#like the guy in love amongs the dragons is not named blue spirit

[chiptrillino-art]

In the Spirit World, roughly 400 years ago.

When you are just a little blue guy. But the greater gods found a liking in you. And then you ended up as chewtoy for Koh.

Spirit shenanegans at their finest.

[chtozaepta]

I love your OCs with the horns and tails! And all of your non human OCs, if you want could you maybe say a bit about their characters and the world they live in? Only if you want to (also I'm obsessed with your art, you really are a pillar of shaperaverse fan community on Tumblr)

Oooooh this gonna be lömg!

First of all, thank you I’m glad you like them :> These are characters from an original comic I’m about to post (the first chapter is almost ready), but this race does not appear in the main plot for some time, so I can say a few things without spoiling anything. I know it’s not a very original design, I mean, duh, who doesn’t have horns and tails right 🌚 So anyway, these guys are called yáve, and they are like… feral elves in a way. They live in forests/tundras in big clans and build funky colorful térems, mostly out of wood bc permafrost.

They looove all things colorful and worship the spirits of nature. The huge pink moth/dragon/reindeer guy? That’s one of them.

His/her name is Menerik and he/she is essentially a god(ess) of Northern Lights, the Moon, madness and magic. He/she is very coherently genderfluid, the gender depending on the moon faze. During the full moon she is a female entity, and when it’s a crescent he is considered male. On the new moon it is forbidden to speak of him. Fun fact - this also is reflected in their language, based on Russian, where a word for “moon” is feminine, and “crescent” is masculine). Since Menerik is a he for the most time, that’s what I would usually call him.

Most yave are mortal, their lifespan being close to humans, but there are two ways for them to achieve a sort of immortality. First is joining the Circle of Memories, an order that keeps their knowledge, culture and traditions and become essentially immortal through a ritual, and another way is becoming a mage and learning the ways to prolong life through contact with spirits. Any yave who starts learning magic is introduced to the spirits on the thinner layer of reality and give up their birth name, color and gender. Their new name they choose themselves, their new color is given by the spirits, and from the moment they start learning magic they are all non-binary, body and soul. All this “immortality” tho is really just a longer life, because they can still be killed, fall sick or get cursed, so there is hardly anyone older than 200 years there. There are rumors about mages over a thousand years old, but that’s spoiler territory)

Some stuff here is *very loosely* based on siberian shaman practices, some names and words borrowed from siberian folklore.

Some of the yave characters I’ve drawn so far:

There’s Chanava, the purple witch with blue horns, around 20 years or so; they will probably appear in the comic. They are a mage, and also joined the Circle, but neither have given them immortality or enough power. Not that they are desperate, just very curious.

Aravellane, their uuum king? Tsar? Prince? Whatever. The one in the crown and a blue fur coal a few posts earlier. A mage, but prefers he/him; he has a blade that can make whatever cut without killing you. Some say, he cut his own heart out with it once to stop feeling sad feelz, and the heart ran away, because he treated it terribly. Since then, an endless winter covered his part of land, and if it weren’t for the mages and trade of diamonds they mine, they’d all be very much fucked.

Myándush, the head of the Circle of Memories. Öld, woise, mistürios, all that. Speaks in riddles. Has a beef with Aravelle, though why, no one can tell.

Ryt’kheo - dabbles in magic, but is not officially introduced to the spirits. Makes airboats, which is basically a boat with a magic sail that can get it into air. The sails he weaves from wool and puts in threads of Menerik’s mane. He is considered one of the coolest craftsmen among the yavi, and everyone wants a flying boat, so he is always very fucking tired and 100% done. Random fact - a “Ryt’kheo” is not a name, it really means “Unnamed”. It is used to address someone who has already given up their name but have not yet taken a new one.

Harrahaye - Ryt’kheo’s brother, not much to say about him except that he is a pain in the ass. I’m still fleshing out their characters, so there you go x)

There is another one, who is more or less complete, but they will appear in the comic and are quite important, so all the info will be there 😌✨

[theblackdragon-studios]

everyone but as pokemon 👀

I like this concept more than I probably should. X’D Get ready for a long post…

The Main Cast

We first have the protagonist herself. She appears to be a Shiny Zoroark…or a Shiny Hisuian Zoroark. This isn’t even her true form either…but she walks all three worlds by disguising herself as a human or a normal, living Zoroark. She can also “shapeshift” into other Pokémon and people too.

I chose Zoroark for Pendara because of the shape shifting (illusion trick), and because Hisuian Zoroark is a Ghost type which fits the Spirit dragon thing.

Megaera the Shiny Haxorus. Of the dragons, I think Haxorus fits her best, especially the Shiny.

Calixthzan the Charizard, but a descendent of the clone Charizard from the first Pokémon movie. Because of this he feels this need to prove he is a real Pokémon and just as strong as any other. He’s that kind of edgelord, yes.

Went with Charizard because I love Charizard, and the Fire lizard fit best. It was between this and Groudon, but I wasn’t making anyone a Legendary here.

Frjord the Alolan Ninetails, because he’s an Ice dragon but likes warm, sandy climates, and Alola is Hawaii.

Azure was difficult because there weren’t any blue snakes that look like him…so I went with Inteleon. I know Inteleon is meant to be a cool spy like a James Bond character…but he just looks sleepy to me. lol And Azure, like actual pythons, doesn’t do much. He’s seen as lazy, but he’s just not much for high energy activity.

The Mentors and Leader

Arkelm would be a Shiny Gyrados. One that has the ability to Mega Evolve. The reason for this, he used to live among humans and acted as a protector and provider for them (this is in the actual story too). Because of this, his desire to protect those that cannot protect themselves lead to the gift of access to this stone and power.

Went with Shiny Gyrados…because it’s a red noodle dragon. So is he.

Maziah the Noctowl, still an alchemist. I chose Noctowl because she’s an Owl dragon in the story now. I think I based her on the Great Horned Owl…or a similar one.

King Blackthorn is a Shiny Haxorus like his daughter, but I wasn’t going to draw another normal Haxorus. Blackthorn also has a Mega Stone, and this is what he looks like when using it. (Credit for the design goes to lordmacguffin on DeviantArt)

When Megaera takes his place, she will be given the Mega Stone. When this happens, she will put it on her wrist cuff.

Villain

I still don’t have an official name for this guy…but he’d be an Arbok because he’s a Cobra dragon in the story.

Nox

Last but not least, Nox. He would be a Shiny Garchomp (which is slightly closer to his usual color…) Why? Because he’s a semi-aquatic dragon in the story and has shark teeth. As in multiple rows of teeth. Also Garchomp is a pseudo-Legendary, so that fits him too.

[convxction]

ooc. e/ngage krumbin bonds conversation p.1

alear convo

since i have not played en/gage i dont know that much about alear to make proper connections to the whole divine dragon thing but going thru the conversations chrom did state that divine dragon is a name shared among different realms for different figures.

but yeah the conversation didnt give more insight just that they have a similar vibe to each other?? nothing i can take from here to add to my portrayal.

ivy convo

i would like once again tell everyone that chrom is super friendly but not with that serious ready to stab you face. it is a running gag from other franchises and im glad they started to pick on this and use it. tbh i like this part of chrom. he looks unapproachable but then he opens his mouth (and smiles at you) and you wonder how a blue muffin can have that serious face.

oooh this. thiiiiis. honestly i will say this over and over that chrom was not given the proper time to grieve for his sister in the game; from battle to battle and then rushed back to the castle to assume his duties as ylisse representative--not exalt, but representative in respect to his sister. chrom knows how it is important to properly grieve. for chrom, he was lucky to have the people around him. lissa is an important part not mentioned a lot and u can tell in the spa convo when lissa told emmeryn that when she cam back, chrom 'finally cried' ... sigh. anyway.

this is cute tbh. chrom is not the guy to judge you for your fears even if they dont make sense, he knows to each their 'weakness'. chrom got his own weaknesses so he cannot act like he is better than anyone. MINUS IF YOU ARE LUCINA AND MORGAN FIGHTING A COCKROACH AND YELLING LIKE THEY WERE HOUNDED BY RISENS!!! IM LOOKING AT YOU, PUNKS! ahem. yes. he understands your fears. also i wanted a joke about him being a spirit himself ..haha. you guys miss a lot of jokes in these convos...

diamant convo

this is probably my favorite convo so far?? it has a core, a problem the character is concerned about, chrom is not being goofy and actually gives out advice; shares his experience. even before watching the whole thing this convo made me pause, rewatch it again and nod along. it's this moment i feel like chrom has a little brother he wants to impart his knowledge of what is like being a ruler.aaaaaaaaa it is precious. i love certain words linked to chrom like freedom. he was free to pursue what he want; learn what he want, travel, and form the shepherds ... Emmeryn gave him this freedom to be himself--to discover himself. he wants everyone to have this freedom, too. sigh... i could go over this in a long article but lets keep things simple. if u wanna more stuff check the headcanon page for the shepherds' meta hc.

[sebastianshaw]

@starbucks-redcups Here is the “Toad in Tabletop Games I Like” post you requested! Also tagging @toadlingscentral and @brotherhoodofm and @awkward-snake-girl because Toad... @acaprioglino, you still like Toad? Okay, so I said I would pick a vampire clan or a werewolf/other wereanimal breed, or a DnD race class...but for Toad I am doing ALL of them because I immediately knew which I think he’d be for each. For a vampire, he is absolutely a Nosferatu. In the “Vampire: The Masquerade” setting, each clan of vampires has a curse, a weakness. For the Brujah, they enter Frenzy (a state of uncontrollable bloodthirsty rage) twice as easily as other clans. For the Lasombra, they do not appear in mirrors or photography, a fitting punishment for their pride, and more of a problem than it used to be in this modern age of cameras everywhere. For the Toreador, their same of beauty that makes them artists can also hypnotize them, making them stand still staring enraptured at whatever has captured their aesthetic appreciation...a big problem if the sun comes up or someone is attacking them. And Nosferatu....the poor Nosferatu are all so hideously deformed that they cannot ever mingle with humans, they must remain hidden so as to preserve the Masquerade (the system that keeps humans from knowing vampires exist and walk among them)  No matter what a Nosferatu looked like before their Embrace (becoming a vampire) they become horrible in death, often unrecognizable as their former selves. Many look like Count Orlok in the movie that bears their clan name, but many others have a more “individual” appearence---all of them, however, are too hideous to ever pass as human, and even the other clans look at them with revulsion (especially the beauty-obsessed Toreador) So, like Toad, they’re outcasts for their appearance, both from humanity and often looked down on by other vampires, just like Toad is rejected both by humans and often by other mutants. Yet, just as Toad has been a valuable underling to Magneto, so too are the Nosferatu very valuable to other vampires. The fact that they have had to learn how to stay hidden has made them masters at going undetected (having the power of Obfuscate helps---it can make you invisible or ignored!) and have become spymasters and intel-gatherers without peer! When you need info, you go to the Nosferatu, and they always have it---for a price.  Toad isn’t really an information-peddler at all in canon, but he is very tech-savvy, and that’s where I think he works as a Nos. In the digital age, Nosferatu have kept up very well with using computers and the internet, and some have become truly extraordinary hackers. Toad’s more of a machinery/inventor guy, but I could see Nos!Toad taking the Internet spymaster route instead. I could also see him using his inventing talents to make modern solutions to vampire problems---helping preserve the Masquerade, dealing with hunters, etc---and earning his value to other vampires that way. Nosferatus also have the power of Animalism, letting them control critters. A lot of them seem to prefer rats, but Toad can sometimes control or communicate with amphibians in canon depending who is writing, so I imagine Nos!Toad has a bunch of little frog and toad buddies that act as his eyes, ears, and living security systems.  Finally, Nosferatu are super strong, posessing the power of Potence, and while Toad’s never been a real brawler, his kicks can definitely kill a man! Toad’s werewolf tribe would be a Bone Gnawer. Bone Gnawers are the “mutts” of werewolf society, the outcasts, the poor, the downtrodden, the ill-bred. Their human forms are often homeless bums or filthy runaways, their wolf forms look more like scrawny junkyard dogs, and other tribes look down on them, especially the aristocratic Silver Fangs. They get no respect and have to earn every scrap they get, but they’re innovative and clever since they have to rely on what little they have, and they’re tough as nails despite not being as big and strong as the other tribes. They’re tragic figures, but also smart, scrappy underdogs, just like Toad.  Toad would also be a metis. See, a peculiarity of the wereanimals in “Werewolf: The Apocalpyse” is that they can’t mate with each other, they must mate with humans or animals in order to reproduce. If two werewolves mate, their offpsring will be sterile and deformed, and this is called a metis. As a note, the term “metis” is also unfortunately the name of a real-world Indigenuous Canadian ethnic group, and while I hope there is no connection (the werewolves use a lot of their own unique language that was invented for the game---crinos, ahroun, theurge, etc.---) this game company (White Wolf) has done shitty racist things before, so like...it’s a possibility. But like, regardless of what the NAME for such a creature is, that’s what Toad would be.  Anyway, MOST werewolf tribes shun the metis, and it’s against their laws for Garou (werewolves) to mate with each other for the exact reason that it produces metis. A metis has to earn their place normally, and a lot of them spend their whole lives trying to do that. But the Bone Gnawers are different. They not only embrace their own metis, but they will adopt the metis from other tribes as their own, not blaming them for the sins of their parents or being what they are. But other tribes will still be nasty towards them. So, Toad has a place among his own people, but will still face persecution from others, which I think fits. Many metis and Bone Gnawers both often become angry and bitter because they’re fighting for the same righteous cause as other Garou (just as the Brotherhood wants to protect mutantkind, the werewolves want to protect Gaia) but get treated like dogshit, which I think also fits Toad. They keep fighting the good fight, but they’re often snarky and distrustful of others because they always expect to get kicked once they’re not useful. For a werebeast, I think he’d be a Ratkin. The Ratkin are wererats, and they’re my FAVES. Not just because I love rats, but because they’re honestly SO MUCH FUN. It’s kind of hard for me to describe if you’re not familiar with the setting, but in a world where a lot of the other creatures are all very formal and serious, the Ratkin are like...honestly, I could read their entire breedbook with Toad’s voice from the X-Men Evo cartoon and it would sound PERFECT; one of the rats in it talks about how a Stargazer tribe werewolf tried to impress him with a haiku about cherry blossosm, so the Ratkin recited half a limerick then hit the wolf on the nose with a stick and ran away. I love it, I love them.  Like the Bone Gnawers (the only werewolf tribe they get along with) they’re scrappers and survivors who live on the fringes of society, using their brains to fight for a good cause even if they’re not as big and tough as others, and even if those others don’t appreciate them.  There are different “Aspects” of Ratkin, basically different castes, and Toad would ABSOLUTELY be an engineer. Engineers use their shocking intelligence to salvage and devise ingenious devices from rubble and garbage to fight against the Wyrm and its servants (the Wyrm is like...the big bad evil spirit that all the wereanimals are fighting to save Gaia from, basically) Metis are a thing with wererats too, but the rats treat them equal, unlike werewolves. I would still have Toad be one, though, to keep his odd appearance; his rat form would probably be hairless, poor guy, and he’d probably have an unpleasant smell. As a note, Ratkin HATE humans, but the Ratkin metis will often have sympathy for humans who are downtrodden and outcast by other humans (which can make their fellow rats sneer at them)  Finally, for DnD, his class would be either a Rogue or an Artificer. A Rogue is one of the original classic DnD classes, they’re sneaky cunning thief-types who live by their wits and rely on skills and stealth and cunning and trickery instead of brute force. They pick locks and pick pockets, and I think they’d be a great fit for X-men Evolution Toad specifically. They can be very acrobatic, and are great at avoiding danger, which also fits for Toad’s leaping abilities and how he can be cowardly ( speaking of that, the Ratkin, while ultimately willing to die for Gaia if they must, would definitely always prefer to live another day if they can, rather than die a noble death if they don’t have to) So you could totally go with Toad as a Rogue, someone who has been cast out by society and thus has become a thief and a scoundrel to survive. But the Artificer, a new class, works even better when you consider Toad’s mechanical genius. Artificers, like the Ratkin Engineers, merge science with the supernatural. They’re inventors extraordinaire who unlock the magic in everyday objects, and channel arcane power with tools and tinkering! For his race, either a Grung or a Kobold. The Grung are little frog-people. They’re agile, they’re amphibious, they jump really good, and their skin secretes a substance that is harmless to them but poisonous to other creatures. By using a small amount of this poison, they can mentally enslave other creatures, and depending on the writer (Toad’s powers fluctuate around a lot due to his unstable genetic structure, as I’m sure you know)  Toad can also secrete chemicals from his tongue and fingertips that allow him to influence, manipulate, and control the minds of others to a limited extent, so there’s that similarity. Different colored grungs have different castes/roles in their society, and I think Toad would be a green or blue.  Green grungs are the tribe's warriors, hunters, and laborers, and blue grungs work as artisans and in other domestic roles. Green because, even though he’s not the bravest, he is often used as a grunt or canon fodder in fights by the Brotherhood, and blue because “artisan” could also cover being an inventor. Kobolds are little lizard-people who often serve dragons as the dragon’s minions (and Toad is usually in the minion role) and are noted for their skill at building traps and preparing ambushes, which I think Toad’s engineering skills would make him good at, plus I think he’d far prefer trapping an enemy than having to fight them. Like Toad, Kobolds are often dismissed as cowardly, foolish, and weak by others, but actually they’re clever and can be quite aggressive, as is the case with Toad too.  I hope you enjoyed this and that at least some of it was accurate/fitting!

[writing-the-end]

LoL Chapter 24- Champions

Masterpost

A Wizard Hermits tale (AU and Red belongs to @theguardiansofredland )

Ecto belongs to @cooler-cactus-block

Not only have the hermits found out who the dark wizard is, but they’ve just won the Chimaera’s Championship. Things are finally going the right way for the hermits. 

But the celebration doesn’t last long. One more challenge lays ahead. 

_____________________________________________

Victors, heroes, enemies. Champions. In one single moment, the hermits were all that and more. From being an illegal guild of nobodies to a team of wizards that just won the Chimaera’s championship- it’s hard to believe. Standing before the stadium, finally able to see and be enveloped in the warm lights, the entire crowd cheering for team STAR. Not the hermits, that’s not who they are here. They’re still an illegal guild. But here? They’re just a team of random wizards. A team of random wizards that just won the Chimaera’s championship. 

The only way their mood could be soured was by having to hear that bastard Dolios’s voice. Which, unfortunately, is exactly what they hear echoing all around them. Congratulating them, capitulating his pride and joy to see new faces take home the Cup, the gold, and the glory. From behind, TFC can hear Zedaph growling under his breath. “Why can’t someone shut him up?” 

“This is outrageous!” Exactly on cue, Dolios is cut off by the voice of his own Council. Idelens stands, brushing out the golden tassel of her robes so that they’re perfectly placed. She is a beacon of perfection- even the angry creases in her face are situated just so to exemplify her emotions. “Magistrate Dolios, your wise leadership has gone too far! An illegitimate group of street rats, winning the Chimaera’s Championship? They are not even a guild!”

All around Idelens, the other councilmembers voice their own displeasure- except for Apatia, who seems to be too lazy to stand. “Magistrate Dolios, you have led our kingdom into an age of prosperity and strength unlike those ever seen before.” Gadai bows as he speaks to Dolios, earning a humble smile from the bearded leader. “But it was only through your laws to organize guilds and streamline all of Lairyon’s power that this age has been ushered! This...this horde of troublemakers is the exact opposite of the prideful guilds that have spent years training and preparing for this day! A team like this has no place among the Chimaera’s Championship, much less winning! The cup, the gold, the glory should go to a real guild like mine!’

“Do you realize how hard our guilds trained?” Sidero hisses, eyes boring through the hermits. “I’m gonna-”

The entire council goes silent the second Dolios raises a hand, his red sleeve falling in a cascade of gold trim and wine fabric. Glittering eyes close, his head shaking. Brown curls of hair, tied back in a well kept ponytail, dance across the blue capelet resting on the Magistrate’s shoulders. “This is not about gold, or glory, or guilds, my dear council friends. The Chimaera’s Championship is a show or unity, of joy, of creativity for Lairyon. It is something we all love, whether it is the common farmer or richest guildmaster. Virtues this team here proudly exemplifies, a team we should be proud to call victors.” Dolios turns his gaze, which sharpens as he lays eyes on the hermits. “Though they may not be a guild, but rather a conglomeration of independent wizards working together solely for this event, they are champions nonetheless.” 

Ren and Mumbo have to cover their ears at the raucous roar that erupts from the mass of spectators around them. Cheering for Team STAR, cheering for Magistrate Dolios. His warm and charismatic smile never falters while the hermits step up to take their prize. He remains standing from his chair, above King Sor’s empty throne and above the council’s throng. 

The crowd shuffles, going quiet as heads and bodies bow. Bowing to the hermits, the champions of the games. Days of grueling competitions designed to push them to the limit and test their attributes against the best of the best. Common folk winning a game that has been dominated by only the most elite guilds for the past decade. It was a sign of respect and reverence to the gods the games were dedicated to, even their fellow non-guild teams bowing. Though Ecto was snickering the whole time. Only one person refused to lower his head at the introduction of the winners. 

Magistrate Dolios. He remained firm, not even blinking as the chalice full of gold and gems is handed off the guild. He raises his chin slightly at the mention of the gods, of the dragon spirits, the noble guardians in the sea. Grian’s skin crawls, feeling Dolios’s gaze burn into him. The charismatic glimmer in the magistrate’s eyes turns frenzied, the smooth edges of his smile become hard and cold. But all of that is gone when the crowd rises. The only remaining proof that any of it happened is the unnerving sensation left in Grian’s body. 

Cub does the next most sensible thing, knowing his fellow hermits- he portals away all the riches and the chalice back to Eremita. And he feels great, none of his magic sapped away. He feels like he could teleport all the way to Kilton right now, his excitement and freedom bubbling inside him. 

The hermits scrabble back to their inn as quickly as possible. Funny enough, as soon as they're out on the streets, out among the crowd of spectators, no one seems to notice they’re walking besides Chimaera Champions. Is it that they don’t look like a team, or they don’t act like a winning guild would? Maybe it’s that, among the busy streets, no one’s going to notice one or two hermits traveling just a few paces behind the next bead of the string. The only stranger to congratulate them was the tavernkeeper, ordering rounds on the house of their best ale- whatever taste that would be. 

TFC feels a weight press around his body, cold metal against his back and his entire weight lifted off the ground. TFC isn’t a heavy man, but he’s got the bones of any good miner. However, Jason in his cyborg form could easily pick him up, hugging him with one arm while grinding a human fist into Zed’s hair. “Congratulations, hermits! You really gave us a run for our money. But don’t be expecting us to go easy on you next time, twerps!” 

He lets go of the two he’s captured, inviting the whole group to sit with him. Grian bounces into the seat beside the automaton man. “Where’s the rest of your team? Did you guys get out alright in the labyrinth?”

Jason waves off his worries. “We were crushing it until we got to this real nasty chimaera. Should’ve known they’d be there, it’s literally in the name! The rest of those idiots are upstairs packing.” 

“Invite them down!” Iskall laughs, grabbing hold of the tankard placed and taking a large swig. Curiously, the ale is actually quite good, the mead having a fruity flavor and even the froth light and almost marshmellowy. 

“Get the wanderers too, they should get in on this celebration!” Joe adds, prompting Mumbo to be the soul to find them all. 

“The wanderers left already.” Jason has already finished his first round, and is going in for another. 

“Were they that disappointed in losing?” Xisuma questions, pulling his chair to face backwards and crowd in the ever growing table. 

“No, they were quite happy when you guys won. But they left suddenly, following after some guy with long white hair in a ponytail.” X nearly chokes on his drink, but Jason continues. “As soon as they left, we did get this lovely letter from the Council.” 

“Oh, great. Official hate mail.” Cleo sneers. She’s the first to pick up the paper, reading over it’s contents. “Ugh, it’s nothing even interesting. Just reminding all three teams that we are to disband immediately. We aren’t legal guilds, in case any of you didn’t remember.” 

“How could we forget?” Doc sneers. 

“We should leave sooner rather than later.” TFC hums, picking up the paper and reading across the elegant handwriting. All seven council members signed it. “Just in case the arcane guard decides to remind us again.” 

Xisuma recovers from his near death experience with his beer, eyes watering but otherwise back to his normal calm personality. “I have to agree with our guildmaster. We should get out of Milliara as soon as possible. I don’t think I want to be near here when the magistrate discovers our...intrusion.” 

“What about telling the king?” Impulse tips his head to the side, nearly catching it on fire with how close team ZIT is sitting. All three are still holding onto the mark of their dead guild, despite the joy of winning. Some scars never fade. Across the table, Jason just drinks away his confusion. 

“We can easily send a message from the Ashioll sea to the king. At least on Eremita we’re safer, it’s harder to reach us, but we can still message the king. Phoebe’s a good bird.” Grian still feels unnerved about how Dolios stared at him. 

The team shares one more drink, this time with all of the members of Team Crafted, before waving them off. It’s their turn to pack. Days of clothes strewn across beds, floors, and furniture. Gathering supplies, from hair brushes to gemstones, even Tango’s hair gel to keep the flames for locks from burning his pillow. 

They know they’re ready to leave when Scar tumbles down the stairs, his medals clattering against one another like a bell. His monstrosity of packing left much to be desired, but the hermits always knew they had everyone when Scar arrived- he was always last. With everyone gathered, they can finally leave Milliara. 

Coming to the city, they only hoped to leave with information on who attacked them. They didn’t expect to win any of the events- the Championship was simply a guise. But now, walking through the canal lined streets on their way home, they would return as champions. People pointed towards them, smiling and even cheering at the sight of Team STAR. Would they cheer if they knew they were an illegal guild? 

Passing through the nobility district, unfortunately in between them and the western gate, a crowd has already gathered in a wide plaza. At the sight of the arcane guard, the Council’s personal military, the muscles in every hermit tightens. They were warned to disband- this must be the legion here to make sure they do so. 

The throngs of people part, revealing the one person no hermit wanted to see. “Ah, I’m so thankful I was able to catch our victors before you returned to the countryside.” 

Magistrate Dolios stood before a large, ornate fountain. Gilded statues of various species and wizards, water casting up and down steps and terraces in the crescent shaped cascade. The water captures the torchlight of the evening air, dancing across Dolios. Shadows cast across his body, illuminating him from behind and hiding most of his features. The only defined part of him is the golden, sun shaped clasp holding his cape, light bouncing off the lustrous material. Among the group, a short scuffle breaks out. Tango and Zedaph are barely able to hold Impulse back, to keep him from blowing the magistrate off the face of this kingdom. The whole plaza was watching. 

“Hello, Magistrate. For what do we owe the...honor?” TFC steps up, putting himself between the dark mage before him and the team behind him. That magnetic smile never wavers, Dolios’s eyes sweeping across the cityfolk around them. 

“I came to congratulate you all personally. And to invite you all to capitol hall for a feast in your honor. It’s not every day that a non-guild team wins the Chimaera’s Championship. You are exactly the reason why I opened the games to teams, and you proved me right in doing so.” Dolios waves his hand. “Please, join me for a feast, champions.” 

The magistrate’s eyes flick to the side, quickly running across the faces of the people around the hermits. TFC follows his gaze, at the hundreds of people standing around them. Waiting for their answer. He can hear them whispering, the honor to be invited to dine with the leader of Lairyon. The hermit guildmaster can feel the pressure to agree. Turning down such a proposal would be like turning down a gift from the gods. 

A flash of metal catches TFC’s eyes, as does the fearful faces of the hermits. The arcane guard, initially holding back the watching crowd, has moved in on his guild. While the swords of the guards remain sheathed, he can clearly see the sharp, shear edges of hidden knives held at the backs of each hermit. The carrot and the stick, laid out clearly before TFC. He has no choice. “We are so grateful for such an offer, I simply can’t refuse.” 

The delighted smile on Dolios’s face does not mask the hungry gleam in his eyes, and the magistrate walks away from the fountain. TFC can clearly see his face now, the smooth brown hair of his beard and well tamed curls of his ponytail. “Let us feast, in honor of the gods, the ancient ones, and the good people of Lairyon that have made this kingdom wonderful.” 

Guards close around the guild, moving between the townsfolk at hermits like they’re trying to protect them. But every hermit can feel the cold, sharp metal against their backs. They’d be safer in a pit of afanc than here among the arcane guard. They have no choice but to follow Dolios, away from prying eyes. They travel up the steps of the capitol hall, the ornate doors of the building swallowing them whole and closing it’s lips with a heavy wooden slam of the doors. 

Dolios turns around, his hand appearing from beneath the wide cuffs of his robes. The marble pillars catch and illuminate the light of Dolios’s spell. Sandy dust falls across the hermits, sparkling in the torchlight. Wels and BDubs are out like a light in a minute, but others fight off the sensation of sleep. Dolios’s calm voice does little to slow the magic. “You thought you were clever, huh? You thought you found all my secrets? Well, I have one last challenge for our champions. Sleep well, you’ll need it for your final challenge.”

[dragonrajafanfiction]

Aftermath: The Debriefing

A continuation of the consequences of this chapter

Read from the beginning here

“Hey! It’s Mingfei. Please leave a message, and I’ll get right back to you...”

Nono lowered the phone from her ear and hung up. She’d already left a message. 

As soon as the plane had taken off from Japan, Caesar called her and told her that her newest recruit hadn’t survived her first mission. As soon as she got into the presence of the dragon egg, she’d turned servitor and they left her behind so they wouldn’t have to kill her.

Mingfei had to be forcibly dragged away from her. She wasn’t surprised. He was a lonely person, desperate for love and probably fell for her over the trip. He was probably heartbroken and needed time. He really was an unlucky guy.

She walked back into the principal’s office where Caesar and Johann were seated in front of his desk. “Still nothing.” She said. “Let’s just start without him.”

Anjou was leaning back in his chair, feet on the desk, puffing on a cigar. The blue holographic girl, EVA floated nearby, “Ready to record the debriefing.” She said. 

“Caesar. Please begin.” Anjou nodded, his eyes fixed on a  large globe.

“I will but first, I have to ask you to share your cigar.”

Anjou turned the wood box to Caesar who reached out and picked up one of the Cubans as well as a gold dragon shaped lighter and lit up. He took a long slow drag and let it out. Nono rested one hand on his shoulder. He leaned his head slightly toward it.

“This is the debriefing of team Caesar.” He began. “Upon arrival, things went as expected. The Japan division reps were polite but distant. They were led by Chisei Gen, who surprised me by already knowing about our new girl.” 

“Did he say how he knew?” Anjou asked.

“No. Only that he’d heard about a powerful new student. I think it’s likely that some of our freshmen here are plants to keep an eye on us.”

“On her arrival here, she attracted a lot of attention...” Nono commented, recalling the group that had followed her from the limousine. 

Caesar continued. ”They outfitted us in their traditional dress and escorted us from the airport. There was nothing out of the ordinary until our arrival at their headquarters when Masamune requested our assistance in eliminating the Devil Clan. He suspected they were behind the Dragon’s awakening.”

Caesar crossed his arms. “Masamune did not provide any proof of this accusation. The new recruit picked up on this actually... She said ‘if someone was waking up a dragon, they should be stopped’. If.” Caesar smiled at the memory. “She had good instincts.”

Anjou was silent, still not commenting. Nono glanced at Johann. He was relaxed his chair, not meeting anyone’s eyes and not speaking. To the casual observer, he seemed bored. Nono knew better. She wasn’t a mind reader, but she sensed a growing emotional disturbance coming from him, like a boiling under a lid, a low growl, rumbling just under the surface.

“They decided to divide us among the different clans. To keep her safe, I suggested that she go with Chisei Gen, the strongest hybrid in the group. I stuck with the Ryoma’s, Johann with Fuma, and Lu with Sakurai.” Caesar shook his head. “We all reported an unexpected number of servitors in this area. We took care of all of them, but it took longer than I would have liked. Had I known there were going to be so many, I might have insisted that the recruit stay back at the mansion. She wasn’t ready to see that kind of action... but...” He reached over and tapped the ashes into the silver tray. “It was, what it was.”

Johann’s eyes snapped over to Anjou. “She was deeply affected by it.”

Caesar’s cigar paused an inch from his lips. He sat, still as a statue. “Do not interrupt.” 

Their eyes met for a few seconds before Johann relented, breaking the stand off to resume staring into space. Nono slowly let out the breath she’d been holding.

“She got injured. I was planning on asking how, but I didn’t get the chance...”

Anjou finally spoke. “What were the extent of her injuries?”

“Bruising around the neck, like she’d been strangled.”

Anjou’s gaze lowered. “I see. Continue.”

“We got into submarine. The mission seemed straight forward until we got that message from Schneider about the Greenland mission. Warning us about doors. I uh... realized the mission was dangerous but, that warning put things into perspective. So, I had everyone record their last messages.”

“Including the recruit?” Anjou asked.

“Uh huh.” Caesar ran his tongue over his lips.

Nono could feel the emotion rising from him when he lowered his eyes and shifted in his chair. “You know what was interesting? she seemed to accept the idea of possibly dying a lot more easily than the rest of us did. It bothered me. A lot. I had that feeling that her last words were directed at me. In particular.” 

Nono reached down and slid her hand around the back of his neck, from shoulder to shoulder. This part he hadn’t told her.

“I got a really bad feeling. I told her to stay behind with Mingfei. But uh... we ran into a problem. Once we got to the site where the signal was coming from, there was no way into the tower. We considered blasting our way in. But that would have spent some of our munitions and potentially not have worked.”

“Turned out, the girl had a connection to the place that none of us realized. Even though it was dark, she could see. And she saw visions of dragons, that helped her solve the riddle to the first door. The second door required her to sing a certain song in draconic so we could get in. Johann helped her with that. She was the one who gave us access to the dragon egg.” 

Anjou turned to Caesar, his eyes narrowing slightly. “Her Speaking Spirit?”

“Possibly.” Caesar took another drag, stretching his legs out, relaxing into Nono’s gentle massage. “From your look, I take it you didn’t know about this?”

“On her E3 exam, she did not write anything on the paper. We have no idea what her Speaking Spirit is.”

Johann took a slow deep breath, held it for a few seconds, and then let it out.

Anjou tapped out the ashes and rubbed his beard. “None of you saw what she saw?” Caesar and Johann both shook their heads. “Go on...”

“Finally, we reached the final destination. And yes, it was a door.” He shook his head. “I... was over confident. I thought she was fine. I let her go in. As soon as she got in there...” He raised the cigar to his lips but didn’t inhale, biting down on the tip. “There wasn’t anything we could do about it. Johann and I both understood that but uh... Lu flipped out.”

“I see.” Anjou replied. 

The office descended into a somber silence. The pain in the room was like standing under a blazing sun. Nono endured it. Maybe if she hadn’t been so harsh in her last words to her recruit, she wouldn’t have taken so many risks.

“We had to drag him all the way back to the sub. All the way back to Chicago.” He reached over and snuffed out the cigar. “Don’t think he’ll be talking to us for a while.”

“And the embryo?”

“The signal disappeared. No sign of it. The corruption in the ocean subsided. Mission accomplished.” Caesar sighed, closing his eyes with a shrug. “I still got that damn kimono.”

Anjou looked over to Johann. “You have something to add?”

Johann’s voice was so soft, the AI had to increase the volume on her recording. “If you didn’t know she was key to the mission, why did you send her?”

Anjou leaned forward, elbows against his desk. He stared hard at Johann, thinking. For a moment there was no sound beyond the hum of the computers in the room. “There is an explanation. But I can’t give it to you.”

Johann’s expression shifted to disbelief.

“I know it’s hard to accept. I’m asking a lot of you. But on this case, I need you to trust me. And if you can’t trust me, trust her. Have faith that she found a way out.”

Johann’s shoulders sagged and he shook his head. “What are we basing this faith on?”

“The fact that she saw things that you did not.” Anjou glanced over. “EVA, have ‘Adams’ bring me her exam paper.”

The cat sized humanoid robot hovered away to retrieve it. “It appeared that she did not write anything on the E3. But perhaps she did and we simply could not perceive it.”

Nono looked up at Anjou, who was still massaging his beard. He was shockingly relaxed. Even though an S-ranked student was dead, he was more interested in her exam paper. He didn’t seem concerned at all.

Adams returned with the sealed black box. Anjou punched in a password on a keypad and it snapped unlocked. Inside was the blank paper collected at her E3.

Anjou stood up and placed it in front of Johann. “If you remember the words she used, could you speak them?”

The sharp spike in Johann’s emotional state! Nono’s eyes widened. The young man stood up and walked the few steps over to the desk.

The paper was not entirely blank. It was dotted with blotches where it had gotten wet and dried. She’d told him that on her E3 exam all she could do was cry. Those blotches were the marks of her tears.

All Johann could think about was how terrified she was the night of the raid. How traumatized she’d been afterwards. She wasn’t stupid. She knew the peril. He’d told her to trust them, to trust Anjou.

He didn’t tell her the name he’d picked out for her because he wasn’t sure if it would fit. The given name he’d considered, Meixiu, meant that someone was an iconic prodigy. Someone along the lines of Mozart or Da Vinci.  As only the second S-ranked student he’d ever encountered, that fit her well enough on a surface level. But she was more than an S-ranked talent. More importantly, he didn’t want her to be defined by a talent that was unstable and could kill her. 

When he looked at her, he also saw someone innocent. The family name Bai held a meaning of purity, light and innocence that embodied her. But it also had a secondary, less auspicious meaning: That of blankness and emptiness, something given free of charge. Like a white sheet of paper.

He thought he needed more time to find something more fitting. As it turned out, Bai Meixiu wasn’t as inappropriate as he’d imagined.

Johann laid his fingertips on the paper and slid it back toward the principal his eyes hidden by the curtain of his long hair.

“If... you’re so certain, that she’s alive...” Johann whispered, “Then... when she comes back from the dead, she can say the words herself.”

Nono stared incredulous as Johann turned on his heel and left the room, the slam of the door echoing in his wake.

[volganic]

Song of the Spirit

hooo boy finally this chapter is done because its been a pain in my ass

ty liz as always i love you so much for helping me whenever i need it!!!! you really are the biggest mvp

song is translated from its original german, but i wont torture you guys yet with that nonsense...... yet >:^)

[part 1] [part 2] 

Another moon cycle had passed when Link found himself being called to the castle's chambers with orders to return to Death Mountain.  To his surprise, General Impa had taken his word of advice and sent not only a negotiator, but a messenger as well, to gain intel on the witch -- under the condition that the captain accompanied them to their destination in one piece.  A day hadn't even fully passed before the captain ultimately made the decision to have his escorts return to base.

"Are you sure about this, captain?  The general had made it clear that it was imperative that we--" the negotiating party was cut off by Link's mount abruptly turning to halt their own.  His features were knit together tightly with a stern glare; he was not going to repeat himself again.

The two soldiers shared a quick look of doubt between themselves.  As quickly as they had looked to each other, they were back on alert and gave their leader a salute.  They turned their horses around to leave Link to continue on alone.

"It's better without them," he assured himself.  "They're safer at base."  A reclusive dragon like Volga wouldn't take too kindly to more than just one stranger, let alone three in his dwellings.

Link had made it to the neighboring village before nightfall, just in time to gather any more information before heading up to the caves.  He barely managed to stow away his horse into an unused stable before a crowd of people surrounded him, showering him with praise and gratitude for bringing peace to their little town.  Link declined their gifts with a tentative smile; their allegiance to Hyrule was all that was needed.

True to his word, Volga's forces had not been seen prowling about in their streets.  It was a relief to hear that he hadn't lied about his honor.

"You're going back up the mountain? Why  The dragon might get angry!  We aren’t prepared to face his wrath again!"

"It's been peaceful all this time, are you sure it's wise to do that, Mister Hero?"

He left them with their questions unanswered as he waved goodbye.  It didn't take too long to reach the end of the village, coming to the base of the mountain.  A cold shiver ran up his spine.  He wasn't keen on taking another chance at getting lost in the caves again, but it was for the sake of protecting Hyrule.  Inhale, exhale.  He willed himself to relax as he made the short hike up the side of the mountain to the entrance of the Eldin Caves.

This time, he was prepared -- and a little more experienced.

A wave of doubt creeped into his mind on how well this tunic really protected him from the fires and scorching heat inside, but he'd be playing a fool if he wandered into the dragon's lair without any protection again.  He slipped the ruby red tunic on quickly over his head and turned the corner.  He locked eyes with a pair of Dinolfos that guarded the entrance.  Last he had remembered, they weren't Dinolfos but Lizalfos -- and these two were much larger than their counterparts.

The pair took a defensive stance with their weapons drawn as Link approached them cautiously, shrinking in on himself with hands up to present himself as harmless.  The drakes kept their intense stare on the Hylian even as he began to sign to them.  He hooked both of his index fingers together and turned his wrists, alternating their positions. “Friend.” 

The lizards didn't move.

Were they confused?  Did they not know sign language?  Suddenly Link became very unnerved by the situation he found himself in.  The Dinolfos chattered among themselves, still keeping their weapons upright.  If he couldn't communicate with them, how else would he get in?  He promised Volga he wouldn't start or involve him in a war -- and he wasn't going to start by killing the two Dinolfos over a miscommunication.  He cleared his throat while still holding his nonthreatening posture, gaining the pair's twin predatory stares.

"V-V... Volga."

His throat ached.  Link's vocal chords weren't accustomed to much use beyond the bare minimum of simple gestures.  He can't remember the last time he had even spoken a full sentence, much less anyone's name.

The two Dinolfos tilted their heads in sync.  It was an eerie motion, even moreso with their owlish blinking.  This time they seemed to understand, lowering their weapons and shuffling apart to grant entry.  Link let go of the breath he had unconsciously had been holding as he brushed past them with his hands still raised.

That was easy enough.

A sinking feeling pooled into the Hylian's stomach when he entered the cavern, immediately met with a very familiar river of lava.  He mentally prayed to the goddesses that he wouldn't have to repeat the ordeal he went through his last venture through the caves.  This time, there were sounds of more activity: a Lizalfos  scratching there, a Dinolfos roaring there.  If he could see well enough against the bright shine of the fires, he would swear that even their shadows were dancing along the rock walls.  It was comforting to know that he wasn't completely alone -- however, the risks were still there.

He racked his brain for the easiest route back to the crystallized caves.  There was no absolute guarantee that Volga would be back where he had last seen him, but it was worth a shot.  The Hylian ducked into tight corners and behind any sizable boulders he could when a stray reptile came into his view.  He made a mental note that he was going to have to bring materials with him to make a map at some point.  The tunnels seemed to go on forever, opening up into separate rooms that Link knew for sure weren't there last time.

He was brought out of his train of thought when a haunting sound echoed off the tunnel walls, bringing him to turn his head to the direction of the sound.  Clearly the goddesses were pitying him the second time around.

æ d   ɪ d ə m  

Link tore his gaze away from the Lizalfos he had been stalking to break into a sprint.  Now, it wasn't a tune of deception leading to a premature death.  No, this was a lifeline.  He wasn't going to risk repeating his mistakes and getting lost, succumbing to the heat -- he couldn't!  He needed this intel for the sake of protecting Hyrule.  An unknown enemy was a larger threat than the fiery blaze of the Eldin Caves.

æ d   ɪ n f ɪ n ɪ t ə m

The melody became clearer and clearer with every hurried step he took down through the winding tunnels.  The passageways also became tighter and tighter, but the song still hung through the air enough to pull him through the tightest of crawlspaces.  He favored to ignore the alarmed screeches some of the Lizalfos he had run past to focus on the echoes.  It sounded like an entire choir of voices.

ɪ n   m e m ɔ: r ɪə m   k   ʌ n ʌ m  

He came to a screeching halt.  The tunnel opened up into the largest cavern he had ever seen.  Rather than dwelling in the favorable crystal blues, the entire mountain's source of lava seemed to pool here into a lake.  There in the middle of what he could see over the edge he had found himself standing on was the familiar shine of a draconian helmet.  The tall figure stilled, sensing the Hylian's presence.

The song was cut short.

"Come down, boy."

Link hesitated at the sound of the dragon's cool voice.  He didn't realize he had begun to sweat until now, brushing his hand against his forehead.  The aria still buzzed in his eardrums as he willed himself to move, but his legs remained frozen in place.  Even though he knew that he was not in any danger of being eaten, he remembered what a formidable warrior Volga had proven himself to be.  The sound of the other's weapon scratching along the volcanic floor almost made him jump out of his skin.

"Now."

Link did as he was told this time, adrenaline running through his veins to give him control over the rest of his limbs.  As to not keep an impatient dragon waiting, he favored to jump off the edge of the cliff, breaking his fall into a roll.  There was still some hesitation pulling at him as he brushed himself off, a poor attempt to look somewhat presentable as he stood at the dragon knight's side.

"Why have you come back?  I've kept my end of the bargain," he snapped, keeping his eyes ahead into the bubbling magma.  "As you might have even seen, my kin are within the boundaries of the mountain, away from villages Hylian and Goron alike.  You have no reason to return here."

"I'm here about the witch," the Hylian signed, pulling himself away from Volga's side to step into his view.  "Princess Zelda's orders.  I need more intel."

"Have your whelp look for that witch herself.  I've told you everything I know about her.  If that is all you've come for, consider your time wasted."

Link's stern expression cracked.  He's come all this way for nothing?  As if the goddesses couldn't be any crueler-

He snapped his fingers to pull Volga's attention back onto him.  He wasn't going to let himself be dismissed so easily.  "If you can't tell me any more about her, then at least help me prepare for her eventual arrival!"  

"Have you forgotten that I have said my allegiance will not be bought?  I refuse to serve for your arm-"

"Not the army," he interrupted with another snap of his fingers.  "For me."  Link's gaze fell to his feet as they shuffled, planting himself into the ground.  "I'll admit... I was weak last time we met.  I don't know much about being this hero everyone expects me to be, but," he looked up the knight, determination bright in his eyes, "I need to learn from a real warrior.  If you won't do your part by fighting against this witch, show that you respect me by teaching me how to bring her down!"

Volga stared at the Hylian.  He was a fool for venturing into his lair for a second time, prey to his song.  However, there was a potential in him that he could sense had been yet to be used; he surely was fiery enough to dare cross paths with him again.  Maybe, just maybe, should he indulge the poor boy this once, he'd be left out of the sight of the Hyrulean army's sight to live his life without being in the crossfires of any human war.

A low growl rumbled out of Volga's throat.  "Very well.  I will teach you to fight.  However," he warned, "I will not be the one to fight you."  His clawed hand wrapped around the end of his spear to pull it from the ground.  He turned away from the rivers of lava and motioned Link to follow him.  

---

Link blocked another heavy blow with his shield from one of the Dinoflos's sudden strikes.  They were out in the cool night air, the sounds of a heated struggle mixed with clashing steel ringing up into the sky.  Volga had resigned to seat himself off on the sidelines to observe how advanced the Hylian's swordsmanship skills were; from the looks of it, his skills were capped higher than that of any other unlucky member of the Hyrulean forces, but his strikes were still less than deadly.  The knight dug through the pile of rocks he had brought along with them, crushing them in his gauntlets and dusting away the rubble for precious ores that laid within them.

A sharp cry left Link's throat as the Dinoflos chieftain's blunt sword struck his side.  The chieftain took this time to push the Hylian back with a harsh shove with its armored gauntlet, nearly toppling him over the cliff side in success.  The drake looked to its master for another order, allowing the Hylian to pull himself up in a position other than completely vulnerable.

Volga crushed another stone in his hand -- ruby.  "Again," he said flatly, waving them off to deposit the gem into a pile with the others.  The Dinolfos growled and directed its attention back to Link, who was starting to show signs of exhaustion.  He slowly pulled himself up to his feet and drew his white sword back into an attack stance, looking past the chieftain to glare at Volga.

He wasn't even watching.  It annoyed him that the only person who had any decent skill to advise him in his training was treating it like a chore.  His eyes turned back to the drake in front of him, ignoring the feeling of his lungs burning to strike at it with a renewed energy laced in his battle cry.

The dragon's attention was piqued at the sound, followed by the sharp screech of steel meeting steel.  Concealed eyes tore themselves away from the rubble in his claws to observe the sparring.  "No," he frowned, narrowing his eyes as he watched Link slowly beginning to overtake his kin, pushing the large reptile back with a shove of his shielded arm.  Volga listened intently for the sound again, the pair now having gained his undivided attention.

Fire scorched through the air as the chieftain roared in the Hylian's direction, deflected by the shield.  Link planted himself into the ground, counting the seconds before he knew the flames would die out to line himself for a counterattack.  It came soon enough as he let out another fierce cry to strike at the Dinolfos.

Ah, there it is.

Volga stood briskly from his seat to deflect Link's sword from landing on his kin.  The curve of his spear's blade was the only thing blocking his kin from a brutal attack.  The Hylian and the chieftain both gave the dragon a puzzled look.  He withdrew his weapon from Link's and turned to the Dinolfos, nodding his head in dismissal.  The large reptile scrambled up in a hurry and retreated to the dwellings of the cave.

His cold stare then turned to Link who still held his expression of confusion.  It didn't last long across his features as his brows furrowed together, opting to drop his sword and shield at his feet to sign furiously.  "What the hell was that, Volga?  I was about to take him down, but you cut me o-"

"Why do you not use your voice?" he questioned, tone harsh.  His clawed fingers wrapped around the base of Link's chin to keep him still.  "If you wish to lead an army, you must have a voice to lead them with.  Why aren't you using it?"

Link flinched at the barrage of questions with the stinging pain in his chin.  He shook his head slowly, his expression falling sullen.  His fingers curled anxiously as he willed himself to speak with his hands.  "I can't speak.  It's always been that way."

"Liar." The knight released his grip on the Hylian's face as he looked to the moon.  "You heroes are too proud to even allow yourselves the luxury of basic communication.  Either mute, selectively mute, or otherwise," he glared.  "Not everyone will give you the chance to speak with your hands as you so choose."

"You've known the other heroes?" he asked, eyes wide in wonder.  "How does that work?"

"I might not have met them myself, but their stories are passed down through my bloodline as they are passed down to yours.  Some of my ancestors have even had the pleasure of meeting them... either as friend or foe."  He paused to read Link's incredulous expression.  "Though, perhaps your silence isn't but a burden, but a gift -- the hero's spirit seems to take upon a skill of music.  One through the ocarina, another through a harp..." His eyes turned back to the crescent moon above them. 

"I know a gift from the gods when I see it.  You're not blessed with only the Triforce..."  A small grin pulled at the ends of his lips when.  "You have the gift of song."

The Hylian didn't have much time to process or question what was said before he had been turned to face the moon above them.  Volga pressed his hands on the hero's shoulders to keep him grounded in place.  It was slightly -- no, very -- intimidating to feel him so close.  

"I want you to do as I say: relax, close your eyes, and breathe slowly.  I will teach you how to use your voice."

There was no room to argue with the weight of knight's gauntlets on his shoulders.  Link inhaled through his nose sharply and did as he was instructed, eyes shut and shoulders as slack as he could manage it.

"You have much untapped potential that I can see," Volga murmured.  "I am going to sing, and you will finish it; you know this song in the back of your mind, though it is not of any tongue you speak."  His claws sunk into his tunic to keep the Hylian focused on him as he brought his lips to the Hylian's ear.

“Give you a raven's feather, a pledge to our love; Remember me, I'll come back -- ”

“Remember me, you hold it in your hand...”

Link sang breathlessly, suddenly growing stiff in his shoulders.  He braced his left wrist when it began to burn in an intense pain, stilling when the golden glow of the Triforce peeked through the leather.

Goddesses, he was right.

[tsukiprotranslations]

[Translation] Machine Elements - Cast Presentation: Growth

Have you ever read something so wonderful that you cried?? That’s how I felt when I was reading the Growth profiles XD I hope that everyone feels the greatness that is behind their lore from my translations ^^

※ Please don’t re-post any of these translations without permission. Please just like/reblog them instead.

Under the cut, enjoy~!

ETO KOKI

“Before everything gets buried by the sand… I don’t want to give up on the possibilities!”

PROFILE:

NAME: Eto Koki

GUILD: Growth (※Guildmaster)

BASE: Greenery Valley

☐ Beyond the desert lies a green valley at the end of the Eastern Continent. He is the only son of the Chief who leads the villagers. The Chief’s clan is originally a direct descendant of an old royal family that has since collapsed during ancient times. The villagers are all descendants of the old clan in one way or another. As proof of the royal bloodline, all the members of the Chief’s direct family have wonderful blond hair.

☐ The Chief’s family has, for generations, traveled around the world together with their trusted friends once they have come of age. The final goal of this excursion was to earn the title of [Craftsman] in order to preserve the Guild’s qualifications. However, there is also the implication that it is done in order to broaden the knowledge they have.

☐ Koki was also supposed to go on this journey but, in order to protect the valley that’s rapidly being eroded by the desert, he added [the Investigation of the Ruins] to their original journey’s purposes. Together with his guild members, Kensuke, Ryota, and Mamoru, the three of them form the Archaeological Research Team.

COMMENT:

To those who are meeting us for the first time and to those who are not, how do you do?

I’m Growth’s Eto Koki. In this time’s stage play, Growth goes out on a grand journey that will move the world. Completely different from the place where we’re living, there are deserts and canyons, valleys, and savannas, big cities and even small mountain villages… We will visit various places, go to different ruins, and meet new people. “Journey” is the theme of Growth’s music. Being able to reach undiscovered places, learn new things, and grow will be a part of what we’ll aim for in our real lives as well.

Now then, shall we go on this grand adventure together?

YAEGASHI KENSUKE

“It’s because things can get unpredictable that makes it fun, right? ♪”

PROFILE:

NAME: Yaegashi Kensuke

GUILD: Growth

BASE: Greenery Valley

☐ He is from the family of the once renowned (royal) elite guards. He has great physical skills, perfecting his martial arts whenever he has the chance. He’s the one to rely on the most when things get rough.

☐ He loves taking afternoon naps so it seems like he has a lot of favorite places to nap in around the Ruins. Though, the only people who know of all of those places are the Growth members.

☐ Since he can be a little sketchy sometimes, he is able to face anything. Normally, he faces them with a smile and he doesn’t falter in the face of adversity. One could say that, among Growth members, he is the one with the strongest mental fortitude.

☐ When he went to the Commercial City of Seiryuu, the Blue Dragon, he met SolidS’ Dai. Little did they expect that this meeting would hold more meaning in the future.

COMMENT:

Good afternoon~! I’m Growth’s Yaegashi Kensuke!

When the rehearsal’s schedule was decided, my first reaction was “Oh! It’s here, it’s here, it’s here finally!!” As a guy, the scenes where we’re moving around a lot really made me feel excited (laughs)! The training room was full of guys so, in a good way, I felt so much at ease. But, instead of just enjoying it, I never hesitated to ask for advice at places I felt like I needed to work on. Even the director said that we’re moving along well! (I’m so grateful!)

Dreams and hopes are woven together in a lot of ways so please, do come and see it!

SAKURABA RYOTA

“My calculations are perfect, got it?”

PROFILE:

NAME: Sakuraba Ryota

GUILD: Growth

BASE: Greenery Valley

☐ A young man who is a family member of the once Prime Minister to the royal family. His temperament is one inherited from his blood-line. Being a part of the Chief’s clan… He won’t forgive anyone who goes against Koki.  On the other hand, he possesses a hard-to-grasp sensitivity, and shows an awkward kindness a lot of times. He is impartial in a lot of ways; being harsh to himself as harsh as he is to other people.

☐ He is very knowledgeable and diligent. Since they come from an old royal family, he is especially interested in the planet’s history. His deepest desire is to be able to unfold the mysteries of human history.

☐ He loves art and music and so, the place he admires so is the Art City of Rikugo, the Cosmos. It is not something he wishes to mention himself but, he thinks deep inside that if they could visit it while on their journey, it would be very wonderful.  By the way, the members know of his wish and so they’ve written [The place he really wants to go to] in their journey’s destinations.

COMMENT:

Good afternoon. I’m Growth’s Sakuraba Ryota.

This time, Growth will be going on a journey that triggers an event that will change the world drastically. From there, we will be stepping on the mysteries history… Or, that’s how we want to move the audience.

I am still surprised every single time but, I will do my best to continue on this journey while my heart dances with excitement.

I was excited to work with all the units and I tried my best to communicate with all of them. There are also mysterious people and topics going on there. I felt like there were a lot of great discoveries, too (laughs).

FUJIMURA MAMORU

“Yes, you’re right, Kou-kun. I’ll… do my best, too!”

PROFILE:

NAME: Fujimura Mamoru

GUILD: Growth

BASE: Greenery Valley

☐ A young man who was raised in Greenery Valley. His real birthplace is actually the Art City of Rikugo.  When his peddler parents left the city and were headed to Greenery Valley, they got caught in a huge landslide and couldn’t move anymore. The young man forced himself to go to the Valley and managed to live there.

☐ Being unfamiliar with the village, he was taken under the care of the Chief. Since then, he has since felt a sense of obligation towards the Chief’s family.

☐ Because of that, he was raised together with the Chief’s only son, Koki. Since Koki is only a few years younger than he is, he adores and treats him like a younger brother. (Though, there are rumors that it is actually Mamoru who is being taken care of by Koki.)

☐ He possesses a mysterious instinct that helps guide the others to the whereabouts of a certain ruin. He unexpectedly opened a door in a strange ruin that released the [SPIRITS]. He was also the perpetrator of accidentally making them re-surface. “I’m so sorry!!”

COMMENT:

I’m Fujimura Mamoru who’s so relieved that he still has work this time~♪

… Wait, I feel like there are people who already don’t know what this joke is about? (bitter smile)

But, being able to say that means that I’m doing well with having continued work.

At least let me say my gratitude, yeah! I’m Fujimura Mamoru who was a former NEET before our unit debuted!

The fact that I can be standing on stage while basking in the spotlight means that I didn’t throw my life away, right~?

… Wait, this is getting off-topic (laughs).

This time, I play a member of Growth who lives not in the Valley of the Wind this time but… in a valley surrounded by greenery.

I leave the Eastern Continent together with my fellow members Kou-kun, Ken-kun, and Ryo-kun and we go on a wonderful journey!

Er… Um, isn’t this a fitting song for Growth?! And so, please don’t hesitate to listen to Growth’s songs after leaving the theater so your memories stay fresh.

――― We passed a long and distant time. Continuing to receive love from people and giving love back to everything.

※ Please don’t re-post any of these translations without permission. Please just like/reblog them instead.

If you like this, please consider buying me a ko-fi here to support my work. (o^▽^o)Thank you!!

[virtual-crisis]

⭐Alpha Centauri⭐, Part Ten

I really need to crack this writer’s block. Third of this was already ready to go, then block happened. Again.

Previous Part

Next Part

My Patreon

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had a dream overnight. Lucid as always, and everything was a blur, like a picture out of focus. I narrowed in on something, and saw the vague figure of a capra—a goat demon—shuffling away. No doubt it was Scape- I’d only seen him in human form, but when you look at a demon side-by-side to their human form, you can just tell. As he faded into the jumbled void of latent imagination and dormant creativity, I felt myself fall…

I yelped, which had to have translated to a yip outside. After a brief moment of plummeting though, I landed on something soft and fluffy, like wool… It was coating the back of some long, slender and scaly figure, that was at once moving as well. A dragon? A dragon. A reverse hammock, my body said…

I looked down the length of its body. It gently oscillated up and down like a sine wave, gentle enough that I wouldn’t notice without looking. Its scales were azure, and its wool like the midnight sky. Not quite black, but close enough a blue to deceive the less-knowledgeable.

I lifted my four hands, gently placing my palms on the serpent’s back. I wanted to see its face, what was in front… It was so far away that if it was out there, my compound eyes were too feeble, even in a dream. Carefully, I heaved myself to my feet, like a toddler trying to stand on a train set. Not the smartest move, but my wings kept me steady.

I tried to bring the beast’s head to me with my lucidity, to no avail. Instead, I began to walk along it like a balance beam, following its motion through the subconscious abyss. As thoughts soared by like stars in space, I mindlessly kept on my way. Several times, I’d pass a pair of spindly arms, grasping at the nothingness and pushing it away, though still no sign of the head.

Perhaps there was no end. Was this just my mind clung to the East and its counterparts to my kind? I wanted to know the meaning to this entity. I had to…

My eyes opened, and I took in a confused breath. My head was hung over the side of my bed, and my body sprawled across it, still fully clothed. Moments later, my 7 o’ clock phone alarm went off. Great.

Chialer wouldn’t be up yet, and by all means I wasn’t supposed to be getting up for another hour [the alarm was meant to be snoozed], but beast-damnit I got to sleep early, so I’m clim—well, flopping out of bed early too.

So I trotted out of my room…. And spent an hour watching an animated movie. One with dragons and Japanese spirits, y’know the one. In the middle of the third act, Chialer trudged out in atronach form.

“...The fuck is up with that lady’s nose?” she grumbled at the TV.

I glared at her. “What the heck is up with your fa—”

“Yo that dragon’s fucking hot.”

I thumped my fists on the couch. “He’s an ageless spirit that presents himself as a preteen! You can’t fucking say that!” I spat.

Chialer’s eyes went wide, and she gulped, turning to dart into the bathroom. “Shit, fuck, yeah, got that.” she said hastily.

“Wash your whore mouth out with soap!” I called after her, going ahead and turning off the movie. Mood was shot for watching it now, so time for slightly higher-than-normal quality ramen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So we wouldn’t be lurking around eachother all the time, Nebb and I bunked in different dorms, so I took several minutes walking myself over there. The uni campus was nice and quiet with 8 AM classes having just started, so I enjoyed the lovely sight of the last few moths flittering away to sleep for the day, trading places with butterflies and other diurnal bugs.

For a minute, I stopped at a flower garden, staring down the various butterflies. Unlike with other humans, they looked back. I could feel the nervousness and anxiety as they looked up at me: a moth fifty or so times their size, wearing the flesh of a human and walking plainly among them. I smiled.

“I wonder how many of you will be impaled on plaques by collectors with their little nails… If you live that long, even.” I said passively, my eyes going blank. From the facing side of me, the white spots of my wings faintly showed, all watching the little bugs, each making eye contact with one.

I seized up after several moments at a sudden noise. I turned around to see another student having just opened a bag of chips as they passed by several yards away. Better only the nonsapient mortals see me being… Me.

I knocked on the front door of Nebula’s dorm, getting a rude reminder of his poor taste: three jockish frat boys burst out the door, reeking of tobacco as they barged past me. “Haha, bad timing yo, we’ve got places to be!” one said.

“Date tryouts are next week, plenty time for weight watchers!”

The trio laughed as I clenched my fists. “Hey, you Nate’s sis? Y’look like it- make him get on it too!”

I let myself into the ‘dorm’ [being generous to the frat house] as they meandered down the street. Nebula was in the kitchen, combing the messy curls of his unfittingly-bright blonde hair whilst examining some liquid suicide of a drink.

“Still haven’t arse’d those dickholes?”

“I can’t just poison whoever I want, Ally, there’s these things called laws…” Nebula said passively as he glanced over.

“Then make it look like an accident, give ‘em moonshine that’ll drop them. Lucy knows we’d be doing the gene pool a service.”

Nebb put a hand to his face, setting the comb aside before taking a swig of his concoction. “You wanna fight the police, do it yourself. I’m not here for that kinda shit.”

I sighed roughly. “Whatever. Didja get that makeup assignment done?”

“Yeah, no thanks to Ty. I watched the recording I took yesterday and reenacted it as best I could.”

“Good. Any idea what we’re gonna be yelled at about?”

Nebula slid himself over to the sink to delicately dunk his glass in. Yes, delicately. “The quiz-een day-la Fronse.” he said, waving his hands pretentiously as he dipped into an offensively bad accent. “Moan sherry, you entered at zee PERFECT time.”

I rubbed my fingers on my brow in attempt to stave off a cringe-induced headache. It wasn’t working. “Careme, Careme… So he’s talking his own specialty.”

“Yup, he says he’s named after one of the great culinary innovators from there, so you know he’s serious.”

“Riiiight.”

I looked around. The kitchen was horribly ‘maintained’ by the fraternity, and a demon of sloth was far from about to fix that. Nebula took the awkward silence as an excuse to slip away to the fridge and pitch a beer can at me. With how often he did so, I caught it reflexively.

“Get drunk, what’s up,” he said, putting his hands up. Perfect timing too, since I threw the can back and beaned him in the nose with it.

“Go chat up Bear Grylls if you wanna drink piss, I actually have a sense of taste.”

“Says the stoner?”

“Yeah, for medical purposes. I don’t see dad telling you to drink alcohol for your health.”

“That’s ‘cause it’s implied.”

I sat down at the kitchen island as two other guys came in, talking to eachother. Nebb picked the beer can off the floor and popped the dent in the side into a hole he could drink out of, courtesy of a knife handle.

“Seats taken?” one of the frat guys ‘asked’, sitting next to me. His ‘buddy’ sat on his other side.

“They are now,” I quipped boredly, leaning an elbow on the counter to prop up my chin. “Bartender, gimme a solid cup of maple syrup.”

Nebb gave me a cynical look while the other two snickered. “Seriously?” he grunted.

“Yeah? Did I fuckin’ stutter?”

The guy next to me waved a hand at Nebb. “What, thought you were mister ‘two packs is nothing’ Nate?”

“Four packs of something meant to be drunk by itself.”

“Sounds like someone’s a wussy!”

The guys went into uproarious laughter. I’d cupped my hands around my mouth to make a sound akin to a vuvuzela, and reveled in how red Nebb’s face got. The next ten minutes were primarily him ‘relenting’ and drinking pancake syrup straight from the bottle, before challenging the others and myself to do so with other condiments. I got pushed to eat a whole cup of mayo, which… Ew. When I inevitably upchucked it on Nebb, only he got laughed at as he skittered away to clean himself up.

Once he was presentable again [and in new clothes], Nebula and I made our way to the main campus, where Nebb affectionately referred to Scape’s lecture hall as its ‘belly’. Chai was lurking at the side entrance, and I pulled out a cellphone to group-text the two my frustration about having to stay in human form.

“Y’think if Careme gets enough of us in his class, we won’t have to worry about that?”

“Nah, security cameras. And the doors are windowed.”

“Fucking home.”

I glanced over my shoulder as we skulked through the halls, ensuring nobody would catch onto our whispering and muttering.

“Why’s he want us in this class anyway?” Chai grumbled.

Nebula puffed out his chest haughtily, speaking up. “He believes the more students attend his class, the more chances they’ll get to have his greatness rub off on them!” he said, teasing at nobody in particular. Chai and I both rolled our eyes, but I quickly pulled out my phone again as I got an email notification.

] (AUTOCORRECTED) You’ll be seen as under the protection of an elder demon. Makes things safer for us.

I caught Nebb’s eyes in my periphery, and we both nodded. Chai stared at us in confusion for a moment, before pulling her phone out to read the message.

When we entered the lecture hall, it was set up like a recording studio for some Iron Chef-lookin’-ass cooking show. Scape waved Chai and I down to the podium at the front, surrounded by plug-in kitchen appliances stood on three layers of tarps.

“Bonjour, salut, everyone, we have two new students in the class!” the professor said. “They’ve been taking the class online before, but now they’ve gotten a schedule opening to start showing up in person!”

Our new classmates nodded along as Nebula set the ‘make-up assignment’ on a metal folding table, before finding a seat. I was pondering what sort of job to say I had quit to make room for that excuse.

“And who better to help out in today’s lesson?”

My blank expression turned to a frown. Nevermind, I was thinking up excuses to get out of that.

“Uh, I missed this part’a the syllabus. What’re we doing?” Chai said, leaning an arm on my shoulder.

Scape planted his hands on a stove, smiling warmly at us. “Crème brûlée. Should be easy for you, yes?”

Never-nevermind. This class might just be my favorite.

[fireeaglespirit]

@beyond-far-horizons​ as promised, a short summary on my Orion, he takes a lot after the mythology of the constellation but not completely as you’ll see... I’ve done some homework ^^

I’m writing a larger post for one reply to Vivi concerning this all and it involves much more characters so I summed it up here for yah:

There’s probably some new things here so I’ll try to be slow.

Basically, Orion is a legendary guy who originated an entire dynasty under his name, the Orionis. In the story we have two main characters with this surname: Lyra and Procyon the sibling dragon-slayers and their dad, the King Sirius. There’s also another character with this surname in prequel timeline, called Adhara, so you can see he is quite important as ancestral figure for all these people...

Basically my Orion is the archetypal heroic figure and a legendary human warrior. He was the first king and one of the founders of the kingdom of Novencia. He’s quite the dude!! 

So, this is my dude Orion (made on Azalea dolls):

I meant for him to look a bit like an older rugged version of Procyon, he’s more buffed and I kinda imagine him like early 2000′s long haired Hugh Jackman with gray eyes, lmao. The creator is limited but just imagine that.

This is his tale, more or less: 

“The legend tells that Orion was a common man born in Vraen’dur, yet he managed to led humanity to their uprise against their dragon lords.

Orion grew up as a Zunak (some sort of dragon servant) and witnessed the heart of Balauria from inside and vowed to protect humanity from the dragon’s cruelty, even if at the cost of his life. It is said that the goddess Astraea heard his prayers and saw his bravery, and she wept… observing from the skies she judged him worth and sent one of her own stars to aid him in his quest…  from the fallen star’s material several weapons were forged, powerful like no other and said to even surpass the avian mythical swords according to the lore of Novencia.

Orion managed to fulfill his dream and free his kin, even so, with all that power, he paid a great price to his deed. The legendary warrior died a few days after taking down Antares and namely founding the new city of Lindefal upon the ruins left from their battle. The great dragon managed to rip the hunter’s abdomen with the tip of his enormous tail before going down, like the iconic scorpion of the greek legends… despite the dragon’s size, the wound was minor, but it somehow festered as if he was poisoned and not the best healers of the time could intervene. Fate seeming claimed the hunter, ending the cycle..”

From an old post to Vivi. 

Note that the story completely erases any interference from other historical figures on Antares’ downfall, so its certainly not reliable… but Orion is nowadays seen as a savior among Novencia and his descent is widely respected and loved, not without a reason… but its not the complete story.

And this is Antares, the big bad red dragon. His arch-enemy:

First of all, I choose Antares name because he is a huge red dragon. 

Just to place you what exactly Novencia means, it was the first human kingdom founded after an uproar against evil dragons (the old empire called Balauria whose ruler was Antares, the eldest, most powerful dragon and asshole in charge). This uproar was historically attributed to Orion as he was a central figure in the war and he died tragically little after that so everyone remembers him as the savior of mankind, but actually tons of people fought in this including some avians and early draconians, such as Galatea (Eltanin’s younger sister) and even dragons such as Antares’ own siblings Polaris and Ishanur were fundamental to the red dragon’s downfall... anyway.

Orion is the spirit of mankind and their pride, no less, this is why people are so proud of him and they love his descent. Antares is the heart of the Scorpio constellation, which was faced by the hunter, Orion, this isn't very different in my story, because my Orion kills Antares but he dies afterwards from a wound in his chest caused by the dragon’s tail striking him slightly as he fell to his death... kinda ironic and scorpion-like, I did as a homage to the ancient tale.. so they kinda destroy each other.

The Scorpio kinda represents the monster defeated by mankind, also which is very interesting, as Antares wasn't originally a monster.

Its impossible to talk about Orion without talking of his arch enemy. I don’t know how much you know about this all, so just for refreshment: my dragon Antares is the elder brother of both Ishanur and Polaris, the black and white dragons respectively. 

To sum it up, Antares was magnificent and the most powerful dragon that probably ever existed, he challenged his predecessors with the intent of freeing himself and his siblings, however he eventually got addicted to POWAR and control and he left it corrupt it badly, he was overly proud and unbearable. He basically became which he swore to destroy, a tyrant, and the ancient kingdom they founded became hellish, so someone needed to take him down.

Anyway, random facts about Orion: 

Orion was born and raised in Vraen’dur (the old dragon city), I don’t have details but I imagine he was born among the Zunak (dragon servant family) and his father was serving directly under Antares himself so Orion must have had a closer look at the injustice of this system and he certainly had personal beef with the dragon Antares. The zunak are early ‘dragon priests’ but they didn't commune with the dragons power as Antares would never share it so they had just political advantage..

Orion’s lineage is called the Faelany, they could trace back to Astraea herself (the human turned goddess). Eltanin and Galatea belong to this too, they’re likely his cousins. All Faelany have black hair and gray eyes and ability to withstand colder climate easily, they also have the dreamblood (innate ability to access magic and use astral weapons (’weapons forged from stars’)), however this is not very important for now.. just linking this together to the draconian ancestors so you get an idea of the timeline, nowadays this name is mostly forgotten and everyone calls them the ‘Orionis’;

Orion’s legendary astral weapon was named Rigel. It even has the blue color of the real life star but I haven’t decided if it is really an arrow-like weapon as the mythology suggests (you can help me on that);

The astral weapons are thus human weapons unlike the solar/lunar weapons who are always meant for avians and draconians.. I always name them with names of stars belonging to constellations I align with my human people, such as Orion itself;

Rigel and most of his weapons were lost forever and they’re holy grails to the dragon slayers as it was told they have been forged from the heart of a fallen star, and so they’re regarded as one of the few things in existence able to kill or seal a true dragon… even if temporarily (they can be revived but it corrupts them). Dragons are known as creatures of the stars and only similar power can harm them properly;

Orion had a friend called Regulus, the founder of house Leonis and he was king after him. The meritocratic ruling system and laws of Novencia were established by Regulus, actually. One way or another, Orion was a cool guy and he wanted to free humanity from the shackles of slavery, there’s was never an intention to rule or anything but he still ended up as the most famous king ever even if technically he barely ruled at all, Regulus honored his memory afterwards; 

He was the one to give the final, decisive blow to Antares. I choose this for several lore reasons but he wasn't alone in that feat;

The Orionis dynastic name was not created by him or Regulus either, it was Adhara, his young kin who crowned herself after his name as Adhara Orionis, giving birth to the tradition of human houses naming themselves after the founders... p.s.: she is something else as she caused a lot of problems for early Novencia which would make Orion cringe, but that’s for another story.

I think this is it! This is all I know about him right now.. I’m writing a complex post on early Novencia so this will cover some of Orion’s story and how he rebelled against Antares and his friendship with Regulus, etc.. I love that guy, he is great!

[ryuukia]

[Translation] Tsukino Empire - The Third Fleet「Seiryou」

I’m in the middle of my post-graduation exams, so I’m slow with translating. Here’s the third fleet, including both SOARA and Growth.

Special thanks to @clearui and @ryota-kunstranslations for proofreading (I can’t tsukipro to save my life so I needed additional help this time)

If this is your first time reading about Tsukino Empire, you might want to read the stage play plot (especially about the collective affinity)

Profiles under the cut, don’t repost my translations!

07. SOARA - Ohara Sora & Arihara Morihito

Ohara Sora

Cast comment

Hello! I’m Ohara Sora! SOARA's composer, guitarist, and vocalist!

Lives are fun and great, and I love them, but this is my first time in a stage play, so I’m a bit nervous (sweats). Everybody from SOARA has been set in the same fleet as me though, so I am happy to do my best with them all. I will work hard with all my heart and power. ＼＼\┗(' ω ')┛//／／

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) ※Commandant ① Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou1 and ryuu2 type) ※First rank (Main ring ①) 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

An individual with similar attribute values who picked up a ring by chance while coming back from school. Certain that the ring was The First Rank’s Seiryuu, he coincidentally shared it through collective affinity. In a sense, he has become a legendary person.

Seiryuu, known as the most friendly type between the First Rank spirit beasts, says “Although messing around with everyone was fun, it was tiresome to do the compatibility exams carefully on each of them, so I ended up searching for hosts who looked fun”. ※Among [them], the First Ranks are similar to phantoms due to being able to use the space-time gate even in ring forms and without resistance.

He’s innocent, but even so he’s quick-witted. Although in general he follows others’ suggestions exclusively rather than coming up with his own ideas, however, in critical situations, his bold ideas and tactics during confrontations are acknowledged to be superior even by the First Fleet’s Hajime.

Ryuu-san’s type is “For now, let's just go and bam~!”

T/N:  青龍 (seiryou)1 = The Blue Dragon 龍 型 (ryuu kata)2 = dragon type

Arihara Morihito

Cast comment

Hello, I am Arihara Morihito. I think this might be the first time you're meeting me but I play a lot of enjoyable songs with my unit, SOARA. The Tsukino Empire story is our first job unrelated to SOARA’s songs but…… I'm already overwhelmed by the fascinating world setting. SOARA, together with Growth, who debuted at the same time with us, will do our best!

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

One of the people who participated in the collective affinity. He’s calm, smart, and has an exceeding ability to grasp the situation, so, in short, he's the type born to be part of the military staff. As his attitude is also gentle, he’s popular.

With a father who is an instructor in the military academy and also a host, Morihito was glad to become a host too. However, he didn't expect it to be the friendliest type…...

He is the group’s peacemaker, and even though he would like a different role from how he usually is, there are times when he goes easy on the others (example: Sora & Nozomu), something which Soshi tends to make fun of.

Ryuu-san’s type is “First of all, grasp the opponent and the situation carefully. That’s the most important thing.”

08. SOARA - Kagurazaka Soshi & Munakata Ren

Kagurazaka Soshi

Cast comment

I’m Kagurazaka Soshi, who’s been randomly told that the military uniform suits me. Hello.

Today I welcome you to the Empire stage play. Putting music aside, I’ve just started to learn about acting. The five of us who don’t have real abilities nor popularity at all got to stand on such a large stage. In order not to let the chance go to waste and make everyone remember our names, we will give the best we can.

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

Albeit being the same age and being childhood friends with Sora, he's always had a calm personality to balance with Sora's recklessness. Even though he says it’s troublesome, he’s very good at taking care of others, which made him gain the trust of many mothers from the neighbourhood. He was asked many times to look after the children.

In the military academy he was on good terms with Iku and got along with Rui too.

His father is the chief engineer in the Sixth Fleet and his mother fills the lawyer position in the regional legal affairs bureau​. Soshi thought that eventually he’d become a soldier, but becoming a host was an unexpected turn of situation.

Lately, he’s been really into strolling around with Ryuu-san.

Ryuu-san’s type is “Good grief, don’t force yourself”

Munakata Ren

Cast comment

Hello, I’m SOARA’s Munakata Ren. I’ve watched stage plays with my mother who loves dramas ever since I was little, though I never thought I would stand in one myself. I am a bit nervous, but I will do my very best. I hope I can bring everyone to the Empire world…… just like how I used to experience, a long time ago.

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

His parents are biologists and researchers working for the UMA Research Bureau. He intended to take on the researcher position as well, but after being persuaded by Seiryou he became a host, too. He’s aware that his personality is unsuitable for combat, but if assistance is needed in his surroundings, in some way or another he ends up participating.

He’s calm, kind and delicate by nature. When he became a host, he slept for an entire week, and during that time it looks like he became friends with Ryuu-san. Now, even among the members, he’s one of the best when it’s about precision.

Since he is very polite, he speaks very formally to his superiors. However, because he was taken care of by Soshi a long time ago, Ren sometimes refers to him as "Sou-nii" with a very pleasant smile on his face.

Ryuu-san’s type is “I will give my utmost effort.”

09. SOARA - Nanase Nozomu

Nanase Nozomu

Cast comment

Nanase Nozomu-kun, bring it on the Empire Stage~!! With this we’re suddenly advancing in the universe on our first stage appearance! My character is basically pretty ordinary & during the comedy parts, he’s in charge of making things lively! With this spirit beast, thanks to his personality and his noisy attitude, he can make even his superiors go along with him. He'll prove that he can make everyone laugh. We might even go in the audience and interact! When that time comes, let’s laugh together!

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

He’s a bright, cheerful, and foolish. Always lively, happy and energetic!  Although he doesn’t plan on reading the mood in particular, he’s a good guy and seems to naturally get along with Ren, who is calm.

He can easily get along with almost everyone and treat them normally, even toward Hajime, Shun, Shiki, and Dai. However, it seems there are no problems from the other party since they seem to be enjoying it.

Originally from a family which had a large scale business in the republic, it looks like he managed to escape in the Empire during the republic destruction. His household is now quite the common middle class family. His parents work in the private division and his older brother (※who is not a host) works for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When the two of them are together, they are very nois-... … lively.

Ryuu-san’s type is “Let's do it let's do it let's do it let's do it”

10. Growth - Eto Koki & Yaegashi Kensuke

Eto Koki

Cast comment

Hello, I’m Growth’s Eto Koki. Welcome, to Tsukino Empire. A magnificent story will unfold in a distant side of the Universe…. A dream will spread out. The story’s genre is my personal favourite too, so I want to perform with all my might. Sometimes in stage plays, we're given adlibs that are not part of the main script. Being able to portray that as well as the scripted parts is also part of my objectives.

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) ※Commandant ② Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank (Main ring ②) 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

He’s part of a noble household, with a mother who is a member of the Supreme Council and a father who is a high official.

He can be clueless at times, but he has been taught to do anything by himself as much as possible, and in addition, he is very capable in housework. Especially in cooking, he seems to be receiving requests from people around him, even though the person himself thinks that it’s a good change of pace.

Kensuke and Ryota are his childhood friends. Belonging to the upper class, they were born and lived in the same district.

He met SOARA and the others in the military academy. With music as their common hobby, while at it, he was actually hooked by Seiryuu.

Ryuu-san’s type is “Don’t push yourself, let’s take steady yet effective steps forward”

Yaegashi Kensuke

Cast comment

Hello! I’m Yaegashi Kensuke, Ken here! In collaboration with our companions and the Gravi members, we’re going to follow this story from the same positions as everyone in the audience. The setting and world view reveal a quite heavy story, but no matter when I’ll always smile ♪ I will persevere without giving up on hope, so let's go through this together until the end!

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

Although he’s the son of a good family, he’s very friendly, cheerful, sociable and can get along with anyone. There are times when he can’t read the situation, though even then he’s fun.

His specialty lies in his instinct, so it will either lead to safety from problem or probably to danger.  Because his curiosity is strong, he comes in contact with the mysteries around the story’s heart and, without realizing, is drawn towards it.

He’s the Third Fleet’s operator. Occasionally, the sight of him handling information seems to be very manly. He doesn’t think hard & has a positive attitude, which can be someone’s hope in a way.

Ryuu-san’s type is “Let’s go smiling!”

11. Growth - Sakuraba Ryota & Fujimura Mamoru

Sakuraba Ryota

Cast comment

This stage play’s curtain finally opens. I want to thank everybody who came to the theatre. I’m Growth’s Sakuraba Ryota. I have worn military uniform costumes several times until now, but this is actually the first time that I will do that in a military stage play, I feel like I stretched my muscles more than before. I will do my very best, so please take care of me.

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

Despite his delicate appearance, he’s a cool junior with a realistic point of view whose parents are both high officials. He’s very smart, excellent in making strategies and he’s the one supporting the Third Fleet with his diplomatic skills.

Since he had not kept animals so far and also because he did not interact with the organization too much, it looks like he kept some distance between him and his spirit beast, Ryuu-san, for a while. After he recognized himself that it quite resembles him, it seems they started to get along and became good pals.

Not just that, actually Ryouta’s Ryuu-san deals with machinery, which is negotiating with outsiders through devices. Unlike Seiryuu who loves to fool around, it actually works its job properly.

Ryuu-san’s type is “Well now, shall we make some negotiations?”

Fujimura Mamoru

Cast comment

Finally! I finally got to work! … that’s not it (laughs). Who would have known that as a consequence for changing my job, I’d enter the show business world, make my debut and overall reach splendid accomplishments. I’m Growth’s Fujimura Mamoru. Besides composing and singing, this is the first time our work includes a stage play. Just about everything is new and exhausting, we’re in a pretty difficult situation, but we will give our best in practising more than …… no, twice, even three times more than the others. Enjoy yourselves by all means, okay?

Story data

Affiliation: Third Fleet (Ao) Spirit beast: Ryuu-san (Seiryou and ryuu type) ※First rank 【STR】★★★★★★★ 【VIT】★★★★★★☆ 【DEX】★★★★★★☆ 【INT】★★★★★☆☆ 【HP】★★★★★★★ 【MOFU】★★☆☆☆☆☆

A junior who came from an orphanage without any relative, and who enrolled in the Classified Intelligence Bureau, just like You. It seems like he tends to act giddy whenever he observes the higher-ups when they talk or even when he enters the research laboratory.

He joined The Third Fleet and became Seiryuu’s host after Kou picked him up when he got injured. As a result, he seems to feel in debt particularly to Kou.

He is laid back and cheerful by nature, so each member of The Third Fleet are having fun while playing around with him.

Ryuu-san’s type is “Narrow places are calming”

Tsukino Empire Plot | Six Gravity | Procellarum | SOARA | Growth | SolidS

[raeliyah]

Exalted Secret Santa 2018

First, snippet -- with full descriptions, reference pictures, and links under the cut. Anon-asks should be enabled so feel free to ask me anything if you need more info!

If none of these guys strike your fancy, I also have the rest of my exalted characters, with reference images and descriptions, here:

https://refsheet.net/redkite7

Caleb “Wraithshot” Raith Dawn Caste Solar Exalt of the South, longrider lawman, Righteous Devil gunslinger, Badlands Gentleman with a heart of battered gold, giant flirt

Qismet ibn al-Nusar, The Veiled Eagle Night Caste Solar Exalt of the west, self-appointed judge and executioner of corrupt supernaturals, leader of the Brotherhood of the Righteous Death, terse and broody

Zaela Tokari, Queen of Adrelith, of the Meridian Isles Zenith Caste Solar Exalt of the East, friend of Dragon Kings, precious cinnamon roll, youngest daughter, too young to be queen, too young to be Exalted, mousy and self-effacing but will stand up to everything from Deathlords to Elder Lunars in defense of her friends (no art yet)

Caleb “Wraithshot” Raith

Dawn Caste Solar Exalt

Caleb’s Pinterest Inspiration Board

Caleb’s easy. Think of every western trope and smash them all together. He’s a cowboy bounty hunter; a self-proclaimed lawman in a land where there is no law, riding circuit on a handful of towns in the South he considers his and protecting them from whatever evils lurk in the desert.

Physical Description

Caleb stands at 5′11″ and is on the leaner side at ~185 lbs. He’s fit, like a brawler (been in significantly more than his fair share of bar fights) or a ranch hand - someone who works at hard physical labor most days.

Caleb looks like he’s in his early 30s

Being the son of Northern immigrants, Caleb’s complexion is mostly pale, a reddish-burned tan anywhere the sun would shine - arms to the elbows, back of the neck, face mostly.

He’s also freckly across his face, shoulders and upper back, mostly from sun.

His eyes are clear honey-colored brown, more gold towards the pupil from the influence of exaltation.

Hair is black at the roots, growing out into sun-streaked brownish blond. He usually keeps it cut pretty short but if it goes too long without a trim it gets curlier. He likes a clean-shaven face but given his lifestyle he’s pretty much always got a day or three of scruff.

Caleb… basically looks like Chris Pratt.

He’s always got a smile of some stripe - warm, mischievous, leering, insincerely-wide - something.

He’s also very mouthy, and usually has something to chew on, whether it’s a piece of straw, a match, a toothpick, a cigarette (50% chance of it actually being lit), a twig - something. He’s never met a lollipop or chewing gum but he would love them.

Scars, see reference image: He's got a fair few that have never healed all the way. Added to that a nose which was broken in some bar brawl and never healed straight.

Left arm, from wrist to elbow: long nearly parallel white lines.

The remnants of pressure cuts through his right eyebrow, right side of his lips, and the left side of his chin, leaving gaps in the scruff. 

A bullet-scar just above and to the left of his navel. 

The remains of various slashes and stabs decorate his ribs. Most of these fade to nothing quickly, but he’s in fights often enough there’s always something.

The upper portion of his back is a mess of scars look like they were left from him getting dragged quicklike backwards over rock (because he was). A stylized rattlesnake tattoo on his right shoulderblade is only half-seen through the scars. 

Caleb dresses in layers - shirt sleeves, a vest/waistcoat, and either a faded blue or red serape tossed over his shoulders or a brown longcoat. Pants are either canvas or faded denim, and boots are less cowboy-style and more combat- or motorcycle style with a heel for riding. He does wear spurs, but they’re blunted. He’s usually covered in trail dust and sweat, sometimes blood, despite efforts at cleanliness. Feel free to embellish the standard Cowboy gear with arabesque/middle eastern ornamentation, because it is Exalted…

He always carries two modified flame pieces (six-shooters… he’s got six-shooters) on his hips, and the belt’s buckle is large and obnoxious, mostly because he keeps a couple extra rounds of ammunition within it. He also has an artifact rifle (based on a Winchester M1873; lever action, but otherwise unspecified) named Medicine Man that is either slung across his back or is in a sheath on his horse’s saddle. He makes his own ammo for all his weapons. He is a student of Righteous Devil Style, having mastered up to the form charms, but his sifu disappeared and he’s not found another, nor is he skilled enough to pick it up without tutelage.

He does own chaps but whether or not he wears them on any given day depends on how hot it is and how much hard riding he’s anticipating. He has a hat he’s rather fond of, but it’s not anything truly special.

There may or may not be a bandana around his neck/on his person at any given moment, and he often wears a chip of blue crystal with an antelope petroglyph etched on it around his neck on a leather cord. It’s a token from his friend, a springs goddess named Rivela, and a reminder of a partner he lost.

He rides a buckskin warhorse named Dirt who he pretends not to be particularly attached to, but in fact he really really is. Dirt is his horse. Dirt adores him and is always trying to steal his hat. Dirt will also steal anyone else’s hat nearby, but he prefers Caleb’s.

Anima: Caleb’s anima banner is a hailstorm of bright burning metal, like large forge sparks, raining down on him and even appear to bounce off his skin and clothing. Golden smoke and flame rise from the ground at his feet wherever the sparks fall.

Full Description including Personality, History, Art, and links to Fic and Character Playlist Here.

Qismet ibn al-Nusar

Night Caste Solar Exalt Revenge-driven assassin, self-appointed judge jury and executioner of supernaturals who prey on innocents. Leader of a band of mortal assassins with the same motives.

Qismet's Pinterest Inspiration Board

Qismet's Character Playlist

Physical Description:

Qismet is shorter than average at 5'9" built lean and tough like an acrobat at around 150 lbs

he’s kinda touchy about his height

Qismet looks to be in his mid-to-late twenties.

He's darker complexioned, bronzed from a lot of time under the Western Sun

Examples: (Oded Fehr)(Cristian Codrin)(Avraham Aviv Alush)(Francisco Randez-also his face inspiration)

His hair is so dark brown it might as well be black, cut close but still has a bit of a wave to it.

Style example:(One)(Two)* Eyes are the same: so dark brown they might as well be black. Tend to go lighter, almost honey-colored, when he's channeling essence.

Qismet has fairly narrow features, a generous mouth with cupid's bow lips (see reference images) and a crooked nose, somewhat overlong. He would look great if he smiled but he hardly ever does. Eternal Brooding Face

Face Inspiration: Francisco Randez (One)(Two)(Three)(Four)

He has a thin blade scar vertically through his lips on the right side

Tattoos: One, on his right shoulder, the symbol of his assassin's order. Two, on his left bicep: a greenish kraken crossed out by two black swords (indicative of his vendetta against the Lintha).

Clothes and Accessories:

Qismet has two distinct "modes" -- his working guise, as The Veiled Eagle, equal parts vigilante super hero and feared villain, depending on who's looking, and his regular everyday self. The Veiled Eagle's identity is an open secret on his home island but if he's not in 'costume' the folk there know not to bother him as anything more than Qismet.

The Veiled Eagle:

As the Eagle, Qismet wears long open vests and tunics and leather armor (cuirass, pauldrons, greaves) in shades of charcoal to dove gray, with a hood and mask over his face, leaving only his eyes exposed, though the skin around them is usually darkened with greasepaint and charcoal. This outfit is patterned roughly after the Assassin's Creed styles. (Inspiration Images: (Mayan Armor)(Original AC Outfit)).

There is a single splash of blood red among the grays as a sash: normally wound around his waist or crossed from hip to shoulder.

Weaponry:

As the Eagle, Qismet also carries a lot of weapons. Most notable are his two artifact Moonsilver Bracers, the Eagle's Sheathed Talons. These artifacts are made of black siaka leather and covered with moonsilver filigreed plates making the shape of a mantling eagle. They extrude a long knife in combat and also serve as armor for his arms (they're basically Hidden Blades with Exalted flair).

He also wields the paired soul-steel short Daiklaves, Anguish and Agony (see reference image in refsheet.net gallery). He struck a deal with the spirits within when he took them from their former owner. They spend a night and a day of peace within a consecrated temple on the nights of moon dark every month, and in return he will never be chained by sorcery or necromancy until his Task is complete. If he fails to give them peace, they'll turn against him.

As Qismet:

When he's not 'working', Qismet tends towards sleeveless cross-front tunics and vests, loose-cut trousers and short fitted boots, thin-soled for good climbing. He still wears the red sash around his waist, knotted on one side, and always has the artifact bracers.

He tends towards cool, de-saturated colors (because they're cheap), but isn't picky: if it's free of obvious dirt and won't get in his way, he'll wear it. His lieutenant/lover Samira has been slowly stocking his wardrobe with nicer things since ostensibly he's an important figure in their region of the west and should occasionally look it. Really, have fun with clothing design.

He very occasionally wears a shark-tooth pendant, but he's not big on jewelry or adornment in general.

Anima:

A ghost-white and violet sea-eagle, whose head obscures Qismet’s face and whose movements echo the Solar’s. 

Further Reading:

The Eagle and the Marionettist

Infectious - Drabble, features several characters

Silver Sun Era - Storium Game

A History of the Brotherhood of the Righteous Death

Zaela Tokari, Solar Queen

Zenith Caste Solar Exalted - Mousy former-Princess given Divine Power - Too Precious for this world - Too young to be Queen and feels it 

Zaela’s Pinterest Board

Physical Description

Slim and willowy at 5′4″ish and 120lbs-ish - built like a dancer or musician

Medium-brown hair at the roots and lower layers, bleached gold by sun (and anima) light, with those instagram beach-style waves. Comes down to about her shoulderblades

Turquoise eyes, that fade to nearly white when she channels essence

Heart-shaped face with expressive eyes

Her complexion is tan with a bit of a copper tone to it

She exalted at 17 and still looks it

Zaela wears draping gowns in vaguely greek or ancient egyptian-esque fashion, in cool greens and blues and golds and white, accented with delicate jewelry wrought from gold and gems and flowers (natural or artificial). They are usually of light materials, silk,mist linen, and brushed cotton, suited for her jungle island kingdom. 

She usually wears her hair in multiple loose braids, or half-up and adorned with tropical flowers (or whatever’s in season, if she’s travelling far from her home Isle). Nothing in her appearance would mark her as anything other than the favored daughter of a well-off family, but she does on occasion wear the orichalcum, white, and green jade lotus crown of her kingdom. It’s a little too ostentatious for her tastes. 

Anima:

A flock of tropical birds, in jewel tones limned with gold, who spiral and swirl around her. 

Fun Fact:

The ghost of her former shardholder, Prismatic Lotus, used to reside in their royal family chapel, trapped there during the Usurpation. Lotus fled to safe harbor within Zaela when the chapel was attacked and Zaela exalted--she now carries the spirit of her ancestress with her. Lotus acts as mentor, guide, sometime-posessor and obnoxious First Age brat in turn. But mostly she is helpful. 

tagging @shiftingpath for secret santa organizational purposes -- thank you for all the work you put in to this every year; I very much appreciate it! and you!  I will probably be editing this to make sure all the links are working properly and everything’s formatted correctly so apologies in advance

[onimiman]

I Should Have Seen This Coming...

After reading various articles and watching several videos that have been revolving around themes such as nihilism and cynicism that have been interpreted to be core traits in Star Wars: The Last Jedi, it strikes me that this is something I should have seen coming around the time I heard that Rian Johnson had been the one to not only direct this film but also single-handedly write it, and it makes me wonder why, in retrospect, Lucasfilm thought this guy was a great choice to direct a Star Wars movie beyond the mere visuals.

I remember back when The Force Awakens was announced and a director had yet to be hired, so certain names were floated around, like Joss Whedon, Guillermo del Toro, etc.; you know, directors who would make sense to direct a Star Wars movie, what with their prior experiences in the sci-fi/fantasy genres. But two particular names that were floated around for potential directors for TFA were David Fincher and, of course, Rian Johnson, and these were names that struck me as odd considering their bodies of work.

Granted, between Fincher and Johnson, the latter still makes more sense to direct a Star Wars film (and I still stand by that even after the debacle that is TLJ), but I’ll get into why Johnson shouldn’t have been involved in TLJ in the first place. But for now, let’s get into why Fincher would have been an, if not terrible then, inappropriate choice for a Star Wars film. Now David Fincher is no stranger to sci-fi; his directorial debut, Alien 3, demonstrates that even when his efforts were hampered by studio executives from crafting a story worthy of the Alien franchise, he knew how to direct a film like that. And the thing was, no matter what you think about Alien 3′s quality, that film is, through and through, a bleak, nihilistic film that very much captures the spirit and tone of Ridley Scott’s masterpiece and then some. Then, when you look at several of Fincher’s other works (namely, his adaptations of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Gone Girl), the themes of nihilism and pessimism continue to pepper his work, as these core traits are things that Fincher carries from his own personality and worldview into his craft. So I bring all this up about Fincher because when I heard that people (if not Disney/Lucasfilm execs, then people in general) were thinking about him as a possible contender to direct TFA because of his technical skills and experience, I thought, “No, the views that he brings into his work would be totally contrary to what Star Wars is about, which is about, among other things, persistent hope and heroism even in the face of the bleakest of times.” 

Then we get to Rian Johnson. Now the works from Johnson I have seen were his episodes of Breaking Bad (Fly, Fifty-One [the episode where Heisenberg and co. pull the train robbery], and Ozymandias [the episode where Hank dies and Walter’s life completely falls apart) and his 2012 film Looper. Now the commonality between all of these works, and which brings a connection between him and Fincher beyond being potential directors for TFA, are themes such as nihilism, brutality, and pessimism, especially in areas where things fall apart. And also like Fincher’s Alien 3, Johnson’s Looper is a science-fiction film that incorporates such dour, depressing themes into its story, and imo, how he incorporated those themes into Looper, and especially in his episodes of Breaking Bad (which, of course, he didn’t write) worked well for that film and definitely those episodes.

However, it was because of Looper that made me wonder why he would be considered an appropriate candidate to direct TFA, and it really got me scratching my head once he actually got the job of writing and directing TLJ. I thought, “Well, this’ll be a departure from how he would do things.” But then the movie comes out, and when themes like failure and, yes, nihilism are brought up by fans on sites like this and YouTube, it becomes more apparent to me that Johnson was a mistake to write and direct a Star Wars movie. How he incorporates the themes he wishes to discuss are so out of line with what Star Wars is actually about and it certainly makes the characters included in this movie act OOC from how they were previously established in the prior films (I’m looking at you, Luke).

Quite frankly, outside of someone like David Fincher, it would be like if one decided to hire an arthouse director to direct a superhero action movie. I can’t imagine someone like Paul Thomas Anderson, who made such dramatic films like 2012′s The Master and 2002′s Punch Drunk Love, to direct an Avengers movie (which is interesting since he has professed to actually liking superhero/sci-fi action films, yet never directs them). Or how about David Lynch, an arthouse director who’s made movies like Eraserhead and Blue Velvet, direct a Star Wars fil...

Wait... he was considered to direct Return of the Jedi?

WTF?

So I think the conclusion to be made here is this: In spite of the success of TLJ on both the commercial and (professionally) critical sides, if Lucasfilm and Disney hope to have Star Wars continue to be a long-lasting franchise, they must be careful with who they write and direct their films for the future, because a nihilistic pessimist like Rian Johnson would be so inappropriate to the point that they could damage the franchise, as Johnson has done with TLJ. And I speak as a nihilistic pessimist myself, and there are places that can explore such themes in fiction (i.e. Watchmen); hell, I could even see a Star Wars movie working with that PROVIDED THAT IT RECEIVES THE PROPER FOCUS. What do I mean by this? Well, pessimism and nilihism could work in a film focusing on, say, the criminal element of SW, like Jabba the Hutt or Boba Fett; a side element, if you will. But to have this sort of realism in the main saga of Star Wars, where bright, optimistic characters like Luke Skywalker are faced with bleak and grim situations yet soldier through them scarred but alive on both a physical and emotional level, is not productive to the main Star Wars saga.   

@blue-mint-winter    

[asfeedin]

BTS, Beatles, Madonna, Taylor Swift, More

BURBANK, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 27: (L-R) Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin, and J-Hope of “BTS” speak onstage … [+] at iHeartRadio LIVE with BTS presented by HOT TOPIC at iHeartRadio Theater on January 27, 2020 in Burbank, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

Getty Images for iHeartMedia

Upbeat songs are having a surge of popularity in this time of coronavirus gloom. “Happy“ by Pharrell Williams and “Get Lucky“ by Daft Punk are among the most-played tracks of the last decade. The optimistic “Lovely Day” and “Lean On Me” by the late Bill Withers are enjoying a boost on YouTube and other file-sharing and streaming sites.

Here is a list of some musical medicine – songs that are doing well in lockdown, and some alternative cheer-up suggestions.

Recent Songs Doing Well: It is no coincidence that the song doing best in recent weeks is as upbeat as possible. Tones and I’s hit “Dance Monkey“ continues to dominate the YouTube charts and in the top slot on the Global Top Songs chart for the fifth straight week and 20th week overall with 75 million hits. It is followed by the likes of “Don’t Start Now” by Dua Lipa, whose new collection Future Nostalgia set a number of Spotify steaming records, including the most streamed album in a day globally by a British female artist. These songs are followed by more pure pop by the likes of Ariana Grande, Beyoncé, Britney Spears, Rihanna, the Sugababes and Katy Perry. “Say So” by Doja Cat tops various happy 2020 playlists, as does “Stupid Love” by Lady Gaga. Among other tracks picking up plays: “Red Light, Green Light” by Duke Dumont, plus the slightly older songs “Green Light” by Lorde and “Can’t Stop The Feeling” by Justin Timberlake.

BTS: Songs by the K-Pop sensation have been doing well. The septet’s online concert Bang Bang Con had 50.5 million views last weekend. Even some of the group’s older and more obscure tracks are picking up hits, such as “Just One Day” off the Skool Luv Affair EP from 2014, in which each group member imagines one day with his love. The song has topped playlist ideas, and quietly racked up 24 million views on YouTube.

Be Happy: Not surprisingly, people wanting to be happy seek out songs with the word in the title. Apart from “Happy” by Pharrell Williams, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin is back on top of the Spotify playlists. “Happy” tops a YouTube equivalent playlist along with “Shots” by Imagine Dragons.

“Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M., which Michael Stipe said he wrote for children, is also finding its way into radio and internet playlists. The Georgia band’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” returned to Billboard charts last month, while Stripe did his own solo version, adding some tips to avoid coronavirus. Also recommended is R.E.M.’s “I’m Gonna DJ” with its insane lyric: “Death is pretty final/ I’m collecting vinyl/ I’m gonna DJ at the end of the world!”

Not everyone likes singles that force joy, but if you do, try any version of “Happy Days Are Here Again” or “Oh Happy Day,” such as that by Spiritualized. Sting’s remake of “Spread a Little Happiness,” Captain Sensible’s “Happy Talk,” “Happy Together” by The Turtles, and “Happiness” by Goldfrapp are all ripe for a comeback.

Sunny Songs: “Lovely Day” returned to the charts (along with “Lean On Me”) after the death of Withers. Lyrics with optimistic meteorological metaphors do well: “I Can See Clearly Now” by Johnny Nash; U2’s “Beautiful Day”; “Here Comes The Sun” or “Good Day Sunshine” by the Beatles; “Walking on Sunshine” by Katrina and the Waves; and “Rainbow” by Kacey Musgraves.

Reggae Joy: “Three Little Birds” by Bob Marley has been much played for its universal message: “Don’t worry about a thing, ‘cause every little thing is gonna be all right.” For more reggae joy, there is always Marley’s “One Love,” his own version of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” and “You Can Get It If You Really Want” by Jimmy Cliff.

Some Kind Of Wonderful: Another Cliff song, “Wonderful World, Beautiful People,” reminds us that even at the time of COVID-19, listeners still know that life can be wonderful. The words of Otis Redding have been ringing out online (“If you love me too, oh what a wonderful world this could be”) as well as Louis Armstrong (“I hear babies cry, I watch them grow, they’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know/ and I think to myself, what a wonderful world.”). Singles such as “Wonderful Life” by Black and Hurts, two different songs, have also gained some traction.

Material Girl: Madonna’s upbeat 1980s hits such as “Holiday” and “Lucky Star” have been much mentioned in 2020 playlists.

Lightening Up: Bob Dylan’s long and downcast comeback “Murder Most Foul” has a modest 192,000 hits so far on YouTube after its surprise release amid lockdown last month. Still, the Nobel laureate’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” “Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat” and “Highway 61 Revisited” all are witty and fast-moving and recommended to raise a smile. Simon & Garfunkel are getting played for “Cecilia,” “59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” the bittersweet “I Am A Rock” and Paul Simon solo tracks such as “Loves Me Like A Rock” or “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard.”

For all the gl0om of “The End” and “When The Music’s Over,” Jim Morrison of The Doors had his lighter moments and “Hyacinth House” has a false cheer a bit like Elvis Costello’s later “Other Side of Summer” or The Flaming Lips song “Do You Realize?”

David Bowie provides cheer with “Fill Your Heart” and “Kooks,” though probably not “The Laughing Gnome.” His “Heroes” is one of the anthems for frontline workers, with 9 million YouTube views, and has enjoyed a new lease of life with the cover version by Motörhead racking up 36 million views.

Kanye West: Yeezy’s can-do anthem “Stronger,” and his “American Boy” with Estelle, are enjoying playlist success. So has his “Runaway,” as is the Linkin Park song of the same name.

Kids’ Stuff: The lockdown proved to be an ideal time to launch Disney+ in new regions. It was announced this month that the channel reached 50 million subscribers in just six months. A lot of its songs are uplifting for children and others: much of The Jungle Book (“The Bare Necessities”) or Mary Poppins (“Let’s Go Fly a Kite”.)

Elsewhere, listeners of all ages may enjoy Jonathan Richman’s child-like “Ice Cream Man,” “The Tag Game” and “That Summer Feeling.”

Love Songs: “Sex on Fire” by the Kings of Leon came at No 10 in the list of most-played songs of the last decade. Most people have their own personal romantic smile inducer, with those recently mentioned online including James Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good)” and Carole King’s “You’ve Got a Friend.” The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside” has shown up in a few lists, even though it is a song about jealousy. Others include Motown classics “My Girl” by The Temptations and “My Guy” by Mary Wells; Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me”; and Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.”

Good Times: Van Morrison’s “St. Dominic’s Preview” is an example of a feel-great-right-now song. Trending tracks with a similar vibe include “One Day Like This” by Elbow; “Perfect” by The The; “(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay” by Otis Redding; or Eric Clapton’s “Wonderful Tonight.” “I Got a Feeling” by Black Eyed Peas says “I gotta feeling that tonight’s gonna be a good night.” Prince has much the same sentiment in “It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Night,” while his “Let’s Go Crazy” has brought happiness to 15 million via YouTube. Prince died exactly four years ago, so expect his streaming numbers to rise on the anniversary.

Rock The Trouble Away: When times get tough, the tough get rocking. Think Elvis Presley, Nirvana, AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, or Guns N’ Roses, if they make you punch the air. Bon Jovi has also popped up on fan playlists for COVID-19 tunes with “Livin’ On A Prayer” and “It’s My Life.” He declares: “I ain’t gonna live forever, I just want to live while I’m alive.”

‘On The Rise’ Pick-Me-Up Songs: Primal Scream has also been popping up on fans’ playlists with “Movin’ On Up” and “Loaded,” both off the album Screamadelica. Also recommended: “Up!” by Shania Twain and “The Only Way Is Up” by Yazz.

‘I Am The Greatest’ Music: Spirit-raising tracks include “We Are The Champions” by Queen, especially popular since the Bohemian Rhaposdy movie; “The Best” by Tina Turner; “So What,” by Pink; and “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga. Also recommended: “The Greatest” (Ringo Starr and Cat Power, two very different songs.)

Songs Relevant To COVID-19: “Don’t Stand So Close To Me“ by The Police has surged as lockdown became a reality, even though it is really about a school romance. Just because of the titles, “Splendid Isolation,” by Warren Zevon, “Isolation“ by Joy Division and “Isolation“ by John Lennon have all got extra plays, though none are particularly cheery.

The streaming and file-sharing sites also see boosts for defiant-mortality songs, really just based on their titles. Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” from 1978 has been a standout, an anthem for strength, with the singer taking to TikTok to rework it and inspire others to properly wash their hands.

“Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees and “Don’t Fear The Reaper” by Blue Öyster Cult have also added plays, as has “Stronger” by Kelly Clarkson, with its words “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

“Resistiré” (I Will Resist), originally by Dúo Dínamico in 1988, has been redone for 2020 and has had 19 million hits on YouTube. The equally defiant “Shake It Off” by Taylor Swift is also the YouTube happy songs playlist, Natasha Bedingfield’s “Pocketful Of Sunshine” also raises spirts with its message “Do what you want, but you’re never gonna break me.”

More COVID-19 relevant titles boosting hits are “Work From Home” by Fifth Harmony and “Down With the Sickness” by Disturbed, which has surged 31% in digital song sales, according to Nielsen Music/ MRC Data; and “Quarantined” by At the Drive-In, which is up 70%.

COVID Spoofs: There are many memes out there but it is hard to fault Chris Mann with “My Carona,” spoofing “My Sharona,” and “Stay At Home Vogue,” parodying Madonna’s “Vogue.”

Songs In Response To The Virus: Not necessarily so bubbly are Bono’s “Let Your Love Be Known” and Randy Newman’s “Stay Away.”

A three-minute single won’t doesn’t erase the tragedy of COVID-19, its threat to jobs and economy but helps to lighten our load. As the record and radio-industry slogan says, “life sounds better to music.” Some relentlessly light tunes are madly irritating to some people and inspiring to others. Based on listening to 1,000 new albums a year and thousands of singles, here is a personal choice: “Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3” by Ian Dury and the Blockheads; “My Favorite Things” from The Sound Of Music; “Pure” by The Lightning Seeds; “Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)” by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel; “Candy” by Paulo Nutini; “It’s Gonna Be Okay, Baby” by MUNA; “Song 2” by Blur; and “One More Time” by Daft Punk.

Maybe add to the playlist a few pieces of 1960s psychedelic pop such as “Itchycoo Park” or “Lazy Sunday” by the Small Faces; “Sugar Sugar” by The Archies or “Marrakesh Express” by Crosby, Stills and Nash. If you are making a playlist, hopefully these suggestions will help boost your “quarantune” spirits.

Source link

Tags: Beatles, BTS, coronavirus, covid-19, happy music, lockdown, Madonna, quarantunes, Spotify, swift, Taylor, Taylor Swift, Youtube

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2Y5wXB1 via IFTTT

[mst3kproject]

1108: The Loves of Hercules

I kinda miss the shorts and the black and white films in the new series, but I was happy to see a Hercules movie in the lineup! It feels like MST3K getting back to its roots.  This is a particularly awful Hercules movie, too, short on feats of strength and long on romantic melodrama – and never once does Herc bend prison bars or pretend to drink a love potion!  Get with the program, movie.  Along with napping, those are his defining acts!

An encampment of some sort is attacked by the Ecalian army, who proceed to slaughter everybody there including Hercules' wife Megara.  Hercules naturally goes looking to have a few words with the King of Ecalia about this, but when he arrives at the city he learns that the man is already dead.  If he wants vengeance, it will have to be against the king's daughter, Deianira.  Obviously Herc's not gonna take revenge against a girl for something she didn't even do – instead, he immediately falls in love with her, only to learn a few days later that she's already promised to a man named Achillo.

Herc leaves Ecalia in a huff, and after slaying a hydra even cheaper than the dragon in The Magic Sword, he arrives in the land of the Amazons.  Their queen, Hippolyta, drinks a potion that makes her look like Deianira in order to win Hercules' heart.  He is surprisingly okay with this, and fully prepared to stay with her until she gets sick of him and turns him into a tree... but then he learns that the real Deianira is about to be forced to marry her father's killer.

Meanwhile, I'm sitting here going, “Megara?  The redhead who died in the opening scene?  Remember her?  Anybody?”  Apparently not.

When a female character is killed off so that her death can spur a male character to action, this is colloquially known as 'fridging', after the time Alexandra DeWitt was killed and stuffed into a fridge just to piss off her boyfriend, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner.  Among non-hack writers it is generally frowned upon as both sexist (implying that women's lives are important only insofar as they matter to men) and lazy (there are better, less cliché ways to motivate your character).  This movie's treatment of Megara is one of the purest examples I've ever seen.  She is introduced only so that she can be killed, and killed only to make Hercules go to Ecalia, where he promptly forgets all about her when he meets Deianira.  Megara has served her entire purpose in the first couple of minutes, and is never mentioned again.  One wonders why they bothered paying an actress to play the part.  If she's gonna be that irrelevant, why even show her on screen?

This movie claims be be about The Loves of Hercules, but the fact that it forgets about Megara the moment Hercules meets Deianira makes it seem doubtful that he actually loves either of them. If Megara were so dear to him, surely he would grieve for her a while, rather than immediately wanting to run off with her killer's daughter.  And if he didn't love Megara, to whom he had apparently been married for some time, why should we believe he loves Deianira? He barely knows Deianira... it seems like there's a lot more lust going on there than love, especially when he's so willing to accept Deianira's double in Hippolyta.  We get a Hercules who seems to blunder from woman to woman without a lasting attachment to any of them.

This is the biggest problem with The Loves of Hercules, but it's a long way from the only one.  There's also Mickey Hargitay. I've seen Mickey Hargitay in a couple of films before – besides this one, he was the detective in Lady Frankenstein and Anderson in Bloody Pit of Horror (god, I've seen a lot of terrible movies).  I kind of want to say he was better in those, but now that I think about it I'm pretty sure he was dubbed in both so it's actually quite hard to gague his performance. It's better than in the non-MST3K Loves of Hercules I watched, which was a re-dub in which all the characters were stoic and British.  He does a lot of Dull Surprise™ and postures like he's in a silent film.  His 'feats of strength' do not communicate impressive power – he just looks like a guy struggling to balance a prop tree.

Nor does it help that in comparison with Steve Reeves and Alan Steele, he makes for a relatively skinny and baby-faced Hercules.  Hargitay was 1955's Mr. Universe, and he's certainly in admirable shape, but he's just not up to 'demigod' levels.  He looks like the Hercules Ryan Gosling would have grown up into.  Apparently Hargitay got the role because the studio wanted Jayne Mansfield, and she would only agree to be in the movie if Hargitay, her husband, played Hercules.

Then there's the monsters.  Amusingly crummy monsters are stock-in-trade for a Hercules movie, usually realized by people in ridiculous costumes.  The Loves of Hercules is rather ambitious here.  Rather than giving us a distinctly un-threatening lion or a guy in a lizard-man suit who clearly can't see anything, we get a full-scale three-headed dragon standing in for the Lernaean Hydra!  It is significantly uglier and less mobile than its Russian cousin in The Sword and the Dragon, and looks kind of like one of the animatronics from Disney's Jungle Cruise ride.  It's laugh-out-loud obvious how careful the actors are being not to damage it.

These movies are never very faithful to the source material, so it shouldn't bother me that their 'hydra' bears only the faintest resemblance to its mythological inspiration... but it does.  The hydra is my favourite of Hercules' twelve labors – it's some kind of reptilian monster that Hercules tried to defeat by cutting off its head, only to find that multiple (usually three) heads grew back from each stump.  This makes it an excellent metaphor for a problem that needs to be addressed at its source rather than just having its symptoms brushed under the rug, but it also serves to make a point that most of these movies ignore: Hercules isn't stupid.

The hydra was a monster Hercules could not defeat by brute strength alone – he had to use his strength in a smart way.  In the myth, he burned the neck stumps so that they couldn't heal, then dipped his arrows in the hydra's venom to make them extra-deadly to all the monsters he'd have to fight later.  The Disney version actually kept the spirit of this idea even as they changed the ending.  Without a torch on hand, Hercules instead brings down a cliff on top of the hydra, trapping it under tons of rock that he can escape from, but it can't.  This is sort of the inverse of my point from a few reviews back about brains and hands: brains aren't much good without strength to do the work, but strength also isn't much good without a brain to direct it.  By making the hydra a creature Hercules can just stab to death, the episode loses all its meaning.

A lot is also lost from our impression of Hercules' intelligence, which wasn't exactly riding high anyway after he seems unable to remember more than one woman at a time.

Finally, of course, there's The Loves of Hercules' other monster and supreme What The Fuck moment, the Totally Random Sasquatch.  It was only on the second viewing that I realized this was supposed to be the 'monster Alcyone' the peasants mentioned rustling their cattle.  When describing him to Hercules and Deianira before the stampede, they call Alcyone a thief before they call him a monster, and use the word 'monster' in such a way that it seems like a metaphorical description of a human thug, rather than a literal one of Bigfoot.  With the cattle stampede and everything that follows to distract me, I'd forgotten all about Alcyone by the time we actually met him, and the sudden arrival of an ape-man seemed to come completely out of the blue.

In fact, even after realizing the connection, this is a weird, weird moment.  What is Alcyone even supposed to be?  The closest thing I can come up with to Bigfoot in standard Greek mythology is a satyr, but Alcyone is even less satyr-like than Torgo.  The writer Hanno the Navigator referred to a tribe of savage ape-men who supposedly lived around Sierra Leone, which he says the natives called gorillai (yes, this is where we get the word), but that's a long way from Greece and the story is fairly obscure.  As far as I can tell, Alcyone is exactly what Jonah and the bots first took him for: a totally random Sasquatch.  Between him, Cry Wilderness, Om the Caveman, and Gulfax the Poodle-Wookiee, I think we can officially dub Season 11 the Bigfoot Season.

As long as I'm here, 'Alcyone' is a girl's name in Greek.  It refers to a type of bird.

The Loves of Hercules is pretty competently made in most respects.  Even with some of the shortcomings in the casting, acting, and effects, it could have fallen into the 'hokey but charming' category, if only it hadn't forgotten about Megara.  The way she simply ceases to exist, as if women are like shirts and you can just pick a new one when you lose the old (or something similar if the one you originally wanted is no longer available), gives a very poor impression of both Hercules and the writers and makes it difficult to really get into the romances that follow.  In a film about the loves of Hercules, that's a fatal mistake.