#of gods and titans (xenoblade chronicles)

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

Xeno Femslash February Day 1: Beginning (Lora/Aline)

Following a lead discovered by Haze, Lora travels to the small hamlet of Torigoth in search of her mother, Rynea. Although she is shocked to find the village left in ruins, she is determined to find survivors - and manages to find a Driver hidden in the nearby forest. (2360 words) Takes place near the beginning of Torna ~ The Golden Country. This piece was written for the “Beginning” prompt of the Xeno Femslash February event.

My friend @artificervaldi is running an event/prompt list for this month, aaand.. well, I wanted to have a go at writing some selfship pieces for some of the prompts, so this is my piece for the first one! I hope that this is alright ^-^

(Anyone is welcome to comment on and/or reblog my work if they want to, as long as my DNI is respected!)

Tag list and document transcript under the readmore:

Tag list: @starlit-selfships | @edencantstopfallininlove | @yoomtahsgf | @sunlight-ships | @dragonsmooch | @thatslikesometaldude | @artificervaldi | @keyblade-ships | @seahydra | @alrest | @neuvilline (If you would like to be tagged in any of my future work, please use this form!)

Document transcript:

Travelling with the lord of Aletta himself was a vastly new experience to Lora - as was the might of the Blade he had resonated with. Everything was so different, from the decoration of the inter-Titan transport to his refreshing and light-hearted banter. It was quite clear that Jin was unsure of how to see the situation, but Haze's confidence in the lead she had found was granting her Driver the strength and the hope that she dared to let build up in herself. She found herself enjoying Addam's demeanour, even if Mythra's standoffish nature made for a stark contrast - yet even she had her moments of more genuine appreciation.

When the party, as they could perhaps now be termed, landed on the grass of Gormott, Lora was amazed by the Titan's rolling plains and verdant scenery. Despite the drizzle drifting down from skies above, the wide-open views felt no less dreary; if anything, the plant life seemed almost more invigorated for the water. It was not cold, but neither was it humid - a clear freshness punctuated the air and put a spring in everyone's steps as they made their way to their destination. At times, there were a few tense moments of keeping watch for Ardainian or Coeian forces potentially skirmishing over resources, but these groups were not a strong presence in the local vicinity. Everything felt that little bit new and exciting.

It was only as Torigoth came closer, and the mists of rain had risen into stormclouds as dark as the plumes of extinguished flame-smoke, that the tone of the mission plummeted completely.

Lora found herself gripped by worry that dived headfirst into panic once she realised what had happened, fears rising almost as strongly as if she had stumbled upon her birthplace torn to shreds. Her pace picked up into a sprint as she flew along the path leading to the razed hamlet, not slowing even as she passed through the thick stone walls and further along the path and forwards into what should have been a lively and calm village square but was instead now.. no more than a mere clearing amidst piles of blackened timber and burnt remnants of buildings. There were glimpses of fallen townsfolk, here and there in the chaos; these were peaceful farmers whose lives had been gluttonously cut short by looters.

"Oh, no.."

"Here, too?" Addam wondered aloud from behind her, staring grimly at the carnage wrought before him. "Gormott's an attractive target, but this? Whoever did this.. clearly had no compassion or respect for the people they killed.."

Mythra seemed decidedly less affected by the scene, even if she was frowning slightly as she examined it. "Whether it was Malos, or someone else. Either way, clearly they're all toast."

This casual dismissal earned her a chiding look from her Driver. "Mythra.."

Meanwhile, Jin had become keenly aware of how distraught his own Driver had become, despite her face not being visible from where he was standing. Mythra had reminded Milton before that Drivers and Blades were one in body and soul, and in that moment it certainly did feel as though some of her distress was tangibly adding to his concern.

"Lora.." he began, wondering whether to approach her.

There was a moment's pause before she spoke up. "It's.. It's okay." she then said, mustering up what levity she could. "Mother.. could have run away somewhere safe.."

Her words held little hope or confidence, and everyone would likely have settled into an uncomfortable silence had that silence not been punctured by the sound of armoured footsteps running up to the group.

"You there! A moment, if such may be spared!"

All attention gladly turned from the destruction, the party looked over to one side to see a very tall figure approaching from a side path. They were dressed in quite extravagant white and golden armour, with a long cape and skirt that came down to above their knees, plus silver gauntlet-like gloves and greaves - all of which combined to make an impressive first impression. They were also almost completely soaked through, as could be seen from how much their hair was dripping pitch-black from the rain.

"Might I presume thee to be travellers?" they continued to ask as they ran, stopping upon getting close enough to speak without having to call out.

Haze had been standing closest, and so was primed to step forward to address the stranger while they stopped to catch their breath, crosier in hand. "Are you okay? What happened here?"

In response, they simply shook their head, though it was more in a dismissive way than a negative answer. "Pray be not concerned as to my status. 'Tis that of my Driver for which I would deign to seek thine aid."

"So you're a Blade, then.." Lora mused - but at the sound of her voice, he frowned. He looked up after a moment only to find himself locking eyes with her - and his brow furrowed even more fiercely at the sight.

"Art thou not Lady-?" Then his voice caught in his throat, and he had to take another moment to reassess the situation. This caused Lora and Haze to glance between each other confusedly.

Mythra, on the other hand, was eyeing up the Blade with an unusual amount of interest, looking over the gleaming gold of their armour and the blue sword-shaped Core Crystal set in their chest. "Sure don't see Blades like you in places like this.. Who's your Driver, the lord of Gormott or something?"

"Do not jest so, lest thou receivest the wrong impression. Her name is Aline - a woman of Gormott, whose hair and height art alike to yours save in length." they explained. "She is dressed in verdant green, which may yet aid in her concealment from my view.. I bid her flee for safety at first sight of the brigands responsible for this travesty, yet she is wont to fear all conflict, and mine endeavours in dealing with such scoundrels hath left me wholly unknowing of her location."

The party listened carefully to his description, committing the details to memory. Addam was keen to take charge, his expression more serious than Lora had seen it since first meeting him.

"Right then." he declared as they finished. "A blonde Gormotti girl wearing green. Don't worry, my good fellow - we'll do what we can to find her."

"Full glad am I to hear this." replied the Blade, before pausing as if remembering something. "Ah! Pray forgive my discourtesy. Mine urgency did prevent the proper introductions; you all may address me as Avalon."

"It's good to meet you." Lora said quickly, though her mind seemed to be elsewhere. "I'm thinking that- since there are a few of us, we could split off into pairs to cover more ground. Maybe.. Jin, would you mind staying with Avalon?"

The ice-element Blade, who had clearly been rather taken by their attire, frowned slightly. "..Not outright, but will you and Haze be alright on your own?"

"Yes, don't worry." she insisted. "If anything happens, or you find Aline or anyone else, come back here to the square. I saw that the forest here encroaches on the village quite a bit, so.. if Haze and I look through there, you can check over the immediate area, and then Addam and Mythra can search in the fields to the north. Sound like a plan?"

Everyone quickly gave their assent, and set off to search for the girl.

==========

The rain had not relented, splashing down in heavy raindrops through the towering trees overhead. Haze and Lora were quickly but carefully picking their way through the drenched forest, expressions tense with apprehension. Neither woman was familiar with the flora or fauna of the Titan, and it also had not been clear whether Avalon was able to successfully rout all of the brigands, so the pair kept close together in order to observe without drawing too much attention to themselves. It was a tricky and tentative situation, searching for someone they had never even seen in an environment where she would be almost perfectly-camouflaged.

Trying as she might to concentrate, Lora's mind was racing too quickly to let her focus properly. The way in which Avalon had faltered at the sight and sound of her was unsettling, and most unexpected - yet the more she dwelled on the moment, the more she wondered if it could have meant something. It had been far too long since she last saw her mother, and.. the thought suddenly came to her that it was possible the two could share some resemblance. Which, of course, meant that Avalon was familiar with her. ..She didn't quite know how to feel about that, let alone right in this moment.

Meanwhile, Haze was looking around nervously, but finding the details of her surroundings difficult to discern in the driving storm. "My lady, do you think we should call out for her?"

"I think so." Lora replied. "Avalon said she might be scared, so if she's hiding, it might not be easy to find her ourselves. Besides, we don't want to startle her.."

The Blade gave a dutiful nod, and opened her mouth to cry Aline's name - but it was then that Lora's attention was caught once again, and she failed to hear it.

The trailing ends of a long grey scarf were fluttering in the wind that had just picked up, and their sudden movement drew her gaze to spy a startling peridot gleam just above where they began. As quickly as she had glimpsed it, it fled from view behind a tree whose bark almost shone in the low light from being so rain-saturated.

"Lady Lora? Is everything alright?"

Haze had now stepped into her field of view, her golden eyes examining Lora's own with some concern.

"Wait there a moment, Haze. I think someone else is here.."

As carefully as if she were approaching a sleeping Pippito, Lora kept her sights set on the scarf tails that were even now still just about visible from around the back of the tree trunk, and stepped forward slowly to investigate.

"We're not here to hurt you, if that's what you're worried about." she said to the tree trunk after a moment. "Avalon sent us.."

This seemed to have been the right thing to say, as a hand slowly crept its way around the side of the tree. Following it was the face of a shy young woman, whose drenched blonde hair was poking out from under her grey hood that had pockets for feline Gormotti ears. She was wearing a rustic sort of dress with light, puffy sleeves - and a green skirt and bodice, just as Avalon had implied. Her face was frozen by worry, wet with what could have been rainfall or tears, and her eyes seemed to catch what little light there was in the forest to shimmer with brimming anxiety.

Lora couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief from having found who she was looking for, but she could tell that the young woman was very shaken, and so maintained as gentle a kindness as possible.

"Hello there; my name is Lora. It's alright - I promise you don't need to be scared of us."

"Ah! I'm sorry!" she replied suddenly. "Um, I- I'm Aline.. And I think I might already know a bit about you, Lora.."

This remark caused Lora to blink in confusion as Aline nervously drew back from the soaking tree bark. She noticed that her heart was racing, and had to place her hand over her chest to try and settle it. Meanwhile, Haze had crept up behind her Driver, giving a gentle smile and wave that seemed to ease Aline's worries somewhat.

"My name is Haze." she said softly, after seeing her relax a bit. "I'm really glad we found you, Aline. You're not injured or anything, are you?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you. But- thank you for asking." she stated. "Sorry, I'm not.. normally this anxious, I promise.."

"Oh, please don't worry about that!" Lora exclaimed, almost sheepishly, to try and reassure her. "You'll be safe with us now, that I can assure you. Avalon is, too, in case you were worried - they'll be pleased to see you again, I'm sure."

This remark made Aline's eyes widen. "I didn't want to just leave them alone! But they insisted on this being safer, and.. I-I don't know whether anyone else managed to get out.."

Tears began to well up in her bright green eyes once again, and she raised a soaking-wet hand to unsuccessfully try to dry them. Lora felt a rush of intense pity for her, and quickly tried to sift through her things for a not-yet-completely-soaked handkerchief to use. She had meant to offer it to her, but Aline could do instead was blink as she felt the soft fabric on her face, and her eyes instinctively darted away in every direction to avoid being faced with Lora's.

"Thank you very much-!", she squeaked, causing Lora herself to feel slightly mortified. Why had she done that? She stopped herself and pulled backwards, taking in Aline's expression in full - and then realised the answer, as the fearful aura clouding her had now finally vanished. Haze, meanwhile, couldn't help but chuckle at the kind and instinctive gesture; it was clear that Lora had been worried about her wellbeing, on top of everything else going through her mind. Above them, the rain also began to ease slightly.

There was still a blanket of worry hanging over the three as they decided to make their way back, and each was bracing for a difficult scenario upon their return to the others. Even so, the fact that Haze and Lora had found at least two survivors of Torigoth felt like it had to be something - and that feeling that dared to feel positive was persistent in its slowly-rising nature. With Aline's wealth of experience as guidance, they found a straightforward path back out through the forest, returning to the ruined- but, at least, no longer smouldering - remnants of Torigoth.

And thus, girl met girl.

[void-kissed]

taken life, given soul (Xenoblade Ship Week 2023 Day 1)

Vanea's work in constructing Face Nemesis requires a suitable pilot to house the soul of Lady Meyneth. After finally acquiring a worthy candidate, she is surprised to learn that the chosen Homs still lives after the procedure, and is even more surprised at her willingness to strike up conversation with a supposed enemy. (2311 words)The second part of this writing replaces the Face Nemesis cutscene from the end of Chapter Six.

This is the first meeting between Vanea and my self-insert, Citri! ..Not the most conventional or romantic of first meetings, but here it is in writing nonetheless! Despite being a couple of days late on the finishing, I decided that hopefully this could be fitted to this year's Xenoblade Chronicles ship week, as set up by a friend of mine - I hope that that's alright ^-^

(Anyone is welcome to comment on or reblog my work if they wish, as long as my DNI is respected! Tag list and document transcript are under the readmore.)

Tag list: @dragonsmooch | @hiraya-rbs | @bugsband | @sunlight-ships | @winds-beloved | @goatfaggot | @starlit-selfships | @stargazer-sims | @sharkyaoi | @detective-with-one-arm | @deepsea-loves | @wexlcr | @artificervaldi | @thatslikesometaldude (To be tagged in (or stop being tagged in) what I make, please see this post!)

Document transcript:

The Central Factory that lay within the chest of the Mechonis was where all Homs were taken after their capture, ready to be repurposed in the bodies of the Faced Mechon and used to assault the titan they had once dwelled upon. The recent attack on Colony 9 had provided the Mechon with some valuable resources, even if some of the initial reports were conveying worrying news about a new wielder of the Monado arising. Within the metal walls of the facility, new Mechon soldiers of all kinds were constantly being manufactured, mass-produced Faces among them. All operations were brilliantly orchestrated by the lone man spearheading the charge against the Bionis, who even now was doubtless deep in thought about how best to proceed in his efforts.

However, in an illuminated chamber that sat above the rest of the vast factory, his sister - a similarly-tall Machina woman with long grey hair - was overseeing the automated construction of a vast white-silver figure. Its parts all towered above her, interlaced with golden details and a doubled red diamond on its helmet-like faceplate. Below the mechanical figure lay an additional array of compatible pieces resembling parts of a human body, ready and waiting for a pilot to be fitted into them. Dozens of individual pieces were being put together by fine machinery, each one being subtly tweaked or modified as the woman carefully adjusted the many glowing controls before her, but the overall structure had yet to be properly assembled.

"Lady Vanea." came a sudden voice from the communication system above the woman. "There is a matter which requires your attention."

"What is it?" Vanea responded, addressing the empty chamber with cautious, distracted uncertainty. "I am still trying to resolve the faults in this Face's digits; can the matter not wait until this is resolved?"

The other voice seemed to pause, but only for a moment, before continuing its announcement. "It is about the pilot for the Face you are currently working on. Two potential candidates have been identified by our preliminary systems."

That was enough to catch Vanea's ear, as her eyes widened slightly before she finally turned her head to face the other voice. "..Very well. Please bring them here immediately, then."

A few robotic chirps could be heard, before further machinery began to whir into action - this time at the other end of the chamber, which Vanea had now turned to face with her back to the silver Face's controls. Its parts continued to be constructed without her direction, aside from what should have eventually become its pilot's fingers, given that they still lacked the proper range of movement to be fitted onto such an important Faced Mechon.

After a few moments, an opening appeared in the dark metal floor of the chamber, and the bodies of two young Homs women were lifted up through it, held up by actuators from the factory. Both looked somewhat similar at the first glance, being the same height and appearing of similar age - they both had golden blonde hair (though one wore it in a long dishevelled plait where the other's only fell to just past her shoulders), and as they were each scanned for further information, Vanea could see on the displays that they both had dark green eyes. One had freckles dotting her shoulders and rounded cheeks, and was littered with a number of scrapes and bruises, while the other's skin was clearer and she appeared to have suffered one particularly significant wound that had clawed at her clavicle.

"..What about these Homs has marked them out as worthy vessels?" Vanea asked, before the continued operations of the myriad machines circling each Homs began to output the pertinent results on the floating screens around her in the chamber. Carefully examining the data that had been gathered, Vanea found the answers lying within each girl's scanned memories, snapshots playing from them like a slideshow - the pair clearly shared a long history with not only each other, but also several other inhabitants of their home colony, and one boy with light blonde hair stood out particularly strongly to the Machina.

"..The Heir of the Monado." she said aloud in recognition.  "They were both friends with him, it would seem.."

She pored over the memories closely, trying to glean what information she could about the two Homs' personalities from them. It seemed like somewhat of an invasion of privacy to do this, but it was of the utmost importance that everything was as perfect as it could be for her current project, so such measures had to be taken to ensure the correct compatibility. Finally, after some time, she had made her decision - it was the freckled Homs with the longer hair who would be used for this purpose, due to the piercing injury sustained by the other one potentially making it difficult for the key component to be added correctly. The glimpses of her many days spent pursuing scientific endeavours with the Monado's newest wielder had also caught Vanea's eye more strongly.

"Please take this girl and prepare her for piloting Nemesis." the Machina stated to her assistant machinery, before turning to look over her shoulder at the unfortunate error still blaring from the screens behind her. "..Adjust the current pilot specifications to her body plan, but- try to preserve her original hands, if possible. That may have to be the workaround for the defects in the current digits, non-ideal though it may be.."

She then sighed, and addressed the chosen girl's companion.

"This other one does still hold promise, though.. Perhaps see whether any of our experimental designs might be compatible with her frame - Azure, for example."

As the machinery around her whirred to action once more according to her choices, and each girl was sent to her fate, Vanea took a moment to compose herself, staring up at the pieces of her dream - the central prism of golden metal standing out above all others.

A vessel had finally been found to hold the soul of her people's goddess, and with her divine revival thus at hand, the time had come for the tides of war to shift.

As long as everything in this experiment proceeded as it was meant to, the end to such ceaseless conflict may have finally begun.

What a shame that the Homs' past would be erased in the process..

==========

Enough time had passed for all the preparations to be made. The Homs girl chosen by Vanea now had most of her body replaced by the mechanical components made beforehand, each piece now individually modified to ensure maximum compatibility with her remaining reconfigured immune and nervous systems. The only parts of her left that still appeared biological were her head above the neck and her hands past the wrists, though even they had received artificial upgrades below the surface to better serve as the Faced Mechon's central nerve unit.

This pilot unit was now being lifted into the central cockpit of the much larger silver Mechon, which had now itself been fully assembled. Its spiked and winged structure hovered high above Vanea like an angel, ready and waiting dutifully for its first activation as the final touches were smoothly made to its surfaces.

“Face Nemesis." Vanea began, addressing the construct above her.

"Your frame is complete.  

As is the integration of your pilot."

Some of the assistant Mechon receded, revealing the pilot's unconscious figure sat in place within Nemesis' torso.

"This Homs..  

She holds memories of the Heir of the Monado.  

She appears to have seen him as a friend.  

..I wonder what she would have been like to know.  

But, that is not important here.  

It only means that her body will be an able vessel for you, my Lady.  

All that remains is the soul transfer..”

All other machines departed as the final Mechon descended, carrying the golden metal prism in its grasp. With exactly-calculated precision, the triangular component was fitted onto the chest of the Homs pilot. There was a moment of silence, before familiar red energy started to flow through the body of Face Nemesis; the soul component then started to glow with power, before settling down again as the armoured plating closed over the cockpit chamber.

"..I have fulfilled my duty." Vanea stated, allowing herself to smile as everything finally fell into place.

"You and only you can bring about a new age on Mechonis -

no, the entire world.

My mistress,

Lady Meyneth."

She waited, and then became all too aware of how empty the chambers around her still felt.

"..Lady Meyneth?"

A feminine voice suddenly rang out through Nemesis' speakers, but it was not the kind and caring tone that the Machina so fondly recalled, even all these centuries since she had last heard it directly.

"Ah.. Where.. W-Where am I..?"

Vanea's own voice caught in her throat from hearing such an unexpected response, and her brow furrowed. "You.. Are you Lady Meyneth?"

"What?" came the other voice, sounding weary and confused from inside the Faced Mechon. "No, my name is Citri. Um.. What *is* all of this..?"

At that moment, all Vanea could do was blink. She had never spoken with a Face pilot directly before, and the concern rising inside of her about what she had done wrong was making it all but impossible for her to properly address the anomaly.

"Something has gone wrong with the soul transfer.." she mumbled to herself, beginning to anxiously flit between the different screens and keyboards in her vicinity. "Yet, the scans themselves seem to be indicating that everything is properly in place.. Her presence is clearly *detectable*, and yet the central core is not showing signs of *activity*-"

A sense of panic flared within her, and her ability to maintain a composed exterior was rapidly deteriorating.

"My dearest goddess, what have I done wrong..?"

As she stifled a sob, the sound of mechanical joints moving rang out through the chamber, before they stopped (having been moved in error) and the torso plating opened back up instead.

"Um.. When you say "central core", do you mean this part?"

A tiny *tap-tap* noise, much quieter than any type of metal hitting metal could produce, prompted Vanea to lift her gaze. The Homs girl - *Citri*, as she had called herself - was tapping her still-organic fingernail on the prism of golden metal that was fitted to the chest of her new body.

"..Yes, that is correct." Vanea admitted, blinking uncertainly again.

"It.. feels as though something is inside of it." she then tried to explain, tilting her head as much as the cockpit would allow her to. "Some*one*, rather, if.. what you were saying before about your goddess is true. But.. I'm not sure whether she can wake up yet?"

The Machina took a moment to consider Citri's words. "That would be unfortunate, but.. it is reassuring to know that you are able to sense her presence."

Citri gave a small nod, very tentatively, but her expression was uncertain.

"..What was supposed to have happened?" she then asked.

"That Lady Meyneth's soul would be swiftly transferred into your body, overwriting your own, for her subsequent use as a vessel to pilot Face Nemesis." Vanea stated matter-of-factly. Then she stopped.

"..That was rather callous of me, wasn't it?"

"Somewhat, yes." admitted Citri, who would have mustered a smile if not for how disoriented she still felt. "But if nothing else, you definitely answered me clearly with how you said it, so.. thank you."

An awkward silence then settled in between the two.

"..Could you possibly tell me more about what's happened? What you've done to me, and all?"

The genuine nature of such a question, and the absolute lack of malice that she had expected to permeate through any Homs unwillingly stolen by Mechon, made it impossible for Vanea to simply dismiss the girl's curiosity. Something softened in her expression, and she opened her mouth to try and form an explanation, but the same voice from before piped up through the communication systems as she did so.

"Lady Vanea." it called out. "Master Egil wishes to see you."

This made her pause with some uncertainty. "Understood. Tell him I will see him.. momentarily." she then settled on.

"Acknowledged."

The device whirred away as Vanea's gaze fell back onto Citri, her red eyes meeting her green ones for a moment before neither felt able to hold the gaze further.

"..I apologise for this interruption, but- you may have my word that I shall return to these chambers once I have finished meeting with my brother." she then said. "It may well be that Lady Meyneth has properly awakened by that time, but if not, then.. If you would listen to our story, then I see no harm in sharing it with you."

"I understand." replied Citri. "That means a lot, Vanea."

She smiled at the mention of her name. "You miss little, I see. Very well then. I shall return shortly, Citri."

With nothing more to say for the moment, she then left her alone within Face Nemesis.

Only *after* she had turned to leave the chamber did Vanea realise her own instinctive use of the girl's own name, and she was surprised to have found herself recalling it from one mention. Nevertheless, she persisted in her next objective, doing her utmost to regain her usual composure even as she silently came to the conclusion that it was a name she wished to remember, despite part of her also knowing it was not a name she should have ever had a chance to learn.

Thankfully for both, there would still be many opportunities in the days that followed to converse, and to learn, and to get to know each other more than either could have envisioned beforehand.

[moved-to-void-kissed]

"Face Nemesis. Your frame is complete. As is the integration of your pilot.

This Homs.. She holds memories of the Heir of the Monado. She appears to have seen him as a friend. ..I wonder what she would have been like to know. But, that is not important here. It only means that her body will be an able vessel for you, my Lady. All that remains is the soul transfer.."

Okay! There's a lot to unpack here and I am more than happy to do so when it is not half past two in the morning if anyone wants me to (and if anyone does want me to then you are more than welcome to send an ask about it). However, long story short.. this is Citri, my new self-insert for the first Xenoblade Chronicles game! I will be using her to selfship with Vanea from now on; my previous self-insert, Mera, is not going to be a thing anymore.

Her role in the story may be evident to those who know her outfit, but to give a bit of information anyway.. Citri is a childhood friend of Shulk, having grown up in Colony 9 alongside him and his other friends. However, she was captured by the Mechon during their attack on the colony, and gets turned into the Face core unit for piloting Face Nemesis. She is made the vessel for Lady Meyneth, whom she promptly takes a massive shine to because Lady Meyneth is lovely, and slowly gets to know Vanea over time as well. Overall, not at all as angsty as you might expect, you'll be glad to know.

(Comments on and reblogs of my work are always okay and appreciated, but are never required!)

[flowering-darkness]

for the ask game : imagine waking up to the smell of food cooking in the kitchen, and its pyra preparing all of ur favorite dishes for u, no matter what they are and with all of ur taste needs in mind — not for any special occasion or anything, but just as a token of appreciation for being as you are and just another thing she wants to do to show you she loves you ! she'd also be happy if you helped too, shes perfectly capable of doing it on her own but spending more time with you in that way would make her even happier 🫶

(source: “✧ Try to fluster me! (self-ship edition!)” by selfshipseaside)

aww Clara this is really sweet to think about!! This would be so kind of Pyra to do, and I know that I would truly appreciate it~

Thank you so much for sending this in! It means a lot to me ^-^

[asentienthaze]

having watched the owl house finale i absolutely sobbed at the end, and oh my god it left me feeling like I got a good satisfying end to the series and yet I want more.

But one thing that really stood out to me, was the sheer number of scenes that should have been episodes in their own right.

The opening nightmare scene, where all of Luz's 'friends' blame her for the state of the Boiling Isles, ultimately exploring all of her main insecurities, like that part in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

The team eventually learning to leave the dreams they're trapped in. The Collector learning to be kind, and forgiving, and these things that they never grew up with. Luz learning to handle her newfound Titan powers. And that's just the few I could think of.

Hell, I REALLY wanted to see properly the games that the Collector plays with the trio, like that Gravity Falls episode, instead of a montage.

I can tell that they really tried to make the plot progression as natural as possible, but there was so much ground to cover for that last episode, I feel like a lot of the progression had to be made faster in order to fit in that 1hr time limit.

And yes, hopefully we may get official extra content, like a comic or smth. But the lost potential of that last episode, because SOMEONE decided that this show was the perfect one to cut the budget of, isn't something we can ever get back.

We got the best that they could make, but so many compromises had to be made for it.

And that breaks my heart.

[aroaceswagcompetition]

Poll list part 2

Rouge the Bat(Sonic) vs Raphael Santiago(Shadowhunters)🎉

Death The Kid(Soul Eater) vs Tsubomi Takane(Mob Psycho 100)🎉

Berdly(Deltarune) vs Nausicaa(Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind)🎉

Din Djarin(The Mandalorian) vs Anzu Hoshino(Romantic Killer)🎉

Amethyst(Steven Universe) vs Steven Stone(Pokemon)🎉

Talfryn(The Penumbra Podcast) vs Stanley(The Stanley Parable)🎉

Clay Terran (Ace Attorney) vs Buttercup(The Powerpuff Girls)🎉

Sei Handa(Barakamon) vs Xu Xialing(Shangchi and the legend of the ten rings)🎉

Sunny(Wings of Fire) vs Beta(Horizon Forbidden West)

Dr. Sylvester Ashling(Epithet Erased) vs Marcy Wu(Amphibia)

Perry the Platypus(Phineas and Ferb) vs Lancer(Deltarune)

Serana Volkihar(The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim) vs Charlie(It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia)

Zhongli(Genshin Impact) vs Tatsumaki(One Punch Man).

V1(Ultrakill) vs Aziraphale and Crowley(Good Omens)

Shaggy(Scooby Doo) vs Itachi Uchiha (Naruto)

Reigen Arataka(Mob Psycho 100) vs Pyuko(Dannganronpa: Hope’s Chains)

Marie(Splatoon) vs Rose Cookie(Cookie Run Kingdom)

Joan D’arc(History) vs Morgana(Merlin)

Murderbot(The Murderbot Diaries) vs Royce Bracket(Transistor (game))

Ryland Grace(Project Hail Mary) vs Hollyleaf(Warrior Cats)

Wolf(Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts) vs Savathûn(Destiny video game)

Damian Wayne(DC Comics) vs Dr. Miranda Jones (Star Trek The Original Series, season 3 episode 5 Is There In Truth No Beauty?)

Keagan Máistirúin(Na Daoine Maithe (The Good People)) vs Sweetheart(Omori)

Kaitou Joker(Kaitou Joker) vs Piccolo (Dragon Ball)

Roach(Our Flag Means Death) vs Alex Fierro(Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard)

Aradia Megido(Homestuck) vs Hestia(Greek Mythology)

Zane Julien(Ninjago) vs Agatha Wellbelove(Simon Snow series by Rainbow Rowell)

Yelena Belova (Marvel) vs The Bear/Brent/The Pusher/The Fool/Shah Zaman(Ghost Quartet)

The Witch Queen(Old Gods of Appalachia) vs P03(Inscryption)

Lord Havelock Vetinari(Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett) vs The Knight(Hollow Knight)

Power(Chainsaw Man) vs Jetstorm(Transformers Animated (2007 cartoon))

Athena Cykes(Ace Attorney) vs Grumbot(Hermitcraft)

Yuki Rurikawa(A3!) vs Anonymous/Someone(Our Dreams At Dusk)

James(Pokemon) vs Dipper Pines 1 Mabel Pines1(Gravity Falls)

Charles Emerson Winchester III (M*A*S*H) vs Chaerin Eun(Surviving Romance)

Yamori Kou (Yofukashi no uta) vs Zenyatta(Overwatch)

Mirabel Madrigal (Encanto) vs Entrapta(She-Ra Princess of Power)

Simon Snow(Simon Snow series by Rainbow Rowell) vs Sabo(One Piece)

Silver(Sonic) vs Gin Akutagawa(Bungou Stray Dogs)

Kankri Vantas(Homestuck) vs Madhouse Mike(Cryptid Crush)

Darius(Owl House) vs Jason Todd(DC)

Emerald Trio:Willow, Hunter,Gus (Owl House) vs Artemis(Overly Sarcastic Productions' Miscellaneous Myths)

Jo March (Little Women 2019) vs Daryl Dixon(The Walking Dead)

Bakura Ryou(YuGiOh!) vs Professor Balaam(Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun)

Granny Smith(MLP) vs Cyborg(Teen Titans)

Maki Katsuragi(Hoshiai no Sora) vs Kaladin Stormblessed(The Stormlight Archive)

Jess(Loveless) vs Asui Tsuyu(BNHA)

GIR(Invader Zim) vs Xiao(Genshin Impact)

Alexa(Xenoblade Chronicles X) vs Selah Summers(Selah and the Spades)

Felix Hugo Fradarius(Fire Emblem 3 Houses) vs Sunil Jha(Loveless)

Madeline Hatter (Ever After High) vs Maya Fey(Ace Attorney)

Kim Dokja(Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint) vs Noé Archiviste(Vanitas no Carte)

Eleven(Stranger Things) vs Jinx(Arcane League of Legends)

Fitzroy Maplecourt(The Adventure Zone) vs Pidge(Voltron)

Volo(Pokemon) vs Cole Brookstone(Ninjago)

Traveler(Genshin Impact) vs Madotsuki(Yume Nikki)

[blackcharactertournament]

Black Character Tournament: Left Side!

adding a post break to make this more rebloggable

—

Chidi Anagonye | The Good Place vs Bow | She-Ra & the Princesses of Power

Marina Ida | Splatoon vs Youngblood Ra | Roleslaying with Roman

Barret Wallace | Final Fantasy VII vs Lunella Lafayette/Moon Girl | Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

Lucas Sinclair | Stranger Things vs Gus Porte | The Owl House

Carole Stanley | Carole and Tuesday vs Garnet | Steven Universe

Aisha/Layla | Winx Club vs Carter Kane and Sadie Kane | The Kane Chronicles

Martha Jones | Doctor Who vs Death | Sandman (TV)

Finn | Star Wars vs Oluwande Boodhari | Our Flag Means Death

Leshawna | Total Drama vs Sonic the Hedgehog | Sonic the Hedgehog

Jodie Landon | Daria vs Helen Brand | Glass Onion

Wolf | Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts vs Benson | Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Mike Hanlon | IT (Steven King) vs Burton Guster | Psych

Flow | Roleslaying With Roman vs Nasuada | Inheritance Cycle/Eragon Trilogy

Jordan Hennessey | Dreamer Trilogy vs Ava Coleman | Abbott Elementary

Duke Thomas | DC Comics vs Mel Medarda | Arcane

Molly Blyndeff | Epithet Erased vs Michael Burnham | Star Trek Discovery

Neena Thurman (Domino) | Marvel comics / Deadpool 2 vs Nyota Uhura | Star Trek The Original Series

Gregory Eddie | Abbott Elementary vs Kipo Oak | Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts

Elena Amamiya | Star Twinkle Precure vs Simon Aumar | Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Karli Morgenthau | MCU: The Falcon and the Winter Soldier vs Enfys Nest | Star Wars: A Solo Story

Connor Hawke/Green Arrow | DC Comics vs Myla | One Last Stop

Winston Bishop | New Girl vs Khalil Harris | The Hate U Give

T'Challa | Black Panther vs Dr. Charlotte | Falsettos (Revival)

Gigi Thompson | Inside Job vs Isaiah | One Last Stop

Ivan Taylor | The Wilds vs Nathan Byrne | The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself

Miranda Bailey | Grey's Anatomy vs Essun | Broken Earth Trilogy

Agent 355 | Y : The Last Man vs Audacious Opportunity (A.O.) Rooke | Friends at the Table (Partizan)

OJ Haywood | Nope 2022 vs Nubia | Wonder Woman

Mr Nancy | American Gods vs Storm | X Men

Ambrose Spellman | Chilling Adventures of Sabrina vs Louis | The Walking Dead Game

Angela Moore | Boy Meets World vs Hilary Banks | The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Junko Saotome | Nana vs Wes Gibbins | How to Get Away with Murder

Turk | Scrubs vs Wallace Fennel | Veronica Mars

Frozone | The Incredibles vs Kendra Young | Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Joelle Brooks | Dear White People vs Sans | Undertale

Anissa Pierce/Thunder | Black Lightning vs Koriand'r/Starfire | Titans (DC TV show)

Andre Harris | Victorious vs Sara | Over the Garden Wall

Samol | Friends at the Table vs Taion | Xenoblade Chronicles 3

Emerald Haywood | Nope (2022) vs Genly Ai | The Left Hand of Darkness

Sarah Miller | The Last of Us (TV) vs Pinkie Pie | My Little Pony

Muhammed Avdol | Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure vs Dr Foreman | House MD

Efi Oladele | Overwatch vs Jason Hauer | We only find them when they are dead

Bram Greenfeld | Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda / Love, Simon vs Zélie Adebola | Children of Blood and Bone

Nick Fury | Marvel vs Sam Wilson | MCU

Uniqua | The Backyardigans vs Alexx Woods | CSI Miami

Rue | Euphoria vs Bill Potts | Doctor Who

Nadine Ross | Uncharted series vs Jalil Sherman | Everworld

Baal (Valentine) | The Wicked + the Divine vs Jamal Saturday | Locke and Key (comics)

[eaglefairy]

We started xenoblade 2 last night! The liveblog tag will change to "roommate chronicles part 2" now. My thoughts on 2 are...complicated. (You can see #alrestposting for more on that.) But I'm looking forward to experiencing it with my roommate and seeing it through new eyes! (Quick note: anytime there's a quote without a tag, it's from my roommate. I figured this was just easier than trying to summarize what she was saying.)

(during the opening cutscene) "Space whale!!" Me: Dead space whale...

"Enough of that existential crisis stuff, we need to make money!"

"Bana?? Chairman Bana?? Is that our Bana?!" Me: "It's Bana if he got what he wanted." Roommate: ... Me: "It's Bana if he owned this whole airship."

Roommate: "Jabba?? Is he Jabba the Hutt???"

"Rex you idiot. You don't even know what the job is."

(While Jin is talking) "What is happening here..."

"Why is this dialogue so unreal. Like why is it so strange."

Rurui appeared on screen and I just started laughing Me: "He looks like an among us..." Roommate: "...Oh, he does."

So far she's pretty annoyed by every character except for Dromarch.

We finally got a good look at Nia and: Roommate: "There are catgirls now?"

"Rex, you didn't even ask what they're trying to find! What if they're trying to unearth a demon or a monster or a god?!"

"Jin, can I ask about the mask? I'm an impertinent 15-year-old, can I ask why you're wearing a mask?"

"Whoa, Sever looks cool. Is that one of the new alien species, what're they called?" Me: "They're called Blades." Me: "Dromarch is also a Blade." Roommate: "Huh???"

"It's a demon! I knew it! We're hauling up a doomsday device!"

She said she'd be willing to believe that the salvagers are evil and the Monoceros ("black ship from the harbor") are secret good guys which is like. ha.

"It's a god. It's chthulu. We're pulling up a god."

(I mean the fun "fun" part is that Mythra and Pyra would absolutely agree with the description of doomsday device. And in fact are just as against this right now as my roommate is.)

"I'm not gonna lie. The white guy [Jin]? He's hot. I don't trust him. I haven't even seen his face. But he's hot."

This is Dickson all over again. This is amazing I love it.

[activating the control panel] "We're about to meet god." [sees the Aligo boss in the next room] "What the hell is that." Me: "Not the god you were expecting?" "What is this...man-shark?"

Game: "That's...the Aegis." Roommate: "Nope, that's the Monado. Easy mistake to make."

"Oh, we're not dead. We're in heaven? Are we going to meet god now?" [sees Pyra in the distance] "Jesus? Mother?"

I forgot how much this game doesn't explain things at the beginning. So far she's asked me "what's a Blade?", "what's a Driver?", and "what's the Aegis?", which are all very fair questions considering how many fantasy proper nouns the game throws at you with no explanation

"Yay Nia! I knew you were good!"

"If you hurt my grandpa I'm killing you."

We agreed that xc2 really needs its own Sword Valley prologue. Xc1 starts strong with the opening lore cutscene from the Titans' antiquity going straight into the battle, and only then cutting to the slice-of-life stuff with Shulk. My roommate admitted that so far she's bored by the game because it starts so slow, which is exactly the problem I had with it 7 years ago!

Oh yeah, she really hates the tutorial narrator. She's calling it Navi and giving it a high annoying voice.

The roommate was touched by Gramp's death scene (until he was revealed to be alive)

Me: "Ever have your mentor figure turn into a mascot?" "...They turned my dragon into a mouse."

"Did that boob just jiggle?" Me: "Oh, you'd better believe it."

The squeal of delight I just heard when I showed her how to play as Nia riding on Dromarch made the past 2 hours completely worth it. "I'm never playing as Rex again, he's LAME!"

[phoslux]

Spoilers for Xenoblade 1 and 2

With Xenoblade Chronicles 3 being out soon, I was trying to remember all the things regarding Klaus, the Conduit and how the worlds are connected, so I rewatched a lot of scenes. Thought I might as well share in case anyone else needs a refresher:

-In 20XX the Conduit, a mysterious thing that in theory allows interdimensional travel, is being found in Kenya, Africa.

You will say "wait, that's not from Xenoblade" and you are right. It's actually from Xenosaga, but I heard some booklet that came with one of the XB2 figures confirmed these events for XB too.

-The organization Aoidos is formed to research the Conduit.

-The unified world government builds three "bean stalks", space elevators that connect to an orbital ring around the planet. They are named Rhadamanthus, Aecus and Minōs. The Conduit was transfered to space bcs it was deemed too dangerous to stay on the planet.

-Aoidos create an AI, called The Trinity Processor. It's made up of three cores, named Ontos, Logos and Pneuma. These three parts have been raised in VR to obtain a personality which was necessary so they could properly maintain the Conduit. The Trinity Processor is located on Rhadamanthus where the Conduit is as well.

-In order to protect the Conduit and the orbital ring, the Trinity Processor uses energy from the Conduit to create Artifices, huge mechs.

-As the orbital ring is being attacked by rebels, a researcher named Klaus defects and locks himself in the control room for the Conduit, planning to activate it bcs he believes it will help humanity become Something More. Another researcher, Galea, tries to stop him but fails.

-The Conduit gets activated, portals appear all over the planet and most of humankind vanishes to who knows where. Most places on Earth also seem to disappear. Galea and Klaus' half body also disappear to another universe (half his body remains (no he's not dead)). There they take the forms of the gods Zanza (as the soul of the titan Bionis) and Meyneth (as the soul of the titan Mechonis) which leads to the whole story of the first game.

I won't talk about the cycle of life in XB1 as I think that won't be important (if any of this will be important at all lmao).

-The half of Klaus that remained becomes the Architect from the second game.

-He regrets what he did and wants to atone for his sins. So he wants to recreate life. First he creates a "special particulate substance with the ability to restore deterioated matter", called the Cloud Sea. It dissambles matter and rebuilds it in its original image. That is supposed to restore the world (buildings, etc) to their former state.

Then he creates miniature vessels containing memories of all the planet's former lifeforms, Core Crystals. He scatters them in the Cloud Sea.

The crystals bond with it and become the titans, who were originally not at all titans but tiny creatures. As they evolved they grew larger and lager and became like the huge titans seen in the game. However, the tiny creatures didn't JUST lead to the big titans, but actually to all living beings, including humans.

Worrying that one day someone might be as stupid as him and cause another apocalypse, he creates the Blades to take care of humans and prevent the worst. The first ones were Ontos, Logos and Pneuma. However, Ontos triggered a space-time distortion and disappeared to the world of XB1 (he's Alvis/the Monado). Logos (known as Malos) and Pneuma (Pyra and Mythra) were supposed to manage all other Blades. The Blades relay all kinds of information to those two, who then process this data and return it back to the Blades' Core Crystals, allowing them to come back in a more evolved state. As Blades "die" and go back to the state of a crystal and get awakened again and again (everytime this happens they lose their memories) they eventually become titans, which in return again create new life and also serve as the living space of other beings.

-Core Crystals were originally not meant to become Blades and titans. They were actually an invention by the last remaining humans, living in what is later called the ruins of Morytha. They were meant as replacement for human brain cells. People wanted to use them to become immortal. However, that failed and they mutated into monsters. Klaus then used their technology as the starting point for the creation of Blades and titans.

-Klaus senses that he will soon cease to exist. He knows Shulk and the others are about to defeat his other half, Zanza, in the world of XB1. As Shulk's words can be heard in XB2, Klaus grants the people of this new world a final gift: he orders all of the huge titans to move towards the world tree (which is the space elevator leading to Rhadamanthus), below the Cloud Sea, to form new landmasses above the ocean.

-He also knew the Conduit (which, yes, was still There) would soon disappear into another dimension. Ontos, Logos and Pneuma were all originally powered by it. As was the space station. Logos/Malos died. We don't really know what happened with Ontos/Alvis in XB1. Pneuma (Pyra/Mythra) sacrificed herself to blow up Rhadamanthus so it doesn't crash onto the Earth. She returns as two separate people in a post-credits scene.

My assumption here is that Pneuma and maybe ALL Blades lost their powers after the Conduit disappeared. This would mean there could be no more new titans, so turning the existing ones into landmasses might have been the only way to save everyone's future. This could also explain why there are no Blades in XB3 (not in the same sense as in XB2 at least. Some characters very much LOOK like Blades).

-With Zanza dead and Shulk as new god, at the end of XB1 Alvis asks him what he wants to do with the world, now that the Mechonis has been destroyed and the Bionis is collapsing as well. Shulk wishes for a new world without a need for gods.

It very much seems like the remains of the titans, including all living beings from XB1 have been brought to the Earth. In the DLC "Future Connected" you can see they now live on a flatter surface, close to the ocean.

[liminalitycarb]

Xenoblade 2 - Final Chapter (Final Part) - And thus, boy met girl.

It's time for Pneuma to sit down, discuss her feelings with herself, and decide if this is really the right thing to do. Let's just look at the timer to see how long we have to... oh...

OH GOD, THE ESCAPE POD BROKE IN HALF! THE ENGINE IS JUST FLYING OUT OF CONTROL WITHOUT THE REST OF THE GROUP.

Well.. it was a good run everyone. But it seems everyone is going to burn up in re-entry or splat once they finish falling.. I hope everyone enjoyed these characters!

Wait... GRAMPS HAS WINGS NOW!? I thought he just sortof swam before in the cloud ocean. But I guess Pneuma gave him the ability to fly! WE'RE SAVED!

So the Conduit Zohar disappearing caused the space station to fall apart, Pneuma to lose her powers, and the Cloud Sea to dissipate.. KLAUS, YOU REALLY DIDN'T EXPLAIN ENOUGH BEFORE DIEING.

Well.. I guess Malos won in the end.

Nothing but ruins, but also apparently there is a rift?

Oh wow, on the other side was a vast water ocean!

But... was that an actual rift? or a metaphor that gramps was using?

HEY! The titans are here! They just... fell... from the Cloud Sea... is... is everyone dead from that fall?

And thus all the titans apparently ram head-first into the first bit of land they found! I mean, I guess it is nice for them to not be fly..swimming anymore.

I'm glad you do Morag. Because I am still slightly lost right now. Unless the titans are basically becoming fertilizer/whatnot for that new land mass.

Maybe Elysium was the trauma we had along the way.

Also.. maybe it is just for poeticism... but the sky and water REALLY is making me think the end of Xenoblade 1... Did the two worlds merge together?

Okay.. I know it's been a while but I now can't remember if there were shooting stars or not at the end of Xenoblade 1.. but if there were, now we know that they were THE REMAINS OF THE ORBITAL SPACE STATION.

And thus, we reach the credits.

And after, we have more!

Rex, it looks like something's happening with your Zohar.

OH GOD! IT'S TRYING TO TAKE US ALL OUT WITH IT!

Or... it brought back Pyra and Mytrha, but as their own people?

Did Pneuma just cease to exist so the other two sides could exist as their own people?

AND POPPI IS THE FIRST ONE IN FOR HUGS!

POPPI WINS!

And, our final end of chapter screen.

BUT WITH THAT! WE ARE FINALLY DONE WITH THE MAIN GAME OF XENOBLADE CHRONICLES 2!

I got most of my rare blades to S rank, with only a few exceptions (the ones who needed me to craft too many items, or the ones that needed me to kill super bosses were skipped).

I really did enjoy playing through this game this way, and I think I will continue to play through the DLC in the same way. AND when I get to Xenoblade 3, you can count me starting this up again!

Though, I'm not sure when those next two things will happen given all of my other schedule things.

And we shall end, with the final title screen. But... how is the World Tree there? I thought it was destroyed...?

[jjraderftw]

Xenoblade 2 cutscenes

Xenoblade is an insanely good franchise that I’m currently playing through right now. I’m still on the original game (Xenoblade Chronicles) and have about 40 hours on it right now and doubt I’m even halfway done with the game, it’s just that fun. Though the second game’s story is mostly self-contained, the big focus on social topics and deep stories are a shared facet of the Xenoblade games. Issues talked about in this game include posing the question about what it means to think for yourself and how nature is at the mercy of humanity.

Rex goes through the hero’s journey through the game. Though he isn’t scared and too naive at the start of the game, he learns throughout the story to respect the will of others and to take sacrifices for the sake of a greater good. His stubbornness to continue fighting after the deaths of his comrades showed his rash nature and unwillingness to stop after a threshold. This caused a devastating fight and put others in harm. Though it awakened Mythra who was integral to the story, it showed how early Rex was stubborn. His separation from Pyra and Mythra at the end of the game and his acceptance of their own decisions (which were different from his) showed how he had grown as a person through his quest. This shows how people should be determined but not hard headed. There should be a good mix between doing what is best for you and best for those around you.

Rex isn’t the only critique on human nature. The very idea of drivers and swords bring up the idea of what it means to be human. Is it human that we die and forget our memories? Is forgetting a bad thing in every circumstance? Do we really think for ourselves? Swords are born from crystals and can be reincarnated several times before becoming titans (rumbling?…..who said that). They are awakened by a driver who uses the power of the sword for combat and other activities. The bond between driver and sword is similar to a friendship but with a catch: the sword takes on the ideas and motives of the driver. This means that swords hardly think for themselves initially. Though they look and sound human, they don’t have an independent mind per say, and their ways of being are partially shaped by the driver. Furthermore, their life and existence also depends on the driver. If a driver dies, the sword is remade into a crystal and their memories are reset. Though swords look and act like drivers, why are they always subject to the wills of drivers? What makes them less human than us? They were unwillingly born into the world as swords and have no choice but to be what they are, yet they are subjects to the wills of others who look just like them. Though some relations are good, some sword-driver relations teeter on mere tools. This frustration can cause a chain reaction of oppression and malice like we saw with Malos which can bring about an ugly future for everyone.

A final message I noticed in my watch of Xenoblade 2 was the critique on humanity’s relationship with nature. Humans in our world have been slowly degrading the natural world. Resource extraction, industrialization and expansion, and the burning of fuels all contribute to a declining state of nature that will inevitably lead to natures destruction. Though our actions are hurting nature, are human activities considered natural, or are we separate from nature? The idea of Xenoblade 2’s world having a shrinking amount of land resembles the idea of increasing sea levels on Earth. Our land masses are shrinking as oceans increase due to the bad habits humans have had on global warming. Similarly, the large scale death of titans and small inhabitable land were caused by human interactions. The character of Klaus also resembles human intervention. He wanted to play God and create new worlds because the fighting in his world had gotten out of hand. The planet was in shambles and he saw no other alternative. This shows how human interaction, if left unchecked, could cause nature a lot of turmoil. Klaus’ creation of organisms in the new world, however, shows how humans aren’t far removed from nature. Just like any other animals in nature itself, we come from the same source and location. Just like a beaver’s nature is to build a dam, human nature involves creating culture and societies like the ones we live in today.

[tiny-cloud-of-flowers]

HIYA its been a while oomfie. I wanted to ask if I can ask questions that vaguely allude to XC3 -- nothing that hits your blacklist but like. Questions about say Ruby and what you think her class would hypothetically be in XC3 type thing

Hello, friend!! It has been a bit, but it’s nice to hear from you!! I hope that you’re doing well at the moment, and also, thank you for sending this!

It really means a lot to me that you want to know more about Ruby!!! I’d be happy to take questions about her, it’ll be a good way of developing her more. You can ask whatever you specifically want to ask, whether it’s about Ruby or anything else - I just can’t guarantee I’ll be able to answer in very much specific detail or in a way that’s very game story-compliant. But, I’ll still absolutely try and give it a go!! I do feel like I have at least a decent grasp on some of the XC3 characters, as a result of hearing people - largely you, actually! - talking about them online here and there, but I still have little-to-no experience of gameplay, either from playing my own copy or from watching footage online (since I have not done either of these things). I know someone did some really good blade and driver guides for XC2, so if they’ve done the same thing for the XC3 characters, that will hopefully be a good resource.

Regarding your hypothetical question about class, the one thing I can tell you is that Ruby would be an attacker class, because this both matches her parents (Pyra and Sapphire) and would fit in well with her friends from XC2 (Ursula and Poppi, who are a healer and rank respectively). ..That’s definitely all I have so far because I’ve only just decided on it, but I’ll definitely try and think about it more/am happy to talk it through with you if you want to know more!!

Thank you very much again for sending this in, it really means a lot - and I hope you have a good day!~

[void-kissed]

I finally started working on a reference model for Ruby!! I don't think I've quite finalised the outfit yet, but I'm fairly happy with what I have so far, at least~

As a reminder, Ruby is my fankid for my selfship with Pyra, so she's the daughter of Pyra and Sapphire! She's very energetic and chaotic - a friend of mine kept referring to her as "little menace (affectionate)" when I was talking through design ideas with her, and that's definitely very accurate to her personality =P She's best friends with Poppi and Ursula, and her grandad (i.e. Vandham) absolutely dotes on her, hehe. So would a fair amount of the rest of the cast, I imagine!

I'm not going to use my tag list for this render since it isn't exactly a full thing (it's just for showing off the model, haha), but I am going to tag my friend @artificervaldi for inspiring me to work on this this evening, if that's alright. Thank you for your kind words, B!~

[moved-to-void-kissed]

I see I’ve been tasked with opening the gates of Xeno(blade, in this case) hell early, based on the asks in my inbox. Thank you, friends. I’m already flustered.

As the now-self-proclaimed grim reaper of Team Xeno Hell, anyone else who wishes to join us for this wild ride (heh) is 100% more than welcome to. And for everyone else, well, please just sit back and watch the show! This game and its overarching series is probably, hopefully, going to be quite the focus here from tomorrow onwards~

I am EXTREMELY EXCITED for XC3, if you couldn’t tell =P and yes I will be tagging all spoilers, please don’t worry. The tag I use for this is going to be “spoilers for XC3”!

[anime-grimmy]

My thoughts on Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

The game’s been out for almost a week now and Ive blasted through it in like 3 days because my sick ass couldn’t really do much but lay around and suffer anyways. Rn I’m trying to fill my Pokedex and I’ve started a second, way slower playthrough to really enjoy everything the game’s got to offer.

Criticism

So, Pokemon’s first open world game. We’ve all seen the memes, the game has a lot of bugs and especially performance issues. While I have not run into a high amount of glitches, except for some visual stuttering and one shut down, the performance of this game is sometimes atrocious. And this coming from someone who plays Monster Hunter World on an old laptop at 30fps where more than half the textures don’t even load. Sometimes the game dances on the line of death when it loads in too many Pokemon, or god forbid you’re on water because your switch will sound like a chainsaw trying to cut through a stubborn trunk.

And it really IS a shame, because the concepts and ideas of this game are a lot of fun! Like, this game IS fun but it does get bogged down by its issues a lot. Also bcs it does not have dynamic level scaling. Don’t tell me I can go everywhere and do anything, but then throw me in a zone I can’t go through. Don’t get me wrong, the whole “I SHOULD NOT BE HERE YET” experience is very funny and makes you look forward to going back to places, but the layout is just confusing. At the start, Nemona tells you the West Gate is for the first Gym Challenge, Arven tells you the East Gate is for the first Titan. You’d assume either way you go, the challenges in that zone are at least around the same levels but NOPE. You can beat the Gym Leader on the side of the first Titan relatively easily, but try to take on the Team Star base in the same area and be sure to suffer. This weird layout design goes through most of the game. Like, why is the Gym Leader that’s FARTHER North than Grucia weaker than him??? Like, you kinda HAVE to go through his town to get to the other one. It just does NOT make any sense!

 I wanna say that Game Freak just needed more time but we know that even a year more wouldn’t have helped much, because Game Freak just isn’t a studio that’s equipped to do everything they set out to do. They’re short development time makes them build the games on an already wonky base, so even if they did suddenly extend the development by a year, I don’t think much would have changed since they had a faulty game design from the start. It pisses me off so much how Game Freak won’t or can’t reach out for help, they always try to keep everything in their small little team and not let outside hands touch their product (which ofc also is because of all the branding around it), but with their short 3 year development cycle, these guys just aren’t fit for the job to make the games they want to and the people demand. For fuck’s sake, they’re the biggest media franchise on earth, I do not understand what makes them think that one more year of development from the start or an extension of their team would do to fuck that over. So far the people stick with their games because they give us glimmers of hope and lure us in with great Pokemon and characters, but if this continues, they are slowly but surely going to lose their status as top franchise.

Because not making a game with this low res run well on the switch when the Xenoblade’s Chronicles games can be played on the system is unacceptable.

The Good stuff

Now that Ive got the negative stuff out of the way, I can go to stuff I really enjoyed. Because while I do have my fair share of criticism, this game also did a lot I liked.

For one, I am deeply saddened they removed the chugging balls mechanic from Arceus, this just makes catching Pokemon a hassle again. However, I do like the autobattle mechanic. It’s a bit rough because your Pokemon are so slow and once you run for 3 steps they’re back in their Pokeballs. But it’s a nice mechanic to get some off hands exp when traveling from place to place.

Speaking of traversal, I really love Kuraidon. The sound design of this Pokemon is immaculate, I love the scaly boy, he has so much personality and I love how you’re unlocking HMs for him through the Herba Mystica. It’s such a stupid pun but I love it.

As for the other new Pokemon, I’m hit and miss on them. A lot feel weirdly Fakemon. Like, the Flamingo and the Stork don’t feel like real Pokemon to me. Others, however, I really really liked. The Smoliv line is one of my new fav Gras types, Fuecoco has no braincells and I love him for that, and this game did give us some awesome new bug and fairy types. DUDE, A BREAD DOG?! HE’S SO CUTE!!(Spoiler for endgame)

And then the ancient Pokemon. I do prefer the ancient Mons to the futuristic ones tbh, and I like the concept also way more of trying to bring back old, extinct Pokemon to live alongside the present ones than bringing some from the future. Dude, like, the ancient Volcarona is so fucking cool, it’s my fav of the old mons.

(spoiler territory)

But on to the one thing I truly loved about Scarlet and Violet, the characters. Specifically the main three, Nemona, Arven and Penny (and Mr. Clavell/Clive). I never thought I’d like Penny and Arven at the start but holy shit they grew on me. Even Nemona, who I figured I’d like, took a turn in character I hadn’t expected.

Let’s start off with Penny since I have the least to say about her. It was pretty obvious she’s the leader of Team Star from the start, right? The predictability aside, while the Team Star story was nothing to write home about, by the end I did feel attached to this group of misfits, and Penny’s relationship with them is so sweet. Like, when after the game you can join her looking after the team Star bosses to see if they’re doing well in school, it’s so adorable. What I like about Penny though is how surprisingly sassy she is. Freaking hacker Otaku with no chill, I love it.

Then, Nemona. She’s like the epitome of a “nice” rival. I like that from the start it’s established that she is a great trainer, since she already has the Champion title, but the fact she chooses to start from scratch to grow alongside you just screams how much she loves battling and respects a good journey. She wants you to be the best because she sees your potential and she just knows she’ll have the best battle in her life if she helps you out. She’s a mix of a rival/mentor character, who at the same time kind of has a screw loose since battling is all she thinks about. But it all comes from an honest place and the fact she doesn’t act as a cheerleader and actually challenges you in battle when you’re not ready for it, makes her a great rival.

Lastly, Arven. (BIG spoilers) My sweet baby boy, I cannot believe Game Freak dumped so much trauma on you. It was obvious from the start that he had some parental issues, I did not expect it to be year long neglect. I mean, he hasn’t seen the prof in YEARS and has NO memories of playing together with his parent? And apparently his other parent walked out on them the MOMENT he was born??? Then he gets a dying dog, which thankfully got better (it did make me teary eyed by the end ngl) but then the one who’s actually dead is the PROFESSOR???? I hate how quickly he got over the fact, the dude just found out his parent who he hasn’t seen in years is fucking DEAD and has been for YEARS. I mean, I’m happy this makes him find new ambition and a new path in life but fuck me, let the boy process this for a bit.

But yeah, Arven’s story was my fav (im very weak for dogs ok.) Though, all coming together in the end and you running alongside your friends down the Great Crater was so damn cute istg. And the dialogue between them, getting to know each other, is so damn good. You see some different sides of them, showing interest in someone else but you, and it gives them some more dimension, I love it.

Now if Game Freak just FINALLY added voice acting, at least for the damn CUTSCENES, I’d be the happiest. Like dude, that last emotional cutscene really needed some raw emotional voice deliveries.

But yeah, all in all, Scarlet and Violet has a ton of fucking problems, but it also has a lot of good sides to it. Now if Game Freak just took it’s fucking time and accepted some help, they truly could make a great game from the get go.

[findroleplay]

21M looking for a 18+ literate or novella partner to do a oc x canon or oc x oc roleplay with. I can play multiple characters, and thanks to my flexibility I can play any role, so I typically double up with my partner. I'm down to do fxf, mxf, or mxm.

I prefer to take fandoms and use them as a baseline for our roleplay. We use the characters and the worlds, but do whatever we want with them instead of having things go exactly as the creator envisioned. I'm in the mood for a romance centered plot with slices of action here and there. Anything from light hearted and cute to incredibly dark / NSFW heavy is cool with me. I just like writing my ocs, and if I can do that with a cool partner, it's even better 🙌 So make sure you come prepared to talk to me!!!

I use discord, like the message and I'll send you a dm.

Here's the fandoms I'm currently looking to rp.

-Persona

-Xenoblade Chronicles

-Danganronpa

-Fate Grand Order

-Fire Emblem

-My Hero Academia

-Helltaker

-Pokemon

-Attack on Titan

-Kill la Kill

-Arknights

-Final Fantasy

-One Piece

-Vtubers

-Va-11 Hall-a

-Chainsaw Man (<-- THIS ONE GOD DAMN PLEASE)

-Genshin Impact

-Guilty Gear

-JJBA

-Re:Zero