#the first one is her usual default fairy dragon form

[bloo-the-dragon]

Since you're a dragon, what does your dragon sona look like?

This

and sometimes this

[hag-rambling-on]

Fairy Transformations

Yes, they can go back to a previous form. Except Charmix, read it.

WARNING LONG POST

Winx - Yes

The most difficult of transformations, even if you only need to do it ONE time. And then the other times, to transform you again are optional. Love yourself. The wings are of medium-small size AND the only ones purely solid, like extra appendages. They move like the wings of a hummingbird.

Charmix - Yes/Redesign. Actually there are many types of Charmix. 

Charmix is what you call the temporary boost or power up, the antechamber you can summon while chasing a transformation, while fighting/training/searching for said form. It usually invokes the wings and superimposes some other characteristic detail of said transformation with your current form.

Obviously It's temporary and once you get the transformation you're looking for, you never get THAT Charmix again. Like If you was searching for the Believix, you lost your Charmix/Believix but still can get the Charmix/Enchantix, or if you were in Enchantix your Enchantix-Charmix/Believix.

I already said in another post, fairies spend a year shaping their basic fairy look - sometimes with hilarious results - until it stabilizes. The charmix is a similar process... but easier, more directed, more focused since unlike the basic form, you have a good foundation and an clear objective where the Winx was a doubtful jump where you did not see the end.

Enchantix - Yes

Sacrifice - but not - for others. Love others, apreciate others lifes. But not from a point your conscience perceive ir as selfish. Big but not solid wings, although fairies can perceive them as both an appendage and an extra sense. Most wings feel like this.

Believix - Yes

To be loved, believed by others. Very big wings too. Like basic ones, also like hummingbirds. It is highly influenced by the people around you, but it also allows you to influence them. Not many people use it. But it has a lot of potential.

Gifts of Destiny: Sophix/Lovix are reinvented, as they do not exist as this transformation per se. These are environmental transformations and some winx manage to win these in Believix.

Harmonix - Yes

It’s have a witch equivalent form.

A better form than enchantix, which works to face easyly any Realms Transformations (Life, Death, Space/Time, Dreams, Magic). So to get like all the new forms under here, you theoretically want to have the Harmonix first. Unless an Ethereal gives you a quick pass (which is what happens to the Winx with the Forestix and the Polarix). Kinda, love the world, the universe where you lives.

This is because the Harmonix gives you an overall boost in all magical abilities and allows you to move through all environments to some degree.

... I'd better redesign the costumes a bit because suddenly this is the most important transformation.

Ok, pre-series??? the easiest, trickiest of the roads to getting the Harmonix, was to go to Domino and have the "ok, just go away I’m working, gesh, I can believe I must donate 1h of my time every day to this” of someone from the royal family. Since they are "blessed" by an Ethereal on our planet of existence.

The other way is to go to a crossing of ley lines and open your magic core to natural magic, manifesting your resolution. The world is semi conscious, it does not care if you are good or bad, it look at your determination and if you do not let yourself be carried away by the waves, because as the weather changes, on the ley lines, the magic changes too, it can be overwhelming.

“Elemental” -More like Envionmental ones, Life Realm

My equivalent to: Sirenix, Sophix, Lovix, Greenix etctera.

Do not had exacty witch equivalents but their harmonix get the alltogether called Milieu Talismans.

You don't need the Harmonix for them, but it makes it easier.

To get these forms you are supposed to do a search for a special object at each transformation. If you have been able to tune into natural magic, it is a matter of doing it again and it will give you a vision. With time limit. You have to interpret the vision and complete the mision. Of course, if you love where you are, the mission is feels easy because you know how to move.

These are "blessed" by the Great Dragon, since they are transformations that affect the Plane of Life, so Bloom gets a +1 in all and usually seems the strongest one, minus in the Desertix, here +3.

Polarix: Won by the Winx during their Believix period. The perfect transformation for ice or snow users, for those living in the taiga, tundra, polar deserts or even the arctic. It has the peculiarity of covering the whole body, either with tights and long sleeves and translucent materials or clothes that really look warm. Fluffy it’s best, but also geometric details. Equivalent to the Lovix one.

Forestix: Won by the Winx during their Believix period. With details of flowers, branches, leaves, moss, mushrooms. Anything of a vegetable or fungus environment. It gives Flora more strength (+2) and she keeps its as her default form if there is any problem with their current one. Equivalent to the Sophix one.

Desertix: Deserts, savannas. Increases heat tolerance and and temperature changes in general, favors fire, fire related and crystal attacks. It would favor Bloom, if she got it. The wings give a rough impression, like swirling sand or fire.

Cavernix: Suitable for life in the deep Earth. Helps with pressure, darkness, temperature changes, lack of oxygen. Their outfits and wings show rigid lines and some kind of gem depending on the person. It would favor Diaspro if I had it. In fact, it also would favors Musa, because it boosts her ultrasounds.

Mountainix: A tactical agreement between heaven and earth. Altitude, lower oxygen, low temperatures. It is a form quite sought after by people who want a general boost in their magic since it takes up a bit of everything. This would be the best for Tecna as is a liminal transformation, as her magic is -liminal I mean- which tapes natural and artificial magics-

Skyix: If you want to live uniquely and exclusively in heaven, this is your transformation. If your magic revolves around the weather or winds, this is your transformation. Sometimes people get it accidentally while looking for the Mountainix. The ears disappear and the eyes change to adapt to strong winds and harsh weather. Featherlike wings.

Mermaidix: A form adapted to life in the oceans and the depths, includes beaches, mangroves, etc.  It can tolerate unsalted water, but not too well (marshes). It gives Aisha more strength. Wear details of the sea such as algae, corals, shells, starfish, sea dollars, etc and the wings become a little they act more like a dorsal fin, also, mermaid/octopi/jellyfish tails. Equivalent to the Sirenix.

Naiadix: The transformation akin of people of fresh waters like fountains, wells, springs, streams and brooks. Includes swamps and bogs. It can tolerate salty water, but not too well (marshes). Use very delicate fabrics, reeds, wild rice, water lilies and some other ornamental flowers. It maintains the legs but swimming membranes appear on the hands, feet and ears, the wings shrink to be more dynamic. It’s cries “wet”. Also favors Aisha.

Cosmix: This form doesn't actually fall under the Great Dragon, but the Ethereal that dominates it can't be bothered to cares. To get it you have to befriend a Lumen. Who are creatures that live in their stars (not planets). It allows you to move through space. Favors Stella.

MORIX AND SOMNIX, Death and Dreams Realms - mine and retouched dreamix/onyrix

They had witch equivalents.

Morix - The transformation blessed by the Phoenix. You must have Harmonix. A very misunderstood transformation, it allows you to communicate with the world of the dead, rest agitated spirits and the people they left here, not just summon zombies -which look like shadows. And you are sooo much harder to kill. It also increases your healing abilities, humans and nature related. [Not all Good is purely Good. And not all Evil is purely Evil.] Ripped, gnawed clothes. Their wings barely move. Darkar is a Morix Fae in this rewinxing. Witches from almost dying a couple of times can access this form. That's bad and sad and traumatic. And it doesn't work for fairies. It is a complicated transformation for the fairies if you have not received it as a gift. Accepting and welcoming death as part of life, especially for such long lives, is difficult.

Dreamix - CANCELLED, Harmonix acting as this au charmix. Time limit.

Somnix- You must have Harmonix. SO, kinda transformation blessed by another Ethereal but this one usually kinda say hi to people more frecuently (in their dreams -no joking). Then you have to immerse yourself in a magical induced dream, come out of your own dream and find the Door to the Ethereal Palace and get an ok. Or unconsciously wander outside of your own dreams long enough to collect energy from the Dream Plane. On the Plane of Dreams which watch out, it's a realm of dreams and nightmares. Good thing fairies attrack good dreams... normally. It’s the Onyrix one.

Bloomix - As much as it is one of my favorite designs when it comes to outfits... Cancelled.

It’s simply tuning in to a ley line and recharging in this au, although it is crazy, like having a broken leg, fixing it, getting high and going for a run, it is better to give some time or meditate, just meditate... unless you do it as a group in a wild magic crossroad and don’t die in the attempt I guess. Then Wild Renmants.

Faunix - Yes

Love and be loved by an animal. If Roxy were a fairy in rewinxing (here is a witch), she would have gotten this form by default.

Tynix - Cancelled

Along with MiniWorlds There are many planets, there are nature reserves. And if there wasn't, from enchantix you can miniaturize yourself.

Mythix -... YES

Ugg... I REALLY DON’T LIKE THIS FORM AT ALL. redesign redesign, REDESIGN.... *note to seft, armor, give the armor I delete in Bloomix*

Can be use by a witch, or even a specialist, Mike or Vanessa, same name.

You must prove themselves before any of the Seven Ancestral Rods. All identical in form and color, except when used. They contain the fragments of conscience and magic of their former users. And they demand fragments of yours to be used, so that each next user who comes is more worthy of their power and gets even stronger. Commit.

So it's someone else's clothes with little, very little influences from you. It includes armor -because I want- Because the Ancient Ones were prepared to die.

NYMPHIX - my version

Has a witch equivalent.

Only achieved by those who have achieved ... all of the different Realms. Daphne has it.. because, she's Dahne. And she is older than she looks.

A long robe-tunic-flowy cloth, any style, just a single accessory, bare feet.

You also have to pass a test somewhere in Magix or Hike's asteroid belt remains, but not even nymphs / lampads can share that information even if they want!.

PHILAUTHIX  - NEW

This is a hypothesized form only.  Or seen in precognitive visions "what if?"  1/-

Its looks like an ageless version of the winx form. With bigger wings, intricate details only appreciable up close, intangible.

Winx form is achieved by feeling proud or with yourself for a moment, and that memory is the activator of the subsequent transformations.

Philauntix It is achieved by loving yourself (2.0), the good and the bad, what you did, are doing and what you will do. Not forgiving it, loving it. And not for a second, it has to be something frequent enough that energy has been stored for a while to activate this transformation.

ENKIX  - NEW

Believed it was only obtained by those who have obtained in Nymphix... until the Winx obtained it. Be loved... by a Ethernal.

The last transformation for the last Realm. Magic. Magic at its Purest Form.

There may be more transformations based on things that people love. Music, travel. Or in different acts of love. Kill for love, surrender, give up something IMPORTANT for love. But I'm not going to start designing more.

[dapper-ships-herself]

Dapper!!! :0c Tell me about your Fairy Tail s/i?

So! I technically have two for Fairy Tail, except unlike my BSD s/is where they’re each very different, the main difference here is simply the backstories, present day during the story the personality and most of my relationships are the same.

For personality in general, kind and soft spoken, with a subtle mischievous nature too, snark with a sweet smile you could say, but her teasing is never mean. Like so many members of the guild, she is fiercely protective of their family. The only way to actually make her mad is by threatening an innocent person. Her hobbies include reading, art, and staring at Erza. The exact nature and start of that friendship changes a little depending on the backstory, but basically they have been best friends since childhood, with my s/i harboring a secret crush all that time. I went into more detail on her relationships here.    

First backstory is the Dreyar backstory. In this she is Laxus’s little sister. She and her brother are close, he’s super protective, and my s/i looks up to him, in fact due to an incident when they were both children (which I want to write about) she vows that one day she will “grow strong enough to protect even you.” Though after their father was banished from the guild and Laxus changed, there was a rift between them, but she still knows her kind brother is buried in there. She also greatly respects her grandfather, not growing to harbor that same resentment as Laxus did. As for their father, I haven’t actually gotten to where he’s properly introduced in, I believe, the grand magic games arc, but I know that backstory and stuff, so I think she has mixed feelings about him, her being so young when he was banished that she really hardy remembers him and only really knows he did something bad to be kicked out. This is also the default backstory that I use most often.

The other backstory is the library backstory, and this one is a lot more me making shit up. In this, she was actually born far back in the past, in to a village that still feared most magics except for a few types of holder magic. My s/i was born as the grand daughter of the village leader, and she was also born able to use magic. She couldn’t do anything impressive as it was mostly only like magical potential, but still her grandfather wanted to banish her for it, but her parents managed to convince him that she was safe so long as they made sure she never used it. Still, rumors spread about her being “strange” and she was a black sheep of the village. She only had one friend, a girl a little bit older than her named Rimis, or Ri for short. Her childhood wasn’t great, but her parent’s cared for her and she had Ri, so it was fine. One day though, a magical monster attacked their village. In the chaos, she and Ri found themselves confronted by the beast and Ri was killed by it protecting her. In her sorrow, she blindly unleashed a wave of her magic, reaper magic. This took care of the monster, but all her village saw when the dust cleared was one little girl on the ground and the black sheep angrily crackling with dark magical energy. They were convinced that she used her power to bring that creature to their village in the first place, and no amount of protest and pleading would convince them otherwise. Her grandfather, in front of the angry mob her village had turned into, announced that she was a demon and needed to be sealed away, and he presented one of the few magical items the village held, a key to open the library of Nairat, said to be a vast library assembled by a demon that contains book from the past, present, and future, and exists technically as a pocket dimension outside of time. It sounds pretty great until you get to the part where it can only be opened to allow inside on person at a time, and that once someone goes in they can only get back out by reading every single book held inside, and if they give up then they are turned to stone. She pleaded that she had no part in the monster attacking, but no one listened, and even her parents only cried as they silently watched her get thrown inside. She spent the next 936 years trapped in there, not ageing physically or mentally, until she finally read the last book in Nairat’s collection and the door reopened. She found herself in a strange land, and stranger still the people here actually seemed to celebrate magic. She wandered from city to city until eventually she made it to Magnolia, where master Makarov found her alone in the streets and invited her back to the guild. After being alone for nearly a thousand years, she had kind of forgotten how to talk to people, and so was effectively mute for months. It took her a while to feel comfortable in the guild and to trust that they wouldn’t banish her, and for her to feel safe training her own magic.

After her backstory is revealed to the other characters, I imagine a sort of running joke is that they always expect her to have like some wise knowledge about a situation like she’s a scholar or something but she’s usually like “I wasn’t actually studying any of those books, I read them as fast as possible so I could get the heck out of that place, also I was like eight so   ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ “ and she mostly only remembers vague knowledge and random useless trivia she loves to share.  

Fun fact, in this backstory, the cloak she wears was sewn as a gift from her parents.

As for what magic she uses, I used to switch it based on my mood between three different types, except now I think I want her to be able to use all three normally. Sounds op but I think I balance it alright and justify the why well enough also everyone in this show is op. Anyway, the magic types are the already mentioned reaper magic (basically controlling and shaping a dark energy, able to stabilize people in a critical state but not actually able to heal, with moves such as reaper’s scythe, reaper’s hand, reaper’s mercy, and reaper’s minions), sweets magic (a much lighter form of magic, takes the shape of pieces of candy, one capability is she can summon a giant lollipop that can hover off the ground but not actually fly, and like licorice whips, a tidal wave of sugar, etc), and crystal magic (able to grow crystals up from surfaces that jut up like jagged spikes or rise up like a shield). So each magic has different benefits and uses depending on what kind of fight she’s. I could probably explain them a bit better but I am a bit tired rn.  

Dreyar! Gillian can use these three because she was implemented with lacrima like Laxus by their father, except she’s not a dragon slayer and got two smaller lacrima that allowed her to branch her magic like that. She was born with the sweets magic. Some people have called her a protege because of this and she becomes embarrassed and a little ashamed, knowing that that strength is from the lacrimas. 

Library! Gillian learned crystal magic from a book in the library to then draw out most of her reaper magic and seal it within a crystal she created out of fear and shame, leaving only a formless magical potential inside herself, and then when she started learning magic at the guild properly, she used some techniques she remembered from some books to reshape the magical potential she had to present itself as something far less threatening, the sweets magic. During her personal arc early on in the story (I picture it being the arc before the Tower of Heaven arc), when her backstory is revealed (and I kind of want to type out what I picture for this arc because I got like a whole thing), that’s when she breaks the crystal sealing away her reaper magic and begins to realize that it’s okay to start accepting this part of her she’s been so afraid of even still. 

Maybe some of this actually wouldn’t fully work within the story, but like I said I haven’t actually seen the whole show/manga and while I do know at least generally what happens my knowledge isn’t perfect especially about lore things although I did try and do research. 

I tried to keep it a pretty basic overview but it still got long! Anyway, I love my FT s/i so I’m always happy to answer questions and stuff~

(Forgive any spelling or grammar mistakes please, it’s late rn and spell checking is for whimps (translation: I’m totally gonna reread this ramble tomorrow and kick myself for mistakes)) 

[mannatea]

Pokémon Shield: A Review

DISCLAIMER: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS HERE!

First, my credentials/gaming history, so you can see if my opinion is valuable to you or not. I would like to make it clear from the start that I do not consider myself a ‘gamer’ by any stretch of the imagination. I’m a filthy casual at best.

I’ve been playing video games since I was maybe eight or nine years old. I’ve always enjoyed dabbling in a variety of genres, and have a great appreciation for the work that goes into creating each and every game, no matter the intended audience. Some of my all-time favorite titles include Tales of Symphonia, Fire Emblem (7), Final Fantasy IX, Legend of Dragoon, Chrono Cross, Tetris, Bust-a-Move, Project Gotham Racing, Ecco the Dolphin (PC,DC), Roller Coaster Tycoon, Harvest Moon (N64/PS1), World of Warcraft, and of course our beloved Pokemon!

I started with Pokemon Red, and enjoyed it immensely, but Silver stole my heart and my imagination. My brother and I used to sit at the kitchen table with guide books open and notebooks at the ready to craft and create new, extremely cool teams. I sank an unbelievable amount of hours into that game, and into Pokemon Stadium (1 & 2), Hey You! Pikachu, Pokemon Puzzle League, and even Pokemon Pinball. Unfortunately after Silver, my interest waned. I was an adult by the time Emerald debuted, and while I was initially charmed by it, found my interest waning quickly. I bought and played Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, SoulSilver, and Black & White, but didn’t beat any of them. I felt like the magic had…disappeared somehow.

But when X and Y released in 2013, I binged on Pokemon X, beat it, and for the first time since childhood started breeding a competitive team just for the heck of it. I also found myself really enjoying Pokemon Sun a couple of years later (though the post-game of breeding didn’t really do it for me this time).

They lost me with Ultra Sun/Moon. I wanted to like them, really, but it was too much of a rehash, and too much handholding (like the originals were, and I could only stand going through that once).

Now here we are with Pokemon Sword and Shield. They released just a few days ago (15 November, 2019) and the controversy has been wild. It seems to me that everyone has some kind of very strong opinion, and a lot of people are very angry.

Pokemon has always been one of my favorite franchises, but my history with the games is far from spotless so I like to think I can manage a mostly unbiased review, though of course everything in this post is my personal opinion.

Here’s what I’ve done in the game:

40 hours played.

200 pokemon in the pokedex.

Main story and post-game story completed.

I played with no specific self-imposed rules and was not spoiled for hardly anything before I started playing.

The Game’s Introductory Sequence [8/10]

As is standard for the franchise these days, the game flings you into the world with little fanfare regarding customization. Rather than the intro being a dialogue of sorts between your character and a professor, you are now instructed to choose what you look like (from a sparse few options) after typing in your name.

The first ‘cinematic’ is pretty boring, but I think the attempt at immersion is genuine enough (the idea being that your character is watching Leon’s broadcasted fight on your new smart phone). My character has a better house in-game than I do in real life. I’d kill for all that storage in the kitchen!

My biggest gripe with the introduction is that it reminded me too much of Sun & Moon’s introduction—in the worst of ways. I wouldn’t say it’s slow-paced, but the constant interruption by other characters is about enough to make a person rage-quit. Luckily I’ve been blessed with a lot of patience; it makes tedious content easy to bear (so long as it’s not difficult), but even I was feeling antsy before the first hour of the game was up, just because Hop and Leon never shut up and I was chomping at the bit to Explore.

Considering this is the first thing a player experiences…I really feel it could have been improved, especially the dialogue, but there were a few really positive things about it, too. The outdoor BBQ was a nice touch (considering everyone knew we’d be going off on Adventures in the morning and all), the game does let you avoid having to learn how to catch a pokemon (your mom slips a few pokeballs into your bag at one point without telling you and if you use them to catch pokemon, Leon will not teach you how to do it later), and I feel like as far as introductions go, this one was fairly short when compared to Sun and Moon’s introductory period.

While I’m being positive, the game plops you down into an idyllic little English countryside and not only do you get to enjoy that aesthetic, but the Slumbering Weald is probably one of the prettiest/most charming places in the game, and you get a peek at it early on!

 The Starter Pokemon [5/10]

I’ve experienced worse? I wasn’t spoiled for any of the starter pokemon’s evolutions starting out, and while I didn’t exactly hate any of them, I sure didn’t love ‘em, either. I named my Scorbunny “Chad” on the assumption that he was likely to turn into a chad, though I’m not sure that accurately describes the pokemon I ended up with. Clearly modeled after soccer players, my Chad is a cocky all-star jock. They went all out on his Pyroball animation but Double Kick can see itself out of my house. No love in this club.

I just really wish I found any of these starters or their evolved forms to be charming, but they’re not. Rillaboom is basically George of the Jungle but 3% less of a himbo, and Inteleon is Greninja’s younger brother in accounting.

 Gyms, Gym Challenges, & Game Balance [6/10]

This is probably one of, if not the, most debated topic over at Reddit. Is the game balanced? Are the gyms too easy? Are they making this game for 5-year-olds suddenly?

Eh. I do think the game is, perhaps, Too Easy, but a game being easy isn’t a shortcoming in and of itself. Check out my section on the story and characters for more on this topic, but I’ll post the short of it here, because it’s relevant: if the gameplay is going to be easy, we either need an option to make it more difficult, or the characters, story, and world have to carry the game in such a way that the easy gameplay still feels fun.

Shield had, uh, none of that going for it, unfortunately. The plot is lackluster (more about this later), and the gameplay wasn’t able to pick up the slack. In other words, the gameplay didn’t make the game feel Substantial in any way.

Which is kind of bad, considering Dynamaxing is a new feature!

The biggest issue for most people was the Experience Share. It’s turned on by default and there seems to be no way to turn it off. You get insane amounts of XP for defeating and catching pokemon, and your whole team seems to level pretty evenly even if you only occasionally use some pokemon in the party.

I personally played the game with the default battle option (where it asks if you want to switch out to a new pokemon when the enemy is going to send out a new one) because I barely remember half the pokemon in the game’s typing. Knowing the name of what’s coming next doesn’t always help me. (How’s that for an embarrassing truth?)

I personally liked the experience share, though I feel having the ability to toggle it on/off (or even on for certain pokemon and off for others) would have been ideal. The idea with having it on all the time is that your team will level fairly evenly so you’ll be able to switch in any of your six pokemon to battle without having to struggle through leveling some of the weaker ‘mons up individually. Additionally, it enables you to easily replace a pokemon on your team mid-game if you so desire. And I did (I replaced my shiny Orbeetle with regular cotton candy Rapidash).

My team at end-game was as follows:

Cinderace (Chad)

Greedent (Moriah)

Thievul (Penelope)

Liepard (My)

Corviknight (Octavia)

Rapidash (Calliope)

As you can see, I have no grass pokemon, no water pokemon, and no electric pokemon. I have two dark types. My move coverage mostly sucked throughout the game, because Thievul had 3 dark moves, and My had 3 normal moves. I’m an official idiot, thanks for coming to my TED talk. Usually I can struggle through no matter how garbage-tier my team is, and this game was…no exception.

I steamrolled the first few gyms and their challenges even though I wasn’t vastly overleveled for any of the content. After the ghost gym (which was easy for me with my dark types) I’d say the difficulty level went up slightly, mostly because my brain has refused to hold type advantages/weaknesses that came after Gen1. I feel like most original type weaknesses made some kind of sense to me and I was never able to incorporate dark and steel into that mix, let alone fairy.

At any rate, once you fight a pokemon once, the game will tell you if your moves are super effective against them or not. I remember people complaining about this feature when it was added (in Sun/Moon I think), but I like it. It doesn’t actually help a lot if you don’t know what the moves do/aren’t looking at move power/effects, but it’s useful for my sieve of a brain in a pinch.

Hop as a rival was almost never challenging. He always starts with the same pokemon, and his team is fairly easy to sweep. That might be kind of the point, but I wish you could have encouraged him to take the starter that’s strong against yours for a bit more of a challenge. Yeah, it’s not much, but it would have been something. Marnie is a better rival than Hop in the sense that she’s actually a better battler, but I swept her team pretty easily too, every single time we fought.

The only real challenges in the game were fighting Raihan (I only had one very weak fairy move and no ice to counter his dragons) and Leon (he definitely outleveled me). On Leon I had to use revives and potions!

The gym challenges started off as pretty cute (herding Wooloo, pipe puzzle maze) but quickly grew into lazy boring doldrums (basically gauntlet fighting of one kind or another). I guess I’d say ‘nice try’ for these and say I don’t really care if I see them again or not unless they’re going to actually give it a real go.

Overall, the story part of the game felt balanced enough for me personally but if I’m being completely unbiased: it was too easy to get levels. I could have wandered around less/caught fewer pokemon as I journeyed and enjoyed more of a challenge, but I just…gotta catch ‘em all, y’know? Most people do! GameFreak should have known this and designed accordingly.

The big issue with game balance feels like it comes…after the game, and I don’t mean the post-game so much as the Max Raid Battles that require other people, but the NPC trainers you can battle with are legit trash at what they do, which kind of forces you to find other trainers, but…

 Online Compatibility & Features [3/10]

So I think the rating speaks for itself, here. The interface is confusing, the stamps are annoying, and the ability to see other players but not interact with them in any meaningful way is rage-inducing (and not just because of the FPS drops).

X/Y had a better online system!

Sun and Moon was better!

I don’t know why we regressed. I’m glad they kept the “wonder trade” (renamed to random trade, I think), because I always did enjoy doing that, but the GTS was the best idea they ever had and they abandoned it for random trading? I don’t want to trade with randoms? If I wanted to do that, I’d just do a random trade in the first place!!! The inability to put what you’re looking for into the stamp that people see? Oversight. Or just bad design. Probably both!

I’ve never hated a pokemon online experience more than this. I’m just astounded by how bad it is. I tried to join max raid battles last night and kept being told the event was over, but the stamps just…didn’t refresh? For HOW LONG? I can’t even tell you because I don’t know, and I couldn’t find a way to manually force them to refresh. It’s like they update every 15 minutes instead of every 15-30 seconds (which they should if I’m browsing for trades to make or battles to join). There are ways around this (according to Reddit) but the interface should be intuitive and easy to use by default.

C’mon, guys, you can do better. This is legitimately embarrassing in the year 2019.

 Music [5/10]

There are some really magical tracks in this game, and there are some really terrible tracks. It doesn’t feel at all cohesive or thematic. I absolutely hated the gym battle remix; it was worse than the regular gym battle music. I feel like the gym battle theme would have really caught on if they didn’t have any other synth sounding tracks in the game, but they kind of do, so it blends in instead of sticking out as a bop.

Notable nice tracks were Hulbury, Glimwood Tangle, Slumbering Weald, and the desert route (which I can’t remember offhand). Some of the better music reminded me of the soundtrack for Tales of Symphonia, which is high praise coming from me. Unfortunately for every good track there were probably 3 forgettable ones.

There wasn’t anything particularly engaging when it comes to the music here, but it’s at least passable.

 Graphics, Design, and Animation [6/10]

I should clarify that this is 6/10 for a pokemon game, not in general. I don’t expect flashy realism in a pokemon game and neither should you. The graphics are adequate most of the time, but the animation leaves a lot to desire when you look away from the pokemon that feel like they were Chosen Ones (and received a lot more attention).

Rapidash, for example, is using the same base model and animations it’s been using since it’s been in 3D. I’m not going to claim since Stadium, but holy cow the animations are for sure the same as they’ve been since at least X/Y for all the older moves. I’m not impressed.

The characters all have dopey expressions on their faces always. The models just use one talking animation loop and it almost never changes. The main character still looks on like a smiley face emoji when turmoil occurs, and though this isn’t as bad as it was in Sun/Moon, it’s still…kind of jarring?

The Wild Area looks kind of bad sometimes, and some areas in the actual game were lackluster compared to what they should have been. Ballonlea is the town you step into after walking through the (honestly) magical Glimwood Tangle, and it’s this charming fairy wonderland…with two houses and a stadium the size of two billion football fields. Uh. Okay? You’re telling me they destroyed how much natural habitat to make this gym? It just doesn’t jive with the scenery/theme out there, especially considering Opal’s theatre is tiny. And it’s not just that I think the game is lacking thematically (though it clearly is), but there’s this…laziness to the design when it comes to places like Ballonlea. It could have been SUCH an enchanting town to explore, but it was two houses with nothing important in them and a sports arena that feels completely at odds with its surroundings. (In this town you do learn that an NPC you spoke to earlier was a ghost, but it’s not as if this is very important information/goes anywhere, really.)

Spikemuth, for all its flaws, was at least memorable. I can’t say the same for most of the towns in this game. I really enjoyed the music in Hulbury but you best bet I had to look it up to remember the name of the town! Time is partly to blame. We don’t spend a lot of time in each town, and we have no real reason to go back to them aside from visiting the nearest Pokemon Center to heal and rest up. But I would argue that, beyond that, the individual designs just…don’t feel memorable because they’re not memorable. The names are mostly meh (every time I see Ballonlea I think of Bologna for some reason), but without anything else to connect to the place as more than just a place…there’s no reason to remember any of it.

Like the music, these are all passable, graphics more than animation, animation more than design, but that’s all there is to it.

Camping and Cooking, Feathers and Fetch! [4/10]

I don’t actually have a lot to say about this. It’s a cute idea, and it’s fun maybe the first ten times that you do it, but then it’s just really boring. The game is terrible at explaining how to create different curry dishes, but it’s almost idiot-proof. I’ve yet to fail at it.

But I’m not sure I care about it, either?

You get like 1/100th of the amount of berries you need to cook while you journey along, so it feels disproportionate. I dunno. Just not a fan.

Playing with your pokemon is the only real joy that comes from camping, but its fun is limited. When you’ve tossed the ball a few times, or watched Liepard smack the feather toy a while, it has that, “Okay, I’ve seen it!” kind of feeling to it. That doing well at cooking can heal your party/cure status conditions is incentive to do it, but it’s faster to just fly to a pokemon center and run back on your bike most of the time than to pitch a tent with your ‘mons.

I feel like there should just be…more you can do when you’re camping together. I’m glad Pokemon Amie is dead (it was cringey), but it felt more personal than this.

I wish I had more to say about this feature, but it felt tacked on and lackluster after I camped a few times.

 Dynamaxing, Gigantamaxing, and Max Raid Battles [4/10]

The urge to give this a zero was high, but I am making an effort to be balanced.

That said, I hate dynamaxing. Gigantamaxing is almost the same thing, it’s just Worse Somehow. Until yesterday I thought they were basically the same thing (and that some pokemon just got extra cool dynamax forms). As it turns out, they’re not the same thing at all! Or rather, they are, but they’re also not?

Dynamaxing makes your pokemon grow large and gives it these generic MAX moves that it can use in combat (Max Knuckle, Max Flare, Max Strike). It lasts for three turns and then your pokemon reverts back to its regular ‘ol self.

Gigantamaxing is when your pokemon grows a little larger than large, gets a special Look, and gets the same generic MAX moves (but with special effects added to them). Oh, and better stats.

At least, that’s how I understand it.

Both are great for Max Raid Battles, where you team up with NPCs or other players and take down huge dynamaxed pokemon that are out in the wild.

Neither is a fun feature as part of the actual gameplay. I guess as a gimmick it works all right, but just like Z-moves it has a long annoying animation sequence, and like Mega Evolutions only some pokemon get to gigantamax (everyone else is just a pleb, I guess). I dunno. I just didn’t find the concept very engaging…maybe because it seems evil and wasteful in-universe, and this is more or less stated in the game itself, but what-the-hell-ever, we’re just going to keep doing it ‘cause it looks cool!

It’s just too goofy a concept for me. Maybe if Dynamaxing doubled or tripled their size, I’d find it more understandable and more aesthetically pleasing? I hate seeing my pokemon, or the opposing pokemon, grow 50+ feet tall and scream at three billion decibels.

(For the record I never liked Mega Evolutions or Z-moves as a concept, so it’s not like I’m nostalgic for a different gimmick. That said, at least I’d accepted Megas as a thing, and Z-moves were overall not too groundbreaking or gamebreaking.)

The design of dyna/gigamaxing is to connect it with specific places so that you can’t just max your pokemon in every battle and sweep every team you fight against, but it still feels like it gets used too much. I’m currently at a point where I find having to dynamax feels like a chore.

Considering this is what the game tried to sell itself on in the initial trailer…? Yikes? I don’t know. I think some people are more ‘okay’ with the concept of dyna/gigantimaxing than others, and I think I’d be fine with it if we only had dynamaxing. Introducing both just feels like overcomplicating things for no real reason, and maybe also poking a little hard at the hornets’ nest that is the competitive community.

Because now you have to go out and grind gigantamax pokemon to catch one, so it forces you to do the thing you might not like to get a pokemon that can do the thing you don’t like, because it’s objectively better in combat? But really, who knows? Maybe these overpowered phenomena will end up banned, anyway.

Despite my disdain for this release’s gimmick, I do think Max Raid Battles are pretty fun, at least…when I’m not getting my ass completely kicked while some NPC trainer’s Eevee is using Helping Hand… It’s actually pretty enjoyable when you can somehow find other people using the y-comm and take on a gigantamaxed pokemon with the help of actual human players. But y’know…good luck using that…lol.

Overall I think the biggest downfall of Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing is that it doesn’t really add anything of substance to the game. I don’t think it makes it more fun. It’s also not necessary for max raid battles (this could be a phenomena we don’t understand yet that randomly seems to affect wild pokemon, just like with the UBs—hell, Anabel and Looker could return and claim this is all related to that stuff and I’d probably find that believable enough). So what does it add? Flavor? Culture? Nah. It’s just kind of there.

 Post-Game: Is That All? [3/10]

Post-game in Sun and Moon was the Alola version of the Battle Maison, breeding, and a somewhat lengthy (for a post-game) story where you assist Interpol agents Anabel and Looker in hunting down and capturing Ultra Beasts. The plot was somewhat woven into not only Sun and Moon’s storyline (Lusamine’s shenanigans), but also borrowed from the Sapphire/Ruby reboots and X/Y. If you didn’t already know Looker from Ruby/Sapphire/X/Y, or Anabel from Pokemon Emerald, you’ll still probably find them somewhat compelling/interesting as characters. Also, they did a really good job in Sun of making circumstances seem dire—of showing instead of telling you how dangerous the UBs were and how important it was to protect the people of the towns and villages you’d visited throughout your adventure.

Shield has… Max raid battles, a battle tower, and…breeding. Oh, and a storyline about the legendary dogs that barely makes any sense and is plagued by really irritating new characters.

The terrible truth is that the post-game of Sword/Shield is embarrassingly bad. You’d think they’d want to outdo themselves with every release. Sun and Moon hit it out of the park with their post-game content. Most people enjoyed the hunt for UBs, or at least the characters of Anabel and Looker. Sword and Shield have…. Sordward and Shielbert. DID I STUTTER?

They’re terribly designed characters, and so insulting as to not really be any fun at all. The Pokeball Guy mascot is Actually Fun; these dudes aren’t. They’re barely even villains? It was an excuse to try and pull what Sun and Moon pulled, but it didn’t work. I never felt like anyone was in danger at any point, probably because magically everyone was evacuated before I even arrived on the scene to stop Sordward and Shielbert’s vile schemes. :U Oh, and because I felt little or no connection to any of the towns I visited along the way, let alone the gym leaders. Maybe if these guys had showed up partway through the game and we sort of knew who they were already, this wouldn’t seem so out-of-nowhere, but it was, and that made it even worse than it had to be.

When it’s all over, you get your legendary dog (I named mine Goodest Boy), but it wasn’t a fun storyline at all. Who are these guys? Why should I care about them? I cared about Looker and Anabel because they came onto the scene and showed that they cared about each other as people (and showed it, multiple times). These guys? They wreaked havoc and didn’t even go to jail. At least Rose went to jail!

I don’t think the post-game is terrible so much as I think it’s underwhelming, especially considering what it came on the heels of. I don’t expect More More More from every game, but I do expect improvements to be made. A decent post-game storyline is all I was asking for, and I didn’t even get that.

But there’s the tower and you can breed pokemon and train EVs and all that stuff more easily now, so…

 Characters, Story, and Worldbuilding [4/10]

Let me put this as delicately as I can: I’m not a fan.

I could easily rant about bad character writing, bad stories, and weak worldbuilding for hours, but I’ll limit myself because 1) this is a pokemon game, and 2) nobody really looks for exceptional characters here.

As I said earlier, I feel like Sun and Moon did it Better. Most of the main characters in Su/Mo were likable, interesting, had a fun design, or were amusing. Not so in Shield.

Hop has a terrible name (literally a million names to choose from and they picked this?), but the biggest crime he commits is that he doesn’t get a satisfying story arc at all. When he got down about himself I had hope there would be some cool development, but there wasn’t. He ended up getting his crap together and making a Team and Picked a Strategy (which still involves sending the sheep out first I guess). And then randomly in the post-game decided he was going to be a professor…lol.

I felt like 20 different people wrote that plot, because it was terribly cobbled together and didn’t flow at all. Natural progression would have been nice.

Marnie barely has a story and barely develops. Piers seems to kind of have more ‘meat’ to his character but not a lot is done with it.

The gym leaders are otherwise really meh. Okay, so Nessa and Sonia are pals. Gal pals. Pals that are gals. Gals that are pals. Great. I don’t think we ever see them talk so it doesn’t matter. Melony has a son…and it’s just a nod to the other game where her son is the gym leader instead? Boring.

Bede is an asshole with a sob story who doesn’t really get redeemed but gets the redemption option anyway. They could have REALLY done something amazing with this guy but chose not to. His backstory is actually pretty interesting! But they didn’t utilize it worth a damn. And also he was right about the mural soooo…

Sonia was maybe the best character in the game, and that’s just from a technical standpoint. She had development, she developed, she grew as a character. Emotionally, though, I felt detached from her. Maybe it was being called a child all the time that did that? I’m not sure. I get that the protag is a child but I’m living independently and doing well for myself so maybe have a little respect idk… Especially when the first 2/3 of the game you’re told the adults will handle things, and then randomly you’re interrupted every fifty seconds to take care of other people’s nonsense. :|

In fact, I felt emotionally disconnected from pretty much every character. I didn’t really like or feel for anyone. Hop came the closest (feeling guilty about losing a battle cause it might make his brother look bad), but the bad dialogue options and inability to actually cheer him up was frustrating more than anything.

There are zones that are breathtakingly lovely (Slumbering Weald! Ballonlea! Glimwood Tangle!) but all the rest are more or less forgettable. The characters are connected to the world…sorta, but there are times it feels like they force-connected them through dynamaxing and dialogue accents instead of trying to make characters who naturally fit into the world. Like I talked about before, Opal’s gym felt completely disconnected from the reality of her environment. She lives there for a reason. Doesn’t the stadium’s presence jar her? How many fairy pokemon lost their homes when that thing took away tens of acres of forest? What’s the story here? Or anywhere for that matter?

Spikemuth was a waste of space but at least it felt like an attempt to show us a poverty-stricken area… Unfortunately it all fell flat the second they used two models for Team Yell! Team Yell could have been really cool, especially if they’d had different models with their names (challenged by Team Yell Grunt Sierra/Troy/Nellie/whatever), and the same team yell outfit/clothes/paint on. Then we could see these are just regular guys and gals from this poor area who want to cheer on their hometown girl!!!

But that was a weakness throughout the game, because Team Yell were all gym trainers, and all shared models…just like all the other gyms. It felt lazy to me. The outfits can be the same, but way to go making all the models literal clones. That’s just laziness.

The villains are all meh. Rose? Of course he was a villain. The problem is that he’s not a villain for being a capitalist pig or anything. He’s a villain for wanting to fix a power issue that’s 1,000 years from happening. Meh motivation. If it was 50 years away then we have a compelling villain! But no, not 50. A thousand years from happening. And he can’t wait five fucking minutes.

Oleana was boring.

Leon was exactly the person he was the entire game…

The taxi service is a cute idea, and a nice gameplay addition, but it doesn’t really add anything to the world because they didn’t make the effort to integrate it.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough.

The short of it is this: I walked away from this game not really caring about the world or any of the characters. I don’t even have a favorite character. I can’t remember the last time that happened to me. YIKES.

The Wild Area [8/10]

I don’t want to cover this for too long, because I feel it’s been done to death, but the Wild Area is what the whole game should have been. Or at least, more of the game. I don’t expect we’ll ever get a fully open-world pokemon game EVER, but this foray into the true 3D tells me that it could be a lot of fun, actually, even in somewhat constrained environments. (Oh, and with a good map.)

I enjoy the idea of the Wild Area, but I think its usefulness is limited without the appeal of having more pokemon patched into the game later. Until I get sick of it, though, it’s a pretty neat concept, and it makes hunting for new pokemon to catch a little more fun than it usually is. I like that they kept the overworld pokemon in this area as well as on the routes you have to travel; it feels like more of an adventure to dodge a huge Steelix and scoot closer to see what that yellow thing is in the grass you can’t quite make out. :)

Basically: fun concept that is enjoyable for now but has limited enjoyment. As far as negativity goes, I don’t have much to complain about here that I didn’t complain about in the Online Compatibility section above.

The Pokemon Themselves [6/10]

I was challenged by @hijauindah to list my top five favorite new pokemon from the game, so here we go!

Nickit (cute design!)

Boltund (smooth, well designed—not too cluttered)

Ponyta/Rapidash (MY LITTLE PONY… I think Rapidash could look better, but I’m just glad they cared enough to try something new with them…)

Frosmoth (Super pretty pokemon design.)

Dragapult (Nifty design.)

Most of the new designs are just…okay. There are a lot I don’t actually care for. But I’m biased; I just want more creature-based pokemon that look like they could exist and function in the world they live in. Some of these designs they come up with look like they’d have died out ten thousand years ago due to being Poorly Evolved lol.

 Final Thoughts [6/10]

The worst part of the game for me personally was probably feeling like I was getting interrupted constantly by other characters. JUST LET ME PLAY. But the best part was definitely exploring the new areas, catching a shiny 2 hours into the game, and getting to the end more or less with the team I started with.

The individual scores don’t add up to a 6/10 (they actually add up to a 5.16/10) but I think it’s worth noting that I did have a fun time playing through the game, I intend to hop into the breeding stuff, and even though I don’t have to keep max raid battling and stuff, I probably will.

It’s far from the 9s that it was getting by certain people from certain places that won’t be named here, but it’s not as if it’s a dumpster fire game. I don’t regret the money I spent on it, and I hope to keep enjoying the game for a few more months (albeit more casually than I did over the weekend), but I hope GameFreak has learned from its follies and puts its best foot forward with the next game, because I will not manage to be this forgiving again.

[lumina-chronicles]

The Lumina Chronicles (A Writeblr Intro-Post Thingy)

Okay so, I love character asks/tag games and interracting with the writeblr community, but I realized I only sporadically talk about my work and my characters. I figured it was high time I compile everything in one easily accessible post. 

I’m not entirely sure the best way to go about this so I’ll try my best. Have mercy on me and please feel free to ask any questions you may have! 

This is going to be a stream of conscious BEAST so I appologize in advance for any and all typos, and for all the times I’ll no doubt bounce around and probably forget things. In order to not clutter up dashes and make everyone hate me, everything will be under the cut :) 

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THE STORY

(credit to the amaaaazingly talented mari_gdraws on instagram for this stunning cover. Go commission her, its worth it.)

First thing’s first, this is a Portal Fantasy. If you don’t know what that means, think Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Wizard of Oz, any story where someone from our world gets transported by magical means (usually by accident but not always) to a fantasy world. 

Second, I have been working on different variations of this series for over a decade. I started writing the first itteration of this concept when I was a 13 year old weirdo who thought I was the greatest thing to ever happen to writing. (Hint: I wasn’t. I still am not, but at least I’ve grown enough to recognize that.) I may share snippets of the original 2009 draft sometime, but be warned its steaming hot garbage. Good for a laugh though. tl;dr, I’ve been working on this story for too long, but these characters are my babies and I refuse to quit until I give them the story they deserve. 

ELEVATOR PITCH 

MAGGIE is a college girl who just wants to paint, stuck in a fantasy world with more ties to her life than she realizes. KINDLE is a wayward dragon dealing with PTSD, an obsessive fairy queen, and a stalling rebellion. ELLE, who wants nothing more than to find her missing best friend, is stuck babysitting (not literally) an angel (literally.)

^^^^^This is the really bad summary I have up on wattpad. The story is so much more than this but I’ve never been good at simplifying, hence 100k+ words of novel. 

WHAT THE STORY ACTUALLY IS

Blood vs Bonds. (What really makes a family?) 

A central cast who were children during a massive, life-altering war, now trying to pick up the pieces. 

Found Family goodness out the wahzoo. (There is a mermaid adopting you as we speak. Her name is Faye and she’s your mom now, welcome to the family.) 

A fox and a tree dating. They’re lesbians. I love them.

Not at all thinnly veiled bashing of imperialism, nationalism, and racism.

A few heavy concepts that I feel don’t get enough attention in media (pm me if you’d like to know since I don’t feel comfortable elaborating here, I’ll provide trigger warnings before explaining anything in-depth.)

The greatest bromance of all time, between a tired gen-Z nerd and a literal angel who doesn’t know how electricity works. 

Said literal angel becoming obsessed with pokemon. 

A moody dragon who loves to bake, and his ghost bff judging your every move. 

A dozen angsty conversations masquerading as a fantasy novel.

On the subject of masquerades, one of those happens too. What can I say, I’m weak. 

The slowest of slow burn ships. 

Time travel shenanigans.

Me, pouring all of my love and tears and blood into one singular project for over a decade, unabashedly celebrating every trope I love and telling the story teen me needed. 

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THE WORLD

So this is the map of the “known world” for the planet I refer to as Ragilora. This name is never used in the canon of my stories and it stems from an inside joke, but its a lot easier to say than “*gestures vaguely* The Planet.” 

I am one of those authors who writes several unconnected series all set in the same fictional world, but for now, since I’m only talking about the Lumina Chronicles, we’re focusing on thiiiiiis chunk of the map right here: 

This chunk of land (which 13-year-old-me dubbed “The Shadow Realm,” 18-year-old-me expanded to the “’much more impressive’ Realm Under Twin Shadows,” and 22-year-old-me just refers to as “The SR”) is the only location we pay any attention to in the Lumina Chronicles, which (surprise, surprise) focuses on the conflicts between Lumina and the territories surrounding it. 

Important side note, Ragilora has two moons, hence the “twin shadows” thing. The moons come up a lot over the course of the story, especially since one of the cultures (Nox) believes their queen is a reincarnation of one of those moons. 

MOST IMPORTANT LOCATIONS

LUMINA

The human kingdom ruled by the Lousvar family. Self-important racist a-holes who took over most of the realm during the Orphaner’s War nine years ago. King Jareth Lousvar (the aformentioned Orphaner) hasn’t been seen in years, so who’s really running the nation? Your guess is as good as mine. That’s a lie, of course I know. 

IGNUS

Once the private, gorgeous desert home of the dragons, ruled by the Danthragnir clan. They were the main targets of the Orphaner’s War, and now Ignus sits as mostly unoccupied ruins. The dragons who surived the seige now live in hiding or are enslaved in Lumina. Their religion is my favorite of all the cultures in the story, and I’ll talk to you about it if you want, but I don’t wanna ramble here lol. 

NOX

The queendom of the fairies, not rules by any particular family. The current queen in Lydia D’Norse, Queen Lydianna Chrysanthus D’Norse, Mother of Her People, the Moon Made Flesh. This is the territory of magical moon-worshipping lesbians. Fairies are great, they’re my favorite race in the Lumina Chronicles. 

SPECIES/RACES

Human- Just your standard, magic-free human. Identifiable by their brown eyes. Any skintone/haircolor that can be found in nature. (A rare few have other colors for eyes, but that just means they aren’t fully human and will probably be shamed for this fact.) They hail from Lumina. Average height 5′9″.  Average lifespan 70-80yrs.

Dragon- Generally dark skinned with dark hair, identifiable by their Firestone (a comination of red/orange/gold/black that shifts and flickers like flames) eyes. Basically firebenders who can transform into the giant, winged lizards you think of when you imagine dragons. Almost all dragons have black scales in dragon form, though some have dark red or a sandy brown. From Ignus. Average height 6′6″, Average lifespan 80-90yrs. 

Angel- Generally pale skinned with either black or blonde hair, identifiable by their blue eyes and the fan of feathers behind their ears. Angels are a highly intelligent, long-lived species with massive feathered wings (either irridecent black if they have black hair, or white if they have blonde hair.) All angels have perfect recall and photographic memories, which is helpful for their self-imposed job as the Realm’s unbiased recordkeepers. They soulbond (explained in more detail further down.) From Aeterna. Average height 6′, Average lifespan 180-200yrs. 

Merfolk- All varieties of skintone and hair color, identifiable by the colorful scales around their green eyes (and the eyes themselves if living in a situation where scales ahve been forcibly removed.) While preferring to live out the majority of their lives underwater, merfolk must travel to land to reproduce. While on land, they have legs. As soon as their feet come in contact with water, they go back to having a tail. All merfolk wear skirts on land regardless of gender (could you imagine wearing jeans and accidentally stepping in a puddle and then your legs try to form into a tail with the fabric between them? Ouch.) From Siaboras and the surrounding waters. Average height 5′4″, Average lifespan 70-80yrs. 

Fairy- Generally pale skinned, all fairies have long pointed years, silver hair, and violet eyes. While they no longer posess wings, all fairies have the ability to produce a mind-altering magic known as “venom.” This venom is administered to a target through contact with the fairy’s skin, and can produce results ranging from euphoria and hallucinations to severe pain, memory alteration, and even death. Results depend on the specific fairy and the dosage of venom. A pregnant female fairy can produce a hazy purple cloud of venom outside their body to better protect themselves and their unborn child. Use of fairy venom as a recreational drug is outlawed (doesn’t stop fairy dens from popping up all over Lumina’s slums though.) From Nox.  Average height 4′9″, Average lifespan 45-50yrs. 

Shifter- All varieties of skintone and hair color, some that may not occur in humans. Identifiable by their golden eyes. While dragons mostly occupy their human form and can shift into giant lizards, Shifters are animals who can take human form. Their human form in some way resembles their animal form. Most prefer to be in their animal form and only take human form for the purpose of hunting larger prey or communicating with other species/variants of shifter. Others have chosen to completely integrate themselves into non-Shifter society and spend the majority of their time in human form. From the Wildlands. Average height 5′9″, Average lifespan 70-80yrs. 

Dryad- All dryads have brown/bark-colored skin and leaves for hair. Depending on the type of tree they come from, the length/thickness/color/style of this leaf-hair can vary. When a tree has fed off the magic of the realm for long enough, they develop the ability to take on a human form, and can shift between that and their tree form. They can feel emotion and learn language just as all other species/races, but they tend to be slightly more detached by default. From the Wildlands. Average height (in human form) 6′, Average lifespan uknown. A dryad will live as long as their grove lives. If their human form in destroyed, they can be replanted and will eventually regrow. 

OTHER IMPORTANT INFO

A few notes, mostly on sexuality in the Shadow Realm: 

- Bisexuality is considered to be “the default” just as heterosexuality is treated in our society. There are still people with preferences for one gender or another, but most just assume that if you don’t specify otherwise, you’re bi. 

- All angels are some variation of Ace/Demi/Gray-sexual. They mate for life in a process known as “soulbonding” to the first person they are sexually intimate with, literally joining their lifespans and spirits forever. 

- Soulbonded partners can communicate telepathically and access a shared memory-bank, including access to skills and languages. 

- It is perfectly valid for an angel to choose never to soulbond, and some choose to soulbond with a beloved friend rather than a romantic partner. 

- Dryads have no sex organs and are genderless by default. Some choose to present as feminine/masculine or use pronouns, but that’s a matter of preference and not neccessity. 

- All species can interbreed, but there are no “mixed-breeds.” Meaning if a dragon and a mermaid were to reproduce, the results wouldn’t be a mer-dragon  with the abilites/traits of both parents, the resulting child would be either a full-dragon or full-merfolk depending on the sex of the parents. 

Expanding on the above point, each species is either male or female dominant, with dominant meaning which sex of parent determines the species of their child with interbreeding. Dragons, Shifters, and Humans are male dominant. Angels, Merfolk, and Fairies are female dominant. Examples: 

Male Human + Female Dragon = human child (with red-tinted brown eyes) 

Female Human + Male Dragon = dragon child (with slightly duller firestone eyes)

Female Human + Male Fairy = coin-toss child (because humans are male dominant and fairies are female dominant, this duo would cancel each other out and the child would either be a fairy or a human.) 

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THE CHARACTERS (aka the real reason I made this masterpost) 

all character art by needlessly_cryptic

NARRATORS

The three protagonists of the series. Maggie is our portal-hopper, having travelled from our present day world to the fantasy world of the SR. Kindle is one of the few surviving dragons and has never known any world but the SR. Elle, also from our world, spends the whole book in our world trying to figure out wtf happened to Maggie, while also dealing with Marc (an angel from the SR who came to our world around the same time Maggie vanished.) 

^ Magdalyn, she/her, Human, 20yrs old. Heterosexual. ^

^ Kindle, he/him, Dragon, 22yrs old. Asexual. ^

^ Estelle, she/her, Human, 19yrs old. Bisexual. ^ 

ELLE’S PARTNER IN CRIME 

Formerly of the Abandoned Order, now trapped in our world with no idea what to do or how to get back. He gets his own segment because I can’t really put him anywhere else. (Those are feathers behind his ears.) 

^ Marcellus, he/him, Angel, 20yrs old. Biromantic Asexual. ^

THE ABANDONED ORDER 

A ragtag group of former war-orphans and child-soldiers trying to pick up the pieces after the war’s end, and finding the strength in each other to take back their stolen home lands from the oppressive kingdom of Lumina. Kindle’s family. Maggie’s... well she’s not quite sure. 

ALLIES

^ Faye, she/her, Mermaid, 26yrs old. Bisexual. Soulbonded to Seraphim.^ 

^ Carlyle, he/him or they/them, Ghost (former human), forever 20yrs old. Biromantic Asexual. ^

(A note on Carlyle: they can only be seen/heard by Kindle and later Maggie.) 

^ Pina, She/her, Mermaid, 17yrs old. Lesbian. ^

^ Em, She/her, Dryad, ???yrs old. Lesbian. Married to Inari. ^

^ Rhiannon, She/her, Angel, 24yrs old. Biromantic Demisexual. Soulbonded to Isidor. ^

^ Izzy, He/him (trans), Fairy, 23yrs old. Heterosexual. Soulbonded to Rhiannon.^

ENEMIES(?)

^ Lydia, she/her, Fairy, 18yrs old. Bisexual. “Soulbonded” to Seraphim. ^ 

^Ser, he/him, Angel, 25yrs old. Biromantic Asexual. Soulbonded to Faye Lydia.^

^ Jakoby, he/him, Shifter(snake), 27yrs old. Lydia-sexual. ^ 

^ Nar, she/her, Shifter(fox), 23yrs old. Lesbian. Married to Emrys. ^ 

LUMINA

The children of the victors. Are they all as bad as their parents, or will they become part of the change and strive towards a better future? *shrug* 

^ Cas, he/him, Human, 20yrs old. Bisexual. My son. ^ 

^ Rainette, she/her, Human, 17yrs old. Heterosexual. Betrothed to Favaro. ^ 

^ Juju, he/him, Human, 24 yrs old. Gay. Bodyguard to Prince Cas. ^

^ Tobi, he/him, Human, 18yrs old. Bisexual. Bodyguard and boyfriend to Princess Raini. ^  

^ Ander, he/him, Human, 21yrs old. Gay especially for Julian. ^ 

^ Favaro, he/him, Human, 22yrs old. Asexual and Aromantic. Betrothed to Princess Raini. ^

PRECIOUS CHILD WHO ISN’T INTRODUCED UNTIL BOOK TWO

^ Khatalanya, she/her, Dragon, 16yrs old. Lesbian. In love with VENGEANCE. ^

_______________

IN CONCLUSION

this really was a dumpster fire lol. If you would like to know more about specific characters or races or aspects of my world, feel free to ask! I’m gonna link this to an easily accessible part of my profile somehow. But yeah, mostly just admire my children. I love them all, even the horrible ones. 

[dragonshost]

Now Leasing: New Beginnings

Chapter 4: Pyramid

Rating: T

Pairing: Cobra x Lucy

Genre: Humor/Romance

Summary:  Lucy has finally achieved her dream, and finalized the purchase of her family’s former home. When she goes to inspect the Heartfilia mansion, however, she finds some very familiar people already occupying it. For CoLu Week 2018.

Word Count: 2,146

On FFN

On AO3

Sorry for the lateness and bulkiness of this chapter.  There’s a lot of exposition, but it’s necessary setup for a joke.  I portray the guild setup here much the same as real estate agencies (with minor differences), and it’s the setup I use as background for pretty much all of my fics.

The main joke in here is one that I have been seriously contemplating devoting an entire fic to.  It’s a fun rabbit hole to consider.

I hope you enjoy.

Lucy contemplated the plans spread out on the kitchen table before her.  It had somehow become their default spot for negotiation and planning, though in part that was mostly due to it being one of the only large, flat elevated surfaces left in the mansion.  Three pieces of glassware held the corners of the drawing secure and still as she inspected it, the fourth weighed down by Macbeth’s slumbering form.

There was a lot that needed to be done, it turned out, to turn a building into a functioning guild hall.

It also took a lot to turn Crime Sorciere’s present organization into a properly functioning guild model, for that matter.

Groaning, Lucy sank into her seat, plunking her head into the table in imitation of Macbeth.  “Why is this so difficult?” she wailed into the paper.

“Because everything in life is,” Cobra responded behind her.

Lucy raised her head, and turned slightly in order to level her fiercest glare at the dragon slayer.

He scoffed at her. “Is that the best you got?”

“No,” she grumbled as he sat down in the chair next to her.  “I’m just too exhausted to deal with you right now.”

“So what’s the problem today?” he inquired, peering over the plans.  “None of this makes much sense to me, but I’ll give it a shot.”

“How generous of you,” Lucy replied sarcastically.  Despite her words, she straightened up in her seat, and pointed at the upper floor of the mansion.  “We need to decide how many rooms we want to keep as bedrooms, and how many we want to convert to other purposes.  Which means figuring out whether you all wish to live here full time as the founding guild members, or do a kind of live-in plan for new members.  I think Jellal is working out the particulars with the Council, but I think he wants to turn this place into a kind of halfway house for rehabilitating mages like yourselves that have run afoul of the law.  It’s a good idea, and I’m not against the property being used for that.”

That last part was a little bit of a white lie, and one that Cobra surely picked up on, but in a rare display of kindness, chose to ignore.  “So what’s the problem, then?” he asked.

“Money.”  Lucy sighed heavily.  “I’ve already got a huge mortgage on this place, as I’m sure you’re aware.  There’s no way I can secure a construction loan on top of it.  Jellal was able to pony up a security deposit and first month’s rent when we signed the rental contract, but unless I go on a well-paid job soon, we won’t be able to afford even the smallest change to this place.”  She shrugged helplessly.  “And you know what my team is like, so saving money is a little difficult for me as it is, even without me dividing my time up between them and this place.”

Cobra hummed in thought, his eye darting over the plans and taking in the proposed alterations. “Wouldn’t it be up to us to pay for it? Since we’re the ones that need the place changed.”

“Eh.”  Lucy held up her hand and made a wobbly gesture with it. “Yes and no.  It’s my property, so capital expenditures are mine to deal with, and fixtures required for business are yours.  Which is which is where things get a little nebulous.”  She heaved another side and rubbed her temple with her fingers.  “Neither Jellal nor I really want to hire a lawyer to sort it out on our behalf, but it’s beginning to look like that will be necessary in the long run.  Though it’ll all be moot anyway if I can’t drum up enough money to hire one in the first place.”

“Sounds tough,” Cobra stated.  “How does a traditional guild make money, by the way?  Brain’s flow of income was never exactly obvious to the rest of us, and we weren’t interested besides, so I don’t really have a frame of reference.”

His interest in the matter perked Lucy’s spirits up slightly.  “It’s kind of like a pyramid structure,” she told him.  Reaching down to the pile of supplies by her feet, she placed a blank sheet of paper onto a clipboard and drew a triangle on it.

“I thought those were bad things,” Cobra muttered as he watched her draw.

“Pyramid schemes are a pretty common way of scamming people, it’s true,” agreed Lucy.  “But they’re also pretty useful for displaying money flow.” She drew two horizontal lines near the top of the triangle, sectioning off two small sections.  In the bottom, largest section, she wrote Guild Members.

She tapped that section with her pen.  “As you’re probably aware, in a typical guild structure a job is posted with a set reward, which the guild members take and earn upon completion.  What most people don’t realize, is that the monetary amount posted on the job is not actually the full amount being paid out.”  To the side of the pyramid, she scribbled Clients and wrote 1,200 Jewel under it, and then circled both.  “Say a client is willing to pay 1,200 Jewel for a job.  Of that amount, 1,000 will be posted as the reward on a job flyer, while 200 will be retained by the guild as payment for coordination services.  In addition, clients will also pay a small posting fee.”  Lucy wrote a plus sign and 50 under the 1,200 Jewel she inscribed earlier. Then she labeled the middle section Guild and wrote in 250 Jewel below it, and then added 1000 Jewel to the Guild Members section.

Glancing up, she asked, “Following me so far?”

“Sure,” Cobra said, his gaze still intent on her makeshift diagram.  “But what’s the upper section of the pyramid for?”

Lucy drew a vertical line down the middle of the final section, labeling one half Era and the other Gov.  “Guilds have to pay fees and taxes to both the country they’re located in, and to Era for services provided.  These fees and taxes go towards services for mages, and they form a large part of Era’s operating budget from what Levy and Mest have told me.”

Cobra thought about it for a moment.  “I guess that makes sense.”          

“There’s more,” Lucy warned him, and restrained a giggle at his resulting sigh. “For simplicity’s sake, let’s say that the amounts due the government and Era are fixed at 5,000 Jewel each.” Outside of the pyramid, Lucy wrote in 5,000 Jewel on each side since she hadn’t left enough room in the diagram itself.  “So basically, the Guild has to make enough money to pay off those obligations, and make enough to fund repairs to guild halls, or providing other things for mages.   Fairy Tail has a souvenir shop and a bar with a kitchen to help supplement the income from the jobs, but the margin of profit on both is actually very small if I understood Max correctly when he explained all of this to me.”

Holding up a finger, Lucy waggled it at Cobra.  “But there’s actually a second structure that some guilds use instead of this one.”

“Seriously?” Cobra muttered.  “Isn’t just having one confusing enough?”

“Apparently some guilds combine the two methods as well,” Lucy informed him. “Which I imagine makes the guild accountants cry.”

“I don’t blame them.  So what’s the other method?”

“The guild members pay a monthly fee to the guild, and keep all of the job reward.  I think there’s still a posting fee that the guilds retain, but yeah the members get to keep everything.  If they don’t go on jobs, though, they run the risk of incurring a large debt to their guild, however, so I’m not particularly fond of this method.”

“Wouldn’t you run much the same risk the other way, though?” Cobra pointed out. “If you don’t go on jobs, you won’t have money for your bills anyway.”

“I guess you have a point,” Lucy acknowledged.  “I guess it kind of depends on personal preference.”  She smiled at him.  “So… how does Crime Sorciere handle its finances?”

Cobra shrugged.  “Communal fund, maybe?  I’m not sure. Jellal keeps track of it all in his head, so I try to tune him out when he starts thinking too much on it. Usually when one of us needs something, we just ask Jellal to fork over the Jewels for it.”

Lucy blinked at him, a little gob smacked.  “And that… works for everyone…?” she ventured.

“Pretty much, yeah.”  When her stunned silence continued for longer than he liked, Cobra added, “Listen, it’s not like we’ve ever had proper spending money of our own with how we grew up. I doubt we’d know how to manage it, honestly.”

Pursing her lips, Lucy frowned.  “Call me strange, but even if you do make mistakes with your income, it’s still yours to make the mistakes with.  Financial autonomy is a pretty important thing to have, you know?”

Cobra shrugged.  “If you say so.”

Seeing that she wasn’t going to be able to press issue further with Cobra, Lucy decided to let it go for now.  “Alright, it’s your decision to make.  But maybe we should look into hiring a guild accountant before anything else, yeah? That way Jellal doesn’t have to… to keep it all in his head.”

“You’re surprised by that,” Cobra observed with delight, a cruel smile spreading across his face.  “What, is that something the great Heartfilia Heiress can’t manage herself?”

“Hell no.”  Lucy laughed at Cobra’s taken aback expression over her blunt, honest answer. “It’s a lot to keep track of.  I hire an accountant to go over my personal taxes every year.”

“Do you make them cry?” Cobra asked, his smile returning.

Lucy hesitated a second too long without responding, resulting in Cobra letting out a great laugh that filled the kitchen.  “You do, don’t you?!” he howled with laughter.

Giggles filled Lucy as she, reluctantly, admitted that Cobra had her pegged.  “Okay, you’ve got me there.  In my defense, my life is an utter mess.  So the accountant really should have realized that my finances would be, too.”

“However you wanna justify it to yourself.”

A groan emanated from the third occupant of the kitchen, the fourth paperweight on Lucy’s plans of the mansion.  “You two are too noisy,” Macbeth complained.

“Sorry,” Lucy apologized to her former enemy.  “If you prefer, I can return to talking about finances.  Maybe that will put you back to sleep?”

Her suggestion only sent Cobra into a greater fit of laughter than before and set her to grinning in wicked delight as well.  Macbeth sent Lucy a disgusted look before standing up and stalking out of the kitchen.

Privately, Lucy had to admit that Cobra had a nice laugh.

Suddenly, Cobra’s laughter ceased entirely.  “Wait a minute,” he said.  “So how is it that Fairy Tail makes any money?”  He waved her off when she opened her mouth to repeat her earlier lecture. “No, no.  I get the basic system.  But with Fairy Tail having to pay all sorts of damages and fines, how are they able to make enough money to keep the guild going?”

Lucy hesitated.  Her first instinct was to propose the bar and souvenir shop’s proceeds to make up the deficit, but then she remembered how little profit those endeavors actually made. In fact, the bar’s proceeds largely came from the members of Fairy Tail themselves.  Some of whom had racked up a significant unpaid tab.  Then, with all of the furniture that the members regularly destroyed…  Lucy had never heard of the guild members being forced to pay back the guild for any damages to guild property.  Somehow, Makarov had pulled together enough funds to completely redo the place as well back when she first joined.

“For that matter,” Cobra continued, either oblivious to the gears turning in Lucy head, or uninterested, “how is it that Fairy Tail can get away with destroying so many towns and such with pretty much no repercussions?  You’d think somebody would be pissed about their home being gone.”

Although she wished she could deny it, the fact of Fairy Tail’s destructive leanings was extremely common knowledge.  It was hard to reconcile how much Fairy Tail obliterated with the height of the guild’s popularity.

“It… it creates construction jobs…?” Lucy offered tentatively.  “Puts that back into the economy…?”

Cobra stared at her dead-on, his single violet eye unblinking.  “Is Fairy Tail getting…”

It was Lucy’s turn to cut him off.  “Let’s not finish that thought.”

He considered it for a moment, but eventually nodded.  “That sounds safer, yeah.”  Briefly shaking himself, he then shrugged and changed the subject.  “You hungry?”

“Starving.”

With that, the two tried their hardest to put their lingering suspicions out of their minds.

[diversegaminglists]

Pretty Girls Murdering Things Games

(Not a good title I know, but this is a list of games that combine violence and looking pretty. And yes I know that some of this is weaponised femininity.)

Sexyboob girls (Revealing clothing that is impractical *and* designed for the male gaze):

Age of Barbarian (the teeniest of metal bikinis, also warning for sexual slavery)

Akane the Kunoichi

Bayonetta - Yes I know that’s she’s subversive in some ways, but she’s still sexually charged.

Blade Kitten

Blades of Time

Bloodrayne Franchise

Bloodknights

Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils

Divine Divinity Franchise - The armour designs for this series tend towards the silly, but they’ve slowly been getting better.

Dungeon Siege 3 - Features 2 female PCs. One who has very form-fitting armour and a Barbie-doll naked fire form, while the other wears a series of corsets and thigh-heigh boots.

Injustice: Gods Among Us (There aren’t really any practical outfits for ladies in the first game, but the sequel seems to be doing better in this respect).

King’s Bounty: Armour Princess (The armour design is awful.)

King’s Bounty: Dark Side (Sexy vampire)

Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae

Lichdom Battlemage - The female player character’s outfit is kind of ridiculous but the game is also in first person so you’ll never really see it unless you play as the dude.

Onechanbara Franchise

Orcs Must Die 2

Princess Kaguya - She wears a pretty dress but it’s all about the boob.

Sacred 2 & 3

Shantae

Skullgirls

Velvet Assassin - Her outfits are more skin-tight than would be practical to kill people in

X-Blades - Though there are some unlockable costumes that are less awful than the default.

Pretty Dresses:

99 Spirits

Abyss Odyssey

American Mcgee’s Alice Franchise

Blood of the Werewolf (she’s also a werewolf)

Child of Light

Carpe Fulgur Collection (A trio of Japanese RPGs localised by this group: Chantelise - A Tale of Two Sisters, Fortune Summoners & Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale)

Evil Genius

Faery - Legends of Avalon

Fairy Bloom Freesia

The First Templar - There’s a female character who wears a tunic with a corset over it.

Giana Sisters

Gundemonium (Bullethell franchise with girls in pretty dresses)

I am Setsuna (Though technically Setsuna is not the protagonist)

Jade Empire (All three of the female player characters wear pretty clothes, though one of them is technically really pretty pants.)

A Magical High School Girl

NieR: Automata

Party Hard (Features a party girl as an unlockable character)

They Bleed Pixels

Toren

Touhou

Transistor

Woolfe: The Red Diaries

Armour:

Dragon Age Franchise

Jotun

Pharonic

Wars and Warriors: Joan of Arc

Multiple Categories:

Assassin’s Creed: Liberation - Aveline has three different “personas” with their own special outfits: Assassin, Lady and Slave. Additional recolours for each persona can be bought.

Aquaria - Bikinis, armour.

Bastard Bonds - You make your own character sprite, so you can wear whatever you like.

Black Desert Online

Dragon’s Dogma - One of the best outfits in the game is a Queen dress that can only be worn by women as well as the more usual mage robes and lots of different armour.

Dungeon Defenders - Most of the female characters wear armour or robes but there is also a very hard to get skin for the Countess which is a ballgown.

Dynasty Warriors Franchise - While female characters are in the minority of the franchise all of them wear amazing outfits from the ridiculous to the sublimely beautiful.

The Elder Scrolls Franchise (and with mods you can wear almost anything).

Fable 3 - Ballgowns, armour, chicken suits.

Final Fantasy X-2 - Changing between pretty clothes is literally a core game mechanic.

Gauntlet Franchise - Has featured many different styles of outfits on ladies over the years, sometimes battle bikinis, sometimes more realistic.

God Eater Franchise - A lot of the outfits for a female God Eater are silly.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning - Armour and robes.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII - Outfits are a game mechanic.

Loki - The female characters outfits range from ridiculous to slightly plausible armour.

Magical Battle Festa - Combination of pretty dresses and revealing clothes.

Saints Row Franchise - There’s so many possible outfits that there’s got to be something for everyone.

Sacred - The original game had the Vampiress who offered a more realistic option in terms of practical armour, but the Seraphim became the flagship character for the game and the Vampiress never returned in the sequels.

Star Wars: Jedi Academy - One of the only action games that let’s you choose to play as a lady Jedi in real time combat. The lady options are Human, Zabrak and Twi’ilek (not including mods which add a lot of other stuff).

Tomb Raider - Whether Lara counts as a sexyboob girl varies from game and incarnation, but she’s also had an impressive array of outfits over the years, including armour, catsuits, and evening dresses.

Torchlight Franchise - The first game had only one female class and the starting armour was needlessly skimpy, but the second game does much better in this aspect.

Vampire: The Masquerade Bloodlines - The outfits and amours for the female player character are locked to their clan (unless you mod it) and vary from casual wear, to party clothes, to BDSM gear, depending on which clan you pick.

Venetica - Starts with pretty clothes, gets pretty armour fairly early.

Practical but pretty clothes:

Aerannis

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China

Beyond Good and Evil

Bleed (Features a girl with pink hair and purple flares killing everything).

Borderlands Franchise - The female player characters tend to wear punkish but mostly practical clothes (with the exception of the pre-sequel which gives you a space valkyrie, an evil cowgirl, and an aristocrat), but there are skins and heads that change things up a little.

Dead Island - Practical for an island resort, anyway.

Dex

Hero Siege (The Pirate is the only playable lady as far as I know)

Hydrophobia: Prophecy

Left 4 Dead Franchise (Zoey and Rochelle)

The Legend of Korra

Mirror’s Edge

Remember Me

Septerra Core - The main character is practical, but there is a sexy mechanic girl with an exposed midriff.

Other:

Ashes of Immortality (Features a vampire hunter who kills things with a whip but the graphics are too vague to make out what she’s actually wearing).

Freedom Planet - Lots of midriffs on display though they don’t feel sexualised.

Sailor Moon Video Games - I am too tired to work out where to put them right now.

T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age - This mod is an unofficial expansion for Thief 2 which lets you play a new adventure as a woman. It’s in first person so you don’t really see what she looks like other than in the cutscenes.

[thealluringsink]

Volink Week: Loyalty

The soldiers didn’t really expect answers from Link, but still they whispered. Underneath the natural rhythm the Hyrulean Army had fallen into ran rumors and questions about Link’s role in the enemy Dragon Knight defecting to their side, the exact nature of their relationship, and where Link kept disappearing to as of late. It was always the quiet ones, they said. Those who genuinely questioned his loyalty did not voice their concerns in front of General Impa or the Queen Zelda, but Link himself heard. He always heard.

 Link didn’t really blame them. They were tired and homesick and jumped on any chance to gossip. Though he had a feeling his default cheerful politeness was causing suspicion, he didn’t have the time, energy, voice or desire to make friends with every soldier in the army. He had the support and friendship of the highest ranking generals and the Queen herself. Selfish as he supposed it was, he had better things to do.

 Namely the task at hand. Still in his training clothes, Link had rushed from the makeshift sparring grounds to the soldier’s quarters and the supply stores and could now be seen conspicuously walking away from camp, small frame loaded with every manner of survival necessities.

 “Moving out?”

 Link turned slowly so as not to lose balance, smiling somewhat sheepishly. View blocked by his overstuffed supply bag, Link was all but caught off guard when a taller soldier shoved him roughly. Under most conditions Link would have been able to shrug it off but in his current top-heavy state he tumbled to the ground, spilling small parcels and larger items like water flasks and blankets onto the dusty ground.

 More confused than angry, Link rolled to face his assailant, still sitting in the dirt. A small crowd had gathered around them, no doubt eager for whatever drama was about to be stirred up. This particular soldier was rather infamous for starting trouble, Link recalled. Realizing he probably looked less than commander like lounging in the dirt, Link stood up with his usual unfazed dignity and called Proxi.

 By now, arguments had broken out amongst the spectators, most scolding the unruly soldier for striking a superior in Link’s stead. Others were urging their peers to allow Link to speak for himself if he so wished, and still others were clamoring over what exactly Link was doing with what looked like at least three day’s worth of supplies.

 “Hey! Listen!”

 Silence. With Proxi’s arrival came order. Link rapidly filled her in with a flurry of hand signs and what could best be described as a fairy’s uncanny ability to read minds. Puffing her tiny chest out, she spun to face the soldiers and spoke with the authority of one who could read the minds of everyone there and tattle to the General.

 “Look, he knows you guys are suspicious but this is a classified mission. If you have problems with that go talk to General Impa.”

 In truth, General Impa had nothing to do with this particular excursion but Link wasn’t going to tell them that. There was too much at stake. As Link turned haughtily in the direction of the mountains and began gathering his things, one brave soldier spoke up.

 “You’re going to see the Dragon, aren’t you?”

 Link glanced to the young woman who had spoken and nodded solemnly. As he watched the soldier’s faces, he could see disgust, fear, apprehension, distrust. It made his stomach sink. Having collected his belongings, he turned to face the soldiers fully and spoke in his own powerfully soft voice.

 “I wouldn’t be doing this if it weren’t important. Proxi will remain here so I assure you, should anything happen you will be able to contact me.”

 Truthfully he had been counting on their shock. For some of the newer recruits this was the first time they realized he could speak at all. Link turned and walked away from the stunned silence. His mind was all but blank as he scaled the mountainside, something that was becoming second nature to him. Snapped from his haze by a sudden chill, Link beheld the flaming sunset and remembered why he was here.

 Volga lay curled on the floor of a small cave, resting in a state in between his humanoid and true dragon forms. It was strange, frightening and somehow alluring, though Link supposed it could be that he was just accustomed to spending time around fully-grown dragons. Still, he looked peaceful. Dangerous as Link knew he was, watching Volga move so slowly and tenderly made something swell in his chest.

 Link knelt beside the dragon and began unloading his supplies. Water and rations, blankets, and several keepsakes from his hometown that Link was sure smelled like him. Volga uncurled slowly and lifted his head, exposing the treasures he protected and offering space in his nest to his most trusted accomplice.

 “You’re stressed.”

 Blunt as always. Link suppressed a chuckle but soon turned solemn. Not in any hurry, he signed his explanation of what had happened back at camp. Leaning against Volga and feeling the dragon’s deep purr, it all seemed less distressing.

Volga made no attempt to disguise his disdain, grumbling in the way Link wished he could. Volga’s honesty was absolutely refreshing. Link sought to make this known by stretching his spine then nestling into the curve of Volga’s body, absolute contentment written across his face. Volga smiled.

 “Well I’m certainly glad you’re enjoying yourself so. I’m afraid there’s not much left to say to appease you if you were upset.”

 Link balked at the dragon’s amused face but knew he was right. All this was necessary. Link’s kind was notorious for extinguishing the lives of dragonkin, whether or not they had a fighting chance. Having found the lizalfos eggs so far from Eldin, Volga could not return to his people in time. All but stranded in neutral territory with Link as his only ally, Volga would protect the young ones at least until they could hunt on their own. It as his duty as guardian, and though he refused to admit it, he had a strong parental instinct. Link found it adorable.

 “Thank you for visiting, boy. It gets far too quiet in here.”

 Link tilted his head sideways, then realization flashed in his eyes. Volga could not hear the heartbeats. Gently taking hold of one of Volga’s treasures so as not to provoke him, Link lifted the stone-like egg to the dragon’s ear.

 “…I see. Or hear, rather.”

 Link giggled, curling up tighter and signing something about the superiority of his Hylian ears. Volga knocked him on the side of his head.

 Thank you for not questioning my loyalty, Link signed.

 “Now why would I do that,” Volga huffed, affectionately ruffling Link’s hair. “You’ve more than proven yourself to me. I am proud to call you ally.”

 Lover, Link corrected.

 “Of course, my spark.”

I saw something about Volga getting egg broody and I was like hey that would work with that other idea. It’s so fluffy I’m gonna die.