#the RNG delivers

[juniper-clan]

Moon 13 (1/2)

PREVIOUS l NEXT

[distant-velleity]

Hiya! For the Ship X Spotify wrapped thing...

Leosil (it's me what do you expect :) ) and number 48.

Good luck and happy writing!

another milgram cover lol... being exposed rn... anyway, i think i can work with this one but it will definitely not be fluffy as per usual so Apologies in advance. many apologies.

She belongs completely and entirely to me! Kissing each other, sleeping together, and everything beyond that too

-

“I’ve read before that lions are highly possessive and territorial,” Silver had said to him, once. He’d then asked out of nothing more than simple curiosity, “Is the same true of lion beastmen like you?”

“It depends,” was Leona’s answer at the time. “But we wouldn’t need to behave like that if others could just mind their business and keep their paws to themselves.”

Leona thinks about it, that conversation, but no more than he really feels like he has to. It should be common sense, after all: you keep to your stuff and I’ll keep to mine, and we won’t have a problem. What’s mine is mine. Try to take what isn’t yours and of course you’ll suffer the consequences. 

It’s just difficult to not think of it right now, watching Silver chat away happily with a seemingly shy, seemingly well-intentioned classmate. Watching someone step within the bounds of Leona’s prized possession. 

If looks could kill, that guy would already be a decaying carcass by now. 

I wonder just who you think Silver belongs to.

[oleanderfox]

Palia Tips

Some things I have learned that might help others. 🩵

Game Controls

You can put away your tool by pressing X.

If you get stuck, type /unstuck in the chat window and you’ll be teleported to the nearest stable surface.

Right clicking with a tool equipped will let you switch between different types of ammo (for bug catching and hunting).

You can cancel without wasting ammo after entering "aim" mode by pressing the Shift key or right mouse button (h/t @sharky857 ).

You can climb ivy in addition to cliffs. (Like inside the lighthouse..!)

You can cancel climbing/drop from a cliff face by clicking X. (h/t @lazyadmiral )

You can jump (space bar) while climbing cliffs to climb faster.

You can hold down the mouse key when mining, tilling, and chopping down trees rather than clicking for each chop.

Camera & Photos

Press K to enter camera mode.

There’s a 🔁 button in the corner if you want to swap to a front-facing camera/“selfie mode”.

If you want to see your photos while in the game, you have to save them to the album. However all photos taken, even if you don’t do that step, will be saved to your computer’s hard drive.

To find your photos, open Windows Explorer and enter %appdata% in the location bar. From there navigate to %AppData%/Local/Palia/Saved/Screenshots. You should be able to pin this folder to your quick nav/favorites to find it again easily.

Time

One hour of real time = one entire day in Palia. That means an hour in Palia passes in only 2.5 minutes of play.

You only get "credit" (for building friendships) for chatting with villagers once per villager per day.

Many bugs, fish, and plants can only be found at certain times. Time in Palia is divided into: ‣ Morning: 3-6am (rooster crows at 3) ‣ Day: 6am-6pm ‣ Evening: 6pm-9pm ‣ Night: 9pm-3am (owl hoots at 9)

Time in Palia is the same across all servers. Midnight (a new day) will always be on the hour in real world time, so 6am in Palia is at X:15, noon is at X:30, and 6pm is at X:45.

6am is a "new day" for crops, but midnight is a "new day" for chatting with villagers. Midnight also seems to be when the furniture in Tish’s shop refreshes.

Gifting runs on real world time, not Palia time. You can only give a villager one gift every 24 hours in the real world, and "Weekly Wants" are valid for one real world week. The week currently resets on Mondays at 12am Eastern.

Once you get a villager's key, you can talk to and visit them even when they are "asleep".

Mail is delivered and picked up (shipping bin sales) at 6am and 6pm.

To find rare spawns, arrive in the area 15-30 Palia minutes before the start of its catch period and clear all the common critters/plants. This will make it more likely your rare will spawn when the clock chimes.

Inventory & House

Furniture does not take up inventory space!!

A gold star on an item's icon means it's "star quality." Starred items fetch higher sales prices and are required for some quests.

Starred items will not stack with normal items.

Only star quality food can be placed in your house/lot.

More storage chests = more storage slots, but you are capped at 8.

You can hang items on the exterior walls of your home - including wallpaper!!

When in placement mode, you can rotate items using Q and E. You can turn off “grid mode” by pressing z, which allows more flexible item placement.

Leveling

Your character level is a combination of your level in each of your skills.

Eating food increases your "focus," which applies a percentage bonus that will make you level faster.

You can increase that bonus by visiting the Dragon and Phoenix shrines and spending Renown to increase the percentage (Phoenix Shrine) and the amount of focus you can accumulate.

You can only "carry" 1,000 Renown at any time. If you're not spending it, you're throwing away Exp.

Renown is also needed to expand your housing plot (by buying "Writs").

Event

You can get "displayable" food from Reth and Delaila, but it's based on RNG. Just keep buying the item until you get a star quality one.

The quickest way to get Chapaa Chase tickets is by completing the Achievements; some require you to party with others.

The drums are not obvious, but you only need to go back and forth between a pair of them interacting as they light up. Eventually the big fireworks will trigger and you will get the achievement and reward. (Do this 2 more times for the second achievement!)

The event achievements are on the Event tab, not the achievements one.

Skill-Specific Tips

Fishing: If you don’t click in time and the fish disappears, don’t panic — the same fish will keep trying again! And if you change your mind, you can pull your line in/cancel and you won’t spend any bait. This means you can wait to be sure you’ve hooked the fish you want before reeling it in so you don’t waste all your precious glow worms! The one caveat is that sparkle pools (and the guaranty of a star quality catch) disappear if you don’t catch the fish on the first nibble.

Hunting: The Proudhorn Sernuk can teleport and the Azure Chapaa can make an illusion of copies of itself that disappear when shot. They're both very difficult to hunt until you learn to make Dispel arrows. If you’re still struggling to have enough resources for everything, learn the lowest quality arrow that can kill something in one shot and hunt with those. (Kilima chapaa can be killed with a makeshift arrow while regular Kilima sernuk require a standard arrow. Bahari chapaa need at least a standard arrow while elder sernuk in Bahari will cost you several fine arrows.)

Looting: For hunting, mining, and chopping down trees, everyone who gets one "hit" in gets loot, and the loot is not diminished by sharing. So working together to find pallium nodes or hunt rare critters rewards everyone. :) (Note that you need to have the required equipment quality to be able to share, though - if you get a message saying “sorry, you need to upgrade your equipment” then you won’t get any loot.)

Mining: On the topic of Palium, it’s not as rare as you think. It has very specific spawn points, which it only shares with stone - you’ll never find palium where you found iron before. This means you should mine all the stone sharing those points to encourage palium to spawn for your next visit. Palium can be found in the caves hidden around the perimeter of Bahari and in the Pavel mines.

Foraging: Purple glowing trees are flow trees, and require more than one player to chop them down. Again, everyone gets "full" loot, no matter how many people get a swing in. For small trees, let them heal after each hit if needed to make sure everyone present can get a hit. If you’re looking for a specific resource, say, sweet leaf, look up what it shares spawn points with (in this case, morels) and pick three as well so sweet leaf has a chance to spawn. Also, brightshrooms are typically found in ruins right up against the structures so they can be easy to overlook or mistake for glowing bugs at night.

Cooking: You can find recipes in villager's homes, by fishing them up in bottles, lying around the wilderness, and completing quests or bundles in addition to buying them from Reth.

Cooking together: Like with looting, everyone gets the full reward, even if you don't contribute any ingredients.

Lore & Fun Stuff

There is a mysterious beast in the Elderwoods.

The mine's haunted.

Sooo much queer rep: All the romanceable characters don’t care about the player’s “body type.” Sifuu, the Duchess (Kenyara), and Eshe are canonically wlw. Chayne was raised by two dads. The former lighthouse keepers in Bahari Bay were a gay couple. 🏳️‍🌈

Critters that have been mentioned but don't have in-game models or released concept art yet so we just have to speculate: ‣ Kitsuu: Sacred companions, according to Hassian. There is a kitsuu constellation which has "floppy ears" and horns. Possibly the "fennec fox with antlers" creature drawn in the Vault of the Waves? (Confirmed by the official Discord emotes!) No longer unreleased as of 0.3.6. :) ‣ Peki: Palian version of chickens, or at least they lay eggs and have feathers, and according to Nai’o “there are at least 72 unique color and pattern combinations for peki breeds.” ‣ Riffroc: Palian mounts. Nai'o has a beloved one named Sugarfoot; Kenyatta’s is named Sundrop.

Bug Reporting, Suggestions, and Help

Report problems here.

Give feedback and request/suggest features here.

If you're stuck on a quest or where to find an item, there's an "Official" wiki and an "unofficial" wiki.

[keyboard-mang0]

Lost and Found

Part 3!

Genshin Impact x Child! God! Fem! Reader

Not sure if I can still call it impulsive, but it’s definitely still a dumb idea for a cult au with a child reader! Not imposter, and inching slightly more into SAGAU kinda.

Reader is referred to with she/her. Not proof read. If you see typos, no the fuck you don’t.

Notes: Major thing to note, the “Favored” refer to the main team of four in the game, the “Auxilary” is the nickname I gave to my off team that I needed to make for the part of Spiral Abyss that you needed two teams for, and “Vessels” are just any playable character. I used my own Favored as I’m the one writing. They are a healthy balance of “Characters I own” and “Characters I pray to RNG to just fucking give them to me GAME”. Other then that, Warning of religious themes, likely out of character moments, more child crying, and misplaced feelings of guilt. Enjoy!

<~Part 2   Part 4~>

Word count: 3,552.

The work of an outrider is far from simple, to scout the surrounding area of your home, help those in need of it, guide the lost to safety, and of course fight off the dangers that threaten those under your charge. Being an outrider has many duties, and so Amber takes her work very seriously, her bow in hand, Baron Bunny at the ready, and the sheer resolve that no problem can shake her confidence. 

That is until a man appeared before her from thin air. 

Startling the young woman, the man looked down at her, a twisted mask covering his face as he looks her up and down, humming to himself. He nods as he pulls out a pair of sealed envelopes, holding them out to her. 

"Give these to the names written on them." Xiao demands as he pushes the letters into her free hand.

"Wait, who are-?" Amber starts, however she's quickly cut off.

"Do not read those yourself under any circumstances, do you understand?" Xiao's voice sounds slightly hurried and forceful as he glares into her eyes.

"Um… yes?..." looking down at the pair of letters, she can't stop the small gasp at the Qixing seal that holds both envelopes closed.

"Good, then I must say my goodbye, and be going. Goodbye." Xiao states finally, then with a gust of wind, he's gone.

Staring into the empty air that the man had disappeared into, Amber's gaze gets pulled back down to the letters, flipping them over to read the names they've been addressed to. Her eyes widening at the selected recipients.

"Well, I wonder what news this could be." She thinks aloud, turning on her heels in the direction of Mondstadt, back to the Favonius headquarters.

                                                    <~~~~>

Mornings in the Jade Chamber are ordinarily, not a terribly busy time. Secretaries and maids arriving to carry out their work day for the Tianquan. Organizing papers, light cleaning, making sure the lady Tianquan has eaten before starting work. Mornings are their time for quiet conversation and preparation for the more difficult times of day. Which lends to the irregularity of this morning.

"What do you mean she's gone?!" Ningguang shouts at the guard that was unfortunate enough to be the one to deliver the news.

"I-I mean we can't find her, Lady Tianquan! We've already checked the room the maids said she had slept in, top to bottom, and it was empty!" The guard explains, eyes locked on the floor to escape the seething gaze of the Tianquan.

The woman pinches the bridge of her nose, "then where's Captain Beidou?" Her voice alone gives way to her annoyance at the situation.

"We aren't sure, Ma'am! She is not in the Jade Chamber either." The guard slowly tries to inch toward the door, their resolve to stay through her annoyance waning.

A low groan slips from the Tianquan as she drops her hands to her sides, "alright, I'll be back, return to your post." She states, walking past the man towards the entrance. Not pausing as a secretary walks in step beside her, "yes?"

"I just wished to inform you that the Adventures Guild has accepted your commission, and that Miss Katheryne will see to it personally." The secretary reads over a paper in her hands.

"Good, then our Inazuman guests should be receiving the news about Y/n soon enough, and we can expect our first guest by this evening or earlier, anything else?" Ningguang hums as she opens the door to leave.

"Yes, rather strangely, Miss Ganyu is late for work this morning, can't imagine what's keeping her, I can't remember the last time she was late." The secretary looks up from her paper to see Ningguang wearing a small smile.

"If Ganyu isn't here either, then there's probably nothing to be worried about, but I will be going just to be sure, see preparations for both the Mondstadt and Inazuma guests are being made, while I'm gone." Ningguang steps out the door as she speaks, the secretary giving a bow to the empty doorway before turning to begin her work.

The early morning sun is warm, a light cool breeze carrying the salty scent of the ocean further in, trips down to the harbor during clear mornings are always pleasant. Too early for the echoing chorus of work, but late enough to see it just beginning. 

Yujing Terrace however is still yet to rouse, the wealthiest of Liyue not needing to rise as early as the rest. The empty courtyard proves the perfect place as echoing voices reach Ningguang's ears.

"I'm not sure if I would count this as a breakfast." Ganyu's voice echoes.

"Why not? Some spice to help wake you up is good for you!" Beidou, of course not even the early morning can stifle her energy.

"I just don't think spicy stir fry is a good choice for a growing girl." Ganyu says, sounding half focused on the conversation and half on something else.

A loud whimper echoes as Ningguang turns a corner to find Beidou and Ganyu both sitting at Y/n's sides, take-out boxes in hand, and Y/n's face rapidly flushing as she takes a bite of her food. 

"So, it's good, right?" Beidou pushes, smiling brightly at the girl, who looks on the brink of tears as she shakily smiles back.

"It's good." Her voice is strained, her teeth slightly clenched, as gold streaks slowly escape her eyes.

The taller woman throws her head back to laugh at the girl's reaction, Ganyu instead looking away to hide her own laugh before making eye contact with Ningguang. 

"What are you three doing out here?" Ningguang steps closer, crossing her arms as she gives a stern look to Beidou and Ganyu.

The captain's smile does not waver, "what's it look like? We're eating." She answers cheerfully, shoveling food into her mouth for added effect.

"I happened to bump into them on the way to the Jade Chamber, so I thought it best to stay with them for a bit." Ganyu shrinks slightly under Ningguang's gaze, sheepishly patting Y/n's head, more to calm her own nerves than the little girl's.

The white haired woman relaxes as a small sigh slips from her, shifting her full attention to Beidou, "but why did you leave without telling anyone? You caused quite a little panic by just disappearing with Y/n." Her arms remain crossed as she waits for the other woman's response. 

A small voice interrupts the women, "because I was hungry, miss Ningguang." Y/n looks up at Ningguang, the flushed tint of her face slowly ebbing away, but the glint of gold still sitting in the corners of her eyes.

Stopping to look her over, Ningguang notices the girl is still wearing her strange ragged clothes from yesterday, however much cleaner. Making the faded colors and numerous tears all the more prominent. The scarf she had previously covered her face with now sitting loosely around her neck. And where her hair has once been a tangled mass of dirty knots, now it has been cleaned, brushed out, and tied into a pair of neat buns on either side of her head.

Beidou interrupts her study of the girl, "I tried to find something to eat in the Chamber, but for such a big house, you hardly keep anything edible in there. I mean come on, Ning, you live like that?"

Irritation takes over the woman's expression, glaring at the sitting captain, "Preparations to host take time you know. If you have a problem with it then help."

Y/n hums looking down at her small box of food, holding it up for Ningguang after a pause, "are you hungry, Miss Ning?"

Turning her gaze down to the girl, Ningguang stops her eye from twitching at Y/n using the nickname Beidou devised to annoy her. "Thank you, but I'm fine-" she stops mid sentence as she looks into the box, turning a scrutinizing look to Beidou. "Why did you get her jueyun chilies?"

Still smiling, the Captain pats Y/n's head between the buns, "Little Rat, here asked to have the same thing I was getting."

"Little Rat?" 

"Yea! Don't you think these buns look like rat ears?" Beidou's hand moves from patting the girl's head to poking at her hair. A laugh bubbles from the girl, pushing Beidou to return to patting her, "plus I saw her scamper. You'd put real rats to shame, wouldn't you?"

Y/n's laughter is all that stops Ningguang from growling at the other woman. Her eyes flicking to Ganyu, who has suddenly found the clouds far more interesting than before. "Well since all of you are already out of the chamber, I have a couple plans for how we can start the day." Ningguang sighs, pulling the trio's attention to her.

She lifts the box of food Y/n had handed her, "first, we're stopping somewhere to get Y/n something to eat, that won't leave her in tears." 

                                                       <~~~~>

"When you said we would get Little Rat new clothes I didn't really think this was your plan…" Beidou sat leaning against the wall, her arms crossed over her chest as the small gaggle of tailors took measurements of Y/n. Pre-made outfits being held up to compare then passed around and swapped for new pieces.

Ningguang sat in the waiting chair beside her "she needs more than just a couple dresses, Y/n said her only belongings are those weird rags she's been in this whole time. She needs a proper wardrobe." 

"I get that, but isn't this a bit much? She's still so young, there's no way she'll be able to wear anything you get her now by next year." Beidou groans, pulling a flask from her belt, which is quickly snatched from her hand by Ningguang.

"Watch your drinking around Y/n." Ningguang doesn't look up as she just places the flask back on Beidou's belt.

"What? Why?" Beidou's eyebrows furrow in annoyance.

"She's already started mimicking you. Don't give her bad habits." Ningguang moves a warning look up to the captain.

Returning her arms to where they had been crossed over chest, Beidou grumbles under her breath.

"Don't be such a baby, I'm going to be careful with my smoking, so it's not just you." Ningguang snaps her attention back to the tailors.

"Let go!" Y/n shouts, her hands clinging to the scarf, the attendants let go of the cloth at Ningguang snapping her fingers. 

Beidou rushes to the girl, pushing past the attendants, kneeling down to look the girl in the eye, and gently putting her hands on Y/n's shoulders. "Hey hey, Y/n, it's ok." She shushes the girl, quickly wiping away the thin streaks of gold on her cheeks.

Ningguang kneels down closer to eye level with Y/n, "do you not want a new one?" She asks gently, the girl only shakes her head in response.

"My parents gave it to me. Right before… before I…" tears form in her eyes as Y/n speaks, and the girl quickly throws herself at Beidou as quiet sobs escape her.

The two women share a look before both move to enclose their arms around Y/n. Ningguang gently shushed, and Beidou quietly hummed. Neither moving to try and force the girl to stop her tears, just holding her close. Both think about how much they still don't know about her, but she needs care, and Archons be damned if they don't give that to her.

The rest of their shopping visit went on with little trouble, a short word from Ningguang and the tailor attendants continued their work, more carefully around Y/n's scarf. Quickly ending the visit with an armful of bags and an order placed for even more later.

The sun hangs higher in the sky, greater warmth washing over the three as they step back into the Liyue streets. Ningguang hums as she looks around, turning her head back to where Y/n is practically perched on Beidou's shoulders. "It looks like it's around noon, so I should probably get back to work. If you two wish to stay out, go ahead." She says, the pair look around absently before Beidou awkwardly attempts to look up at Y/n.

"What do you think, Little Rat? Wanna go back to drop off the bags then come back out?" Beidou smiles each time she says her nickname outloud.

Y/n hums for a moment, "ok!" She smiles and hugs closer to the Captain.

"Well then it's decided, lead on, Ning!" Beidou's boisterous energy has giggles coming from the girl, and the nickname earning her a scowl from the woman beside her.

                                                         <~~~~>

Climbing the steps to Yujing Terrace voices echoing plenty. Guards and citizens milling across the courtyards and gardens. But it is one voice in particular that stands out.

"Come on! Come on! Paimon wants to see what Miss Ningguang wants!" A shrill childish voice shouts.

"Settle down, the secretary said Ningguang was out, so we are just going to have to wait." A young woman's tired voice answers.

"Which reminds me! Why couldn't we wait in the Jade Chamber?" Paimon groans.

"Because whatever it is Ningguang wants to talk about must be important if she got the adventurers guild to use teleporters just to send a letter." Lumine absent mindedly responds, eyes scanning over the crowd in search of the Tianquan in question. "So we'll wait here so we can find out sooner."

Almost as if on cue, Ningguang steps from the crowd, eyebrows furrowed slightly as she leans close to the Traveler. "Get up to the Chamber now. This is not the place for our discussion."

Confusion surround the world-wondering pair at her words, "but Paimon thought it was really important." Her high voice rings in an attempt to be quieter to match Ningguang.

"Very, but not something for the public, so go, I'll catch up." Ningguang says with finality, turning away to signal for the pair to leave.

Beidou smiles as she nods in greeting to Lumine and Paimon, Y/n quietly staring wide eyed at the pair, even after they had already left.

                                                        <~~~~>

The sound of porcelain smashing against the ground echoes in Lumine's ears, the loss of weight on her fingers not dawning on her yet. Eyes locked onto the two women in front of her, Ningguang seated at her desk as if this were a mere business transaction, Beidou leaning against the side of the desk with her flask still firmly planted against her lips.

"You… you're being serious?!" Paimon shouts, floating closer to the desk before hesitating.

"Completely. The Creator is in Liyue Harbor, she has been taken in as a guest of the Jade Chamber until further notice." Ningguang states, sighing as she eyes the shattered teacup.

"But you don't want anyone to know? Not even the Archons? Not even her?" Lumine's voice is quiet, the news still echoing in her mind.

Beidou finally pulls her flask away to breathe, "well we don't actually know if she's aware of her own divinity, or not."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Lumine's attention shifts to the captain. 

"We have learned that the reason we couldn't find her in the year following the ceremony is because she was purposefully put into hiding." Beidou explains, setting her flask back at her hip.

Ningguang continues for her, "according to her, she was told by an abyss mage that she would get in trouble if she was around humans too much."

"The Abyss got to her!?" Paimon screeches, her words setting the Traveler on edge behind her.

"Another thing we don't know. They might have, or it could have been the actions of an outlying mage, we don't exactly have a way to find out." Beidou turns her attention to the door to the office, almost as if on guard at someone intruding.

"So where is she now then?" Lumine looks between the two women expectantly.

"Yea, can Paimon meet the Creator?" Paimon pitches in, drifting back to float around Lumine's head.

The two older women share a glance before looking back at the pair. "You can, but there are ground rules." Beidou states, pushing off the desk and starting towards the door.

"First, you will by no means refer to her as the Creator to her face. Second, you will not speak of her identity to anyone outside of a select number of her Vessels. And the most important one, that is admittedly mostly for just you two. Never under any circumstances at all, for any reason so much as mention having come across the Creator to even a single one of the Archons." Ningguang gives each rule, her eyes carrying a threat not missed by the pair of Wanderers.

"Ganyu should still be with her, let's go." Beidou calls out before opening the office door.

Paimon wastes no time, zipping through the air after the woman to escape the Tianquan's threatening eyes. Lumine however hangs back as Ningguang stands to follow along.

"If I may… if she was really hiding on purpose. How did you even manage to find her?" Lumine asks quietly, Ningguang nodding to show she heard.

"We arrested her." Her voice calm as if there was no problem with her words at all.

Lumine couldn't help but gawk a bit at the woman's reply, "you… what?"

"It doesn't matter. Look, Beidou stopped so she must be in that room." Ningguang brushes the blonde off as she widens her steps to catch up.

A giggle echoes from behind the door. Beidou smiles to herself as she pushes the door wide open.

Inside a child with h/c hair hops in place where she is seated on a large bed between Ganyu and Xiao. E/c eyes almost sparkling when she sees Beidou in the doorway. However upon catching sight of Paimon and Lumine, she shrinks back slightly, partially hiding herself behind Ganyu. An action that has all four people standing in the door pause in surprise. 

"Um.. Y/n, this is-" Beidou starts to introduce the pair before being cut off.

"Lumine and Paimon." Her voice lacking the meekness it had the night before, but still quiet.

The Traveler perks up slightly, taking a step closer, but stopping at the way Y/n moves further behind Ganyu. "You recognize us?" She asks quietly as she tries to look more relaxed without getting closer.

The girl nods slowly, a small glint of gold beginning to peak at the corner of her still visible eye. Her voice lowers back into her meek whisper, "I'm sorry." 

Paimon slowly drifts closer, covering her gasp at the gold beginning to drip down her cheeks. "You don't have anything to be sorry for." Paimon talks quietly, as she comes closer, e/c orbs lock onto her.

"But… but I…" Y/n starts before feeling a comforting weight on her head, looking up to find Beidou smiling down at her with the woman's hand patting between the hair buns. Y/n sniffles slightly before wiping her face on her shirt sleeve, still looking sad, but no longer in tears at Lumine "I didn't finish helping you.. i-in Inazuma."

Lumine can't hold back the small gasp she lets out, a year ago the warmth in her heart that pulled her across the distant islands disappeared. A year ago she found herself in the middle of a conflict she wasn't sure how to deal with alone. And now here sits the girl that had been guiding her the whole way. Apologizing as if she had a say in the matter.

Lumine inches closer, kneeling down by the bed before slowly offering a hand to the girl. "You have nothing to be sorry for, ok? Just like Paimon said!" She smiles gently as the wide eyed girl moves closer to her, gently placing a hand in Lumine's, and giggling when the older girl gives it a shake.

Ningguang smiles at the scene, her gaze dragging across each person before stopping on Xiao. The Adeptus, seeming to feel her gaze, turns to meet it. The pair both move to a separate corner of the room before speaking. "So you finished delivering those letters?" Ningguang whispers, eyes on the child now smiling with Paimon.

"Handed them off to one of those Knights and left before Lord Barbatos could catch wind of me." He whispers, stoic expression unchanging as he takes in the room.

Ningguang sighs, "so you didn't give them to the actual recipients?" 

"What use would those Knights be if they can't deliver a simple letter? I'm sure it will be fine." Xiao groans annoyed.

Ningguang pinches at her temple for a moment before loud laughter pulls her attention again. Y/n kicking and wiggling in the air as Paimon tickles the girl, and Beidou holding her up like she's weightless.

"Oh well look, I've caught a little rat!" Beidou laughs, Paimon smiling wide as she drifts to dodge Y/n's flailing limbs. Lumine and Ganyu both take the sight in with soft smiles.

Another, softer, sigh slips from Ningguang "well, if they don't, I guess planning a trip for us to go to Mondstadt wouldn't be the end of the world."

Post reading notes: I honestly came so close to dragging things out even more just to slip an OC in there for the funsies. But ultimately decided to go the route of a random bit of dialog that I’m not sure why I remembered. Namely of Kathryne saying she uses the teleporter network to move between the nations.

Taglist: @twstfan-san @saltysugarysembei @universal-rose @qluvrv @jaynahh @heavenlyfloof @thetwinkims @victoria1676 @beemarkie @definitely-a-keqing-simp @inlovewithwaffels @qinxin02

[throwaway-yandere]

!!!Yandere Genshin/Reader 2.5k Follows Mini-Event: Secret Penpals (Masterlist)!!!

cw: contains yandere themes, including stalking, possessive behavior, etc. do not engage if you’re sensitive to the topics mentioned. prioritize your mental health first, you matter.   

Time remaining: █ days, █ hours, █ minutes (closed!!! please wait until Thoma delivers all the letters &lt;3)

✧ Inazuma is currently holding another Irodori Festival and the Yashiro Commission and Yae Publishing House has a secret pen pal service going on... Perhaps you should write a letter and hand it over to Ms. Hina! Who knows, maybe you'll find another Paimon!

Possible Rewards: A new friend : )

“How is the list, Gorou?”

“Well, I got the names of some of the penpals. We got Always-So-Busy Sakabashira, Widower Momiji, A Headless Knight, Calx, and a couple more weird and whimsical names… There’s like… around 10 or something.”

“Ah, I see, Sakabashira is █████ isn’t it– wait, even Calx is joining? Isn’t he a Mondstadter?”

“Aren’t you one too? Now that you mention it, there’s a couple of foreigners joining this event– we even got someone from Snezhnaya.” 

“Haha, where do you think Blue Eyes White Dragon could be from? Betting on Liyue.”

“Hmm… I have a hunch that they’re from Fontaine...”

“But what if they’re yokai, though?”

...

“... Do yokais play TCG?”

"... I know Itto does…"

[match-up event guidelines under the cut]

—-------

SALUTATIONS! Mx. Ansy here– thank you so much for the 2k follows! I don’t celebrate White Days so this will be the reason why this event exists. No clue why that happened, but for the celebration’s sake, here’s a mini event as my thanks!!! (Even though it’s long overdue since I’m at 2.5k hahahaha…) 

Thank you to everyone that followed, liked, left comments (omg), reblogged, etc. ILYSM!!!! <3 (Don’t worry, I’m still working on the idol au ehe. I need you all to know about music composer!Tighnari’s mental fatigue.)

Here are the event guidelines and an example of how this works provided by “Ms. Hina” and “Fixer”!

Event Guidelines ✥:

NO NSFW MESSAGES. (Please remember someone is writing behind all this lmao. I’m asexual so my humblest apologies.)

Feel free to go nuts with your pen pal's name! No need to use the word “anon”. As long as you kept your identity a secret, you’re safe! There’s no real rule, just make sure it’s not longer than 6 words. 

Why is six words the maximum? Well… My best friend, Fried Tofu With All The Frills, “suggested” that it’s better that way…

Remember who runs this event behind the screen. Expect stalkers, monsters, etc. to respond to your letter.

You don't know who your pen pal is. Don't name who the receiver of your letter is. This is luck-based, and if I'm feeling like a gremlin I might just send your letter to Reckless Pallad if you do this lol. 

As the event name suggests: some might get villain NPCs & non-yandere character/s. Welcome back to another round of RNG if you aren’t already fricking tired from artifact grinding.

Only one penpal per person. No repeats. Every time I do an event, the yanderes are loyal.

Are you reading the guidelines? Good. Take note of this specific instruction or else I won’t add your letter to the event registration: greet your pen pal with a “Happy Irodori Festival!” or anything similar. That’s how I’ll know you’ve read everything.

Your letter could be around 200 words max but don’t feel forced to hit that threshold haha. Talk about whatever you want then send it in this blog’s ask box! I’ll pass it on to Ms. Hina or Fixer ♡

The response you’ll receive varies, but expect a minimum word count of at least 100 (some characters just won't write long). Hard to fit things with a single letter. Maybe your pen pal would be desperate enough to write 2 pages on their first reply. But don’t count on it. I’m trying my best to give out short replies to this event. The last idol event had 2k-6k word counts (when my plan was 1.8k max). This is me trying my best to exercise self-control lolololol.

Every letter is made on Canva. Huge shoutout to that website for carrying my SHS career and this event because I have S-tier garbage handwriting.

Also, a huge shoutout to @/watatsumiis! General inspired me to do this event, so please check his works if you want to read fluffy fics that’ll make you giggle! He provides such amazing brain rots, I swear. Unlike this gremlin right here, he’s wonderful and wholesome both as a writer and a person.

Well then, time for an example! Please copy Ms. Hina’s lead when you write your letter &lt;3

Tutorial/Example ✥:

“Dear Secret Penpal,

Happy Irodori festival! My name is Miss Hina, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I know that festivals tend to make everyone exhausted, so whoever this letter is addressed to, I hope you’re taking care of yourself. Remember to eat and drink water regularly! Even when to be honest, I already know who you are. I’m not great at talking about myself, but if anything is troubling you, don’t keep it all muzzled up inside.

- Ms. Hina”

The “penpal”’s reply (example only!!!):

Hmm, wonder who that could be? /s

Have fun!!! Happy Irodori Festival!!! (even though it’s windblume rn. I just can’t think of a book-based genshin event so lol here’s an advanced irodori patch for everyone.)

List of penpals/Masterlist:

SOME ARE CURRENTLY A SECRET

Don't get too cocky, though. Some of them aren't who you think they are ehe

"Calx" - Luthien

"Deshret" - Lisa

"Blue Eyes White Dragon" - ????

"Always-So-Busy Sakabashira" - Second Hand Of Time

"A Headless Knight" - Choco Found In Puppy's Tummy

"Widower Momiji" - Starlight

"Big Ears" - Honey On A Stick

"Fixer" - Tofu

"Fratello" - ????

No name - Vermiculis Creatio

No name - ????

[regallibellbright]

Upon realizing I haven’t really Played A Video Game in a while and my heart clearly wants to Factor some Runes, I have finally begun replaying the 3DS version of RF4 to see if I can recreate whatever it is that made me think reverse confessions are a thing. (I swear. I SWEAR. That Kiel was the one to ask Frey to date and I didn’t initiate, and that it didn’t seem like a glitch on the game’s part. I have believed this for TEN YEARS. I know it’s not the proposals, RNG has never been kind enough to me for those. No one else has ever experienced this, apparently, and it BAFFLES me.)

Which means going through the classics:

1) The gender selection based off personal pronouns which naturally causes some confusion in English.

2) I forgot the first thing Venti says to you is, straight up, “Are you dead?” In fairness you did just fall out of the sky directly onto her. And THAT wasn’t even what gave you amnesia!… You are completely unharmed by this except for a sore back.

3) Seriously you get hit in the head once by a soldier with a sword, total memory loss. Plummet off an airship that is at best JUST beginning descent (and since the whole attack began before it would have, it probably isn’t,) through an open dome onto a dragon and then the VERY CLEARLY STONE FLOOR, walk it off with nothing more than some soreness. I’m serious about that headcanon that Earthmates’ weakness to counter their incredible magical power is that a stiff wind close enough to a town of quirky but good-hearted people will induce total amnesia. ESPECIALLY near a dragon.

4) Arthur just casually gives up his duties as a prince after thirty seconds of knowing you, which have mostly been spent with a dragon god pinning her and her butler’s screw up on you and the two of you whispering furiously at each other.

Venti: You realize this means betraying your father’s will, right?

Arthur: Yeah, and? (Paraphrased)

This little bit about Arthur technically committing treason or something (?!) never really comes up again. Unless you count the whole “hey your dad heard you dumped your prince duties on some nobody, uh, what gives?” in his proposal event, I guess. (Sidenote: Pretty sure you were also sent from Norad to deliver the Rune Spheres? I’ve never managed to unlock the third arc, granted, so I’m not 100% on Frey/Lest’s backstory’s specifics… I guess they were already worried about Sechs interference and sent Arthur and you on separate airships so you wouldn’t BOTH get attacked?) I do have so many questions about the King of Norad.

5) I love my tragic dragon god BFF. We don’t actually get to spend all THAT much time with her before she starts passing out from Lack of Runes for weeks, especially by this point where I know how to get around well enough that even not TRYING to speedrun this I’m probably going to have Amber by in-game tomorrow at earliest and I typically get Leon just before the Buddy Battle, but it does a good job making us care before it puts her in the peril comas.

[draw-you-coward]

yeah maybe you reblogged that thing like 2 days ago but I'm going slow right now so if you still want to do the character ask thing, maybe mr Aloth Pillars of Eternity?

ogh im just happy to get one! lol

First impression: he's just a sweet lil lad. a sweet boy.. he seems so nice and shy and somewhat pathetic... i take pity on the lil squishy wizord in deadfire: damn aloth's old and cynical now lmAO

Impression now: this is tough bc i've slooowly started replaying deadfire and i forget most of my impression of him 🤔 I remember thinking that he makes a lot of very funny snarky comments and I liked how they gave him nervous stims esp with his hands. he just seems so done with all the bullshit and i feel that. I do wish he still had some of that sweet ladness left under all that cynicism though... but I think Rake thinks it's a little sexy

Favorite moment: bruh he propositioned Rake in the bathhouse literal seconds before tekehu did... i've been wanting to write a fic about it. besides that, there was a bit in the first game where rake failed a str check and aloth also failed a str check to help him and dislocated his shoulder and I just thought it was so sweet :-) so little rng things i guess... although i do like the comment he makes after you kill the memory monster in the wael dlc

Idea for a story: ok ok u know how i do like. vignettes. well i've been wanting to replay deadfire and sloowly make a fic abt their relationship? starting with the first time they enter the bathhouse maybe ahaha it'll be more playful in tone. my writing's improved a lot since i started the rake series and I still think about one comment I got that said they were so glad i was writing because barely anyone else did male watcher/aloth... 💀 i wrote like. three things and i still feel guilty about it sometimes

Unpopular opinion: oo boy! i feel like i stay so far away from fandom that i dont know what anyone thinks anyways LOL. ig just a general thing for me which is I'm not really a fan of romance? shippy stuff kinda gives me the ick 😅 For characters like aloth (esp bc i. dont like men lmao) I'm mostly drawn to their vibes and personality, and I really liked his whole wizard deal plus iselmyr and the abusive dad backstory ; i feel like there's a LOT of potential to dive into how that affects him that no one really explores

Favorite relationship: with edér :)) just two good ol boys. i like how theyre pals

Favorite headcanon: oo i dont really make these for characters esp if I like canon. i guess i'd like to further expand on how iselmyr functions for him, esp since in game it doesnt seem to follow specific rules or guidelines. does she come out when he's triggered? does she come out just to yell at me for friendly fire or to be upset when my unkillable ghost dog dies? how did he learn to function well in combat if she delivers attacks sometimes ("i dinnae con the spellybooks" girledfriend then woter u doing here? 😔) i guess i'd headcanon that there'd be a learning curve, esp since his first instinct was to fight/suppress her 🤔

from here pls feel free to send me more i love attention

[princess-of-the-corner]

Toontown: Corporate Clash Recap: Barnacle Boatyard Sidetasks Part 2

So… Let’s get the remaining Sidetasks out of the way:

First Mate Makeover

In order to start this Task, you need to speak with Choppy McDougal at Blackbeard’s Beauty Parlor on Buccaneer Boulevard.

Apparently, the Lawbots stole McDougal’s treasure. If this is the Task that I think it is. Kinda hard to check, Choppy McDougal doesn’t have a page on the Wiki.

First order of business: REVENGE!

Choppy tasks you with defeating 15 Lawbots.

Once they’ve been defeated, you’re sent to retrieve Choppy McDougal’s treasure, as the Lawbots threw it into the ocean for some reason. (Again, assuming this is the Task I’m thinking about. It might be a later one with this plotline.)

To do this, you need to ride the Trolley until you’re randomly taken to the Treasure Dive Minigame, and recover at least ONE Treasure Chest.

Good luck, because the Trolley Game you get is based ENTIRELY on RNG, and Treasure Dive is one of FOURTEEN minigames you can get.

Be glad you only need to get ONE chest, because Trolley Dive is a pretty tricky game.

(Here’s the Wiki page, in case you don’t believe me.)

Anyways, once you’ve returned the Treasure Chest to Choppy, you’re rewarded 2,469 experience, 200 Jellybeans, and the “Wonky” nametag.

Actually, looking at the task name again, I don’t think this is the one with the stolen treasure, but I do remember the stolen treasure task was a freaking NIGHTMARE to complete!

But I also have no idea why it’s called “First Mate Makeover”, because I can’t remember what Choppy has to say, the wiki doesn’t have their dialogue, and every Let’s Play I watch skips all the task dialogue too quickly for me to read anything.

Which is a crime, because the writing in this game is HILARIOUS.

Dressing Sea-Lads and Lasses

To start this task, you need to talk to Fishy Frank at Salmon Chanted Evening Wear on Buccaneer Boulevard.

He tasks you with collecting 10 Treasures in Barnacle Boatyard Playground.

The treasures he speaks of are the Laff Pick-Ups that spawn around the Playground, not the Treasure Chests from Treasure Dive. As a reminder, the Treasures in Barnacle Boatyard are Starfish (not to be confused with the Starfish you can get while fishing), and they spawn underwater, meaning you’ll have to go for a swim to pick them up.

As you have a Task to collect them, you can pick them up without being hurt. Just go and try to swim through as many as you can until your Toon stops picking them up.

Now that he has the Starfish, either for inspiration or payment, he can make you an outfit. He just needs the proper tools.

First, he needs a single “Some Small Sewing Needles” from any of the Micromanagers in Toontown.

Once that’s taken care of, he’ll just need A Piece of Thread from any Cog anywhere.

After you’ve gotten his materials, he’ll send you to defeat a Cog building, since your outfit should be complete in the time it takes to bring it down.

Once you’ve conquered the Cog Building, return to Fishy Frank, and he’ll give you the BB Sailor Shirt, BB Sailor Shorts, BB Sailor Skirt, 2,394 experience, and 200 Jellybeans.

Straight to Boardwalk

In order to kick off this task, you need to talk to Davey Drydock in What’s Up, Dock? (get it?) on Lighthouse Lane.

The first thing Davey tasks you with is defeating 15 Cogs in Barnacle Boatyard. This should go without saying, but only Cogs defeated in Barnacle Boatyard will be counted.

After this is done, you need to speak with Linda Landlubber at Disembark! Tree Surgery on Buccaneer Boulevard, because Davey needs some lumber from her. She agrees, on the condition that you do the following for her:

Defeat 7 Cogs on Buccaneer Boulevard (buildings count).

Pay 50 Jellybeans.

Once those are complete, she takes your Jellybeans and gives you some lumber, which you need to deliver to Davey.

He rewards you with the Boardwalk Nametag, 2,560 experience, and 200 Jellybeans. This means that it PROBABLY would’ve been cheaper for him to pick up the lumber himself, but whatever, you got what you came for.

Next time, we head back to Toontown Central to discuss something you unlock automatically upon starting the Barnacle Boatyard taskline.

-

Oh the RNG of that would be hell for me oh my god.

Also re: the dialogue! On youtube if you pause and tap the coma or period keys (’,’ or ‘.’) then you can go a bit more frame by frame.

[ashperiences]

Meant for this to just be part of talking about the first game but didn't realise how much I'd go on lol

Didn't like this one as much, on paper most things sound better and I liked a lot of those ideas but I left without much of a real impression left on me.

The stratums never really ended up feeling like a place to me, I got a little shot of excitement going into the airship but it ultimately just felt like a big bunch of yellow corridors with a knock off version of the previous final boss. The areas could be really pretty and I liked some of the level design and the bringing a specific class gimmicks that unfortunately feel more fun of an idea than actually evocative but oh well.

Therein lies a big problem I had with this, the gameplay mostly turns into spamming big damage, the enemies and levels can get really obnoxious in response and the quests routinely become pains in the ass even as they build some genuinely endearing steps and events in them that make them more than just go to A or collect 6 of B (loved the one that made me mad that finding a guy to deliver a thing to relied on an rng roll to check if he runs away over and over owning me by having the guy eventually be like why the hell are you chasing me who are you though).

I like all these ideas it has, getting to know people in town better, weird FOE gimmicks and all but a lot of the quiet imaginative space is lost, I didn't really wonder about my party, the npcs were more fleshed out and likeable but they weren't really memorable enough to make up for feeling like just some decently entertaining guys in some dlc pack levels.

So much is hampered by relation to the first game, class design is heavily built around nerfing old strategies and over empowering other ones, the story has the same structure but less interesting as an attempt at playing the hits again, we got bird people again but they're magical helpful natives now. It's all just kind of uncomplicated heroics where your attack goes up and eventually you beat up god who is mean and make friends with everyone.

Its fun enough though although similarly the gameplay made it hard to distinguish any real sense of character between my variety of big numbers damage guys. The new class concepts are fun but not tremendously well implemented and the reuse of old classes doesn't help the stale feeling.

I can't stop complaining about it but whenever I think about parts of it I think of them fondly anyway, its not charmless it's just, it's overshadowed and directionless, everything you like feels nice but overtime it kind of just eats away at itself until its a town of slightly charming people and their heroes in a world that just feels built for purpose. I can barely remember any of the actual exploring.

If etrian odyssey 1 ends with your party literally going to hell this one feels like a conscious attempt at crafting explorer heaven - nothing complicates your role, doing big damage almost always wins, everyone ends up loving you and you can live forever as a cool sword guy (suppose there's a fun little thing to think about on context of the villain speech there actually).

I think you can summarise this game with two things:

1. The pathways only open to certain classes that just give you an rpg narration of your guy doing some cool stuff that repeats exactly the same the next time you find one without any of the environment reflecting it and usually organised into some weird box room with multiple class paths like you've found some side mission level select.

2. The way the gunner just inherits a strong move from the now decimated survivalist and also functions as a superior alchemist, the way the war magus can awkwardly remove any mp consideration or how the hexer can just turn hp loss into practically instant killing everything. The game gets flattened under this stuff to the point that the struggle of it all ceases to feel real, no monster is a real threat except by just doing something annoying, every boss gets steamrolled and as if representing the shift in genre the survivalist ends up with practically no purpose.

It was fun while it lasted for sure but also super annoying and I spent most of it thinking about my previous party and looking back on it all I can imagine my party as is an endless succession of multi attack skills.

A true dlc side story 6/10 where you go oh that's a nice idea I guess oh that's a funny guy they put in here and then evaporates.

[jils-things]

Not going on anon for this one because I am feeling. Bold and also. Lazy. BUT !!! I'm once again wishing you luck with your Cyno pulls 💪🏽💪🏽 Hoping that rng look shines upon you and delivers you C1 Cyno and Diluc 🌠🌠🌠

.Or. At least one Cyno. Idk man you just need him PRONTO ‼️

OHH SO IT WAS YOU HEHE HIII

either cyno or diluc. pls. pls they're so important for my team I NEED!!!

it will go good. it will go great. it will go well. i am HOPINGGGGGG

[tobiasdrake]

Episode 75 - The Pokemon League Opens! The Water Field!

The League Challenge is a much more formal affair in the anime. Rather than just showing up whenever and challenging the Elite Four, Ash has to compete in a grandiose competition with the other Trainers who made it this far. I think Sword/Shield in particular took a lot of inspiration from this.

Ash's first opponent is a Juggler NPC named Komu/Mandi. He'll be competing in a water-based arena. Misty wants him to borrow some of her Pokemon, but he retorts that he's already got Squirtle. And. Like. Yes? Yes. I agree with Ash. Misty's Gym Leader-ness has kept her from grasping this concept, but going all-in on a single Type is generally poor team-building.

Of course, Ash then immediately recants this good choice when Oak calls to remind him of his vacant sixth slot. He's got a Muk and thirty Tauros who could fill the space, but he picks Krabby. Okay, Ash. Misty points out that he's never once used Krabby (which is also true of his other options, mind), but Ash is confident with his choice.

Time for the battle to begin.

This being the Water stage, Ash should anticipate Water Pokemon for the same reason Misty was badgering him about using hers. In fact, the match right before Ash's came down to Tentacruel vs. Seaking. Everybody's breaking out their favorite Water Types.

With that in mind and only three Pokemon allowed to be used, Ash would do well to field Pikachu and/or Bulbasaur. With Charizard in the Hell No column for multiple reasons. (Honestly, he should probably just swap out Charizard entirely for a Tauros until he can figure out what he's doing with them.)

Round 1: Exeggutor vs. Krabby

Mandy leads with Exeggutor. This is a fantastic choice. Not only does Exeggutor counter any potential Water adversary but their rare Psychic subtyping gives them a huge edge over most of the Grass Types that Ash might have led with following that same logic - And Grass resists Electric attacks, to boot. Just. An all-around strong starting choice. Good job, Mandy.

Ash. Leads with Krabby. Okay. I probably don't need to say it but Exeggutor, tied with Arcanine for #4 most powerful non-Legendary Pokemon, has an incredible stat edge over Krabby. Krabby does have very slightly stronger Physical stats. But Water, Grass, and Psychic are all Special Types. And Exeggutor has a 100 point lead in base Special. As in, 125 to Krabby's 25. Not to mention probably having some EVs, which Krabby explicitly does not.

And yet, it's not the most bullshit when Ash wins. Mandy uses Psywave and Egg Bomb, the former of which deals direct damage while the latter is Normal, playing to Exeggutor's weaker Physical stats. And Ash gets off a Harden before the Egg Bomb comes in, widening the gap.

The Psywave, having only 80% accuracy, misses. He also goes for a Hypnosis when it's too late and Exeggutor's already taking damage. And Hypnosis only has 60% Accuracy, so that misses too. Mandy got screwed by RNG. We've all been there.

Ash, meanwhile, plays to Krabby's strengths with Vice Grip and Stomp. It's still pretty bullshit since he might as well have just caught Krabby yesterday for all the XP and EVs they have, but it's not the worst victory he's ever pulled off.

On the plus side, Krabby picks up so much XP from this grotesquely improbable victory that they evolve into Kingler on the spot. And. Yeah. We're at Indigo Plateau. That checks out.

Round 2: Kingler vs. Seadra

This is pretty even. Like Kingler, Seadra's a fairly blunt Pokemon. Kingler's tied with four other Pokemon for #2 highest Attack, while also #7 for highest Defense. Seadra is slightly faster than Kingler. They favor Special, but their Defense is just as strong, so they can take a beating from Kingler without going down.

Mutual Water Disadvantage means Kingler's signature Crabhammer won't be very strong, but neither will Seadra's Hydro Pump. So their best edge is going to go to their off-Type moves. In that regard, Kingler's built to deliver powerful Normal attacks while Seadra favors Ice, a Type that Water Pokemon also resist. That gives Kingler a powerful edge to beat Seadra to death with.

Kingler's still got DEF +1, but that won't be relevant against Seadra. However, the damage they already took from that Egg Bomb could clinch it for Seadra. This looks like a tight match.

Seadra leads with Agility, which the anime has always interpreted to be an Evasion increase. Ash panics and tries to land some of Kingler's weaksauce Water Gun and Bubble moves. But when the opportunity arises, he goes for Crabhammer, crushing through Seadra's Water resistance for a one-hit KO. (I would have gone for Stomp, but to each their own.)

Round 3: Kingler vs. Golbat

Mandy warns that Golbat is his ace. They're easily the weakest Pokemon he's fielded by stats and their damaging move selection is piss. But Golbat's got some decent status moves they could pull out, most notably Toxic and Confuse Ray?

I admit, I'm at a loss for where he's going with this. G1 Golbat's trash. They're faster than Kingler and have higher HP and Special, but that's all they've got going for them. And their movelist doesn't even have anything to take advantage of their higher Special; But for the Mega Drain TM, they're purely Physical. So. I guess if they have Mega Drain, that's nice. It gets advantage against Water Types?

Golbat uses Double-Team to boost Evasion. This allows them to evade Kingler's Vice-Grip and buys them the turn they need to charge up Razor Wind.

Kingler's modified 195 holy shit Defense lets them take the hit from Razor Wind without too much difficulty. But then Mandy reveals that he does, in fact, have Mega Drain on his Golbat. Before he can land it, however, it's Kingler's turn. And Ash pulls out his trump card: a Hyper Beam that blows Golbat away and ends the match.

And Hyper Beam's still a Physical move right now so, yeah, that hit like a truck. Good time to use it, too, since clinching the match means Ash doesn't have to deal with the cooldown turn. Well played.

Winner: Ash!

Oh man, Mandy got so screwed here. Exeggutor should have had this but got dropkicked by RNG so hard, and from that point there was nothing he could do to stop an entirely reasonable Kingler sweep that Ash never should have been able to set up in the first place.

And if that Hyper Beam's anything to go by, Ash may not have trained his Krabby but he did not hesitate to apply some last-minute TMs just before the match started. So that's something, at least.

Takeaway for Ash: Go. Like. Put some time into EV training for Kingler before you bring them out into another one of these matches. Luck was a major factor in why you pulled this off.

Takeaway for Mandy: G1 Golbat is not an appropriate ace. Make better choices. You basically threw that last round.

[baeshijima]

The 4.2 trailer... I am still processing it all...

*Buries face in palms and mumbles incoherent sentences*

I thought I couldn't be more hyped then I was last version but genshin proved me wrong and I will thank them for that!

I didn't have an opinion on Furina for quite a while because of how less we know of her, but regardless I think that she doesn't deserve whatever hardships she'll face, like the prophecy that says she'll be all alone after fontaine drowns & the sound of her crying in the fountain of lucine? I mean just look at that adorable little idle animation of her blowing bubbles with her little friend *sobs uncontrollably* must protect at all costs!!

And that part of Neuvillette looking extremely sad— like how dare anyone make him sad! Must protect both our hydro lovelies!! And Navia too!!

And the all-devouring narwhal??? Excuse me it looks so cool?????? And the lady every sAID WAS SKIRK???? CHILDE AND NEUVILLETTE AND THE NARWHAL SCENE?????

AND AYATO RERUN???? I have a guaranteed and am at 56 pity, so he's coming home for sure hehe! But I hope your pulls for Furina go amazing and you have left overs for Ayato!! May rng be kind to us and everyone pulling in the upcoming banners🤞

*kicking the air giggling uncontrollably*

Ahem... I should calm down, now, just need to wait a few days for the update!!

🍀

NO BC I UNDERSTAND HOW U FEEL CLOVER NONNIE !!!!! the trailer literally had me on the edge of my seat gasping, hand over my mouth wide-eyed and everything i was so??????????

falls to the floor.

the opening lines especially and how neuvie delivered them KILLED me sm like no bro dont do this to me im not ready no pls dont pls i just want my daughter to come home happy and healthy and safe pls she has to be safe why is she crying dont cry stop making her cry shes been through enough pls........

aND THE NARWHAL AND SKIRK REVEAL PLS IT WAS ONE THING AFTER ANOTHER WITH THIS PATCH LIVESTREAM 😭 LIKE WHEN WE PLAY THIS IN GAME I WILL NOT BE OKAY I WONT BE OKAY THE WHOLE AQS BUT ITS FINE BC IM NEVER OKAY AHAHHLFD

AND STOP THE AYATO RERUN HAD ME PUNCHING THE AIR IMAGINING HE WAS IN FRONT OF ME LIKE NO SIR WHY WOULD U RERUN DURING EVERY BANNER I EITHER PULLED IN THE PREV BANNER AND HAVE NO FUNDS, HAVE PLANS TO PULL FOR IN THE CURRENT AND CANT AFFORD TO GET U, OR AM SAVING FOR THE NEXT BANNER AND ALSO CANT AFFORD TO PULL BC OF SAVINGS 🧍‍♀️

clover nonnie we have been manifesting ayato together for ages and so i hope u get him early and c6 in ur first 10 pull 🙏

[i8register]

i8 Live is an online gaming platform that strives to provide the best eGaming experience with a comprehensive suite of products ranging from Lotteries, Live Casinos, Sportsbook, Slots, RNG Number Games, e-Games, Virtual Sports, Multi-tables Poker and Tournament Pokers.. i8 Live operates under the license issued by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

i8 Live is available on both desktop and mobile platforms, providing its players with the most convenient access to play on the go. As an all-in-one platform, i8 Live ensures it players get to enjoy a wide range of products and services.

Trust, Value, Speed – i8 Live values serve as a promise to deliver the best eGaming experience to its players. i8 Live caters to all types of player’s needs, ranging from the casual punter up to VIP players. You can enjoy all this by joining i8 Live.

Register Now at https://i8my.live/register?code=7fTHYgpL and Contact Us @ https://t.me/i8Register to Claim for Your RM10 Welcome Bonus!

To find out more on i8.Live Register, visit us at https://www.i8register.com/

#i8Live#i8Register#MostTrustedOnlineCasino#OnlineCasinoMalaysia#SignUpBonus#HighBonus#HighCommissions#HighRewards#ShareholderScheme

[the-chattering-tower]

I cannot wait for the amount of mass hatches the moment this thing falls on someone delivers the arcancients

If they're cool enough I might even hatch an egg of my own about it but at the end of the day I much prefer to casually browse through other ppl's bad decisions than tempt RNG with a measly one of my own

[52booksproject]

Book 28 The Skeptics Guide to Conspiracies

The RNG threw out 366 which is Secret Societies such as the Freemasons or Knights Templar. A book of conspiracy theories about them seemed interesting, so I went with Monte Cook's The Skeptics Guide to Conspiracies since I'm a skeptic myself.

Well, the book seems a little more credible than I am since they rank each conspiracy by believability and wackiness, and their ratings were often higher than I would have put them.

Take the Kennedy assassination. I actually was a believer back as a young, impressionable teen right when the 30th anniversary hype happened. I think I actually cried in frustration when Quantum Leap said they thought Oswald did it alone. However I've moved away from that and now do believe that Oswald did it and all the mystery surrounding the assassination comes from the bungling investigation that followed. There is one conspiracy about it I rate plausible- that a secret service agent in the cars ahead of Kennedy slipped and accidentally delivered the fatal headshot. They don't mention that one in the book- just the standard mafia/CIA/Castro stuff. There is the curious coincidence that 3 future presidents were in Dallas that day (Johnson in the motorcade, Nixon playing golf, and Bush skulking around being CIA-y). It added up to a 7/10 plausibility, which I disagree with, but agree it is more likely than some of the other conspiracies in the book. Incidentally, while I also don't believe in an RFK conspiracy, I do actually buy a conspiracy against Dr. Martin Luther King, they didn't get extensively into it, but there does seem to be some substance there.

They give alien abductions a 6/10 which, to me is just crazypants. Sleep paralysis seems a good explanation for the lion's share of the stories and kookiness the rest. The book rounds out with conspiracies on Princess Diana, Marilyn Monroe, Jim Morrison, Elvis, and the moon landing. Incidentally, apparently Stanley Kubrick directing the faked moon landing started out as some wag's joke, but now some people actually believe it!

BEST LINE: This is why conspiracy theorists have decently adopted the term "parapolitics" to describe what it is they research and write about. We've yet to see that term catch on, however.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK: If you want a breezy overview of many different conspiracies then this isn't a bad choice. It includes resources to go more in depth on any of its subjects and except for a little credulity here in there is mainly a sensible book with a good dose of humor.

ART PROJECT:

The last conspiracy was called the octopus and it essentially is a grand unifying theory trying to cram all the conspiracies together in one elegant theory. So here's an octopus gathering the mafia/freemasons/UN/and Kennedy assassination all together.

[invictarre-archive]

Destruction and Rebirth - Leon Delarosa's Hisuian Spring Festival Performance.

POKEMON IN THE APPEAL. Charizard (Char)  /  Sunny Day, Mystical Fire, Will-O-Wisp Rhyperior (Pebble)  /  Dig, Rain Dance Dragapult (Trebuchet)  /  Surf, Dragon Darts Aegislash (Duel)  /  Stance Change ability  /  Iron Defense, Swords Dance Mr. Rime (Duke)  /  Dazzling Gleam, Charm, Blizzard

OTHER NOTES. Music: Waltz No. 2 by Dmitri Shostakovich Space-Time Distortion RNG outcome: Nat 20  😎

Leon has specifically chosen the driest, most barren terrain possible for his performance staging. His exact request had been for farmland that looks like it hadn’t seen water in a century, and Hisui had delivered just as perfectly as he’d hoped they would. The earth is caked with dried mud, cracked and kicking up clouds of dust with every slight breeze that passes by. There’s even some withered crops still planted firmly in the ground, wilted and with their curled leaves stubbornly clinging on.

Perfect.

Leon leads his first two performers out as the first notes of music begin to play, Char and Duke taking their places on opposite ends of the field.

Char moves first, crouching down on all fours and puffing out short bursts of Mystical Fire. The flames are much smaller than any he’d use to fight, spiralling through the air and catching on the withered plants embedded in the stage terrain. As he does this, however, his tail swirls around to his side and flares a bright white, soon releasing a move of its own: Will-O-Wisp. These flames come in a range of colours, everywhere from light blue to white to lilac, their cool tones mixing with the Mystical Fire’s warm and setting the dead crops alight in a rainbow of fire.

The attacks keep coming, each new pair of flames released in sharp one-two bursts on time with the music, spiralling across the field in bigger, more elaborate dances until they find the next thing to burn.

Once all the dead crops are ablaze, Duke makes his move, twirling and waving his arm to summon a light Blizzard. The snowflakes move quickly, mingling with the flames and shrinking the ones getting too excitable. This gentle weather mix keeps everything under control, the flames unable to be snuffed out by such little snowfall but equally unable to gain any leverage against its constant presence, and both pokemon take their leave to wait ioff to the side for their next cue.

Next out is Duel, who, at Leon’s nod, begins his Swords Dance. He weaves and bobs, each swing of his blade forcing the Blizzard to dissipate and the (now fully charred) plants to crumble into ash. His natural grace certainly adds to the beauty of this move muse, Leon has to admit. Without the need for speed or opponent intimidation, he can really appreciate how effortlessly Duel slices through the air, using the force of his own self-created gusts to remove his previous teammates’ attacks. It takes no time at all before the terrain is truly barren, all remnants of its past removed and lost to the wind.

Duel floats upwards at the same time as the telltale waves of Surf come lapping inwards, led by the ever-cheery Trebuchet. Though this is a move he’d only recently learned (and one Leon had spent countless hours practicing with him), the dragon guides the waves like he’d been born to do it, skimming his claws against the ground and letting the water soak into every inch. He leads the water around several times, filling every crack and clawing lines through the dirt to expose more of the cracked mud below, and only lets it sink in once he’s satisfied with his work.

The earth is clumped closer together now, no longer separated by the huge cracks that’d been scattered across its surface, and the dry sandy colour has transformed into a rich, dark brown. It’s already a magnificent change from before, and Leon beams up at Trebuchet, meeting the pokemon’s delighted hiss with an overjoyed laugh of his own. This is all going so well!

Trebuchet shoots his Dreepy out of his head like tiny Dragon Darts, letting the babies push holes into the soil with the same one-two pattern Char had been using. The Dreepy, for their part, seem rather happy with this change of scenery, and quickly return to Trebuchet each time, their tiny cries a demand for more of this treatment.

One-two.

One-two.

One-two.

Trebuchet continues his Dragon Darts until the entire terrain is covered in neatly spaced holes, each one made courtesy of the Dreepy hanging out of his head. With that settled, he floats off to hover somewhere behind the performance, content with having completed his work for the day.

Pebble is next up, the Rhyperior Digging into the dirt with a care most wouldn’t associate with a beast of a battler like her. She’d been ruthless in Leon’s Champion days, a steamroller of high attack and higher defense that even the most seasoned battler would find themselves struggling against, and yet here she is gently widening the holes the Dreepy had made with the most serene expression a Rhyperior could make. She was so entranced in her work, in fact, that she didn’t even notice the Space-Time Distortion opening up mid-performance.

Out pour a whole parade of Sudowoodo, no doubt confused and looking for a place to hide. Sensing an opportunity, Leon steps close to the parade leader and guides them, carefully, towards one of the holes Pebble had dutifully widened. This isn’t what he’d been anticipating, but… What better use for this new, freshly-prepared soil, than to provide a home for some pokemon in need? The Sudowoodo seemed to agree, if their hasty leap into the hole was any indication, and the rest of their parade soon followed. The few stragglers trail Pebble as she worked, even letting her pat down the soil around them and secure their new guests in the ground, and soon every unexpected Sudowoodo has found a place to settle and become part of a living forest on the performance floor.

Undeterred by this change of plans, Char flies in to join Duel above the terrain, moving into the next phase of his performance. His tail flame flares brighter once again as he launches into a beautiful Sunny Day, the ball of sunlight resting behind his head like a halo and spreading its rays across the stage. Some of the Sudowoodo jostle at the feeling of the warmth, twitching in their holes to stretch closer towards it, and the radiant light soon attracts a whole new plethora of unexpected guests: Cherrim.

A flurry of them comes rushing out of the Distortion, their petals flipping open to reveal the bright, excited faces of their Sunshine form as they bask in the rays. Some decide to climb up onto the scattered Sudowoodo, turning the normal tree-like appearances into something more akin to cherry-blossom trees. Others, less adventurous than their climbing peers, are happy to simply dance about in the sunshine, gathering underneath Char and bouncing from leg to leg as they smiled up at him. It’s… pretty cute, Leon had to admit. These Cherrim even have the kindness to keep their dance in time with the music playing, their stubby little bodies unaccustomed to waltzing but trying their best regardless.

Duel, apparently learning from Char’s example, takes it upon himself to coat both blade and shield in an elegant sheen of Iron Defense, the new reflectivity catching the sun rays and bouncing them around. His Stance Change ability activated with this, his shield snapping up into position and moving around the sunbeams even more. This delighted the Cherrim, who (attempted to) waltz their way over to these new spots of light, their petals fluttering excitedly as they did so.

Perhaps it’s their excited cheering that entices in their third and final guest: Hisuian Lilligant, stepping onto the floor with the most elegant movements Leon’s ever seen in a pokemon. She seems to almost float with every step she takes, never needing to correct her stance or second-guess a step.

It’s an honour to share his stage with her.

Duke taps his way through the Sudowoodo and Cherrim to meet her, bowing low with an extra added hint of Charm. He offers out his hand, which the Lilligant takes, and pulls her into a waltz that (unlike the Cherrim’s sweet attempts) is perfectly executed. Though a tap-dancer by nature, Duke is a gentleman of many talents, and he has no problems steering them around and through the dappled sunlight. Petals burst from the floor wherever Lilligant steps, tiny explosions of colour blooming all across the soil and covering the dirt below as she releases Petal Dance after Petal Dance, and Duke matches her enthusiasm with a Dazzling Gleam. The flash of light envelops them both, glittering with every colour imaginable and sparkling downwards to draw people’s attention to the steadily-growing petal carpet spreading across the terrainand impressively coordinated footwork of the waltzing pair.

Just as rehearsed, Pebble ends the performance with a Rain Dance as the music reaches its final stretch, the light drizzle mixing with the Sunny Day to create a rainbow, stretching across the width of the terrain as Duke and Lilligant’s dance comes to an end.

This was not what Leon had prepared for, and yet… It all feels right.

A barren, dried up landscape, transformed by his pokemon’s efforts and now blossoming into a pokemon-filled flower forest, complete with the illusion of some cherry-blossom Sudowoodo. It’s beyond anything he could have achieved on his own, even with his beloved pokemon here to assist, and yet he imagines such an outcome couldn’t have existed without his team first helping to lay the groundwork. Sudowoodo couldn’t take root in dried, withered ground, after all!

This had been a team effort, for sure. A perfect, if accidental, collaboration between Galar and Hisui.

His smile is brilliant as he bows, all of his pokemon following suit and doing the same. Even the Lilligant joins in, one of her leaf arms resting delicately in Duke’s hand.

                   ❝  Excellently done, everyone,  ❞ Leon says, glancing over towards the Space-Time Distortion as he does.

A perfect collaboration, indeed.