#still rewatching calamity

[aestheti-kitty]

First Knight of “I can fix him” Avalir

[kiiwiidrawer]

The Ring of Brass.

I have finished the rewatching of the series and its still top tier storytelling. One of my favourite short (ish) stories. 

[shorthaltsjester]

the venn diagram of people who actually understand pelor’s complexity and the people who understand vex’s character is a circle and a very small one at that

[twinstxrs]

boo *exu calamity au’s your bad kids*

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Remember when we all thought Marisha’s character was perma-dead 31 minutes into the 6 hour finale? That was fun.

[professorthaddeus]

Your influx of c2 posts has me nostalgic and debating on if I wanna rewatch it which would Not be a smart move for me but. I miss them 🥺🥺🥺

yesss i'm so glad my nostalgia is inflicting nostalgia on you too

[seelieyoulater]

Me, behind on C3 and wanting to watch Candela Obscura when it releases on YouTube amongst so much else: I should rewatch Calamity

[nonbinarywardenamell]

It's kind of funny how Halas "stuck in a ruby" Lutagran is the most successful archmage of his time. My boy really dodged a bullet by being all reclusive in his time altering pocket dimension and it's extremely impressive that he managed to trick a devil and a dragon into servitude, captured and bound an astral dreadnought and created an entire prison system to repell mages. Despite his selfishness and hubris, he managed to "outlive" all of the mages of his time, whatever state of existence he is in, technically his body is still okay and his tethering of pocket dimensions together is still mostly intact.

He is one of the most fascinating NPCs of campaign 2 and I could spent an eternity in his Happy fun ball

Halas: 1

Somnovum: 0

[einaudis]

I struggle a lot to watch movies that are longer than 90mins but here I am, about to enjoy a +4hrs episode from a show I don't even watch, just because Emily Axford is going to be there.

[tibbinswrites]

Hiiiii! For the fic writers questions:

37. Promote one of your own “deep cut” fics (an underrated one, or one that never got as much traction as you think it deserves!). What do you like about it?

45. What’s something you’ve improved on since you started writing fic?

Hiii! Thanks so much for asking!

This got a little away from me so answers under the cut.

37. Be warned on this one it's an MCD fic, so please mind the tags. It's called Hallowed Ground and it was based on some gorgeous art (which is linked in the A/N of the fic). It's a Supernatural, Destiel fic set post-season 13 where Michael was possessing Dean and Cas goes after him to try and save him. And it doesn't go well. Hallowed Ground - Chapter 1 - Tibbins - Supernatural [Archive of Our Own]

It's been a long time since I wrote it but I think it's the most 'deep cut' fic I have (Aside from the Harry Potter fic where it's just about me wandering around Hogwarts). I remember being so proud of capturing what I felt at the time to be a very powerful and painful moment. I even made myself emotional while writing it. And a friend of mine quoted a particular line from it about grief that she said was very impactful. Which means a lot as she herself is a brilliant writer. 45. I'm sure over the years I've improved in countless ways. When I was 9 I won a writing competition at a local bookstore with a quaint story called 'The Beach'. It was a ridiculous and silly story with terrible spelling and grammar and I partially believe the judges only picked me over the 16-year-old competitors because they thought it would be cute and good press to give the winning prize to the youngest finalist. I've come a long way since then (and I'm in a contemplative mood so I apologise for the rambling). My first fanfic, looking back, was horrific mary-sue cringe where the main villain wasn't even present in the fic until the final chapter. Every fanfic since has been slightly better. In the basics of spelling, grammar and formatting, yes, but also learning how to craft a story. Most of my early works were relatively short. I found myself most comfortable writing dialogue and small character moments missing from or only implied by canon. Limited characters, plot only in the sense of where it fits in the canon story.

This might be the thing I've most worked on. A lot of my Supernatural fics are like this. That is my writing comfort zone. Getting into the D&D show Critical Role (and the game itself) however, made me want to try expanding to an ensemble cast and test myself with more long-form story, and gave me a fresh perspective on how to go about doing it. So I gave it a go with Supernatural in 'The Final Season: Home is Where One Starts From' and with Critical Role in 'Tangled Threads' and they are both the fics I've worked the hardest at, and the ones I am most proud of for the work I put in.

This is something I want to practise more, when I have the time and the ideas to spare. These feel closest to the kinds of things I love to read. And intriguing plot but focused on character and often the 'found-family' dynamic. It is this style I will likely adopt if I ever think of an idea for an original, non-fan fiction book.

But the more I improve and experiment with, the more I realise how valuable 'The Beach' was. And I miss the aspect of my childhood brain that wasn't restrained by what 'makes sense' or 'is realistic'. The ideas I so quickly and so automatically dismiss that they have been mostly filtered out.

Perhaps I should work on that next.

[mvltisstuff]

hi omg thought of this while rewatching s2 ep3 with the earthquake but okay so there’s the little montage of everyone being happy and eddie running to christopher - but what if there’s something similar for buck? instead of him being with abby he’s dating reader and reader has a lowkey job (maybe librarian at an elementary school?) so when he gets home the first thing he does is yell for reader and then holds them and they both shed a few happy tears just talking about how happy they are that the other is okay.

you’re honestly the bestest and i am saying this in advance that this is gonna be fabulous, as always. PLEASE AND THANK YOU!! <333

something in the orange - e.b

summary: request

evan buckley x reader

gif

a/n: the end of this ask was literally so sweet, i appreciate this so so much and i’m so happy you enjoy my works, that’s why i do them <33

buck was so sick and tired of watching everyone else have someone to run to. he hated having to see everyone in each others arms, watching a warm embrace ensue in front of him, just wanting it to be him instead. it was years on end of him watching kids with their parents, husbands with their wives, friends with their own friends. he always had the quick breakfast with a lay in bed, but he never had the long run of love that was supposed to come with it.

he thought his parents would be able to supply that love for him, but he must’ve been mistaken. they had no issue jumping out on every little thing in his life, nonetheless missing out on it. there was only so much love maddie could give, and he needed every drop of it. he thought maybe, someone mature like abby would come with the cherishing attitude to stay, but it left as fast as she did.

the earthquake had given a huge jumble to bucks brain, being able to save a bunch of people, but just wanted to go home at the same time. it felt selfish, and he hated himself for it, but how could he wish for anything else but just to be with y/n at home? he’s seen calamity and chaos the entire day, a constant strain of it into his shift. he’s seen death, broken bones, sobs, blood, anything that one doesn’t want to see. it took incredible pursuing to make bobby let buck take a break, but he could see he needed it.

he held his phone shakily in his hand, squinting over y/n’s name on the screen being darkened by the sunlight. he was nervous to even press the call button, not knowing if she’d be the one to pick it up, or an emergency responder who had her phone.

“hi, baby,” her sweet voice rang through the phone, leading him to sigh out and he couldn’t contain the light smile that formed on his lips. “are you ok?”

“i’m fine, i just wanted to hear your voice, make sure you’re ok.”

“we’re alright over here, there’s still kids here that need to get picked up, but they’re going pretty well with the evacuations.”

“i’m sorry i didn’t get over there, i got sent in the opposite direction.” y/n was working at the school on the other side of the city. buck was, of course, sent to work on the east side. he wanted to be able to save her, even if she wasn’t in trouble. he wanted to touch her so he knew she was breathing and alright, but he’d have to wait.

“don’t apologize, you’re doing amazing, buck,” she reassures him, letting his mind relax for a moment as she speaks to him. “go do your job, i’ll see you tonight, i promise.”

“i just want to see you.”

“i know, but you can in a few hours. do it for me, ok?”

“i love you, so much.”

“i love you, too, buck.”

the moment his fingers connected with the cold metal of the door, he instantly twisted it open to reveal the dim, yellowish lighting in his home. he felt like the introduction to his apartment felt like the ground stopped shaking. he was so excited to be able to rest, lay in his bed with y/n in his arms.

the thick soles of his shoes thumped against the ground as he threw his bags onto the floor. his shoulders instantly slumped and his feet automatically led to the stairs.

“hey,” y/n spoke, drying her hair with a towel to the side as it rested on her shoulder.

“hi.” he replied, slowly blinking his eyes.

“baby, you’re exhausted.” y/n steps forward down a few steps, standing a few inches taller than buck for once. her hands run over his shoulder blades, wandering over his skin and magically lifting the tension and stress from the earthquake.

“i know,” he says. “i just wanted you so bad today. there wasn’t a minute where you weren’t on my mind.”

“i’m here for good, buck. i’m not going anywhere, and i want you to get some rest.” she grabs his hand, pulling him up the steps and leading him to sit on the bed. he strips down to his boxers, leaving him shirtless as he puts on a warm hoodie that y/n handed him. he stops by the bathroom, washing his face as y/n prepares the bed for the two of them.

“i got you ice water, i left it on the nightstand.” y/n smiles softly up at him as he walks back in. “i turned the AC up, since you like it cold and i turned on the mattress heater.”

“you treat me too well, honey.”

“you did amazing work today, you deserve the treatment of a saint. come lay with me, please?”

“don’t have to ask twice.”

he crawls back into the bed as y/n dims the lights and turns their TV on. the white lights brighten their faces as he leans into her chest. his cheek rests right against the middle of her breasts, over her heart.

her arm is wrapped warmly around under his arm, the other hand rubbing his short hair. one of his legs lay between hers, his hands running against her sides. he breathes softly matching the rhythm of her, letting the noises of her gentle words and quiet noises from the TV lull him to sleep, allowing his deserving body to rest against the person he calls home.

[apparently-artless]

They're all so young and innocent. If suicide isn't how they died... then Regalia must be people who still wanted to live. So having other people waste their lives in front of them... was something Yato couldn't stand.

[ANIME REWATCH] NORAGAMI S01E03 - Bidden Calamity

[a-bit-too-much-of-a-zelda-fan]

Why Tears of the Kingdom's Story Doesn't Work

While I will defend the lack of nuance in the text of Tears of the Kingdom, what I will criticize is how the story was executed. TL;DR: The writers tried to tell a story like Skyward Sword, but were limited by Breath of the Wild's nonlinear gameplay formula. Read on below the cut. Spoilers, obviously.

Let's start with Skyward Sword's story and how it was executed so well. There are three arcs: Find Zelda, find the sacred flames to purify the Goddess Sword, and seek out the dragons to find the Triforce. The first arc is notable here, because it's a suspenseful mystery. Link is constantly a step behind Zelda. He's chasing after her with no goal other than to just reunite with her.

The story is able to move from arc to arc and tell a story that evolves over the course of the game because of how rigidly structured the progression is. You will go from point A to point B, whether you want to or not. That way, the writers could drop the right story beats at the right time. It's traditional storytelling, because no other medium has the same level of interactivity as a video game, and it works. Regardless of how it feels to play, you can't deny that the story was executed very, very well.

Breath of the Wild, by contrast, is nonlinear to a fault. You can go anywhere, anytime. The writers were cognizant of this, so they wrote a one-arc story that was compartmentalized into four entirely separate plot lines. Link has one goal that never changes across the game: free the divine beasts to defeat Calamity Ganon. You go to one region, free that divine beast, then go to another at your pace and discretion.

Nothing carries over between plot lines. Nothing you did for the Rito has any impact on what is happening to the Gorons, because every plot line had be to designed so it could the first or last one you tackle. This approach deprived the story of depth or any sense of momentum. They aimed to make up for this with the memories: cutscenes that tell a linear story with more depth, but can be discovered in any order then rewatched in the proper order for the "complete" picture. Critically, though, the memories only provide context to the current events. Knowing what happened in the past has no bearing on the present.

Now we come to Tears of the Kingdom. They went the same gameplay approach as BotW: complete non-linearity. But they tried to tell a mystery story. This fundamentally fails because, like BotW, nothing carries over between the regional plot lines, and they should be impacted by the dragon tears (TotK's memories) but aren't. There are so many ways this falls apart. I'll talk about it through the order I played the game in: Zora, Rito, Gerudo, Goron.

Once Link returns to the Surface, witnesses Zelda appear and disappear at Hyrule Castle, and tells Purah what happened, she instructs him to investigate the odd regional phenomena. So he goes to Zora's Domain and starts working with Sidon. Zelda appears to them, and at this point, Link--and the player--has no idea what's going on. After that, Link goes to Rito Village, finds Tulin near the huge blizzard, and they see Zelda. Alright, something isn't adding up. By the time Link gets to the Gerudo Desert and sees Zelda there, he must know something is wrong. That is not Zelda, and it's pretty obvious at this point. But he still acts as if he knows nothing.

Finally, when he and Yunobo are chasing after her on Death Mountain, there is no fucking way he doesn't know it's not her. Yunobo is all like "oh no, we have to find Zelda! We have to go after her! Is she okay after going into the ceiling like that?" At this point I am screaming in my head, "Link! Tell Yunobo it's not her! You know it's not her!" Because Link is clever. He can put two and two together, so why the hell isn't he? Well, it's because he's doomed by the format of the narrative.

This is made doubly nonfunctional once you find all the dragon tears. Once Links knows that Zelda is the Light dragon, there is no way on God's green earth that he is fooled by the Zelda that he sees with any sage afterward. But he acts like he is. Brother, Link talks so much in this game. He's constantly explaining shit to people. They really got their mileage out of his "moving hands as if explaining something" animation. But when it matters most, he is fucking silent. It's disrespectful to the player's intelligence and Link's character.

Look. When you're trying to tell a mystery, as your audience's knowledge of the situation increases, your main character's knowledge needs to as well. If the character witnesses a major clue, they can't just forget that clue so they can discover it again but in a different place. It just doesn't work like that. There need to be bread crumbs. There needs to be momentum. There needs to consequence, cause and effect. Mysteries are linear stories. But when you try to tell this kind of story in the nonlinear way that this gameplay formula demanded, it does not work.

What kills me is that each of the four plot lines in TotK are well-written and fun (quick ranking: Rito, Gerudo, Zora, Goron). But through no fault of their own, they decline in coherence and satisfaction as you progress through the game. I can imagine that someone who played the order opposite I did was as mystified as Yunobo, but screaming at Link to just tell Sidon that's not Zelda.

The nail in the coffin of this story's nonfunctionality is that the longest side quest has Link going around Hyrule's stables, trying to find clues to Zelda's whereabouts. He works with Penn to investigate and set these stories straight. But once Link discovers that Zelda is the Light Dragon (or at least, that the Zelda who keeps appearing isn't really her), he should be able to tell Penn the truth. But he doesn't, because he can't for the side quest to function.

I managed to put aside how frustrating all of that is by rationalizing "well it has to be this way for the gameplay to work the way it does", and that's fine, but they didn't have to write the story they did. BotW's story worked because they wrote it in a way that it can be thoroughly enjoyed in any order. TotK's doesn't because they tried to have their cake and eat it too: tell a story with depth, but tell it in any order. They could have written a story that worked with the gameplay, but they didn't.

TotK did a lot of things right. On their own, I think the regional plot lines are more compelling than BotW's (especially the Rito one, and maybe except the Goron one). Having the soon-to-be-sages follow Link through the dungeons was a good choice. The search for a fifth sage provided a feeling of momentum that BotW was sorely lacking. And from the moment the search for the fifth sage starts, the story works just fine because it becomes linear. I had a fantastic time playing this game. I wouldn't have played it for over a hundred hours if I wasn't enjoying myself. It's just a shame it didn't turn out better.

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Did the people who think Travis doesn’t care about the lore watch Travis and his reaction to Purvan Suul showing up? 

[yyuuraii]

OK! Ok, so, I DON'T know all the details and how the world functions, but I THINK I kinda have a bit of understanding. At least, focusing on Fear more than anything else since i was looking into Nidere.

So, Nidere is a creature that is culminated by Blood, Death, and Fear. Fear creatures (from what I understand) are created by, well, you guessed it, fear. Exorbitant fear. Like, if there's a great concentration of fear in one place, the Membrane (which is from what I understand, the barrier that separates the Real World from the Other Side) gets damaged, which causes a tear for the Element to get into our world and cause mutations(?) to plants and or animals in order to take shape of the "thing" that caused the concentration of fear in the first place.

So, I think that's where the Nidere in Jeffrey's backstory originated from. Campfire stories.

And now, we're gonna look at The Ring! I'm not saying it IS what I think it is, but it's just a theory so don't @ me on this. I learned that there are things called Relics of the Calamity, which are items that are connected to each element from the Other Side and are responsible for allowing them to manifest in our Reality. But there are only four known Relics. One for Blood, Chaos, Death, and Knowledge. But as we know, there's a fifth one, Fear. What if The Ring, is the Relic for Fear?

And it's said that Relics can only be used by the Marked. The Marked are people CHOSEN by the Marks/Brands to connect with their Entity. And you know what Cellbit called Jeffrey when he put on the ring? He said he was CHOSEN.

Being a Marked wielding a Relic makes them capable of acquiring a power equivalent to 100% Paranormal Exposure. Which basically means they get powers since they are no longer bound to the rules of their Reality.

And now I'm just. Sat here. With that knowledge. Like. AHHHHH????

JEFFREY SOLOS???????? oh that is so fucking COOL im rewatching the vod rn and it did become a more apparent by the subtle hints, and how the ring showed him flashbacks to when he first came to contact with the entity??? i still wonder how and why he lost his memories, or is it just due to shock??

[anneapocalypse]

Canon review for fic purposes is ever ongoing and rewatching the cutscenes where you first meet the Scions I am struck by how... simplified, I guess, Minfilia's introduction of the Archons is.

Tell me, does the name Sharlayan ring any bells? It used to be one of Eorzea's six city-states, and was situated in the northwest of Aldenard. The Sharlayans were the keepers of wisdom both old and new. Their mastery over magic and aether was unsurpassed, and even the Garleans knew to fear them. Among their number, there were a noble few who devoted their lives to safeguarding the future of Eorzea. When the realm began its descent into chaos, and their countrymen fled for the motherland, they alone chose to remain here. These noble men and women were called the Archons. Those same brave souls stand before you now.

Like it's not not true but it also really does not convey the lore that we get later or (to the best of my understanding) what actually happened in 1.0. When she says "When the realm began its descent into chaos, and their countrymen fled for the motherland," that sounds like she's talking about the Calamity, except the exodus from the Sharlayan colony actually happened in 1562 of the Sixth Umbral Era, 15 years before ARR (Twelve preserve me, the dating system gives me a headache).

For context Urianger is 29 in ARR, meaning that at the time of the exodus he was approximately 14 years of age. :P I think needless to say, he was not one of those who "chose to remain here" when his countrymen fled; he was still a kid at the time, and only joined Louisoix's Circle of Knowing as an adult (unless there's some absolutely buckwild Urianger lore I'm unaware of and Alphinaud wasn't actually the youngest kid to enter the Studium). Lyse is 25, and Thancred is 32. Y'shtola's age seems to be subject to some canon discrepancies according to the wiki, but she's at most no older than Thancred.

But Minfilia's intro really makes it sound like it's these Archons, in this room, who stayed in Eorzea when the exodus happened, and it's just really weird. I also don't know why they made it sound like "Archons" refers specifically to Louisoix's group (when it does not), and didn't just reference the Circle of Knowing. It's not like that was later backfill; I'm pretty sure that was in 1.0.

All of which led me to wonder: what about Moenbryda?

And this led me to her wiki page, upon which I realized I've apparently been laboring under a misconception this entire time. I had thought Moenbryda and Urianger grew up in Old Sharlayan. But this is straight from Encyclopedia Eorzea:

...eventually the two grew close, and were often found in the Great Gubal Library reading tomes and eating cockatrice meatballs (p. 191).

That's the colony, not Old Sharlayan! So, were they both born in the colony? It certainly seems like Moenbryda was, as her bio begins "Born in Sharlayan..." and in earlier canon that's always used to refer to the colony, and since they met as children, presumably they both were.

Both of them would have moved to Old Sharlayan at 14 when the exodus happened, and then they both went to the Studium, so that's all fine.

Here's where I have questions!

After striking a talent in aetheric research she became an Archon and was in the Circle of Knowing, however, Louisoix told her to stay in Sharlayan, an order she followed with great difficulty.

Which Sharlayan?

At this point I'm just not sure how literally to take Minfilia's introduction. So many other pieces of canon state that no one stayed in the colony after the exodus except Matoya, so by "chose to remain here" I assume that Minfilia doesn't mean the colony but Eorzea generally. By the time Moenbryda was an Archon and part of the Circle of Knowing, there was no more colony for her to stay in. But it also says "stay," not "go back."

So are we meant to understand that the Circle of Knowing were traveling back and forth between Old Sharlayan and Eorzea for some time in that decade before the Calamity? Or, given that Alphinaud has dialogue about Urianger being frequently present in their home when they were growing up, did Louisoix in fact go home with the Exodus, and only return to Eorzea years later? I feel like that must be it, even though it makes Minfilia's introduction a pretty drastic oversimplification.

It's early game exposition, so I can let it go, but I just have to remember not to really treat it as reliable canon.