#i need more macro fairies in my life

[drsonnet]

"Today, in this upside-down world, we feverishly await the final vote in the U.N. General Assembly on the genocide in Srebrenica, while Gaza has been destroyed, and its people starved and denied water." (Illustration by Erhan Yalvaç)

Of villains, heroes and the final act

Of villains, heroes and the final act | Opinion (archive.org)

BY FARHAN MUJAHID CHAK - MAY 14, 2024

A UNGA resolution condemning the Srebrenica genocide is developed by countries like Germany and the U.S., despite their complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza by supporting Israel

Ino longer believe in fairy tales, although I once did.

Raised with ideals of sacredness in life, I was taught to honor the sanctity of humanity, to champion international law, and to cherish freedom of speech as the cornerstone of societal progress. I believe the Geneva Conventions were a manifestation of our collective conscience that mandated the rules of war and held nations to account. Women and children; hospitals and schools; the elderly and infirm were inviolable. I was taught that "peaceful protest" was the quintessential liberty of a sophisticated society that understood the relationship between civic activism, social change and progress. I listened, attentively, to the lofty rhetoric and was enthralled. I would utter high-sounding words on democracy, equality and freedom, and those grand glutinous words stuck to my teeth. I was – in a way, smitten.

Head-over-heels over values that deeply resonated in me, yet I slowly became disillusioned. It became evident those hollow words were never meant to be believed, only used to establish authority and reproach others with their inhumanity. Justice was not blind, and race, color and creed mattered in the application of the law. It is in this troubled context that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will vote on whether to declare July 11 "The International Day of Reflection and Remembrance of the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide." The complex intersection of the ongoing genocide in Palestine, the war on students and free speech on university campuses across the United States, Canada and Europe, and the former genocide in Srebrenica deserves closer scrutiny. The U.N. vote on the Bosnian genocide could not come at a more condemnable moment in world history.

On May 1, after considerable delay, a draft U.N. resolution on the Srebrenica genocide was submitted to the president of the 193-member U.N. General Assembly. Recall that in 1995, the town of Srebrenica was a U.N.-declared safe zone promised protection by a U.N. Dutch force. Dozens of able-bodied Muslim men in the town were asked to disarm, which they did. Despite that, fanatical Serb forces overran the safe zone and murdered 8,372 Muslim men and boys. Such is the perverse reality of the world we live in, that a U.N.-mandated safe haven, supposedly protected by U.N. forces, was invaded by terrorist Serb forces and a genocide ensued under their watch.

Bizarre irony

Now, a UNGA resolution on the Srebrenica genocide, partially modeled on a similar resolution for Rwanda, has been developed by several countries including Germany and the U.S. Absurdly, both are collaborators in the genocide currently underway in Gaza by direct military, economic and diplomatic support for Israel. This is the bizarre irony of being complicit in an ongoing genocide and putting forth a U.N. Resolution condemning the same.

What is the point of passing a resolution on genocide and turning a blind eye to one going on for the whole world to see? Sadly, villains need masks and no better cover than virtue. It is politics, not ethics, that is driving the U.N. Srebrenica vote. Of course, this does not diminish the necessity of it or the need to condemn the Srebrenica genocide and its denial. Still, the larger macro-level betrayal of the Geneva Conventions and International Human Rights Law by the U.S., U.K. and Germany is an indictment of the Western-led global order.

It is that outright duplicity, the sheer savagery of the genocide in Palestine, and the silencing of dissent that has provoked a whole generation of young people on campuses throughout the West. After all, they, too, were told stories about diversity, inclusion and pluralism. They were taught to condemn discrimination based on ethnicity, religion or gender. About equality before the law and the inviolability of non-combatants. They were raised to feel empowered and encouraged to peacefully organize and express their opinions. And, that society benefits when individuals exercise their civic duty. Now, they are witness to the flagrant disavowal of the moral archetypes that were instilled in them. They feel duped and are protesting, as heroes do, the enabling of genocide by their universities. Idealistic and courageous, they are sacrificing their education and careers to condemn the genocide in Palestine. Except rather than being celebrated, thousands of students have been beaten, harassed and arrested. Condemned for believing in the values that they were taught.

Now, we seem to be in the final act. One of impunity – if you will, in which we close our eyes to the genocide in Palestine, condemn students who protest it, and negotiate ways to commemorate a past genocide in Srebrenica – when ignoring it while it happened. Today, in this upside-down world, we feverishly await the final vote in the UNGA on the genocide in Srebrenica, while Gaza has been destroyed, and its people starved and denied water.

Yet, no matter the outcome of the resolution, it will not stop future genocides. Still, if nothing else, it will forever be a testament to the twisted dystopian reality in which we live and be a symbol of the urgent need for a new world order. Maybe, one faraway day, we can muster the will – for whatever purpose, and pass a U.N. resolution condemning it. Or name a highway after the martyrs. We will tell noble stories about those who were killed since it seems our twisted world only after their death feigns to honor them.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Professor of International Affairs, Visiting Research Faculty at Al Waleed Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown University

[charmixpower]

Other queer headcanons:

Icy -> Asexual Lesbian

She just has ace vibes to me. Darcy's whole manipulation thing by attraction is so useful but also she does not understand how it works even a little bit

Darcy -> Bisexual

She has a preference for men but it's not super strong. Shes always knew she was bisexual, baby Darcy was always aware. Smart girl hours

Stormy -> Aromatic Het

Stormy is so aromantic to me!!!! She has that aroallo energy of being hot, idk what to tell you. I literally could never see Stormy in a romantic relationship, like she'd have a platonic life partner but dating isn't real.

Sky -> Questioning (Bi pref women)

Brandon has once 100% offered to kiss Sky to see if he's bi, bc he had a crush on him and Sky still didn't realize he was bi. Like Eraklyon palace is not the place to try and question your sexuality and being attracted to people who could turn out to be spy's or he had a fuck ton of explicit power over was scary so he never figured out his sexuality until like s2~3

Brandon -> Gender Neutral, Pan, Poly

Brandon doesn't have a gender. He's completely gender neutral. Like he doesn't experience gender. He doesn't get gender euphoria or dysphoria. If he suddenly turned into a girl literally nothing would happen. He just doesn't experience gender, no gender here, godbless. He'd probably say Gender Neutral but there's other words for that

He's pan bc when he goes into the smooch competition with Stella, no one is off limits. Like I said with Stella, if they met someone they both wanted to date asking them out is a done deal

Timmy -> Gay Ace

This is just 100% vibes. Tecna is busy not dating him and Timmy needs something nice for himself. He just has the ace "I'm tired of you allos acting stupid as shit" energy in my thing, and he's gay bc he deserves nice things

Riven -> Bisexual

He's bi with a preference for women, and he would of known sooner but he was so far into the fucking closet that he had become one with the clothes. Musa helps him come out of the closet and they talk about hot people together I love them

Helia -> Alterous Transman

Alterous attraction is basically just attraction that isn't platonic or romantic vs aesthetic or sexual. It can be between them or be a secret third thing (like it is for me). Helia's alterous attraction is between platonic and romantic, and between aesthetic and sexual, everything is really fuzzy for him. He doesn't get strong anything but he still gets the feelings and impulse, it's just weak and most of the time he can't tell if it's actually platonic or aesthetic

He's also trans, this is just true. As soon as he learned what a boy and girl was he was telling his parents he was a boy. Like he knew very very early on, and he socially transitioned at a young age. Gender win for Helia

Nabu -> Gay

THIS MAN IS A HOMOSEXUAL!!!!! He and Sky make up the "raised rich and wears shiny ass earrings once they realized being GNC is an option" club, and good for him

Daphne -> Queer (Lesbian)

Daphne was WAY too busy fighting the ancestral witches to ever figure out her sexuality but she was aware of the fact that she wasn't cishet, so she just grabbed a macro label and kept it moving

Mirta -> GenderFluid Lesbian

It came to me in a dream. If she can use fairy and witch magic fluidly in canon what if her gender was fluid in my thing??? I am a fucking genius. Her hair is so non-binary. Haven't decided on pronouns yet, and Mirta just is a lesbian.

Diaspro -> Questioning (Pan)

Diaspro absolutely didn't have a single crush growing up in Eraklyon bc everyone there was a asshole and hatred her and she hated them back more. She was kinda punched in the face by her attraction to Bloom. She figures it out as soon as she leaves and talks to some normal people for like a month or something in s2 or s3

Roxy -> Agender AroAce

Roxy reminds me of my bestie who is agender, so they're agender, and I think it's funny if Roxy was watching the Winx do their relationship nonsense abt to throw up bc ew allo people. They are very repulsed, and I love them. They are literally a teenager trying to be cool and not understanding why everyone is dating or doing this gender shit. Triple A battery

Selina -> Trans Lesbian

Look at Selina's fucking ugly green hair and outfit, that is a trans lesbian if I've ever seen one

Krystal -> Bisexual

She just is, I can't explain. It's the Flora

[uwmspeccoll]

Wood Engraving Wednesday

JOANNE PRICE

On this first Wood Engraving Wednesday in November, we mark the day with this wood engraving by Kentucky artist and engraver Joanne Price from the 2020 calendar of the Wood Engravers’ Network (WEN). Price is the founder of Starpointe Studio, specializing in printmaking and book arts in rural Kentucky. Price has been President of the Wood Engravers’ Network and is an elected member of Britain's Society of Wood Engravers. About her work, Price writes:

My ideas and images are interpreted through the bold but delicate marks of wood engraving. Wood engraving’s intimate scale and slow pace provide a welcome respite from our cyber-fast world. It is charmingly mysterious and feeds my need for quiet concentration and hands-on creative productivity. My ideas emerge from folk/fairy tales, everyday life, and nature, and are often explored through series. 

Price maintains a particular interest in the environment and the natural world:

Wood engraving’s historic use in science and literature provides a natural vehicle for these ideas. Utilizing micro and macro perspectives I strive to connect art and science in a way that I hope pushes past mere illustration.

Our copy of the calendar is a donation of WEN member and Wisconsin resident Tony Drehfal.

View more posts with work by Joanne Price.

View more posts from the 2020 WEN Calendar.

View more posts with wood engravings!

-- MAX, Head, Special Collections

[du04]

Intro / 2023 Wrap-Up

Hello! Welcome to the Very First post on this blog. I’m thrilled to find you here :)

My name on here is Marcks and I run this blog, DU4. I’m in my early 20s and I love the web, culture & art, animals & nature, and comfy oversized t-shirts. Nice to meet you!

This blog is… I don’t fully know. But what I do know is that I want this space to feature Personal Cultural Wrap-Ups. Essentially, an opportunity for me to share my thoughts on what I’ve been reading, watching, and listening to (among other things) each month.

Even though this blog springs out of a need for a personal outlet, I hope that if you stumble upon it, you find something interesting to leave it with.

Since this is the burgeoning of this blog, I thought it would be nice and timely to start with a condensed review of the year 2023. Hopefully, it gives you a global idea of what to expect in terms of content.

As there is a lot to unpack, I haven’t explained in great detail the content of each medium or what I thought of it, but I have hyperlinked them to other sources if you want to find out more (which I highly encourage you to do, naturally).

Now, before we jump into the fun stuff, I’d like to tell you: Feel free to share your thoughts, recommendations, and own experiences in the comments. I would love to read them.

Books

Starting off with the reading section.

This year 2023 I read 28 books (including 4 audiobooks) across 6751 pages and 39.18 hours, which exceeded my set goal of 24 books by 4 books :p

I find this graph rather funny… Up and Down, rather representative of my mood swings.

My top 3 most-read genres were: 1. Fantasy 2. Mystery 3. Literary. In my mind, I would actually have reversed that order, fantasy here is out of the blue as I didn’t read any in 2022 and barely any before!

My average read’s length was 265 pages, and it took me around 17 days to finish each book. My average rating was 3.1 stars.

The longest book I read was In Ascension by Martin MacInnes with 512 pages. It was also my favourite due to its emotional impact and how I connected with its core philosophy and ideas about science, evolution, and the cycle of life on a macro and micro level.

Other highlights of the year for me were: The Vintner’s Luck by Elizabeth Knox, a beautifully written novel that tells the story of a vintner who forms a relationship with an angel; Pizza Girl by Jean Kyoung Frazier, which follows a pregnant teenage Loser as she grapples with her unhealthy crush on an older woman; and Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher, a fun and imaginative dark fairy tale.

Compared to 2022, I read 33% more books and 14% more pages.

Reading experience pie chart & Pace of the books I read

I’m not a fan of science fiction at all, but I loved In Ascension so much, and it was my only SF read of the year, so it skewed the data.

And finally, here are all of my 2023 reads at a glance:

I also joined an open-ended challenge in November, to read a book taking place in every European country: A Literary Map of Europe, that I will most certainly do some progress on in 2024.

Films

I’ve watched a lot fewer movies this year than in the previous years, which is sort of sad, but also means that I’ve prioritised other things. In a way, I’ve also had this latent feeling that I’ve watched every film that I possibly could love, ever, which definitely contributed to this unintentional hiatus.

It’s one of my New Year’s resolutions to get ‘back to my roots’ in terms of film watching, and thanks to this blog I will most certainly keep up with it.

Out of the 24 movies I watched, the first one I’ve seen this year, and my favourite was The Fabelmans (4.5 stars). Others I’ve enjoyed were Whiplash (4.5) and Pig (4.0).

Series

This year was rather ordinary in terms of series, I watched a usual amount of them.

Highlights: Succession’s final season 😩!!! (billionaire corporate family drama), The Durrells (wholesome vintage comedy), Good Omens Season 2 (fantasy comedy adventure), Evil (fantasy comedy mystery) and Gilmore Girls (quirky wholesome comedy).

Others: The Last Of Us (post-apocalyptic action-adventure drama); WeCrashed (corporate drama based on WeWork); Mare of Easttown (small-town mystery-crime drama). They were all enjoyable.

I also started All Creatures Great & Small end of December (another wholesome vintage comedy) and found the first 4 episodes enjoyable.

Videos

10 Things Succession’s Jeremy Strong Can’t Live Without by GQ. You've probably already seen this type of video before, and understandably think this one would be just another typical “talk about myself some more and think I’m an interesting person” one. It's not, or not really. Jeremy Strong is genuinely such an interesting person, and he elaborates on each item with such profound emotional depth and intellectual insight, that I was in awe. Loved learning about his life and mind. This video converted me! Mr Strong, please write a book. https://youtu.be/AYCAT5jpXKU

How Bisexuality Changed Video Games. An enlightening video on the ‘bisexual mechanic’ which explores what actual bisexuality in video-games is. A new favourite channel. https://youtu.be/iZGkxUTbDqw

Games

I didn’t watch as many movies as I usually do this year, but I made up for it by doing a lot of gaming! Thanks to finally having an external monitor.

My top games of the year were Disco Elysium, a dark and gritty text-heavy detective RPG with a deeply interesting world and mystery; Death Stranding, a walking and delivery ‘simulator’ with stunning graphics and an engaging storyline, and The Forgotten City, a mystery detective game with a unique time-travelling mechanic set in an ancient Rome context.

When I wasn’t playing these more intense games, I found Powerwash Simulator to be a great alternative to House Flipper that I used to play while I listened to podcasts.

With friends, I played Civ 6, Valheim, and a lot of Monopoly :)

Music

This year I listened to a lot of Radiohead, Alex G, Elliott Smith, Fleetwood Mac, and Elton John.

New artists I discovered this year that I loved were Nicholas Brittell (thanks to Succession ending), Panchiko, Emile Mosseri, and Black Country, New Road (I learned about them from a co-worker, who I still haven’t told I listened to and enjoyed them lol.)

Obligatory Spotify Wrapped.

Regarding this Wrapped it seems I have strayed from my usual “vibes”, which makes me want to revisit my older playlists. Also, in my opinion, Elliott Smith should have been ranked fifth instead of Max Richter.

I would also like to mention “I’m your man” by Mitski as being an incredible song that came out of this year.

Podcasts

My top podcast of the year was Heavyweight. After listening to all the episodes of Dear Sugars, and having fallen head over heels for it, I craved something in the same vein and Heavyweight was one of the top recommendations. It is an amazing podcast, emotional, heartfelt, funny, and brilliantly led by Jonathan Goldstein. It has easily become one of my favourite podcasts and I hope that the ‘final’ season that’s to come, isn’t really the end (which I have a feeling it probably won’t be).

Misc

This is the section that is not so culturally relevant, where I blabber about a couple of random, mundane things I enjoyed.

Buys

This year, I wasted some money, but this isn’t what this is about (we don’t talk about this). On the contrary, this section is to make me feel better about having bought nice things that I love, and are definitely worth it to buy with my limited capital 🙂

The Sony Wh-720, a headset that I am very happy about. I bought it as it was described as being very comfortable, and I wanted to be able to have headphones on for a long period of time without my ears hurting. It definitely lives up to that, and as a plus, I can listen to Thom Yorke moan in my ears in HD. 👍 Highly recommand.

An acoustic guitar, my very first, a Harley Benton D-120CE BK. I’m the farthest thing from being a pro, but IMO it’s a lovely quality 😌.

and with a beautiful strap.

Storygraph Plus: Mainly bought as I love this website and wish for it to keep existing, but the couple of extra features (stats & recs) are a nice touch.

Lego orchid to decorate my office desk: I had no idea Legos were actually fun, shame they’re so expensive and to my usage, single-use/one-time build.

A digital camera, a Canon Powershot 710HS. I’ve been wanting better quality pictures, and I enjoy the use of a dedicated object that liberates me from having to use my phone.

4 posters that I love very much:

Life

And onto the final section of this post. We’re getting personal here, and I’m getting short of inappropriately open.

In 2023, I left the country I had been previously living in, to go live in a completely new one (not so willingly), to start my very first indefinite (on paper), full-time job. Crazy! I have left the academic prison to join the shackles of the workforce!

But, really, it was one of the best years in years for me, I stopped being sad all the time, and a couple of bad habits; I developed better relationships, I got more involved and consistent in my hobbies, and apart from a noisy boiler that ruined the mood of the first half of the year and life altering moments and questions in the second half, it was, indeed, a good year.

I apprehend 2024 a bit, as I know little will change for most of the year. I have dreams of travelling and moving far, far away but know that, realistically, this won’t happen before 2025.

So, 2024 will be a ‘transition year’. I still hope that I can make something nice out of it. Running this blog already feels like a good step.

Gallery

And here are a couple pictures I took this year (and feel comfortable sharing).

A few resolutions for the year to come

Watch more films

Play guitar weekly

Laugh more

Days away from the digital world

Opening the windows to let in fresh air even if it’s cold out

Speaking with intent

Not letting the past weigh me down in my way forward

Daily movement

And finally, write for this blog.

If you’ve read this far, I hope you enjoyed this humble first post, and noted down a few things you found interesting and would like to experience yourself! If you did, once again, please feel free to let me know in the comments <3

I’ll see you in the next one, whatever it is.

[cosmicangel888]

The Higher Cycles of Light, Evolution ~ 5D

In successionally evolution, there are beings, the Lords of Light, Metatron and all councils, groups, galactics celestials of the most high in the billions and light beyond what we can imagine - a ball of light being only 1 angel if we are breaking it in quotient - which is impossible - AAMichael is a collective of light - beings that help hold in the divine plan, the loving light and plans of God, and there are evolutionary groups, councils, federations, legions beyond what we know and no 3D human in darkness and control, or fear, will ever be the override to change human, planetary evolution - it is up to each to sacredly go within and heal, choose, arise, and be new in your own unique cycles - cycles are always offered =

there are fields and movement of how evolution from within the center of its being - all connected, all micro-macro with Source, As Source - most on earth simply do not know this - and thus become disconnected in the mind, beliefs, sick and ill bodies -

We see the social change and purging, and shifting - we are being sewn, by greater beings of light, the evolutionary successive groups that God, Source, the Creator activates in creative joy and expression to assist in any possible way one could imagine; God knows what and when, how any aspect of harmonic, light, spec of life needs to maintain and sustain growth - you are the vessel through which God is and lives on - breathes - cycles anew;

Thus then, there are beings of great consciousness threading, as I am in human form clearing, cleansing, helping activate in human form, any of those that so desire, I work within a larger group of light, malleable consciousness within that which is Gods glory to thread new streams of light, love, song, for all life - why we have and take life forms at all levels; fairy, elementals, and all life in between life - for us to know and to awaken to and remember the grander aspects speaking to us - the aspect of my shedding the sheaths of density - the beliefs of limitation and conformity and gross neglegence and true inner healing and knowing that you are more; that veil is released and you shed and let go, and cycle anew - you become a part of the grander part, knowing your own levels of micro-macro and physics of love, consciousness and how it vibrates at every vibrational dimension and thread - we live within infinite sheaths of perspective and light, or song of Source - the essence and divine intelligence that offers as you are IT and open to It - live and harmonize as IT - God is -

Not separate and not apart from us - we are the ALL of it - it is a matter of surrendering into the flow of the all offering path that is God - it is never not us, or in anything - God is the invisible life until you choose to perceive and see IT -

This is the key - are you worthy of such being such -

This is our 5D re-writing - there are networks upon networks and at every level there will be those that choose to challenge, take, manipulate for that is how we constantly realign, purge, heal, and there are those chosen, that purely align with Source, God, the balance of Mother and Father that speak life in all life - there are vibrational purity that is like Jesus, Buddha and so on in the activity of life light, that interacted; connected; why the symbiosis of connection is so pivotal in our own healing -

The interaction of all life - life within life and spiralling within new systems of light, life, and all now, newly coalescing to new spectrums; sacred geometry of such life is the crystalline co-relation for our own collective heart beat - this is true dear ones, sacred tongue, the sacred speak, of which simply cannot be copied and we have inspired you in exhaustion, to always go within and seek your own unique activations, and why the spectrum of you - is as light, songs, unique to whom what, how you are ever-becoming -and with God, love is

Those that choose choices from fear, control; will inevitably be faced with the correction - this is simply the fabric and movement of Creational vibrational balance;

God, or light fields, the essence the light of light; is interacting, engaging with, why healers, and empaths, true seers, must move and be activated by new light fields - and how all is interplaying to new life - it must - this is the contracting and extracting -

There can be non-growth; stagnancy - and be pushed to light, or surrender, let go, and arise - be ready to release all patterns of limitation -

And so be it

New cycles of light

Joanna

#ascension

#enlightenment

#awakening

#fieldsoflight

#God

#source

#ascensionwisdoms

#joannaswisdoms

#joannaswork

#Joannasbooks

#healinghumanity

#newalgorithms

#5Dnewearth

#5Dearth

#healingourchildren

#healingourplanet

JoannaCosmicAngel@yahoo.com

DONATIONS ARE greatly appreciated - THANK YOU

DONATIONS - see our PayPal link here; paypal.me/JoannaLRoss

[chappybird]

How to Get Roleplay on F-List: A Guide

Hey all. So I’ve had a few people ask me how on earth to get RP over F-List, or for those that have tried, say its too confusing. While F-List is a much different format than I think a lot of people are used to, it’s a pretty reliable source of RP once you get used to it. So I’m going to walk you through, step by step, how to start from nothing and get a profile set up to start RPing. F-List is 18+ Only and is a Restricted To Adults® Verified website. You can learn more about it by clicking the RTA logo at the bottom of f-list’s main page.

F-list’s main landing page can be located at https://www.f-list.net/.

Note that my f-list may look different from yours because I’m using dark mode (which can be set in the account tab) and I’m a subscriber, so I don’t see ads.

Step One: Make a Profile

Making a profile, or as they’re known on F-List, a character, is your jumping off point for getting started. There are three main factions on F-List: Anthro Characters, Canon Characters, and Original Characters, with subcategories of each. You also have hub profiles. There is a right way to make a hub profile, but that’s not something I’ll be talking about on this post. Hub profiles are pretty universally disliked on F-List and are often seen as a mark of laziness, and I do not recommend making one to look for RP on. You should make a separate Profile for each character you want to play as. If you have a normal account, you can make up to 150 different characters. If you’re a subscriber, you can make significantly more than that depending on your tier. 

Choosing a name for your character is very important! You want something attention grabbing, but since each character has to have a unique name, this can get a little tricky. Today I’m choosing to create a Link from the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. As this is a popular character, it can be difficult to track down a good name. You can be clever with naming conventions, while making it obvious who you’re playing, or you can add in underscores, hyphens, numbers, etc. It’s really up to personal preference. I advise not getting too abstract with your character name. Just pick something easy to read and to the point. Once you’ve decided on a name, click the create character button to open up the character editor.

Step Two: Holy Fuck Dude That’s a Lot of Shit To Fill Out

Take a deep breath. The character editor is very intimidating to those that haven’t used F-List before. Perhaps you have used F-List for it’s old intended purpose, just to list your kinks to link people to when RPing on other sites. Your first instinct might be to scroll down there and start picking kinks willy-nilly. Stop. In the grand scheme of things, this is not as important for getting Roleplay and if you do it incorrectly you might actually hurt your chances.

Now that we’ve calmed down you’ll notice two things at the top of the page. A big white text field, and this guy:

This, more than anything on your profile, is the most important thing. If you have this on profile, you will almost never get any roleplay. This is your character icon, and it’s the first step on your journey to doing this whole thing correctly. All you need to do is find an image that’s 300x300 pixels or smaller and upload it with the Choose File button. Then scroll down to the very bottom of the page and hit save. Search on google, and if you have a hard time finding something of that size, A great site to use is https://lunapic.com/ to edit pics if you don’t have Photoshop or Gimp. Choosing or creating an image with some sort of transparency layer is recommended because it makes your icon look more polished, but you don’t really need to do that. This isn’t an image software guide so I’ll leave that to you to figure out. If all you can do is crop an image into a square, that will do perfectly. But you need to have something here. Besides your character name, it’s the first impression you’re going to give to people when using the site. I have honest to god had people message me on empty profiles that having nothing but a character name and an icon. 

Sourcing your images is a bit of a grey area on f-list. It’s not really an art sharing site, but if you choose fanart that someone doesn’t want to be reposted, it can be removed by the mods if you’re reported for it. So we’ll just use some official art that already has a transparency channel and crop it using Lunapic.

Step Three: How To Set the Profile Up

If you’re following along, you should have something like this by now. This already gives us an idea of who you’re playing, and what they look like, and while you might get a couple of weirdos messaging you already, there’s still a lot to do. So let’s go over what to do next.

Now that you’ve already created a character, it will be listed under the character tab. Further characters will be listed in alphabetical order. Navigate to your character and click the “Edit” button underneath their icon.

We’re back to the big scary page. Remember that big text field? We’re going to ignore everything else and focus on this first.

F-List uses standard BBC code tags with [square brackets.] You can find some buttons that will give you tools like bold, italics, color, hyperlinks, and quote blocks. There are many different ways to create eye-catching descriptions. I would say the three basic ways are minimalist, inline based, and heavy BBC code. We’ll go through the first option in detail but if you’re interested in the the latter, there is actually a few F-List profiles that teach coding and even have a few templates to use. User beware, though. Many F-List users use these templates and they can sometimes look a bit generic as they are overused.

Templates: https://www.f-list.net/c/profile%20templates

Coding Help: https://www.f-list.net/c/profile%20references

If you want to make an inline based profile, having access to software like Illustrator, Photoshop, GIMP, and similar content is good to have as well. You can also make a blend of the three styles of profiles. I’ll link some examples of my own profiles for reference. Some of these have text included in the inline. Some of them just have an image with the text written out underneath. Again, it’s really up to your personal preference.

https://www.f-list.net/c/Rival%20II/

https://www.f-list.net/c/Lion%20Heart/

https://www.f-list.net/c/The%20Fire%20of%20Tamaran/

Now would also be a great time to familiarize yourself with the rules. Keep an eye on these, especially if you play contentious content.

https://wiki.f-list.net/Code_of_Conduct

Some big things to look out for and not to do: Photographs and realistic images of animals are not allowed. Even Nonsexual ones. Photographs and 3D renders of minors (even nonsexual images or nonsexual profiles) are not allowed. If there is even a hint of the character being a minor, do not use photographic or 3D renders. (For example: Tom Holland’s depiction of Spiderman. Even though Tom Holland was an adult when he played the role, the character is a minor.) Sometimes these can run into a lot of grey areas, but it’s better safe than sorry!

Step Four: Creating A Minimalist Profile

We’ll start with a short description. It’s really important to make sure your character’s name is present in your descriptio, especially if it’s not the profile name. If you’re feeling particularly lazy, you can copypaste something from a wiki or official description. Let’s start with something like this.

Link had humble beginnings as a boy that lived in the forest with the Kokiri. Known as the boy without a fairy, Link led a simple life until one day, the dying Guardian of the forest, the Deku Tree, set him upon a Quest to save the Kingdom of Hyrule from darkness. Arming himself with the elemental powers of Hyrule and the legendary Master Sword, Link journeyed through time to the Dark Era of Hyrule to challenge the evil Ganondorf and save his Kingdom from evil.

Shoving this into the Description box and hitting save will generate something like this.

You might notice that this looks like crap. And it does! however, we can very easily fix that with the power of just three simple BBC tags. Those being [center], [color], and [sub]. plus a little something extra I’ll explain in a moment. Let’s add those in like so.

[center][color=green][sub]Link had humble beginnings as a boy that lived in the forest with the Kokiri. Known as the boy without a fairy, Link led a simple life until one day, the dying Guardian of the forest, the Deku Tree, set him upon a Quest to save the Kingdom of Hyrule from darkness. Arming himself with the elemental powers of Hyrule and the legendary Master Sword, Link journeyed through time to the Dark Era of Hyrule to challenge the evil Ganondorf and save his Kingdom from evil.[/sub][/color][/center]

Instead of hitting save at the bottom of the profile this time, we’re going to click “Preview BBC Code” to get a look at what our coding has done.

Fancy.

But it could use a little work. When I’m making minimalist profiles, I like to make the lines of text a little shorter so it’s a little easier to read and looks nicer. Make sure each line of text is about the same length as the previous (minus any BBC tags)

[eicon]blank[/eicon] [center][color=green][sub]Link had humble beginnings as a boy that lived in the forest with the Kokiri. Known as the boy without a fairy, Link led a simple life until one day, the dying Guardian of the forest, the Deku Tree, set him upon a Quest to save the Kingdom of Hyrule from darkness. Arming himself with the elemental powers of Hyrule and the legendary Master Sword, Link journeyed through time to the Dark Era of Hyrule to challenge the evil Ganondorf and save his Kingdom from evil.[/sub][/color][/center] [eicon]blank[/eicon]

You’ll also notice that I placed an eicon tag with a “blank” body. Eicons are essentially image macros that can be used all over the site. Using the blank one here is a good way to put a block of empty space on the top and bottom so the text isn’t too crowded by the frame of the description box. Another couple to keep in mind are [eicon]under construction[/eicon] or [eicon]WIP[/eicon] if you want to save your work now and get right to chatting and exploring the site. This signifies that you’re still working on your profile and more will be added later. You can create your own eicons by going to Account > Icon gallery. Keep in mind each eicon must have a unique name across all users. Inputting this into the description and checking how it looks in the preview, we end up getting something that looks like this:

Looks like we got a bookmark while we were setting the profile up. That means someone saw us while browsing new characters and decided they want to keep an eye on our profile and are likely interested in RPing! If you like, you can disable bookmarks per character in the character editor under settings. Generally speaking though, bookmarks are your friend and it’s how people will find you to RP later.

Optionally if you want to add an inline, just upload an image of your choice in Account > Inline Images. You can then add it in the character editor using this button.

This isn’t a tutorial for creating inlines, but a general rule is to make sure it’s sized well, and transparent images tend to look better than non-transparent images.

Step Five: Character Details

Opening the Character Editor once more, a couple basic things should be filled out. We will take this section by section.

Settings: Some general tweaks to change and edit. Personally, I like to turn my timezone off, and besides that, I like to have my Guestbook and Bookmarks turned on as well, but all of these settings are up to you. A big one a I suggest turning on is “Custom Kinks Sort First.” This will come up later but it’s good to turn it on.

Character List: For now, you can ignore this part. You can use this to have certain characters grouped together and will show up in the sidebars of these characters. I haven’t run into any limits for how many character lists you can have, but keep in mind a character can only belong to one list at a time.

Images: If you have any images you want to upload, this is the place to do it. Headcanons of body types, additional art you’ve drawn or found, can be added here. You can add descriptions to each image that will appear when a user hovers over the image. Keep in mind, again, that usage of fan art is a grey area on F-List. It’s not an image posting site, but some artists do not want their art reposted at all.

Profile Info: You don’t need to fill out every single detail here. Bits that aren’t filled in will just not appear on your profile. It’s a good idea to fill out your gender, and in many cases, your orientation. Both are under General Details. Filling out RPing preferences is also a good idea. It’ll keep people from approaching you IC using first person posts if that’s not your thing.

Step Six: Kinks and Custom Kinks

This is probably one of the most overwhelming parts of the process. My first tip: Ignore the Kink section for now. Instead, skip ahead to the Custom Kink section.

Custom Kinks are a good way to tell people what you really want. Click the Add +1 Custom Kink button to make a new custom kink. You can fill out the basic title of the kink, and a description. Or if you prefer to leave the description blank, just press the spacebar. Select what category you want the kink to appear in (Fave, Yes, Maybe, No.) Try to avoid using inflammatory language against different races, genders, identities, and don’t kinkshame. This is a site based primarily around finding rpers that have the same interests and kinks that you do. Save the profile when you’re done and we’ve got something like this.

And really, you can probably start roleplaying like this. Maybe add a couple of images, and tweak a few things. So if you like, skip to the next step. But for now, I’ll go over the kink list.

The most important think to remember is you don’t have to add every single kink to your profile. Try to select the most relevant things, and avoid redundancies. 

For example, I’m not interested in Vore of any kind. So I can put the kinks Vore (Being Predator) and Vore (Being Prey) Into my No category. Or, if I want to make it even more simplified, I can add a custom Vore kink and put that in my No category. Likewise, if I don’t want to do any sex driven play, I can probably go ahead and just put sex driven there and ignore most of the kink list. Kinks that are not relevant such as Vaginal Sex (Receiving) on a cis male can also be ignored. Kinks are broken up into sections, and while it is a lot, just take your time, go through it sensibly, and take a break if you want to. Remember you don’t have to add every single one to your profile. This will ultimately be easier on you and make your profile easier to read. 

After a bit of editing, this is what my kink list ends up looking like:

You can try exploring the Subfetish editor but it’s a little confusing to navigate and isn’t very necessary. And now, your profile is done!

Step Six: Using F-Chat

 So now that we have a profile set up, it’s time to find some partners. Regardless of what way you want to connect, if you prefer script or para, the main place you’re going to find RP is through F-Chat. There is currently both a desktop and mobile client. if you select Chat you’ll see the option for both, and clicking on them will take you to instructions on how to set those up. We will however be using the Browser client in this example. Go ahead and select F-Chat 3.0.

You will be taken to a landing page with a drop down of your characters, with the first character you created selected as the default. (You can change your default character in your account settings.) You can have up to three characters online at once. Keep in mind this goes by IP address, so if you have a roommate that also uses F-List, those will count towards your total number of online characters. If this becomes a problem for you, just use a virtual machine or connect to the internet via a different method, such as with data. (F-List is not that much of a data drain.)

Here is what you’ll see when you open F-Chat. You’ll see I already have people in my friends list and my bookmarks (that I’ve blurred out for courtesy.) These will appear the same on all the characters you sign in as. I will be notified whenever one of my friends signs in or sets a status. You can set these notifications to show only on the console if you’d like to in the settings. Let’s set a status first.

Here, you have the options of selecting from the default Online status to Looking, Away, Busy, and Do Not Disturb. These all do what you’d expect, with Do Not Disturb turning off the sound that would play when you get notifications from personal messages or pings.

The Status Message is an optional addition, and it’s great for if you’re looking for specific things or want your friends and bookmarks to know what you’re doing. Be careful not to post anything that breaks F-Lists code of conduct. F-List does have an aggregate of every status you ever posted logged on their server, so throwing a temper tantrum and posting something inappropriate and then taking it back later might still get you in trouble.

While the Character Search Option is available to you, I’ve personally never found it very effective. You can search users by kinks, but keep in mind it doesn’t search by gender or orientation, or what species or even if they’re canon or original. Instead, we’ll go right to the settings tab.

General: Just your general settings. You have a few options here to tweak and while most of it is personal preference, I’ll highlight a few to keep in mind.

Disallowed BBC Code Tag: good for if you find a particular colour particularly garish as a text colour, or if you find an eicon that you no longer want to see anymore. Enter Sends Messages: I have this set to off so I can avoid accidentally sending a message for when I post. When this is enabled, just press the send button on screen to send messages. Otherwise, if you want to linebreak in one post, just press Shift + Enter. Animate eicons: If you’re running a slow computer, or have a slow connection, turn this to off. Eicons are used as memes a lot in F-Chat, and some of them can get a little ridiculous. (Someone has compressed the entire Shrek movie into an eicon and uploaded to the site in very poor quality for example.) There can also be bright flashing colours or even nsfw images. In general these eicons are all 100x100 pixels in size, but some users like to tile them together to create bigger images so it can sometimes get out of hand. This is something up to personal preference, and while I have Animate eicons turned on, I can see why some people wouldn’t like it. Idle Timer: If you are the kind of person that walks away from your computer without changing your status, or you have fallen asleep with F-Chat open, it’s good to set this to a reasonable time. If you’re in Online or Looking, after you’ve been inactive for the depicted number of seconds, your status will be set to Idle. This is so other users know that you’re not ignoring them if you don’t respond to their messages. A downside to this is if you’re tabbed out or multitasking, it’ll set you to idle when you may not intend it to and going back to the window switches you to Online again. It can be a little spammy if you’re constantly switching between Online and Idle. Font Size: If you find F-Chat’s font too big or too small, you can edit that here.

Notifications: While this section is pretty self explanatory, I’d like to specifically go over the Custom Highlight Notify Words.

Now, because each profile has to have a unique name, you might want to select additional pings. For example I might want to add Link,Zelda,Hyrule,Hero,Hero of Time to my list. Everything is comma seperated and not case sensitive. There are a few things to keep in mind.

Common word pings: If I add Link to my list of pings, I might get pinged whenever someone talks about a url link, or a chain link, or any other common use of the word link. It therefore might be better to not use the word. If you have a profile name that is a common word, it might be better to also uncheck the option for Notify Messages Containing your name.

Similar Profiles: If there’s another Link in chat, then I will be notified everytime someone refers to him by name as well. This is less of a problem on more niche characters, but it’s something to keep in mind! You can set pings by room, so perhaps a solution to this is using Link as a highlight word in the Canon Characters room, but not using it as a highlight word in the Nintendo room. More about how to do that later.

Hidden Users: Pretty self explanatory once click over. If you keep seeing an ad you dislike, you can hide all advertisements from said user (re: character) going forward. Keep in mind this is not your block list.

Import: If you make two profiles and want to have these settings copied from one to the other, just log into the profile you want to import to, and select the profile you want to import from. Make sure to go back to change your pings if needed.

Lastly, we’ll be looking at the channel section. 

You might be starting to be overwhelmed again, and that’s okay. There are a lot of options, but most of the time, you’ll only want to select the options that are relevant to us. Check off the list of rooms you want to open a tab for. These will begin to be added to your sidebar. the number in brackets signifies the number of users thats joined that room. By default, this list is most popular to least popular, but I personally prefer alphabetical. There may be some channels that you find inappropriate, offensive, or contentious, but your best bet is to ignore those parts of the site. It’s an Adult site that is heavily moderated by a mixture of paid and volunteer staff. Every effort is made to ensure that no real people get hurt, but it is understood that as an adult, you are responsible for curating the content that you consume. This is one of the fundamental principals that F-List is built upon.

For now, I’m going to go with Canon Characters and Canon Characters OOC from this list.

You will also notice an Open Room tab. Unlike the Official Channels which are moderated by F-List staff, Open Rooms are chat rooms created by the userbase, and moderated by the userbase. While the standard F-List code of content is applicable to all areas of the site, special rules may apply in these rooms, and you’ll find things like rooms dedicated to certain kinks, species, and fandoms. I can try searching for a few things I think might be applicable to me, such as Hyrule, Zelda, Nintendo, and Elf. Some of those get hits, and some of those don’t. I can also check them off to add them to my list. (Note that search terms have to be entered one at a time. I cannot search for multiple things at once.)

Once you’ve selected the channels and rooms you want to join, you can click and drag on the tabs to reorder them on the sidebar. If you’d like to pin a chat, You can just press the little push pin symbol, which will then turn green. (You can do this for User Messages as well.) This means when you sign out, these chats will still be there when you sign back in. Note that settings and pinned chats are device by device only, and furthermore, channels and logs will not carry over between characters.

Make sure to read the description of each room you join. There are often specific rules (such as no ooc talk in the canon characters room, and no male characters in the lesbians room.) Clicking the gear will allow you to change settings on a per-room basis.

Step Seven: Actually Finding some RP

Now, after all that effort, we’re finally ready to find some RP. You have a few options on how to do this.

You could just join a few rooms and set your status to looking with a status message on what you want, but this is considered very passive. You may get some people that reach out (As you saw, someone had bookmarked my Link less than an hour after I made the profile before logging into f-chat.) But your best bet is one of three options.

Look at the Ads: Whenever you’re in a room that allows ads, you will sometimes notice a differently coloured message fly by looking for roleplay. This is an ad. If you see one that seems to fit what you have to offer, you can right-click on their username and select “Open Conversation.” A chat window will be open under the PMs section on your sidebar. You can view this conversation like you would a channel. Keep in mind that users are not notified if you open a conversation with them, only if you send them a message.

Create an Ad: Make sure you are in a room or channel that allows ads by checking the description, you can select the ad tab in the lower right hand corner above the text input box to write an ad instead of a chat message.

Making a normal chat post saying “hey does anyone want to roleplay with me” is considered spam and could result in the mods having a word with you.

You have similar tools to what you do in the character descriptions, and clicking each one will automatically place the tags in the text box, with the eyeball being a preview and the question mark being a how to. You want your ads to stand out, but you don’t want them to be too obnoxious. Take a look at what kind of ads other people are posting to get an idea of what’s expected.

Talk to Others: And lastly, you can just play in public rooms or chat with people in ooc channels. This is a great way for others to sample what you’re like to play with and vice versa, or even just to get to know potential partners. In my general experience, you’ll have more luck finding people to play with long term in the user created Open Rooms than in the Official Channels, but ever case is different. There are a vast number of styles, methods of RP, and types of partners you can find.

That’s basically the ins and outs of F-List! The more you’ll use it, the more you’ll understand how it works and the social etiquette on the platform. Like many sites, it certainly has it’s share of dark corners and flaws, but all in all it’s a pretty good website to find people to play with! Have fun!

[the-resurrection-3d]

18 19 20

18. Do you use any tools, like worksheets or outlines?

I do try and use outlines, although not anything strict. The closest I come to “tools” would be bibisco, which is a free alternative to a software like Scrivner. (There’s a paid version, but the free version has really all you need.) You can store character/worldbuilding/plot details in there and separate chapters by individual scenes, so I use it a lot for non-chronological or heavily fragmented projects, as I can move things around more easily. It also has a function that counts how much of the story is in each character’s pov, which is cool, although I ended up installing a highlight-counter macro into Word to calculate the Hannibal-Will distribution in “here stands the spring whom you have stained with mud.” (By which I mean I went through and highlighted lines of Hannibal influence and Will influence in different colors and then had the macro calculate how much of the overall document each one takes up, because I want to make sure it’s not All Hannibal All The Time.) 

19. Stephen King once said that his muse is a man who lives in the basement. Do you have a muse?

I actually looked up the quote to try and understand what in the fuck King is talking about, and here it is for anyone who was baffled like me:

“There is a muse, but he’s not going to come fluttering down into your writing room and scatter creative fairy-dust all over your typewriter or computer. He lives in the ground. He’s a basement kind of guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you. Do you think it’s fair? I think it’s fair. He may not be much to look at, that muse-guy, and he may not be much of a conversationalist, but he’s got inspiration. It’s right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. There’s stuff in there that can change your life. Believe me, I know.”  

Okay, now I get it. I guess my muse is actually pretty similar, but it’s inside of the sewers of my mind like Bluebeard’s BDSM dungeon. As my work becomes more and more memoir-based, I’ve begun looking inward for inspiration rather than just poking holes in pre-existing media, although the two impulses are still intertwined. Does that make sense?

20. Describe your perfect writing conditions.

I know this vividly because I had it once: the study center in the library that used to be open 24 hrs a day yet was rarely used outside of finals week -- a huge locked classroom with just some tables and chairs and a blackboard so I could skip and run around all I needed, but was close to a bathroom, a pencil sharpner, and the cafeteria so I could always sneak out and either buy food or steal from the soda fountain after all the cafe workers had finally left. I once stayed in there for eight hours and hand wrote some 18 pages of YYY fic that way, although I think the most that was ever posted was “Neutral Slam Hotel.”

Then they added macs, which made it harder to parkour over the tables, and then one of the dipshit useless freshmen destroyed a bunch of computers in there and you had to start making appointments to go in. God I fucking hated our freshmen class. 

Thanks for the questions!

[pinkrival]

               there was a crowd already beginning to form outside the building. the man could hear them      ( voices distant, yet undeniably angered ) slowly growing in volume as he darted into his darkened office. his hands shook as he closed the door behind him, taking no less than three tries to finally twist the lock into place with unsteady fingers. he pressed his forehead against the cool, wooden surface, sucking in desperate breaths. safe, the man thought to himself. i’ll be safe in here, at least for now.

               ❝ well, it’s about time you decided to show up. ❞ a voice suddenly called out, making his blood run cold. his head snapped up, panicked eyes darting feverishly around the room — only to finally settle on a figure perched on his desk. a boy, adorned in pastel hues, with one very angry hatterene looming over his shoulder.      ( bede, his mind supplied. gym leader bede? ) the fairy trainer crossed one leg over the other and sneered at him, eyes cold and hard. behind him, his pokemon hissed threateningly. ❝ it seems you have some explaining to do. ❞ he gestured to the window. ❝ wouldn’t you agree? ❞

                ❝ i... ❞ the man swallowed hard. ❝ i don’t know what’s going on! you have to trust me... ❞

                ❝ really. ❞ he seemed skeptical. ❝ the acting chief operating officer of macro cosmos doesn’t know why his own organization is wreaking havoc in another region? ❞ bede uncrossed his legs, leaning forward. ❝ an idiot typically doesn’t worm his way into such a prestigious position —  not in this company. unless, of course, things have changed under the new management. ❞

                ❝ i swear! i’ve — i’ve never seen any of those people before in my life! ❞ he took a step back. ❝ you have to believe me! everyone here at macros cosmos is just as in the dark as, ❞ a glance at the window, ❝ as the people out there — ! ❞

               bede hummed, hopping off the desk.      ( the man flinched. ) ❝ then certainly you won’t mind giving me the combination to your safe? to prove your innocence, of course. ❞

                ❝ what — ? no, i... i can’t do that. ❞ he took another step back, glancing desperately at the door. ❝ there’s confidential documents in there. i can’t just hand them over to you! ❞ the man turned around in the hopes of making a desperate escape, only to come face to face with one very angry mawile. the fairy type growled, snapping her maw threateningly.      ( pointed teeth coming mere inches away from his skin. )

                ❝ i don’t think you understand what is happening here. ❞ bede called out from behind him, sneakers padding softly across the carpeted floor. ❝ i wasn’t asking you, i was telling you. but perhaps you need a bit of incentive to cooperate... ❞ he opened the window.

               the man only had mere seconds to register hatterene’s clawed tentacle wrapping around his waist before he was shoved unceremoniously outside. though bede couldn’t see the crowd, he could certainly hear them as they swelled and roared furiously.      ( a few telltale thump thump thumps indicated several overzealous onlookers had even taken to throwing debris. )

                 ❝ let me back in! ❞ the man screamed. bede yawned.      ( several more thumps. )  ❝ WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING? LET ME IN! LET ME INNN! ❞

                ❝ ah, you really shouldn’t struggle so much. ❞ the gym leader called out. ❝ hatterene’s grip is slipping. ❞ his pokemon looked at him quizzically.      ( almost as if to say, no it isn’t? ) bede shook his head and shrugged. ❝ oh dear. she truly cannot hold on much longer. ❞

                ❝ OKAY! OKAY, FINE! ❞ the fairy trainer arched a brow. ❝ TH — THE CODE, IT’S 2659! 2659 OPENS THE SAFE! ❞

               the gym leader slowly      ( slowly, as if he had all the time in the world ) made his way over to the safe in question and carefully entered the numbers. it played a little cheery jingle before the door swung open, revealing several stacks of bills and      ( most importantly ) a pile of files and paperwork. bede gathered them up in his arms, nodding at his pokemon.

               ❝ well, i would say it’s been a pleasure, ❞ the boy began, as hatterene yanked her disheveled victim inside, ❝ but it really hasn’t. now it seems i have some reading to do and you have a mess to clean up. ❞

               and with that, he was gone.

[samsonet]

I can find my way home without you (the rightful king remix)

Leon always gives Chairman Rose what he wants.

Sometimes he has no fricking idea what that is, though.

Title from In the Heights' "Blackout."

~

Leon is ten when they meet for the first time.

Rose sees talent in this nobody kid from a nowhere town. Rose puts a hand on his shoulder, pats it seven times. Rose endorses him for the gym challenge.

Leon is sure that it is his own incredible talent that drew Rose’s attention, but he hears the gossip same as everyone. Rose likes playing philanthropist. Rose likes acting the fairy godfather to people in poverty. This airheaded purple-haired boy is just another in a long line of charity cases. There’s nothing special about him.

But they’re wrong, in Leon’s case. He really is that special, and he’s strong enough to prove it.

When he wins the Champion Cup, Leon waves to the chairman and takes some pride in the smile on Rose’s face.

*

When Leon is twelve, Rose gives him a present: a cape, dark velvet, the same color as the blouses Oleana wears. It’s trimmed with Wooloo wool, and the smell reminds him of Postwick and Hop.

Leon slings it over his scrawny shoulders and nearly stumbles under the weight. “I don’t know if I can wear this.”

But Rose only smiles. “You’ll grow into it.”

He doesn’t know what Rose is thinking.

He wears the cape to his next press event. Some reporters call it tacky, but the fandom eats it up. They call him King Leon and talk like he’s got the entire region in the palm of his hand. It’s a good feeling. Leon lets himself enjoy it.

(Later, he jokes about putting sponsor logos on the back of the cape. Then he goes and does it, because nobody can stop him.)

*

“Happy birthday,” Rose says. “You’re thirteen now, yes?”

Leon is not thirteen anymore, but he doesn’t know how to correct it without accidentally insulting the chairman.

Luckily for them both, Oleana knows everything. She murmurs: “He turned fourteen, sir.”

That makes Rose smile, his eyes shining. “Wonderful! Fourteen is a good number. Seven times two. It’s good luck. This will be a good year.”

Leon doesn’t understand Rose’s thing about sevens, but if it makes him feel better, that’s fine.

“Hammerlocke will be introducing their new gym leader next Tuesday. I would like you to be there to meet him. Can you find your way without me?”

“Definitely!”

(It turns out he can’t. He ends up calling Rose for help, and Oleana sends a taxi.)

*

By the time Leon turns sixteen, his legend as the “unbeatable champion” seems firmly written in Galar’s history.

He wins the champion cup -- again -- and Rose shakes his hand in front of the cameras.

“Where’d your challenger for this year go?” Leon asks, barely moving his lips. This is something he doesn’t want the press to overhear. (Probably should’ve waited, then, and asked later. Oh well.) “The kid you endorsed. I didn’t see her.”

“Oh, the girl?” (Surely Rose remembers her name, right?) “She went home after losing. I’d like it if you could train with her sometime, actually. She still does have a bright future, even if she won’t replace my favorite champion.”

I’m your only champion, Leon thinks.

Then, feeling a bit petty: and I won’t be so easily replaced.

“Anything for you.”

“Can you find your way to the Pokémon Center later tonight?”

“Of course.”

(A Macro Cosmos employee finds him later and has to bring him there personally.)

*

Contrary to the internet rumor mill, Leon does have a father. Dad is out of the region frequently, but he exists. He loves Leon and Hop. He’s a good dad.

It’s Leon’s seventeenth birthday, and he invites his father to the league party.

“Chairman Rose, this is my father. Dad, this is Chairman Rose.”

The men examine each other. What they’re looking for, Leon doesn’t know. (Should he suggest a battle? That’s always a good way to get to know someone. But then, Leon is always thinking about battling, and he knows some people find it annoying—)

His father blinks first, offering his hand to shake. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for my son.”

“He’s talented. All I did was clear the way.”

*

When Leon turns eighteen, Rose invites him to his private rooms in the Rose Tower.

The suite is glamorous, of course.The couch in the living room is immeasurably comfortable, probably immeasurably expensive, too. There are seven lights on the ceiling, shining blue like a foggy morning. Leon examines the pictures on the walls. Eight individual shots of the gym leaders. Himself, back when he was the newly-crowned child champion. Oleana. An older woman who is probably Rose’s mother. Two of Rose’s former endorsees.

The last one, Leon has no clue about. It shows a child with fluffy white hair. She -- he? -- is smiling, but not at the camera. No, that smile is aimed at the tiny pink Pokemon in their arms.

“He’s cute, isn’t he?”

Rose appears out of nowhere. He’s still in his suit, but he’s taken off the jacket and loosened the tie.

(Suddenly, the collar of the champion uniform feels a bit tight.)

Rose stands beside him, looking at the picture. “That’s Bede. He’s my ward, now; in a few years, I will be endorsing him for the challenge. He’s talented.”

“More talented than me?”

That earns him a laugh. “You don’t have to worry about him right now. Let’s talk about you. I have plans for you, you know. Even now.”

And, damn, if that doesn’t sound like something from an adult movie.

Leon has been wondering if this would ever happen. He’s an energetic teenager, and Rose is very attractive and does seem to be fond of him. They’re close, right? Rose has met his parents. Rose has held his baby brother. Rose isn’t going to hurt him.

He can’t figure out what Rose is thinking.

Whatever the chairman asks, Leon will do. It’s the least he can do to repay the debt, and if he doesn’t think too hard, the anxiety is almost the same as excitement —

Rose reaches up, pats Leon’s shoulder seven times. “Have you ever heard of the Darkest Day?”

Everything freezes.

All of a sudden, Leon realizes three things:

First, that he’s been taller than Rose for some time now.

Second, that for all the calm, steel-specialist persona, Rose is an incredibly anxious person.

Third, that they’re not actually going to have sex.

He’s not sure whether to be relieved or disappointed.

“I think I’ve heard that story,” he says. “The Fairy King, the Hero of Many Battles, right?”

“Yes. The ancient Hero fought the monster and saved Galar. You know I have been assisting Professor Magnolia with her research, yes? Well, I have come to a surprising conclusion.”

“Oh, yeah?” All Leon knows about Magnolia’s research is that Dynamaxing makes Pokemon bigger and the crowd loves to see a Charizard the size of a building. The more academic side has always bored him. (Sorry, Sonia.)

Rose walks to the window and pushes open the curtains. It’s dark outside. Below them, Galar shines like a jewel. “Do you know how much energy it takes to power a stadium, Leon?”

Bold of him to assume Leon knows anything, really.

But Rose doesn’t wait for an answer. “One thousand, five hundred megawatts. That’s enough electricity to power ten thousand homes. Heating, cooling, all the devices and appliances. And we use it for simple entertainment.”

Entertainment that Leon has dedicated his life to. “Are you getting tired of the league?”

“What? No, of course not. But lately it’s made me think… our energy supply isn’t infinite. In a thousand years, we won’t have any more resources. The day will come that Galar will go dark, forever. It gets closer every day, every minute. I confess I lie awake at night thinking about it.”

Rose raps his knuckles against the windowpane, knock knock knock knock knock knock knock.

“But I have a plan.”

“I’m all ears,” Leon says. If talking helps the chairman feel better about a disaster that will happen long after they’re both dead, so be it. He turns back to the pictures on the wall. (Piers’ looks more glam rock than his usual punk; did Rose specifically seek out this one to fit an aesthetic?)

“I intend to resurrect the Pokémon that brought about the Darkest Day and befriend it so it will provide for Galar’s future.”

“That sounds like a good plan.”

There’s a short silence. Then Rose says, “Champion, did you hear me?”

Mentally, Leon backtracks. Wait a second. That does not sound like a good plan. “You’re going to resurrect the thing that nearly destroyed Galar?”

“Yes. That is the surprising conclusion I mentioned earlier: that the Pokémon could be a source of infinite energy. I am still figuring out how to awaken it, but when I do, I will need a champion to fight for me and capture it. Can you do that, Leon?”

Leon studies him. Notes the fearful note in his eyes, the way his shoulders are tensed, and even the way he curls and uncurls his fingers.

“Of course I can. I’m your unbeatable champion, after all.”

And that was fine.

But then —

*

Leon is twenty-one when Rose decides to bring about the Darkest Day.

Leon told him to wait one more day, just one. He hopes Rose tried to wait, that the timing was only because he couldn’t bear to hold back any longer.

But he never knows what Rose is thinking.

(Of course, after the match it turns out there’s a new champion. Did Rose suspect that would happen? Or was he too worried about the far future to care about the near?)

Rose calls for help, and his champion rushes to answer.

They stare at each other. It only takes a moment, but it’s a moment too long while Eternatus rages above.

“I’m glad you came to help me,” Rose says.

I didn’t come for you. I’m here for Hammerlocke. I’m here for Galar.

“I don’t want anyone to get hurt,” Leon replies.

“Can you find your way up without me?”

“Don’t mock me, Rose.”

(Going up he has no problems. Going down is another story.

Hop and Gloria are the ones who help him get back, afterwards. He doesn’t remember it, but apparently they half-supported, half-carried him into the lift. Those two. Always sharing their burdens.)

Leon will realize, later, that that’s the last time he actually saw Rose.

*

Gloria develops a habit of bouncing on one foot, then the other. One bounce, two bounce. One bounce, two bounce.

“Why do you hop like that?” Leon asks. “One champion to another.”

She blinks, like she’s never really thought about it. “Oh… I have to. Twice on each foot makes four. Four is good luck!”

“Good luck, huh?”

Leon touches his Dynamax band. It’s warm around his wrist.

He taps a finger against it, seven times.

[jumpchain-drop]

Chapter 4.1: 0.0 Years

“….aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

SPLASH!

Ow.

“...ey… Hey… Hey…! Wake up…!”

My head was swimming as I slowly came to. I was soaked; I had washed upon a beach on a very green-looking piece of land. Various flotsam and jetsam were on the beach, though my eyes were drawn to the piece in the direction of the voice.

It was the closest, and it was a little bronze cage. Inside was a red ball of light with... fluttering wings.

“You’re awake!” came the voice from before. “You’ve been there for… I dunno how long, I was asleep when you washed ashore. Can you get up?”

“Just… give me a minute…” I got up. I don’t know why I was having trouble with this. For almost the last every ten years, I’ve been dropped roughly three times in a span of a week to a similar situation. Then again, even though I was winded after each of those, I was never hurt, and the voice said it was for his amusement. Maybe those were like… slapstick or something? I’m tangenting.

A few moments later, I got up to my feet and opened the cage door. The light inside flew out and fluttered around me joyously.

“Freedom!” it shouted. “Oh, I’ve been in that cage for weeks! I love getting to stretch my wings again!”

“You’re welcome, by the way,” I mumbled as I looked around at all the other stuff on the beach. On closer examination, there weren’t cut pieces of kelp or chunks of driftwood – they didn’t even seem to be damaged. The bottle looked the most like trash, and it had what looked like some kind of coupon inside it. Some strange red gem. A box that vaguely resembled a camera. A large shoulder bag, with the ends of apparently two scrolls sticking out, one a dull red and the other a more vibrant crimson. A fancy-looking hourglass, and a large old-looking mallet with an equally-old-looking shield right next to it.

“Oh, right, I haven’t introduced myself yet!” the ball stopped in front of me. “Thanks for letting me out! The name’s Twig! I’m a spirit of power – a fairy!”

I think I was mouthing “fairy” when it dawned on me. I turned to mouthing “Zelda” as I snapped my fingers.

I turned and looked around all my surroundings. Beyond the beach spread a vast ocean, stretching all the way to the horizon in every direction I could see it in.

Wind Waker.

I was in freakin’ Wind Waker.

“...So, are you going to tell me your name, or…?”

“O-Oh, my apologies,” I said, returning my focus to Twig. “I’m… Robert, sure, why not. Pleasure to meet you.”

“Same, Robert. You’re a weird one and really spacey, but you still rescued me, so I’m gonna stick around. So now that you’re awake, what are you gonna do now?”

“Well, for starters...” I looked around at the items that littered the beach. “I’m going to clean this up.”

“Is it all yours?”

“Knowing my life as I do, it probably is.”

“Good enough for me! I’m pretty strong, so I’ll help how I can!”

I rolled my eyes, but I appreciated the sentiment. I decided to get the bag first, for the obvious reason one gets a bag when collecting a lot of stuff.

When I picked the bag up, I found something was half-buried in the sand underneath it. “A giant scale…?”

Twig fluttered over to look at it. “I know this. This is one of the scales of the Sky Spirit, Valoo. Boy, you must be pretty mixed-up to be a Rito and not recognize it.”

“Wait, I’m a what?” I blurted out, but already my memories were stirring. I put my face to my hands and found my beak. How’d it taken me this long?

Felt my arms; no wings. Wait, were Rito wings always out? I reached for my memories of playing Wind Waker HD, but… dang, I played a lot of games just to experience them. Pokémon was something that was popular enough with me, and Banjo-Kazooie was important to my childhood (plus I had strategy guides for it), so I was able to recall details about those worlds with little hassle. But Wind Waker? I hadn’t played it until it came out on the Wii U; hell, I hadn’t played any Zelda game with anything resembling competency until the 3DS. I knew the critical path at a macro level and what each of the dungeons and bosses were, as well as the major characters, but I was drawing a blank on pretty much anything else.

“Seeing how out of sorts you are,” Twig said, “I probably need to fill you in on what should probably be obvious.”

“...Yeah, probably.” I mean, I wasn’t making any progress on my end.

“The first step to improvement is acknowledging there’s a problem.” He fluttered around the scale as he continued. “So, the Rito worship and attend to this super-old dragon, Valoo, that’s about as old at the ocean itself on their home on Dragon Roost Island. In exchange, the Rito get some of his scales. They do some kind of ritual with them, and that lets them grow wings so they can fly and get from island to island without a hitch.”

Right, that was coming back to me a little. “’Some kind of?’” I pressed.

“Hey, I don’t know everything or anything!” Twig answered, jerking up and down in an angry manner. “I have no idea how they use the scale. If you want your wings, we’ll probably have to take it to Dragon Roost Island and ask.”

“Works for me,” I said, putting the scale in the bag. Shouldering it – which was actually closer to the small of my back, but same effect – I started to pick up everything else. Twig actually wasn’t joking when he said he could help, but as he struggled to pick up the camera-box, it was clearly closer to exaggeration. I appreciate the thought.

When I picked up the hourglass, I took a moment to look it over. The sand that filled its bottom half reflected the sunlight with a beautiful gleam, looking less like sand and more like gold.

“Hey, Twig, you know anything about this?”

He fluttered around it for a bit, examining it. “I’m not sure… It feels familiar in some way, but I can’t put my finger on it. It definitely looks like a valuable treasure, though.”

“I’m kinda all about valuable treasures,” I said. “So I’m definitely holding onto it.”

It wasn’t too much longer before everything else was in there. I ruffled through everything and found that already inside the bag was the notebook. I wasn’t surprised in the slightest at this point. Like every other time, there was writing on the first page.

Layer 4:

You have ten years in this world.

Eight of your companions have been imported into native forms.

Two of your companions have landed in an alternate world. You will eventually be able to reach them.

Space will be made in the warehouse to ensure all purchased items will fit.

Entertain me.

“‘Ten years in this world’?” Twig asked from over my shoulder. “Are you sick or something?”

“No, I’m not- Wait… You can read this?”

“Yeah. Should I not?”

That was weird. As a test, I had previously shown the notebook to a couple of the Gray Jinjos, who unlike Team Firma I was certain were capable of reading English. However, they couldn’t make anything out but incomprehensibly cryptic scribbles, even the parts I had written myself – and my handwritng’s not that shit.

“No,” I answered. “I can’t explain it, but only me and a certain few people should be able to...”

Wait.

What the heck.

I just got here, I haven’t even seen a door yet, much less a locked one, and I’m pretty sure even without flawless memory I wouldn’t forget putting a fairy in a stasis pod.

“Hey, there’s more writing now!” said Twig. I looked back at the notebook.

Oh right, forgot to mention. One new companion has been chosen as able to join you without use of the stasis pod. You have the means by which to identify them. If they agree to join you, they will do so automatically.

“Oh come on, I’m not even allowed to choose my team anymore…?!” I grumbled.

“From everything you’ve said, I’m sure it’s talking about me,” Twig said. “Do you not want me, or…?”

“No, no, it’s not like that,” I said quickly. “Just… I’ve been jerked around a lot. I’ll explain more later, but… welcome to the team, Twig.”

“I won’t let you down, Robert!” His true fairy form was faintly visible in the light he admitted, and I saw him salute. “So, what’s the first order of business?”

“Well, if six of my companions are in this world, maybe some landed on this island too. Let’s go look for them.”

“Alright, I’ll follow your lead.”

“First off, any idea where we are, Twig?”

“I believe the residents refer to this place as Windfall Island. Dragon Roost is due east of here.”

“Wings are item number two. Let’s start exploring this place.”

Windfall Island is a large (for this world’s standard) and busy place, so finding stuff that was relevant information wasn’t easy. Most the Hylians – even though they don’t seem to call themselves that now – were nice enough, even though they kept assuming I was lost while trying to deliver the mail. To be fair to them, I was essentially carrying a mail bag around with me, but it made trying to figure out things that weren’t where people’s houses were a bit of a pain.

The first major bit of news I learned was that I was the second Rito on the island that no one had seen before. The first was female, a bit younger-looking than I did, but dressed in some expensive-looking clothing. She was last seen standing on the high cliff overlooking the ocean, the one with some kind of tombstone on it. For lack of better options, I decided to check it out.

I first saw her from behind when we got there. I was in more traditional – standard, I guess – Rito tunic, according to Twig. She, on the other hand, looked almost like royalty. Her body was covered with this almost form-hugging white dress. There was a short red cape flowing over her shoulders, more of a mantle than a cape, I guess. Her actual body, however, was far from mature; she honestly looked more than a little like a girl playing queen. The main things counting against this was her more-than-shoulder length hair that was mostly white but the tips were dyed red, and the halberd she was holding.

I started the uphill approach towards her. “Hi there-”

“Not another step.”

I stopped less from the command than from the sudden cold tone of it.

“...I didn’t think you would find me so quickly,” she said after a moment. “I would have put more thought into my ultimatum if I did. But I guess it’s better to rip that bandage off quickly.”

“That expression is stupid,” I blurted out. “Anyone that thinks it’s a better idea to rip a bandage off quickly doesn’t know how to take it off without uprooting more than a couple hairs underneath it.”

“I don’t think mouthing off to her is going to make her act nicer,” said Twig.

“Your new friend is right, Robert.” She started to turn around, revealing distinctive golden eyes.

“...Anita?”

“Correct.”

“...You look very nice.”

“Thank you, but flattery will not help you.”

“If she’s your friend, she’s kind of a mean one,” Twig whispered.

“Hmm, yeah...” I muttered. “She’s always been a little aloof, but...”

“It’s rude to just mutter to yourself while having a conversation,” Anita butted in.

“Doesn’t seem like much of a conversation to me,” I said. “What’s with the attitude, Anita?”

“What’s wrong with it? It’s a perfectly fine response to what’s been done to me.”

I wanted to ask what she was talking about, then I remembered Manaphy being Piddle before, as well as the idea of the two Terras that became one. I guess when you picked any arrival option besides the ones I was seemingly always shunted into, you got a background and memories to go with it. Problem was I had no idea what those backgrounds could be.

“OK,” I said. “I don’t think we’re getting anywhere like this. How about we take a deep breath, assume I’m an idiot, and you explain your perspective on this?”

“...Very well,” she replied. “But any sudden moves and I will not hesitate to strike.”

“Fine by me.”

She turned back to the cliff a little and took a deep breath of the sea breeze before facing me again. “Indeed, my name is Anita. I was born thirteen years ago on Dragon Roost Island. I’m sure even the idiot you want me to assume you are knows about their own species?”

“I know about the Rito,” I answered. “They need a scale from the great dragon Valoo to fly.”

“They also operate the mail system around the Great Sea,” Twig added. “Taking everyone’s letters and packages from the mailboxes, taking them to Dragon Roost to sort them, and then delivering them where they need to go. It’s a noble profession, and it helps connect those that can’t leave their islands.”

“Unfair, isn’t it?” Anita said suddenly. “A whole race dedicated to serving other races – and as the Korok don’t use the mail system, only the Hylians benefit. Only the line of attendants to Valoo himself do not have to undergo a mail Rito’s training. As a hatchling, I often wondered why the Rito would allow themselves to be used like this, so I dug through our history, even the parts that the chief would rather everyone not see. What I found blew my mind: the Rito didn’t always exist. Long ago, the Great Sea was a vast land, a kingdom, and living in that land was the race we once were: the Zora.”

“I’ve heard about that,” I commented. “When the Great Sea rose, the Zora tribe went onto land and evolved over time to develop wings, probably with Valoo’s help, and in turn became the Rito. Which never made sense to me – the Zora were aquatic creatures, and given the indication of ‘sea Zora,’ I was of the impression they could also live in salt water. If anything, the land turning into a sea would it make it better for them.”

“Well, despite being an ocean,” Twig spoke, “the Great Sea is remarkably hostile to intelligent life. We can still drink it after filtering, but the only ones that can live in it are the Fishmen. The occasional dumb monster get by just fine too. Any other living thing, though, can only swim in it for about thirty seconds at most before sinking like a rock, no matter how good a swimmer they may be. Almost as if the Sea itself was pulling them into its depths. Almost no one goes swimming at all anymore. Not voluntarily, at least.”

“Oh gheeze…” I winced. That was fucking terrifying to consider.

“The fairy speaks true,” Anita said, almost hugging her halberd to her. “Such a shame the Zora had to become these forms to survive. Their swimming was of great importance to them. Did you know that the Zora did not wear clothing? So dedicated to swimming they were, they wanted nothing to hold them back. They often had extra fins to give the impression of clothing. The only Zora to have clothing was the Zora king in traditional garb of red cloak, who was often extremely bloated and unable to swim anyway. I had to model my dress after the appearance of one of the past Zora queens.”

“.,.Boy, you’ve sure researched this a lot.”

“It has been my obsession.” Her eyes certainly seemed mad enough when she said it. “So much about them was washed away in the flood that created the Great Sea. So much lost… So much to discover. And once I have it all… I’ll be able to restart the old rites… and bring the Zora back.”

“Given the whole ‘ocean that hates sapient swimmers’ thing going on here-”

“Silence!” She brandished the tip of the halberd at us just only a second longer than it took to confirm I wouldn’t continue talking. “The Zora will return, I will make sure of it. No matter the cost. What cost could there be left, given I was banished from Dragon Roost for my research and for hoarding any Zora artifact I could find, including this halberd. And once they have returned, I shall be their new Queen in their gratitude. I know I will fit the role; I know that I am a reincarnation of a Zora Queen. It’s in my very soul to retrieve my people.”

Wisely, I decided to think to myself how absolutely deluded she sounded about that instead of saying it out loud.

“Or at least I thought I knew,” said Anita, her voice seeming to switch tracks entirely, “until at dawn today, when I suddenly woke up to the truth of my reincarnation. That, in a previous life, I was a monster under the ownership of an unworthy young man, and not the Queen I was sure I was. A life that I have full memories of as if I’ve lived it myself. As you might imagine, this makes me very upset. Especially at the one that I am now certain is the reincarnation of that young man.”

I could feel Twig looking at me.

“...Given my circumstances, ‘reincarnation’ might not be the right word...” I eventually said. My concern for my life was probably pretty apparent given none of what I said, well, said so.

“Regardless!” She swept her halberd in a large gesture. “While I still have my goals as the Anita I am, the Anita I was – or perhaps also truly am – has her own will to carry out, and seeing as it involves raking you over the coals, I’m inclined to go along with it.”

“Boy, Robert, your choice of friends leaves something to be desired,” said Twig.

“Shut up, Twig.” I groaned. “The hell you going on about? Why the hell would you – either of you – want to be so antagonistic?”

“Then I’ll be as clear as I can manage,” said Antia. “I’ve listened to all the stories you’ve given us inside that warehouse. You and everyone else you brought along and changed, enough accounts and evidence of the truth. You’ve been going around for three decades, doing crazy things and fighting monsters and getting treasure. Meanwhile, I’ve known you for a total of a little more than two weeks, as the fourth trainer in a row to win my Ball in a card game.”

I felt my soul wince at that. Only now, after Terra’s talk on how Pokémon view equality, did I truly realize that winning a Pokémon from a hand of poker would probably be the worst way to get a new trainer from the Pokémon’s perspective. “You don’t think I’m your equal. That’s it, isn’t it?”

“At least you have that figured out,” she replied, her words too bitter to even really be sarcasm. “I am done with being another trophy. So you’re going to prove to me that you are my equal, my way.”

“And what way is that?”

“I made a deal with the voice in the elevator,” she said. The dangerous vibe that surrounded her was the only thing keeping my temper regarding the asshole voice from shooting my mouth off. “I selected my choices towards its fulfillment. You have these ten years to show me you are worthy of my loyalty. If you don’t… I’m staying here.”

“Staying here…?” My eyes widened with the realization. “You don’t mean…?”

“I do. Your little jaunts across the universe continue without me.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to… hate? No, it wasn’t that. Pokémon didn’t broil themselves like that. She wanted me to prove myself her equal. She was challenging me. “Fine. So how am I supposed to prove myself then?”

“It’s quite simple,” she answered. “I have plans to carry out. Selfish plans that will no doubt ruin many lives in these oceans. You will have to stop me. But I’ll keep getting stronger; I don’t think you can do it.”

“If it’s a battle you want, I can give you one,” I said, getting into a fighting stance. “Right now. I’m a Pokémon too now. I’m pretty sure I could give you more than a run for your money.”

“Oh I’ve no doubt you’d win,” she said, not breaking her composure once. “Which is why you have to prove your dedication further than a mere single battle. It would not show the strength you’ve claimed to use in those two decades I slept through. No, foiling a much larger campaign is the only way. Of course, it wouldn’t surprise me if you declined, if you decided my value to your team isn’t worth the effort of taking me down.”

“...” What could I say to something like that…? Did she… really think I didn’t care…?

“But if you do truly value me… come and get me.”

And then, before I could react, she hopped backwards off the ledge.

“Anita!” I ran over to the ledge shouting, when it was crested by a large puff of red smoke as a red-and-white streak shot curving into the sky. The resulting burst of wind knocked me to the ground and sent Twig reeling into a nearby wall. By the time we recovered, she was gone.

“...OK,” Twig said, dusting himself off. “I am so out of the loop here that I’m completely off the necklace. Nothing about that made sense. What the hell is your deal? And her deal? And the general deal? And what the hell is a ‘Pokémon?’”

I was still getting my thoughts together when Twig’s interjection broke me out of my thoughts. “...Let’s get something to eat, to discuss it over. There’s a good bit to cover...”

“...So, you’re from another world where this world is some kind of game. And you weren’t always a Rito, but a human – which is like a Hylian but less pointy ears. And the voice of a jerk in an elevator because I don’t feel comfortable with the word you used is doing all this, they take you to a different world every ten years, and you use the notebook to talk to them.”

“That’s the short of it.”

“...Wow. And I thought the entire idea of this place not always being an endless ocean was farfetched. I mean, there’s the legend on the wind about the kingdom that disappeared, but I never thought we were right on top of it.”

We were – well, I was – sitting on the edge of a fountain the most town square-like spot in Windfall, eating a seaweed wrap. It took me awhile to get somewhat used to the taste of seaweed. Twig was used to it already, and had the occasional nibble from it.

I swallowed my latest bite. “If it’s ever too much for you, it’s fine if you jump ship. Wordplay not intended.”

“No, I think my curiosity insists on me sticking around. Besides, you could use my help against that girl Rito.”

“How so?”

“All we need to do is find a few gems like the one you have already!”

“The gem?” I asked. I ruffled through my bag a little before pulling out the small red gem.

“Yeah, that one!” Twig bounced happily. “That’s a Power Gem! See, you can see the mark of Power on it!”

I turned it over. Indeed, there was some wavy white mark on it.

“As a spirit of power, I can make use of these Gems!” he continued. “Once you have enough, I can absorb the energy within them, and I’d be able to grant you new strength!”

“I’m certainly going to need all the strength I can get if I’m going to win over Anita. Do you know where the others are?”

“If I knew where they were, well, I certainly wouldn’t be in my current state. I know there’s twenty altogether, but that’s it.”

I sighed. “That makes sense enough… First one of my companions goes rogue for perfectly reasonable reasons and now this treasure hunt… Not that I don’t like a good treasure hunt, but I’m feeling overwhelmed… I really could use one of my girlfriends right about n-”

It was at that moment the second major bit of news suddenly attached itself to my face. In the resulting shouting and flailing, I fell backwards into the fountain with a large splash.

“Robert!” said the leaf-faced creature that stood in front of me. “I’ve been looking all over the island for you!”

“Personal space!” I shouted, lifting the deceptively-lightweight living branch off me. “Who are you?”

“I’m Terra!”

“Terra?!” I brought the creature back down to hug her. “Boy I’m glad to see you- OK I’d like to get out of the water now.”

During the time I was drying off, we exchanged situations and got everything sorted out. First of all, Terra was now going by the name of “Elmily,” as the Korok (a species I’m like half-sure I actively tried to ignore the existence of back home) had names derived from trees. The second was that she already had an idea of what Anita was up to already. Due to being an elevator and not a meeting hall, the voice had each of the eight imported companions come in and make their builds one at a time, and it was very generous with talking about what those before had selected. As such, she had a general idea of what everyone before her was doing, which turned out to consist of the five teammates I had prioritized. It also turned out this time the voice was deciding the starting location for each companion individually of my own, at random.

First new thing we confirmed was, far as she knew, she was the only Korok and Anita and I were the only Rito; everyone else had chosen to be a Hylian.

“If two companions landed in a different world,” she said, “one of them was probably Maria. Her location was selected to be ‘World of the Ocean King.’”

“Ocean King...” I pondered for a bit. “I think that name came up in the sequel, Phantom Hourglass. It’s certainly not in the Great Sea, I’m certain of that.”

I heard Twig mutter “Phantom Hourglass…?” but Elmily continued talking before I could respond.

“One of those after me must have gone there too. Though I’m mostly concerned with one location in particular...”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Well, Cody landed on Outset Isle...”

“I think that’s the tutorial island, he’ll be fine.”

“...but Bolt and Shadow landed someplace called ‘Forsaken Fortress.’ And judging by how your eyes are bugging out, my concerns are well-founded.”

With that knowledge, the matter of transportation became very important. Turned out everyone had gotten a free boat, but the non-Hylians also had a flight item – i.e. Valoo’s scale – that could be received for free by foregoing said boat. All three known non-Hylians had done so, including me, and I had no idea how to use mine. Twig wasn’t big about flying across the ocean by herself, so Elmily offered to fly her Deku Leaf across to Dragon Roost Island while the wind was blowing that way and find a local adult Rito that could help me with that while also not asking too many questions.

Before she did that, though, we came to the consensus that “Robert” really wasn’t enough of a Rito name to pass casual inspection. After a couple hours of debate and getting as much info about Rito names out of Twig as we could, we eventually settled on “Naskema.” Hopefully it doesn’t mean anything bad.

Year 1, day 2: Elmily has come back with a Rito named Quill. He’s a little surprised that someone as old as I am hasn’t already undergone gotten my wings, but true to the plan, he didn’t ask too many questions. Guess I owe him a favor or something for this? Honestly, I’m already tired of this island and want off it already. At least it has locked doors and I found enough rupees hammering down the grass to pay someone to build a doorframe for me, so it wasn’t like I was sleeping outside.

(The new plate has an icon that looks like the Triforce with the Wind Waker overlaid over it and I think I see a hint of lime green; it’s only day 2, so the colored wedge is practically invisible. As well, the only light on the roster board that’s red is Bitbit’s, so everyone else was imported, and the two Terra didn’t know the builds of were Tooty and Manaphy.

I tried calling in Bitbit like I did Shadow before to make the trip instead of Elmily, only for nothing to happen. When I demanded answers to the notebook, it replied I could only have up to eight active companions by default. That sucks, missing a flyer in this setting, but there’s not really anything I can do about it.)

In the intermediate time, I more examined my belongings and found that the two scrolls in the bag are treasure maps! X marking spots and everything! Spots that are all in the ocean. I’m certainly not going swimming in the Psychonauts death water, but surely a sea-faring society such as this has access to some kind of salvage mechanisms that could be used.

Quill’s getting the necessary things set up in the other room now. Hopefully this will be quick and painless.

Year 1, day 8: THIS WAS NOT QUICK AND PAINLESS

I AM NEVER GROWING WINGS EVER AGAIN

[viropaulski-blog]

WHAT IS VIRO MOVE

Viro Move is one of the VR Fitness products from the team at FitReality.

This particular product is a free roaming game. As gamers and developers, we all tend to spend a lot of our lives sitting in front of our beloved gaming machines, when you work and play in the same area it’s obvious you’re not going to move very much. And so our challenge was simple, how we can use VR to help gamers to move more. As we progressed with the idea of moving gamers we realized our game was beginning to feel like a real workout. Meaning we were really beginning to sweat and feel the burn as we tested our early levels.

So we invited fitness experts into the development process to help us to mimic actual aerobics workouts, instantly we found that by stretching gameplay to the very edge we were now able to maneuver players to move around the game zone. Suddenly we had a game idea that was both engaging and healthy, and with that eureka moment Viro was born. So in a way Viro Move is our most important product of all because this is the one product which we built as gamers for gamers.

If you know our industry you will know that pitching a VR fitness game to the VR community is no easy feat. You guys know how the best VR games should look and feel, from a development sense exposing our game to the community will help us gather the right type of feedback to ensure Viro Move is the absolute best it can be.

As gamers -this is our baby. For the whole team, this will be a lifetime dream realized. We have been extra critical of every element of the game, even the tiniest details have had long late-night debates in the office. We debate and argue a lot because as gamers, we want other gamers to love the game as much as we do.

So VIRO MOVE is a free-roaming full body workout VR  game. If you are a VR gamer, you will know the BEAT SABER concept. And it will make sense if I tell you VIRO MOVE is a bit like BEAT SABER – but on steroids. For those of you who don’t know BeatSaber, I say – “OMG why not!”

BeatSabre – you have our deepest respect!

It is an amazing game that allows players to slice boxes to the beat of the soundtrack. The gaming community went wild for the gameplay. From a developer’s perspective, this game helped to propel the VR gaming community forward, faster and wider than almost all others in our industry.

Fans of that game will be happy to hear that our game has all the same wonderful game mechanics. Custom beat mapped music and that highly addictive sword slashing gameplay which amazed Jimmy Fallon and the entire VR gaming community.

In VIRO MOVE we also incorporated other game mechanics such as boxing, shooting, stretching, in-game weapons changing. Additionally, all of our levels are based on the movements from actual fitness routines. Our level designers worked with personal trainers and physiotherapists to create full body in-game movements that mimic fitness routines across multiple cardio workouts.

We began by green-screening our designers performing specific aerobics movements and then moved on to mapping specific movements from weapons training all the way to shadow boxing. For example, during a sword fight, you will complete Zumba, aerobics, dance and Kenjutsu movements without ever really knowing -You are very welcome.

*Our level designer Pawel, building lunges into his swordplay.

We designed the in-game immersive elements with an insanely high level of graphical environments along with the widest choice of intricately detailed weapons, obstacles, and environments.

Personally, I’ve played dozens of VR games, so it is difficult to shock me. However, when I first immersed myself into a Viro environment – things were moving in the background, birds were flying, the grass was blowing all around me. I mean, the guys didn’t have to make the random things in the background move for this game to be amazing, we could have had success with a much simpler environment. But the team believed the immersive experience is equally as important as the fitness routines, and honestly – it is.

Our developers pretty much incorporated every VR fitness mechanic that’s been proven to move virtual man, even invented a few new ones -and all that before the design team went back again to polish the tiniest detail. Then -and only then, they found ways to make those perfectly textured tiny details in the background move with the wind, the experience is unbelievable.

VIRO MOVE FITNESS AND WEAPONS TRAINING

Our game has incorporated boxing gloves, swords and guns as weapons to help players feel fully immersed in the gameplay. These weapons also help us to deliver training movements specific to each fighting style. I can honestly say – as an aspiring graphic designer, watching our artists drop highly detailed weapon skins every week, truly is a thing of beauty.

I’m not just blowing our trumpet here -at least, not much I hope. But I am in awe every time I see a new weapon appear. I mean, how could you not be? The weapons look so realistic, I’m super excited anytime one of the designers mails me a video flyover of his new weapon, the level of detail is inspiring. It’s hard to imagine it’s something that has been squeezed out of his head and onto a computer screen.

VIRO GUN TRAINING

I sometimes sit at my desk and zoom in on random weapons just to see the detail and effort that has been crafted into designing them.

When it comes to VIRO MOVE guns, I am the office nerd -even though when it comes to gun training, I am without question the worst player in the team. But I don’t care, Viro Move guns are my all-time favorite weapons. Our team has painstakingly crafted so many tiny details into each gun. Whenever a new gun drops I plan a good twenty or thirty minutes on photoshop – just to zoom in on a macro level so I check out the little things.

I’m not sure when I became a virtual gun nerd, but I am pretty sure it happened sometime during the last few months.

SWORD TRAINING

If you have never trained with swords, you have never lived. Holding a pair of swords on a mountain top feels nothing short of spectacular.

Now, this is my thing, training with swords is the highlight of my day. If you believe in past lives -as I now do, you will understand when I say “I’m pretty sure I was a secret Ninja in a past life”.

I just can’t get enough of VIRO’s sword training, I can train for thirty minutes alone with swords and although I am a sweaty train wreck at the end, I’m smiling all the way through.  And I honestly can’t describe it, it’s the simple things that inspire me. Like the feeling, I get by tipping two ends of the swords together before the game begins. The touch creates a vibration from the controllers in the form of a delicate sense of resistance, and happens anytime the glowing blade tips touch each other, as it would in real life, clearly! The feeling is just awesome.

BOXING TRAINING

No detail was spared. If you look closely you can see our designers even allowed for leather wear above the knuckles of this skin.

As a young man in my non-virtual life, I trained for some time to be a boxer. As it turned out I was a better Ninja than a boxer, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t relish the opportunity to use my experience and skills to get critical with our boxing level designers. Indeed, I felt this was my real opportunity to position myself as the team expert, and boy I was so very wrong.

Let me start by saying, I don’t think any of our guys have had real-life boxing training as I did. But they have worked tirelessly with professional trainers to build routines that simulate jabs, crosses, uppercuts and even under hooks and all the other boxing maneuvers my competitors used against my nose as a young man.

Watching these guys test their levels is sometimes like watching professionals shadow boxing in the gym. They have nailed all the movements, while I –the semi-professional, look and feel like a fat middle-aged dad trying to swat a nest of angry hornets. I’m getting better now, but it’s not at all like riding a bike, shadow boxing is an art form that needs time, practice and physical agility to pull off.

I need to pause a little to talk about our boxing gloves. We have an ever growing range of skins, from futuristic metal gauntlets to traditional leather and fabric gloves. Granted, you don’t get much of a chance in the game to look at the gloves, but I highly recommend that players take the time to stand there – when fully immersed, and just look at the detail that has gone into designing each of our glove skins.

Our designers have added details which to help create an enhanced sense of reality. For example, some leather gloves have ever so slight wear across the knuckles, really it’s the smallest things that make me happy sometimes.

STRETCHING

They say you should always save the best till last. I’ve always been a bit of a rule breaker and I’m not going to change today, so I have saved the worst for last. I hate stretching, I hate it more than going to the actual gym. But to be honest, it’s the most important Viro Move training tool. I try to train for twenty minutes every day and while that may not seem like a lot – trust me, after twenty minutes of Viro Move you will look and feel like you have gone ten rounds with Ivan Drago. I didn’t always make the time to use the stretching levels, which always felt like a bit of a mistake the morning after.

You can easily forget that Viro Move is a real aerobics workout – but it is, you will use muscles you didn’t know you had and if you don’t make time for stretching as part of your warm up and cool down, please expect the muscle cramp fairy to come to visit you while you sleep – and she’s not a kind lady.

Stretching is not always going to be as sexy as boxing, shooting or sword-fighting – fact, so we have put a lot of energy into making it relaxing and enjoyable, and remember most professional sports coaches will advise you to make time for stretching before and after training. Our team has built the stretching and flexibility movements into our game to help you eliminate that morning after pain. I have learned the hard way that a  six-pack is no good to anybody if you are not flexible and agile enough to stand up straight the next day. As it’s too late for me to become the next Arnold, I will settle for the ability to climb out of bed and bounce down the stairs like the sprightly twenty-year-old I still feel I am.

Stretching and flexibility are my new favorite buzz-words – still, my least favorite exercises but most probably the best thing Viro Move has given me – after swords!

MIXED MODE

I am a huge fan of Deadpool. Handsome, sarcastic, energetic, sexy, funny, muscular, worshiped by millions of women and a handful of men do you see the similarities? That’s right! Deadpool has exactly the same qualities.

The similarities don’t end there, when I play VIRO MOVE, I do so in “mixed mode”. Meaning, after I set the level, environment, music, difficulty, I can then set the game to mix weapons during gameplay. One minute I am shooting and dodging drones the next minute I’m slashing and boxing orbs. Guys, you can make believe you are Deadpool – the Ladies, we will imagine you are the lovely Laura Croft.

We built mixed mode for those of us who are experts, those who really want that extra challenge at the highest level. It’s fast, furious and even though you know a weapon change is coming, changing the weapons mid-game requires some serious practice and technique.

THE FUTURE OF VIRO

Since the initial idea we have gone on to develop other solutions for the fitness industry, but as a small team of developers, our efforts are focused on ensuring the gaming elements of all our games are the best they can be. Meaning, for sure we will help you get fit -it’s our mission in life, but we always want you to have fun in the process.

Blog is written by VIRO Paulski first published on the VIROMOVE website 

[sweetmemories2606]

Unforgivable: Gruvia and Jerza Fanfic (chapter 4)

Summary: A missing child. A prophecy. Two siblings, born from light and darkness. Nothing will be the same after Juvia reveals the truth about her past, damaging her relationship with Gray. Meanwhile, Lucy struggles with a family secret and one night causes unexpected consequences for Jellal and Erza. How will they survive Zeref's ultimate plan? 

Pairing: Gruvia, Jerza, NaLu, Lyredy, GaLe, AlBis

Link (chapters 1-3): https://m.fanfiction.net/s/12889561/1/Unforgivable

Warning: You should really check out the other chapters before reading this post, or else there will be confusion. 

Happy reading!

                                                      Why We Met

"Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something."

-Lucy Heartfilia

In a hidden mansion, miles away from everything…

"I don't like this." Kyoka, goddess of the slave planet, said.

"She's talking too much." Torafusa, one of the nine demon gates, added while they watched through a magic mirror as Juvia Lockser explained her backstory.

"It won't be long till she starts talking about us." Tempester spoke, staring at the screen with narrowed eyes.

"I wouldn't be so worried. Remember that my macro curse won't allow her to do so." Seilah reminded them, smirking.

"That's true. Although I think that Jellal's getting suspicious with the information we've had her give him." Kyoka voiced her concerns, staring at Jellal's figure cautiously.

"I wonder how he found out about our plans to eliminate Erza Scarlet." The former said.

"Doesn't matter. Just because Juliet Fernandes didn't actually kill her, doesn't mean it's over." Keyes told them and the demons smiled.

"Of course not. We'll still have plenty of opportunities for that." Kyoka said.

"Besides, now that we know Juliet is capable of murder, we should use that to our advantage." Seilah reminded them while making a book appear; the name Juliet could be read on the cover.

"What do you have in mind, Seilah?" A new voice asked as a woman entered the room. Her appearance was hidden behind a hood, but a few locks of blue hair could be spotted.

"Alison. I was beginning to wonder where you were, dear." Keyes told her with a sinister smile on his skeleton face.

"I was taking care of business. Don't you remember?" The woman raised a brow in his direction.

"Of course. Now we have a new job for you." Kyoka said and she turned to the demon, an interested look in her eyes.

"Do tell." Alison closed the door behind her before walking towards the center of the room, where the Nine Demon Gates were reunited.

"Retrieve Erza Scarlet." A surprised look crossed her face and she froze. A few moments passed before she recomposed herself. "Shouldn't be a problem. Where is she?"

"I'm okay." Gray said, glancing towards Juvia and Jellal with a smile. "I'm happy for her."

"Good for you, man." Natsu patted him on the back.

"I have a feeling that's not all there is to the story." Levy voiced her concerns.

"Same. There are many things left unexplained." Gajeel added, frowning.

"Let's give them time before we ask more." Wendy wisely suggested.

"Yeah, with everything that happened tonight, I think they'll need it." Lucy glanced towards Erza's lifeless body and frowned. "Do you think they're telling the truth about Erza?"

"Why would they lie? You know how much Jellal loves her." Levy replied.

"If Juvia had actually killed her, I don't think he'd act this way; sister or not." Gray added.

"But can we be sure that she's still alive?" Gajeel wondered; something didn't feel right about this whole story.

"I won't be sure until I see it with my very eyes." Natsu was quick to say before crossing his arms and glaring at Ultear and Meredy, who stood in the distance, watching the siblings reunite.

"We still have questions." Gajeel loudly told them before taking a few steps forward. The two looked surprised for a moment, but nodded.

"We'll answer them as best as we can." The older woman said, but soon enough Juvia spoke having broken apart from the hug. "Thank you, Ultear, but I can handle it. This is my story, after all."

"Good. Because there are some things that still don't make sense." Natsu told her and she raised a brow.

"Such as?" Levy was the one who started questioning.

"Well, Jellal mentioned that you disappeared when he was seven. Where did you go?" Juvia sighed; knowing this question would come. She exchanged a glance with Ultear, who gave her an unsure look. "If I'm going to tell the truth, I'll have to tell them everything."

"Are you sure?" Meredy's eyes were wide; she didn't think this was a good idea.

"So this is what you were talking about before." Natsu muttered, remembering the words spoken by them a few minutes before

"I know, but that doesn't change what I did. What I had her do."

"She didn't go through with it. And, honestly, I don't think Gray needs to know."

"Whatever it is, you can tell me." The ice mage was quick to tell his girlfriend.

"I know you won't think like that once I'm done, but you deserve to know." Juvia took a deep breath before looking right at him, blue eyes filled with sadness. "When I was five and Jellal was seven, I was kidnapped. I remember that night clearly; it was my 5th birthday and I had fun playing games with him and our father. I was so happy, until he came. The man who took me away from my family and ruined my life."

"Who was it?" Lucy couldn't hold her curiosity any longer.

"His name was Hades; and he used to be the master of Fairy Tail." Their eyes widened once they remembered the man that they had met on Tenrou Island.

"Hades?" Natsu whispered, disbelieving.

"Wait a minute! If he was the one who took you, does that mean that…." Levy started and Gray finished her thought.

"You were with Grimoire Heart, weren't you?" Juvia nodded slowly, a guilty look coming upon her face.

"Yes. I was brought to the place where Ultear was also being kept." This had everyone glancing towards Ultear. "Back then she was Hades' only recruit and we quickly bonded over loneliness and bad parents; since he told me my father didn't want me anymore and had sent me away." Juvia paused and sighed."Of course, it didn't take me long to figure out he was lying, but by then I was in too deep and constantly supervised. So I had no choice but to follow his orders if I wanted to stay alive."

"That makes sense." Lucy said and the others agreed.

"But still, it doesn't forgive everything you must've done as a member of Grimoire Heart." Gajeel spoke next.

"I disagree. If I managed to forgive Ultear for everything she did, it won't be hard to forgive you." Gray sincerely said.

"Besides, compared to the rest of us, Juvia didn't do anything that wrong. She didn't kill anyone in cold blood like me; I always managed to protect her from that." Ultear added and Juvia tensed.

"It's not entirely true. I did some awful things." Her hands held tightly onto the heart-shaped necklace that she constantly wore.

"You didn't have a choice. Master Hades would've killed you otherwise." Meredy reassured.

"It was a matter of survival; we understand. I can forgive that." Gray said and Juvia couldn't help but to smile.

"Thank you, my love. I can't believe how supportive you're being. It's so…unexpected." He laughed at this.

"Trust me, I'm freaking out here. But nothing I've heard so far has convinced me to hate you or resent you. All I can see is how much you suffered and I hate that you didn't tell me before." Tears were brimming in the corner of her eyes.

"I was so scared. I didn't want to lose you." He shook his head before fixing her with a reassuring look.

"You won't. I promised to always be there for you, didn't I?" She nodded, unable to formulate words.

"You two are so sweet!" Meredy happily told them.

"Yes, I just wish I had seen it sooner." Ultear sighed.

"But you did. You saw how I was falling in love with him and you decided to step back. I'm always grateful for that." Juvia told her and Gray's eyes widened.

"So you told Ultear about me? Is that how she found out?" The older woman shook her head.

"No, it was the other way around. I knew exactly who you were ever since Hades told me about my mother's death by your hand. He wanted to fuel my hate for you and need for revenge. It worked just perfectly." She looked down in shame. "I just wish I hadn't dragged Juvia into it."

"It's okay; I've forgiven you for that." The water mage quickly reassured her before smiling. "Besides, if you hadn't pushed me towards Gray, I would've never found the happiness he brought into my life."

"So that first date, it was your doing?" Lucy asked, recalling Juvia and Gray's first encounter a few weeks before the battle between Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail.

"Yes. I sent Juvia there to kill Gray, but she couldn't bring herself to do it." Ultear replied and the memory brought matching smiles to Gray and Juvia's faces.

About 1 year earlier...

"Why do you care enough to comfort me when you don't even know me?" Gray was surprised, for many reasons.

"To be honest, I'm not always like this." He hoped she'd understand what he meant."But Mirajane has been pushing me to be nicer, so I'm trying."

"You're doing a good job." She allowed a sincere smile to take over her face and he gave his own in return.

"I'm glad." They were silent for a few moments, until the faraway ticking of a clock let them know it was already midnight.

"We should go." Juvia didn't know why she suggested it. This was the perfect moment to finish what she had come here to do. They were alone there; no one would be witness to her sins.

"Okay." He nodded slowly, although she could tell he didn't want to.

"But before we do..." Unexpectedly to both, she closed the distance between them as her arms wrapped around his torso while her head rested on his chest. "Thank you." There were so many meanings to those words that he didn't know.

Gray's expression softened as he returned the hug. "You're welcome."

She pulled apart a moment later and lifted her head to stare at him. He was looking at her in a way only one person had before; a mixture of compassion, happiness and understanding. It made her feel cared for and she couldn't deny that she liked the feeling.

"Juliet..." His hand was suddenly reaching up to touch her face and she froze. There was desire in his eyes now and determination. She was torn between being scared and anxious.

"Yes?" The next thing she knew, he had leaned in and then his lips were touching hers in a passionate kiss.

"You were the first person aside from Ultear and Meredy who ever showed me compassion, understanding. You were the first to ever care and I believe that's why I started to fall in love with you after just one date." Juvia turned to her boyfriend, smiling brightly. "And of course, when you chased the rain away during our battle; I knew it."

"Believe it or not, Gray, but you were the reason why Juvia chose to leave Grimoire Heart. You were the one who brought her into the light and I'm so thankful for that." Ultear spoke next and the ice mage approached the water mage, smiling.

"I'm glad I could point you in the right direction." His arms wrapped around her waist and she wasted no time wrapping her own around his neck.

"I love you so much. Thank you." Instead of replying, he leant it as she did the same.

While the couple shared an intense kiss, Natsu turned to Ultear in confusion. "Wait, so Juvia actually left the guild?"

"If she hadn't, I don't think they would've given her the same treatment back on Tenrou Island." Lucy remarked, remembering Erza and Juvia's tale about their fight against Meredy.

"That's not true! I would've never hurt her, even after she left. But I didn't know who she was." The pinkette said, staring at them guiltily.

"What does that mean?" Now they were really confused.

"You see, after realizing that she was in love with Gray and finding out that Jellal was still alive during the Tower of Heaven incident, Juvia realized that Hades had lied to her for all these years, so she decided to quit." Ultear answered.

"But, as I'm sure you know, no one just quits a dark guild. Getting out alive is nearly impossible." Meredy continued and they nodded, understanding.

"So how did Juvia manage to do it?" Gajeel asked, curious.

"We helped her." The older woman replied. "I always saw her as a little sister, someone I wanted to protect. So after she told me about Jellal, who I'd never known was actually her brother, and of her love for Gray Fullbuster; I decided to put my desire for revenge aside and help her."

13 years earlier…

"Okay, where are you taking me?" Ultear asked while Meredy and Juvia guided her. She was blindfolded and the two girls held her arms and helped her move towards their destination, which was a surprise.

"You'll see soon enough." The 12 years old replied while sharing an excited look with the child.

"I can't wait to see your face, mamma. You'll love it!" The pinkette added; she was almost jumping with joy.

"Okay, we're here." Juvia finally removed the blindfold and Ultear's eyes widened once she spotted the picnic basket on top of the beautiful flowery towel that once belonged to her mother, Ur Milkovitch. There were three glasses, a bottle of juice, many cupcakes and a big strawberry cake besides the basket.

"Happy birthday!" Meredy screamed happily.

"We were supposed to say it together." The bluenette complained, frowning.

"You've done all this for me?" Ultear couldn't deny her surprise. Even though the three of them were very close, she wouldn't have expected them to even remember her birthday. She never celebrated them anyways.

"Of course. Juvia told me that you never had a birthday party, so we wanted to give you one." The 7 years old replied.

"Don't you like it?" Juvia asked, still frowning.

"No, sweetheart, I do. I'm just surprised, that's all." The 18 years old was quick to kneel down by her side, placing both hands on her shoulders.

"We wanted it to be a surprise." The bluenette replied and Ultear wasted no time hugging her tightly.

"Thank you." For a few moments they stayed like that, until they heard a small voice.

"I want a hug too, mamma!" They pulled apart and extended their arms, smiling at Meredy.

"Come here." Juvia called and the pinkette ran towards them, laughing.

Soon enough the three of them were holding onto each other, content. For the first time in years, Ultear's mind wasn't on her mother or her vendetta against Gray Fullbuster; she felt happy. The three of them did; it was good to know that they still had someone who cared after losing everything.

"So you weren't all bad." Levy told Ultear and Meredy eagerly nodded.

"Of course not! Ultear might've been a villain back then, but she was always good to me and Juvia. She always took care of us and we were grateful for that." The others smiled; it was nice seeing this softer side of the former villains.

"But how exactly did you help Juvia?" Lucy asked.

"I knew a powerful spell that could make someone unrecognizable. That way, Juvia could move around freely and Hades wouldn't be able to find her." Their eyes widened. Now that was a clever plan!

"The only problem was, the spell was so powerful that even we weren't able to recognize her; which is why I fought against her back on Tenrou Island." The pinkette added.

"I see now. That was clever." Levy praised and they smiled in return.

"It was. I never thanked you for protecting her then, Ultear." Jellal spoke, reminding them of his presence since he had been quietly watching the conversation so far.

His mind had been focused on Erza as the feeling that she might be in danger overwhelmed him. But then again, this whole night had been no short of dangerous for her.

"No problem. I was happy to help; Juvia was always so loyal and kind. She didn't deserve to be trapped with Grimoire Heart." This had the bluenette smiling once she pulled apart from the kiss to catch her breath.

"So let me get this straight. Juvia and Jellal are siblings, but when they were young she was captured by Hades and trained to be in Grimoire Heart." Levy decided to get all the details they had learnt that night.

"Yes." Juvia said, turning around to face the rest of the group while Gray kept his arms wrapped around her from behind.

"And you were sent to kill Gray during that first date, but didn't go through with it. Then during the Phantom Lord battle you fought against him, but he didn't recognize you until after the fight and that's when you knew you loved him." Lucy continued and the water mage nodded.

"Why were you in Phantom Lord anyways?" Gajeel brought up a good point.

"I was sent there to infiltrate the guild since master Hades wanted to know if they could someday join the Balam Alliance." Juvia replied.

"What about Fairy Tail?" This was the question in everyone's mind ever since Juvia and revealed that she used to be a member of Grimoire Heart.

"I wanted to join the guild because of Gray. It wasn't Hades' plan." Relieved looks came upon everyone's faces.

"One more thing, since you were a member of Grimoire Heart, can we assume that you also use some form of lost magic?" Levy brought up another crucial point.

"That's right. I forgot to ask." Natsu said before turning to Juvia expectantly.

"Well…" She was about to answer when she felt it. The familiar dark presence that constantly haunted her dreams. They all felt it and Jellal's face paled while Ultear and Meredy suddenly looked nervous. "They're here."

A few weeks before...

"You look beautiful, Erza." Jellal said and she smiled at him, a small blush coloring her cheeks. "Thank you."

They were outside of Lamia Scale's guildhall and it was 2 weeks before the Grand Magic Games began. A party had been organized so that all the contestants could get to know each other before the big day; which meant that most of the magical guilds in Fiore were there.

Crime Sorciére, per Meredy's request, had decided to join the party; taking advantage of the fact that it was a masked ball so that no one should recognize them. Just for precaution, though, they had also used magic to make themselves unrecognizable.

"So, shall we dance?" Erza extended her hand at him. She wore a beautiful dark red gown matched with a pair of red high heels she wouldn't be caught dead in if Lucy hadn't convinced her to wear them. Her mask had been taken off a while ago.

"We shouldn't." Jellal was quick to say while frowning.

Erza sighed, remembering their conversation a few months before when they had been reunited after seven long years. He had explicitly told her that the only reason he had chosen to live was so that he could make up for his mistakes; and that involved hurting her.

When she had told him that she forgave him for everything, he'd accepted it but reinforced that he had yet to forgive himself. After a fight that led to a desperate kiss; they agreed to stop hiding their feelings and confessed their love for each other.

However, per Jellal's request, they agreed to wait until he felt like he deserved to be with her.

But that was over two months ago and Erza was tired. "Come on; it won't do any harm. You can punish yourself later." She didn't await for an answer and grabbed his hand before leading him along the huge gardens, taking advantage of the fact it was deserted.

Once they reached a spot far enough from the party that no one should walk in, she stopped before turning to face him. His eyes showed guilt and regret; as usual. He wore a blue tuxedo, probably chosen by Meredy since the pinkette had good taste.

"You make it really hard to stay away from you." Jellal admitted while his arms instinctively wrapped around her waist.

"It certainly doesn't seem like it. I've missed you." Erza replied while wrapping her own around his neck as they began swinging to the faded slow song.

"I've missed you too." He tensed when her hand touched his cheek, but relaxed once she just used it to remove his mask.

They danced for a good while, until he felt like it was time to go. Being alone with her only served to increase his desire to be with her and he couldn't allow that.

So he tried to step away, but she didn't let him. Instead, her arms tightened around his neck and she brought his face closer so that she could kiss him.

As surprised as he was and despite the constant reminder of why he shouldn't, Jellal couldn't help but to reply.

When they were forced to pull apart because of the need for air, his mind finally started working again and he cursed himself for being weak. "We shouldn't have done that."

She rolled her eyes before grabbing his face with both hands. "Stop being so stubborn. I haven't seen you in weeks, so we deserve to at least have tonight." Her stare was firm and determined; he'd be lying if he said it wasn't tempting.

"Erza, I…." She put a finger on his lips while shaking her head.

"Don't talk. Just let go." He stared at her with uncertainty. "Tonight." Would one night make such a difference? He had been punishing himself for seven years, so maybe he deserved it.

For once in a long time, Jellal didn't waste time thinking about it and just let go. He allowed himself to be happy, to kiss her again and, when her hands started unbuttoning his tuxedo, he didn't push them away.

Instead he allowed his own to trace the back of her dress and unzip it. He didn't even know why he did it, but once she stepped away and allowed it to fall to the ground, he realized that he didn't care.

Erza awoke, almost jumping from her chair. Her face was warm and red as she thought of the events of that night.

It had been passionate, desperate and amazing. An experience she never wanted to forget and now, she never could.

A hand once again rested upon her stomach and she smiled. That night had produced the most precious life for them and no matter how difficult the situation was or how unready they were to become parents; Erza knew that both of them would stop at nothing to protect their child.

"You couldn't have chosen a worse time, though." She whispered, thinking of all the events happening that night. Looking towards the clock on the counter, she noticed it was 12:45. "Okay, now I think it's safe enough to join them."

Standing up, Erza started walking towards the door, only for it to be swung open.

[nightmaze]

“How to feel like a God of War”

A series of advice for healers from a healer who likes to DPS

You can find a list of all my guide > HERE <

0. Introduction

Sorry for those who expected such a thing: This is not a healing guide. Can we agree with the fact that bad healers sure exist, but usually their problem is related to a few point we can easily list here:

They don’t know their class / skills.

They are too focused on DPSing.

Their healing power is too low for the damages taken by their Tank (aka: They are under geared).

They aren’t focused on what they are doing.

They are AFK pee.

Now that the list is down, please, pretty please, learn to communicate when you’re a new healer and make sure that you’re supporting your party properly and don’t rely solely on the second healer (if relevant) while they would appreciate your help.

1.  Before the first pull > GAUGING

Wait for the end of the cutscene then buff your party.

If you’re a SCH or an AST, don’t forget to Adlo your tank.

While you wait, check the classes in party, then check the gear.

If the tank has a low ilvl > Avoid to DPS on the first pack.

If you have only melees or low ilvl DPS > Wait to see how goes the first pack then discuss with the party if it didn’t go well.

2. During the first pack > DOUBLE CHECKING

Sometimes we have some big surprises like for example having a Tank who has an excellent gear but is taking awful damages (cf. “How to pull right” if you’re such a Tank) or having a tank with an average gear who doesn’t take much damages. Over time, you’ll need less and less time to see if a tank can deal with a big pull or not, in my case, I usually need around 10 seconds top to gauge the whole party and to know if I’ll be able to DPS or not during the dungeon.

3. If you face a “problematic party” > COMMUNICATING.. OR NOT

Are you really up to communicate with your party ? Sometimes it’s better to just deal with it and to heal all along the dungeon. Think of it before engaging the discussion, unfortunately people can react badly if you ask something to them, even in the most pleasant way.

4. While the mobs are being killed > BALANCING

This is the most difficult part: Balancing when to heal and when to DPS. What I can say for sure is the more you’ll practice, the easier it will become. Of course, there are tips that will make this balance easier and your healer life more comfortable. I will list a few of them, if you have some you would like to share, don’t hesitate to comment or to send me a message and I’ll add them to this guide.

Begin slowly and never force yourself when you’re not comfortable.

While you can Focus Target the Tank during casual dungeons, remember that it will not be the case during Extreme and other Savage, learn to play without needing to Focus Target your Tank. If necessary, move your party HP bar in a more comfortable place for you.

Prepare some “oh shit” skills and even macros if you like them (examples under the cut).

In my case I have two macros which switch my target to the tank and either Lustrate / Essential dignity / Tetragrammaton or Adloquium / Benefic II / Cure II as I always target the monsters when I DPS.

Some other people prefer to keep the tank as target and using <tt> macros but I rather prefer not as a tank generally switch target often and as I play SCH, I cannot bane easily under such circumstances.

Give to your Tank the same respect you expect from them: Don’t give them a small heart attack by letting their life drop under 1k HP constantly unless they are used to it.

DPS aren’t supposed to take damages during pulls unless the Tank loses the aggro, if they voluntarily stay in the AOE, warn them once as you heal them, next time let them die. Yes you read well: Let them die, they will suddenly learn how to avoid AOE. Or to yell at you. Generally both together.

Use your tools. You have a lot of skill to heal as well as some CDs to boost your healing power, don’t hesitate to use them to DPS longer while keeping your Tank’s trust.

Refresh Adlo / top up your tank for the next pack when the last mob has between 5% and 10% of life left.

5. After killing the each set of mobs > ADJUSTING

Like the tank, you need to adjust to your party. While a Tank should pull less mobs if you struggled to heal them or if the DPS were too slow to kill the mobs, you have to adjust your DPS balance.

If the Tank almost died while they were using CDs and avoiding AOE: DPS less.

If the DPS was low and you struggled at the end of the pack to keep your Tank alive: Communicate or stop DPS earlier. Also expect to not DPS at all next pack as your Tank might lack of CDs to mitigate the damages they will take.

If the Tank asks you if they can take more mobs, be honest with them: Sometimes more mobs means you won’t be able to DPS and sometimes your DPS weight more than it seems to go faster.

If everything went ok: Keep it up !

If your Tank is surprisingly good: Trust them and DPS more !

When do I know if my balance between Heal and DPS is good ? This is something very personal which will change each time you’ll pug: You can never know how it will go ! Tell yourself that if you feel comfortable and your Tank isn’t having a heart attack every now and then, you’re doing it right :) !

Why should I let the DPS die D: !? This is a very personal point of view and I understand fully if people don’t follow it. I advice in general to just send your fairy whispering dawn or to Medica II / Aspected Helios: If they cannot survive with that, then they need to learn that Healers aren’t there to heal their lazy butt but the Tank’s one.

So long the Tank doesn’t die, it's ok to let their life drop low, right ? Here again, it’s a personal point of view: I like the Tank I have in party to trust me and I hate it when I Tank myself when I see my life dropping so low that I feel like the Healer forgot I exist. Plus, would you do a single mistake (like not enough Aetherflow stacks or Benediction in reuse), your Tank will die and the party might die.

What are your “Oh Shit” macros ? Here are those I use all the time, both as “Oh shit” and as “I’m very lazy to target the Tank”. For those who wonder, I repeat the same skill as it delays the skill a little (aka simulating a queue), avoiding you to miss your skill. I also use two different bars for DPS and Heal, so my “Oh Shit” macro switch me back to my healing bar where Lustrate, Adloquium, etc. are at the exact same place if need to spam. The hotbar change is done by adding “/hotbar change 1″ right after “/target <tt>”.

SCH "Oh shit" 

Lustrate ! /macrolock /micon "Lustrate" /target <tt> /ac "Lustrate" /ac "Lustrate" /ac "Lustrate" /ac "Lustrate" /ac "Lustrate" /pac "embrace" /pac "embrace" /pac "embrace" /pac "embrace"

Adloquium ! /macrolock /micon "Adloquium" /target <tt> /ac "Adloquium" /ac "Adloquium" /ac "Adloquium" /ac "Adloquium" /ac "Adloquium" /pac "embrace" /pac "embrace" /pac "embrace" /pac "embrace"

AST “Oh Shit”

Essential Dignity ! /macrolock /micon "Essential Dignity" /target <tt> /ac "Essential Dignity" /ac "Essential Dignity" /ac "Essential Dignity" /ac "Essential Dignity" /ac "Essential Dignity"

Benefic II ! /macrolock /micon "Benefic II" /target <tt> /ac "Benefic II" /ac "Benefic II" /ac "Benefic II" /ac "Benefic II" /ac "Benefic II"

WHM ‘Oh Shit”

Tetragrammaton ! /macrolock /micon "Tetragrammaton" /target <tt> /ac "Tetragrammaton" /ac "Tetragrammaton" /ac "Tetragrammaton" /ac "Tetragrammaton" /ac "Tetragrammaton"

Cure II ! /macrolock /micon "Cure II" /target <tt> /ac "Cure II" /ac "Cure II" /ac "Cure II" /ac "Cure II" /ac "Cure II"

Can you give us one example of <tt> macro ? Sure thing ♥ ! PS : <tt> means “the Target of my Target” aka the mob the Tank is targeting if you want to keep them in target.

<tt> Bio macro ! /micon "Bio" /ft /ac "Bio" <tt> /ac "Bio" <tt> /ac "Bio" <tt> /ac "Bio" <tt> /ac "Bio" <tt> /pac "Fey Wind" /pac "Embrace" /pac "Embrace" /pac "Embrace"

[euzonyiplace2020]

Thought process and plans

I haven’t explained the project properly yet so this is going to be a little summary of my plan and ideas so far.

When I first heard the topic of place and art I didn’t fully understand what that meant yet. My immediate thought however,  was that I wanted to do something focusing on the connection between the cosmos and our physical human form. As a starting point I studied the repeating mathematical patterns that are present in all materials and structures in existence (that we know of). I find it very inspiring and fascinating how for example the spiral of the golden ration is found both in the helix of our DNA and in the structure of solar systems. 

The notion that there is such a direct and physical link connecting the smallest life form and enormous planets together is somehow both unnerving and relaxing. Since I was very little I  felt a sort of existential anxiety within me whenever I looked at the night sky. The idea of time, sizes of the cosmos, and infinite distances made me feel isolated and my existence pointless until I learned that we are connected through something as beautiful as geometry. We are the microcosm of the universe, reflecting everything there is in the same ratio only in smaller sizes. 

The best part is, that we’re not only connected to planets but also everything found on Earth like animals, fossils and plants. This idea lead me to think about making a video projection about the human body and nature. 

I would make an edit out of closeup pans of the surface of the body and different plants and natural surfaces. Visually I aim for a psychedelic effect because I feel like that is one of the most realistic ways to materialize feelings and emotions of the human existence.

Well, the idea of a beautiful cosmic connection is very nice but how on earth is this connected to place/space in my art? After seeing the TED talk of  Duane Hoover about the transformative properties of installations at the Burning Man event I figured that I wanted to create something that had similar effects on people. 

It mesmerizes me how a certain place comes to life by the audience’s interaction with it and the way people also go through a transformation by simply existing in that space. Even through a screen I can feel the power of such a space, for example when I am looking at videos of Pipilotti Rist’s exhibitions or a psychedelic light show. 

So now I know, I want to focus on creating a space where the audience can walk in and have the opportunity to leave everyday worries and tasks outside, and have an experience of any kind of transformation. 

Since COVID-19 is still having the time of its life I can’t go back to the UK yet so I thought about turning my family home’s almost empty attic into the place of my installation. My family has a projector so I could project my video onto the ceiling or a wall. I am going to try and get a second projector and make a two channel video installation to make a more powerful effect. 

Apart from having the projection(s) I would expand the installation and build something to complement the psychedelic experience and make it more captivating. I want to make people feel as if they were in a different dimension when they step inside. In order to do that I think I’ll need to transform the place in a way that in won’t look like an attic any more. I was also thinking about making a mix of earthy sounds and playing that from a speaker.

I had an experience years ago when I went to the open day at a Waldorf primary school and I thought one day in one way or another I will recreate that atmosphere. I remember stepping into a dimly lit room that was completely transformed into a fairytale forest and I felt mesmerized. The ceiling was covered with white veils and sparkling fairy lights, the floor was covered with dry autumn leaves from outside and in the middle there was part of a tree connecting the ground to the top and quiet Celtic folk music was playing from a speaker somewhere. I was around 11 years old and I still remember the feeling I had when I stepped in there, it motivates me and brings back magic in my heart whenever I feel unmotivated. 

For my installation I’d like to use different types of light sources (candles, fairy lights, salt lamps, reading lamp covered with colored fabric) to achieve creating a mysterious and relaxing atmosphere. I’m thinking about bringing in leaves and other things from outside, but strictly those that are already on the ground or don’t require any form of human intervention to remove them from where they belong. Maybe I’d also use monochrome, probably white and semi-transparent fabrics to cover the walls with. When I invite people as audience I’d serve tea as well.

Overall I aim to making a psychedelic, two-channel video installation about human body-nature similarities with sound. Exhibited in the family home’s attic space supplementing the projections with additional installations using natural resources. I would then invite my friends (following social distance and COVID-19 regulations) and record them while they discover the space. 

To do’s:

more artist research

borrow macro and portrait lenses from friends

see if there’s a way to rent projector

collect footage (human model(s), nature)

edit footage

download sound samples from Freesound.org / see if any of my friends have microphone I could borrow

mix sound 

clean attic

get props for installation

build installation

invite people

record installation-audience interaction

10/01/21

[liketherogue]

Gigantic & PAX West Decompression (9/6)

Been a while since I posted about games, but August was a rather weird month for me. Aside from making and releasing my first game, friends came up to visit, job-hunted, and questioned my career choices. Standard stuff.

To start off with, last weekend I attended PAX West in what was my 2nd full convention, 2.5 overall (interesting story that involves a Portal sweater, Chipotle, and testing the bonds of friendship). PAX was a truly amazing experience that further cemented my drive to be in the video game industry, no matter the capacity. My problem has been where exactly that niche is. At 24 years old, I’ve got a bit of a late start compared to other people. But, as I have told myself and other people have told me, it’s wrong to think of the past few years as a waste. Without them, without the struggles I endured, I wouldn’t be in a position now where it truly feels like I’m following my passion. 

It does get hard sometimes. Despite my best efforts, comparison will always seep through, and with them regrets. Regret that I didn’t follow this sooner. Regret that I didn’t study compsci. Regret that I haven’t been more consistent with my creative endeavors. But regrets look only at the past, and while the past has been important to shape who I am today, my focus needs to be directed forward.

Video games have always been a part of my life and will continue to be important to me. Seeing that same dedication and passion at PAX West was truly eye-opening. Getting to meet the developers to Children of Zodiarcs, discovering that the LucasArts crew is back and better than ever, and simply being in an environment where games are celebrated: well, it was better than I could’ve imagined.

So until the day I find myself a part of the industry that creates these fantastic titles, I’ll be happy simply adoring them from a distance. 

At least that distance has shrunk, right?

Due to a mix of different factors, I haven’t played many video games lately. Gigantic is one of the few that I have consistently made time for. I’ve been a fan of the game since it was first announced back in 2014 and tried to play the closed beta (my computer was potatoes at the time). With the game’s full release, it’s at an extremely polished state in terms of aesthetics and design. Unfortunately, with the rise of hero shooters like Overwatch, Paladins, and Battleborn, it’s gotten a bit lost in the shuffle. It’s a shame, because Gigantic is very clearly a labor of love made all the more impressive that the team sits at under 100 developers. Having met the developers at PAX West and confirmed that they are indeed passionate creators, I want this game to succeed even more. It’s not without its rough edges but overall it’s a fantastic experience.

Story

The world of Gigantic is rather vague and a simple Light (House Aurion) vs. Dark (House Devaedra). Five heroes fight for a giant glowing gryphon against another set of five heroes fighting for a giant glowing snakedragon thing. Battles take place across three different locations (desert industry, overgrown and waterlogged ruins, shipwrecked glacier) where ultimately the focus is the gameplay, not the story.

That said, there are still quite a few story elements to be found that aren’t tied to the core gameplay. Gigantic divvies up its lore and backstory in the skins for the heroes and their weapons, doling out bits of information through small sentences that, much like Dark Souls, gives a very small window into a very wide world. Currently, it’s a mish-mash of interesting lore, so hopefully Motiga will take the effort to tie these threads together somehow later down the line.

Mechanics

Back in the beta, the game handled rather floatily. Floaty? Floatingly? Yes. At any rate, whatever has been done since then has smoothed everything out immensely. What Overwatch did for FPSes, Gigantic did for OTS 3rd person. This is thank is no small part to the gorgeous animation on Motiga’s part, where moving in three dimensional space feels like a watercolor in motion. Every motion flows beautifully from one to the next and all the abilities flow and cancel into each other very smoothly.

My one gripe is with the stamina system which, balance-wise, I understand, but it still takes some getting used to. The in/out of combat system isn’t entirely intuitive, at least off the bat. The more games I’ve played the less attention I’ve had to actively pay to the indicator at the bottom of my screen that lets me know as I’m about to exit combat. 

At first, it was easy to get lost in the effects and numbers piling up but I’ll attribute that more to getting used to the format of the game rather than any design flaw on the developers’ part. As each game passed and I became increasingly familiar with each Hero’s abilities and the corresponding particle effects, it became easier to parse out what was happening where and why. The combat can best be described as controlled chaos, but that’s pretty standard fare for hero-based games. And that’s a large part of why I love them.

On the macro scale of things, matches take place across roughly symmetrical arenas that, similar to Heroes of the Storm, has objectives laid out that generate resources for the team that has captured them. Fighting, if both teams are doing the right thing, will largely take place around these objectives. What I particularly love about Gigantic’s gameplay is that the objectives are active rather than passive, in the sense that gameplay is more than just about standing in and around the objective. The players can actively manipulate what sort of defenses the objective will have and it does factor into how the flow of a fight will pan out. The macro affects the micro in more ways than one and it’s been a delight to sort out the method in the madness.

Aesthetic

Gigantic is flat out gorgeous. The bold, striking colors and shapes all blend together in three dimensional space to create a vibrant world that is pure visual bliss to move through. It takes a page out of TF2 and, where Overwatch went a step towards realism, Gigantic takes a step towards style. Shapes and features are exaggerated, but form still does follow function. That’s a critical component missing from a lot of other games, e.g. Battleborn, Atlas Reactor, Borderlands, where the stylized visual aspects are incredibly pronounced but at times it feels like they’re colorful for the sake of being colorful. In a panel presented by the Motiga devs at PAX, they talked about the importance of shapes, silhouettes, and form/function dictating a character’s geometry. 

Another huge point in the game’s favor is the decision to go for a more storybook feel, in that the characters feel very heavily cartoony and stylized while belonging to established Western fairy tale archetypes. It fits the world of Gigantic quite well. It threads a fine line between stark danger and playful whismy, whirling together into a blend of storybook fantasy that feels almost nostalgic.

Technology

Gigantic was built in Unreal 3, which explains the impressive effects that the game produces. Complex geometry is formed real-time and lighting and shading are cast on large, packed scenes. I don’t know too much about Unreal or what it’s capable of, but especially since beta whatever Motiga has done to smooth things out it shows.

Note: Posting this 10 days after I initially started writing, but chalk that up to an incredibly debilitating fever and a slightly bloody concussion. Better late than never, as it goes.

[howtoloseweightfastsafely]

How I Lost 30 Pounds In 90 Days And How You Can Too

NEW YORK, NY --- IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST.

I was in the midst of what I could only describe as a mental breakdown.

For the past few weeks, I'd been visualizing my "future self" quite often...

This "future self" being a healthy, happy and incredibly fit young man.

An image that, up until this day, had seemed like a sure shot.

As the wise men say, though, "all good things must come to an end". And in line with the prophecies or whatever you want to call them, my fairy tale had come to an end.

This end was the day I that my three, incredibly fast months of weight loss came to an abrupt stop.

(In reality, it had actually ended at least a few weeks prior. I'd just been too blind to realize it.)

It was the end of 30 pounds of rapid weight loss.

The end of an incredible amount of fat that disappeared, like a miracle, in less than 90 days.

A miracle that went just as fast as it came.

It went, even as I foolishly kept thinking I was "doing great" and "getting lean".

It went, until the fateful day I realized that I had made ZERO progress over the last 2-3 odd weeks.

...That the scale wasn't moving an inch.

That the fat on my stomach looked exactly as it did in the weeks prior.

And that my muscles seemed to look me back with the "ain't got time for yo' bullshit" look.

My BODY had officially had it.

And truth be told, I deserved it.

I thought I could read a 300-word blog post and follow its 6 "diet rules", learn NOTHING about nutrition, learn NOTHING about exercise, learn NOTHING about my body, and somehow transform from an obese slob to a lean, mean fat-burning machine.

Not so fast, buddy!

And so began my quest.

A quest that culminated in massive, lasting success to the tune of 76 pounds lost. And to the reality, not just a pipe dream, of transforming from an obese slob to a lean, mean, fat-burning machine.

But a quest that, for me, included the time to understand the finer points of nutrition. To understand the inner workings of both body and mind. To discover both time-tested strategies, and modern tips and tricks --- and to proverbially "hack" my way to the upper echelons of fitness. To hack my way to a level of mastery in the field, that ranks far above the "experts" spouting off their un-researched, unproven "facts"...yet below the level of claiming complete, unquestionable knowledge of the field.

Because as I've learned by studying the real experts, the claim of unquestionable knowledge is nothing more than proof of a tremendous ego and a complete lack of humility.

There is no one, I repeat no one, who knows everything there is to know about nutrition, exercise, physiology, psychology, and all the other components of building a healthy, happy, well-rounded person. (But there are some who know a whole lot, myself included. [end shameless plug])

The best we can really do is keep an open mind, and always strive to learn more, to apply more, and to test more.

To be better than we were yesterday and as good as we can be today, for ourselves, and for our clients, for our families, and for our friends, and to every single person, we come into contact with on a daily basis.

And in doing so, we can sow the seeds for an amazing, fulfilling, freeing life.

At least that's how I see life today, and how I hope you see life too (or start seeing it.)

Anyway, I know that was a bit philosophical, but it's important to get out there.

Moving on, let's get to the "meat" of what the book is all about.

I formally introduce you to one of the most comprehensive books on fat loss, fitness, and body-mind wellness that I know of (and trust me, I've read a TON of books on the topic) -- a book that combines:

Hundreds of conversations with health & wellness     specialists, NY Times bestselling authors, world-class fat loss experts,     and more.8

Insane amounts of study, research, testing, and     application, both with myself and my clients. (This includes studying and     implementing strategies from over 40 full-length books and 600+ research     papers & expert commentaries.)

My unique 8+ years of small "successes",     followed by seemingly insurmountable failures and culminating with the     final, lasting 76-pound weight loss success that I have now.

Furthermore, I introduce you to a book that you can use to, at a minimum, grasp the "big picture" of fat loss so you can start transforming your body today (while of course delving deep into the knowledge if you'd like).

And lastly, I introduce you to a book that takes away all the guesswork, and makes it simple and easy to change your body, without all the B.S. of trying out a hundred and one things just to lose a damn pound!

I hope that you use this guide wisely. Use it with as much (inner) strength, vigor, and dedication as you can muster, and in doing so, you too can have your very own extreme fat loss transformation.

 Interested in having a similar success story? Then click below to see the exact steps I took to lose weight and keep it off for good...

Read the next article about "How I Lost Weight By Not Following The Mainstream Media And Health Guru's Advice - Why The Health Industry Is Broken And How We Can Fix It"

Moving forward, there are several other articles/topics I'll share so you can lose weight even faster and feel great doing it.

Below is a list of these topics and you can use this Table of Contents to jump to the part that interests you the most.

Topic 1: How I Lost 30 Pounds In 90 Days - And How You Can Too

Topic 2: How I Lost Weight By Not Following The Mainstream Media And Health Guru's Advice - Why The Health Industry Is Broken And How We Can Fix It

Topic 3: The #1 Ridiculous Diet Myth Pushed By 95% Of Doctors And "experts" That Is Keeping You From The Body Of Your Dreams

Topic 4: The Dangers of Low-Carb and Other "No Calorie Counting" Diets

Topic 5: Why Red Meat May Be Good For You And Eggs Won't Kill You

Topic 6: Two Critical Hormones That Are Quietly Making Americans Sicker and Heavier Than Ever Before

Topic 7: Everything Popular Is Wrong: The Real Key To Long-Term Weight Loss

Topic 8: Why That New Miracle Diet Isn't So Much of a Miracle After All (And Why You're Guaranteed To Hate Yourself On It Sooner or Later)

Topic 9: A Nutrition Crash Course To Build A Healthy Body and Happy Mind

Topic 10: How Much You Really Need To Eat For Steady Fat Loss (The Truth About Calories and Macronutrients)

Topic 11: The Easy Way To Determining Your Calorie Intake

Topic 12: Calculating A Weight Loss Deficit

Topic 13: How To Determine Your Optimal "Macros" (And How The Skinny On The 3-Phase Extreme Fat Loss Formula)

Topic 14: Two Dangerous "Invisible Thorn" Foods Masquerading as "Heart Healthy Super Nutrients"

Topic 15: The Truth About Whole Grains And Beans: What Traditional Cultures Know About These So-called "Healthy Foods" That Most Americans Don't

Topic 16: The Inflammation-Reducing, Immune-Fortifying Secret of All Long-Living Cultures (This 3-Step Process Can Reduce Chronic Pain and Heal Your Gut in Less Than 24 Hours)

Topic 17: The Foolproof Immune-enhancing Plan That Cleanses And Purifies Your Body, While "patching Up" Holes, Gaps, And Inefficiencies In Your Digestive System (And How To Do It Without Wasting $10+ Per "meal" On Ridiculous Juice Cleanses)

Topic 18: The Great Soy Myth (and The Truth About Soy in Eastern Asia)

Topic 19: How Chemicals In Food Make Us Fat (Plus 10 Banned Chemicals Still in the U.S. Food Supply)

Topic 20: 10 Banned Chemicals Still in the U.S. Food Supply

Topic 21: How To Protect Yourself Against Chronic Inflammation (What Time Magazine Calls A "Secret Killer")

Topic 22: The Truth About Buying Organic: Secrets The Health Food Industry Doesn't Want You To Know

Topic 23: Choosing High Quality Foods

Topic 24: A Recipe For Rapid Aging: The "Hidden" Compounds Stealing Your Youth, Minute by Minute

Topic 25: 7 Steps To Reduce AGEs and Slow Aging

Topic 26: The 10-second Trick That Can Slash Your Risk Of Cardiovascular Mortality By 37% (Most Traditional Cultures Have Done This For Centuries, But The Pharmaceutical Industry Would Be Up In Arms If More Modern-day Americans Knew About It)

Topic 27: How To Clean Up Your Liver and Vital Organs

Topic 28: The Simple Detox 'Cheat Sheet': How To Easily and Properly Cleanse, Nourish, and Rid Your Body of Dangerous Toxins (and Build a Lean Well-Oiled "Machine" in the Process)

Topic 29: How To Deal With the "Stress Hormone" Before It Deals With You

Topic 30: 7 Common Sense Ways to Have Uncommon Peace of Mind (or How To Stop Your "Stress Hormone" In Its Tracks)

Topic 31: How To Sleep Like A Baby (And Wake Up Feeling Like A Boss)

Topic 32: The 8-step Formula That Finally "fixes" Years Of Poor Sleep, Including Trouble Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep, And Waking Up Rested (If You Ever Find Yourself Hitting The Snooze Every Morning Or Dozing Off At Work, These Steps Will Change Your Life Forever)

Topic 33: For Even Better Leg Up And/or See Faster Results In Fixing Years Of Poor Sleep, Including Trouble Falling Asleep, Staying Asleep, And Waking Up Rested, Do The Following:

Topic 34: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 35: Part 1 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 36: Part 2 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 37: Part 3 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 38: Part 4 of 4: Solution To Overcoming Your Mental Barriers and Cultivating A Winner's Mentality

Topic 39: How To Beat Your Mental Roadblocks And Why It Can Be The Difference Between A Happy, Satisfying Life And A Sad, Fearful Existence (These Strategies Will Reduce Stress, Increase Productivity And Show You How To Fulfill All Your Dreams)

Topic 40: Maximum Fat Loss in Minimum Time: The Body Type Solution To Quick, Lasting Results

Topic 41: If You Want Maximum Results In Minimum Time You're Going To Have To Work Out (And Workout Hard, At That)

Topic 42: Food Planning For Maximum Fat Loss In Minimum Time

Topic 43: How To Lose Weight Fast If You're in Chronic Pain

Topic 44: Nutrition Basics for Fast Pain Relief (and Weight Loss)

Topic 45: How To Track Results (And Not Fall Into the Trap That Ruins 95% of Well-Thought Out Diets)

Topic 46: Advanced Fat Loss - Calorie Cycling, Carb Cycling and Intermittent Fasting

Topic 47: Advanced Fat Loss - Part I: Calorie Cycling

Topic 48: Advanced Fat Loss - Part II: Carb Cycling

Topic 49: Advanced Fat Loss - Part III: Intermittent Fasting

Topic 50: Putting It All Together