#sormik is pretty much canon so

[littlepikmins]

It's crazy to me that for the Tales of Zestiria and Black Clover crossover, they had Sorey and Mikleo cosplay Magna and Luck

[tatlinanise]

Is the thing about Sormik being canon and Baba fake?

(Pretty sure I answered this years ago lmao. What deja vu)

Hideo Baba’s (the director of Zestiria) quote about Mikleo being Sorey’s “one and only” is very much real and is even reiterated as a title he has in the very game. (Translated as Peas in a Pod in the English version).

However, this is and has never been proof of the ship being “canon”, as in romantically confirmed. It was just his way of introducing Mikleo during prelease promotion.

There are two skits in Zestiria that imply more than platonic implications onto Sorey/Mikleo’s relationship -- The infamous Babe Hunt skit & The Fairy of Love  DLC skit.  Funnily enough, both involve Zaveid. The first skit has Sorey very much label Mikleo a “babe”, even knowing Zaveid was only talking about hunting women. It’s very hard to think of a platonic explanation for that, even if you choose to view the skit as a harmless gag. Sorey is 100% serious in his execution, so at the very least - it confirms that he thinks Mikleo suits the definition of a babe (ie. “hot glistening beauty” in JPN)

The latter skit has Sorey admit that he has romantic love in his life when asked, but he and Mikleo will not tell Zaveid. Given Sorey’s reiterated lack of interest in the opposite sex (there are two skits where he and Rose deny romantic attraction to each other and another where he indirectly rejects Alisha’s “date offer” and the cast pokes fun), I find it hard to argue that it is not Mikleo he is referring to here. Especially considering Mikleo wants to keep it secret as well, instead of teasing him about it.

Overall, officially speaking, they have only ever been labeled “childhood friends”, occasionally mentioning that they were “raised as brothers” in mobage descriptions. Which is not inaccurate. So that’s what they are. 

Hope this clears it up for you!

[jcmorrigan]

001 - Tales of Zestiria?

Favorite character: It's a tough call between Maltran and Symonne, and Lunarre is trailing right behind both. I tend to call them the "Heldalf Squad," but make no mistake, Heldalf himself isn't part of it. I just like his swagalicious minions. The dry and sarcastic political manipulator, the sadistic and wordy theater nerd, and the flamboyant cannibal who hates everything. Yes. LOVE. But I have to give a shout to my boy Dezel on the hero side! Angsty/stoic characters are very hit-or-miss with me, but Dezel is the flavor I love - obvious soft spots and quirks, and slowly he builds from being antisocial to showing how big his heart is. When he stops the woman from leaping off the Guinevere tower...that's one of my favorite scenes in the entire game, because you can see when the switch flips, when he realizes that he CANNOT stay aloof any longer when there's a stranger's life on the line. He's still a grump about it but a compassionate grump.

Least Favorite character: Heldalf. His backstory is really clever, and I like the curse on him. But he himself just feels like Ganondorf but more boring. I kinda hate that he's so vanilla when his three lieutenants are in my arsenal of pet villains from the vastness of fiction. Also shout-out to Chancellor BART in the opening Ladylake act, because I distinctly remember liveblogging this to a friend, and I played Zestiria *after* Berseria (I'd loved Berseria and that's why I eventually sought out Zestiria) so here I am just comparing up the corrupt church in Ladylake to the Abbey's suave rogues gallery like "Yeah no BART has nothing on Lady Teresa Linares." Thankfully BART was never seen again.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): DezeRose, SorMik, Symonne x Coco Atarashi (The World Ends With You), Alisha Diphda x Sergei Strelka, and...I swear you have to bear with me here...Zaveid x Anna (Frozen). I also kinda wanna note a couple ships I'm on the fence about for my other favies - those being Maltran x Ebony Maw (Marvel Cinematic Universe or Marvel Ultimate Alliance) and Lunarre x Arkham (Devil May Cry).

Character I find most attractive: Dezel. It is a scientific fact that guys with pointy teeth are just hotter.

Character I would marry: Maybe Dezel, maybe Sergei. I wouldn't want to take them from those I see as their wifeys, but at the same time, they are husband goals, both of them.

Character I would be best friends with: Catch me clinging to Maltran's train and she drags me along annoyedly as I yell "PLEEEEAAASE LET ME HANG OUT WITH YOU GUYS" and Lunarre is losing it laughing while Symonne rolls her eyes

a random thought: So I toyed around with basically every accessory I picked up, and I decided to put the sideburns on Rose because fuck gender roles. Well then I just got used to seeing her with facial hair in every cutscene where her 3D model was used, and now I headcanon that she does get it. Maybe nonclassical CAH intersex? Like, I don't necessarily see her as trans (but I support everyone who hc's her as such) but moreso "a cis woman, but I grow this stupid damn facial hair like a dude and I don't get why." And this is why you shouldn't let me play with customizable accessories on RPG characters because I can and will abuse my privilege to headcanon.

An unpopular opinion: That this is actually a very good game. Listen, I think I get it - the initial marketing promised something far different. And that's disappointing. But coming back to it several years after its release, after the release of its PREQUEL, when I never had that hype building up...it actually exceeded my expectations. I held off from it for a while because I thought Eizen's fate would make me too sad, but that didn't end up the case at all. I actually had just come off playing a more recently-released triple-A game that was hyped up for years, and I completed it to my satisfaction in 20 hours. $80 for 20 hours. Zestiria gave me my money's worth in comparison; it took me about 60, and I loved just how MUCH story it had to offer me. I honestly like Rose better than Alisha anyway (Rose was one of the biggest aspects that interested me about playing it in the first place). I've also seen complaints that the characters weren't well-developed enough? Which I just kinda take to mean "They didn't angst enough." Listen. There are PLENTY of games out there if you want angst and sad stories. I don't really like sad stories in my games. I like adventures where the party is a goofy foundfam that jokes around with each other and helps each other work through shitty situations, and that's EXACTLY what I got. (And Berseria really worked on me too because it kinda started at the bottom of the angst barrel, then worked its way up through "The edgy and tortured protag has gained a party of idiots and oh noooooo she's learning friendship and happiness.") Dezel's death is one of the few game deaths that just made me SATISFIED to watch instead of depressed because of the closure he got and the themes tied into his final moments and sacrifice. I loved going on this adventure, I loved the idiots who I went on it with, and I loved seeing what Glenwood had to offer me in world design the further I explored.

my canon OTP: There's not much for canon romance in this game, come to think of it. Just subtext and some flirting. So I'm blanking on if there actually were any canon couples at all.

Non-canon OTP: DezeRose! Which maybe can be considered almost-canon based on the amount of subtext, but still. It's adorable. (And it's the exact same dynamic as EiRoku except M/F and a thousand years later. I need these four to double date...the dual-wielding goofs with their edgy, grumpy Reapers...)

most badass character: Rose! Not only able to wield the Shepherd's Armatization powers, but also to be a dang good assassin on her own, able to hold her own against Heldalf before she even had her eyes opened to seraphim! Though a shout-out goes to Edna because her armatization was my favorite to play with. There's something just satisfying about bashing the enemy in front of you with a pair of GIANT FISTS

pairing I am not a fan of: RoseAli. To be honest, it was at one point something I kinda enjoyed as a third-tier ship for Rose (Dezel first, then Lailah in second). But then...Alisha's Story. I didn't actually purchase it, thank goodness, just watched it on YouTube, and it was the most grating addition that anyone could've made to this game. First of all, I can sum up the issues with Alisha's Story by reminding everyone that it canonized a secret entrance to Camlann that was much easier to get to and wasn't protected by Muse's sacrifice. But the real thing that hurt to watch was how far down they had to knock Rose and Alisha's friendship to get them to rebuild from scratch. Rose claiming she was never Alisha's friend because she's grieving Sorey? The two of them getting into a PHYSICAL FISTFIGHT over it? Nope nope nope. That's not my Rose. Even less my Rose is that whole scene where she...you know...pounces on Alisha to dress her in the silly noblewoman's dress, and it's framed like...let's just say it's really uncomfortable to watch if you don't know the punchline is just a silly outfit. Even though Alisha's Story isn't canon in my head, it still really killed any buzz I had for RoseAli. I will also say I'm not a big fan of Eizavie - first of all, EiRoku or bust in this house, and second, I have a little bit of a hard time seeing Zaveid as mlm due to how much he goes on and on about The Ladies(TM). (Though I could see Eizen as having a tiny crush on him, though. Just like "Oh no he's hot but he's connected to Aifread's disappearance help")

character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Mostly just in Alisha's Story. I was mad about the aforementioned Rose stuff, but also...like...they undid Lunarre's original cathartic death, they did so to team him back up with Symonne and then do a whole fakeout that they had Maltran with them too, but Maltran is just an illusion and immediately after this, Lunarre and Symonne just decide "Yeah, we're not gonna work together anymore, have a nice life." Why does Maltran need to stay dead if LUNARRE somehow survived EXPLODING? And just...look to next question for more clarification:

favourite friendship: I just want to imagine that Maltran, Lunarre, and Symonne were weird evil friends. The kind who'd take artistic selfies and caption them "Murder and mayhem with my besties!". Maybe they even had a sibling dynamic. They were all pretty dang jaded, so I like to think they sat around sometimes talking about the things in this world that did them wrong. The reasons they were drawn to Heldalf. Heldalf himself wouldn't have cared, he would've kicked them around like disposable tools, but the three of them were too entrenched in his dogma to see it. Maybe if they met up again after he was off the board...then they'd sing a different tune. Realize they're all three better than this, and now they're gonna do things THEIR way, because remember when they made a three-point attack on Glenwood and Sorey was barely able to keep up with them wrecking Lastonbell AND Pendrago AND Glaivend? Remember when Lunarre and Symonne had each other's backs the night Dezel died? Now they can do what they want on their terms! And I just - I have many MANY feelings about these three.

character I want to adopt or be adopted by: Okay silly self-insert time but the thing is, Archibald Snatcher (The Boxtrolls) and Roman Torchwick (RWBY) are my two favorite parental f/o's (and also my OTP to end all OTPs), and I have this thing about how they'd be PERFECT crime dads to Symonne in particular because she's like a little, more theatrical Neopolitan. So there's a universe in my head where Symonne is basically already my little sister, and I look out for her - well, okay, she's a seraph with powerful Artes and I am a powerless mortal so really she looks out for me because "I suppose SOMEONE has to make sure you don't die" and I am grateful to her for it.

[managician]

001 and Tales of Zestiria? :D

Favorite character: MIKLEO!!!! BABY BOY BABY

Least Favorite character: As cool as I think the idea was, Rose’s role in the overall story and addition to the party is very... Very very wacky... And I don’t like how Sorey had to train his ass off from the beginning to get to where he is, and then Rose was just like “hi I can do everything you do but probably better and cooler for no reason!”, it’s just :///. So yeah, I’ll go with Rose for this one.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Sorey/Mikleo, Sorey/Alisha, Alisha/Rose, Alisha/Mikleo (I think their friendship was cute don’t sue me) andd I can’t think of a fourth one... Maybe Edna/Mikleo? Their bantering is also adorable!

Character I find most attractive: Mikleo or Alisha... They’re both so pretty gosh... But Lailah too!! UGH ITS HARD TO PICK

Character I would marry: Mikleo definitely...... Prime BF material.

Character I would be best friends with: I think Lailah or Edna! We both have the same kinda weird/random humour :’)

A random thought: Sorey is a kind and cute protag y’all are just mean.

An unpopular opinion: Apparently Zestiria is one of the most hated games in all of the Tales of Series...? I don’t know about y’all but as a newcomer to the franchise I love it! The gameplay is fun and the character skits are all adorable and really give off that cute family group feel. Plus all the female characters have good designs and there’s not any cringy fanservice... I just don’t really get all the hate it gets tbh.

My canon OTP: sormik is probably as canon as we can get~

Non-canon OTP: alirose.. idk their ship name but i love them

Most badass character: ZAVEID... his moveset and battle style is so so cool!!

Pairing I am not a fan of: um. apparently sorey/rose is a thing? I... I really don’t dig it at all...

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Alisha. Rose was beyond salvation from the first moment for me, but Alisha... Alisha could’ve been so much more... Not that I don’t love her already and I understand the events of the game called for it, but... :(

Favourite friendship: Early Sorey + Mikleo + Lailah interactions are super fun! 

[melodypictures]

SorMik for 002 and Dezel for 3

002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When I started shipping them: I think I started shipping them around halfway through the game, I just didn’t realize how hard I shipped util that hot springs skit happened 

My thoughts: I like their dynamic and how they’re always trying to be equals even when it’s not always possible. It’s like they start to relearn how to interact and handle certain things with each other after they leave their home and experience how limited they really were with a lot of stuff in their sheltered life

What makes me happy about them: They’re dorks that explore ruins and have tickle fights

What makes me sad about them: goodnight Sorey 

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: it’s been awhile since I’ve read any....I guess Sorey being dumbed down way too much? Like the boy is really smart. And he can cook meat pretty well so it’s not like he can’t make anything for himself

Things I look for in fanfic: Nothing really specific. I like different things and it depends on what I’m in the mood for at the time

My wishlist: reunited with Sorey’s memories more or less instact, though some are missing or really foggy

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: sorry, only ship them with each other 

My happily ever after for them: exploring ruins for the rest of their lives and relearning things about each other!

003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:

How I feel about this character: Adore Dezel! Wanna smack him and send him over a cliff, but I love him 

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: DezeRose is my angst ship 

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: I like how Lailah tries to reach out and understand him, and get him to open up to the group a bit more 

My unpopular opinion about this character: I actually like him is probably unpopular enough 

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish we got more closure with him and Rose. And more insight on what happened with that prince. I may love the guy, but even I can admit that stuff wasn’t written that well for the most part

Favorite friendship for this character: I just like his interactions with everyone in general 

My crossover ship: don’t got one 

[aratanaruu]

Tales of series, Guy x Luke, Luke

Oooh wow, all three? noice noice~ I’ll put it under a cut to spare your dashboards. Many thanks~! (Send me a fandom / character / ship and I’ll tell you...)

001 | Tales series...

Favorite character:I wonder... ~

Least Favorite character:I don’t think I have one. There are some characters I’m ehhh about (I’ll spare you from naming them) but that’s about it. If I had to choose... Van? He works as a villain well enough (manipulative, evil, disastrous, powerful, believable motivations) but holy hell does Abyss treat him as anything but a villain, which I loathe.

5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon):In no particular order: Aschtalia, Rokunor, GuyLuke, Fluri, Soymilk

Character I find most attractive:Male: hint hint he is a very attractive guyFemale: okay afaik i am a straight girl..... but judith and teresa tho :eyes emoji:

Character I would marry::]

Character I would be best friends with:Tbh, I’m not sure which characters would get along with me. Perhaps it would be Anise, Jade, Magilou or Rokurou. The first three would make things a lot of fun, running around trolling everybody, and Rokurou sounds like a cool person to hang out with.

A random thought:Grand Chokmah is the most beautiful town / city / whatever in Tales.

An unpopular opinion:oh dear. Er. Tales in general? Hum... The overworlds could use some more work. I think it got better in Berseria, where the worlds had a lot more variety in their appearance, but I wish that things looked a lot more interesting than say... different types of fields / forests (Xillia. I swear, Xillia was like going to one town, then walking through some sort of grassy area to another town and repeat). I don’t know if this makes sense or if it’s unpopular at all. 

My Canon OTP:Prooobably Aschtalia, since that’s the only “canon” pairing I ship.

My Non-canon OTP:See above.

Most Badass Character:Jade. Eizen. Judith. Legretta. No explanation needed.

Most Epic Villain:If I want to be reaaally biased... Lady Teresa. I have a soft spot for the ice queen-types. I really like Shigure, most of the God-Generals and the Chimeriad, too. The Chimeriad were badass and very human, with admirable features. To me, they didn’t feel like a villain, just somebody with different ideals, which ties in well with Xillia’s final battle of ideals between Gaius and Jude/Milla.

Pairing I am not a fan of:Tbh there’s none that make me pppppbth at. There are no pairings that I don’t get or understand, even if I don’t ship them or like one+ characters in the ship.

Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another):aha. Tear. Let’s go with Tear. 

Favourite Friendship:YES FRIENDSHIP FRIENDSHIP IS SO UNDERRATED AAAH. It’s gotta be Guy&Luke. I do ship them, but god first and foremost their friendship makes me want to die of happiness. Guy’s overwhelming support throughout the entire game?? The Aramis Springs scenes???? The Tower of Rem scenes??? The Curse Slot scenes???????????

Honourable mention goes to: Sormik (even if you don’t ship, it’s hard not to see that they don’t care for each other), Vespy party, Rokurou & Magilou / Eizen, Abyss party.

Character I most identify with:Luke (Pre and post-Akz): (once) bratty and entitled, etc etc, “oh shit i’m screwing up” moment, a lotta up there issues, “who am i” existential crisis’ on the reg, redemption, raised questionably, long hair, trying their best, etc, etcMagilou: lmao what’s an emotion, trollish, whimsical, me? hiding everything under a mask?? it’s more likely than you think, ~magic~To a lesser extent: Jade / Judith

Character I wish I could be:Hmm... Judith? I’d love to be able to do all those backflips and I’m a sucker for spears / lances / glaives / the like. If not, then perhaps a mage-type character like Magilou. . . .

002 | GuyLuke...

When I started shipping them:About a month or so after I finished playing Abyss (so... August/Sept 2017?). It was mostly fanfiction and some fanart that dragged me into the ship. ngl tho I’m losing a bit of the love I once had for them. I think it’s because I’m busy being obsessed with other things, so dw, I’m sure I’ll get hit by a giant wave of GuyLuke feels in the future.

My thoughts:im... lov them........ this ship is so.... supportive...... they have so many issues but they’re working through it together. they’re both such lovable dumbasses. 

What makes me happy about them:Their trust in each other!! Their unwavering belief in each other!! Them being happy!!!!

What makes me sad about them:Sometimes I get the feel that it’s a bit one-sided? Guy is putting more into their relationship than Luke? Kinda got this feel in the game, but then again, Luke had a bunch of other relationships to balance but I do wish there was a bit more emphasis on Luke going out of his way for Guy. Or am I remembering the game wrong? what also makes me sad: oh i don’t know the fact that luke kinda dies like 7 times.

Things done in fanfic that annoys me:Hm... I don’t think there’s much. For the most part, what I’ve read is pretty decent.

Things I look for in fanfic:No preference.

My wishlist:Wishlist... for the ship? I don’t think I have much. Bamco is kind with the GuyLuke content, even if it’s not shippy. 

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other:I’m fine with LukeTear. It is the canon ship after all, and I do slightly ship GuyTalia.

My happily ever after for them:let luke come back to life.... don’t make guy lose him again..........

003 | Luke...

How I feel about this character:One of my favourite characters of all time!!!! I love my boy. He’s got so many issues and he’s made so many mistakes but through all that, he perseveres and tries his best to make things right. Luke is such a (relatable) lost child, wondering who he is and what his place in the world is, and most of all, he feels so... human. He makes mistakes, he says the wrong thing, he struggles with say, saying the right things.... luke your redemption arc is one for the books

Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: I’d say it’s just Guy.

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: ...Guy :>. Honestly, it’s Luke & Abyss party. I love the mentor-student relationship with Jade, BigBro!Luke to Anise and Ion and the squabbling cousins-role with Natalia. Tbh Luke&Natalia is an underrated friendship I will fight someone over.

My unpopular opinion about this character: eheheheh. i have a lot.... but i don’t want to explain the logic behind ‘em. haaaaah.... to say one or not...? Hm, I’ll say this: Pre-Akz Luke is an asshole

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:i am a simple gal with simple needs: luke to kick van’s ass. i mean like, actually kick his ass for what that bastard did instead of ‘thank you’. i’m forever salty about that moment.

My crossover ship:None~!

Whew, this was a long one. Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaank you again~! I hope I delivered well.

[looveel-realm]

Day 3: Marlind (Knowledge/Nature)  

Finally, FINALLY ! it took me so freaking long, I’m not doing a comic in color ever again (at least for the sormik week X’D) and honestly I got a little bit lazy that’s why it’s not a really clean version (more like a sketch honestly)  and I also deleted the first page I was planning to do at first. Basically it was just Sorey and Mikleo  nerding together then suddenly Mikleo went all like “ Sorey, go away. Something entered my domain. “ Then the something appears and tadah ! We’re where I started the comic.

[part 1 ] [more of the AU ]

Also some little precision about this part of the story under the cut (and details you might not understand)

1) About the first page I deleted : Mikleo state clearly that something entered his domain.  It’s something that only happened once, when he was a kid, because he was less powerful and because Sorey, the intruder at the time, was also a kid so not perceived as a real threat. The fact that something could enter Mikleo’s domain  now (which is very strong because Mikleo live in a forest near a village and has to always stop humans from intruding) state more or less clearly that Mikleo is already becoming weaker (even if it’s more clearly said in the last page with the mention of Mikleo falling)

2) Mikleo’s weapon is, by default, a lance, he can however change it in a bow but it’s the only two weapons he’s allowed (since angel's weapons are part of their power and thus, differ from an angel to an other. )

3) Fallen Angels aren’t really soulless. At least at the start. Their soul become tainted like the rest of their body and disappears more and more into nothingness. However, from the start, soul or not soul, once the angel is fully tainted, the soul get trapped in a little part of the body and the angel become wandering monster full of rage and despair, destroying everything in its path. Here the soul of Velvet was almost completely gone because she wandered a lot. There was only a little fragment left, the little gem that breaks when Mikleo kill her. 

However it is a common belief among Humans and Angels that fallen angel are in fact soulless because they don’t really know the truth (fallen angels are rare nowadays) and that truth doesn’t really change anything anyway. The tainted soul will still disappears in the void when the Fallen is killed, and thus no matter the quantity of the soul still existing. 

4)The fallen angel here is Velvet. In that story she's not human, she's a half, but more angel than human, and started to fall when Artorius betrayed her by killing her brother (so pretty much like in the canon). However, the Laphi here is Phi since I felt like it would also fit better (and I love Phi's and Velvet's relationship)

5) Angels can be killed by humans, tho it's hard. Fallen Angel however, are too strong and can only be killed by Angels.

6) This meeting with Velvet, while being kind of short, marked deeply Sorey and Mikleo (more Sorey than Mikleo) since it made them truly aware of the existence of fallen angel. It's from this moment onward that Sorey begin to worry he might be a bad influence on Mikleo and end up making him fall.

[mcalhenwrites]

A thought while I was editing this holiday chocobro OT4 fic that I wrote a while back:  If I wasn’t already in into FFXV, I think Episode Ignis would’ve intrigued me. Even not being canon gay, there is enough material for me to at see it easily. My poor queer heart looks for representation, and I would’ve had something close in Episode Ignis. Even if it wasn’t confirmed. Like, shit, I checked out Once Upon a Time because I saw something that said Henry had two mothers, and I had no idea Regina and Emma were not lesbians until afterward. (I was so disappointed haha) Heck, as much as I will rant about how much I dislike Tales of Zestiria story-wise, and as much as Bamco would never call the couples canon, the material they’ve given me of Sormik and Rosali is appealing. Note that I was pretty turned away by Rosali after Alisha’s DLC, but that anime ending? CUTIES. FUCKING. CUTIES. Anyway, back to editing this fic. x3

[applegelstore]

karereiko said: ok, that brother thing is annoying. Bamco can’t decide if the want sormik be canon or not. And yet, that doesn’t stop them from selling sormik items… :/ And main game never said brother, it was Shepherd and Sublord from the beginning. This gives anti sormik and sorali people’s hands a next weapon against them both being in love :/ … and when I think that situation for sormik canon was getting stable and better… eh… There will be never such day, will it?

Honestly, that doesn’t diminish the canon in the slightest for me. You can be raised as adoptive siblings and still fall in love (it’s not like either of them thought they were blood-related even for a second, after all). It’s just a really anti-climactic way of putting it :P. And honestly I’m even quite glad that the description doesn’t shove their relationship in your face. I don’t like having romances shoved in my face. And as much as I adore these two idiots, I highly disapprove of Mikleo being reduced to his role as love-interest. I can pick that up myself, and there’s so much more to him. Plus, I firmly believe that the best way to do proper LGBQ+ representation is treating couples EXACTLY like you would treat any cis hetero couple. Which is pretty much what Bamco’s doing in the original game. It honestly took me longer to pick up that Cress and Mint are a thing (mostly because some idiot decided to cut out the skits in the European GBA version of Phantasia) than to pick up that Sorey and Mikleo are a thing. I’m not sure about Reid and Farah from Eternia to this day, and even less about Yuri and Estelle from Vesperia because the game throws MORE hints at you that Yuri and Flynn and Estelle and Rita could ever be/have been/still be a thing.

I also absolutely never understood how on earth people come up with Sorali in the first place, even if Alisha had a crush on him. There’s not the slightest hint that Sorey returns her feelings but plenty of hints that he’s about as straight as a rainbow puking unicorn, and their chemistry never quite goes beyond polite fondness. Whoever came up with that pairing kinda didn’t play the same game I played. If people want a generic boy meets girl romance, why don’t they go to almost any other JRPG ever, because my rough guess is that at least 80% of them deliver. *shrugs*

Ah I’m drifting mightily ;_;

[somefinelipstickonthatpig]

(abt that smoke au) Please for the love of Laphicet write that I will dance at your wedding

well gET UR DANCIN SHOES READY BUD cuZ HERE WE GO !!

Canon-divergent drabble in the Tintagel Ruins where the scene in which Sorey gets locked in the chamber happens just a little differently.

[also for Sormik Week 2017 - Day 8: Katz’ Korner, Free Day since I could write whatever I wanted to my heart’s content so heRE HAVE SOME REQUESTED DR A MA and a little fluff at the end cuz i love these two]

When Rose first said, “Whoops,” Sorey should have known that wouldn’t bea good sign. “Don’t you ‘whoops’ me!” he had cried, fumbling for the gap in thewall to the left. Rose just laughed. When she said, “Whoops,” again for the secondtime, Mikleo beside him grumbled with his arms crossed over his chest, “Whatdoes she mean by that?” and Soreywasn’t sure he wanted to know.

The third time she made some sort of surprised sound was the moment itall went downhill.

Steam hissed into the room from a corner Sorey couldn’t identify, thoughhe tried to find it.

Edna whistled long and low. She lifted her closed parasol to her slendershoulder and tapped it once, twice. “Well. Things just got interesting,” shemused.

“Uh—sorry, Mr. Shepherd! Dunno what that did but I’ll see if I can turnit off…!” Rose’s voice traveled to them from behind the thick wall. “Obviouslyit didn’t open up the door, so…uh, how about this one?” As she spoke, a collectionof shafts dotting the upper walls of their enclosure slid open. Moresmoke—colored oddly, Sorey couldn’t help but notice—filtered slowly into theroom.

Mikleo huffed, “That is the oppositeof helping!”

The Shepherd laughed nervously. “It’s okay…!” He called out, both for theseraphim around him and the human who couldn’t hear them still fiddling in theroom beyond. He scratched the back of his head and then shrugged. He turned tothe others. “Here, maybe there’s a way to make that stop on our end. C’mon,let’s check it out.”

Soreylead his team around the room, meticulously examining every wall. He placed hisfingers to every crevice, pressed into each nook he could reach. Edna stompedon the floor pattern with her overlarge boots, mumbling something about thisentire venture being “stupid.” Lailah hummed, eyes following the images alongthe walls with her bright green eyes for guidance. Her fingers hovered justabove the stone surface.

Mikleonever once left Sorey’s side. Perhaps that was why he was the first to noticewhen Sorey’s breathing started to change.

“Sorey?”

Soreycoughed into his hand lightly once and then twice. He shook his head andblinked his eyes hard. “I’m fine,” he answered, his voice quiet. He winced andlifted a hand to his throat. “Just getting sore, I guess. Weird.”

Mikleofrowned but said nothing.

Afew minutes later, Sorey coughed again. His shoulders curled inward. Mikleo’shands shot out and hovered. “Do you need some water?” he asked.

Soreyshook his head again. He waved a hand. “No, it’s passed.” He turned to thewater seraph with a bright and brave grin. “But thanks! C’mon, there’s gotta besomething here that’ll turn that weird smoke off. Let’s see if we can find it.”

Mikleolet his hands fall to his sides. His eyes lifted to the ceiling, now filledwith the smoke in question. He watched the way the clouds of it slowly driftedwith an odd odor and hue, circulating and churning around itself.

Aheavy stone settled in his gut when Sorey swayed and coughed again. TheShepherd put out a hand to steady himself against the wall they were beside. Thesudden attack was rougher than before; it drew the attention of the two otherseraphim in the room. Edna tapped her parasol against her shoulder. Lailah’sface grew tight. The fire seraph walked over.

“Sorey?”Lailah called.

“It’sokay,” Sorey responded with a bare-bones chuckle. It was weak. Mikleo couldn’thelp but notice the sweat that now dotted the human’s brow. There was an odd,thin strain to his breath. “I’m fine.”

Sorey’sshoulder crashed into the wall with his next lung-rattling cough a few minuteslater. His body sagged against the stone.

“Sorey!”

Lailahand Mikleo were there in moments. Mikleo took his shoulders and eased him tothe floor. Lailah hovered in front of the Shepherd, her hands torn betweenreaching for his fevered skin and clasping each other in front of her.

“Ohdear…!” she gasped. “He’s so pale…!”

“Sorey!”Mikleo called, tucking him against his chest. He could feel every shake ofjagged breath in his friend’s form and his hot pants for air, short and pained.

“I’mfine,” Sorey whispered. “It’s okay. I just…gotta figure out how to—“

“—Sorey,you’re not fine,” Mikleo corrected.His head snapped up; his violet gaze swept the room. “Edna!” he called to theearth seraph now standing in front of the wall that had imprisoned them. “Can’tyou do something about this?”

Ednaturned. Her glare, even from across the room, was edged with daggers. “In caseyou haven’t noticed, Meebo, I’m an earth seraph. I can’t do anything aboutpoisonous gas and weak humans.”

Lailahmade a soft sound. “Poisonous—“

Mikleoshook his head. “I know that, youidiot! I wasn’t talking about the gas; I was talking about the door! We need toget Sorey out of here! Now!”

Edna’seyes lit up with something dangerous. Her body fell still. “What did you just call me…?”

“What’sgoing on in there?” Rose’s muffled voice carried through the thick stone. “Everythingokay? I can hear a weird hissing sound, but not much else. You still kickin’Mr. Shepherd?”

Lailahjumped to her feet. “Rose!” she called. “Rose, you have to hurry! Sorey’s in abad way!”

Therewas no response from the assassin just outside their room.

Edna’sgaze drifted to the wall. The tip of her parasol dropped from her shoulder andto the ground. “Well. So much for that; she still can’t hear us, it seems.”

“Shecan’t—“ Sorey’s voice was haggard. He coughed again; Mikleo was half afraid thehuman in his arms would upheave his own lungs with each rough jerk. An odd lookentered Sorey’s wide green eyes; something born at the intersection of fear andresignation. “—well,” Sorey gasped thinly. “That’s…not good.”

“Brilliantdeduction, Sherlock,” Edna mumbled.

“Edna,this isn’t funny.”

“DoI sound like I’m laughing, Meebo?”

“Guys,”Sorey breathed. His fingers reached up for Mikleo’s tunic. Tanned fingers duginto white-spiraled teal. “Stop it. We gotta…” A thin, high and whispy thingcame out of the Shepherd. “…gotta get out of this.”

“Weneed to get you out of this, Sorey,”Mikleo stressed. He squeezed the Shepherd’s shoulder and could feel Sorey’sform shake and labor to breathe. How strange it suddenly seemed to the seraph inthat contact that so small a thing such as badair could wipe away a life. Humansare different from us, Mikleo, Zenrus had always said.

Nowthat the difference was tangible under his fingers, Mikleo wasn’t sure he likedthe reminder as to just how fragile humans could be.

“Yes,”Lailah agreed. “And we need to hurry. Perhaps…perhaps if one of us were toarmatize with him? We could blast our way out and—“

Soreyshook his head. The world swam in front of his eyes with the motion. “—but, theruins…”

“Sorey.You’re really gonna worry aboutkeeping the ruins intact when I’m pretty sure it’s this ruin that is killing you right now?”Mikleo’s voice lacked all humor as Edna stepped over to the huddle around thefallen Shepherd.

“Tintagel…”Sorey rasped. He coughed violently. “…there’s…so much history here. We…we gottagive it its chance to tell us its story. To…to explore it all—“

“—oh,just shut up already,” Edna deadpanned. She stuck her hand out towards theShepherd pointedly. “You can’t explore if you’re dead, idiot. And neither willyou be able to help my brother like you promised. So suck it up and armatizewith me. I’ll make sure your stupid ruin stays safe.”

Soreyraised glassy green eyes to the earth seraph. His exhale struggled to fullycome out of him. “You will?”

“Ohmy gosh,” Edna rolled her eyes so farback, they may have gone into her head for a moment. She squatted down andsnatched up one of Sorey’s limp hands in her own. “You’re as bad as Meebo. Justsay my name and let’s get this over with already.”

“Hey!”

“O-okay.”Sorey’s quiet voice wavered. He took a breath and tried to squeeze Edna’s handback. “Then let’s…l-let’s go.” He took another breath and for a moment, Mikleoworried he wouldn’t be able to get the words out.

Then,he whispered, “Hephsin Yulind,” andthere was a great flash of light.

Rosejumped the instant she heard an explosion from some place behind her. Her headsnapped around, blue eyes wide. “What the—?”

Withoutwasting a second, she scurried back to the room she had left the Shepherd in.The large door that she had shut between them was burst to pieces as if asingle powerful punch had been given to its center and torn all the stoneasunder. Dust was still settling from the blast. In the doorway, looking paleand weak and surrounded by a strangely-colored smoke that spilled out into thehallway from the chamber, stood the Shepherd himself.

Hislegs shook.

Hereyes widened even further.

“Is…”he began. His voice sounded weak. “…is the door okay?”

“U-uh—“Rose wasn’t sure the door should be the Shepherd’s priority right at themoment.

Blearily,those green eyes turned to the stone that had crumbled to the floor around him.Stone he had, she was assuming, somehow blasted aside in his effort to get out.At whatever he saw, the young man nodded, his feathered earrings dancing tosome unknown question that hadn’t been asked.

“Isee,” he said. Then he collapsed.

Astrange wind blew in from behind Rose and swept the smoke away.

“Sorey,we’ve got to stop doing this.”

“Iknow.”

Mikleopressed cool fingers to the Shepherd’s brow, feeling the poison-fueled heatstill simmering underneath his human’s skin. He wet his fingers again with asmall spell and watched as Sorey’s eyes fluttered at the renewed contact whenhe placed his fingers at the tip of the human’s forehead.

“Heythough, this time,” Sorey murmured back, rough and quiet. He coughed weakly.“It’s not my fault.”

Mikleo’seyes flickered up to look at the assassin who was in the middle of aconversation with another member of her Sparrowfeather group. Rose had a tightfrown on her face; her arms were crossed over her chest. “Yeah, I know,” hemumbled.

Soreycoughed again, a harsh and grating sound rising up from deep within.

Mikleoleaned back. “Do you need to sit up?”

Soreyshook his head. A few harrowed breaths later, he calmed. One hand clung tightto the collar of his dark blue button-up as the other rested on his stomachover the blanket lying across him. His exhale seemed to rattle his whole body.“Ugh. I feel awful, Mikleo.”

Mikleolistened as the human’s breathing slowly evened out. He nodded. “Yeah, well.That’s ancient poison for you.”

“It’s…notgoing to kill me, right?”

“Sorey,”Mikleo chided with a small and knowing smile. “Do you think I’d let it?Besides, you’re past the worst of it by this point.”

Soreylooked up. He grinned back. “Oh. Yeah. I guess that was a silly question, huh?”

Mikleoput his chilled fingers to his best friend’s brow again. Gentle pressure,soothing, and caring. Sorey’s eyes slipped shut. “The silliest thing I’ve heardall day,” he fondly murmured—and that, he knew, was saying something.

[talesofsymphoniac]

NOW YOU HAVE TO ANSWER ALL THE ODD ONES. TAKE THAT

JUST YOU FRICKIN’ WATCH ME

1. What was your first fic and could you stand to reread it today?

I think my first fics were Tales of Symphonia ones when I was 12 that I actually handwrote and still have because I collect all my notebooks like a packrat. I like rereading them from time to time– some parts are cringey, of course, but there are other ones that I just LOVE.There was also a Dawn of the New World sequel with, like, my own OCs and everything that I spent a whole summer on. That one I DID throw away because I expected it to end up cringey. And yeah, from what I remember it was (fight scenes are HARD, okay?) but also I really wish I could reread it. Now all I have are my memories…

5. Is there any fic that makes you super happy to reread and remember you wrote that?

Click Away is my baby and I’ll never stop being proud of it, sorry :P Any of my longfics, really.

7. What’s the fic you most want to continue (unfinished or no)?

Hm, well I just finished my latest WIP, so I have nothing actively in progress right now… I have a few sequel ideas for Click Away still kicking around that I’d like to get to eventually, though!

11. Have you ever written a fic for a concept you know someone else has done before? How did it impact your writing process or feelings after posting?

One of the advantages of writing in small fandoms is there’s a good chance that your idea hasn’t been done before, I’ve found. I mean, Tales of Zestiria has a few hundred works, but in general when I’ve been excited to write fics it’s usually because it’s a concept I haven’t seen explored as much. I mean, I guess modern AUs had been done before with Click Away, but I’d never seen an Online AU, for instance. Usually there’s some sort of twist or key point in my fics hat makes it so I don’t compare my writing to others, at least not much.

Then there’s the Death Gate fandom, which I do tend to be harsh on myself with just because there’s really one main author there who is really good and I always worry about how my stuff will “measure up” next to that, or knowing the exact individuals who will be reading, but that’s less about a specific concept and more about writing for that fandom in general, haha.

13. What’s the biggest change between your style when you started in fandom and today?

I haven’t been writing stuff with the intent to post it for very long, sooooo. I am more likely to try to write AUs now, as opposed to canon stuff (I still very much prefer writing canon-based stuff, though :P)

15. Have you ever purposefully written one fandom/fic idea over another because you knew it’d be more popular?

Nope, haha. My motivation is already so spotty that if something excites me enough to write it, I just go for it. And that almost never happens with two different ideas at the same time.

17. In your opinion, what’s your most overrated fic?

Treading Water, my Sormik lifeguard AU. It has my third-highest kudos on AO3 and while I like it well enough, it’s never been one of my favorites, personally!

19. If you had to pick one fic/scene/chapter of your work to describe your entire portfolio to a stranger, which would you pick?

That’s really hard??? I guess something introspective, probably, with strong relationships and themes? Possibly Polarity from To draw on all its omnipotence, though it’s a little bit too angsty to really describe my “portfolio.” It would need to be way more fluffy. Maybe something more like Fate Slides Into Freedom from the same. Or maybe The Truth Comes Out from A Click Away? Or Light from The Unspoken Bond? Idk, man.

21. If someone starts kudosing and commenting your fics in a spree and has a few works of their own, would you go look through theirs?

a;sldkfjaf I’m a really bad person and I almost never check that kind of thing, I’m so sorry

25. What constructive criticism, however well-meaning, always makes you feel bad when you see it in a review?

I don’t really get much in the way of constructive criticism (and that says nothing about me as an author, but more how fandom in general is trained not to critique fanworks unless the author asks for it). I did get a critical review in my first try writing Unspoken Bond which echoed stuff I’d already been thinking (basically that I could afford to bounce around the timeline a lot more in that fic, since it covered a lot of canon elements) and inspired me to give it another go in a different way, which I’ll always be grateful for even though I’ll also always wish it hadn’t taken someone else pointing it out anonymously for me to change things around, you know?

29. Does the division of your writing across fandoms line up with your reading? What’s the biggest discrepancy?

I read (or read, past tense) a lot of Yuri on Ice fic, but somehow I never wanted to write for it very much. I did a few script things, but for the most part the anime gave me a lot of what I wanted to see, so there was less of a desire on my part to fill the gaps. But I love reading other people’s interpretations!

That’s a pretty significant exception, though. In general, writing and reading usually matches up pretty well!

31. Who’s the one character you’ve just never managed to get perfectly right?

I always feel weird trying to write Dezel and Zaveid. It’s why they always have such small parts if they’re even in my fics. I have to say, though, I actually did enjoy Dezel more than I thought I would in Click Away (he still had a really small role, though)

33. Is there any particular character whose scenes always wind up being longer/more frequent than you expected? Does the quality hold up?

MARIT. Granted, this was only for To draw on all its omnipotence, since that’s the only one that’s really let me delve into her brain so far, but I didn’t expect her to have as much to say as she did. The thing about Marit is she only becomes a main character in the last two books out of seven in Death Gate, so there’s a lot of room to talk about her that just didn’t happen in those two books. I expected her to be hard to write for that reason, but instead it was really fun to get to flesh her out a bit more! And I really think the whole fic was better for it!

35. Have you ever written a ship into a fic without meaning to?

There was a little more Zaveid/Lailah flirting in Treading Water than I intended, but I lowkey ship that, so it wasn’t like I minded, haha. Other than that… I don’t think so?

37. Have you ever purposefully bashed a character/ship in a fic?

*cough* Salt and Sugar *cough* Statement released by Mikleo, 200 years after Sorey’s sleep began *cough cough*

39. Do you consider yourself to have a readership?

Maybe a little one in the Zesti/Sormik crowd!

41. If you cross-post your fics on multiple sites, do you have a favorite? Are there certain fics you would only post on certain site?

I don’t cross-post fics, except sometimes to Tumblr. AO3 is vastly preferred. (I used to read from ff.net when that was more popular but never wanted to post anything there)

43. How many views has your least popular fic gotten?

Going by kudos: What is Love? and What are Friends For? both have 5 kudos and 40 and 77 hits, respectively. Going by hits, A Soft Epilogue has 38 views (but 8 kudos).

45. If you had to call yourself an author of a single genre (besides fanfic) what label would you give yourself?

Well, I use the tag “Fluff” a lot, so there’s that. Fluff, family, friendships, relationships, that sort of thing.

47. If someone you know in real life who isn’t involved in fandoms asked to read your work, would you let them? If yes, what would you recommend they read first?

Hmmm, it would definitely depend on the person, but if I trusted them enough to show them something I might have them read Wedding Bells, actually. Just because it’s pretty innocent, gets into some pretty interesting points about the Purple Prose AU, and doesn’t require a ton of context.

49. Has anyone in your life ever read your fanfic just because you wrote it?

@neodiji was really unbelievably sweet the other day and left a comment on To draw on all its omnipotence, so that counts!

[pengiesama]

i’ve seen this meme going around and i’ve played exactly three (3) Tales games so i’ll just do it for all three of em

i’m doing vesperia, zestiria, and berseria. BIG SPOILERS FOR ALL THREE OF THESE GAMES

best girl?

best boy?

any ship/s?

favorite part of the game?

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way)

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?

favorite town/city/area?

favorite or most used arte?

favorite music track?

favorite monster?

TALES OF VESPERIA

best girl?: ya girl judy

best boy?: yuri “i am showing like three pounds of cleavage at all times” lowell

any ship/s?: flynn/yuri all the way and also elucifer/duke because 1) tragic and 2) giant monster x disney princess is a formula that has been tested to work. plus ristelle is good too

favorite part of the game?: flynn saving yuri in the alleyway. flynn witnessing yuri killing cumore. flynn and yuri working out their differences in their endgame duel and then furiously humping in a field afterwards. do you notice a pattern

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?: repede is unironically a great mascot; “The First Strike” movie was TOZ anime levels of horrible and canon-shitting but Puppede was VERY strong in it

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way): alexei is my role model and duke is my forever girl

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?: played only as yuri because i’m a scrub. rest of the party was raven, rita, and judy or repede depending.

favorite town/city/area?: the final town place because that’s where flynn and yuri fucked endgame

favorite or most used arte?: i legitimately have no idea. i did the Tidal Wave exploit to farm grade if that counts

favorite music track?: *eyes cross*

favorite monster?: the entelexeia are great and i’ll never forgive the writers for downgrading them into those shitty elemental spirit designs

TALES OF ZESTIRIA

best girl?: ROSE BEST GRIL FUK THE HATERS 

best boy?: MIKLEO; LIKE SORRY SOREY YOU’RE A STRONG SECOND BUT WITNESS SUCH RADIANT BEAUTY

any ship/s?: if you don’t know that i ship sormik at this point i am legitimately a failed human being and need to banish myself to the phantom zone to train

favorite part of the game?: fucking pick a sormik scene just do it. leaving elysia, breaking up then having makeup sex vis-a-vis the water armatus, night in lastonbell, pretty much the whole camlann sequence

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?: the normins are just kind of okay. they’re better than the katz, who have fucking OBNOXIOUS voices in the Berseria dub (i think the berseria dub was pretty awful across the board though. hot take in a completely unrelated topic) 

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way): they all straight-up suck. only thing i’ll give zestiria’s haters a point on. heldalf is boring, the human antagonists are boring and forgettable, symonne is a pile of nothing and wasted potential, whoever created lunarre needs to be fucking shot, christ.

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?: i only know how to use sorey because i’m bad at the Tales battle system. i don’t think i can stress that enough, really; for example, i honestly do not understand the casting system and as such it is impossible for me to control a magic user. zestiria’s equipment system was fucking baffling too and that did not help my efforts in playing the videogame. anyway party was sorey/mikleo/rose/usually edna

favorite town/city/area?: elysia and camlann

favorite or most used arte?: whatever i successfully button mashed out of sorey or the water armatus

favorite music track?: all the elemental shrine tracks are pretty fucking banger

favorite monster?: *makes i dunno sound*

TALES OF BERSERIA

best girl?: velvet and then grimorh.

best boy?: laphi. big. strong. boy. who. is. my. big. strong. boy.

any ship/s?: berseria wasn’t really a shippy game for me but i do enjoy velvet/magilou

favorite part of the game?: laphi fucking punching innominat in the face and eventually making him into a historical footnote. MY CITY NOW. i think that was also adjacent to the sequence where laphi saves velvet from despair, which was amazing. the false aball sequence was pretty great. laphi in his big strong boy form was also nice to see and wrapped up the game well. also literally anything that references zestiria. the bonus dungeon’s big twist about the ancient seraphim was some good fucking lore that i especially liked bc it means that sorey and mikleo’s love and balanced, mutually-respectful relationship is literally the thing that will break a eons-old curse and save the world. 

opinion on the mascot character (if applicable)?: bienfu is godawful and should never have been brought into existence. 

opinion on villain/s? (in the least spoilery way): artorius and innominat are definitely leagues above zestiria’s villains and i was chomping at the bit to powerbomb them into oblivion. the rest of the praetors or whatever were kind of meh. melchior and shigure were...okay villains? and teresa and oscar were awful and boring/awful individuals (respectively) who deserved zero of the sympathy the game tried to give them and only have fans because they have pretty designs. HOT TAKE! HOT WANKY TAKE! but anyway artorius and innominat carry berseria’s villain grade almost singlehandedly. ...and i guess the ancient seraphim count too??

main team of 4, and who did you play as mostly?: velvet because i can’t play as anyone else. velvet/laphi/eizen/magilou.

favorite town/city/area?: i enjoyed seeing the areas from Zestiria in their historical forms, and it was cool to see the earthpulse but i kind of wish there’d been more variety in it. surely the lifestream of the planet can have some varied geography

favorite or most used arte?: fuck if i know. i don’t pay attention to the names of literally any arte. wait, do laphi’s mystic artes count? if so then i love seeing him wipe out scrub enemies by casting Indignation for absolutely no good reason.

favorite music track?: i dunno. soundtrack was pretty alright.

favorite monster?: my big strong boy is not a monster but he is very big

[carnelianwings]

WIP meme

Do Dis: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever.

Tagged by @sixsaltysweets

I actually don’t have that many actual WIPs since a lot of my stories are just little drabbles and scenes from random places in the timeline, and I write as inspiration strikes, whether it’s because of merch or terrible trainwreck adaptations.  So my two actual multi-chapter fic projects:

Calamity Falls: Canon Divergent Tainted AU SoreMiku, originally started it just to give me yet another AU timeline to write stories within, but I did end up coming up with enough to actually write a full story for it.  Haven’t updated it for months, only because I’m sort of stuck on writing the fight scene for the next chapter, because I’m still indecisive on how drawn out I actually want to make the fight, and not because of actual lack of ideas on how to write it.  This fic was never meant to have a happy ending given how Zestiria’s world is, and it was meant to be the only fic that was going to use the Major Character Death tag on AO3, until . . .

Sagitta Luminis: AKA my often teased but as of yet unposted Puella Magi Madoka Magica AU for Zestiria (with the exception of a few scenes), although I personally find it debatable how much of it is actually AU and how much of it is more like a modern/magical girl AU retelling of Zestiria with an extra heaping of Pain and Tears (courtesy of PMMM), with Sorey taking Madoka’s role and Mikleo taking Homura’s, to literally nobody’s surprise.  The rest of the cast swaps I’ll leave you guessing on, but I do hope I can write it well enough for it to make sense.

Yes, it finally has a title now, and I can stop calling it the MadoMagi AU.  And yes, the title is 100% taken off of the Madoka OST, and it’s the title of Ultimate Madoka’s theme.  This one has actually taken priority for the moment as I’m hoping to get it done for Sormik Week 2017.

Because of how I’ve opted to write the story, this one’s also earned itself the Major Character Death tag.  Who dies?  Well . . . let’s just say, if you’ve seen PMMM, you probably have a good idea who dies and who doesn’t.  In fact, I’m pretty sure there’s only one major character in PMMM who doesn’t die on screen . . .

Tagging: @talesofsymphoniac, @koko-ai, @amarietie, @pengiesama

[toradh]

Okay folks, since all four volumes of the Zestiria manga are out in official German translation by now, let me ease the English-speaking world’s suffering by promising you that you will love it to bits.

Points in favour of Shiramine’s Zestiria manga: -Gorgeous, gorgeous artwork. I could elaborate on that, but let me just say that she manages to pull off everything I like about manga style and avoids most things I don’t like about it. I bow to her. -There’s only 4 volumes and 19 chapters, which is ridiculously short. Naturally, large parts of the game get cut. But guess what? She manages to put in an admirable amount of worldbuilding, character development, and filling plotholes. Yes, in many parts it feels more coherent and well-rounded out to me than the game. The game still wins because I LOVE GAMING, and because, as I said, many things get cut, but still. The manga feels admirably thought through. -All the characters actually act, well, in character. Granted, mostly because so much is cut, Lailah never puns (or maybe the German translation just cut it out?), and Edna and Mikleo are slightly less snarky than their original selves, but apart from these minor issues, the entire main cast’s portrayal is spot on.

Less profound plus points which are still enormous plus points and should convince you to buy the manga: -Sorey and Mikleo being properly touchy-feely with each other -Mikleo and Uno bonding -Mikleo and Atakk bonding -okay actually everyone bonding with pretty much everyone tbh -Atakk and Uno also ship SorMik. Then again, who doesn’t -Rose kicking ass -Rose kicking Symonne’s ass -Rose kicking Lunarre’s ass AND PROPERLY DISPOSING OF HIM FOR GOOD -just Rose -Mikleo’s “Part of Your World” speech -proof that Sorey is the kind of person who would google things on his phone in the middle of a conversation if this fantasy world had phones -water bubbles replace shoujo sparkles -Lailah and Michael, keep your tissues ready -the last panel is adult Sorey and Mikleo watching the sunset (another instant of double cheese I can tap of my list that they have actually done) -Journey’s End takes up an entire chapter out of 19! And yes Sorey proposes to Mikleo, he has already planned their honeymoon okay okay actually he just hands him his copy of the Celestial Record and asks him to travel the world with him when all the saving-the-world-or-more-precisely-Maotelus-shit is over. Hmmm wait, that’s not a big difference, actually -“Sorey and Maotelus tell each stories during their sleepover party” is so fucking canon

I could point out negative points, but… why. The only serious issue I have (not serious would be, like, “there is no music”, and “Tokyopop colour print quality is subpar”) is the issue of seraphic rebirth. Because it’s not addressed. Which makes Mikleo’s rebirth look like a miracle, ignores the fact that it can’t be taken for granted, but it’s not unusual, either, AND it would imply that Sorey can’t be reborn as seraph as well, and he would thus eventually grow old and die. Essentially, Mikleo goes all the Arwen Undómiel way and makes his peace with the fact that he’ll eventually outlive his significant other. …Which is a tad too much for my poor heart to bear.


That violent stab to my tender heart aside, 10/10, money well spent

[maruxee]

WIP meme

Do Dis: List all the things you’re currently working on in as much or little detail as you’d like, then tag some friends to see what they’re working on. This can be writing, art, vids, gifsets, whatever. 

Tagged by @clairelutra (ty dear <3)

Note: the ones in quote marks are the actual titles of the fics. The ones that are not have no title yet.

current projects:

“osculum regis” (Hetalia) - APH Ro in three different time periods, and his interactions with three different rulers. I have this in my drafts for at least two fuckin years waht teh f

superhero AU (Sormik, mostly ToZ) - Mikleo is the elusive one within the superhero league and Sorey is basically his own version of Lois Lane. Also Yuri Lowell is cursed.

post-game AU (Sormik, ToZ) - Sorey and Mikleo reunite in different circumstances, since human society has interesting ways of interacting with living mythology. I started coming up with this idea way before I knew anything about Berseria (and I haven’t finished watching any playthroughs yet), so idk how much sense it’d make alongside the info we get from ToB. Self-indulgent AF.

“my heart’s a stone I’m throwing at your window” ( Harry Potter/American Dragon: Jake Long crossover) - a self-indulgent fic I started with no concern for quality control lmao. So far it has the most chapters out of anything I’ve posted so far, but it’s also basically a collection of oneshots of various lengths, so....

“Flesh” (AD:JL, nsfw-ish) - Rose about body issues, romance and sexuality. Attempts to be canon compliant.

“The Cage” (AD:JL, nsfw holy hell) - Huntsgirl never had a normal life, never went to school, never had normal relationships. When she learns about her past, she takes what’s hers and storms away, burns that bridge with dragon fire.

“Going Famous” (Danny Phantom/Dude That’s My Ghost crossover) -  A crybaby dead superstar is in a town full of ghosts and has some business to attend to. I haven’t updated this one in so long and I had so many plans orz.

“Midnight Cravings” (DTMG, sorta Billy/OC but not really) - A girl wanted a part-time job. What she got in the end may shock you. 

So far the only ones already posted are the crossover ones. They’re still hella incomplete tho.

But since I’m on still on this topic tho....

current ideas (not started but might as well write them down so I don’t forget, and so increase the chances of writing them):

“black and blue” (Kekkai Sensen, Leo/Black) - the aftermath of season 1. After her death, a brother and a friend do their best to glue the cracks back together. Angst, Hurt/Comfort.

enchanted AU (modern AU ToZ, sormik) - witch!Sorey, prolific in healing/cleansing spells, herbalism and spirit work who makes protection/good luck etc. charms for his friends disguised as pretty jewelry and accessories he crafts himself. (I have not much of an idea yet besides that tho.)

“At ease” (ToV, post-game) - Yuri and Flynn reunite with some of their fellow knights from the former Nyren brigade. They catch up and remember.

I also have art WIPs but the list is already hella long so imma skip that for now. :Y

No need to respond if you don’t feel like it, but might as well tag @ayalaatreides, @soymilkheaven, @pengiesama, @uncannycookie, @aliengeometries, cuz Im nosy like that.

[melodypictures]

SorMik

How do much do I ship it?: Never heard of it/ Notp / Dislike / used to ship / maybe / ship it / aww / otp / IS IT CANON YET?

What non sexual activities do they like to do together?

  Reading and trading theories back and forth. Exploring ruins/new areas. Star gazing~

Who does chores around the house?

  Pretty equal between them

Who’s the better cook?

  Sorey’s the better cook when it comes to meat, Mikleo getting better at it but still a master with cold treats

Who’s the funniest drunk?

  Both get pretty out there but the water seraph does get a bit tipsy quicker though X3

Do they have kids?

  I headcanon that they do take in a human child at one point but after that, the closet they get is checking in on orphanages and making sure conditions are good and making donations.

Do they have any traditions?

  First thing they do after the return home after a long trip is just relax on the in bed with some of Mikleo’s homemade icecream and forget they have a ton of shit to unpack...until one of them trips over it the next day

What do they fight about?

  During their journey when Sorey was the Shepard, most of the time it was Sorey falling back into old habits on trying to take the burden alone before Mikleo would call him out on it before it got too bad. Afterwards, Mikleo had gotten used to traveling alone most of the time that sometimes he needed to be the one to be reminded he doesn’t have to keep things to himself and has Sorey with him now to talk things through.

  Most of it though it just small things, like getting used to living together again after so long 

What would they do if they found their paring tag on tumblr? (If they have one)

  Mikleo would be embarrassed, Sorey would be a little embarrassed and happy to see so many people love Mikleo!

Who cried at the end of Marley and me?

  Both are a bawling mess

Who always wins at Mario kart?

  Rose kicks both their asses The score keeps changing

One thing I like about this ship?

  the faith they have in each other 

One thing I don’t like about the ship?

  Don’t have one 

The song I would say fits them?

  I Love You by Avril Lavigne 

Another headcanon about the paring? (Free space)

  they weren’t “officially” together during the game, but during their journey they became more aware and confident in their feelings for each other