t tell me about that vote? All night and day no one said anything about the vote and I had the hunch that Zack probably had the most social capital out of anyone so I reached out to him first. He is honestly the biggest threat but it’s no kidding that he and Leanne chose Neil to be the target. Leanne absolutely shit the bed with the typing challenge! Okay? I tripled her score and I was not going that fast. Let me just talk about that again real quick....600 numbers in an hour?! Did that math.... that’s one number typed every five seconds. Did she like, stop typing and go grab a snack or text her friends on her phone or something? How is that possible?! Make it make sense. 

To be honest, for everyone not bothering messaging me after the vote to smooth things over and try preserve my relationship with them proves how sloppy they are being with this vote. AGAIN I had to be the one to reach out to almost everyone, just like yesterday. They think they are playing next level 4D chess but they are severely underestimating me. Could’ve been an easy vote but I guess people to want to make “big movez” even when it is detrimental for us as a tribe. I could cause a lot of damage and I have the knowledge; know that! If I made the jury, would I give them a vote for that kind of gameplay? Nope. I am keeping all this information in and playing it very chill and “yes girl” but I will absolutely strike when I need to. I have an ability to make people feel comfortable and trust me and maybe even feel guilt about how they treated me. I will ride that wave as far as I can until I can set up shop for the next vote. 

Zack M

here to nervous rant .. i thought got a strike because i sent a screenshot of my call log to a group i accidentally cheek called when a friend's phone disconnected. lol what?! trust me .. i know. TODAY HAS BEEN A DAY FOR ME. 

look the truth is .. i would do it again! i know there is a target on my back after switching the votes and getting neil out. i don't need anything extra working against me at the moment. breaking rules, lying, .... am i the bad boy of the season? because like i'm not cool enough for that title. 

Zack M

ok. i'm seriously over this challenge. who even knew survivor wiki was a thing? why would you remember / want to remember this stuff? i'm reading some of the things that the tribe is adding and thinking to myself, "did i even watch survivor?" 

the only thing i can remember is wendy freeing the chickens, kim not winning winners at war, and chris underwood's penis bulge. that's his last name, right? like i could literally draw it for you. why can't that be a challenge?

anyways, tomorrow should be fun. i'll have to pretend that i'm contributing if jay doesn't accept my idea to play the word game with their names. fingers crossed we win. however, i'm not too hopeful. i have a feeling the other team has some good players. is it bad i'm ready for the merge this early? also, if we don't lose ... what do i do with all that free time? how am i supposed to bond more? all i care about is making sure that ben, sarah, and cody stay loyal to me. i know i should want to merge with numbers but i think it's clear i like a challenge. i want a resume and a cover letter when i get to the end. 

Ryan

I've put so much effort into this challenge. Kinda desperately hoping that my tribe sees that and realise I'm valuable. Or more valuable then some at least

John B

Lol remember when I said I might throw Maddison under the bus? Well strike that because we are for sure working together now. We may be behind in the challenge but honestly I’m not worried because it’s super close so far and half the tribe hasn’t done anything yet so I think we will be fine. If we don’t end up pulling out the win my target will still probably be Ryan. I could see people going for Tyler or honestly even Amy (just because she’s not on very often) but if I have a say I definitely want Ryan out. I do not trust him at all. Hopefully it won’t come to that but at least I have a plan.

Alan B

I think this game is gonna be pretty hard to manage alongside work especially while covid has got my mental health just blasted, i might end up dropping out before my time, but for now i think i'll hold on for at least a little while longer

Zack M

omg we still have two hours left of this competition. i've done all i'm willing to do to pretend like was helping out. finger crossed the host doesn't share how many facts each person contributed. i would have like 3. lol. 

real note, i thought this game was one night like sequester. i didn't know what i was signing up for. i feel duped. but i needed a second to step away. i started out playing so hard. i need switch up my strategy. this is a sprint, not a marathon. i don't need to run the tribe. i just need to be in all the conversations. haha. 

i have a feeling we will be losing tonight so i'm just chilling. ready to see what everyone says. again, i feel like i have a huge target on my back.

i'm like kat on big brother last season, "are you bitches conspiring against me?"

the only people i haven't talked to one on one is james and najwah. james is in my 5. i'll have a conversation with him tonight or i'll have a conversation in the group of 5. one or the other. i feel like i should talk to najwah as well but i like is that obvious. maybe i'll start it right when the challenge is done, before we know if we won or lost. that's a little more chill, right? ugh. 

amy would be the easiest vote but i feel like she would be on my side. najwah is the only person i would care to vote out but i feel like cody and leanne are close to her. 

oh, not sure if i shared this but leanne wanted to start a trio with ben and i. that's cool. i like leanne so i'd like to keep her as long as possible.

this confession is starting to get lazy so i'm going to go back to watching real housewives of potomac. i'll check in win or lose .... because we have to. :) 

Alan B

I'm trying to be a team player so that we don't have to vote anyone out for as long as possible, but i feel like this is a bad strategy long term - especially once the merge happens then it'll be gone and i'll be a threat

Zack M

told you we were going to lose. that's it. that's the confessional. 

Olivia A

I’m super proud of us for winning the second challenge! I feel really good about my contribution and our team work. I think the excitement from continuing to win will keep motivating us and hopefully lead to a significant streak. 

Pedro A

im so happy that we won...even tho some people that dont understand the concept of  team work 

Maddison

This challenge really showed who is pulling their weight. Even though the doc was anonymous, the chat activity and general conversation led me to believe there are a couple of slackers that should be first to go when the time comes. I hope my tribemates don’t grow complacent after these two wins. The other tribe will be out for blood. 

Amy A

So far I’ve spoken privately with everyone except Tyler and some two others. So I’m guessing my social game isn’t shabby. Also, we WON again. Such a delight because I don’t want to do tribal council this early in the game. Idol hunting was a bust today too but hoping for the best. Madison and I seem to be getting closer by the day. She checks in with me most of the time and hypes me  up for challenges. Definitely want to be aligned with her. 

John B

Winning feels AMAZING, especially since half of the tribe hadn't started until half the time was gone. Our tribe feels really strong right now. That being said, I definitely noticed some people not participating as much as everyone else, Tyler disappeared and didn't contribute for most of the challenge. I think it is safe to say he will probably be first out from our tribe at this point if we lose, but who knows anything can happen. I'm still gunning for Ryan. Hopefully we can keep this positive momentum going. I am going to keep working on my alliance. I have all of the pieces with my relationships with Pedro, Maddison, Grae, Olivia, and kind of Alan, I just need to wait for the right time to bring the pieces together.

James Hayden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V96zovCVssg&feature=youtu.be

James Hayden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RVOZFYZc24

Sarah

SORRY FOR THIS BRICK. Wow. There is too much to talk about after tonight. Lost another challenge in which everyone kicked ASS. This vote at tribal council is definitely not based on a lack of effort on anyone’s part. 

Right now, we have our majority of five (Cody, Zack, Ben, James, and I) so we can decide who goes home. We are leaning toward Amy (with a Y) because she’s not as available and we really need people on the tribe to be all in. We have made a large group with everyone but Amy saying it’s Amy so everyone feels included and we aren’t exposing our majority alliance. Of course we are worried that Aimee may be talking to Amy and expose all of us. Or that Amy has an idol so maybe a 7-1-1 vote would be safer. Amy is really just trying to get in a group and is reaching out to everyone to the point where she is copy and pasting her messages that she’s sending us. 😂 Leanne told Amy that people are saying Aimee so if we need to tell Amy that as well we can. I am a little worried about Leanne if she is telling lies that easily. I have really enjoyed getting to know my alliance well these past few days. HOW HAS IT ONLY BEEN FOUR DAYS.  Zack is always bringing the comic relief and Ben and James are so loyal and genuine. Cody is my RIDE or DIE. I am hoping that people don’t catch on to how close we are but we do have so much trust in each other and just are always on the same page. Having a ride or die has always been my Survivor strategy. Cody and I are praying to those Survivor gods that we can stay on the same tribe come tribal swap time. Amy T

Right after challenge results 7/13. https://youtu.be/dC7ORD2w4BQ

Amy T

update 10pm pst 7/13. Well I have reached out to everyone and I am so confused. Right after the challenge Leanne threw out Aimee's name saying everyone is saying that. Which was odd because it was so soon. I quickly learned there is a large group chat which I'm not in, so it is possible. But I asked around and people either didn't say a name or know what they were doing, or they said they heard Aimee from Leanne. So here's where I stand either they are all saying the same thing to me and it's actually me going home. or Leanne is trying to run the show and she is making up who to vote for on a whim and then saying everyone is saying this. I tend to think that it's actually too early for them to have a large group. And I honestly think Leanne is misinforming people on purpose. I'm fine with whoever as long as it's not for me but it rubs me the wrong way to think somebody you know next to vote can just say my name or someone I'm working with name on a whim and just tell everyone that you know everyone is saying this and everyone goes with it. Because it seems like the last vote she also fed information to people. So as it stands now I am leaning towards Leanne but I haven't made a move on that because I'm scared I'm coming off as playing too hard and I know that's what got me all voted out. In the end it doesn't make a difference if they do have a large chat because they already know and I'm already gone but if that's not the case I Maybe the only one sticking their neck out. And maybe it's stupid me because it's not even my name on the shopping block that I know of. Well we'll see if I make it through this but if I do and if I can gather votes, There is a possibility to get numbers. I think I have Ben on my side Aimee on my side I think Zack is on my side unless he is close with Leanne and it seems like Cody might want to work with me. That everyone's lying to me and I'm going home so haha.

Leanne

Feeling a bit frustrated and discouraged at the moment; two losses will do that to you. Trying to organize my thoughts into something resembling order. I was relieved and optimistic when I saw what the challenge was going to be. We had a fighting chance. It was close and it was intense. These last few days on the whole have been intense, and I don’t think I realized that would be the case. There’s definitely a question of just how much I’m going to be willing to give to this. How many more times am I willing to stay up way too late because somebody wants to get on a call? How much more am I going to make myself available at damn near any hour to drop everything and jump on Skype every time it goes off? If you absent yourself from any of it you’re a target, and that’s what’s going on with Amy right now. I’ve been talking to a few people, most notably Zach and Ben, and the consensus seems to be Amy. I would be fine with this, but their reasoning alarmed me somewhat. They said Aimee had been going around talking to people, trying to figure out why she was left out of the vote. Well, she hasn’t been talking to me. Amy, on the other hand, has. We’ve had a few good conversations yesterday and the night before, and it doesn’t look like she’s talked to anyone else. So it would be a lot more beneficial for me to have her around, who is presumably talking to me over and above others, then to have Aimee, who is talking to others and not me. But I don’t think I’ll try to change things for a number of reasons, not least of which because I have no idea how to justify my position. Also I’m not sure how strong our little power trio is or isn’t, and I don’t want a repeat of last time, a shakeup just for the sake of a shakeup. Let’s not set the precedent that that’s a thing that will just happen. The tribe seems so unified against Amy. Cody put us all into a group without her and we all agreed summarily to get rid of her. She might have made a good ally but I think I may just have to sacrifice her; she probably isn’t worth fighting to protect. I reached out to Aimee... Best start trying to build that up. We got in a few superficial commiserations about losing but nothing more than that. I don’t feel good about her.

In other news, I’ve been trying to solicit info on the idol hunt, with little success. Najwah and I have taken similar paths. I asked her about it, and she got back to me, but she did so just as my turn was happening. I really wish I had more Intel on what’s on the mountain. Zach says he’s found nothing, and I hesitate to go there in case there’s something bad. I thought that earlier on but doubly so now that I know we have a disadvantage in the next challenge, dammit!!!!! I’m going to ask Najwah if hers was in the perfume, so I know what not to do. I’ve been considering trying to pole coins with her and go in together on the jewelry box or something. Haven’t decided yet. I may go up the mountain after all. First I want to ask a few of my tribemates where this disadvantage was. It tells us as a team not to go there, and if it’s a binary option, go left or right down the road for instants, and left leads to something bad... Well anyway I haven’t decided what to do yet.

Pedro A

Okay, so today I wanna talk to Kalle, Maddison, and Tyler...I didn't have the chance to talk to them yet...so I wanna see where they're head is at the moment.

Also, I feel like I can trust Alan... I gave them my coins...and now they have an idol...... I feel like they can trust me now....and also....i feel like we can use the idol to our advantage...since no one else knows were in an alliance..except for John.

John is my nº1 person in this game....which could later in the game kick my butt....I'm afraid he might be more respected than me down the line... I guess only time will tell...now I gotta go the bathroom byeeeee

James Hayden

Morning of day 5 and I'm nervous/paranoid AF! I talked to Ben last night for twenty minutes about short term and long term strategy. We both agreed that voting out Amy is everyone's best move and will cause the least amount of waves. I went to bed feeling good about my position in the game. This morning I woke up to a message from Sarah suggesting we do a 7-1-1 in case Amy has an idol. I responded saying I don't think she has an idol, but if she does should we do a 6-2-1, so we can decide who goes and avoid a revote? That was around 8:00am CST and she hasn't responded. I know she read it which is freaking me out. Did she just throw that out there to see my response and to throw me off he scent of my blindside???? I'm nervous that some shady shit's happening. 

I also sent a good morning message to the vote out Amy group chat around 8:45 and no one responded!!! We are active chatters and the fact that no one responded worries me. I hope I'm just overthinking this, which is on brand for me, and nothing bad will happen tonight. But I don't know. If it's me, I wouldn't be surprised. I hate that I'm thinking about this on day 5. I'm not even close to finishing this game. 

Note: Cody and Ben just responded in our group chat as I typed this. we may be good then??? 

Note: I lost power this morning, so I'm at my parents house who have power and AC. No AC in the summer in New Orleans is no good. I would've recorded this, but they're sleeping and I didn't want to disturb them.

Cody A

https://youtu.be/gSbNCp7UBLY

Leanne

So, idol hunt news. Go figure, I was so freaked out about finding a disadvantage that I didn’t want to do anything at all, and of course I went and got one. A certain Alanis Morissette verse about being afraid to fly comes to mind. I am now debating whether I should quietly tell a few people, so that people know what not to do. We are in serious need of a win here, and this next round isn’t looking good. I told Zach, in a, don’t make the same mistake, kind of way. Even though I don’t feel quite as fantastic about him as I did before the last tribal, I still do consider him an ally, at least for now. So for now I will give him good info about things, if only because I want good info from him in return. This next tribal should make things more clear. We were talking about Amy this morning. He said she’s scrambling and wanting to know where the vote is going, and pointing out how there’s a whole chat going on with everyone except her. So I said, in a way I hoped would get the message across, well at least we know that this is going to be easy and no crazy stuff and no drama. He affirmed that, and brought up several times the easy vote thing. So at least it looks like he doesn’t want to rock the boat. If something crazy happens between now and then he’ll be marked in my mental file folder as unpredictable and suspicious. If not then I will move forward trusting him.

John B

Alrighty, so many developments since the challenge ended. SO! Pedro and I have been talking about the possibility of a tribe swap/expansion which has us both STRESSED. I also found out that Alan has the immunity idol because Pedro donated some coins to them. This is great to know even though it is terrifying. Hopefully Alan and I are on good terms, I feel like we are but until we vote and we can see where everyone stands, who's to say. Kalle and I have been talking a lot more and I think we are definitely settling into an alliance. We are both getting bad vibes from Tyler which feels like the general consensus so far. He disappeared from the challenge yesterday which I think we all noticed. I love that we keep winning but I think if we go too long without a vote things might get messy. For now, we are perpetually in a state of the calm before the storm, at least I have Pedro.

Kalle N

While I'm glad that we won another challenge, I'm also sad bc this means we still don't really have to strategize. Thankfully people have still been reaching out to me though. The "rox the sox" alliance is still good I think even though it's been quiet and no strategy has really been discussed. I've been talking a lot to John, and we actually both started throwing out names of people we've talked to and who we don't like so far. John told me he's good with Pedro and Maddison after I said I was good with them (I said their names bc I know they've talked to almost everyone and I wanted to see if he would agree or give other names but he didn't). We also both agreed that we get bad vibes from Tyler which is reassuring bc I really want to vote him when we get the chance. He also said he trusts me 100% and wants to talk real strategy and I don't think he'd have any reason to lie to me yet so I'm also trusting him. 

Zack M

oop- i drank a bottle of wine last night and forgot to confess. my b. i mean, really nothing has changed. back to the first tribal vote .... it's amy's time. some of my alliance members want aimee out but i'm really trying hard to push that out of their mind. 

do i trust aimee? absolutely not. is she a bigger threat than amy? 100%. however, amy suffers from a common disease called "not being able to read the room". i know she is scared and she is scrambling but it's messy. when you are in the majority alliance and everyone is sharing that you're copying it pasting it's low key embarrassing and like that's nothing against amy! truly. she is a pleasure and like i would totally facetime her in the future and gossip with a beer. a lesson in the future if you're reading this amy, make sure to be around on night one! gotta build connections. also, copy and paste is not your friend. get creative. i always write these and then think at the end ... lol what if i go home?  i'm going to look so stupid. but honestly my social game is so strong right now. hoping it pays off. if not, whatever it's a compliment. let's be real for one second. we all know i'm the biggest threat on this tribe at the moment. if i fall from the top, at least i was at the top. and it was beautiful. oh and also cody and i thought we were slick and were going to get the idol at the market today so i gave him 5 coins. it wasn't the idol. that sucks. but i would rather be the one holding it so i'm not sweating it. 

Najwah

Yesterday's immunity challenge is still haunting me. I was literally working on that shit for over 12 hours and TRIED SO HARD, however it seems as though some people just didn't try at all? So many people were just tapped out and made ZERO effort. They're the same people that seem to be running things and making the big decisions? Also there is talk of someone having found the immunity idol. I approached Aimee with the idea of starting a women's alliance because honestly, I got annoyed at the guys (EXCEPT MY BOY CODY) yesterday. My alliance with Leanne seems solid. Sarah hasn't spoken to me since the first day. Today is also the first day of shark week so I feel very shit and tired. If I stay up until 3am only to be voted out I am going to be big mad. Zack reached out to me last night. I actually have a lot more in common with him. We have unanimously decided to vote Amy out but I don't really trust any of them.if it were real life survivor and I could see people's eyes and read their body language, I'd have made a move to somehow let Amy stay and get someone else out. Perhaps someone else is doing that and they're getting me out lmao. I can't believe we lost again. I hate it here. 

James Hayden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2LsbITMPpw

Ben Kessler

Dear Confessional,

Hello Jay. It's me, Ben. Every tribal council makes me nervous but I will take these people down one by one using my charm and good looks. After 2 challenge losses, I'm fairly content just losing every challenge and voting all these paranoid people out one by one. I'm cool with that. Might make it happen, who knows. The Amy's are scary because they won't say anything concrete. But I am 20 years old and therefore invincible. If I get voted out tonight I am going to look like a dumbass. Feel free to send this to the VL. I will win this game but it is a marathon, and people are playing it like a sprint. 

John B

YIKES! As if he wasn’t already a Target Tyler just shot himself in the foot. He made such a rude comment about the other tribe and I am uncomfortable. I think if we lose it’s pretty set in stone who the first out is going to be at this point.

Olivia A

On my first idol hunt I went to the market and found the prices of various items. There was a jewelry box for 20 coins and I feel like there’s probably a clue or something in there. Right now I have 10 coins that I found in the boat and I’m hoping to find more so I can buy the jewelry box before anyone else does. 

Aimee

You know? This confessional would’ve looked a looooot different last night after we lost again and just the sheer amount of mind games going on, and anger and frustration but you know what! I feel like I have come full circle. This won’t be the same daily bitchfest as usual. At least not at the moment. Right, so, tonight I am either being blindsided, or I finally actually have my footing in this game. The vote will test that. I am going home...or not. All I can do is rely on my social skill and connections I have with people here who actually talk. I have my roots in almost every contestant and I am hearing things that match with other people are saying...so if I leave then EVERYONE is lying and EVERYONE had to play me not just some. It’s a little doubtful but anything can happen within fifteen minutes as we seen last time. Information is everything! I feel like although I am playing from the bottom, I am not playing blind. By having the Individual connections with people like Cody, Ben, Najwah, James, and Zack, I can compare and tell if what people are saying is true or not. Amy is another huge piece of the puzzle people overlook. I really wish Amy wasn’t on the outs and I really like her but everyone on this tribe formed a group chat without her in it and said it’s her. Interesting thing is, they have no idea how much I have talked to Amy and the tea she is spilling about what they’re saying too.

I learned that Leanne told her that they all had a group chat episode one as well that didn’t include her me or Neil fifteen minutes before the vote. Amy told me she is going around asking people who the vote is which Leanne apparently told her it was me. I think it’s a ploy so she votes me but the vote hopefully really is not. Knowing she is talking to people, I can cross check with the people who I am closest to in the game besides Amy. Which they confirm she is running around talking to everyone making people paranoid. The people I am closest to don’t want another fifteen minute thing again and are saying no one is talking to them and it makes them nervous and at least I am taking. Like........?????? That has been exactly the case. No one really seems to ever be talking?!?!?!?!? They say they trust me because Im not quiet and I don’t just spit names out at them last second. And guess what? That matches up because it’s how some people talk to me too. I caught people who never talk to me just coming up to me like episode one being like Sarah asking “are you okay with the vote?”  I’m like....uhhhh what vote? The one that I talked only with Zack about? Oh! So he told you? Great now I know you’re together hahahahaha.

Leanne is another one who doesn’t really talk to me at all but always seems to be leading the vote after someone. Other people confirm this with me too. Oh and don’t forget people using the SAME VOCAB WORDS I USED to one person and repeat them to me minutes later. Pretty obvious. I think by just playing a half way decent normal social game I can start really getting a foothold here if I can just make it through this vote. But apparently that is what made Neil such a threat last time. I have to adapt constantly, whether it is talk more or don’t talk too much. It’s really hard to play when no one says much to each other but that’s the mold I have to break through.

Grae G

Hewwooo uh so busted my ass on that challenge that shit was ROUGH but you know you gotta do what you gotta do. I’m officially aligned with: Olivia kalle Maddison (as an alliance), individuals: John, & Alan. I’m talking to Pedro and Amy but we aren’t aligned. I feel like I have pretty good movability W all the talking but I definitely get the sense that everyone is talking to one another far more than I am, but I just don’t have the time to do more :(( Tyler seems like the consensus first vote out if that has to happen but from there not sure what’s next for everybody. Honestly if we can keep winning cool because I’m nervous about my place in the tribe so if we don’t have to go to tribal alright be me. If I felt more confident w the ally’s if had I’d say differently... but ya! Feeling like ok at least bc I know people want to talk to me and are starting lots of convos with me so I know my approachability is going well. 

Zack M

tribal is coming up. the worst thing would be if amy and aimee are playing together. one of them has an idol that they play for amy and write down someone else.

i feel like that's a long shot though. if it does happen ... dear god, please don't let it be me. i wonder what i would do if i were amy. i feel like i would have been more vocal to more people at once. not just hit up people individually. i would have felt around to see who i think are in groups and message them. i really hope people are as obvious when they are voting me out as they have been with her because i have no problems addressing the entire tribe with gossip i may be hearing. can you imagine? first tribal, blindside. second tribal, fight? amy kept asking who "everyone" is ...... it would have been iconic if she messaged the entire group "leanne said everyone." i would have screamed. but that is my game, not hers. this is more fun then i thought it would be but i'm also so tired of it. thank you for helping me realize i don't actually want to be on the show. i also just found out the the VL people don't read this immediately and i'm bummed. but like i'm still going to act like they can. ugh, i love you guys. hopefully i'm still around tonight. xoxo.

Amy T

DAMN IT I SAW IT COMING like right after last tribal then I tried to play my way out and they convinced me it was Aimee. https://youtu.be/gHm3J6X9fvE < this was minutes before tribal. I was walking home earlier and almost made one simply "It's me." haha It's so funny because I kept almost saying "well it's either everyone is for Aimee or it's me" then there were just so many hints that it was me, but I was hoping to sneak my way in to the main active people and those willing to talk, who I think they are running the game. so I can't tell if zack is with leanne or what but I have a feeling ben and cody have a hand in running things based on how they jumped right at working with me and the timing of their responses lol. I am KICKING myself for not making a girls alliance. I hope they do it. But let's be real scores haven't been great against the other team. The youths are killing it haha! also everyone was nice, so as much as I want to be like EFF YOU, I did enjoy getting to know them even though they were openly lying to me hahahaha whoops damn it. I hope to play again when I can dive in day one instead of immediately being on the outs.

Amy T

Final after vote out thoughts : https://youtu.be/1hzWKy5aCVE

[ty-talks-comics]

Best of Marvel: Week of March 25th, 2020

Best of this Week: Black Panther #22 (Legacy #194) - Ta-Nehisi Coates, Daniel Acuna, Ryan Bodenheim, Chris O’Halloran and Joe Sabino

Can T’Challa ever be redeemed?

Most people might not know, but I have something of a distaste for the King of Wakanda for various reasons over his long, illustrious, heroic career and, over time, it has all spun into a neverending flood of anti-T’Challa bias as time has gone on. From his time as part of the Illuminati to his failed relationship with Storm, I have hated this character and the fact that his misdeeds have gone mostly unpunished...until now.

The Black Panther has never been an apologetic hero and he shouldn’t have to be because he is a king and needs to be strong for his people. Though with his nation on Earth and in Outer Space under siege by the resurrected Erik Killmonger with a symbiote of the former Emperor N’Jadaka, T’Challa has trials to face before he’s able to command his people and see his defeat. His biggest question is, what is his name and will he be able to overcome his own transgressions and become the leader his people truly need?

The main theme of Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Black Panther story is redemption. This issue begins with Zenzi, one of the first new villains introduced by Coates in his initial Black Panther series back in 2016, and gives us a little bit of her backstory with some history involving the original Killmonger. Through Ryan Bodenheim’s pencils, we see the simmering anger and power that she’s been capable of since her introduction and why she’s so eager to see the end of men like T’Challa who use their people and then discard them like Killmonger did for her, giving her superpowers and then trying to have her executed.

Bodenheim and Chris O’Halloran on colors gives this scene and her subsequent conversation with Bast in the body of a child a sense of weight as we now are able to understand why she’s on a mission to rid Wakanda of false rulers, Gods and Kings as Killmonger killed her entire village for his own ends and she likely feared T’Challa was doing the same to Wakanda. O’Halloran uses soft and hazy colors for the flashback, employing slight green and purple hues and switches it up to vibrant greens for Bast’s astral projection and Zenzi’s clothes as the Goddess convinces her to support Wakanda against Emperor N’Jadaka.

At the same time, T’Challa finds himself within the Djalia, the Plane of Wakandan Memory, facing off against his many ancestors to gain their help and fealty so that he may finally put this battle to rest. The main problem he faces, however, are both their numbers himself as a King. Daniel Acuna takes over the art for this portion of the issue and absolutely stuns throughout with impressively smooth linework and coloring which gives distinct borders to characters and their clothing and backgrounds while being absolutely beautiful at the same time. 

Joe Sabino’s lettering also shines here as he makes the distinction between T’Challa and the many other Black Panthers by giving him black letters and word bubbles while the rest have purple letters because of their nature as ethereal beings. Not only that, but his sound effects accentuate the panels perfectly as the “TWOK” from a headbutt is given a yellow hue while being transparent to show impact and a “THUD” from  T’Challa being swept at the feet is colored in a bright blue that accentuates the yellow background.

One of his female ancestors mocks his so-called “preparation” as he summons a white, luminescent spear to fight them all before she summons the Ebony Blade of the Black Knight (see Black Panther 22 - 23, 2005) and slashes him across the back, revealing his own recent past to him. This is meant to serve as a way to show how T’Challa is not as infallible as he makes himself out to be, considering how many times he’s been on the wrong side of history in regards to the world, his people, his lovers and his friends.

Coates has obviously done his research into Black Panther’s best and worst moments as the first flashback we get is from Jonathan Hickman's New Avengers (#21, 2013) after the Illuminati defeated the heroes of another Earth to save their own, the caveat being that they would have to destroy the other Earth. This was one of the lowest moments for the hero as he couldn’t do what needed to be done and King Namor had to, knowing that sacrifices had to be made in order to save the Earth. He shrank away from his duties of protecting the Earth - of protecting Wakanda after The Black Order had attacked it merely ten issues prior.

Daniel Acuna portrays T’Challas fear and reticence to commit such an atrocious act by having his face mostly shadowed and showing him cry as King T’Chaka lambasts him from the spirit world for his cowardice. Coates and Acuna then cut back to the hooded Panther and she asks what his ancestors should call the boy who scorned his legacy and T’Challa, still reeling from pain, says his own name before being slashed again.

Acuna begins the next flashback with a beautiful wide show of T’Challa looking upon a vibrant purple and almost 3D looking silhouette of the secret meeting location of the Illuminati before they wiped the memory of Steve Rogers. This was because they decided to destroy planets when the honorable soldier would not and T’Challa is framed in the background of these shots, just watching it happen. Coates makes it a point to stress that “No friendship [was] too precious to be spurned.” Then he is attacked by the Spirit of his grandfather, Azzuri.

Thematically, this makes sense as Azzuri and Steve Rogers first met when the Red Skull and Hydra Nazis tried to invade Wakanda for Vibranium and the two heroes had to fight them off, becoming friends and allies over the course of their battles together (see Marvel Knights’ Flag of our Fathers, 2010). Acuna gives the T’Challa/Azzuri fight a sense of speed by using a lot of blur lines as well as struggle squiggles as T’Challa is placed in a chokehold. As he breaks free, Azzuri disappears into a cloud of hazy, purple smoke.

We are then given a flashback of what I consider to be his greatest failure, his broken vow and fight against Storm during the events of Avengers vs. X-Men where he stood against Mutantkind after the first mutant child was born post Scarlet Witch’s Decimation of them. The child, Hope Summers, was prophesied to be either the savior of mutants or the destroyer of everything and Black Panther cast his marriage aside during the conflict (AvX #5, 2012), though it was continued in Coates' series years later.

Of course, while ancestors are supposed to tear you down, it was his mother that proceeded to build him back up. The final flashback given is T’Challa’s birth mother, Nyami, showing T’Challa how King T’Chaka also grieved after his wife's death, but because he was not just one man, but a nation, he had to move past it and that’s what this whole story has been about. T’Challa’s actions have all been about him and his decisions and not about Wakanda as a whole. He forgets that he is the crown and therefore the Nation itself.

Coates has become a master of longform storytelling as he’s managed to craft a saga of almost fifty issues of T’Challa taking responsibility for his crown and Coates has framed that excellently by the name he keeps giving when his ancestors ask him who he is: T’Challa. The wrong answer. Acuna show’s the various ancestors surrounding the man, waiting for him to give the correct answer as his mother encourages him and he stands for a moment before speaking. What should he be called?

King. King of Wakanda.

In that very instant, Acuna draws all of the ancestors giving King T’Challa the, now iconic, Wakanda salute as he demands their allegiance. He feels so strong, so complete as a character now that he accepts and acknowledges his many faults as part of who he is. He doesn’t need to apologize for them because they are a part of who he is as a man, but when he is a King, he must be better. He must protect his people and that is why he will be able to stop N’Jadaka in the coming battle, just like he stopped Killmonger all those years ago as well.

This issue of Black Panther was phenomenal and really shows how much Ta-Nehisi Coates has grown from his initial few books which were mostly full of world building. He’s shown that he can create an amazing and expansive story that utilizes not only T’Challa’s extensive history, but also that of the Marvel Universe at large to make this story seem grand and far reaching as something on this scale should. 

Ryan Bodenheim does have amazing skills as a penciller, but I found myself far more engaged with Daniel Acuna’s style throughout this issue as he manages to make the fight seem so ethereal while also focusing on some of my favorite moments of Marvel History - not to mention his colors are always so vibrant and loud, popping off the pages with the intensity that readers have come to expect from him.

I hope that the rest of this series continues this upward slope because this was fantastic and it gets a high recommend from me!

Also, support me on Patreon:

https://www.patreon.com/join/TyTalksComics

[kaizokunohime]

Black Lines of Distraction

This fanfic is a collaboration between myself and @lululawlawlu-fanfics. It is also posted on AO3​. Let us know what you think!

Chapter 2

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Pairing: LawLu

Rating: Explicit (for future chapters)

*☆*:.｡. ✧.｡.:*☆*:.｡. ✧.｡.:*☆*

Law’s POV:

Fate was a funny thing. Law didn’t like to believe in something as preposterous as fate but sometimes he had to wonder. His life had always seemed to be a series of one bad instance after another, although somehow he always came out on top.

Law had come to the auction house in Sabaody Grove One to investigate ties between the business and Doflamingo. He’d planned to simply observe the proceedings to take note of anything that may provide him with useful information while a specialized team of his trusted crew members snuck into the back to tap the phone lines. He hadn’t planned to draw too much unnecessary attention to himself. Unfortunately fate seemed to have thrown his plans out the window with the arrival of one Monkey D. Luffy and his apparent propensity for making a scene.

The young, straw hat wearing captain’s reputation truly did precede him. He had proved that he was indeed a madman among pirates. If Law didn’t know better, he might think that he had ties to the revolutionary army, as much as he seemed to like picking fights with the government. And speaking of the government, the navy was already gathering its forces outside.

“Release the hostages,” a marine officer demanded through a loudspeaker. “We've got the building surrounded. An admiral is on the way. There is no chance of escape for you pirates.”

“I don’t really want to stick around to fight an admiral. As an added bonus I’ll do you guys a favour and save your asses. Just let me take care of the marines on my way out,” Eustass Kid offered, turning to walk out and face them. “I don't have a bounty of 315 million for no reason.”

“Having a high bounty is hardly an indication of strength or ability, but more so a measure of how reckless you've probably been,” Law scoffed, rising to follow him out. He found this kind of egotism annoying at best.

“They're here because of me,” Luffy protested, catching up to the other two. “They're mine to fight.”

“I said I'd take care of it. Just relax.”

“Don't order me around, Eustass-ya. There’s no way I’m letting myself become indebted to you over something so trivial.”

“Shut up, you two. I told you, they're mine. Don’t try to hog all the fun.”

“I told you to leave it to me.”

“God, you’re both so noisy.”

“All three captains are coming out at once!” shouted one of the marines.

Eustass Kid’s smile grew wide. “Just stand back and let me handle it,” he demanded, putting his arm out in front of Law to stop him.

Law was taken aback by the aggressive gesture. He was not about to tolerate much more. One more order and he was going to turn on the red haired captain and show him just why a higher bounty was no indication of real power.

“Eustass-ya if you order me around one more time-”

“Here I go!” Luffy shouted, charging out in front of them.

The look of shock on Eustass Kid’s face was priceless. Law caught himself subconsciously grinning from ear to ear. Mugiwara just never stopped surprising him.

“Fire the mortars,” a Lieutenant called from the front line, grabbing Law’s attention.

He was about to shamble the explosives away from them when the rubber captain jumped in to stretch his fingers into a net to catch them all, the momentum of the catch propelling him into swinging them around. One of the explosives slipped from his makeshift net falling to right where Law and Kid were standing.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!?” Eustass Kid growled at him, jumping out of the way.

“Sorry,” Luffy excused nonchalantly, and Law felt himself smiling again.

The young captain’s lack of regard for anyone else’s instruction was amusing to say the least- especially when it was that increasingly annoying Eustass Kid who’s instruction he was defying. Mugiwara was a madman, he decided- a rash, idiotic, albeit powerful madman. The more Law saw the more he was sure that he’d prefer to have him as an ally rather than an enemy. If Law was able to endear himself to this madman, he may be able to use him to his advantage in the ruthless new world.

Law still wasn’t sure what Dofalmingo had up his sleeve and the way he saw it, Mugiwara kind of owed it to him to help him take down Doflamingo if possible. It was pretty much his fault that Law’s plan for gaining information at the auction house had been interrupted by him in the first place. Luffy’s strength and reckless abandon, coupled with his dedication to his companions could make him a useful ally. This was a person who was willing go so far as to challenge the celestial dragons for his friend, right?

Law had no more time to think of it. Marines were flanking them on all sides- now was the time to fight. Besides, what were the chances of Law actually needing to ally himself with this crazy teen?

… … … … …

Monkey D. Luffy is a menace Law decides. He always gets them deeper into trouble, doesn’t follow the plan, always invades Law’s personal space; the young pirate is driving him mad.

He had not expected to see Mugiwara again so soon, especially when he was on an island forbidden to marine and pirate alike, but after some deliberation decided that an alliance with the teen would be beneficial to his plan. He did not admit to himself how readily he had come to this conclusion. It certainly had nothing to do with the dazzling smile he had been greeted with, nor any lingering affection he held for the boy. He hadn’t expected the other captain to agree so readily, but he was coming realize how little he knew about him.

Law had witnessed how far Mugiwara was willing to go in order to save a friend or loved one (pretty darn far), as well as his disregard for the rules set by the World Government. He had witnessed just how far Luffy had pushed himself in order to save his brother (he had been amazed that the boy was still alive) and had comforted him as he was swallowed up by grief over the loss of the very brother he had been trying to save.

But he had never seen this childish and selfish side of Luffy, demanding he help save the children, insisting on throwing a party after their victory, and now prancing across the deck when he was bored. It was completely unexpected and he definitely did not think it was cute - it was annoying and detrimental to further plans. Who knew what kind of trouble he could get up to at Dressrosa?

Now, time to make sure the idiotic captain understood the plan for Dressrosa. He did not want to deal with Mugiwara ignoring the plan again.

[duxbelisarius]

Wonder Woman Review

I was questioning whether or not to do this, but on the advice of @byzantinefox and @bantarleton, I’ve decided to make a post addressing the events portrayed in the film. I’m not a film critic or scholar (my wondertrev buddy @twoquickdeaths could probably say more about those aspects of it than I could), but I am a history major with a great interest in the First World War. Hence, I will be addressing the events of the film, their historical context, and the way they are portrayed. WARNING: Spoilers below!

So to start, let me make this point ABSOLUTELY clear: I LOVED Wonder Woman. I mean, I was squirming in my seat at dinner prior to seeing it with my family, my little sister and I humming the theme! Patty Jenkins and her team made a phenomenal movie (AND Zack, can’t forget the conductor of the DCEU orechestra), Gal and Chris were amazing as Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor (and I am now torn between Wonderbat and Wondertrev, which is saying a lot given that I grew up with the DCAU’s Justice League and Justice League Unlimited). The action scenes were awesome (Antiope and co. PHYSICALLY REMOVING the Germans from Themyscira set the tone very well for the subsequent fights), and Diana’s character struck an excellent balance of traditionally feminine and masculine traits as Marston intended (Gal and Patty deserve high praise for this as well). IMO, the tone of the movie balanced positivity and hope with hopelessness and loss more explicitly, perhaps, than BvS, MoS and SS. All of the DCEU movies dealt with those themes (in b4 HURR DURR GRIMDARK 2EDGY4ME), though consolation and desolation aren’t always easy to convey (even if you’ve read St. Ignatius’ Spiritual Exercises).

Having stated this, there were basic problems with it’s portrayal of history. I need to stress that I am well aware that this is fantasy/comic book hero stuff, realism isn’t necessarily possible in a world of super human beings, and I’m NOT going to complain about uniforms or epaulets being wrong (Sorry Ban; though there are British troops wearing French Adrian Helmets in the trench scene). I understand this was obviously not a documentary, and as far as modern historical films go there is far more attention to accuracy than in the past I’d say (see all those post-WWII Patton tanks that appeared as German tanks in Battle of the Bulge and Patton). My main issue is with problems of chronology and of important historical facts, especially those regarding how the war was fought and why (SPOILERS START HERE!).

From the start, Steve’s arrival on Themyscira and the subsequent beach battle with the German marines raise some problems. For one, even if Steve’s Fokker Eindecker E.III monoplane (obsolete in 1918!) could reach Themyscira (presumably near Greece) from Turkey, the idea that a German destroyer could search for him is questionable. Given that the High Seas Fleet was bottled up in the North Sea ports, it would have to be a German or Ottoman Turkish ship from Turkey, and then there’s still the problem of Allied naval dominance in the Mediterranean (The British, French, Italian and Greek navies MAY be a problem here!). These pose problems, but not insurmountable ones, for the plot; Steve might not reach Themyscira, but if he does, there’s probably no Germans following him and so Antiope lives and may well send Diana and potentially MORE Amazons to REMOVE THE HUN stop Ares.

So problems, but not big ones. It’s when they arrive in London that things get screwy. To start, the Armistice was not deliberated on months ahead of time in Parliament, and this completely ignores the unified command of the Allied Armies exercised by Marshal Ferdinand Foch (the French in general are completely ignored, though this is no different from Ridley Scott’s Dunkirk by the looks of it). The Imperial War Council, which was in charge of the British war effort (and was NOT the large parliamentary body it was portrayed as) comprised, at most, between 10 and 12 members representing Britain, India and the Dominions (Canada, New Foundland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa), and it didn’t even hold a conference during the period of the film (roughly October-November 1918). Sir Patrick (played by David Thewlis AKA Remus Lupin) would not be proposing peace and an armistice as A) he would not partake in any Cabinet meeting, B) The Cabinet did not meet at this time, and most importantly, C) The war on the Western Front was all but won in 1918.

This last point is key, and I would never blame Patty for overlooking it when it’s a point that seemingly EVERYONE overlooks. The stereotypical British General portrayed by the ubiquitous James Cosmo (seriously, he’s been in Highlander, Trainspotting, Game of Thrones (as Jeor Mormont), Braveheart, Troy, the list goes on!) claims that he won’t “send troops into Belgium this close to the Armistice”, shooting down Steve Trevor’s plan. This blatantly ignores that British, French and Belgian troops WERE ALREADY IN BELGIUM.

This is relevant to the later quote made by Steve when Diana and her team reach “the front” (to quote In Bruges, “Turns out, it’s in Belgium”). “This Battalion has been here for a year, and they’ve barely made any progress,” a point that ignores the sweeping gains of the German Spring Offensives, and the equally large gains of the Hundred Days Offensives, technically the “122 days” when you consider that they started with the French victory on the Marne in June 1918. And this isn’t even taking into account rotation systems that, while often dysfunctional, did ensure that battalions on both sides received rest in the rear areas or reserve lines. While formal trench lines really ceased to exist from September 1918 onwards, the battle for Veld (the village Diana and co. liberate after taking the German trenches) does capture the conditions of fighting quite well: rushes across fields, canals and ditches, fighting in small towns, and all amidst the squalid autumn weather of North Western Europe. That “No-Man’s Land” means you can’t occupy/cross it as Steve claims, is demonstrably false; all due respect to the Eowyn, “I Am No Man” gifsets, but the men on both sides had been crossing and taking ground on a regular basis since March, 1918. 

That the Armistice was not proposed until late in the year, and negotiated even later, is again another point where the film diverges. Moreover, and here I’ll address Erich Ludendorff’s portrayal, the film missed an opportunity to show just how suicidal German leadership had become in 1918. The film reverses the Ludendorff-von Hindenburg (ship name: Hindendorff) relationship; Hindenburg, as exemplified by the iron nail statues built of him for German war bonds drives, was tall, solid, and stereotypically Prussian. It was a September 29th mental breakdown by Ludendorff, short, monacled, neurotic and nervous, that began the talks about a potential armistice. It was quite honestly shocking to see him portrayed, on screen, as shooting a captain with his pistol and having Dr. Poison gas Hindenburg and the commanders of the German Army with Poison’s hydrogen-based Mustard Gas. Historically, Ludendorff was the man who spent hours in September 1918 sitting by the open casket of his son-in-law, conversing with the corpse, after the latter had died in battle. Leaving aside Poison’s strength elixir, which Erich inhales to gain strength, he was far from the tough guy the movie makes him out to be. 

Moreover, as I mentioned in a post I reblogged before, there were GENUINE plans to prolong the war. The so-called Endkampf envisioned final bombing raids on London and Paris (not just London as in the film), and with actual incendiaries. These were intended to be one way trips, aimed at maximum civilian loss. Likewise, the High Seas Fleet attempted suicide-by-Entente and tried to sail out for one last clash with the British Grand Fleet. This actually led to mutinies which lead to Socialist revolutionaries (the Volksmarine) taking over Kiel, Bremen, and most of the North Seas ports. Far more sinister were the plans to forcibly conscript 600 to 800 000 German men and boys, from 16 to 60, to be armed and sent to the front, where they would partake in conventional rearguard and unconventional guerrilla actions against the superior armed, equipped and trained Allied armies. All the while, scorched earth policies were to be enacted, and were carried out at places like the Brie-Longwy ore mines, which provided most of France’s coal and iron ore. Almost half were flooded and sabotaged, taking the French years to recover economically. Destruction of food supplies would have left a dire situation for the Belgian Relief Organization, set up in 1915 by private American citizens and led by Herbert Hoover. Responsible for feeding almost all of Belgium (c. 4-5 million people) and close to 10 million French civilians, they would have been presented with a humanitarian crisis that would have compounded the starvation that Hoover had too meet in Eastern Europe and the former Russian Empire after 1919. Steve Trevor is right, millions would have died, but Dr. Poison’s notebook would not have been necessary. And we know that those plans were taken seriously; the Navy DID attempt a final sally, incendiaries WERE stockpiled, and ‘insurrectionary warfare’ was incorporated into postwar plans of the Reichswehr (the army of the Weimar Republic) by Staff Officer Joachim von Stulpnagel, and influenced Hitler’s Nero Order (which Albert Speer only ignored due to a lack of manpower to carry it out!).

My final point comes around to the film’s most powerful theme, that of human nature and the problem of evil. First off, the efforts of the Belgian Relief Organization alone speak to the nobility and goodness that humans can attain. But regarding this issue of free will, Diana hits right on the head in her final monologue, when it comes to motivations and reasons for fighting the film falls short at some points. Cosmo’s general is portrayed as the stereotypical Brass-hatted, red-tabbed ‘donkey general,’ dismissing Steve and Diana’s horror at the potential casualties from Poison’s concoction with the remark to the effect that “soldiers are supposed to die.” Again, ignoring the impending triumph of Allied arms on all Fronts (Bulgaria surrendered Sept. 29th, the Italians were nearing Trieste and the French and Serbs Belgrade, ANZAC, Indian and British cavalry were hauling ass for Damascus), it plays on the ‘Lions led by Donkeys’ trope that charges both military incompetence AND moral cowardice against Allied (esp. British leadership). The success I mention indicates otherwise, but Diana’s claim that Amazon generals unlike Man’s Generals, fight and die with their men, runs a foul of history. 78 British, 47 French (61 including deaths from disease while at the front) and 86 German generals were killed in action between 1914 and 1918, and in all cases the number of dead increased by year. Graham Maddox and Frank Davies have even recorded all of the British casualties among General Officers, 232 in total versus an active roster of c. 1000 and total wartime number over 2000. Charges of incompetence in tactics and management are in no way inadmissible; but the conclusion that must be reached given the amount of casualties, of which 8 were wounded twice and 10 were victoria cross winners (3 during the war), is not that they lacked moral courage, but if anything, there was perhaps an excess.

The film ends with Ares death, and the German soldiers around appear to have been woken from a haze; Diana is seemingly right, kill Ares, you kill the war. She admits, again, that humans are capable of great acts of good and evil, but the film again seems to suggest that Ares was more to blame (again, the the airfield scene indicates anything). That over half of the British soldiers in WWI were volunteers or Professionals, and almost all of the Canadians, Australians and Indians (between them all over 2 million men) were the same, indicates far greater agency on their part. And I don’t think that any of these omissions, esp. for the Generals, are done consciously and out of spite. These tropes are so embedded as to be taken as a given, though I hope this will change at some point in the future. History, esp. that of WWI, is my passion and I hope that the film inspires greater interest in the conflict as other media, like Battlefield One, have already done. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading!