#maxwell (reborn)

[rozetheeuwu]

My designs for Aqua Mastermind Archer and Magma Kingpin Maxwell!

[pinkdreamscape1]

Mono Cat, Maxwell 1

I'm sure the kids can wait while I do some sidequests.

Anyway, this was rather easy I guess, much better than I expected.

Toxic spikes and Reflect/Light screen really helped out here.

[lgbtqreads]

I just read Reforged & Reborn by Seth Haddon (waiting on the third book in that series impatiently) and also A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows (it seems there may be a third Tithenai book coming? maybe? fingers crossed?), and A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland and I am craving some more books along those lines - political intrigue & a bit of danger and mystery balanced out with an interesting romance... any suggestions? they don't have to be m/m!

Definitely check out The Unbroken by CL Clark and The Councillor by EJ Beaton! And if you're up for adding sci-fi to the mix, you'll love Everina Maxwell's Winter's Orbit series if you haven't read it yet!

[julerosemary]

One of the more interesting minor notes in the more recent Pokémon games is that different characters, such as the Team Star bosses, use different types of Pokéballs. It’s a neat characterization detail. So I thought I would apply to Reborn’s characters.

Also here’s some visual references:

Gym Leaders

Julia-Fast. Only her Voltorb and Electrode actually get the bonus from it. She uses it because it fits best with her pom-poms.

Florinia-Timer. Statistically the most effective ball.

Shelly-Friend. It’s cute and fits with her forest field.

Shade-Cherish. Mysterious and red.

Aya-Poke. It’s the cheapest.

Serra-Premier. A show of aesthetic and (somewhat former) status.

Noel-Poké. He’s basic.

Radomus-Master. Spent half the coffers on it. Also, because grand”master”.

Luna-Moon. Fits her vibes immaculately.

Samson-Heavy. The circus strongman should lift heavy things. That’s like, his job.

Charlotte-Premier. Both cool and easily available.

Terra-GS balls (or at least, standard pokéballs painted to look like GS balls). The ultimate troll.

Ciel-Wing. White and blue, and associated with flying types. Maybe she learned to make them back out in the country.

Adrienn-Luxury. Only the best for xyr Pokémon!

Titania-Net. Completely symbolic, with no practical use. She’s extra like that.

Amaria-Dive. One can surmise that she spends a lot of time underwater. She likely catches her mons there as well.

Hardy-Repeat. Just thinks it looks cool.

Saphira-Dusk. Very effective and also kinda edgy. Her gym emulates a cave.

Sandy-Luxury. Stolen from Craudberry’s collection.

Elite 4

Heather-Jet. A soaring pokéball for a fast-flyer.

Benett-Nest. He definitely raises his bug Pokémon from the first stage.

Laura-Heal. No explanation needed.

El-Legends Arceus normal Pokéballs. Took up crafting sometime after his sight was restored.

Anna-Dream. Due to the dreamsickness and such.

Ame-Safari. Fits symbolically.

Rivals

Victoria-Heal. Imitating Kiki.

Cain-Love. Flirt.

Fern-Great. Once superior, now outclassed.

Cal-Great. Wanted to show up Blake by using a less effective ball.

Meteors

Aster-Quick. The somewhat hasty one.

Eclipse-Timer. The level-headed one.

Ace-Glimmer. Uses a lot of seals.

Sirius-Ultra. No-nonsense kinda fellow.

Solaris-Gigaton. RVTERN to tradition man himself.

Taka-PLA regular pokéballs. Similar to Solaris but extremely half-assing it.

Lin-Cherish. Mysterious ass.

Zero-Ultra. Looks like Umbreon.

Eve-Quick. Statistically the most efficient ball. 

Lumi-Level. Had a very high level Glaceon and little other Pokémon, so she figured that level balls were best for their price. 

Sigmund-Ultra. For the intimidation factor.

Blake-Ultra. Try-hard.

[POSTGAME FINAL BOSS]-Reborn

Others

Corey-Poke. To further comparisons Elena makes to child champions.

Kiki-Heal. Has a focus on healing and mental wellness.

Craudberry-Luxury. Purely as a status symbol, would actually make them more uncomfortable if she could.

Eustace-Luxury. Both as a status symbol and genuine care for his mons.

Archer-Team Aqua’s Ball

Maxwell-Team Magma’s Ball

Corin-Rouge-Love. Whore 

Elena-Jet. Where Heather got hers from.

Zina-Dream. She is all but one.

[peridot-tears]

Time Travel AU: Be Gay, Solve Crimes

"Oi, is it true what they say? That you Frenchies are always raring for a good murder mystery?"

Time travel!AU where after Jacob kills Maxwell Roth, he blacks out from sheer exhaustion and smoke inhalation, only to wake up during the French Revolution. He quickly tags along with one Arno Victor Dorian, who's hot on the trail of whoever killed Jean Paul Marat, and he can't keep away even after Charlotte Corday is behind bars. In fact, he especially wants to stay when Arno teams up with Elise De La Serre -- "She doesn't want you as much as you want her, Arnie!"

After a revolution ends and a new era begins under Napoleon, Arno finds himself turning to Jacob as his closest confidante. "Though you may be boorish and reckless, there must be a reason that you're somehow still miraculously alive to bother me."

("This coming from the man who killed a bunch of men just for wine," Jacob scoffs.)

After a long and tumultuous courtship that they try to label as "frenemies," except in 19th-century French, they become dual Master Assassins who serve the people of France -- and the people of England, because fuck Napoleon and fuck the King too -- and make their relationship official.

And they were dual Master Assassins. Oh my God, they were dual Master Assassins.

They spend the rest of their lives sneaking and assassinating, trying to bridge the gap between Assassins and Templars, and though they ultimately fail, their attempts were so influential, even the biggest fanatics of both sides speak their names with respect.

Once they've retired to the Alps as old men, they spend their days in leisure, until the day they go to bed holding hands, and never wake up.

Except Jacob does wake up.

Evie is at his bedside, scolding him for his recklessness, and it's 1860s London again.

He recovers quickly, considering the tragedy that just befell him. Maxwell Roth is dead. That's a pity. Jacob has known better love and a better man than Maxwell Roth.

Even if that man was just a dream.

Until the day he breaks into the rest of Twopenny's personal collection, where he sees several original portraits of the French Revolution. A sharp-eyed painter from that time had managed to spot two men in the crowd -- Jacob finds himself staring at his own face, hiding in plain sight, and though the head of the man beside him is turned, he would recognize that scar anywhere.

And what sharp eyes that painter had. Jacob sees himself in this painting. That painting. Several paintings throughout the years, given away by small tells that only Jacob himself would recognize: The familiar swoop of Arno's frame as he sidestepped a guard. Jacob's godawful sans-culottes disguise. In the blurry distance, Arno performing a leap of faith, given away only by a gold and blue plumage unusual for a bird in Paris.

I'm here, he thinks. I'm really here.

Familiar steps sound the hall behind him.

Jacob ducks behind the painting; it's merely a worker in the building, coming to make sure the collection is as untouched as it has always been. He looks bored. He looks like Arno.

His hair may be cropped, and his scar may be gone -- the sign, perhaps, of a life that's dealt him a kinder hand -- but that bored look has not changed. It's Arno. He's been reborn, somehow.

That can't be it. Arno's gone. Jacob died with him. But Jacob is here, Jacob thinks to himself.

It's too much. And besides, Twopenny's paintings are rubbish, anyway. But Arno-not-Arno won't leave. He's lingering at the paintings, eyeing the details of the brushstrokes with light interest. He always was incorrigible when it came to purveying the arts.

Jacob tries to sneak past him -- Arno-not-Arno's ears practically prick, sharp as the man Jacob married, and Jacob finds himself grabbing him from behind, knocking him out gently.

He lingers just long enough to prop him up by the painting, smoothing out his hair, tucking him in with a nearby tarp because it's winter, Arno will get cold. He can practically hear Arno scolding him for his poor choice of fabric. "That barely insulates anything," he would say.

"It's the thought that counts," Jacob says.

He tips his hat, and escapes the building.

[madamlaydebug]

“I was reborn when I was broken.” - Maxwell, Lifetime

[sapphicthunderhead]

I need to talk about Dr. Manuela Dominguez (from The Magnus Archives). This woman Drives Me Insane. [TL; DR at the bottom.]

She is initially presented as a textbook mad scientist: a disgraced astrophysicist bent on ending the world as we know it. But with every nuance and detail introduced about this character over the course of the narrative, my understanding of her shifted. By the end, I felt as if the person she described at the beginning of her first Statement was completely divorced from the twisted thing she became— which is the repugnant truth of what happens to Fear Avatars.

Some key details from her first Statement that really struck me: 1) I can really see myself in her love for physics and her ambition. 2) Her alienation from her fanatically religious, “vicious” parents is a big contributor to her downfall, but never remotely presented as an excuse for her actions. 3) She is so utterly unrepentant.

Regarding her parents: She saw the inconsistencies and hypocrisy in their bigoted beliefs about what is “unnatural,” likely in part because, she says, “I found myself crossing that line from an early age. Although, strangely, out of everything I was, it was always my desire to pursue a scientific career that they railed against with the most energy” (MAG 135: Dark Matter).

(I could be projecting, but this line has caused me to speculate that she might also be gay. If so, it would certainly add another level of pain &/or frustration to her home situation.)

But young Dominguez disregards her parents’ ludicrous exhortations and goes on to become an an expert on dark matter (mysterious masses that cover much of the universe and do not emit, absorb, or interact with photons) and dark energy (mysterious force which may be responsible for the expansion of the universe).

It is in the process of researching these phenomena that she has a spiritual awakening of the worst kind. She soon becomes a disciple and eventually second-in-command to Maxwell Rayner, ringleader of the cult of the Dark, the Church of the Divine Host (said Host being Rayner). As a cultist, she goes on a mission aboard the vessel of allied Fears that is the Daedalus space station. There, she creates The Extinguished Sun— a sun made of dark matter, which the Church uses as a focal point in their ritual of the same name to bring about eternal darkness.

That brings us to the point where this character loses my sympathy in the same way Callum (Rayner’s partial reincarnation?) did in S5. The Extinguished Sun ritual involves keeping Marked individuals (which events in S5 lead me to fear may be predominantly children) trapped and terrified in the dark for extended periods of time, and then sacrificing them to the Dark via drowning, in a callback to the manner in which Halley/Rayner was killed/reborn as a vessel of the infinite darkness that predates time itself.

So How Am I To Cope??? Do you know how often I come across women as mad scientists in media— let alone ones who are ambiguously implied to be gay?! Not often!

But there is a possibility she kills kids, and I can’t tolerate that shite, so all I am left with is immeasurable disappointment in her lack of conscience, and in her for joining a cult instead of getting therapy, and in her parents for being dicks, and in those who have purveyed ignorance and engaged in cruelty “in the name of God” both historically and unto the modern day, and in society for the continued existence of systemic sexism (and other biases), and in the limited number of women, POC, and LGBT+ individuals portrayed as mad (and regular, marginally less fun) scientists in media, etc… It’s quite the web of inequity and suffering, stretching between this world and the fictional.

Dr. Manuela Dominguez is a character who makes me sad that there aren’t more women mad scientist characters in media. If there were, it perhaps might not hurt so much to see her progress from someone whose trials, goals, and motivations I can understand and empathize with, to an unredeemable child killer.

To clarify, I don’t believe the author’s writing of this character was bad or sexist. I don’t feel the same morose regret about what could have been when it comes to Jude Perry; I do when it comes to Agnes Montague; I don’t when it comes to Gertrude; etc. I think that Jonny intended for the audience to at least passively ponder the person that Dr. Dominguez could have been, under different circumstances. It is a feature of the writing of all the Avatars.

One of the core themes of the series is this: How do circumstances (such as economic systems, wink wink nudge nudge) shape people? Dr. Dominguez is just one of many disheartening answers to that question.

TL;DR: Dr. Dominguez started out as a victim of bad parenting, and eventually into an even more sick and twisted version of her parents, who she despised as a child for their zealotry and cruelty. But this might not hurt me so bad to think about if 1) I didn’t relate so much to her younger self, as an aspiring physicist and a sapphic trying to shake off the message that everything that brings me joy is “unnatural” and 2) if she wasn’t the first character I thought of when trying to recall women mad scientists in media.

For those who feel like looking for other fem mad scientists in podcasts, I believe Ava the theoretical physicist from Midnight Burger and doctor/assassin Vespa Ilkay from Penumbra both count. For a sane fem scientist, try the marine biologist protagonist from DOWN. If you think of any others in any kind of media, you’re welcome to respond in the comments or tags.

(I know of Poison Ivy, as well as the more sane Dr. Sattler from “Jurassic Park” and Dr. Calvin from Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot,” and I appreciate them. You may leave them out of the replies.)

[darkx-the-dragon-kn1ght]

Pokémon Reborn Screenshot Let's Play: Chapter 26

Hello again, readers! Are you ready for another chapter of chaos? Of course you are, I doubt you’d be reading this post otherwise! And I’m sure this chapter will be quite chaotic indeed, considering everything that happened in the last chapter. Last time…oh, last time. What can I say about last time? It was a lot of stuff- it was exploration, it was battling, it was new teammates, it was SEVERAL questions, it was me spending about 4 hours grinding for a Gym challenge. 

I won’t beat around the bush much longer- let’s get into the recap for a better understanding of all the absolute baggage Xera was left with coming out of Chapter 25.

CW: mentions of suicide, dismemberment, and death

After helping with some advertising for Central Salon (in the form of battling a Tsareena), the stylist gives Xera a Bounsweet as thanks, who she names Mango.

Exploring Obsidia Slums, Xera finds a hungry Makuhita, who she is able to catch and names Knuckle.

Visiting the same totem pole where she caught Cephalon, Xera encounters a Natu. She catches it and names the tiny bird Quetza.

In Obsidia Slums, Xera finds a playground-like area. In addition to catching a Shiny Trubbish who she names Odie, she also witnesses some familiar-looking Scraggy being taken away by a gang of Pangoro. Xera heads into the Slums Playground to give chase.

Even after defeating all three Pangoro to save the Scraggy, the three bear Pokémon make one last attempt to attack Xera all at once. Luckily, she is saved by the intervention of a certain Scrafty. As Scrafty begins to leave with her Scraggy, one decides it wants to stay with Xera, which Scrafty accepts. Xera agrees to take Scraggy in, and she names him Rumble.

Down in the dark recesses of the ruined Underground Railnet, Xera not only finds the Flash TMX (which she cannot use yet), but hitting a metal pole causes an Aron to fall on her. She catches it and names him Wulfrum.

Returning to North Obsidia Ward, Xera is given a new task from Maxwell of the Magma Gang: to assist in a complete takeover of Aqua Gang’s hideout in Lapis Ward, driving the rival gang out for good. 

At the Aqua Gang base, Xera provides a distraction for Maxwell and Break to come in and cause havoc, but Xera is left with facing off against Archer, the Aqua Gang’s leader, herself. She wins the hard-fought battle and the Aqua Gang is forced to retreat.

Back at the Magma Gang base, Maxwell rewards Xera with a certain Pokémon that is a staple of the gang: a Houndour, who is named Obsidian. 

That night, Xera visits Obsidia Alleyway to find a Zangoose rummaging in the trash. She battles and catches it, naming him Gash.

Xera also visits the Beryl Cemetery; one of the pumpkins reacts to her Soul Candle, causing a Pumpkaboo to appear. Xera catches the ghostly Pokémon, naming him Jack.

Atop an apartment building in Beryl Ward, Xera spots the unmistakable image of the late Corey. After he escapes, Xera pursues him into Peridot Ward and then North Obsidia Ward before finally cornering him. There, “Corey” reveals himself to actually be an illusion disguise made by a Zorua. Xera battles and catches the mischievous (and disrespectful) fox, naming him Mal.

Visiting the Abandoned Power Plant (or Yureyu Power Plant), Xera learns from Ame that the reason the train she arrived into the Reborn region on was attacked was because of Ame herself; evidently, Team Meteor sought to kill her specifically. Ame apologizes profusely to Xera for what happened, but is unable to concretely say that it will be fully taken care of.

While preparing to take on Shade and his Ghost-types, several evolutions take place: Obsidian into Houndoom, Ace into Swellow, Kirby into Jigglypuff, and Wulfrum into Lairon. Additionally, the electromagnetic energy present in the power plant allows Prong to evolve into Vikavolt.

As she activates panels to open the way to Shade, Xera is shown events on screens throughout the plant: Corey’s suicide, Agent Grass being beheaded (or dismembered?), Amaria also committing suicide with a red-haired person being unable to prevent it, and a Garchomp cutting down a person with purplish hair.

At the heart of the power plant, Shade reveals his true face and battles Xera. It’s a difficult fight, but Xera comes out on top. This not only earns her the Omen Badge, but also the right to hear Shade finally speak as he turns the power back on and shows her some security camera footage.

The footage displays the Underground Railnet, where Cain, Charlotte, Shelly, Heather, Noel, and Anna watch the previously locked doors open. However, a certain Team Meteor commander- Commander Redeye, revealed to be the previously-mentioned Commander Sirius- appears for an ambush, ordering his Grunts to capture the group.

Anna tosses…something to Cain, urging him to run. Cain is able to escape with the help of Nidoking, but Heather and the others are captured- as per the agreement with Dr. Connal.

Suddenly, Agent Grass appears. She delivers the news of both her own promotion to Agent as well as the selection of a new Systems Manager, with Sirius mentioning something happening regarding Ace. Agent Grass speaks disrespectfully to Sirius before giving him a strange warning, then leaves. Annoyed by Agent Grass’s impudence, Sirius and his underlings depart to continue their work.

As the camera feed cuts out, Shade leaves Xera with a strange riddle or prophecy of sorts before she is free to leave.

Yeah- it was a lot, in both meanings of the phrase. But the main thing now is that Heather and the other kids are in danger all over again, and I am NOT gonna let it stay that way! Even if Xera has to beat up Connal again, even if she has to beat up Sirius, even if she has to beat up many more Meteor Grunts, we are GOING to save them! This is personal, this is war! And that starts with catching up with Cain! So let’s take care of that first, make a plan, and go from there! I am SO ready for more violence!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12

Part 13

Part 14

Part 15

[maguro13-2]

Darkness Reborn ~ Origins of the Ink Demon Final Chapter Finale (1/10)

[Space Colony Ark]

Maka : You're Shinra Kusakabe. How on earth are you still alive?

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : Haven't you figured it out yet, Captain Obvious? I was the one who put you all and your friends into my influence, you were the ones who has spreaded it all from the lying that I caused. But it's such a same that you did not serve Death, my man-made son from 1000 years after I manifested the world that you all lived, which was created by me.

Maka : Shinigami was your man-made son? So that means, It was you! You started it all! You deceived me to think that I was the hero of my story! You told me that I wanted to show the world our courage! How could you even deceive me?

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : Well, perhaps...Our author was behind all of this, the world of Soul Eater was brought from the weirdness, everything was just a fantasy, the World of Soul Eater is all nothing but a lie. I highly recommended that the so-called Kishin that everyone keeps talking about, there's no such a thing is a Kishin, it was only a name for a heartless puppet controlled by Demon Vibe.

Moirai : So I guess that means it was the author that set up everything, but why, Shinra? Why did you created a world that Maka was living in a fantasy!?

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : To tell you the truth from the eyes of truth itself, there is no such thing as Madness. That word that everyone keeps mouthing about, was just a will from the Gods and Goddess of Greece, it was originated from the man who went from Zero to Hero, Hercules.

Moirai : What!?

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : And now thanks to your heroic efforts of defeating Dark Nebula, I forbid you and your friends from ever reaching towards the legacy of mine, but I'm afraid that my influence that has spreaded, shall be no longer serving pesky teenagers like you all the time and this time you will be eradicated and shall be ceasing yourself from existence. But I'm afraid, I can't do it. So now that our author has lied to us all, it's time say that I'm going to give him a taste of his own medicine. A farewell gift to the Ohkuboverse!

*DBZ SFX : Rumbling*

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : Huh? Wh-What is happening?

*DBZ SFX : ENERGY CHARGING+EXPLOSION*

Shinra (Devil Chaos Chao) : No! That Magical Brat! She's using the power of the Emeralds to re-arrange 2011's events!

[Event : Chaos Control (full ver.) - Kenichi Tokoi]

Ashley : Oh no! That doesn't look good! Is it the energy caused by the magicals?

Kimial Diehl : No! It's Chaos Control! Someone must've used it to re-arrange the events that started in the 2010s!

Ashley : So it's going to re-arrange the events that we started!

Grim (Metal Sonic) : And I believe that a girl must've done it somehow!

Necrodeus : What!? Nooooooo! It can't be! History can't be changed by this kind of power! What is even this kind of power!? It's the power of the Emeralds!? This is unacceptable!

Mario : Mama-mia! That's gonna be one powerful reset button isn't it?

Luigi : What's gonna happen if all of 2011's events are going to be re-arranged!

Duo Maxwell : So this is what retconning Sonic 06's plot be like!

Lain Iwakura : It's too much, Duo! It's going to recreate a new era! It could be the end of this war and it'll be all over us!

Duo Maxwell : No it's not going to re-arrange events, it's about to fix the future and the future has to be altered!

Lain Iwakura : What? Does that mean...?

Homura Akemi : Chaos...CONTROLLLL!!!

*DBZ SFX : ENERGY EXPLOSION+WAVE*

Homura Akemi : Madoka, I finally made our promise. It is finally all over for you now.

*DING!*

Ashley : (about to wake up) What happened? Eh, Kimial? What are you doing here and...why are we back on earth?

Penny Crygor : Guess what, Ashley? You finally woke up this time! A girl name Homura Akemi has finally saved 2011, that means we won, right?

Ashley : Uhh, right. We did won.

Kimial Diehl : For your information, get a load of this, we're back at the United States. It feels like that we're finally home.

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : All that's left is for us to bring a new era for humans and witches, how does that feel?

Penny Crygor : Feeling great! There's no sign of anymore heartless, the girl named Homura Akemi saved all of it and fixed 2011 the way it was! I wonder how does anyone feels that way!? Hey, if I'm not mistaken for Soul Eater's moon, what's that purplish crescent moon in the sky? Wait a second, that's not Soul Eater's moon, what is that purplish thing!?

Ashley : Oh no! It can't be, that's the...Dark Moon!

*DBZ/One Piece SFX : Surprise*

Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre : So then that means...What's gonna happen to our world is...! Oh no, King Boo! He has escaped from prison and I realized that he destroyed five pieces of the Dark Moon, but apparently, Luigi manage to restore all four of them, but the last one is in King Boo's hand. Speaking of King Boo, Where the heck is Inky Albarn?

"Meanwhile..."

[Orders from the Illusions - Jun Senoue]

Maka : Hey, Inky!

Soul Evans : Yo! Inky Albarn! What's going on!?

Maka : Inky Albarn! The Kishin I defeated, has a Heartless Emblem on his chest and he disappeared from a puff of smoke! I didn't exactly have questioned my mind says that I didn't defeat a god with courage, I defeated it with Valor. Why do you think that courage is a useless gift, why are the heartless getting their attention on destroying the legacy? Have we been fooled by the likes of Shinra Kusakabe or what?

Inky Albarn : Oh, Maka dear. You are really the fool, don't ya? There was never a Kishin in the Real World neither was Shingami that you know about. Those beings that they called their selves Gods of the Ohkuboverse, they were nothing but false ones and they were part of the Lying of Shinra Kusakabe, you've showned your purpose of being under the influence of Shinra Kusakabe, the devil himself! Perhaps, it was the author that set up everything for you, he didn't cared for you and friends at all, he only cared about his greed, and I know how to fix Shinra Kusakabe's mistake! Only to find out that Death the Kid was actually modeled after Shinra Kusakabe, the second grandson of the Kusakabe Family tree! And with it, he shall be nothing more to exist.

[Merlina - Her Wicked Smile, Jun Senoue, Yutaka Minobe]

Maka : What!? Death the Kid doesn't exist? So does that mean...?

Inky Albarn : That's right, Maka-chan! You have been living in a fantasy the entire time and you couldn't wake up from it before! There is no Soul World, there is no Kishin, there is no Shinigami, and there is no such thing as Madness! Those were things that are made up from the crazy stories that you were living in and it's time for you and your friends to wake up to reality, cause this is Real World AU, the universe that you truly lived in and born in the sanctuary on Jupiter! The so-called DWMA wasn't created to protect the public order, it was created for the monopolization of political power!

Soul Evans : You mean, we've been puppets on a string to Shinra's will the entire time and nobody told us that we've been under his influence!? What was our author thinking!? He set us up from the beginning so that he could the raise the stakes all by himself from Square Enix! It's a pity that he lied to us all from the start of where it begins from the 2010s, these crazy stories were only made for money!

[Further Malice - Yutaka Minobe]

King Boo : Exactly, and they say that money is the root of all evil! The evil forces from Soul World was just a diversion to get you distracted! I knew that the heartless would able to get their attention on destroying the legacy made by Shinra Kusakabe himself, his family tree! And heroes of his universe like you have been it's pawns for the use of political power!

Maka : You, the Ghost who captured Mario!

King Boo : I just returned from being sucked up into that green guy's small-sized hair dryers in order to get my revenge for eating my brothers! It's payback time, Square Enix! This time, I will have my payback for a knuckle sandwich on the green guy!

"At last, after being stuck as a worthless portrait for so long, I King Boo, the King of Ghosts have finally returned!"

"And now, the demon queen of the Ink Demons shall be my first victim to be a portait of her life!"

"I will bring vengeance to all of my brothers and sisters!"

"Vengeance to the Green Man will be served!"

~ 106th Scene : The King of Ghosts' Revenge ~

[noverim-te]

If one is to be born again in sprit, one must first pass through transition.

And yet this transition, or death, if you will, is not of the body; it is a transition of the consciousness.

The consciousness is separated from its old order of thinking, from the world to which it has been chained fast.

It is freed from enslaving ideas and from fears and superstitions.

It soars forth into a new and higher realm.

During this transition, the consciousness casts aside its dissolute, moral body, its wrong values of living.

We are reborn in understanding.

The new life is a spiritual one, and it is a life here and now, not in some remote place, or time.

None of us is spiritually born until we become aware of the various sublime states of consciousness of which we are capable.

The first birth of every incarnation is physical; it is when the soul enters the body.

The second birth is when we realize the higher levels of our consciousness - when we experience Cosmic Consciousness.

—Ralph Maxwell Lewis

Shanna Trumbly Art

Source:  The Soul Journey with Sarah Moussa

[rozetheeuwu]

More m/m m/nb requests for twitter!

In order:

Ren/Aero, Florin/Talon, Ace/Vero, Kuro/Vero, Maxwell/Archer, Ace/Adrienn, Ren/Crawli

[tenshiharmonia]

I'm currently watching a let's play of Tales of Vesperia, and I must say, I'm still a little sour that they didn't expand more on Elucifer (or Elucifur, as it is spelled in the French version*). I mean, sure, he is long dead when the party finally hears of him, but still, he played such a pivotal role in the history of their world, both past and present. And I'm not even taking into consideration what happens during the ending of the game.

Truly, there are so many unresolved things about this guy. What happened to his apatheia, for example. We can see Duke mourn before a tombstone on Ehmead Hill that is supposedly Elucifer's. But as we know, Entelexeia don't leave corpses behind them when they die, so could it be his friend's apatheia that he buried on that cliff ? I mean, the scene in Yormgen shows that he much prefers to "return" them to aer, but one can only wonder if he actually could have brought himself to destroy what is essentially the soul of the person he held the dearest in the entire world. Granted, if Elucifer’s apatheia was still around, one could think that Duke would have been a little more enthusiastic when hearing about the possibility for his boyfriend to be reincarnated. But then again, considering how unnatural he thinks the process is, it could be brushed off as him not being thrilled at the idea of his dear comrade being defiled like that...

Another theory I’ve seen is that Elucifer’s apatheia was stolen and used by Alexei to power Heracles. I mean, according to a conversation in Halure, the dude was reportedly ginormous. At least as tall as the town’s giant tree (then again, said conversation also states that his body is buried under Ehmead Hill, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt). So it’d make sense for his apatheia to be quite big, and the one that powers Heracles is probably the biggest we got to see. Also, I could easily imagine the guy talking with the deep voice that thanks the party when they destroy the crystal to save the capital (which would in turn match what we know of Elucifer’s character, as he was a gentle soul who would obviously object to his power being used to cause such a cataclysm). But then again, I’m having a hard time accepting the idea that Duke would have let Alexei - or the Empire for that matter - run away with his partner’s apatheia...

Anyway, if Elucifer’s apatheia is still intact, it begs the question : what happened to him when they all were converted into spirits at the end of the game ? Sometimes, I like to think that he would have been reborn as Aska, the great spirit of Light. Although I must admit that it’s partly because I tend to subconsciously use Aska’s model from Xillia 2 (I’m sure you know which one I’m talking about :p ) as a mental placeholder for what the guy might have looked like. I mean, his daughter sported quite a lot of avian features, so I guess it’d make sense for him to look like a big bird. Besides, if I recall correctly, Duke describes his golden form - at least in the French version - along the lines of "his friend lending him his strength", indicating that it's something he learnt from Elucifer. So I don’t think it’d be too much of a stretch to assume that the Entelexeia sported a similar palette when he was alive. Which, in turn, would go pretty well with the idea of him having an affinity for Light. And I’m not even talking about how his name alludes to a certain angel also known as the "bringer of light"... I’m just brainstorming, of course, but I think that you can see where I’m coming from.

That being said, I also kind of feel like being reborn as an elemental spirit wouldn’t really be "enough" for an Entelexeia as powerful as Elucifer, if you see what I mean. So maybe he could be reincarnated as one of the franchise’s traditional higher spirits, like Maxwell or Origin. The latter is usually revered as the king of spirits, so it’d make sense for him to be born from the one who was regarded as the king of the Entelexeia. Then again, I’m just sorting ideas here, so don’t take any of this as definitive headcanons (supposing that headcanons can even be definitive...).

Speaking of kings and headcanons though, I also like to picture Elucifer as a descendant of the Spiral Draco, which Duke describes as "the ancient king of the Entelexeia". Maybe not his son, but his grandson. I mean, as I said, Elucifer was also regarded as a king among those mighty beasts, so it’d make sense if he inherited the title. Moreover, if we take into consideration the previous point regarding Duke’s golden form and how he may have learnt it from Elucifer, it’d give a new layer to the way the Fell Arms react to Duke’s power during the third phase of the final battle, as they were made using the power of the Spiral Draco. Besides, while the Entelexeia are usually born directly from aer, we know for a fact that they can also produce offspring - although the exact details of the process were obviously left to the imagination -, as demonstrated by none other than Elucifer himself.

Anyway, I don’t think I have anything to add on the matter, but still. As you can guess, the relationship between Duke and Elucifer is one aspect of the game that I find infinitely endearing and fascinating**. And I still resent the game for its unwillingness to elaborate on the topic. I mean, come on ! They didn’t even let us get a glimpse of what the big guy might have looked like ! And it’s not really an uncommon stand that, as excellent as the game is, a good chunk of its characters could have afforded to be fleshed out a little more... With that being said, thank you once again for your attention. It’s always a pleasure to share my thoughts with you guys. I’ll make sure to write a follow-up if I think about anything else, but for the time being, take care. ^_^

 * I must admit, I kind of prefer the "fur" spelling. Sure, it makes the etymology slightly less perceptible, but it also makes him sound like an extremely fluffy guy. :3

** It goes without saying that I like to picture them as having been more than friends, but obviously, it’s only a matter of personal interpretation.

[cogentranting]

Just finished reading The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu (a short story collection) and so here is my ranking of all 19 stories

Ghost Days- I would teach this one (which would entail reading it repeatedly)

Grey Rabbit, Crimson Mare, Coal Leopard- I wish this was a full novel that I could read

The Reborn- It's a really interesting exploration of ideas about memory and identity

Maxwell's Demon- really good blending of historical fiction and fantasy/science fiction

The Hidden Girl- Fun concept, good execution. Would watch this one as a movie or short film.

The Message- A sweet character piece, and some good thematic material

Cutting- This is like a page and a half long, it's not really a story, more of a snippet of an idea but its an interesting idea

Thoughts and Prayers- this story is gut-wrenching and very effective and kind of horrifying

Real Artists- well done but far too close to real life right now to be more than depressing

Staying Behind-- of the Singularity stories this is the most interesting precisely because it's the most human

Memories of My Mother- it works and it is interesting

Altogether Elsewhere, Vast Herds of Reindeer- In the Singularity stories this one has the most affecting look at human experiences

The Gods will not be Chained- the start of this trilogy is the most interesting

A Chase Beyond the Storms- it's not a short story, it's an excerpt from the third book of a novel series, and that's what it reads like. It's not uninteresting but it doesn't stand on its own particuarly well. It dissuade me from reading that novel series but it didn't convince me either.

Dispatches from the Cradle: the Hermit-- Forty-Eight Hours in the Sea of Massachusetts- Some interesting ideas but ultimately lacks real narrative drive and thematic development

The Gods Will Not Be Slain- this trilogy and the singularity stories dragged more and more as it went on

The Gods Have Not Died in Vain- see above. Also weirdly pro-letting the machines take over?

Byzantine Empathy- way too much of this story is spent explaining cryptocurrency. Ultimately it has some interesting themes but it is super boring (and at times reads like a cryptocurrency sales pitch)

Seven Birthdays- I literally don't know what this story is about. The good parts of it are basically what Memories of My Mother did better, and then it has the boring over-explaining of Byzantine Empathy (but without being totally clear about what it's explaining or what's happening), and is the worst of the Singularity stories about having a weirdly reductionist view of humanity

Side note-- The Singularity stories, which all take place in the same world and feature a future where people's minds are digitially uploaded and a new "digital humanity" replaces human existence, all reference something called "the singularity" and after reading all six of them, I have no idea what the singularity is.

1-8 on this list are all really good and well worth reading. 9-12 are pretty good 13-17 are okay with that endorsement getting progressively less enthusiastic as you go 18-19 I don't recommend though I think 18 has a salvageable idea within it and gives glimpses of a much better version of itself

Additional thoughts: As much as I liked some of the early ones on this list, Liu's best story is Paper Menagerie and you should read that one (and that one I have taught and hope to teach again and the kids also like it)

I would not have named this collection after the Hidden Girl because that story is one of the most atypical of this collection. Most are hard sci fi and that and two others are fantasy. I think Ghost Days, Staying Behind or the Gods Will Not be Chained are all more indicative of what the book is (though I suppose mentioning ghosts or gods does give more fantasy vibes).

[patera-lynn]

Rose,silver, sapphire,maxwell, jaxs, micky,Lilly are my ocs

Ruby belongs to this beautiful person @smp1123-reborn

[tsuraiwrites]

✨weekly(ish) fic roundup✨

more like monthly at this point, but here are some excellent fic I’ve enjoyed in the recent past! most are long fic, so buckle up and prepare to leave some kudos and comments for these a+ authors.

ASoIaF

Coin and Conformity - catelyn stark | oc insert/ned stark

A man wakes up one day to find that he isn't in his apartment, isn't in his own body, and isn't even on Earth anymore. The language, the geography, the culture, the stars, and even the technology level are all different. Even worse, in this backwards medieval society he had found himself in, he woke up in the body of a woman. A woman who had just given birth to her first child, a son.

He's not really cut out for this whole 'motherhood' thing. It could be worse; at least he's a noblewoman, and really, Robb is such a sweet child...

Assassin’s Creed

Eagle of Alamut - altaïr ibn-la’ahad/desmond miles wip

That the reason why he woke up in the city of Jerusalem during the 12th century was because of something [Minerva] did.

Still…

He would have appreciated it if she didn’t also return him to his 16-year-old body.

Dragon Age

The Comfort of Knives - cullen rutherford/male inquisitor wip

Maxwell Trevelyan isn’t who he says he is, and his connection to the General of the Red Templars could become a problem. But will it be as much of a problem as the affection that grows between himself and his Commander?

Naruto

come out of the ashes - gen wip

As a final stand in a war they never stood a chance of winning, Uzumaki Naruto chooses to use a forbidden blood seal to rip through the fabric of space and time itself rather than admit defeat. He’s never been good at accepting his fate, and if bending reality with his own two hands is what it takes, then that’s what Naruto will do.

The rest of the world is just going to have to suck it up and deal with it.

Compass of thy Soul - uchiha madara/ofc complete, lots of delicious crafts and politics in this one

Being reborn into the Uchiha clan during the Warring Clans Era is surprisingly idyllic, so long as you don't mind hard work and are too young to know any of the people who are actually dying. But innocence never lasts, and trying to help family stay alive is a road strewn with a surprising number of pitfalls and last-minute diversions.

Reincarnation For the Win - female self-insert/uchiha itachi/uchiha shisui

She’d been tired for a long time before she died.  However she’d been granted a second life, she was never going to thank anyone for it, no matter how amazing or awful it ended up being.  That said, if she ever met the reason she was sucked into the Naruto ‘verse, there would be much shin-kicking to be done.

Until Dawn Breaks - uchiha shisui/undisclosed wip, part 2 of a timetravel AU

Shisui had succeeded, destroying the man who was responsible for his death, in every way possible. Who had caused so much suffering... more than anyone could have foreseen.

(He gasped for air, throat parched and lips chapped and-)

But now came the hardest part; learning to live again.

The Yondaime's Assistant - hatake kakashi/ofc/shiranui genma complete

When I reincarnated in the world of Naruto, I was lucky enough to live in Konoha but not lucky enough to get all the superpowers you could hope for. I failed my jounin-sensei test and ended up in the Genin Corps. Bye-bye jounin rank! However, considering it also meant avoiding the battlefield, that was fine with me. Now I just had to get a position allowing me to change History...

One Piece

Children of the Sea - fushichou marco/portgas d ace wip

When it comes to Ace, Marco can't help but think of the old saying: Love is a hurricane.

 (Time-traveling Ace, told from Marco's POV.)

SVSSS

Cultivate: Slow Life on a Monster-Infested Mountain - shen yuan/liu qingge wip

When trying to transfer Shen Yuan from the real world to Proud Immortal Demon Way, the System runs into an error. The transfer is not complete.

Shen Yuan is dropped off at the foot of a mountain aware of two things:  he's in the story, and the Shen Qingqiu of this world is not only aware but thinks he tried to possess his body — and he's PISSED. Shen Yuan tries to opt out and live a simple life on what locals tell him is a monster-infested mountain no one in their right mind would bother with.

Sounds like a great hiding spot!

(TL;DR: Stardew Scum Villain Valley Mountain.)

[apixellife]

Punkish

People may hear your words but they feel your attitude. ~John C. Maxwell Art&Ko – Gloria Set – Khaki Dress (eBody Reborn)Art&Ko – Gloria Set – Dark Brown Belt (eBody Rebornmaps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Reef%20Island/128/58/22 AVEC TOI – Bonnie Mules (eBODYreborn)SL19B – Swaginator Prize 4 – Steampunk NecklaceSL19B – Swaginator Prize 5 – Steampunk Backpack.[AK EVOX] Vivian HeadAK skin Claudia…