#i also got the pegasus mount as well!!!

[littlegalerion]

FINALLY! 😭

[demonir]

I finished my lineup of tf2 ponies with both RED and BLU team! Now I can finally have them as reference for future stuff 💜

I will post individual more in depth references of each one of them soon!

Close ups and headcanons under the cut ↓

Spy is half unicorn pony half deer so he's got long slim legs! Scout inherits this trait which makes him even lighter than the average pegasus and faster as well.

BLU Spy has more deer spots than RED Spy, BLU Scout also inherits this trait but they look like freckles on him

Yes BLU Spy had his head re-attached!

RED Medic is way older than he lets on and while he didn't create the most common healing spell he did expand upon it making him a very important figure in the field of unicorn magic, he has in fact written a lot of medicine and magic books that Twilight Sparkle herself has studied!

RED Medic's horn is the largest of all the unicorns in the team!

BLU Medic's horn got broken in an accident, he uses the medicine backpack to assist with his healing spell since his magic isn't as potent anymore however the backpack needs to recharge

Demoman's tail is fractured in some parts that's why it has such sharp bending points

RED Soldier and BLU Soldier accidentally swapped teams really early into their jobs but they didn't realize and no one cared enough to do anything about it, this has not impacted their performance in the slightest

RED Engie does have gunslinger, it's a mix of mechanics and magic. BLU Engie had gunslinger but decided to re-attach his original hoof instead

Both Pyros have Pinkie Pie esque reality bending properties

They all have different body types! you'll be able to see so better when I post the individual references that won't have the clothes or wings to obscure it

RED Sniper has the cut on his face from Spy but BLU Sniper does not

BLU Medic is older than RED Medic! you can tell by the fact his hair has more gray spots

BLU Engie heterochromia!

BLU Scout is a ginger, if BLU Spy is also a ginger is up to interpretation

BLU Pyro doodles on their mask for fun

RED Engie is the only earth pony child out of a family of unicorns because his mom was an earth pony

Both Snipers were raised by ponies rather than griffons

Heavy pony has a device that goes mounted on his back for his minigun to hang by his side so he can shoot, same goes for Pyro

Some of these are subject to change but this is what I have so far!

[ttrpgbrackets]

Propaganda Below

Dish the Hot Gauss

Dish The Hot Gauss: when you reveal a dramatic secret to your foe, take +1d when you attack them during the current Mission.

What makes it Cool?

It encourages exciting moments by providing a combat bonus for activating a narrative trigger. "No. I am your father." Plus the name is a pun.

Ushabti Omnigun

Your mech’s omnigun is a piece of experimental hardware so advanced that it defies physics: it doesn’t require a mount, nor does it have a weapon type or size – meaning that it can’t be modified or benefit from your talents. You can’t attack normally with this weapon. Instead, 1/round, as a free action during your turn, you can use it to deal 1AP damage to a character within RANGE and line of sight. This doesn’t count as an attack, hits automatically, ignores cover, bypasses IMMUNITY, and its damage can’t be reduced or ignored in any way. No rule in this book or any other supersedes this.

What makes it so cool?

1.) Even the best scientists in the setting don't know how this thing works. At all.

"As with many HORUS pattern groups, the Pegasus fields a signature weapon system: the Ushabti, a hostile impulse anti-corporeal weapon that operates with complete ignorance of even the most basic underpinnings of physics and thermodynamics. As such, it qualifies unambiguously as a paracausal weapon. The Ushabti’s precise function remains unknown to Union and Harrison Armory scientists, though radiological and gravitational signatures captured in the aftermath of the weapon’s use point toward a relationship with the Aunic Firmament. Studies are ongoing on Ras Shamra, the Armory’s chief research world, and in satellite campuses across the Dawnline Shore."

2.) Art of the Pegasus doesn't show the Ushabti Omnigun itself. Instead, the Pegasus has a black hole built into its back as some sort of containment field for the Ushabti.

3.) Mechanically, the Ushabti is about as simple as you can get. You can shoot things for 1 damage per turn. (or 3 if you use the active). (for context, most enemies have around 15-20 hp) sound boring, right? Well no. it's a free action. You also get to do the whole rest of your turn. And then, you get to ignore anything that might try to stop you, and NO RULE IN THIS BOOK OR ANY OTHER SUPERSEDES THIS. This is the ultimate gun to end all guns. There is no escape from the Ushabti Omnigun.

4.) In Lancer, the word 'unshackle' has a very specific meaning. 'turning off the restraints on a psychic AI'. Normally, an unshackled AI is the final boss of an entire campaign, or at least a major NPC. like Shodan or GlaDOS or something. The use here implies that the Ushabti is an AI. But the lack of anything but 'slightly more gun' implies it has a completely alien set of priorities. There's nothing in there that dreams of freedom or power. And it even quietly reshackles itself when the scene is over.

5.) The Pegasus frame is full of similar crazy psychic supertechnology. But it's all bent obsessively around the same simple goal of 'shoot people with guns'. This thing can rewrite the laws of probability on the fly, and it only does it to achieve Perfectly Average accuracy. It may or may not literally Know Everything(it certainly knows enough to predict every choice you're ever going to make), and it doesn't even bother to manipulate you, or seek freedom, or anything. And the funny thing is, several of its abilities literally are just normal guns. This thing is so obsessed with guns that it will prefer a cheap store-bought autogun over Infinite Cosmic Power. This is a god that appears to be satisfied with the life of a war machine. For now at least.

6.) Historically, an Ushabti was a funerary figurine placed in the tombs of Egyptian nobles to act as servants in the afterlife, and manual laborers. There's got some kind of master-servant dynamic.So the gun might not even the SAME unknowable psychic god as the rest of the mech. There's TWO of these things.

7.) in case you didn't notice, the fluff blurb loops. it starts at "-funny thing." and ends with "Causality is a-" On top of being alive, this thing may or may not be doing some kind of time travel.

8.) Worst of all, you can't prove any of this. It might just be a normal mech with a cutting-edge gun. Why the fuck would a god-like AI limit itself to the life of gun? That's ridiculous, right? Right?

Do you now understand why the fact that it uses its incomprehensible psychic power to do no more than 1/damage per round is so much more concerning than if it actually did something weird.

[eternalnexuswarrior]

Legendary Bladers if they were dungeons and dragons characters

So on top of being a beyblade metal fury fan, I also play Dungeons and Dragons on a semi regular basis. Well I got into a conversation with my DM (who is also a beyblade fan) and got into a discussion of what class each legendary blader would be if they were a D&D character. And the results are fantastic.

Gingka: Paladin. Think about it, Koma village is a relatively secret place. I could see in game there being a secret order of paladins watching over a relic to keep it from being used by evil *cough* Doji *cough*. Pegasus could be his mount for riding across territories too.

Kyoya: Ranger. This one took a bit of talking but there is a subclass of ranger called Beastmaster, where at 3rd level a ranger can get a companion. Hands down can seeing Kyoya as a Ranger with a lion companion.

Ryuga: Warlock for various reasons. A good amount of warlocks have a pact of sorts with their patron. Ryuga as a warlock with an L-Drago inspired patron just made a lot of sense.

Yuki: Artificer. One of the easier choices. Yuki literally lived in an observatory for years and he's quite intelligent. I could easily see him as an artificer. As for which subclass though, that's a tough decision.

Aguma: Barbarian although I could see him taking a class or two in Paladin or Fighter. If he can easily keep a helicopter from falling on its side, he can easily kick someone's butt in the D&D world.

King: Fighter for a few reasons but I just get the vibe with King that he could easily have gotten into fights as a youth. Maybe lean towards a fighting class with basic magical abilities if possible.

Dynamis: Wizard. I will keep this brief because later I will make a separate post with the character sheet art I did of him as a wizard with his spell list. I could easily see him using lightning, thunder, radiant elements, and all sorts of spells to wreck s#!t on his enemies if provoked.

Chris: Rogue, specifically Assassin subclass. He could be an assassin for hire and kill for money. Plus Chris already had that mercenary vibe in the Manga, and he is stealthy in the anime. Hands down can see him as an assassin.

Tithi: Monk. Tithi was a bit harder to choose for, but he's very agile. If not monk, then maybe an arcane trickster rogue, but any real dexterity based classes would work for tithi

Kenta: Ranger, cause of Sagittario. I could see him getting a horse mount to travel across the world as well

And a bonus one for ya cause I just thought on this as well.

Rago: Warlock. His sole purpose was to be the host of nemesis, and that could easily be transferred to the d&d world as well.

[doevademe]

Role swap but with a twist, Nico is the child of prophecy and Percy is the leader of the Titans army, cue Flirty Dark!Percy trying to lure Nico to the Titans side only to realize that is in the wrong and Nico who is a bit of a disaster gay because on one hand, Percy bad and needs to be stopped, one the other, evil is kinda sexy, but eventually they team up to take down Kronos, (someone else becomes his vessel since Percy jumped ship before that point)

Stygian Iron met Celestial Bronze and steel as Percy Jackson blocked his strike.

"Quite sharp," Percy said, winking. "Your sword is also in good shape."

Nico sputtered for a second, and Percy used the oportunity to strike back, driving Nico back.

"How old are you right now?" He asked, a dangerous smile in place. "I would keep tabs, but you know..." he gestured at his wrist. Hebe's cursed seal still shone and pulsed, like a heart.

"Fifteen," he answered. Percy grinned.

"So that's why you are so attractive, we're the same age!" Percy said gleefully. "Are you free after the fight?"

"You want to distract me," Nico said in lieu of an answer. "You already said I'm an annoying brat."

"Did I? Must have been at least a year ago," Percy said thoughtfully. "Right now, though? I want to eat you up."

Nico sighed. That was Percy's curse. To appease Zeus, his father had made sure he would never be the child of the Prophecy, asking Hebe to curse him with eternal youth. Forever at fifteen.

Forever reliving the same year of his life, with no memories of previous years.

"I didn't even know you swung that way," Nico commented as he tried for a strike. Percy parried away.

"Well, you can always join Kronos and confirm it," Percy said back, disarming him and pinning him against the cruise ship's helm. With his sword against Nico's throat, he leaned until he was breathing against his neck. "Make the most of our time."

"You've been serving him for years," Nico breathed out, hating how fast his body temperature was rising. "Do you really think that, with the support he has gotten he can't already break your curse?"

"Only Hebe can, and that hag remains Zeus's lapdog," he scoffed. "Are you his lapdog too, Nico? Or would you prefer to be mine?"

"Nico!" Annabeth's voice rang out. She came in, followed by Grover, who just bleated sadly at the sight of Percy.

"Grover," Percy greeted back. "I know you can't swim, so you better take that Pegasus and leave Princess Andromeda before I sink it."

"Sink it? But it's your base of operations!" Annabeth protested. "It's filled with your armies and—"

"Get with the program! Mount Othrys is back!" Percy interrupted her. "And it's demigods Kronos is after. Monsters are, thankfully, expendable."

Percy waved his hand, the Princess Andromeda groaned and shook. He smiled and walked off the edge.

"Think over my offer, Nico," he said seriously. "I wouldn't mind this dull existence as much with you by my side."

He winked again and willed the ocean to rise, taking him in a water column alongside quite a few Telkhines and Dracanae, who screeched in horror at the method of transportation.

"Nico! We need to leave!" Annabeth urged him. Nico stumbled until he got on the mechanical pegasus he used as a mount. His heart was beating too fast.

He had always been infatuated with Percy Jackson but...

It had been the first time he had seemed interested in him.

----

Percy's birthday was near the end of Summer.

It was a respite. Kronos would isolate him for a few months to make him relearn everything. How much he hated the Olympians, how he had sworn an oath to help Kronos in exchange for a way to break the curse, and how he had lost nearly ten years of his life already.

He would teach him to try and recruit Nico, and also to hate him, because he was allowed to grow up and be the Child of the Prophecy.

"His birthday is tomorrow," Grover said sadly. Before the curse, he used to be Percy's guardian, as well as his friend. "He'll be gone for a while."

Nico's brain raced a mile a minute, but it kept coming back to feeling Percy so close to him, his breath ghosting over his neck. So close he could even make out his life for—

He smirked.

"Grover, are you all quested out for the summer?" He asked innocently. Grover blinked in confusion. "Or can you take another infiltration mission?"

"What are you scheming?" He asked, making Nico roll his eyes. With Grover, it was always 'scheming', not 'planning'.

The satyr really let the whole son of Hades thing color his opinions too much.

"I felt Percy Jackson's essence today... I could probably follow it through the shadows," he mentioned. "And tomorrow, as a new year starts for him, we're going to take him from Kronos."

----

"So is my mom...?" Percy asked, voice breaking.

"She's older, living with her husband and daughter," Grover said gently. "She asks about you every month though."

"I hate the Olympians," Percy said darkly. "I guess I know why I joined Kronos now..."

"Will you go back to him?" Nico asked quietly. Percy kept stealing glances at him, and it made him want to preen a bit, but he resisted the urge.

"A part of me wants to, they... they deserve what's happening to them."

"Do we?" Nico spoke quietly. "You don't remember but, we have fought each other, a lot of times, but you've never killed me, even when you could have at any moment."

Percy bit his lip.

"I don't... I don't want to hurt anyone," he said. "Why did they think I would?"

"Because they are old and paranoid," Nico answered. "But their children, they don't deserve to die to teach them a lesson."

"What do you want from me, Nico?"

'Everything,' he wanted to say. He wanted to have Percy battling with him instead of against him, to save Percy from his own anger, but most of all, he wanted Percy to look at him the same way he did on board the Princess Andromeda.

"I need your help," he said instead. "I have heard tales of the powerful Percy Jackson, who retrieved the Golden Fleece and defeated Oceanus."

"So you just want to use me," Percy said, unsurprised.

Nico shook his head.

"I... I want to help you too," Nico said. "To break your curse, to grow up with you... I want to change the circumstances that led to yor curse."

Percy looked at him in awe. Nico extended his hand.

"I want Percy Jackson by my side."

Percy took his hand.

[erdarielthewhumper]

1, 6 and 12 for the ask game!

- @whump-kia :D

12 I have already answered here, but let's see about the others... :D

1. What was your whump awakening(s)? - honestly I don't recall really having a specific "oh" moment in terms of realizing I liked whump, I kind of just already enjoyed it. I'm not sure I quite processed as a kid that it was something not everyone liked or something to be considered shameful either, tbh. But like, as long as I can remember, when I was a kid I had like barbies and legos (well, legos were shared with my brother) and LPS, and Schleich fairy and knight figures (the knights belonged to my brother, really, as did the dragon and the phoenix; the ones that were properly mine were fairies, some of them came with horses, plus then I had a princess, and a unicorn and a pegasus. But my brother let me play with his ones too, and honestly that just made splitting them into factions very easy, the knights were always the bad guys and enemies with the fairies. Also Schleich's newer fairy figures look really boring and for some reason all their mounts are like pastel blue unicorns and I don't like that, but I digress), and I'd play kind of a lot of relatively like, violent and dark scenarios with this. One of my barbies was second-hand and was missing a leg, and I always came up with such dramatic scenarios as to how she'd lost it, lol. To say nothing of that one lego spaceman figure (it was, looking at the design, part of one of the older space-themed lines, it matched old ones we had that had once belonged to my mom and her brother) that mom found in the garden that was partly melted, so that our theory is that someone had once tied it to a new year's firework rocket and shot it with that and it had fallen to our garden. Anyway, visibly damaged toys were good fodder for my darker stories I played with them :D Like looking back, I honestly was probably largely replicating tropes that came up in the stories mom read us, but like, some of the classic children's books she read us definitely had darker elements (as in, like, Brothers Lionheart. if you haven't read it... i mean honestly, just read it, it is actually a very good book, but also like. it legitimately ends with the titular brothers committing suicide. And it is a beloved and classic children's fantasy book), battles, spy stuff, that sort of thing, so like. I picked up that sort of thing, and I guess I liked the dramatic fantasy tales because it's definitely what I was replicating when I played with my toys, a lot of the time. And I certainly leaned a lot towards elements that i might now consider whumpy, when I did that.

6. Favorite whump genre (sci-fi, fantasy, historical)? - I've always been partial to fantasy, tbh. I like scifi too, and sometimes semi-historical adventure stuff if I get into a fandom like that (like BBC Musketeers, although it's not even trying for historical accuracy), but at the end of the day, fantasy is really the one I love most. I blame my mom, tbh

Thanks for the ask! Sorry the answer got a bit long ':D

[lilyblackdrawside]

So, I beat Fire Emblem Engage. It's really good. I went in with moderate expectations. I hadn't seen much of anything of it in advance, but I got wind of the usual stuff. Jokes about character designs (toothpaste-chan), gameplay speculations, and the general opinions I saw were that the gameplay might just be good.

(This post is segmented into two parts, with the first part being spoiler free and the rest being under the cut.)

The gameplay is good. The new take on the weapon triangle is really nice, the coop-strikes didn't impress me much at first, but when I realized that they always deal 10% max hp (which took me only about two thirds of the game) they really grew on me. I'm also so incredibly happy that Pegasus Knights promote into Gryphon Riders and ditch their horses, same with the existence of non-horse mounted ground units. I love high mobility gameplay in these kinda games, but Fire Emblem never let me enjoy it much because I just don't like horses. FEE lets me uses non-horses and makes infantry mobile as well, so it's just really fun for me. I only played on the second-highest difficulty, since I wanted to experience the story and some decent opposition, instead of labouring through Maddening right away. It wasn't terribly difficult. I was able to play very aggressively and usually had options/damage to spare. My favourite character as a unit has to be Etie. She performed really well out the gate and only got better, which is really funny since she's an archer and unlike FETH you don't get Close Counter, but with a 1-range bow being easily available, her rather decent bulk and evasion (especially on terrain, thanks to being Covert) she was very safe to fight on enemy phase, since enemy fist-users aren't that common and in the last third of the game could hardly get through her steel abs high defense. She also consistently dealt massive damage, only hampered by her mediocre speed, but I managed to fix that with some tricks and she figured out how to level speed at some point too. I even got genuine use out of Armor Knight for a good while. Since base foot units only have 4 move, they don't have a disadvantage in that regard until promotion and Armor units can’t be broken, so as long as I looked out for magic damage I could chuck him into groups of enemies and let him handle them. Very cool. Did bench him once I got to the point where people promoted. I'm not dealing with a 4-move boulder. 5-move already annoys me.

Map design was very fun too. Lots of terrain and things to watch out for, not "gimmicky" in the way Fates Revelation is, just good layouts. I can't really think of any one-off concepts, at least any that annoyed me. The game also does a lot to try and stop you from juggernauting with a single unit. The break mechanic makes it difficult to sustain an offense on enemy phase and coop-strikes have a fixed 80% accuracy and 10% max hp damage, which will very quickly take out any single unit. I say "try", because I managed to get one of my units to ludicrous amounts of avoid at the cost of never dealing double digit damage ever. Doubt that works on Maddening.

The game also looks really nice. It's colourful and pretty, but also visually dark and imposing when it needs to be. The animations too are just phantastic. Not just the big special moves or crits, everything. There are several attack animations per class per weapon and they're all so much fun to look at. I hardly ever turned off animations because of this. I feel this particularly because I had just come from FETH, which doesn't look bad or anything but its animation work leaves something to be desired. There are also so many cool references to the old games in the animations. Most of that is spoilers, but I liked it a lot. There are a bunch of clipping issues with some models, most notably the main antagonist's headdress consistently clips into his chest in his default stance, which is a bit awkward but oh well.

And the music is so good too. You have a whole lot of old tracks returning for the optional skirmishes, if you have the requisite amiibos and those are "ripped" wholesame from their respective games. Special mention here goes to Finis, the final battle track from Fates. I know it's super funny to dunk on "you are the ocean's grey waves", but it's genuinely a good song that only suffers from overuse, but that final battle version is one of the best FE tracks ever. But FEE also brings in a lot of amazing new tracks. I especially liked the music playing in the endgame maps on player phase, as well as the Corrupted enemy phase theme.

The characters were fun. Not terribly deep or anything, but I don't mind this. They were fun and gave me a nostalgic feel. Most of them lean on their single "trait" (Etie is a bodybuilder, Chloé likes fairytales, Boucheron is emotional, etc.) but it's fine. It's funny and cute and I honestly don't care that much about how deep or shallow secondary characters are. As long as the main story holds itself together and presents an engaging narrative, that is absolutely okay in my book. And I have to say, I think the story was great. As I said, I had just beaten FETH (finished exactly FEE's release day) and while I liked the grounded, political narrative (I played Blue Lions so I learned nothing and only had to question what the heck a Hegemony Husk is and who the Shadowpeople are in an otherwise pretty low-phantasy story) I enjoyed having this kind of story again a lot. It's straightforward, doesn't throw any curveballs at you or anything, you pretty much just get what you see and I like that. It's a tight story that takes you from start to finish with a lot of gripping plot points on the way. The most important point when it comes to this segment about characters and story however, is the protagonist. Alear is great. I picked the female lead and I love how fun and emotional she is. Byleth is a veritable cardboard cutout, even when compared to other wooden characters in the franchise and I am so glad that Alear gets to talk and emote. She gets to be happy and angry and sad, everything. And she's genuinely funny too at times. A lot of the supports with her are really good! I like Alear a lot.

From here it's spoilers for the whole game. This part is as long as what’s before it.

My favourite emblem is easily Sigurd. I just love going fast, what can I say. I had him on Etie for the first third of the game and then moved him onto Panette when I got him back in the last third. 11 move Panette is so funny, just running in to oneshot enemies and Cantoing back out. I put Canto on so many of my units. This is my favourite version of Canto, easily. You just get so much mobility. Probably can't get away with it on Maddening though.

Second place, surprisingly goes to Corrin. I put her on Alear immediately, when I saw that she gets to use every type of Dragon Vein freely. It's such a strong skill and I'm surprised it's not locked behind having to be engaged. Locking off paths with ice to perform either slowly push or prevent enemies from following you, using fire or water to slow enemies down and debuff them, fog tiles for big evade boosts to lure or just healing tiles (combined with the passive healing to adjacent allies) to keep the group healthy is just so great. I mostly used Alear as a support unit in that way for the mid game portion. Being able to bind entire groups of enemies and debuff their stats is so good too. Corrin is so versatile and strong in that way. And of course there's her skill that blocks Coop-Attacks, which I put onto my avoid tank. Once I had done that I usually scanned any given map for enemies that pass her avoid check, and there were a surprising number of maps that wouldn't be able to touch her. She probably couldn't solo clear them, or if she could it'd've taken forever, but it was fun to look at. Even so, it was incredibly effective and I doubt that it'd work in Maddening because in the last few maps there were a lot of enemies that did get some 10 to 20% hit chance in. Not much, but it'll get you pretty quickly.

Special mention goes to Lucina though. When I got her I looked at her and wasn't at all impressed. I slapped her onto Chloé for reasons I don't remember, but that happened to be exactly the correct thing to do. Her ability to deliver Coop-Attacks across the whole map adds so much chip damage, it's super convenient. That was also when I eventually got wind of how the damage is actually calculated. I would've been able to put together a perfect 100% damage attack with support strikes from her special move, since I also later shifted Lucina onto Veyle, who gets perfectly accurate Coop-Strikes with it, but I never had to. I can see that being incredibly good on Maddening. Putting that extender skill onto all the Assist units, having more Assisters in general.

The Emblem Trial maps were so cool. The only games I didn't play were Radiant Dawn, GotHW and Thracia, so I didn't recognize what exactly those were, but for example, the way Sigurd's map simulated that game's style by having you "capture" a castle to proceed forward was great. One may call it nostalgia bait, but I really liked it. They really took some iconic maps from each game for those. I especially liked Celica's, since that was a memorable moment for me when I played Gaiden and it felt good to totally roll over it by being way too fast in racing to the bottom. I did somewhat dread Celica's trial on account of Gaiden's "map design", but they picked a good one there too.

The whole sequence in Chapters 10 and 11. I was SHOCKED when they actually went through with taking the Emblems from you! I figured you'd get them back in some bullshit moment after a cutscene but no, they're gone! I loved that! The despair in those scenes was delicious, the mood so great and afterwards you just had to deal with this massive drop in power. Some of these Emblems I didn't even really get to use much like Leif and Roy. Chloé had just grown very nicely into using Micaiah's magic in tandem with her lances and then she's back to having to exclusively physical weapons, Etie couldn't dash across the entire map anymore, no more Ragna-Warp, nothing. I was of course a bit miffed about it for a bit, but I quickly learned to appreciate it and when I got my old Emblems back bit by bit it felt all the better. It was also an amazing choice to immediately give you a fog of war map afterwards, because Micaiah's Shine tome was so nice for that before. On that note, I liked the FoW maps. It wasn't too different from previous games, aside from being unable to even more into the darkness but I think they're well-made. I had fun with them. I think a lot of that is carried by the look of them. I just love the general mood they have.

The reveal that Alear is Sombron's daughter wasn't at all shocking to me. I expected as much when I saw that the enemy in general has a red theme. (I mean, they always had. They're the red units. Where's out green allied-units divine dragon?) I figured Lumera and Sombron had something together or something and Alear was the result, but what they went with was pretty cool. I also liked that she didn't completely fall into despair. It was just a moment, but she got right back up from that revelation. Had she been a total downer for like five or so chapters afterwards where she has to regain her confidence, that'd've sucked.

And then Chapter 22. God. I'm grinning just thinking back to it. When Alear died, protecting Veyle I totally expected her to stay dead, with Veyle somehow taking her place, FF5 Crile style. But then Veyle stayed evil, Alear was dead. They really had me there with how long that scene went on! But then the whole Corrupted Alear part was sooo goood tooo!! Recollecting and recalling the Emblems as their muted versions with purely Fell Dragon power, I seriously didn't know how they were going to get out of that. I knew they wouldn't leave us like this, but now how. But then the scene where she gets revived as the 13th Emblem the "Fire Emblem", got that had me cheering. It was great! I was genuinely enjoying that moment. It was so over the top and even cheesy, but it was exactly the right thing. It was just amazing. I loved that moment when Alear said "It's time to Fire Emblem Engage and turned into the Fire Emblem.

The endgame portion was good. I liked that each map had a bit of a "puzzle" with handling the shard attacks, but I have to go deeper into the time travel map. First off, why did we trust Zephia? How did we not expect her parting gift to do something terrible to us? Secondly, she says "You cannot reach it, unless you can somehow raise the land or dry up that lake." as if Corrin isn't RIGHT THERE. That is her whole thing. In the end, traveling into the past was good though. I enjoyed the meeting with past Alear and getting to hear her VA act that part was great. She did a phantastic job. The map was fun too. Probably one of my favourites as a whole, actually.

On the note of great VA performances, Lumera's was amazing in her Corrupted form. The ham, delicious. I love scenes like that. I love hammy acting. I can really get into it.

The use of constant reinforcements to drive the player into moving forward is something that I can't help but be annoyed at, but I know it's good design. I know it's good, I recognize it as such. I'm just a bit silly about it. I like rushing forward, so I feel a bit patronized by the reinforcements being like "come on get a move on" when I'm already one turn away from the boss by the time they show up. Might be zone-reinforcements too though.

The final battle against Sombrom was good. I don't have much to say about it, since it was so easy, but there's one thing they dropped the ball on. When I saw that he summoned 4 dark emblems - Great idea by the way, to give the enemy former bosses as emblems. That's another way they could've gone about designing the whole game. Wouldn't've been better or worse, just a different take - I figured he'd regain his shield after each health bar and then summon the next set, but his shield just comes back after a few turns. I would've liked it more had they forced you to go through the whole set, but as it is I only went through eight of them. Could've restarted to dunk on him after breaking his barrier once, but I didn't.

So yeah, great game.

[arcaeda]

The news of a certain Talys princess - or, perhaps it would befit to start getting used to calling her queen also in his thoughts - arriving at the Academy does not take long to reach Merric's ears. And thank Naga for that, because had he found out simply by walking into the Blue Lions classroom and seeing her seated among the students without prior warning, his surprised reaction in the middle of attempting to teach may have just been fit for a comedy show.

Instead, he actually is blessed with an opportunity for a proper welcome; she is not difficult for him to find in a moment of free time, the pegasus stable a fairly safe bet for locating a pegasus knight.

"I hope I'm not interrupting, milady," he speaks out with a smile, his right hand wandering onto his chest as he offers his traditional bow in greeting. "I caught wind of the news that you chose to join us here in Fódlan, and thought I should say hello. I hope you've been well."

He does not inquire about whether or not she had found Marth yet, knowing full well the question would be nothing short of silly; surely, it was the very first thing she did upon her arrival.

"How was your journey? Without any problems, I hope," he continues, though he does not come any closer, remaining a respectful distance from both her and her mount; a leftover, perhaps, of the many battles they shared, where his carelessness would have been a threat equally lethal to her as enemy arrows. It was, simply put, best to remain cautious.

"I myself was a student here for quite a while, but then got accepted for a teaching position some months ago, so... If it's not overstepping to offer, please let me know if there's anything I can ever do to help you." A soft chuckle follows. "Teaching so many familiar faces has proven interesting and amusing, but, well... I do my best."

caeda was not completely surprised to see merric was a professor here— marth had written to her before that the mage had started as a student and slowly but surely made his up to working as a professor. the position fits him, she thinks, for he always has been rather intelligible. she would trust a class of his to make her more knowledgeable in a heartbeat.

"not at all merric! you're always welcome to say hi." caeda says with a smile and a wave of her hand, doing away with his concerns. "as for my journey, it went rather well i think. though—" she giggles, thinking of how he'd scolded her for coming all the way on her pegasus. "marth wasn't too happy when he found out i'd come here by pegasus, but he came to accept it rather quickly." as he always had, with any of her stubbornness.

"yes, marth has told me you were a student here before you became a professor. it suits you very well, and i'm delighted to attend your seminars in the future." the compliments roll of her tongue as easily as they ever do for her friends and family. "and i will certainly come to you in the future shall i need help with any of my studies."

[crapmagak]

Engage Drip Marketing: Boucheron

Boucheron is French for lumberjack.

Welp, it seems at long last we have ax guy. He’s been around since the first trailer, nameless, and at one point faceless. And yet here he final is. Despite how small his head is compared to his body (Maybe the proportions will look better in casual wear), I actually dig his outfit. Has a unique feel compared to the usual fighter look.

Now, lets get to the tweets…

Boucheron is a knight of the Kingdom of Firene. He is a polite and kind young man. He's naturally well-built, and is understanding too.

Cutscene tweet…

A conversation between Boucheron and Alear. It seems he likes fishing in nature.

Boucheron: "Do you do anything to relieve stress, Divine Dragon?"

Alear: "I haven't even thought about it. Are there things you do to relax, Boucheron?"

Boucheron: "Yes, a few. Like going to the mountains, quietly fishing at a river..."

Alear: "Oh! That seems fun! I want to try it too!"

Boucheron: "Then, would you like to come try with me? It'd be useful if you found something you like."

So, seems like your typical gentle giant type character. I’m rather fond of the archetype, so hopefully he has some good support. His natural build seems like an obvious point of tension between him and Etie. Speaking of which, it seems like the two aren’t siblings after all, despite their similar hair and eye colors. Oh well. He and Etie also don’t seem to be Alfred's retainers, which is more egg on my face.

Seeing so much diversity in the male characters' face shapes is still disappointing. Still, it led to someone on reddit saying the game had “Diary of a Wimpy Kid syndrome” which made me burst out laughing.

Next is the crit clip, which has some neat details to dig into.

Boucheron's starting class is Axe Fighter. An axe-wielding warrior that's confident in their strength. While they may be strong, their Defense is weak.

Ultimately, the clip doesn’t show too much we haven’t seen, but there are two things it’s got me thinking about.

First, Boucheron’s full class is Ax Fighter/ Back Up. If you remember the first trailer, one of the enemies Alear targets is titled Lance Fighter/ Back Up. However, Boucheron doesn’t have a monster icon on his class title, meaning it’s probably exclusive to corrupted. With this in mind, I’m fully convinced that the second section of classes don’t really show movement types, but class families of some sort. 

So, we have…

Dragon: I don’t think this will detail wyvern riders, but more likely Alear’s personal class, and maybe manaketes as well.

Cavalry: Pretty self explanatory, housing cavaliers of each weapon type, and then paladins. I’m curious if classes like great knights, dark knights, and bow knights/rangers will be a part of this family as well, instead of things like heavy armor and mystic.

Mystic: Seems to be our mages and dark mages. I wouldn’t be surprised if more tradition clerics/ priests wound up here. Then we get stuff like sages, sorceress, and bishops.

Qigong: We have monks, and I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw brawlers as well. Seems the most likely place to see more original and new classes.

Heavy Armor: Where we get our armor knights and generals. Not having gimped movement seems like a huge boon. I wonder if magic armor units like Geneology Barons will return.

Flying: Where we get our pegasus knights. I also think wyvern riders will be a tier 2 class in this game for this family, partly because we have not seen any yet in these early maps. I’m also curious if we’ll see other unique mounts like griffons or kinshi. 

Spy: Seems like where we’ll get archers, thieves, and the like. Promotions will probably be stuff like assassins and snipers. Perhaps the bandit units (noticeably hold their axes differently than fighters) will be here instead of back up.

Back up: Seems like it’s for fighters of varying weapon types, basic infantry.

If classes get put into these families, then I’m pretty confident we’ll be getting branching class trees in some form. For instance, an ax fighter like Boucheron may be able to promote into a warrior, or a hero. Does make me curious about units that sort of mix types, though, like great knights and dark fliers. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see. Either way, I really hope a famitsu article or something gives us a look as a class tree or something, cause they’re one of my favorite parts of Fire Emblem.

The other thing on my mind is the five Fieren chapters we’ve been circling around for a while. We have a windmill village, a fort/ castle, a village with monks to save, a destroyed village at night, and then ruins full of bandits. Pretty decent amount of chapters for our time in a country, especially considering Fire Emblem Pacing. I am curious, though, if the ruins will really be the final chapter of the Firene arc. Nothing about it really screams climax of a story arc, so I wonder if they’re intentionally hiding that chapter for spoiler reasons.

Now, with the Firene squad finally introduced, this does lead to some questions. Will they be revealing other Firene characters that haven’t been seen in the trailers yet? Will they be moving on to the Autumn kingdom. Will we be getting to see Lief next? It’s been two months since the reveal trailer, and we’re two months before the game is released. As such, will we be getting a trailer soon?

My best guess is… we’ll find out next week. With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet coming out this Friday, I doubt Nintendo wants to make one of its other big rpg series compete for attention. I feel like we’ll get a good look at either Lief or Prince Alcryst next week, somewhere between monday and wednesday. And in the next couple weeks we’ll probably get a second trailer, maybe even get one at the game awards. 

[mokonahapuuuuuu]

Sorrowful Prayer

Note: Another continuation of the angst verse. This time from the heroes.

-----

When Bellerophon learnt of his descendant’s demise, he was saddened of the news. 

Where he succeeded, she failed when she faced Cronus’s chimera. 

But the one moment she did succeeded, he failed. 

Not only was she rewarded after death, she was rewarded Godhood and became a Goddess. 

If this were any of his earlier descendants and a few thousands of years ago, he’d be beyond jealous. He tried to get to Mount Olympus to become a god, but was struck down by Zeus while he flew on Pegasus and fell thousands of feet from the air. 

Though perhaps he was too ardent to become a God on Mount Olympus. Belle earned it with her reluctance and humility. 

Something he had to learn the hard way after his death. 

Narcissus walked up to him. Someone else who could use a humility lesson. 

“Bellerophon, I have heard of Belle’s passing. My condolences are with you.” 

Other passed heroes have come to offer up their thoughts and sorrows. His half-brother, Theseus offered his condolences as well. They were both glad Belle and Theresa got along. 

The original Rider nodded. “Thank you, Narcissus. Even though she can’t be here with us in Elysian Fields, it comforts me to know that she has become a Goddess on Mount Olympus.” 

“It has affected my own descendant as well, Neil,” the hunter continued. “They had feelings for each other, but never were a couple.” 

Bellerophon nodded. “Surprised that he could see beyond his own reflection.” 

Narcissus looked away. “I know my descendants are shallow and self-absorbed, and I can’t speak for Neil, but I can’t blame Belle. She was only trying to protect herself. In those days, times were harsh. We always had to be on our guard from predators, invaders, thieves. But it wasn’t also enemies from the outside, there was no peace in our cities and villages at all either. I got so caught up within myself, I couldn’t get out of it. Pretty soon, I drove everyone away from me and didn’t know how to get along with others.” 

He turned to look at Bellerophon. “If only I tried to let someone in, a friend, even someone to love, maybe Neil and Belle would have been together.” 

Bellerophon looked away. He remembered how hard the Age of the Gods could be. If he were pushed around any further, perhaps he’d ended up where Narcissus was. 

Perhaps Narcissus was protecting himself as well. 

“I know we had our differences, but even though Neil’s a bit of a nuisance, he’s a great kid. I’d approve of them being together.” 

Narcissus nodded. “And I would have approved, too. She helped Neil to be more brave. She was a great warrior.” 

[glapplebloom]

Which option is Chicken?

It’s a map episode and it features our favorite trio of kids who happen to already own a business. The Crusaders are going to Mount Eris to solve a Friendship Problem. Luckily for them, Twilight has to come along to get a permission slip for Silverstream. So while she’ll occasionally show up, the focus is on the Girls and their mission.

As well as show you the tourist attractions of the Hippogriff Kingdom. Every weekend, Hippogriffs have celebrations and competition for many fun competitions. And if you’re a Sounds of Music fan, the Harmonizing Heights is for you. Lots of open land, beautiful scenery, and living up to the name, the perfect place to sing. 

But if you prefer to live Under the Sea you got Seaquestria, where you can be transformed into a fish, see exotic creatures, and participate in jam sessions as well. With swimming giving you the same sensation as flying, no other place can give you flightless creatures the same maneuverability as a Pegasus. With such great options, it’s hard to choose.

And it is hard to choose for Terramar: Silverstream’s brother. By now every person he knows has already decided to stick with one place over the other and he’s the only one (as far as we know) who hasn’t made the decision. Gonna guess Silverstream stuck with the lands because she rarely changes to a Seapony as well as her speech later in the season.

So that’s the Crusaders’ Mission: help Terramar make a choice. For Pro-Land is Sweetie Belle who is enraptured with the Harmonizing Heights. So much so that before Terramar even actually starts saying about the Legends zooms in there like I do when it’s a chicken parm dinner. So she’s super biased when it comes to the land.

Scootaloo is our Sebastian of this debate. She loves to live under the sea especially since she still has not learned to fly (which even to this day is pretty much assumed a medical condition. Imagine if the Starlight special that’s coming up for G5  just reveals she eventually does). Which means the tiebreaker for the debate is Apple Bloom, who can see how difficult it is to choose between the two. 

Which leads to a song where Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo pitch their preference, but turns into an argument. Since it ends with them unable to come up with a compromise, Terramar is even more confused. So when Twilight shows up, Apple Bloom steps back because she knows who is the blame for his issues. But then we see that there isn’t really a problem.

Terramar’s parents (his father sticking as a Hippogriff and his mother sticking as a Seapony) are very friendly with each other despite their preferences. Soon everyone in the area were interacting with each other like it's been a while but all on friendly terms. That gives the Crusaders’ an idea: show Terramar that he doesn’t need to choose.

His parents ensured him that regardless of his heritage or his home, he’s free to go to either world like he’s always been. It’s also a great metaphor for divorced parents and their kids. You don’t have to decide which one you have to stick with. You can have both of them in your life regardless. And with a promise that Terramar would return (which he does), the episode ends with a happy Seapony jumping on land. 

Still a fun story and really entertaining jokes. I love how into their places Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are. The song is nice. And the lesson is really good. It also does a great job letting us explore Mount Eris/Seaquestria without the worry of the Storm King and having to steal a McGuffin that probably wouldn’t have done anything.

Click here to see the original review and how it fits in GLAB canon.

[cold-arrow]

Doctor's notes, Book 3 : Of Hidden Horns Entry 2

| summary, things of note since last entry crew acting strange, Pegasus tribe relic, bullete riders, earth elemental cult, Omrick's downfall, Relic Stone, tribesfolk, trade relic for info on tiger and Lion tribe. go to city to rest

with some help of the crew, Omrick managed to carry the relic / giant relic shield back to ship and into the cargo bay. Upon our return however the crew was acting a bit strange. What was first a fairly warm welcome, (back when we first climbed onboard) now seems a bit cold. disinterested. It's not like they are sick either. they all seem to be in good health, i did a check up on all the crew after all. It's as though its like we are nothing but just passengers to them, With Even Lehel, treating us pretty much like strangers. Including Lym, who seems confused and a bit worried. and understandbly so. This sudden shift in treatment is a bit out of the ordinary... I dont know if anything happened while we're gone, but I suppose i should be carefull. Not sure if i want to upset any of them in the state? they are in. | despite their strange behaviour, they transported us to our next location without issue. afte resting, we arrived at One stone the follwing day. I felt a bit unnerved by the atmoshpere, so i quickly went ofboard the ship, and back onto solid land. after a bit of travel, we came upon a peculiarly shaped island. surrounded by a moat of water. in the center of island, ontop a hill, stood a peculiar stone / large boulder with different markings. but before we could reach it. the... ground began to shake. again. and more subterranean creatures emerged. And though i was releived that is wasnt another clew of Remorhaz worms, these proved to be a lot more problematic for different reasons.

a pair of rather terrifying Bullete's ( also known as Land Sharks ) erupted from earth, and were mounted by riders wearing armor made from quite heavy looking stone. ( even after later examination, i dont know how they were able to wear such armor. or how it was made really. seems to have been treated with some sort of oil? ) they were remarkably tough, and charged Omrick as soon as he started to climbing up to the hill. one of them charged towards me and Lym, but i was able to shrink it in time before it could do any serious harm. ( baby land sharks, are pretyy adorable actually. i must to admit) Baras exchanged some spells with some of the riders, by ways of sending fire their way. but during the fight, he got overpowered and commandeered to swim. taking him out of most of the battle. by the time we managed to deal with another set of Bullete's that emerged, Omrick had taken some serious blows, and was brought down and thereafter stabbed before we could even react.

Baras returned in time to nuke and torch the remaining bulletes and their riders. ( scorching Omrick's in the process ) And Lym fortunately still had the resources to revive him. so he's luckily still with. I set out the staunch the bleeding from his wounds while Lym performed the healing ritual to bring him back, and only really lost some hair in the process. the fireball from baras singed his scalp pretty badly and his beard is a bit shorter now. but he is still kicking and screaming, so seems like he'll be as good as new after some rest. nevertheless, he did seem a bit shaken. I wonder if he experienced somtehing similar as to what Lym had, before she was revivified (will need to prepare some more burn salve later. maybe offer to make some hair growth serum as well.) *note Im sure if it now. after watching Lym perform another revivification ritual, i think im able to recreate the process myself. I dont have the divine magic and faith required to do it her way. but upon applying and utilizing some of the processes and solutions ive come up with, i should be able to circumvent and recreate the same effect... to cure a person from short term death. ( Check project notebook for further elaboration and indepth anylisis / description of the procedure. requires further experimentation, review and... first trial. Lets hope my theory is correct, and that it actually works though. ) |

While Baras was investigating the relic, we looted the bodies of what seem to be cultists. they werent carrying much of interest, besides the strange armour i mentioned before. But, I was able to harvest some valuable reagents from one of the Bullete carcasses fortunately neough. I only need a few more for my botanical project i think. should have almost all the resources i require. Omrick took some well deserved rest, while Lym caught her breath for a minute. eventually Baras announced the end to out little break, after coming upon a breakthrough in regards to the relic we came for. it seems that the relic or stone holds several magical properties of both divination, as well as transmutation. once a creature attunes to it, they should be able to shrink it to pocket size, and utilize its abilities of premonition. we left the island with the stone in tow, but before we could make it a hundred feet we were stopped, or surrounded i should say, by several dozen tribal warriors, whom seemingly belonged to the flying horse tribe, And very much wanted their holy relic back. it appears that the relic allows them to commune with their deity Uthgar, in is therefore quite important to them. considering we were in no condition to fight we, instead decided to negotiate.

in return for giving back their relic, they would be willing to give us info on some of their other rivalling tribes, as well as the relics they hold. We agreed, and they then shared with us what they know about the Red tiger and Black lion tribe, including info about their temple or alter, the dangers it holds, and the location of their holy reliquary. they were actually quite generous with the intel they were willing to share. which included them mentioning that the people we fought, belonged to a group of cultists worshipping and elder earth elemental by the name of Ogreemoch? i think was ** (additional later note, Im wondering if this is related the undead stone giant cult at all) after we were satisfied with the info we received, and returned their holy relic, we set out back towards the airship to finally rest. Before heading towards our next location though. we decided it best to restock on some supplies however, and take care of some errands. After some discussion we decided that Silverymoon would be the best location to do so. So that is where we'll be heading next. will have to write a to do list, on top of which stands that: - I need to purchase a diamond gemstone for further study, - As well as do some research on a certain celestial beast

[tsuki-chibi]

Post-Reveal Revelry Day 11: Bond

Read them all on AO3 

---

The sound of something very loud crashing outside made Caline Bustier jump. Her marker scratched across the board, unintentionally scribbling out part of the mathematical formula she’d been explaining. She stared at the board with mounting frustration, realizing that there was no way to erase the line without also erasing some of her work. Which meant she’d have to start over.

“Damn it,” she whispered under her breath.

“What was that?” someone asked behind her.

Caline turned around, an apology on the tip of her tongue, until she realized that the student who had spoken wasn’t addressing her. The whole class was staring at Alya, who already had her phone out to see what was happening.

“Yeah, it’s an akuma,” Alya said, sounding considerably less than enthusiastic.

Caline sighed, already mentally trying to revise their schedule to accommodate the newest setback. “Right. Lila, would you run down to the office and let them know?”

“Of course,” Lila said with a smug smile. She got up and strutted out of the room. Caline nodded at the class and then followed, closing the door behind her.

“You go ahead, Lila. I’ll be right behind you,” Caline said, planting herself solidly in front of the door. She didn’t know if Lila would actually go to the office or not, and frankly Caline was at the point where she didn’t care. All that mattered was getting Lila as far away from the classroom as physically possible.

Luckily, Lila was not in the mood to argue. She nodded and walked down the hallway. Caline waited for her to turn the corner before she pressed an ear to the door.

“Alright, Alya, let’s hear it,” Marinette was saying. “Who do we need?”

“Uhm… let’s see.” Alya was quiet for a few seconds before she said, “Looks like an akuma that transforms people.”

“God, those are the worst,” Nathaniel said. His voice, at least, came through the door with perfect clarity.

“I know, right? Last time I faced one, it turned me into a doll. A doll,” Kim said. He sounded absolutely insulted, and Caline had to suppress a small smile. She supposed that for Kim, being turned into a doll probably was a fate worse than death.

There was quiet for a few moments. Caline couldn’t see into the room, but she envisioned that Marinette and Adrien were looking around the classroom. Not at their classmates, but at their superhero companions. Right now, Ladybug and Chat Noir were trying to figure out who would be best to join them on their mission for the day. She wondered who they would pick.

Finally, Adrien broke the silence by saying, “King Monkey.”

Kim’s groan was loud and clear.

“And probably Pegasus and… hmm… that should do it, I think,” Adrien concluded.

“Seriously? Do I have to go?” Kim whined.

“Yeah, you have to come. Heroes can’t be lazy,” Marinette said, and Caline smiled to herself. Being a superhero was a terrible burden for a child, but she couldn’t imagine anyone more well-suited to the task than Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

She listened to the sound of their transformations, multi-colored light blazing out through the bottom of the door. When it was over, Ladybug spoke up.

“Alright, gang, let’s get moving.”

There was quiet for a few moments, footsteps shuffling around. Caline envisioned superheroes jumping out the window.

Then Nino said, “All good?”

Caline scrambled to stand upright, pretending that she hadn’t been eavesdropping, and smiled kindly at Nino when he opened the door a few seconds later. Nino smiled back and stepped aside to allow her entry. Caline did so, sweeping her eyes across the class as though nothing was amiss, pretending not to notice that Marinette, Adrien, Kim, and Max were now missing.

But that was bond that she shared with her students. A bond that went much deeper than anyone outside the classroom could ever know.

She knew that they must have known that she knew, because none of them really tried to hide it from her anymore. No one had ever explicitly said anything to her, but she understood the grave need for secrets. There wasn’t much that Caline could do but get Lila out of the way and make their comings and goings during the school day as easy as possible.

“Alright, class. Where were we?”

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Reading - 3rd of September 2021

This is speculation only

Cards drawn 3rd of September, 2021

Question: Does Meghan want baby Lili to have a royal christening in the UK? What does HMTQ think about that?

Note: The cards appear to have answered a completely different question to what I asked. My focus was on whether Meghan would be able to go back to the UK for this christening or not. The cards are answering the question: What is Harry feeling right now?

Under a cut as this is long.

Interpretation: Harry is the one that wants to go back to the UK, not Meghan

Card One: The Knight of Wands. The card shows Bellerophon, mounted on his winged steed Pegasus, just after he has killed the fabled monster of the Chimera. Bellerophon's reckless and exuberant natures got him into a lot of trouble in his life. He was killed when he tried to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus, the home of the Gods, and Zeus sent a gadfly to sting Pegasus so Bellerophon was thrown off and fell to his death.

The Knight of Wands can be a fire sign person, particularly a Sagittarius, or it can be a person who is enthusiastic and full of ideas, someone who is focused on making one or more of those ideas a reality, but who is prone to 'leaping before they look' and biting off more than they can chew. They are impulsive and impatient, thinking first and acting later, and they can be very unreliable in the follow through (they run out of steam and abandon the project).

This card is giving me the energy of Prince Harry and how he regards his past behaviour with Megxit. Harry is slowly coming to see that like Bellerophon, he has fallen from Mount Olympus, i.e. from his position in the BRF. Harry is slowly seeing how his over-confident actions and lack of proper planning (i.e. leaping before he looked) have caused him to be in this position, although I still feel that Harry is blaming everyone else and covid for his position - he is not yet ready to accept responsibility for his actions (this is one of the flaws of the Knight of Wands - being irresponsible). So Harry is regretting his past actions and wants to abandon the Harkle's plan for life in Hollywood and return to the UK.

This card can also show how the BRF regard the idea of a UK christening for baby Lili. They see it as an attempt by Meghan to regain membership of the BRF, like Bellerophon trying to enter Mount Olympus. The BRF view Meghan's request for a Royal Christening as an idea that Meghan is pursuing regardless of anything else (as the Knight of Wands does - she is focused on making this idea into reality). They see that it would be a reckless and ill-judged idea on their part to agree to this.

Card Two: The Knight of Pentacles. This is the card of Virgo, and the energy here is of a sun sign Virgo, Prince Harry. This card is confirmation that it is Harry who wants to return to the UK, not Meghan. The impression I am getting is that Harry wants to return for good and leave the BRF to clean up whatever mess he left behind him in California.

The Knight of Pentacles is the slowest moving card in the deck, so any suggestions of Harry returning to the UK are moving very slowly, if at all. The Knight of Pentacles is also the most reliable and responsible of the knights, with a focus on hard work, planning, and working methodically towards a goal. This Knight does all of the work involved, even the mundane, boring and repetitive tasks. They take care of all the details and never leave a job half done.

If you look at the cards, you can see that the Knight of Pentacles is facing in the opposite direction to the Knight of Wands. This tells me that if Harry wants to return to the UK, he has to do a complete turn around in his attitude and adopt the attitude of the Knight of Pentacles. He has to take responsibility for himself, follow through on his deals or break them and pay the penalty, tidy up all the details, and then, with everything cleared up properly, there might be a chance of him returning to England (just him, Meghan is absent from this reading).

With respect to the Christening, this card says that the BRF is examining the idea from every angle and doing into every detail of not just the idea itself, but of the consequences to them. They are examining every way that the Harkles could use this event to wedge themselves further in the ceremonious life of the BRF (i.e. if we come from the christening then we have to come for Remembrance Day as well, and Trooping, and the Jubilee etc), and every way that the christening could be used against them. Like the Knight of Pentacles, they are being slow and meticulous, looking at all the details and the repercussions of this event. Meghan, of course, is pushing the 'Harry is the daddy and he is a Prince so baby Lili has to have a royal christening' angle.

Card Three: The Four of Cups. This is a card of boredom, emotional dissatisfaction, and missed opportunities. The card shows Psyche sitting with her two sisters who are gossiping and raising questions about Psyche's husband - if he won't allow her to see him at night, he must be a monster - and so Psyche is feeling dissatisfied with her marriage. There are four cups (opportunities) in front of the women, but no one s looking at them, they are too focused on their own concerns.

This card shows Harry's current emotional state. He is bored and dissatisfied. His marriage has not worked out as he hoped, and the move to California has not worked out as he hoped. He is missing out on opportunities, either because he does not see them or because he is not prepared to focus on them to make them work. The gossip about his marriage and his life is upsetting him. He is not at the stage of leaving his marriage, but he is bored and restless, and he wants to do something to make things better.

With respect to the Christening, Meghan is focusing so hard on this idea that she is missing other opportunities around her (like a US christening). She wants to come back and 'prove' she is royal as she thinks that will create more opportunities for her (the cups on the card). The BRF are very dissatisfied with the idea of Meghan returning and play-acting at being a royal again to help promote herself to Hollywood/Netflix/Spotify etc (to say the least). The idea of the christening makes them irritated and annoyed.

Underlying Energy: The Four of Wands. This is a card of celebration, harmony, and homecoming. The card shows Jason gathered with his friends on the shore, having a celebration before they set off on the adventure that is the quest for the golden fleece.

As a card of home, this tells me that Harry wants to come home. He misses the days when the BRF took care of him and did things for him, he misses the safety of having them behind him, and he misses being a part of their ceremonial celebrations (Trooping, Remembrance Day, the Jubilee festivities next year, etc and so on). He wants to go back to being able to participate in those events and to having the BRF look after him.

The christening of a baby should be a celebration of life and a welcoming into the family. While those elements are present in this card, Wands is the suit of PR, and I am getting PR energy from this, so the christening would just be as big PR exercise as far as Meghan is concerned. Like Jason on the card, it would be a big party for her before she goes back to the US and continues her search for her golden fleece (i.e. lots of money). The BRF is well aware of this and they are not inclined to disturb the harmony of their home and their place in British society to support such a scheme. They are royal, with all that entails, and not supporting actors in whatever role Meghan wants to play in the public eye.

Repeated Cards: The reading has two Knights and Two fours. Knights are cards of action. Knights want to get out there and do things. Fours represent security, with each card showing a different aspect of it. So here we have a desire for action that will increase the security of some people (Meghan and Harry) and diminish the security of others (the BRF).

Minor Arcana: These cards are all minor arcana cards, which says that all this stuff is going on behind the scenes and has not been made public by either party concerned (the Harkles or the BRF) - excluding the PR that Meghan uses to try to force things to go her way, of course.

Conclusion: We have two readings for the price of one here.

Firstly, Harry is regretting Megzit as it has not worked out as he hoped. He is blaming everyone but himself for this. He wants to leave and return to the UK, where he thinks the BRF will include him in all the ceremonious events and clean up the mess(es) he left behind him in the US. He is dissatisfied in his marriage, but not enough to leave Meghan. The BRF has the attitude that Harry needs to take responsibility for his actions and clean up his own mess, and then (and only then) will they consider the possibility of Harry returning to the UK (not Meghan).

Secondly, Meghan wants a UK Royal Christening as a PR exercise to show that she is still royal. She thinks that this will create more opportunities for her in the US, and she is laser focused on making this idea a reality. This focus has caused her to miss some opportunities. She is pushing for it using the argument that the baby of a prince needs a royal christening. The BRF is not supporting the Christening idea. They see it for what it is - one of Meghan's PR stunts - and they have no desire to be part of it. They know that supporting the idea would be a reckless and ill judged move that would cost them dearly. They are examining every angle of the event and how it could be used against them, and there is a general feeling of dissatisfaction and irritation around the idea.

[bccfggffbgv]

(While the non-native heroes (along with Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail) where looking out into space, the Alrest native heroes went ahead, finding that the Elysium they sought was much more barren than expected…but they kept going in for answers, soon getting to an unknown place. By the time the non-native heroes caught up to them (Nullcons had gotten in like pests), the Alrest native heroes had went through tests of character, met their “god” (who was but a mortal man in origin), and where now fighting a massive mech piloted by Malos, and where about to defeat. This led to…well, none of them where sure beyond the place falling apart. Adenine outright stated that all she could tell was that everything was falling apart…and then something insane happened. The native stuff was pulled away, now only accessible with, according to a final message that man who became a god sent to the non-native heroes (who still had Adenine, Haze, Ahkos, Patroka, and Mikhail by the same man’s intervention) by the Aetherlyte Azem had, thanks to a little device he made to help link the flow of Ether to Aether. This left a bunch of enemy forces to fall to their (probable) doom, for they now where suddenly in mid-air doom. As for the heroes…those from Alrest where initially terrified since they had no way to negate the fall…until Blitzblade caught Haze in mid-air (having mastered flight by now (A.N. I’ll let you decide if Murder Raptors have wings, and if it’s only the Alphas that do or not if they do)), Adenine was pulled into Landerwaffe by Azem, and the former-villain trio where put onto other mounts Azem had (a Griffon, a large bird called a Zu, and a Pegasus). Everyone else got other means to fly, or where caught by other allies bringing in ways to fly)

Azem, after reading the note: So…apparently that man who became a god, and in a way Grey Matter thankfully can’t use (elsewhere, Grey Matter basically threw a tantrum in response), created a universe, and use it to separate Alrest from this merged world so it could start anew, but did give us a method to visit if we wanted to. I guess we shouldn’t look a gift Chocobo in the beak?

(Everyone realized it was a variant of the saying about a gift horse in due time, some sooner than others. Except for Ross. Whatever the case, it was clear they should just be thankful that their enemies didn’t get to use what Alrest had to their advantage. Elsewhere…Victor had somehow claimed something from the crashed mech-ship, and kept what he found after that strange event. His intentions were what could be expected, though he knew not he would make the same mistake he made with J, Raine, and Lorelai soon enough.)

(A.N. Due to XC3 and what it implies, I used the canon detail of that man who became a god literally making a universe (and having his “evil” traits split off into an evil god of that universe) use this capability to split it away from the merged world before doing what he does in canon at that point. Probably just made Grey Matter jaw drop in the process, didn’t I? Also…could you please look up on the Xenoblade wiki Lora, alongside Haze, Akhos, Patroka, and Mikhail for future reference so I can let you do the text for them?)

(Note: They do actually and I'll try my best in searching them up)

*While they were flying down to the camp, Eve could've sworn she saw someone familiar in the bushes but had vanished in mere moments*

Eve:...Onyx?...No...It must've been my mind playing tricks again...

*When they returned to the camp, they had then saw Thad and a few other drones cautiously place a piece of raw meat to a caged Plushtrap*

Uzi:...Thad, what the hell is that thing?...

Thad, while a bit scuffed up: Oh this lil' guy? While you guys were gone, some of us went exploring to find supplies and found an old pizzeria...Khan managed to wake something up in there and a bunch of other stuff attacked...We barely escaped with our lives!...And this thing just followed us back home...

(Meanwhile with Victor and The Grave Walkers)

Victor, while smiling wickedly: I believe it's about time something had went to our favor~...You shall be a wonderful addition to my army~!

*Sammy, The Projectionist, The ink husk, and the other more powerful undead had began resurrecting more recruits to the army as well*

[ducknotinarow]

[BlitzoStolas]  i called you because i can’t sleep.

| Fluff sentence starters

Pages bonded in a blue leather cover were turning on their own. As Stolas simply held out his hand levitating the grimoire idly just skimming through the contents of the book so preciously treasured in the ars goetia. Stolas just looking at pages with not much reason or cause behind his actions he didn’t have work the following morning so he could spend his night like he wished. The night was always just so peaceful even down in hell where the unruly bunch was damned to be. They in the least could get them selfs to also know there was time needed to rest. The deep dark red sky full of distant stars hung above the city but made for a sorry looking sight, not the red he adored that shade of color because well it reminded him of his beloved imp. But he was looking for a much nicer view of the stars getting to the page he needed at last he swipes at the sky above himself opening the sky just enough to see a deep dark blue sky full of stars above himself. Smiling as he gazed at the Pegasus constellation above. Resting his elbows on the railing of his balcony now. Simply spotting those set of stars got Blitz, his Blitzy, to cross his mind he couldn't help but think about his Blitzy now.

The way the corners of his mouth curled when they had the mischievous fueled smile, the way their golden-yellow eyes lit up at the mere mention of a horse. How their tail would betray their words and give away what they truly meant or were feeling at the time. How they get into a huff so easily and quickly. He sighed out happily to himself letting his headrest to the banister hand waved above so he could have a closer look at the constellation. Soon stretching out a talon so he could start tracing out above it as if he could map out a Blitzy set of stars to mount on the winged horse. It reminded him of the cover of one of his romance books, the leading love interest mounted on mighty stead. The model on the cover was a dashing imp with long flowing locks of hair, and a very chiseled chest. However, Stolas far more liked to imaged Blitzy in their place. Not that the other imp wasn’t handsome they just were not Blitzy. The mental image was strong in his mind now though a little bounce in his stance as was fast to stand up now, he left his book and portal for just a little bit running into his room to scrouged up the paper and something to draw on it with. Back outside soon after as he mapped out the star constellation he was thinking up of and beside it he recreated it as an illustration of the imp on a pegasus horse.

Happily smiling to himself as he lifted it to admire his work, but now he was longing for his boyfriend wishing they were here with him instead a frown found its way on his beak replacing his smile. Stolas tuned to simply gaze out over the darkness setting over the garden grounds. It was too late to go down there and tend to them right now. Maybe his house plants were awake? No, they wouldn’t be active it was far too late in the night.

It was so easy to stay awake at night but Stolas often forgot how the rest of the world was quiet because pretty much every other living being was..asleep.

He didn’t need to dwell luckily as he could hear the phone in his room begin to ring out. He turned his head to look back wondering who could even be awake at this time? Well Other than Stolas himself of course possibly Octavia? But when the cloud displayed ‘Blitzy’ as the caller suddenly Stolas was diving over onto his bed to grab at the phone as if this very call depended on his haste to answer. Slightly pushing over bed sheets, and pillow and nearly just short of sliding right off the bed. He paused for a few seconds half hanging over the side of the bed looking back to the phone as it continued to ring. Stolas shoot up fast as he moved to quickly sit himself up and smooth over feathers as if somehow the imp would be able to see him over the call. Smoothing the slick red and black robe, he grumbled over it since it's why he almost fell right off the silk sheets before lifting the phone to his ear.

“Oh Blitzy, it’s so nice to hear from you my-“ it just now hit Stolas, words trailing off as he was speaking, as he glanced outside it was awful late into the night wasn’t it?

Sure Blitzy went at times but still, something just wasn’t sitting right for the owl. Maybe he was overthinking it? But they were awful quite still even as Stolas paused on his side of the call they hadn't spoken still “Blitz” he began with dropping the more flirtatious tone he like to use with them “What in the seven rings are you doing up so late my dear? Not that I mind getting to talk to you of course. I love any excuse to listen to your voice after all. It just seems awful late even for you darling are you okay?”

There wasn’t an answer on the other end of the line from the imp, for second Stolas thought they hung up or the call ended. But then he could hear some stuttering and muffled excuses that they were clearly trying to make out to be plausible for the reason for him t call. Stolas moved to sit back against the pillows of his bed humming in thought to himself.

“Blitz” he kept his tone even and calm as he interjected, “Is something troubling you this night?” Stolas asked letting the cord coil around one of his talons as he play with it between them. But the other side grew so quiet, seemed he might have guessed right before he could open his beak to speak up again he managed to get an answer out of the imp, even if they hadn't given much else of an explanation.

“I called you because I can’t sleep”

Stolas slightly cooed on his end of the line as he felt for his poor little imp, struggling to sleep at night, they were going to be in for a rough morning then on top of it. Thinking to himself as he kept the soft cooing sound in a way to try and ease the imp. “You know I find your call was very well-timed”

Stolas began by seeming to catch their attention well he was speaking he held up his hand magic emitting from it once again to call the book back to his hand. As Blitz seemed curious now Stolas let out a low soft chuckle as he settled the book onto his lap. Swiping his hand over it so the cover flew up making the pages turn. “I was stargazing just before you called and was looking at some I know you enjoyed a lot” he was making it out to sound as casual as he could bring himself to be, another laugh escapes his beak “But I wanted to improve the constellation, felt a might stead of the star should have a fitting rider to guide it boldly through the vast void.” Finding his drawing in the book's pages.

"So I was drawing out how I felt it would look far better but you see, I just lack the skills to make it look right." Stolas went on lying and excusing trying to give up a good opening for Blitz. He knew the imp may admit they couldn't sleep but he doubted they would admit any more than that. Hell even though they had called Stolas he knew they wouldn't likely even explain why they did. Stolas had hoped it would be because they found comfort in himself maybe? feathers rose up at the idea alone as he continued on his tale. "Then I recalled how talented my boyfriend is~" the flirty tone returned when saying boyfriend he couldn't help it. "And wished you were here to give me your artistic touch?" he phased to invite them. Hoping the damn imp would at least take Stolas set up. A yes came over and Stolas moved to his feet right away swiping to his side to open a portal. The phone still held to his ear as he walked through into thier little apartment.

"Then I will be right over." He smiled at them as he was still talking over on the phone, letting go uncaring that it set it flying back into his room. As he happily sat himself down beside the imp. Handing them his paper to show how drawing to them. Blitz, asking if that was him on the horse got the owl to smile even wider. "I did say they would need a fitting rider didn't I?" letting his arms wrap around the imp pulling them to sit between his legs as he pulled them in against his chest. "And who better than you? after all you are the most daring Imp I know so only you could be such a fit" Able to catch how Blitz rolled his eyes at the remarks changing focus back to the paper as they looked it over, and seemed content in Stolas hold. Stolas smile softly leaning in to rest his chin on thier shoulder.

"Blitz" he called softly "All you have to do is call and I'll come to your aid right away you know that by now don't you? no matter why." Blitz seemed to opt for keeping quiet as if the drawing was far more important in the moment. Rasing up a hand so talons could gently take hold of his chin as he ripped thier head back. In-person Stolas wanted to be far more firm, he wouldn't press not yet fearing he'll push the imp away so he just spoke softly stateing what mattered "I love you Blitz, anything I can do or give to you. You know I will make happen alright?"