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mirkwoodshewolf · 4 years

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We’ll make it work; Wanda x Vision x child reader

*Author’s note*

Hey guys well it’s been a LOOONG time since I posted something OUTSIDE of the Bohemian Rhapsody/Queen fandom. So I hope that my marvel readers enjoy this cute little fic that had been on my wattpad inbox since like last Sept. And I PROMISE to those anons who have sent me requests from Doctor Who and a couple more marvel stuff, I WILL GET TO YOUR REQUESTS ASAP. So I’ll stop here for now and let you all enjoy this cute little fic :)

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@ixchel-9275

@queensdivas

@platawnic

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

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They said it couldn’t be done. Hell everyone would say it was downright unnatural but yet it was finally happening. After the whole battle with Thanos and managing to bring everyone back, Wanda and Vision settled down together in a quiet suburban home in upstate New York.

They built their house from the ground up using their own two hands and decided that now with the white picket fence home, they could now start thinking about having a family together. Now of course Vision being a machine he can’t physically reproduce but as luck would have it, there was an orphanage just 30 minutes from where they lived.

Wanda submitted an application to the orphanage introducing themselves and what their preference for adopting was. They had agreed on wanting to adopt a little girl, preferably around 4-6 years old. With some interviews, home visits, and looking through the files, Wanda and Vision finally came to an agreement on their dream child, young (Y/n) (l/n).

An orphan that was brought to the orphanage after her mom gave birth to her in prison.

Her parents were would-be-robbers who mostly robbed homes or cabins but then they got cocky hoping to rob a bank. Unfortunately they were caught right before they got even a foot away from the bank. It was there her mom found out she was pregnant and gave birth in prison before the foster system brought her to the orphanage.

After reading her backstory, Wanda and Vision knew immediately they wanted to have her. So she called the orphanage and set up a meet and greet and in one week they would get to meet their future daughter.

When the day arrived, Wanda and Vision (in his human disguise) drove up to the orphanage where they met the Head organizer Ms. Eliza Soo. She asked them some questions that weren’t on the application like what their current jobs were, and since they were publicly named heroes, that they had their powers under control for the sake of their future daughter.

The two heroes assured Ms. Soo that they had full control of their powers and do not intend on showing their powers before young (Y/n) unless she asks them to. After about 15 minutes of chatting away, Ms. Soo told them.

“Alright. Now unlike most meet and greets that other orphanages do, we personally would like to see how the potential parents interact with our children. Instead of trying to force the child to talk in a room with 2 strangers, we ask that the potential adopters meet the child in the Playroom. Are you two up for that?”

“Yes of course. I personally understand what it feels like. For most of my childhood it was only my brother and I for years before he…...” Wanda said. At the mention of her brother, tears flickered in her eyes but Vision took her hand in both of his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“My wife lost her brother just shortly after we met. They were both orphaned when they were 10 years old back in her old home of Sokovia.”

“Oh I’m so sorry Ms. Maximoff, my condolences on your loss. I lost my brother around that age too. Gunshot by a rival gang member.” She took a deep breath in before exhaling out. “Now then, (Y/n) should already be heading towards the playroom if not already there by now. Allow me to escort you there so that you three may get acquainted with each other.” The three of them stood up and Ms. Soo guided them out of her office and down the hall.

They soon reached a room that was labeled at the top of the door PLAYROOM. Decorated all over the door were various art projects that the kids have done and at the bottom there were their names and ages.

“Now we’ll just observe you guys from the double-sided mirrors and see how you guys interact with her. If we see that there’s a connection, then we can proceed with the legal adoption.”

“Thank you Ms. Soo.” Vision said. She nodded and walked off leaving the couple alone by the door. The two of them looked at each other and Wanda asked her husband and partner.

“You ready?”

“If you are, then so am I.” Vision responded. Wanda then reached for the doorknob and turned it on its side to open it up.

When they stepped into the room, it was completely filled with every kid of children’s toys imaginable from toy cars and trucks, dolls and action figures, even a small TV with a videogame console. There was also drawings hung up along the wall just like there were on the door.

Soon their eyes came to young 4 year old (Y/n) (L/n). She was at a small circular table with some paper and crayons surrounding her. Happily humming to herself as she continued to draw on the paper. When she saw Wanda and Vision, her head tilted to the side like an intrigued puppy.

“Are you my new mommy and daddy?”

“We—we hope to be.” Answered Wanda. A wide smile soon spread across her face and she raced right up to them and immediately embraced Wanda. Once she felt that little girl embrace her, a warm sensation fell over her and she already felt that maternal instinct take over. Wanda knelt down and embraced young (Y/n) and she said. “So what is it you were drawing?”

“Come look. I’ve been working really hard on it!” like every excited child that wanted to show off their accomplishments, she dragged them both to the table and they all sat down around it and she began to show them all the drawings she’s done.

Some of them were drawings of herself out in a flower field, with her favorite animals, but one picture struck out to the two of them.

“What is this picture of (Y/n)?” Vision said as he held up a picture of (Y/n) standing between two adult figures. But they had no hair or facial features drawn yet.

“That’s a picture of me with my new family. I…..I didn’t want to finish it till I knew it was for real. Are you guys really gonna be my new parents?” Wanda smiled and gently placed her hand on top of (Y/n)’s head and stroked down it.

“If Ms. Soo thinks we’re good with you, then yes. We will be.”

“I know one way that can help you, follow me!” she then stood up and raced over to the toy chest and opened it up. Inside were dozens of costumes ranging from feather boas, to every kind of hat imaginable. Donated Halloween costumes, and even some props. “Since you guys are real life heroes, do you think we could play superheroes?”

Both Vision and Wanda were a little hesitant but after seeing the hopeful look in (Y/n)’s face, they agreed. So they want up to her and they dug through the costume chest to see what all they could find.

With the wide imagination (Y/n)’s had, her and Wanda would be the heroes while Vision was to play the giant fire breathing dinosaur. They stacked up some blocks for the town and places the toy cars to make it feel like an actual city.

Watching them through the double-shift mirror, Ms. Soo along with some of the other workers watched the two former heroes interact with (Y/n).

“Seems (Y/n) has finally found the family she’s always wanted.” Said one of the female workers.

“I agree.” Said a male worker. Ms. Soo who had been watching with interest, began to realize that maybe her employers were right.

After about 10min. of playtime and just getting to know her a bit more, that’s when Ms. Soo stepped into the room. Her face was stoic as she looked at the three of them.

Wanda and Vision stood up and Vision asked.

“Ms. Soo, is there something wrong?”

“No. As a matter of fact, I’ve seen all that I’ve wanted to see. And……you guys have proven to me that you’re meant to be her future parents.”

“Really Ms. Soo?! Wanda and Vision are gonna be my new mommy and daddy?” (Y/n) asked excitedly.

“Indeed they are. We’ll have the legal forms printed out and have you both sign them. Then in a couple of weeks you can officially move in with them to your new home.” Ecstatic about the news, (Y/n) jumped up and down happily cheering at the fact she now had a new mom and dad, not only that but her new parents were Scarlet Witch and Vision.

“Thank you Ms. Soo. Thank you.” Wanda said happily.

“No need to thank me. You’re truly shown me that you both are the perfect couple to take her in.”

So for the next couple of weeks, Wanda and Vision signed any legal papers that the orphanage would send to them, get (Y/n)’s room ready for her and buy her some new toys, clothes and get her bed all made up.

Vision was currently outside building the playground that they wanted (Y/n) to play in the backyard. It wasn’t anything grand just the basic swing set and jointed mini-clubhouse. But as he was reading the instructions for how to hook the swings up that’s when he heard the gossiping voices of one of the neighbors next door, Karen and Felicia.

“Have you heard about the couple next door adopting a kid?” asked Felicia.

“Yes. That poor kid, having to be adopted by a bunch of freaks.” Karen mouthed out.

“I mean Wanda’s an okay girl, but I just worry about that boyfriend of hers.”

“Like he’s a freakin machine! You’ve seen all those robot shows. What if he goes all Terminator on that poor little girl?”

“I’d feel safer if her and Wanda bailed when that robot isn’t looking.”

“Amen to that sister. Oh! Did you see the recent Housewives of Orange County….” At this point Vision stopped working and went back inside.

He phased through the wall before levitating himself up towards the master bedroom and just stood there with an array of emotions buzzing about his head. Anger, fear, hurt, heartbroken, but most of all doubt.

Was he really able to take care of a child….scratch that a human being? He was an android after all. What hope could he possibly have of taking care of a human child? He couldn’t taste properly so there’s no way he’d be able to cook for his new daughter. There are some human emotions that he still has trouble deciphering, so how would he know what his daughter was feeling, especially once she reached her teenage years?

“Vis?” Wanda’s voice called out to him. He looked up and saw Wanda kneeling in front of him. Vision soon took notice that he was now on the floor, his knees curled up close to his chest, his back up against the wall. “Are you okay?”

“Wanda I—”

“Shhh, calm down. Breathe for me.” She placed her hand to the side of his head, her fingers gently brushing against his temple and he closed his eyes taking in a few deep breaths. “You okay now?”

“Yes. Forgive me I—don’t know what came over me.”

“You were having an anxiety attack.”

“How—how is that possible?” Vision asked. He was an android how could he have an anxiety attack?

“I don’t know.”

“Well we’ll—we’ll worry about how that’s possible later. Do you want to tell me what it was all about?” Vision looked down with regret and he whispered softly.

“I was a fool to think I could do this.”

“What? What are you saying?”

“Me. Being a—a father. To a human child.”

“What? Vision why—why would you say something like that?”

“I’m not fully human Wanda. I mean yes I can pull the disguise but—when it all comes down to it I’m a machine. After all I was originally supposed to be Ultron’s Vision.”

“But you’re not…….”

“There could be another threat. A threat that—puts you and our……I’m sorry Wanda. I shouldn’t have even spoken up about this.”

“Hey, hey, hey, look at me. Look at me Vision.” She cupped the side of his face. Her eyes filled with concern as her brow furrowed to match the concern in her eyes. “There is nothing wrong with speaking up about something like this. I’m scared too.”

“But you’re at least human. What if I—what if I hurt her?”

“You won’t.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I feel you. Just you. And when we played with (Y/n) just two weeks ago, I could feel just how happy you were. You will not hurt her.”

“But what if…..”

“Stop.” She held out her hand as she spoke softly. She then moved her hand and gently with her powers, showed Vision a memory of when they first met (Y/n).

Specifically the memory of when both him and (Y/n) were playing together. It was when she (as the superhero) had slain the reptile creature and he allowed her to climb on top of him and do a victory pose with her fake sword and shield. After awhile that’s when he suddenly came back alive and he began to playfully tickle her.

After seeing that memory, Vision turned to Wanda and she said with a warm smile.

“That’s how I know you won’t hurt her. After just knowing her for that short 10min. of playtime. You were just like how my father was with me. Kind, caring, and a heart full of love.”

“You do realize I don’t actually have a heart right?” she arched her brow at Vision annoyed. “Right, sorry.”

“You know what I mean. What I’m trying to tell you Vis is that it doesn’t matter whether your human or machine, (Y/n) loves you for who you are, who you’re going to be to her. You’re the only father she’ll never know. And as long as you care and love her, it doesn’t matter what you look like.” Vision nodded and said to his love, tears flickering in his eyes.

“Thank you Wanda. Thank you.”

“I love you Vis. So does (Y/n). I won’t deny that we’ll probably make a million mistakes but so long as we both love her together, I know we’re doing something right.” The two of them shared a soft but loving kiss before embracing each other.

In a few days (Y/n) was soon moved into her new home and just like Wanda told him, they both loved and gave her the care she was denied from her birth parents.

Of course there were the skeptical neighbors but Vision hardly paid them any mind now, because as long as he was loved by his new daughter, that’s all that mattered to him.

Also I won’t confirm or deny that when Wanda finally found out just who was responsible for putting doubt into Vision’s head in the first place, she may or might not have given Karen visions of her worst memories and fears, while making Felicia think she had a poltergeist in her house.

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bokunoheroanalysisforthefuture · 3 years

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Alright kiddos, it is time for! The last chapter of the opening arcs / battle trial! Wherein we continue Katsuki's mental breakdown! <3

I’m considering doing some kind of end-of-arc(s) summary / personal thoughts thing after this as a way of sort of compiling my thoughts on the story as a whole so far, as well as just being open to answering your general ideas and open questions / suggestions about the story and characters and whatnot so far (and I guess to come?) So have at it, I want to know what you all think about these first eleven chapters as an introduction to the series / characters / plot / whatnot.

[No. 11 - Bakugou’s Starting Line]

That is… a lot less damage than I thought there was. Like, it still looks pretty bad, but not to the point of ‘it’s going to collapse if someone breathes funny’ bad like I was thinking before. The active explosion of the panels before this probably added to that impression. Also, the building is a LOT smaller than I thought it was?

And speaking of Katsuki’s mental breakdown! He’s just standing there in complete shock while Tenya is comforting a vomiting Ochako, and Izuku is passed out on the floor. Someone points out that the losing team is almost unscathed while the winners are down for the count - they lost the battle but won the war, so to speak. Tsuyu points out that it’s just training though.

(to the tune of ‘Final Countdown’) It’s a mental breakdown~ (kazoo solo)

But in full seriousness, this is the first true moment we see of his worldview being smashed open. Like, he was definitely shaken with Izuku’s actions back with the sludge villain, but Katsuki was just more quiet and sullen. Here? Here he’s just had one of the pillars he built his entire mindset around - that Izuku was weaker than him - torn down as violently as the wall he blasted open. He is not okay with this. He’s sweating, he’s shaking, he’s probably about five seconds from collapsing to his knees and screaming.

Fortunately, he’s mostly knocked out of his own head by All Might showing up and placing a hand on his shoulder, telling him to head back so he can get graded. Katsuki doesn’t really seem to be listening as All Might goes on about how whether one wins or loses, they can come out ahead by learning from the experience - instead he’s watching as Izuku is taken away on a stretcher by two transpo-bots to the nurse’s office.

In the monitor room, All Might announces that the VIP of the battle was Tenya, much to said boy’s surprise. Katsuki is looking pretty gloomy and stuck in his head, while Ochako is still struggling with the lingering nausea. Tsuyu asks why the VIP isn’t one of the hero team who won, and All Might asks the class if any if them can guess at his reasoning.

Momo raises her had and says she does, and then explains that Tenya had best adapted to the scenario. Katsuki’s actions were motivated by a personal grudge, and his use of destructive attacks indoors was foolish. Izuku’s performance suffered from the same faults. And Ochako lost focus halfway through and her final attack was haphazard - if the weapon had been real, the attack would be unthinkable. Tenya, on the other hand, formed an actual counterstrategy, and thought about what the struggle would be like. His only fault was being too slow to react at the end, and the hero team only won because it was a training exercise with exploitable restraints.

Tenya is touched. Meanwhile, the rest of the class is stunned silent, with All Might shaking because she said it better than he could. He hesitantly adds that Tenya was a bit too stiff, but otherwise she was correct. She huffs and says that they need to start at the bottom and work up - if they don’t cheer each other on, they won’t even become top heroes. Her name is also introduced here, as well as the fact that she’s the number one recommended first year.

How’s Katsuki doing?

Eh… we’ll come back to you in a bit. For now, the other battle trials! Shouto and Shouji (hero team) versus Ojiro and Hagakure (villain team), in a new location. The heroes are both quiet, while Hagakure is getting hyped up and taking off her gloves and boots to go full stealth mode. Ojiro is a bit flustered at that, thinking that it makes sense for someone invisible, but that it feels unethical.

(Which is, I’m guessing, that comment that her ‘hero costume’ is being buck naked, which honestly, I refuse to believe. If the support companies can make a costume for someone who goes impermeable (which, by its own definition, would mean light goes through as well, ergo ‘invisibility’), then she can get one as well. I think she’s just a troll who says the costume is nothing to fluster others - I mean, considering she does like hidden camera shows, and they tend to do those weird stuff to surprise or discomfort people, it would fit in line with her character.)

Anyways, when the hero team is sent in, Shouji is listening in just inside the building with several arm-ears, right before they shift into really concerning-looking mouths to relay information. Shouji tells his partner that one is on the north side of the fourth floor, while the other is on the same floor barefoot - clearly, the invisible one is trying to ambush and capture them. Shouji also gets a title card and an explanation of his quirk, Dupli-arms: he can replicate his own body parts at the tips of his tentacles!

Shouto warns Shouji to get out, since it’s about to ‘get frosty in here’. Their opponents think they’re playing a defensive game, but it means nothing to him. He then proceeds to show off just what he means by ‘frosty’.

Yeah, that’s a bit OP there. Poor Ojiro - and definitely poor Hagakure, who got frozen to the floor with bare feet. Shouto walks in and says to bring it on, but that fighting without the soles of their feet will be painful. All Might and Kirishima are shivering in the monitor room from the cold, with All Might noting that neither Shouto’s ally nor the weapon were harmed when he immobilized the enemy; Kirishima says that he’s too strong.

Hagakure’s hurting where she’s frozen, and Ojiro is freaked out and not even trying to break out as Shouto walks past and puts his left hand of the weapon, giving his team the win. Shouto apologizes to them as the ice steams away, Ojiro shocked to see how quickly the building is warming up. As Shouto finishes melting the ice, he declares that they are in different leagues - and we get his title card!

Number two recommended first year, quirk Half-Hot, Half-Cold (which I think is supposed to have some greater pun or sound better in Japanese? [Hanrei Hannen] I suppose does roll a bit better, but hmmm…) His right side can freeze things and his left can burn. His range and limits are unknown - what a beast!

(Katsuki, meanwhile, is biting his lip to keep himself from saying anything - likely another blow to his preconceived belief that he was the strongest right while he’s trying to come back from the last one.)

We get a brief summary of what the other teams did: Sero and Kirishima played villains and defended with Sero’s tape as traps around the room. Tsuyu went along the walls while Tokoyami had his quirk primed to attack. Jirou scouted with her quirk while Kaminari kept a charge prepped in his hand, and Mina threw a ot of acid around, a bit of which burned Aoyama’s cape.

We transition to the end of the class, with All Might telling everyone well done, and that besides Izuku, there were no serious injuries. He complements their teamwork and says they all did splendidly, considering it was their first exercise. Someone in the class mentions that after Aizawa, a straightforward class that that was almost a letdown. All Might walks away, saying that the teachers are free to have no-nonsense classes if they like, and that he’s off to give Izuku his evaluation, letting them know to get changed out of their costumes and head back to the classroom before he runs off in a hurry. Mineta notes he seems to be in a hurry, but that he’s also so cool.

All Might glances back, seeing Katsuki in the back of the class still in a gloomy state. He thinks about how Katsuki is ‘a bundle of conceit’ and how the most inflated egos are often the most fragile. As a teacher, he needs to give the boy some counseling, but for now, he has to save on his time, due to only having enough strength to get through a single class.

Which, considering All Might’s limit before USJ is three hours, seems a bit weird, so let’s do some math.

The villain teams have five minutes to set up, and the heroes have fifteen to get to the bomb after that - twenty minutes. With five rounds, that’s an even hundred minutes for the exercises, not counting those that ended early. With all the time saved from Shouto’s instant take out and assuming average times for the others, we probably have more like eighty minutes spent on those exercises. Of course, we can then add time for getting to and from the buildings, as well as the assessments of each match and determination of the VIP. So that can probably bumped back up to 100 minutes, maybe closer to 110? Which would just fit within the bounds of a double-class period for Japanese schools (which are fifty minute classes with ten minute breaks in between).

Japanese classes have four periods before lunch and three after. The ‘canon’ schedule has heroics lessons happen THROUGH lunch period, which makes no sense when they need that energy in order to be able to fight. I am also skeptical of fighting right after lunch, when that makes it more likely for them to throw up if they take a bad hit, ergo, the reasonable time period for these lessons is the last two periods of the day - thus giving the kids about an hour for food to digest and energy to get into their systems.

I think this is also added onto with how Izuku doesn’t freak out after this over missing a class, which makes sense if it was the last one. Plus, well, scheduling the most exhausting and injury-prone class at the end of the day means that anyone who needs to rest a while actually can without missing important things - and that the kids won’t be too tired to pay attention to whichever teachers they would otherwise have afterwards.

...right, my original point. All Might is supposed to have three hours, but gets stressed out after using just two hours here. I can get that maybe it’s three hours total, but holding it for two continuously without chances to ‘unflex’ and rest for a bit might be straining on him still? Or maybe he just spent some time that morning doing hero things and so ran out of time a bit early.

Anyways, I think I’ll end this off here, since it’s about halfway and we did get through quite a bit. Next time, we finish off the opening arcs of the series, and then I guess I do some Q&A / personal thoughts so far / narrative analysis / whatever? I guess send in questions or thoughts or whatever you guys have, and I’ll answer them after the next post.

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tomeandflickcorner · 4 years

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Star Wars: Episode 9- The Rise of Skywalker

Some of you may remember the project I did last year, in which I reviewed all of the official Star Wars movies. At the time, I couldn’t review Rise of Skywalker, on account of how it wasn’t out yet. But now that it is, I can finally complete my Star Wars review project. Obviously, there will be spoilers under the cut. So if you haven’t seen it yet, proceed at your own risk.

The movie opens with the iconic text crawl. It informs us that, sometime after Snoke was killed and Kylo Ren took control of the First Order, a mysterious broadcast began being sent out through the galaxy, which vowed that the Resistance would pay dearly. The main issue, though, is that the broadcast seemed to have been made by Emperor Palpatine himself. Which obviously causes a lot of alarm among the Resistance, as the Emperor was believed to have died decades earlier, during the battle of the second Death Star, the battle that pretty much ended the Galactic Civil War. (Yeah, the war technically did continue for a while after that, as shown by the countless wreckage on Jakku, but I think the Battle of Endor was what secured victory for the Rebel Alliance.) But they’re not the only ones who have taken notice of this broadcast, as Kylo Ren is also trying to track down where the broadcast originated. After he slaughters a bunch of random people on the planet Mustafar, the former home of Darth Vader, he manages to locate what appears to be a Holocron, which were basically information storage devices typically used by both the Jedi and the Sith in times long past. (I remember them being a thing in the Star Wars MMO I used to play.) With this Holocron thing, which the movie refers to as a Sith Wayfinder, Kylo is able to pinpoint the source of the mysterious transmission on some secret uncharted planet called Exegol. Upon reaching the planet, he finds that Emperor Palpatine did indeed somehow survive the events of Return of the Jedi. But only barely, as he’s essentially bedridden and attached to some sort of life support system that’s kept maintained by what I gather were Palpatine’s Disciples. Yeah, Palpatine apparently has some manner of cult following now. And, through a bit of exposition, we are able to gather that Palpatine has actually been pulling the strings of the First Order all this time. For instance, Snoke was apparently an artificially grown person that Palpatine’s Disciples manufactured, as indicated by what appears to be cloned copies of Snoke inside large glass tanks, and his main purpose was to act as Palpatine’s puppet. (So that explains where Snoke came from.) And those voices that have been whispering in Kylo’s head for years, seemingly guiding him through his path towards the Dark Side, was pretty much Palpatine talking to him telepathically while making Kylo believe it was the voice of Vader speaking to him. While I still find it questionable that Palpatine managed to survive falling into that large pit AND was successfully smuggled off the second Death Star before it went boom, if Darth Maul was able to survive getting sliced in half followed by falling down a seemingly bottomless pit, I guess anything is possible. Maybe Boba Fett survived the sarlacc pit. And perhaps Mace Windu is still alive somewhere, too. Whatever. Anyway, Palpatine proceeds to reveal to Kylo that he has an entire fleet of Star Destroyers that are primed to launch and assist the First Order in completely overthrowing the galaxy. He also instructs him to locate and kill Rey, as there’s more to her than meets the eye.

We then cut to Poe, Finn and Chewbacca, who are on the Millennium Falcon. They’re apparently in the middle of some mission for Leia and the Resistance. A Resistance informant called Boolio has managed to obtain a special message that needs to be passed onto Leia, and the best way to get it to her is by transferring the message into R2’s databanks. But there’s still a little time for levity as Chewbacca is currently in the middle of a holographic chess match with Finn and Poe, the latter of whom accuses Chewbacca of always cheating on account of how long Chewbacca takes to make a move. The chess match is interrupted when a random member of the Resistance pokes his head into the room to inform them that they’ve reached the pickup location. And Poe, despite Chewbacca’s instructions to not disrupt their game, switches off the holographic chessboard.

So Finn, Poe and Chewbacca meet up with Boolio, and they get to work on downloading the message into R2. But right when they’re finishing up the transfer, First Order TIE Fighters appear on the scene. So they only just manage to finish downloading the message in time before they have to fly the Millennium Falcon out of there on the double. And Boolio urgently passes on one final message to Poe. He informs him that the information that was transferred into R2 actually came from a mole within the First Order. When Poe asks how they can repay Boolio for all his help, Boolio simply tells them to win the war. It’s strongly implied that both Poe and Boolio realize that he is as good as dead now, what with the First Order’s sudden arrival. And if that was true, they weren’t wrong, as we’ll later see Kylo Ren placing Boolio’s severed head on the table during a meeting with other First Order generals, in which they discuss how Palpatine is still alive and has the armada ready to assist them in their efforts to crush the Resistance for good. This scene also shows that Kylo’s mask is back, as a welder has put the broken pieces back together, as well as introduces us to Enric Pryde, a top general in the First Order.

Poe manages to escape the First Order TIE Fighters through a multitude of consecutive Light Speed jumps. Which he’s apparently not supposed to do since it’s extremely reckless and foolhardy. And I can see why, as each time they come out of a jump, they’re in a completely different location. And, if you’re not immediately on your game when you first emerge in a given location, you could easily fly headlong into a tree or building. Finn even points out that Leia would not approve of Poe taking such a rash action. To which Poe points out that Leia is not there. Eventually, Poe’s crazy plan works, and they reach the jungle planet of Ajan Kloss, where the Resistance base currently resides. It’s here where we see Rey his been continuing her Jedi training under Leia’s supervision. Which does make sense, as Leia is the only Force Sensitive person left who can help oversee Rey’s Jedi training. It’s nice that the movie is now acknowledging that Leia is Force Sensitive. Better late than never. And it’s made very clear that Rey has grown much stronger in the Force in the year since the Battle of Crait. (The whole visual of her meditating while floating in the air while a bunch of rocks orbit around her was particularly stunning.) However, during a rigorous training exercise, we see that the whole Force Telepathy thing that connected Rey and Kylo in the last movie hasn’t completely gone away. Because Rey suddenly gets plagued by some disturbing visions as a result of Kylo meditating in front of Vader’s melted mask. These visions include Palpatine’s fleet of Star Destroyers, her memory of being left behind by her parents on Jakku, Han’s death and one of Rey herself as a Sith. The visions shake Rey to the core, but she does not confide in Leia about them, simply stating that perhaps she’s just tired.

When the Millennium Falcon returns to Ajan Kloss, Rey immediately heads over to the landing bay to meet her friends, where we finally get to see all three of the New Trilogy’s trio together. Rey and Poe get into a brief argument, with Rey upset over seeing the Millennium Falcon caught fire because of Poe’s Light Speed jumps and Poe was likewise aghast at seeing that BB-8 got banged up as well during his absence. (Rey accidentally felled a tree right over the little droid when her visions started to interfere with her training regimen.) Overall, this was an amusingly entertaining moment that not only showcased Rey’s attachment to the Falcon matched Poe’s bond with his little Droid, but also indicated what the dynamic between these two was like. The argument comes to a hold when Rey sees Finn, and she goes over to hug her dear friend in greeting.

Anyway, our heroes then get to work in deciphering the message inside R2, which basically informs the Resistance of what Kylo had already found out- Palpatine is indeed alive on Exegol and has enough Star Destroyers at the ready to complete the First Order’s goals of conquering the galaxy. But as 3PO points out, there is no record of Exegol on any known starchart, on account of it being a hidden Sith planet, so the Resistance have no way to combat the renewed threat of Palpatine, who intends to begin his final attack on the worlds not already under First Order control in roughly 16 hours. However, Rey has found something in the Ancient Jedi Texts that she managed to salvage on Ahch-To. It turns out that Luke added his own edits to the texts or something, because Rey finds that they make mentions of Exegol, and indicate that it is possible to find Exegol with the use of a Sith Wayfinder. Upon sharing her discovery with Leia, Rey volunteers to set out to find a Sith Wayfinder so they could use it to track down Exegol and put an end to Palpatine’s scheme. At first. Leia refuses to allow this, stating that it would be too dangerous. But she quickly relents when Rey states that she will go with or without her blessing, as Leia would have done the same thing in her place. As such, Leia directs Rey to head to a dessert planet called Pasaana, as there is an old contact of hers there who might be able to help Rey in her quest. So Rey heads off to the Millennium Falcon to make the journey to Pasanna. But she’s intercepted by Finn, Poe, Chewbacca, 3PO and BB-8, who, in spite of Rey’s insistence on doing this alone, state that they’re in this together. Before the group leaves for Pasaana, we get a small moment of 3PO bidding goodbye to R2, with the former stating that, in the event that something were to happen that would prevent them from meeting again, he wants the Astromech Droid to know that he considers R2 his best friend. Which I suppose could be argued is a little forced foreshadowing of something that happens during the course of the movie. Also, Leia returns the Skywalker Lightsaber to Rey before she leaves. Surprisingly, they were able to repair it, even though it looked damaged beyond the point of repair in the last movie. Which slightly bummed me out a bit, as I thought we’d see Rey beginning this adventure with a lightsaber of her own. Especially with the last movie’s emphasis on letting go of the past. But I guess I can live with this.

When Rey and the others arrive on Pasaana, they find that they’ve arrived on the day the Aki Aki, an Alien species native to the planet, are holding their sacred holiday meant to honor their ancestors, a festival 3PO states they are very lucky to be able to witness, as they only hold this celebration every 42 years. (Was this a reference to how A New Hope came out 42 years prior to this final instalment of the Star Wars trilogies?) Trying to keep a low profile, they proceed make their way through the crowd of celebrators. But Rey’s attention is briefly caught by a small group of Aki Aki children, who are watching some sort of puppet show. As she watches, one of the younger Aki Aki approaches her to give her a necklace before asking Rey about her family name. Which makes sense, as this sacred holiday is about celebrating your ancestors. However, Rey has to admit she doesn’t have a family name. Yeah, despite the last movie trying to say that Rey’s parents were nobody more than backwater folks who sold her for drinking money, it looks like Rey’s parentage is still going to be a plot point in this movie.

Out of nowhere, Kylo triggers one of those Force Telepathy sessions with Rey, who is clearly not happy about it. Kylo, after informing her that Palpatine wants her dead, goes off on his whole thing about how he still intends to turn her to the Dark Side, yadda yadda yadda. But then, he snatches the necklace Rey got from the Aki Aki kid. Because this Force Telepathy thing can allow you to do that. (Remember how the rain from Ahch-To appeared on Kylo’s glove in the last movie?) Rey immediately realizes that Kylo getting her necklace is a bad thing, as him having it means that he’s now able to trace the necklace’s origin, and therefore will be able to figure out where they are. She immediately goes to warn her friends of this. But before they could escape, a First Order Stormtrooper appears and holds them at gunpoint.

At that moment, they are saved from the First Order Stormtrooper by a masked figure, who instructs Rey and the others to follow him onto a nearby transport. Deciding that they have little choice but to trust this stranger, especially since he did just save their lives, they comply with the request. And a good thing, too. Because as soon as the transport begins to get our heroes out of there, the masked figure reveals himself as Lando. It turns out that he is the contact Leia sent them to find, as he, upon hearing what brought them to Pasaana, reveals that he and Luke once teamed up to try and track down someone called Ochi, who was believed to have located one of the only two known remaining Sith Wayfinders that could reveal the location of Exegol. However, the trail went cold here on Pasaana, as he and Luke had only found Ochi’s ship, which was left abandoned in the desert. And they never found out where Ochi went. Lando agrees to take Rey and company to Ochi’s ship, since perhaps there’s a clue there that Lando and Luke overlooked. But first, they have to evade a legion of First Order Stormtroopers. Which triggers a whole action sequence that also contains a touch of humor when it’s revealed the Stormtroopers have jetpacks now. You have to feel bad for Finn here. He just seems so offended that the Stormtroopers can fly now. After all, he’d been with the Stormtroopers for practically his whole life. And just one year after he defected, that’s when they decide to hand out the jetpacks?

As our heroes are still trying to evade the First Order Stormtroopers, they get their first glimpse of Ochi’s ship, lying on the top of a rocky outcrop. Right away, Rey realizes she recognizes the ship. It’s the same one we’ve seen in her vision/memory of the day her parents left her on Jakku. However, mere moments after Rey makes that realization, their speeders are hit with a direct blast from the pursuing Stormtroopers, which sends everyone in the group to go flying right into a nearby patch of sinking fields. Which act in a similar manner to Hollywood’s interpretation of quicksand. Despite their best efforts, our heroes sink below the surface. (Here, Finn admits to Rey that there’s something he’d been wanting to tell her, but they sink below the surface before he could complete his statement.)

Fortunately, this doesn’t result our heroes’ deaths by suffocation. Rather, they come out on the other side of the sinking fields, right into an underground cavern hidden below the surface of the desert. They proceed to try and locate a way out. In doing so, they stumble across the skeletal remains of Ochi. This leads to them determining that Ochi must have fallen into the sinking fields as well. And, upon being unable to find a way out, eventually died of hunger/thirst/whatever. Of course, this presents Rey and the others with a problem. If Ochi couldn’t find a way out of this underground cavern, how are they supposed to do any better?

Before they can come up with a solution to that, they find themselves face-to-face with an Alien beast called a Vexis snake. Initially, the group is ready to fight the creature. But then Rey notices that the Vexis snake is injured. Taking pity on the beast, she slowly approaches the Vexis snake and heals the injury through a new ability called Force Healing. The Vexis snake, out of gratitude for Rey’s gesture, reveals an opening in the side of the cavern wall, which allows our heroes to escape. But before they leave the cavern, they locate a dagger that belonged to Ochi. Ochi’s dagger, they notice, has an inscription on the blade. But it’s written in an ancient Sith language. 3PO announces that he can easily translate the writing, on account of him being programmed in over six million forms of communication. However, he admits he is unable to actually tell the others what the writing says. Because he has been specifically programmed to never translate anything Sith related. While this is obviously frustrating for Rey and company to hear, I’m wondering who programmed that restriction into 3PO’s circuitry. I can’t see little boy Anakin doing that, since he had no idea what the Sith even were when he lived on Tatooine. Same with the Lars family. Did Captain Antilles do the honor under the request of Bail Organa when ownership of 3PO passed to him following the events of Revenge of the Sith?

Getting back to the actual story, they head back to Ochi’s ship to resume their search for clues to the location of the Sith Wayfinder, as well as try to repair the ship so it would be flightworthy again. Because they know it’s too risky to risk returning to the Millennium Falcon, as the First Order would most likely be waiting for them back there. As they’re searching, Rey senses Kylo’s presence and, without telling her friends, she heads out to confront him. When they notice she’s missing, Finn and Poe end up sending Chewbacca out to find her. Which seems a bit silly, since they were working on ship repairs. Why exactly would you send the one who is the seasoned expert on repairing ships to do the menial task of fetching Rey? Although, Chewbacca doesn’t get a chance to find Rey. Kylo’s followers, the Knights of Rey, are lying in wait and manage to get the jump on Chewbacca off camera. (About time they remembered these guys in the new trilogy. I’d been wondering if they’d actually be featured beyond a passing mention in The Force Awakens.) Finn and Poe soon discover Chewbacca has been captured when they see TIE Fighters approaching on radar and head out to warn him.

Meanwhile, Rey has spotted Kylo’s TIE Whisperer approaching the area. Which leads to that moment I’m sure we’ve all seen on the trailer, with Rey performing that epic backflip over the TIE Whisperer as it flies towards her. In the process, Rey effortlessly slices through the Tie Whisperer’s wing, resulting in the ship to crash land. At that moment, Finn runs over to inform Rey that Chewbacca was captured, gesturing to a transport ship that’s currently taking off nearby. Without hesitation, Rey attempts to stop the transport ship from leaving the planet by holding it back with the Force. But Kylo, who survived the crash, also tries to use the Force to pull the transport ship out of her grasp. This results in the pair having what amounts to a tug-of-war over the transport ship. For a few moments, it looks as if Rey and Kylo are evenly matched. Until Rey, without warning, suddenly unleashes a blast of Force Lightning from her hand. This results in the transport ship to blow up, much to the horror of Rey, Finn and Poe, as Chewbacca was on the transport ship, and there’s no way anyone could have survived that.

Unfortunately, there’s no time to grieve the death of their friend, as our heroes have to escape on Ochi’s ship before First Order reinforcements can arrive. Once they’re off the planet, though, they’re able to let the development sink in. Chewbacca is gone. And if that wasn’t bad enough, he’d had Ochi’s dagger on him when he’d been captured. Without it, their hopes of finding Exegol and stopping Palpatine’s fleet of Star Destroyers are dashed. That’s when 3PO lets slip that he remembers exactly what the dagger’s inscription said. But like he said before, he cannot tell them what it said on account of his programming preventing him from doing so. However, Poe has an idea on how to work around that hurtle. He knows someone on a planet called Kijimi that can help them hack into 3PO’s circuits and override that programming restriction. So it’s off to Kijimi they go.

During this time, we also see Rey trying to wrap her head around how she was able to generate Force Lightning. As it’s doubtful she would have learned such a thing from Leia. Not only did Leia, unlike Luke, never witness Force Lightning being used (at least, not to our knowledge), Force Lightning was apparently a Dark Side power. Hardly something you would teach a Jedi. So how would Rey have been able to utilize that herself? Also, BB-8 discovers a deactivated little Droid called D-O in a secluded corner of the ship. I guess D-O was originally supposed to belong to Ochi before his death, though D-O is not a bad Droid himself. BB-8 ends up reactivating D-O, giving Star Wars fans a new little Droid to fawn over. (D-O is basically a bullhorn mounted on a single wheel.)

Upon reaching Kijimi, the heroes find the planet is pretty much under First Order control, with Stormtroopers keeping the residents under house arrest. As the Resistance group tries to navigate along while evading being discovered by the Stormtroopers, they end up running into a woman called Zorii Bliss, who is revealed to be an old friend of Poe, from the days before he joined the resistance. From her, we learn a bit of Poe’s backstory. Prior to joining the Resistance, he’d earned a living as a spice runner, which is basically the Star Wars equivalent of a drug dealer or something along those lines. (The movie spends a few seconds with Finn and Rey making a big deal of this, which is a bit odd. Like, does it really matter what Poe did before he joined the resistance? Poe even points out the hypocrisy of his friends’ reactions, pointing out that Finn used to be a Stormtrooper and Rey was a scavenger.) But the point is that Poe apparently still owes Zorii money from his spice runner days. Though Zorii is eventually convinced to forget about the debt and she agrees to bring them to Babu Frik, an expert Droidsmith who can help hack past 3PO’s programming restrictions so he can reveal what the inscription on Ochi’s dagger says. When they reach Babu Frik’s place, the little Alien states that he can do what they want, but there’s a catch. If Babu Frik performs the hack, it would completely wipe 3PO’s memory banks. Meaning 3PO would forget everything and everyone. Finn, Rey and Poe briefly argue against this, as they’re still hurting from losing Chewbacca and aren’t willing to lose another friend. But 3PO, showing a surprising amount of courage, announces he’s willing to consent to the procedure, as it’s imperative that they locate a Sith Wayfinder and stop Palpatine’s Star Destroyer fleet. If they don’t, then everyone they’ve lost, including Chewbacca, will have died in vain.

So Babu Frik performs the hack, resulting in 3PO being able to reveal that there’s a Sith Wayfinder on Kef Bir, an ocean moon orbiting around the planet Endor. The moment 3PO is able to get that information out, he briefly shuts down automatically as his memory banks begin to be wiped out, with the Protocol Droid resorting to his default mode. At that moment, though, Rey and the others find out that the Knights of Ren somehow tracked them down to Kijimi. When the First Order ships appear overhead, Rey is able to sense Chewbacca’s presence on board one of the ships, thus informing them that Chewbacca is alive. It turns out that Chewbacca had been on a different transport ship from the one Rey unwittingly blew up. So of course, she, Finn and Poe decide they have to rescue Chewbacca. In order to assist them, Zorii gives the trio a First Order Captain’s Medallion, which she had previously swiped off a First Order officer or something. She’d previously explained during an earlier scene with her and Poe that she had been planning to use it in order to get off Kijimi. But she decides that they need it more, as the life of their friend is undoubtedly on the line.

With the use of the Captain’s Medallion, Rey, Finn and Poe manage to sneak aboard the Star Destroyer where Chewbacca is being held. After Rey manages to thwart a couple of Stormtroopers in their way via a Jedi Mind Trick, they begin to search for Chewbacca. However, Rey ends up splitting up from the group when her Jedi Senses lead her elsewhere. Her Jedi Senses end up leading her to Kylo’s quarters, where she locates Ochi’s dagger. Upon reclaiming it, she is hit by another vision. This one is of Ochi using the dagger to murder her parents. Because Ochi was apparently looking for Rey, and her parents ultimately gave their lives in their efforts to protect her. (I suppose that means that Ochi’s ship was originally the property of Rey’s parents, and Ochi claimed it as his own after murdering them.)

As Rey’s vision comes to an end, her newfound questions end up triggering another Force Telepathy moment between her and Kylo, who confirms that Rey’s parents were nobodies because they had to become nobodies in order to keep her safe from Ochi, and whoever hired him to find her. But whoever hired Ochi still wants to find Rey because of the potential for Darkness inside her. A lightsaber duel soon begins between the pair, but during the battle, the pedestal that displays Vader’s melted helmet is destroyed. This results in the melted helmet to be seen by Kylo, allowing him to figure out that Rey is in his living quarters aboard the Star Destroyer. So Rey has to quickly rejoin her friends and make sure they all get away before Kylo can arrive and tip off the other First Order members that they’ve been infiltrated.

Meanwhile, Finn and Poe have successfully located Chewbacca. But despite their best efforts, they soon find themselves surrounded by Stormtroopers. They are brought before General Hux and Enric Pryde, with the latter ordering their immediate execution. But after Pryde leaves, Hux requests the Stromtroopers tasked with performing the execution if he could do the honors. And, after a bit of a fake-out, Poe, Finn and Chewbacca are amazed to see that Hux has instead killed the two Stormtroopers. Because Hux was the First Order mole who Boolio told them about at the start of the movie. (How’s that for a twist?) Hux then proceeds to help Finn, Poe and Chewbacca find their way to the hanger where the Millennium Falcon is being kept. He then tells Finn to shoot him in the arm. Because he obviously doesn’t want to be exposed as a traitor to the First Order. Finn does indeed shoot him, but in the leg instead of the arm. He then demands to know why Hux would help them in the first place. Hux then pretty much states he doesn’t care if the Resistance wins or loses. He just wants to see Kylo lose. Because the animosity between the two is still as strong as ever. Okay, fair enough. I can get behind that.

As Finn, Poe and Chewbacca ready the Falcon to escape the Star Destroyer, Rey ends up running into Kylo in the flesh. Because he got there incredibly fast. As they confront each other, Kylo finally gives Rey the final piece of the puzzle involving her parents and Ochi by revealing that Rey is the long-lost granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine.

And thus, we reach the first major question mark moment of the movie. Rey’s father was Palpatine’s son?! Palpatine had a kid? How did that happen? I mean, did Palpatine get some woman drunk? Who did he impregnate? Was it even consensual? Confusing elements of a revealed backstory aside, I guess Palaptine sensed that Rey was particularly strong in the Force and feared her power the way he feared Luke’s back in the day. So he hired Ochi to track down Rey, but her parents, Palpatine’s son and daughter-in-law, did their best to keep her safe from him. And they were killed for their efforts.

Kylo once again offers Rey the chance to join him, but Rey rejects the offer, jumping onto the Millennium Falcon as it flies past the open hanger where the confrontation was taking place. After they escape, however, Pryde shoots Hux dead, on account of him somehow figuring out that Hux was a traitor. Pryde then accepts a direct call from Palpatine, who orders Pryde to destroy Kijimi utilizing a Planet Killer style canon that has been installed on one of the Star Destroyers, an order that Pryde follows without blinking.

Now, the thing about Pryde. I admit I found myself slightly confused by his character. In the scene where he’s informed that Finn, Poe and Chewbacca were apprehended during the rescue attempt, the way the camera shot was set up seemed to be trying to put an emphasis on Pryde’s eyes. Which made me briefly suspect that he was the mole instead of Hux. But of course, that wasn’t the case. So what was up with the way they made the lighting practically place a spotlight on his eyes? Was Pryde supposed to be a clone of Tarkin or something? Were we supposed to realize Pryde had Tarkin’s eyes? The way we saw Pryde telling Palpatine state that he has served him for a long time seemed to suggest that Pryde wasn’t just one of the random characters this final movie introduced us to and that he had been around in some way for a long time. So who is this guy, anyway?

Anyway, the Resistance group, following the information they got from 3PO’s translation of the dagger, arrive on Kef Bir, where they soon locate some of the wreckage from the second Death Star. Because, again, they’re on a moon in the Endor system. As they look out at the wreckage, Rey discovers Ochi’s dagger contains a treasure map pointer of some sort, which leads to her figuring out the Sith Wayfinder is located in a specific piece of the wreckage. (It’s a pretty big Goonies moment here.) But to reach the indicated bit of wreckage, they have to swim out to it. Before they could attempt to swim out, though, a group of people appear out of nowhere, riding atop these horse-like creatures. Their leader is a young woman called Jannah, who informs them that she was notified by Babu Frik that they were coming there. Which pretty much indicates that Jannah is an alley. But she tells them that the current of the ocean on Kef Bir is too strong for anyone to swim out to the wreckage, and it’s only accessible by skimmer. However, while Jannah says she’s willing to loan them one of their skimmers, they’ll have to wait until morning because of the nature of the tides or something.

During their down time, there’s a bonding moment between Finn and Jannah, who reveals that she is a former First Order Stormtrooper. TZ-1719, to be exact. In fact, everyone in her tribe used to be a Stormtrooper, until they all mutinied after being ordered to open fire on civilians. Finn is both stunned and ecstatic to learn that he wasn’t the only Stormtrooper who developed a conscience and defected from the First Order. All this time, he thought he was alone in that regard.

But that’s when they all realize that they haven’t seen Rey in a while. Because, despite Jannah’s warnings, she decided she wasn’t willing to wait until morning and commandeered a skimmer to venture out to the Death Star wreckage. Upon reaching it, she soon locates the Sith Wayfinder they set out to find. When she picks it up, she is briefly confronted by a vision of herself as a Sith Lord. Which I guess is supposed to mirror Luke’s encounter with the vision of Vader in the Dagobah cave back in Empire Strikes Back. After Rey fights with the vision of Dark Rey, Kylo suddenly shows up. It turns out that Pryde analyzed Ochi’s dagger before Rey reclaimed it, resulting in the First Order figuring out where they were going. Kylo promptly destroys the Sith Wayfinder in order to try and force Rey to give into hate, and the two began an epic lightsaber battle atop the Death Star wreckage.

But this is when things get a bit confusing. We briefly cut back to Ajan Klos, where Leia, I guess, can sense that Rey and Kylo are dueling. She proceeds to slowly walk off, with one of her attendants saying that Leia knows what she has to do to get through to her son. And then, as the duel between Rey and Kylo continues, Leia reaches out to Kylo through the Force, which causes him to pause long enough for Rey to impale him with the Skywalker Lightsaber. And them, we see Leia fall back onto her bed as she dies.

Okay. What caused Leia to die like that? Was she secretly ill? Did she reach out to Kylo utilizing a similar method to the one Luke used to project himself onto Crait in The Last Jedi, thereby draining all of her life energy? Are we supposed to assume she somehow committed suicide in the hopes that Kylo sensing her death would be enough to force some sense into him? I realize that they probably had to kill off Leia in this movie due to Carrie Fisher’s untimely death, since they only had so much archived footage of her to work with. But still, a little clarification of what exactly caused Leia to die so suddenly would have been greatly appreciated.

ANYWAY, Rey also senses Leia’s death through the Force and is visibly shaken by it. In what I guess was meant as a last favor to her fallen mentor, as well as the knowledge that she briefly let her anger get the better of her, Rey chooses to save the injured Kylo with Force Healing. But once she ensures that Kylo won’t die from the injury she inflicted, Rey retreats from the scene, hijacking Kylo’s TIE Whisperer and taking off, despite Finn (who had been watching the fight from nearby) calling after her. Rey makes her way back to Ahch-To, where she decides to impose exile on herself on account of her mounting fears. She is shaken to the core upon learning of her identity as Palpatine’s granddaughter. Especially since she’s now fearing that she is pretty much destined to turn out to be just like him. After all, she was able to generate Force Lightning without even meaning to. And there’s the fact that she came close to killing Kylo out of sheer hatred. Not only that, she has lost Leia, who was the one person who could offer her guidance and whatnot. As a result of her despair, Rey proceeds to burn the TIE Whisperer, thereby ensuring that she’d be effectively be stranded on the planet. But when she tries to throw the Skywalker Lightsaber into the fire as well in order to destroy it, someone catches it before it could come in contact with the flames. That someone is revealed to be Luke, who has returned as a Force Ghost. Luke offers Rey some much-needed guidance by revealing that he and Leia had known that she was Palpatine’s granddaughter from the very start. But they still chose to help train her because they could see her spirit and knew that, just because she was a Palpatine by birth, she was still her own person. As such, she was free to choose her own path.

Luke then reveals that, years ago, he had helped Leia train as a Jedi. In fact, Leia had owned a lightsaber of her own. (So Leia DID get training as a Force User. That explains how she knew how to perform that Superman Flight through space.) However, during her training, Leia received a vision that her son would turn to the Dark Side. And that it would have fallen to her to kill him. Understandably, Leia balked at the notion that she would have to kill her own son. To try to avoid that fate, she not only decided to send Ben to Luke for training in the hopes that he’d be able to stop Ben from turning to the Dark Side (a plan that clearly failed), she also chose to forsake her Jedi heritage, giving her lightsaber to Luke for safekeeping, in the hopes that someone else would come forward to do what she couldn’t. Luke proceeds to tell Rey that he knows he was wrong to try and impose exile on himself for failing to reach Ben Solo and losing him to Snoke. And that Rey should face Palpatine the way he once faced Vader years ago. Because it’s now up to her to finish what Luke and Leia could not. In the end, Luke’s pep talk does the trick, and she agrees to go back and journey to Exegol to confront Palpatine. Before she parts, Luke gifts Rey with Leia’s old lightsaber, which had been hidden in the wall of Luke’s old hut. And, to give Rey a way off the planet, Luke manages to levitate his abandoned X-Wing out of the water. (Which probably was meant to be a callback to how Luke failed to do so in Empire Strikes Back, which shows how much Luke has grown since then.) Not sure how the X-Wing was still flightworthy, though. How many years was that thing submerged beneath the waves? One would think that the water damage would have left the X-Wing permanently grounded. Also, I’m still wondering what happened to Luke’s green-bladed lightsaber. We saw him using it in the brief flashback with him training with Leia. What exactly did he do with it?

Meanwhile, back on Kef Bir, Kylo is still standing alone atop the wreckage of the Death Star, shaken by the knowledge of his mother’s death. At that moment, he comes face to face with the image of Han. No, Han’s not a Force Ghost, but that would have been interesting, as it would have confirmed my theory that Han possessed some Force Sensitivity himself. Rather, it’s more of Kylo’s memory of Han taking physical form. Anyway, the memory of Han is able to convince Kylo that, even though Leia is gone, what she stood for still remained. So it still wasn’t too late for him to come home. In the end, Kylo turns and throws away his cross-hilted lightsaber, which was meant to signify that he was forsaking his identity as Kylo Ren and choosing to become Ben Solo again. (Personally, I felt that was a bit forced that Kylo would get redeemed that easily. But I guess the same could be said of how Vader got redeemed simply because of the innate love for his son.)

Quick question. Was anyone else a bit shocked to see Han come back in this movie? I always got the impression that Harrison Ford seriously disliked his role as Han Solo. (At least he never seems happy when people ask him about it.) And that he only agreed to come back for the new trilogy if they agreed to kill him off in the first installment. After that, I’d thought he’d have completely divorced himself from the Star Wars franchise. So I wonder what they had to do to convince him to come back for this final cameo.

Back on Ajan Kloss, Poe, Finn and Chewbacca have returned to the Resistance base to tell Leia of what happened on Kef Bir, only to be informed of Leia’s death, the news of which devastates them all to the core. Chewbacca’s reaction alone is particularly heartbreaking. You really feel bad for him. Especially since, with Leia gone, he’s lost all of his closest friends. However, in the mist of their grief, they know they have to press on, in honor of Leia’s memory. Because to do otherwise would mean turning their backs on everything Leia fought for. And she’d previously effectively chosen Poe to be her successor in leading the Resistance. (Because again, Poe is the new Leia.) As they’re working to figure out what to do now, they receive a transmission they realize is coming from Rey. It turns out that, even though Kylo destroyed the Sith Wayfinder they found on Kef Bir, there was still one left- the one that Kylo had previously found on Mustafar. And Rey had found it inside the burning remains of Kylo’s TIE Whisperer. So now Rey is using it to head to Exegol while leaving a trail of breadcrumbs so her friends in the Resistance can also find Exegol and take out Palpatine’s fleet of Star Destroyers.

And so begins the final battle of the movie, as well as the new trilogy. Rey, upon arriving on Exegol, finds her way into Palpatine’s inner sanctum, where she not only finds Palpatine, but all of Palpatine’s Disciples, who have all congregated in the room to observe the confrontation. It turns out that, even though Palpatine had previously ordered Kylo to kill Rey, he now wants Rey to kill him. Because if she does strike him down in anger, some dark ritual will be performed that will allow Palpatine’s spirit to take over Rey’s body, thereby allowing him to live again through her. (So, if that was his plan, why was he previously so determined to have Rey killed?) To try and rile Rey up to the point where she would want to kill him in vengeance, Palpatine not only taunts her over how her parents were murdered by his orders, but, much like how he did with Luke in Return of the Jedi, shows her the spaceship battle that’s currently occurring above the planet’s surface, with the Resistance fighters battling against the Star Destroyer fleet. It’s clear that the odds are against the Resistance, as the Resistance is vastly outnumbered and are seemingly dropping like flies. (Also, I believe that, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, we can see that Wedge Antilles, the old veteran from both Death Star battles, can be seen among the Resistance fighters. Which probably left long-time Star Wars fans tickled pink.)

However, the newly reborn Ben Solo has also made his way to Exegol, using a TIE Fighter he somehow managed to obtain. Although, when he tries to make his way into Palpatine’s inner sanctum, his way is blocked by the Knights of Rey. Rey, seemingly sensing his presence, ends up deciding to pull a fast one on Palpatine, who is insisting that he has foreseen her using the Skywalker Lightsaber to strike him down. Utilizing the Force Telepathy trick that links her to Ben, she covertly passes the Skywalker Lightsaber over to him, which enabled him to defeat the Knights of Rey and make it to her side. Upon seeing the two together, Palpanine reveals that the pair of them are Dyads, which I guess pretty much means they’re the Force equivalent of Yin and Yang or something. Which explains why they have such a strong mental link. In other words, they’re kinda twins. Not by blood, but through the Force. Unfortunately, Palpatine can use this to his advantage, as Force Dyads possess a unique kind of energy. One he can absorb in order to rejuvenate himself. And that’s exactly what he does, forcibly draining Ben and Rey of their life essence. This act results in him being returned to his full strength again. To demonstrate this, he fires off a powerful blast of Force Lightning up at the Resistance ships, effectively disabling them. Palpatine then shoves Ben down a smoke-filled chasm that just happens to be nearby. Because there’s ALWAYS a gaping hole or chasm in Star Wars films.

Meanwhile, what’s left of the Resistance fighters are left reeling from the rejuvenated Palpatine’s Force Lightning attack. That, combined with how their best efforts at dismantling the Star Destroyer fleet by destroying the radio antenna thing that controls the fleet’s movements haven’t produced the desired results results (which was a pretty cool sequence when they even brought in those horse creatures Jannah and her tribe had to traverse along the exterior of the lead Star Destroyer on foot), leads to Poe nearly giving into despair. It turns out he hasn’t quite gotten over the memories of what happened on Crait, with how nobody seemed to respond to their pleas for help. He’s now feeling that the same thing will happen now, and that nobody will arrive to assist them in this final fight. And thus, all their efforts at stopping the First Order from taking over have been for nothing.

But at that moment, the Calvary arrives! Lando and Chewbacca, who had headed off on the Millennium Falcon earlier to help spread the word of what the Resistance was doing, have returned, accompanied by a number of ships from each of the remaining Free Worlds. Unlike the last movie, they’ve finally decided to join the fight in time for the final stand. With the help of the surprise reinforcements, which include Zorri and Babu Frik (who have managed to survive the destruction of Kijimi), the Resistance manages to take out the Star Destroyers, with Finn and Jannah managing to blow up the radio antenna. But since Finn and Jannah had hung back to achieve that task by hand, in spite of Rose’s protests (because Rose was in this movie, too, but her role was significantly reduced, no doubt a result of the number of so-called ‘fans’ who directed personal attacks against the actress who portrayed her for arbitrary and possibly racist reasons after The Last Jedi came out), Lando has to maneuver the Falcon close enough for them to hitch a ride before the lead Star Destroyer blows up. Which kills Pryde in the process.

However, there’s still the matter of Palpatine. Because even though his fleet has been destroyed, he still remains. But Rey, while she is lying weakened on the ground, is also still alive. As she lies there, she is finally able to break through the mental block that had been holding her back at the start of the movie, enabling her to hear the voices of Jedi Masters of the past, which apparently incudes Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, Luke, the redeemed Anakin, Yoda, Mace Windu, Ahsoka (from the Clone Wars series) and others I didn’t recognize. However, I did notice that the voice of Obi-Wan told Rey ‘these are your final steps.’ Which brings us full-circle to The Force Awakens, when Obi-Wan’s voice is heard saying ‘these are your first steps’ when Rey first finds the Skywalker Lightsaber. Drawing strength from the Jedi of the Past, Rey gets back to her feet to face down Palpatine, who tries to strike her down with Force Lightning. Rey manages to deflect the attack with Leia’s Lightsaber, but it seems like she won’t be able to keep it up forever. Until she manages to produce the Skywalker Lightsaber again. With the combined strength of the Skywalker Lightsaber and Leia’s Lightsaber, Rey is able to produce a complete rebound of the Force Lightning attack, sending it right back at Palpatine, destroying him once and for all.

Unfortunately, the effort involved seemed to have been too much of a strain on Rey’s already weakened body, as she collapses to the ground and ends up dying. However, Ben somehow survived falling into the chasm and he is able to pull himself back out. Though it’s clear that he’d been severely injured, with a pronounced limp. He staggers over to Rey’s body and, like she did with him, utilizes Force Healing in order to resurrect her.

And, yeah, when Rey opens her eyes, they end up kissing. Because I guess the writing and directing crew just had to throw in some fanservice for the Reylo shippers. And yes, that’s exactly what it was- fanservice. Look, if you shipped these two, more power to you. But there was nothing remotely romantic about their interactions throughout this trilogy. At least, none that I could see. Rey seemed to want nothing to do with him from the start. Well, outside of her apparent desire to save Ben Solo, but that had probably more to do with her great respect for Han, Leia and Luke, and her desire to honor their memories. Even Daisy Ridley herself said that the relationship between these two was toxic and abusive. And I dare say Daisy Ridley knows Rey’s character better than anyone. For those reasons, I don’t understand why they would have them kiss here. Unless it was more of a ‘hooray, we did it!’ sort of kiss. But if that was the case, wouldn’t a hug have sufficed? Just saying, having them kiss like that suggests there were romantic feelings between them. I don’t understand why the people who created this movie would have wanted people to be left with that message. Besides, suggesting that they were in love or something is kinda pointless, as Ben dies immediately afterwards anyway, with his body fading from sight as he becomes one with the Force. With the same thing happening to Leia’s body. (Wonder why Leia’s body didn’t fade away immediately after she died. With all the other Jedi who have become one with Force, they faded away immediately after dying. Why was Leia different?) Then again, this is the same movie franchise where George Lucas had Leia kiss Luke in a non-sisterly way on more than one occasion, despite him probably knowing that they were long-lost siblings all along. So I guess I should expect this kind of thing these movies, anyway.

But still, I’m rather bugged by the Reylo kiss. Because not only was it completely pointless, what with Ben dying right afterwards and Rey never seeming to give another thought to him again (so it’s not as if they were implying that this was meant to be a tragic love story with Rey ending up alone), they also deliberately bated us Finrey shippers, too. Yeah, remember the bit with Finn stating that there was something he’d been wanting to tell Rey? Well, apart from a few additional moments with Poe grilling Finn over what it was he wanted to tell her and never getting an answer, that doesn’t go anywhere. For crying out loud, they couldn’t even give us Stormpilot (the ship name for Finn and Poe). Which stinks, as Oscar Isaac repeatedly said that he was completely on board with having a romance between the two. But Disney apparently wasn’t willing to do that, as they wanted this film to do well in countries where same-sex couples are virtually outlawed in media. So of course they couldn’t let a main character be involved in a same-sex relationship. Instead, they simply had two random female Resistance members kissing in the background while everyone was celebrating the Victory at Exegol in an obvious attempt at ensuring they could claim LGBT representation while making it easy for anti-LGBT countries to censor it out. Of course, this is just an indication of how far we still have to go. Still, I admit that these were just my thoughts on the matter. Other moviegoers might have a completely different opinion on the matter.

Personal disappointments aside, Palpatine is gone for good now, and his Star Destroyer fleet has been destroyed. Which means it’s the end of the First Order and everything that remained of the Imperial Empire. So celebrations erupt throughout the galaxy. During the montage that follows, we even get a brief glimpse of the Forest Moon of Endor, where two Ewoks look down over one of the downed Star Destroyers. End credits confirm this was a full-grown Wicket and his son. Which was a nice touch, I must say.

As for our main heroes, Finn, Poe and Rey are reunited on Ajan Kloss, where they have a big group hug. Chewbacca is approached by Maz Kanata, who gives him the metal that Han was given at the end of A New Hope, stating that he’s more than earned it. (Yay for Chewbacca finally getting the credit he deserves!) But we also get a rather confusing moment. There’s a short scene where we see Lando sitting next to Jannah, with him asking her where she’s from. When Jannah states she doesn’t know, Lando smiles and offers to help her find out. Really, was there a point to that brief conversation? Were they suggesting that there was a possible romance between the two? Are we supposed to suspect that Jannah is Lando’s long-lost daughter? If it’s the latter, then that was really random. Especially since there was nothing to really base that assumption on. Other than the fact that they’re both Black. But you could have just as easily have said Finn was Lando’s son with that logic. Maybe there’ll be a deleted scene to further explain what that was about. I guess time will tell.

Also, was it just me, or was Finn supposed to have been showing signs of being Force Sensitive in this movie? Because I was kinda getting that vibe at select points in this film, but it was never made very clear. And oh, yeah. 3PO’s memory was restored by R2, as the Astromech Droid happened to have a backup of 3PO’s memory stored on his harddrive or something. Which seemed like a bit of a cop-out, as it really negated the weight of 3PO’s personal sacrifice, which was quite possibly the first time he really served a purpose beyond comedy relief. (Although, does this mean that 3PO also regained his memories of everything that happened in the Prequel Trilogy? Hmmm.)

Finally, we reach the movie’s epilogue scene. An undetermined amount of time after the Victory at Exegol, Rey travels to Tatoointe with BB-8 at her side. Together, they make their way to what once was the home of Owen and Beru Lars, which I guess has been sitting abandoned since their deaths. (Did nobody ever come forward to claim the place? Granted I don’t know much about land ownership and whatnot on Tatooine, but wasn’t it implied that Luke sold the place before he left the planet with Obi-Wan way back when?) Upon reaching the place where it all began, Rey takes out the Skywalker Lightsaber and Leia’s Lightsaber, burying them in the sand outside the Lars Homestead. (Insert obvious joke about how Anakin would feel about his old lightsaber being buried in the sand.) Rey then reveals to the audience that she managed to construct a lightsaber of her very own, which has a yellow blade. Needless to say, if it turns out that the sales of yellow Kyber crystals over at Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge skyrocketed after this movie, I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

At that moment, Rey is approached by a resident of Tatooine, who voices her surprise at seeing Rey there. Because it’s been a very long time since she’d seen anyone near the abandoned homestead. She asks Rey for her name. Rey, after a brief pause in which she looks over at the spirits of Luke and Leia watching over her, identifies herself as Rey Skywalker, in honor of the Skywalker twins who helped her become a Jedi. She and BB-8 then look out into the distance, where the iconic twin suns of Tatooine are setting. Because it’s fitting that the story ends on that shot.

So, is Rey going to live on Tatooine now? Will she open up a Jedi training school there? Is BB-8 going to stay with Rey from now on? Is Poe okay with that? Also, what became of that little boy from The Last Jedi? Temeri, wasn’t it? It was heavily implied that he was Force Sensitive, but we didn’t even see him make a brief cameo in this final chapter. Yeah, clearly I still have a lot of questions that I’ll probably never get answers to. But despite that, I really felt that this was a decent send-off to the saga of Star Wars Trilogies. Obviously, there’s going to be a lot more material pertaining to the Star Wars universe. Not only do we have The Mandalorian, which has clearly taken the world by storm, but I’ve heard rumors for a while now that Ewan McGregor plans to reprise his role as Young Obi-Wan in another series at some point. And I’m sure they’ll come out with more of those anthology movies that brought us Rouge One and Solo. But unless something changes in the future, this is supposed to be the final instalment of the classic Star Wars trilogies. And all things considered, it was a good place to end it.

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shogetsus · 5 years

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Stripes of Auburn, Eye of Sapphire

17. Mai

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Summary: “My Lord, a report! We were misled!” Presumably a Maeda scout—judging by the colors of his armor—reaches Nobunaga’s mare, looking pale and positively frightened, “This wasn’t a skirmish between the territories! A cavalry armed in red has been spotted at the front lines!”

The man falters for a heartbeat, seeming like struggling to deliver the grimmest news of his entire life, barely able to meet his Lord’s eyes. “It’s… it’s Takeda’s Akazonae!”

Spoiler alert! - Shingen's route

Mai

“Oomph—! Ouch!”

Twenty pounds of a very eager tiger landing on her chest prompt her awake, making her wince and grumble in some pain. The discomfort doesn’t last for long, as Shogetsu proceeds to brush his wet nose across her cheek, licking the side of her face he can reach as if to make up for his rough treatment. What a way to wake up, huh.

“Good morning to you too, big boy…” Her groans turn into giggles when the cub’s whiskers tickle her neck, squirming involuntarily and making a mess out of her already disheveled futon. “Ahahaha! Alright, alright, Shogetsu. I think I know what you want,”

It’s been three days since the tiger started making a habit of visiting her room, whether at night to curl up at the feet of her futon or to be the first to bid her good morning; hence why the second time she’d opted out to place a bowl of water next to her balcony window. She’d have to ask Masamune what he’s feeding the boy with eventually, if he keeps intending to stick to her company, although Mai hasn’t seen even a glimpse of Shogetsu’s owner since their last ‘date’ of some sorts.

The thought makes her snort in a mix of disbelief and longing. I had a date with Masamune Date. Mom would be cackling and squealing like a fangirl at that. Truthfully, it’s just a silly thought she indulges herself with—and she’s fully aware he doesn’t even know what a date is for the matter—but regardless, she’d be lying if she isn’t looking forward to having another.

That, and seeing him again, that is.

Subsequently to their return from the north, her writing and reading lessons with Mitsunari and Ieyasu had come to a halt due to their busy schedule, the former with rearranging and assigning the castle defenses, and Ieyasu with his late investigation of Shingen and Kenshin’s rumors. Masamune got caught up in work as well, leaving her to spend her days tending on her chatelaine duties and the company of an unruly tiger while studying.

“You want… a belly rub! Raaaah!” Feigning a fearsome display of claws, Mai pounces on the cub and attacks his soft belly with rubs and tickles. Shogetsu coos and paws at her quick hands, more than delighted with finally getting her utmost attention.

They’re so into it she almost misses the knocking on her door. “Just a second!” Throwing on another layer of clothing for modesty and hastily tying her hair, she then gives the signal for the visitor to come inside. Her brows quirk in surprise, although isn’t particularly displeased at the newcomer, “Oh, Mitsuhide, it’s you. Hello.”

Despite being pristinely dressed as usual, his face can’t hide some wear and tear on it, leading her to assume he didn’t have any beauty sleep. “I see you’re with company already. Why am I not surprised?” He smirks after nodding in greeting.

“You mean Shogetsu? It’s alright, we’re just having a tickle fight.” Throwing a blue strip of cloth for the little tiger to focus and play with, Mai prompts herself to her feet and shakes the balcony windows open.

Mitsuhide snickers amusedly. “It’s clear you have an affinity to creatures like them. Admittedly, you do look pretty much like a tigress yourself,” He doesn’t follow her to the veranda, though, shooting her a meaningful look behind those appealing long lashes of his. “It shouldn’t be baffling if your kind seems to look out for you…”

The jab is subtle, yet regardless she catches up to it, her breath hitching. This isn’t about Shogetsu. “W-what do you mean?” She speaks across her shoulder, hoping he can’t see how pale and terrified she goes.

“Oh, I believe you know that, Princess…” Her eyes blow wide, a cold shiver of fear running down her spine. A heartbeat goes, then two, before she gathers her wits to turn around and properly face the slyest of warlords among the Oda. “If anything, the look in your pretty face just confirmed so. I’m afraid you’re painfully easy to read,”

Mitsuhide feigns a mortified face, but the sharp gleam crossing his golden gaze all but gives away the enjoyment he seems to find in prodding people.

Mai bites her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, a hand raking through her hair. She should have known better than to pretend around such a dangerous schemer like Mitsuhide, or even hiding from him. They’ve met in the middle of the street after all, it’s all too easy to assume someone may have spotted them talking and words caught up to him.

How screwed up I am, now? He’s come to take me to the dungeons, isn’t it?

“I… then I’m sure you already know it’s not what it looked like.” The best she can do is apply some reasoning in her defense, aware that persuasion is hardly a good approach as of then. Her hands begin to tremble, nails digging painfully in her palms, “You’ve got to believe me, Mitsuhide, he followed me and—“

Mitsuhide seems to notice something else in her face, then, judging by how the obvious amusement suddenly disappears from his, bringing a hand before her so to ask for silence. “Why, there’s no need for you to explain yourself, Mai.”

Soon, it becomes a silent battle of glances; from her, to figure out her fate, and Mitsuhide, appearing to be trying to read her thoughts. “How can you say that?” Mai says, near baffled, “We just brought a daimyo to custody after just exchanging some letters with the enemy. And you’ve seen me talking to one of them, face to face. It’s pretty clear to me I’m in big trouble,”

A thin silver eyebrow quirk up as if pondering on it, “That is a solid reasoning,” He appears inclined to agree, nodding thoughtfully, “Regardless, I still consider your involvement as hardly relevant in the current moment. The matter is being addressed properly, so you have nothing to fear,” His thin lips spread wide in a mischievous smile, “… yet.”

“That is… not reassuring at all…” She blinks in disbelief, tension still coiling deep in her gut, “So why are you here, then?”

The visitor hides his hands into the sleeves of his white kimono, “Firstly, to inform Lord Nobunaga is requesting your presence at the audience chambers. And secondly, to ask you a question,” For the first time in their interaction, Mitsuhide finally turns serious, “Does this man you’ve encountered has introduced himself as the Tiger of Kai, Shingen Takeda?”

“Um, he…” She stammers for a moment, revisiting her talk with the handsome man in her mind for the tenth time, coming to a sudden realization. “Actually… no, he didn’t.”

“You’re saying you assumed him to be Takeda?” At his skeptical look, she finally understands where he’s going.

But no, that can’t be right. “Yeah, and still believe it was him but, well… he didn’t outright confirm that to my face, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“I see. Then why are you so concerned, I wonder?” At his nonchalant shrug, Mai can’t possibly tell whether he’s trying to be reassuring or not, “For all it takes you might have seen a ghost or a body double,”

She turns pensive at the remark. As much as she can get people’s skepticism towards someone apparently believed to be dead, there are far too many rumors going about for somebody as Mitsuhide to just turn a blind eye on. While he may be in the right for her irrelevancy on the matter—Shingen could positively be miles away from Azuchi by now, and their meeting is hardly of any use to the Oda—and that everyone’s currently working to find the truth, it all leads her to presume one thing.

“You don’t believe he’s alive, right?”

Leaning forward and getting to her eye level, he lands a hand on her shoulder, “Only one thing is for certain, Princess, and that is, no one comes back from the dead.” A quite charming smirk crosses Mitsuhide’s face, and she honestly doesn’t know what to think of it.

Or rather, she feels more lost and confused than before. For all intents and purposes, the man doesn’t truly look like the culprit behind the Honno-ji incident and remains to be one of—if not the only—Nobunaga’s most trustworthy warlords around. Yet still, what is there with Mitsuhide Akechi? What makes him so reliable to the Oda forces?

Does she even want to know?

Straightening up, his intense golden gaze is quite a lot to bare, “Regardless, I withhold my final judgment for now,” With remarkable gallantry, he outstretches an arm to her, “Now, shall we? The lords are awaiting us,”

The meeting is already settled by the time they arrive, having walking without much as for a bare casual conversation to the audience chambers. To Mai’s surprise and partial worry, there’s no sign of Masamune or Ieyasu around, and no one in the room looks like they’re expecting them anytime soon.

Once the two of them take a seat, Mitsunari begins with his report.

“More skirmishes have arisen in Shinano, making it the third episode in less than a month. I’m afraid the situation is escalating to the threat of a full revolt on the province,” The strategist hands a stack of papers to Nobunaga, presumably to certify his statements, “We must act soon, or else we won’t be able to contain this much further,”

Nobunaga listens intently before turning to his vassal. “Have you got any word from Lady Yoshiko, Hideyoshi?”

He nods, but his face remains stern. “My wife is safe for now, in Owari,” The small addition prompts Mai’s attention, growing curious. Didn’t know Hideyoshi had a wife. Wow, I know next to nothing about these guys, aren’t I? “She’s let me know we can call upon the Maeda for assistance.”

“Very well, then.” Nobunaga fixes a look on Mitsuhide afterwards, appearing to be sharing something unbeknownst to the rest of them, but it doesn’t take much before he comes to a decision. “I tire of this pointless rebellion. I shall go and put an end to these skirmishes myself,” He declares, stopping his vassal the very moment he readies to, most likely, voice his concerns. “Hideyoshi, you may gather your troops and go with me. And Mitsunari, write Toshiie and request him to prepare his forces as well. We are traveling shortly.”

Just then, that fearsome crimson gaze lands on Mai, and it takes a lot for her not to flinch—it’s a look that definitely doesn’t bode well for her, as far as she’s come to know the Lord of Azuchi. Please, let it be good. I’ll do anything, just—

“I’d need my lucky token to bring me good fortune. Pack up, Princess. I’m taking you with me.”

How much has my lifespan been shortened by now? This is a nightmare.

Shaken to the core, rattled, and fighting her shock, she clings to Nobunaga for dear life as he rides into battle. If she once thought riding with Masamune was a pain, Mai can clearly see how sorely wrong she was right then.

“Why did you even bring me here!?” She doesn’t even have a single piece of armor on her, and he better not bring up the lucky charm repetitive tape, or else.

“I thought a fireball like you would enjoy a good battle,” Nobunaga says matter-of-factly.

“You were so wrong! This is horrible!” Every whizzing arrow passing by seems to be about to pierce her; every angry roar and cry of pain echoing in her ears. “I told you I hate war!”

“What you hate or like is of no matter. You are mine, my lucky charm, and I will bring you where I like.” His statements sound just as defiant and elated as the look on his face—crimson eyes blazing, a toothy, wicked grin all over.

And if we were in the present, I’m pretty sure I could bring you to court for that!

Mai certainly wishes she could. She’d much rather be there than in the middle of that killing field. “Oh gods, look out!”

A soldier darts his horse before them as an enemy spear impales his shoulder. “Agh! L-Lord Nobunaga, please, get back!”

“I do not take commands.” Her whole body shakes as Nobunaga wheels his steed and brutally cuts down the spearman. Mai’s pretty sure she screamed at that. “You there! Fight the pain and stay on your horse or you’ll die. Now retreat back to camp and have that wound taken care of.”

“Yes my Lord. As soon as the blood is stanched I will be back at your side!” Blood oozes through his fingers as he clutches his wound, the pale-faced soldier riding in the direction of camp.

They’re just going to patch him up and send him back out? “What could be possibly worth this?”

She wasn’t expecting to get a response, and yet. “Indeed. This is too much effort for a minor conflict in what should be an uncontested province…”

“What do you mean? This isn’t how this was supposed to go?”

It’s then when a messenger comes trotting through the front lines, shouting in a panic at Nobunaga. “My Lord, a report! We were misled!” Presumably a Maeda scout—judging by the colors of his armor—reaches Nobunaga’s mare, looking pale and positively frightened, “This wasn’t a skirmish between the territories! A cavalry armed in red has been spotted at the front lines!”

The man falters for a heartbeat, seeming like struggling to deliver the grimmest news of his entire life, barely able to meet his Lord’s eyes. “It’s… it’s Takeda’s Akazonae!”

Nobunaga stays very still, gaze flickering with many emotions Mai can’t truly figure out what is what—surprise, expectation, unadulterated ire, and a glimmer of relief, even.

“… There you are, Shingen.” His acknowledgment comes with a growl, and she can’t help glancing warily at the soldiers who’d heard the message, meeting slack-jawed expressions all around. “We’re going after him.”

Oh, no. Oh, damn—whoa!

All in a sudden, Nobunaga kicks his horse, flying toward the front lines of the battle, his pacing eager and more reckless than what she got sort of used to with Masamune’s wild riding. Hundreds of men move across the field on both sides in a blur of reds, blacks and whites, but once her eyes catch a glimpse of a particular person, there’s no way she can tear her gaze away from them.

“Give the signal! Let the world know!”

At the sight, there’s no doubt he really has earned the name of a tiger, his presence even more fierce and grandiose than the former times she’s met him, roaring with a force that could make any lesser man shake their very soul.

“The Takeda forces have returned!”

The aforementioned Akazonae army, clad head to toe in crimson red armor, gives a unified cry that makes the very ground tremble. Riding at their head on an ebony horse, wielding a massive greatsword, is the tall flirt from Azuchi, and the most handsome man she’s ever seen in her life.

“It turns out the rumors were true. The Tiger of Kai lives,” An amused Nobunaga seems to talk more to himself than to her.

His mumbles sound far away from her, feeling all but drawn to Shingen’s figure, somewhat partially doubting her vision. Or that is until his silver-grey eyes meet hers across the battlefield, tongue shaking out to water his lips and smiling delightfully.

Hello? We’re in the middle of a bloodbath! What is he doing?

It’s impossible not to recognize that narrow-eyed, flirtatious look—there’s magic there, something very difficult to attribute to another person but him. It feels as if he’s teasingly dangling the keys to her memories on his fingers, whispering ‘Did you miss me?’

“Mmh, smoke from Honno-ji and a woman alone at night. Perhaps you’re a ghost? Though you’re certainly the most beautiful ghost I’ve ever seen.”

“And you’re not a ghost. Not now that I see you in the daylight, that is clear.”

“I see you miss me already? Don’t worry, I do too. I’m trusting you to take good care of my heart in the meantime… Princess,”

While she couldn’t possibly have forgotten him, it’s also obvious Shingen remembered her the entire time—or has done his homework quite too well. He even predicted they’d meet up a third time. Or did he somehow know…?

“Don’t get distracted or you’ll lose your balance. Now hold on,” Nobunaga returns to a state of ruthless and cold detachment. He glances over his visibly shaken army and shouts in a voice of command, “Keep in formation! We still outnumber them. Do not cower before a ghost. We’ll send Takeda back to hell!”

His words rally the soldiers, and they face the Takeda forces fearlessly once more. The spirit of an entire army shifting at the words of one person; that’s a lot of power to hold.

The mention of a ghost makes her ponder; Sasuke said Shingen being alive was one of the differences in their timeline—deeming it an alternate one, in which history already changed its course—but he didn’t precisely go into details. Even Mitsuhide, within his odd ways, practically confirmed that to the world everyone considered him dead. So, how did he ‘die’? And why did he appear just then, apparently years later?

“Nobunaga, why did you think Shingen was dead?” As far as from what recalls from the history books, Shingen died before him in her timeline, but that’s about all she knows.

Making it brief due to the current circumstances, Nobunaga tells her of his war with the Takeda clan and how in the midst of a battle, they’d heard Shingen succumbed to illness. His army fell apart, alongside with all the gains they’d made in battle, and their clan was destroyed by the Oda.

“… But he was alive this whole time and he was the one stirring up tension in your territories?”

“It appears so. Mitsuhide will know more of it. I suppose after he recovered, he took his time looking for the right moment to get his revenge.” Nobunaga says, “Shingen’s not the only ghost though. He’s come back with another. Look, Mai.”

She looks where Nobunaga points. In the sea of red, a white shadow blitzes through like a bolt of lightning; the man—if indeed he is one and not a force of nature—followed by a squad of his own. “You are the elite of the Uesugi forces! Don’t let the Akazonae show you up! Unleash your ferocity on the enemy!”

“Kenshin Uesugi, the Dragon of Echigo. He too was said to have died.” Despite the introduction, Mai finds him quite easier to recognize—he was with Shingen the night of the Honno-ji incident. “Not only is he still alive, but he also formed an alliance with his rival, of all people.”

Something about the intone of how he says that prompts her attention to Nobunaga. He doesn’t sound particularly surprised at this outcome.

Quirking a curious brow, she dares asking, “Did you know somehow any of them would be here?”

“Hideyoshi’s wife let out something odd in her last letter. And a report from Toshiie Maeda, one of my generals, got me inclined to believe this skirmish wasn’t just a simple commotion between the villagers. Something as big as this was brewing on,” Nobunaga admits with a thoughtful frown, “Shingen is a master of espionage. It was no accident that I got that information.”

The comment confuses her—so, if she’s getting it right, that means Shingen purposefully let Nobunaga know he’d be coming out of hiding? “But if you two are enemies, why would he let you get that info?”

“To draw me out, of course. Only in that way can they declare to the world they are once more ready for battle.” He says matter-of-factly, “That’s why they caused these minor conflicts in my territory, as well as probably rallying their former retainers like the daimyo you and Masamune dealt with: To chip away at my influence bit by bit.” He builds on his answer as he rides, directing his army all the while, “All that was left was to choose the perfect moment to rise from the abyss and show themselves in the light.”

In conclusion, Shingen’s goal has been to, most likely, stir trouble in Nobunaga’s territories and hope for the people to rebel against him, joining his cause instead. That’s an incredibly intricate plan, I’ve got to give him that. She can’t help glancing at Shingen ahead with sheer curiosity, her intuition telling her he’d been the sole architect of that scheme.

And suddenly so, she realizes his already herculean figure becomes taller and taller, dangerously approaching him. “You’re not honestly thinking about fighting the two of them directly!?” Ignoring the obvious disadvantages of two against one, Takeda and Uesugi are the commanders of the enemy forces.

But Nobunaga ignores her question, once more kicking his horse into a run. Feeling her balance unceremoniously ripped from her again, she flinches, squeezing him harder to find some purchase. Men fall to Nobunaga’s deadly blade and the trampling hooves of his horse, more weapons than Mai can even count flying towards the two of them. Either Shingen or Kenshin seems to notice Nobunaga and her approaching at first, but then again, almost everyone is on horseback.

… Or they had been, until then, when she hears a horrible scream—Kenshin barbarically cutting a soldier down before her eyes, alighting from his horse with paradoxical elegance. What is he doing? Doesn’t that put him at a disadvantage?

“This battle bores me.” She hears him saying flatly, “Here, I’m giving myself a handicap. Now, will someone put up a fight?”

Nobunaga watches Kenshin’s act of madness with amusement, “So, it’s true what they say about Kenshin’s lust for battle.”

More like he’s lusting for a sword in his chest! He’s putting himself at risk because he’s bored!?

“Shingen, your battles are dull and they take too long. I might just kill you for bringing me into this snore fest…”

“You know what they say about men who snore, Kenshin!” Far ahead, Shingen smiles wryly before smoothly vaulting off his horse. “I think I’m keeping you from showing off and stealing all the fun for yourself.” Back to back with his apparent ally, Shingen hefts his odachi, nearly as tall as himself.

Yet somehow and to her awed eyes, when he wields it, he seems even taller, even greater. “Anyone interested in losing their lives today? Then step right up.”

“Any idiots can go and get killed by Shingen. I want to fight the skilled and the brave.”

An Oda soldier reacts vigorously, “Take them down and take home glory! Attack!”

Another armored man clad in red steps up. “Protect our lord!”

“Don’t step on my account!” Shingen commands, “Concentrate on your own enemies.” His velvety voice carries over the loud rush of wind that comes with each swing of his monster of a sword.

He’s… I’ll admit it. He’s kind of wow. Shingen could bring down three soldiers with one well-calculated strike, swords and men falling to the ground before him. Behind him, Kenshin’s blade flashes, leaving dead men in his wake.

“The tiger and the dragon. Their fangs are sharp as ever,” Nobunaga’s crimson eyes seem to be drawn to every strike of Shingen and Kenshin’s swords, just as hers are. “Their alliance may prove to be more trouble than I thought.”

One of Nobunaga’s men come riding towards the two of them, shouting, “My Lord, you must fall back! It’s too dangerous here!”

That, naturally, draws Shingen’s attention, but those smoky grey eyes pass right over Nobunaga. They stop on her, holding her shocked gaze—and if eyes could whisper, they would say ‘Hey cutie’. With all the confidence in the world, Shingen then winks at her, her heart sputtering and stopping for a beat.

… He just… winked at me…

“Shingen, three at a time? Stop being wasteful and save some for me,”

“I would, but you know of my terrible affliction. I have to show off in front of a beautiful woman,”

“… A woman? There’s a woman here?” Kenshin’s gaze cuts through the crowd with the same ruthlessness as his sword, spotting her. That’s not a wink, that’s a death glare. As soon as it comes, it melts away as Kenshin’s eyes widen in a kind of shock, staring at her for a second like he couldn’t believe what he’s seeing.

Then, those heterochromatic eyes notice Nobunaga and Kenshin grows spine-chillingly pleased. “Nobunaga… you’ve come out.”

“Kenshin, I shall be your opponent,” The mere statement all but screams trouble—she really, really doesn’t want to be on Nobunaga’s horse while he fights that killer in a duel.

Can I, uh, call a cab?

However, the so soul-stirring duel doesn’t happen as all in a sudden, Shingen steps up to his ally. “Let’s call it quits, Kenshin. We’ve done enough for today,” He seems to decide in a very nonchalant manner. “Remember, we’re not here to kill Nobunaga. Not yet.” Surprisingly, Shingen’s calming voice is the song to soothe Kenshin’s savagery.

The blonde warrior still shoots him a fierce glare, though, “I’m not leaving when the ultimate prey has just offered himself up to me.”

“Fair enough. But are you really going to enjoy killing a man when his woman is there, clinging to his back?” Shingen points out, “I thought you liked fighting your opponents when they’re in the best possible condition?”

“… Why must you ruin everything, Shingen?” Kenshin’s fine features twist into a spiteful scowl. “I’m disappointed, Nobunaga. You’ve become the kind of corrupt noble who dallies with his concubine on the battlefield? Perhaps a good head wound will straighten you out. Or better yet, kill you.”

Nobunaga scoffs, “And maybe next time you come back from hell, you can do so with more sense than bloodlust.”

Shingen doesn’t let his ally catch on his bait, “Easy now, Kenshin. We’ll kill him in time. But the stage isn’t set yet.” There’s a coldness in Shingen’s expression that doesn’t quite leave as he turns to Mai, “I’m sorry to frighten you with this display, Princess-Chatelaine of Azuchi.”

Princess-Chatelaine? So, he really has done his homework.

“We’ve met three times now: By inevitability, whim, and finally fate.” His smoky grey eyes pierce into her very soul, “Are you anticipating our fourth meeting as much as I am?” Every word he draws out feels hypnotizing—like a flute to a snake, moved and drawn by the mere movement of those impossibly alluring lips. “My offer is sadly running out of time…”

“… Wh-what do you even mean by that?” She has so many questions, but as ridiculously tongue-tied as she is, it’s all she can do but gape, incredulous and entranced.

“Good questions. Can I take it you’re excited to hear the answers at our next meeting? Great! It’s a promise!” Mai keeps gawking at that too familiar and dangerously enchanting smile, her heart pounding too hard.

Shingen is Nobunaga’s enemy, all in all hers as well, given her status. Nonetheless, the idea of seeing him again is almost too thrilling, the sheer anticipation coursing through her not helping at all. Probably not in the middle of a battlefield, pretty please.

“So, the Tiger turns tail to flee like a coward for the second time.” Nobunaga taunts him with a devilish smirk.

“Keep your filthy mouth shut.” Shingen’s lighthearted enthusiasm vanishes at Nobunaga’s provocation, his eyes turning dark and deadly cold—and suddenly Mai doesn’t feel like looking at them anymore. “I’ll be back, Nobunaga, for your head. Best use it while it’s still connected.” His and Kenshin’s vassals guide their horses to their commanders, the two men mounting up. “We’re pulling out, Kenshin.”

“… This was a disappointment. The next fight better not be, Nobunaga.” The odd retreat makes her confused. Why would they give up in the middle of a battle? Or did they really come with the mere purpose of revealing themselves?

It seems kind of silly, but the honest truth is the further away they get, the better she can breathe, Shingen’s magic spell losing its grip on her. To a great extent, she’s genuinely glad it didn’t come down to a true fight, the current result being grim enough to her eyes.

Nobunaga keeps his gaze fixed on the vanishing figures of his two rivals for a very long time, even when their armies break away and withdraw with their leaders. “Did Takeda know about the flying column I had in wait?”

“What? Flying column?”

“The detachment of troops from Toshiie I kept in reserve. In an extended battle, they would have given me the advantage.” So, Nobunaga had his own strategy all along, “It’s all too easy to bait the God of War, but Takeda’s harder to trap.” More challenged than disappointed, he returns to giving orders, “Do not pursue them. No doubt their garrison is empty. They had no intention of staging a prolonged conflict in the first place. Send out scouts to confirm they’ve withdrawn and once they have, we’ll do as well.”

Mai had no idea such a violent battle could come to an end so abruptly. However, the repercussions are far from over—soldiers groaning and bleeding as far as her eyes can reach; some men most likely never getting up again. So many casualties for a battle that lasted only a few hours, for a cause that’s not even their own. How many more would die if they kept fighting?

Is there anything she could do to help or, at least, turn the situation to a more positive light?

As she asks herself that question, she sifts through her memories of the battle. Waiting patiently at the end of the line is one particularly pesky memory.

“We’ve met three times now: By inevitability, whim, and finally fate. Are you anticipating our fourth meeting as much as I am? My offer is sadly running out of time…”

What in the world did Shingen mean? What does she even has to consider of his so-called proposal? Is he just expecting her to walk away with him the very moment they meet again?

And, most importantly, what is he capable of doing if she refuses to take his offer?

Odachi: Japanese greatsword.

A-N: HERE COMES MY BOY! HE'S HERE! IT HIMMMMMMMM! Also, this looks like an opportune moment to mention I'm currently running a 30 Days of Shingen on my art blog, because flooding y'all with content from my ravishingly handsome tiger just seems like the best way to start the year :D

#Cassie writes #Stripes fic #Ikesen #Ikemen Sengoku #Ikesen Masamune x MC #Ikesen Shingen x MC #Mai Mizusaki #Baby boy Shogetsu #Ikesen fanfiction #Ikesennw reblog

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dlamp-dictator · 6 years

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Allen’s Rambling: My First (Person) Experience (Mary Skelter: Nightmares)

Sorry this took so long folks, Blazblue Cross Tag Battle has been taking over my life recently and I also got back into the grind-fest that is Disgaea 5 again, not to mention a personal project of mine for this month has been happening, so needless to say I’ve been both busy and distracted lately. But moving on, I’m finally making another opinion piece, this time on Mary Skelter Nightmares, a first-person dungeon crawler that I was a bit hesitant to buy at first due to my distaste for the genre. However, the character designs of the cute girls, hearing a bit of the OST, and knowing that voice actresses like Cristina Vee and Kira Buckland were taking the lead roles got me interested. So I caved and bought the game, praying that I’d get my money’s worth. After about 30 hours of play time I think I can safely say that this game was worth the purchase but allow me to go on in more detail about this.

But first, that plot synopsis:

The game is set in the underground prison known as "the Jail". Monstrous creatures called Marchen act as the wardens of the Jail, capturing humans and bringing them inside to perform various tortures.

The story's protagonist is Jack, a boy who is imprisoned in the Jail with his childhood friend Alice. The two cling to each other for stability in this hell, trying to survive for that one opportunity to escape. Until finally, a mysterious girl appears wielding an absurdly large pair of scissors. Destroying the cells that hold the prisoners, she introduces herself as Red Riding Hood. And so begins Jack's journey.…

That’s the basic premise copied straight from the wiki, but the story expands from there, going into more about the world-building and culture of the Jail. But anyway, as I tend to do in these Ramblings, let me address the elephant in the room… the gameplay one specifically…

First-Person Dungeon Crawler

I’ll be upfront about this, I don’t like first-person dungeon crawlers, I never have. I find them restrictive, I find them as a lazy way to save on doing character models, and I find the overall design to be either insultingly simple, or annoyingly complicated. However, after playing this game for about 30 hours I’m slowly warming up to this style of game. Let me just go over some of the good points of this game.

Immersion

This kind of perspective makes the game very immersive. Actually walking through these dungeons, actually running away from the Nightmares, actually pushing all the buttons and pulling all the switches. This kind of stuff is where the first person view shines, especially with some of the sound design. You can hear traps springing in the distance, the utterly bone-chilling growls and laughs of the Nightmares as they close in, the fact that you can hear each footstep you take, the atmosphere is done very well in my opinion, and I highly recommend playing with headphones for maximum immersion.

The Monster Designs

Another aspect of first-person dungeon crawlers that can be compelling are the monster designs. If I can’t look at cute girls then you better have some interesting monsters to look at. And thankfully (or unfortunately, depending on your view) Mary Skelter delivers on that. Some of these monsters look down right disturbing. I have to praise the designers for these creatures because damn do they look disturbing. Especially the Nightmares.

And these guys only get freakier as you take apart their armor.

However… those design tend to wear out their welcome when you see recolored versions on the first damn chapter.

This is honestly something I just can’t let go of. When I was seeing reskins of the enemies on the second floor of the first level I had to put down the game for a moment. I decided to just shrug it off and continued playing regardless, and then proceeded to lose my mind screaming on the second chapter when I was seeing reskins of the enemies of the first dungeon in the new Graveyard area. To be fair to the game, these reskins are likely to keep every zone with the same theme of enemy types, but this really made me shake my head when I saw them. I just… can’t let go of this.

The Puzzles

Now this is where I think the first-person really shined. When you lose your ability to reliably see from a top-down perspective or in third person it can do wonders for puzzles. I think all the puzzles I’ve played so far were done well. I loved the puzzle in the Temple where you had to shoot a flaming arrow through flammable walls to proceed, pushing blocks through the path of your arrow that would change its trajectory. Some of the switch puzzles were interesting as well to turn off certain traps, if a bit tedious. I’m only on chapter 6 as of writing this, so I’m hoping to see so more interesting puzzles.

And since I’m talking about the puzzles, I’ll move onto…

The Actual Gameplay

So, the game is turn-based, much like Final Fantasy and Persona. There’s not much more to say there. The main issue I have with the game is the difficulty. Some enemies can two-shot you in the first and second chapter, and while Mary Skelter thankfully has something of a quick save option, getting use to that difficulty and high damage isn’t exactly a fun time when you’re constantly dying from a surprise attack or just when you’re on enemy phase. This isn’t like Epic Battle Fantasy 4 or Persona 5 where it’s a matter of having proper buffs and equipment, these enemies can just annihilate you for existing. I’d say this game was almost as annoying as Fate/Extra in that regard if not for the ability to lower difficulties mid-game. This game has it out for you. There’s not a lot of room for trial and error here unless the trial and error comes from you constantly dying and losing party members mid-battle. This and a few other issues I had with this game’s difficulty made me go straight to easy mode after Chapter 2. Doing this lowers the amount of EXP I get which makes grinding a pain, but honestly… I know I’m not the only one that did this, so it might be worth the price.

But moving on from that, something I found interesting was the class system. Every character has about 6 different classes they can go into. Certain characters have a specific class type such as Physical DPS, Magical DPS, Ranged Attackers, Support, and All-Rounders, but those types have different classes. Physical DPS classes can become tanks or berserkers, Magical DPS classes can focus on element damage or healing. Support units can become Mimics/Blue Mages or Item Classes, the All-Rounders can slightly specialize themselves for different tasks, the list goes on. And each class changes comes with a cute new outfit for the character as well. I was honestly tempted to keep Alice in her Marshal class solely for how cute she looked until I got Cinderella what came equip with the Marshal class, but then I realized the Marshal class grants reliable first-turn advantage and just kept her there, with Cinderella being use to experience with the classes of that type.

If there’s one major piece of advice I can give for this game it’s to focus on getting AoE skills that attack/debuff every enemy at once or buff/heal every party member, and leveling those skills up. You constantly get attack in mobs, and bosses have several parts to target until their second phase. Just save yourself the trouble and get AoE skills to make those random encounters a bit less of a pain. Seriously, even on easy mode this enemies pack a punch and can three-shot you. This wouldn’t be too much of an issue, but remember that I said these guys attack in mobs that range from 4 to 6 enemies.

But moving on, another interesting aspect of this game is Massacre Mode and Blood Skelter. Much like in Senran Kagura Deep Crimson’s Frantic Mode, by bathing yourself in the blood of your enemies you gain power. When enough blood is on you it triggers Massacre Mode, a powered-up mode that transforms your Blood Maiden. They have higher stats and access to game-breaking Massacre Skills that do heavy damage for minimal SP. However, this is a double edged sword. If you take heavy damage that blood will become corrupted, and you have a chance of going into Blood Skelter Mode the more corrupted that blood gets. This mode jacks up your character’s stats through the roof, but they also make you unable to command them and they attack both enemies and allies. You can purify the corrupt blood and even get them out of Blood Skelter mid-battle thanks to Jack, but this is why I recommend Easy Mode. When the enemies can one or two-shot you and corrupt that blood often, and this game gets frustrating.

Ah, speaking of Jack, he has a place in the party too. While the girls are all fighting Jack is in the back managing the girls’ corruption and healing them with items, as he’s the only one that can use items outside of a specific item class. He can also get girls out of Blood Skelter too, but doing these things usually cost him blood, and if he loses consciousness if he loses too much. He’s able to do other things like take a single hit for one of the Blood Maidens, or heal their SP as well, but as of the point I’m at in the game that’s really it for Jack as a function.

Another issue I have with this game is how tedious it is to get better weapons and armor. You either do this by random drops, or more likely through the wandering merchant you’ll see through the dungeons. He shows up randomly (of course), but his prices are… well, what you’d expect from a random shop in a dungeon, expensive. Again, this game is frustrating, and I don’t know if it should be. Some other tedious parts of the game can honestly be traveling through the gargantuan dungeons. There may be a map, but that means jack when it takes forever to get to the next floor, and even then you might have to search through all of a floor just to find a key item.

On a lighter note, the side quests in this game, much like in Fairy Fencer are honest to god side quest that are optional. And you can take on as many as you want. The rewards are nice, but nothing feels mandatory, which is how I like it.

Another nice touch I like are the Nightmares. These bastards can randomly show up at certain points in a Dungeon. They’re basically like the Reaper in the Persona series, but when they show up you lose map visibility (on normal mode or higher anyway), the ability to even pause the game, and they can only be stunned in combat so you can run away, at least until you get to the end of the dungeon and destroy that dungeon’s core.

Again, these guys look terrifying, and for damn good reason. You want to run away from these things, and beating them at the end of each chapter is very satisfying from both a story and gameplay perspective, as these are the only challenges when playing on easy mode.

So… now that I’ve given my opinion on the gameplay, let’s talk about…

Idea Factory/Compile Heart Games

So what I said about the gameplay might sound a little familiar to you guys if you’ve read my last Rambling talking about Idea Factory and Compile Heart. Just to recap on my opinion:

“…Both these companies tend to make the focus on grinding a bit too much for my liking. Well, a better way of putting it is that Compile Heart/Idea Factory games really depend on your numbers being bigger than your enemies. A lot of JRPGs do this, but even in Disgaea, the game that parodies this concept, can still be won with proper strategy if done right. Compile Heart/Idea Factory games… they don’t really give you that chance, you just need higher levels or you’re screw or need to play on easy mode, something I have little shame in doing at times… The long and short of it is that a lot of Compile Heart/Idea Factory games don’t know how to properly scale enemies and characters with their leveling systems.”

You might realize that quote fits for Mary Skelter as well given what I’ve said about the gameplay. As I’ve said before, these kinds of games are only really fun if you can break them or have the option of breaking them. I say this because trying to play a game likes this seriously only to be rewarded with enemies that one-shot you doesn’t feel fun, and winning doesn’t feel rewarding, it feels like a lucky break before you have to go through the nightmare again. Now, that might just be the point of Mary Skelter specifically, as the atmosphere and story are very oppressive, but I honestly don’t feel that the gameplay compliments the story in this regard. But anyway, breaking these kinds of games feels rewarding, a sort of “Hah! I don’t have to trudge through this difficult game anymore because I found a loophole!” way. The ability to breeze through the later half of a game after suffering through the difficult early game is something of a right of passage.

Just to say this now, You can break Mary Skelter to an extent, but not in the way you’re thinking. You see, much like in Trillion, Mary Skelter has its character come with an affection level. You raise this by giving each girl gifts that suit their taste. The better/more tailored the gift, the more their affection goes up. When you increase it enough you’ll trigger events that’ll advance their social and grant them a new Massacre Skill. Like I said before, these skills can one-shot enemies on mass if you have the right one, so it’s only a matter of finding the right gift to spam and waiting for the events to happen. The only issue with this is that some events are tied to story progression, so even if you’ve maxed out affection by chapter 2, the girls won’t go through their events until the beginning of chapter 5, which can be annoying at times.

Continuing with the Trillion comparisons, let’s talk about Jack for a bit. He’s no Takt (thank God), but he’s a far cry from Zeabolos. Jack was made to be something of a self-insert character, he’s light on personality, and the only thing separating him from the player is his obliviousness to the girls’ feelings about him (something that I’m sure you’re rolling your eyes at as I am), but he’s got a good heart, wants to protect the Blood Maidens, and wants to be useful. He’s someone I can root, but he does lack the maturity and charisma of Zeabolos, making his moments with the Blood Maidens feel less impactful and more… pandering, especially when those harem elements come up, but more on that late.

There’s also more voice acting than in Trillion. Something I always wanted in Trillion was for the events that followed CG images to at least be voice, and Mary Skelter delivered on that point. However… the game’s writing has one too many harem elements in it for me to say I appreciate it. Don’t get my wrong, I love the fact that Alice is voiced by Cristina Vee. In fact, the whole cast is notable for those familiar with English voice acting. Cristina Vee, Kira Buckland, Sarah Williams, Casandra Lee, Christine Marie Cabanos, this is quite the cast. However, when I have to deal with Jack “accidentally” seeing characters in a state of undress I’m rolling my eyes.

But while we’re on story, let’s talk about that for a bit. I’d say this game is very similar to Tales of Berseria in a way, where there’s a pretty good mix of character development and world building. You slowly learn more and more about The Jail and The Tower, learn about each character and their motives, about society within The Jail and The Dawn, the resistance group that rescues Jack and Alice. These are all good things. In fact, the limited edition version of the game came with a novel about the world of this game. I’m going to read it once I finish the game as it has spoiler content in it, but something I’ve always appreciated about Idea Factory/Compile Heart games is how much they love the worlds they create and how much they want to explore them. From this game, to Trillion, to Omega Quintet, each game has a well thought-out world and characters that really explore. The only exception to this being Fairy Fencer, but I hear the updated re-release has some more content in that regard.

And just mention it, I love a lot of these characters. Alice, Red Riding Hood, and Gretel are my favorites so far. I like them a bunch. I wish I could go into detail about them, but it’d lead to some heavy spoilers I’d rather not give.

Something I will admit about the story is that I don’t think the writing is as strong as in Trillion. The character events play more to a harem anime than the more down-to-earth and almost melancholic tones in Trillion. That might just be because this game is more light-hearted by comparison and less character-focused since all of the cast is alive throughout the game, but that’s just my opinion.

I’ll also add that the music is fantastic. I didn’t know you could shred on a violin until I heard some of these tunes. And I’ll also give props to the open, as I think it’s a bit better than Trillion’s.

So... I think I got everything out the way that I wanted to talk about, so I’ll move onto...

The Conclusion

Overall, while I think Mary Skelter has its issues, it has a lot of good points too. The girls are nicely designed and decently written, the voice acting is solid and more plentiful, the story holds up so far, and for as apathetic I am to the gameplay it isn’t boring... at least during the boss fights. The only real issues I have are the size of dungeons, the difficulty in gaining resources like weapons and armor, and the enemy damage scaling. I think I’m going to try and get through the rest of this game on normal difficulty and see if my opinion changes… if I can avoid getting two-shot-ed anyway…

#mary skelter #mary skelter: nightmares #your dictator is speaking

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athingofvikings · 6 years

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A Thing Of Vikings Original Outline

Here’s my original outline for A Thing Of Vikings that I wrote up for NaNoWriMo 2016. While some bits might look familiar--for obvious reasons--the outline only lasted until November 8th or so before my actual writing diverged from it and I had to send it to a happier place. Keep in mind that I thought that I could actually write this in 100k word count (yeah, I know, but this was one of my first novel-scale writing projects in years). As for the reason for the break from the outline, as my historical research got more and more in-depth, I came to realize just how flawed my understanding of the era’s political setup was, and I changed paths.

Dating about 10th century; William the Conqueror is not yet in control of England, Berk is located in the British Isles, in the Hebrides archipelago. King Cnut the Great is king over Denmark, Norway and England. HTTYD, late summer/early Autumn, 1041 CE Immediate aftermath of HTTYD; local dragons are domesticated (to greater or lesser extents); the Berk economy picks up a bit, with the whole “not having to constantly rebuild houses and defend flocks” aspect, plus the construction aid. Hiccup and co are working to integrate the dragons as quickly as possible.

Some traders show up, as Berk is one of the main places to get dragon parts (and word will start to spread as a result of the ship’s crews talking in other ports, later on), especially as they know that Dragon Training will have just culminated, meaning that there will definitely be dragon carcasses available for purchase. They’re a bit surprised at the change. Most people refuse to sell their personal dragons (and the main flock belongs to the Haddocks), although a few agree to sell for exorbitant prices; At least one of the Hooligans has written up a saga of “The Hero Of Berk: Dragon Champion” and is declaiming it to the sailors; Hiccup is humiliated, Astrid is deeply amused and has some sarcasm at Hiccup’s expense, while Snotlout feels overlooked and threatened

Stoick has specifically puts Hiccup on task to get the dragons rounded up, for the good of the tribe and for their own family. Hiccup and co have been returning to the Dragon Nest to retrieve as many eggs as they can, and relocate them to Berk as part of their taming efforts. People also have been scavenging as much of the Green Death’s scales and other parts that they can, as trophies or for sale, since the battle. “I can’t believe all of these scales and bits survived” “Well, as Hiccup pointed out, they’re no so fireproof on the inside, but the scales are on the outside.” “Okay, yeah”.

Hiccup, in particular, is overseeing the removal of the (still mostly intact) 20 foot tall Thagomizer, which requires the heavy lift of over three dozen dragons working together and using a special carry system that Hiccup devised in order to get it back to Berk; it gets back to Berk just as the traders arrive, creating more of an impression than intended. Hiccup would just as soon have left the damn thing on the island, but Stoick has plans.

Hiccup, when the thagomizer touches down on Berk: “Finally. We were running out of time before winter.” Astrid, “Yep. It’s the tail end of the season.” Hiccup does a double take at Astrid’s innocent expression, which cracks into a grin after a moment, and he groans. They have a quick kiss before getting back to work.

Winter, year 0 Rumors spread, while Berk only makes it through the winter thanks to the efforts of the dragons, and Hiccup madly inventing away (sometimes with things blowing up in his face); gronkles make for great fireplace aids. Dragons do not like flying in storms, though (excepting Tidal class). But ice fishing is much easier when you can have dragons melt a hole in the ice and scare fish up into the nets.

Snotlout and a few other hotheads go raiding other nearby villages for Highland Cattle in a cattle-raid, but do it extremely stealthily, and Stoick and Gobber don’t find out about it until the beef and mutton have already been consumed, and the neighbors have no idea what happened. Stoick’s reaction basically boils down to “please at least tell me that no one saw you, I have enough headaches right now, but don’t do it again.”

He doesn’t tell Hiccup, not seeing the point, and, besides, it would require getting the boy’s attention, which is fully occupied by Astrid, Toothless and making stuff in the forge. Gobber comments that the last time he tried to get Hiccup’s attention when he was focused and in the middle of something in the forge, Toothless dragged Gobber outside and set his shoe on fire. Of course, a few minutes later, he heard a loud bang and Hiccup swearing, so maybe the dragon had a point. Stoick laughs and comments that the dragon and the girlfriend have worked wonders on his son’s clumsiness. “We haven’t had a mess since—” *BANG* *CRASH* rumblerumblerumble *CRACK* “Oh, I hurt, I am very much hurt!” *thud* … *crunch* *dink*. Gobber just looks at his chief innocently, who facepalms, looks skyward, and says “Miladies of the Norns, I live for your amusement. Come, Gobber, let’s see what just happened.”

Hiccup and Astrid have some fluffy scenes in the middle of the snow-covered landscape, especially at Yule (hair-braids; she excuses them as “getting your hair out of being burned away again”), interrupted by a dragon attacking Mildew (who provoked it), and who is now demanding that the beast be put down.

A few of the village artisans are, with the help of some Gronkle construction teams, carving some of the other sea stacks around Berk into more statue-lighthouses, among other things, while Stoick has tamed Thornado.

We see word spreading from the crewmen in their winter ports; at least one person starts singing the Hero Of Berk, with some edits...

Spring, year 0 Thawfest, shortly after the spring thaw; a few of the neighboring tribes, who have heard about the dragons, come in, with at least one group looking to steal a dragon

At least one group of idiots (lead by Snotlout) goes raiding on the Christian mainland on their dragons, for both prestige and loot; Snotlout is desperately trying to get together enough money to buy off the cost of his dragon from his father, who has made it abundantly clear that Hookfang is hostage to paying off Snotlout’s previous misbehavior.

Hiccup and Astrid discussing the fact that many of the dragons are shedding their scales; Fishlegs finds a fact in one of his books that points out that this is normal for reptiles, just like the teeth that they also shed. In the midst of the discussion, Snotlout’s raid comes back and there is much oohing and ahhing over the loot and Snotlout being “a proper Viking!”, with some of the villagers casting significant looks at Hiccup

Hiccup gets a bit depressed about not living up to the Viking ideal and how the dragons are (in his view) being misused. Astrid proceeds to (gently, by her standards) pull him out of it. By tossing him into some freezing cold water, and, when he’s a bit more lively, giving him a kiss. “That’s for moping around like someone kicked Toothless.” *drags out of water* *kiss* “And that’s for being the person that you are. So, now, what are you going to do about this?”

Hiccup puts a kibosh on dragon-mounted raids, emphatically, but neglects to add any teeth to the stricture, instead choosing to trust people to listen. (It doesn’t work)

Meanwhile, Hiccup wants to A) be a dragon rider, B) spend time with Astrid, and C) not have to fight anybody, in that order. (he and Astrid do conflict over Hiccup’s own pacifism as one of their main conflicts). Astrid also wants A) to be a dragon rider, B) spend time with Hiccup, and C) prove her prowess to anyone that might doubt otherwise

Hiccup and the other dragon riders attempt to talk with some of the other local tribes; results are mixed (although Hiccup does get the idea of a dragon mail system when someone asks him to bring a package to the next tribe for their child there). Snotlout is (unsuccessfully) hitting on every attractive unmarried woman within range of his age as they go.

Hiccup and Astrid have their first serious argument over this whole idea of going around and introducing dragons to the other tribes; she thinks that showing off the dragons will result in the other tribes reacting with fear and/or greed, and that they’ll think that Berk is trying to intimidate them (gunboat diplomacy style), while Hiccup thinks that the other tribes will react like Berk did once they find out that the dragons can be friendly. The two end up shouting at each other in the disagreement and going to opposite sides of the group to sulk.

The next morning, when the group wakes up, Hiccup, after having thought things over, comes over to apologize and say that he has an idea (the mail system) that could work to get people used to dragons and show that Berk is interested in working with the other tribes, rather than subjugating.

Astrid accepts his apology, and notes that of course she wants to have things work out—but that you have to work towards your goal, not just vaguely hope that they’ll end up that way because you think that they will. She’ll explicitly compare it to Hiccup’s efforts in the forge; “people are like axes”. “Come again? Sharp and you like to throw them into trees?” “No…” she comparing it to her ax or Toothless’ harness—he had to pound them into shape with fire and hammer, and keep going back and refining them, and sharpen them when they get dull or wear out, rather than just going “oh, that’s good enough. And, if you don’t keep it up, then the ax isn’t sharp for when you need it.” Hiccup, looking at that line of thought, is somewhat speechless for a few minutes, but manages to get out a “dear gods, I’m so lucky.” “And don’t you forget it. One of your biggest problems, Hiccup, is that you kept doing exactly that—going out without thinking, which is where you’re strongest, and hoping, expecting! your intentions, and not your brains, to make it work. *snort* Toothless’ tail was the first time where you couldn’t get away with doing that and leaving someone else to clean up the mess, so you had to keep trying until you got it right.”

Hiccup is somewhere between mush and a puddle and feeling rather naked by the end of it, where Astrid goes “So, now, you have this other idea. That’s great, and I’m not joking. I want to hear every single bit that you’ve thought of,” she smirks, “and then I’m going to chop it to pieces. I’m going to keep asking ‘what if this happens, or that happens’ until it falls apart. And then you’re going to put it back together. And we’ll keep doing that. Your job is to build something that I can’t take to pieces or bend out of shape. Got it?” Hiccup nods, and walks off to Toothless in a daze. “Dat da dah, I’m dead.” Ruffnut “Yeah, you’ll actually have to use your brain enough to keep her happy.” Tuffnut *snort* “It’s probably the only way he can keep her happ *small plasma blast* Oh, I hurt, I very much hurt!”

Summer, year 0 Hiccup is going on a mad inventing spree (especially heavy-lift harnesses for the mail system that is still an idea in his head); Astrid helps, mostly as a test subject (amusing injuries resulting on occasion). Entertaining scene with him going through his growth spurt and going through new legs every week or two; have him get up from his seat and stumble, and Astrid quips “Did you grow another inch since you sat down?” “Yeah, well, clearly my body decided to put all of the effort towards growing out the one leg instead of both.” Hiccup, being at the clumsy stage of teenaged boy-hood, with his body growing out all over the place, and having the “talking with his hands” aspect, knocks over something that shouldn’t be knocked, and he and Astrid have to hit the deck.

Astrid, for her part, is supervising experiments with different ways of prepping/preserving food for the dragons to see what they like best, although is not doing the cooking herself (much to the gratitude of the dragons, as her horrible cooking skills is something that both Stormfly and Toothless will deliberately exaggerate for comedic effect). She finds that, contrary to Hiccup’s expectations (that they’ll prefer roasted or smoked), that the general draconic preference is for pickled, vinegar-brined and/or fermented meat (either fish or fowl, with beef or mutton being distant third preferences). Since the fish doesn’t have to be fresh, this will help for getting through the winter (although some people question the dragons’ taste in liking rotten fish soaked in spoiled beer). Stormfly, in particular, is noted as liking pickled and roasted chicken, with rosemary. Hiccup says that she’s spoiling her dragon, with a smile.

Comedic scene with veritable pack of dragons following the farmers harvesting the dragon-nip grass with wide-eyed innocent expressions that fool nobody.

Introduction of one of Astrid’s ideas that Hiccup implemented—a dragon batting toy stuffed with dragon-nip. Amusing hijinks ensue—to the point where the toy is banned from the housing area of the village as a result of the collateral damage. Astrid ends up hanging it from the top of the cage in the dragon arena, where it has to be replaced weekly.

Pretty much all of the other remaining Norse chieftains, along with the Irish petty kings and Scottish clansmen, have heard about Hiccup’s dragon-taming and dragon-battle by now, and are suitably impressed, and reacting with respect, fear, hostility, or greed as their individual temperaments allow; some were more skeptical, but a few circulating Green Dragon scales (complete with associated char) were convincing (Gobber hasn’t helped, either, as he has literally embellished a few of the scales with scenes from the Green Dragon Fight). The respectful chiefs are in understandable awe, and will treat Berk as a senior warrior would be by a neophyte, often sending tribute.

The fearful chiefs will react in a variety of ways, being afraid of being conquered by the Dragon Lord/King/Conqueror/Chief to voluntarily offering vassalage (rare, but it does happen at least once, despite Viking “stubbornness issues”; Stoick will turn it down, grumbling that the other chief just wants Stoick to do his job for him).

The hostile chiefs will overlap a bit with the fearful chiefs, and view Berk with suspicion, that now that Berk is not tied up in dealing with dragon pests, they’ll invade other people in their now-spare time, either for vassals or just for loot, while the greedy chiefs… well, they just want dragons for themselves.

how to handle in story without going to Weber-esque bloat; every so many chapters, introduce a new chief reacting to Hiccup’s accomplishments; using this method allows for easy inclusion of the Christian lords’ reactions without drawing attention to them; go with one chief reacting in each method, then move onto the Christians

first chief to get this treatment will be an Irish chieftain who will be hearing a mildly embellished verse of “The Dragon Rider Of Berk” from an itinerant bard, who are both impressed and terrified at the idea of someone badass enough to not only beat but tame a Night Fury. At the end, the fili notes to the bard that the verse was short, and the bard nods, but notes that he’s working on fixing that. The chief makes a note to send a representative to Berk, with tribute.

Early autumn, 1 year since HTTYD Hiccup and others have now spent a whole year with the dragons, and are writing up their observations in the new dragon book; he also has a talk with Snotlout about the raids (after Snotlout comes back with a cow in each of Hookfang’s claws), and Snotlout promises not to (a promise that he later breaks without thinking)

Hiccup and Fishlegs work on polishing routes for the dragon mail; there is training people in navigational tools by Stoick and Gobber; the twins end up poking themselves in the eyes with theirs, and Snotlout manages to get a reading that puts him near the Equator. Hiccup and Astrid have extreme degrees of fluffiness and teh cute, such that Snotlout complains.

The new version of Dragon Training debuts: dragon rider training; instead of killing dragons, graduates have to bond with and successfully ride a dragon of their choice; if they succeed at a series of challenges, they get to keep the dragon. This dragon is from the Haddock flock, which Hiccup has been pushing for on several counts (let the other villagers handle them and the costs (especially over the winter), while maintaining control over the main supply, also the economic boost from having villagers getting access to dragons of their own—but in a way that, essentially, indoctrinates them to Hiccup’s methodology—which will be important when they need riders for the Dragon Mail.

There is some murmuring of discontent from the older villagers, as the old way of dragon killing had significant incentive aside from the prestige: the carcass of the dead dragon would belong to the new graduate, which would act as prize money, and, being an adult now, would often be significant help for a household, very often either as a dowry or bride price; the Hofferson clan were and are a wealthy clan because of their prowess at killing dragons, hence why Astrid was so vehement about dragon training—family tradition as well as being the sort of thing that would let her have a degree of independence from her family, economically speaking. Hiccup is hoping that the new way will take hold quickly, but knows that there will be an incentive for slaughter over livestock.

Since the Hooligans are a dying tribe, there are only six children taking the new Dragon Training course, and Stoick has put the kibosh on anyone starting at a younger age.

Harvest festivals—with dragons! (the rep from the Irish chief is present, and is in awe); a bunch of the local artisans have finished working on their projects of bone carving, tooth carving, and scale embellishment and present them to the chief. Hiccup is less than amused by some of the embellishments (in the poetic sense) to his physique, while Astrid is appreciative; this results in a degree of argument between the two of them, and Astrid apologizes after Hiccup gets himself hurt by attempting to compensate.

Winter, year 1 Deep irony scene, of Stoik and Hiccup, along with Gobber and Astrid, discussing how Berk’s economy is sad (”almost depressed”) at present; the initial flurry of sales of pieces of the dragon queen is over, and they have no carcasses to sell, meaning that they have no additional income at the moment; some traders have shown up trying to buy Hiccup-trained dragons, but he won’t sell, and the Hooligans have learned that getting replacements of their own from Hiccup will be difficult.

Meanwhile everyone is looking at them like they’re about to start wildly conquering their neighbors on dragonback, and the idiots who did go a-viking are a few hotheaded glory hounds interested in shiny loot, personal glory, and pretty women more than they’re interested in ruling anybody (although Snotlout, again, is being a braggart and a few people are thinking about making him into a figurehead). They’re also having problems with poachers—just a few, and nobody’s been successful yet (because, hey, dragons), but the Hooligans are itching for a good fight, and things are getting tense.

Tensions lead to some rather epic brawls at Yule; the dragons end up taking sides with their riders, which results in problems, and Hiccup has to put his foot down

The hatchery has outgrown its original space, and Hiccup is using whispering death dragons and gronkles to tunnel out more as quickly as possible, as well as expanding dragon quarters in the main island area.

One other chief attempts a surprise attack over the winter, thinking that the dragons will be hibernating; the attack gets its ass kicked (by the aforementioned itching Hooligans); this’ll be the intro for the greedy/hostile chief reaction.

Spring, year 1 Hiccup starts his Dragon Express mail system, and starts exporting what things he can safely milk and sheer from the dragons (shed scales, skin, and teeth, gas and saliva, etc), which starts making Berk into an economic powerhouse; more and more traders show up; Fishlegs, being the detail-oriented person that he is, is put in general charge of the business and production ends.

Someone tries to hijack the dragon mail pretty much immediately, targeting Hiccup (not recognizing Toothless as a Night Fury and thinking that the “cripples” will be easy targets). It doesn’t end well for the thieves, given that they were trying to capture a Night Fury and its very inventive rider.

Summer, year 1 Hiccup and Astrid barely see each other for over a month, they’re both so busy delivering messages; at this point, Toothless and Stormfly have a small mutiny and strand their riders up on a tall sea stack for some alone time; the two hop over to another sea stack nearby, like a pair of cats making sure that their owners can see that they’re being ignored. The pair, after an initial degree of irritation, have a wonderful heart-to-heart session, along with some makeouts and cuddling. Prior to the mutiny, Gobber has a small scene where Toothless and Stormfly come to him with a basket and basically play charades in trying to explain what they want him to do with it (I.e. fill it with food for their riders for them to hide on the sea stack)

Another chief’s reaction; having seen the dragons and their riders, and seen the carved dragon tooth with the battle against the Green Death on it), he’s pretty sure that Stoick is plenty more powerful than his own tribe, and offers his vassalization to Stoick. (Stoick turns it down, firmly, noting that the other tribe is in Norway, and all this will accomplish is forcing him to spend resources and time on the other man’s problems)

In the aftermath of the fluff, some angst; Astrid’s mother takes Astrid aside when she gets home and asks, straight up, if this is more than a childhood infatuation. Astrid is confused, but nods and says that, yes, she wouldn’t have been with him for a year and a half if she wasn’t serious about it. Her mother nods, but says that children always think that it is serious, and with the two of them being dragon riders, it could have been just that, and asks some questions to determine, for herself, if the love is true, to be absolutely sure. When the questions are affirmative, her mother gets very serious, and points out that Astrid almost certainly won’t get to marry Hiccup; he’s the chief’s son, meaning that he has keep the prospects for marriage alliances open from the other tribes, and she heard an offer arrived this morning.

She lets Astrid absorb that for a moment before continuing. While she would adore a love-match between her daughter and the next chief, Stoick has to be pragmatic, and Hiccup isn’t in charge of the purse strings of the coin of his marriage bed, especially now that tensions are mounting, thanks to Snotlout’s provocations and Hiccup’s spreading reputation. “Do you know what it means when a dozen different Viking chiefs all send tribute to the same chief? It means that they’re either scared of him, or are trying to soften him up for a bargain that will benefit them—or both. And the best bargain that they’re all going to want is their daughter in that house, with a grandson as soon as possible to cement the ties.”

That being said, any non-local “peace-weaver” would be a political marriage, and probably a loveless one, meaning that Hiccup will almost certainly turn to her for companionship. Meaning that she would end up being a concubine, and her children, if any, wouldn’t be able to inherit. Normally, Astrid would be forbidden by her clan from taking that course, as they’re of high status themselves, but being the close confident of the first dragon rider and the future chief of the village, well, that is not a normal situation.

Astrid is… less than happy in the face of her mother’s analysis. Her mother, being a bit more stoic on it, basically asks her daughter if that is something she would be willing to deal with; an empty bed, divided time, and resentment from the mother of the next chief, but a whole heart, and maybe the potential for a loving marriage when the requirements of the political marriage have been fulfilled and Hiccup can divorce. Would she be willing to wait? Is her love for him worth it? Astrid, in tears at this point, sits for a long moment, and her mother gets up and leaves, telling her to think on it, but that, if she decides to stay with Hiccup, she has the support of the clan, and this decision is for herself, not for her family.

Snotlout, being on one of the mail routes (Monstrous Nightmares being one of the faster, higher-capacity dragons, although Hiccup had a devil of a time making fireproof mail satchels), decides to take a moment to do a tiny little raid on a monastery that is in his path, not really thinking about the backlash, just pretty loot. And, hey, look, it fits in the mail satchels!

Autumn, year 2 Fishlegs reports on Berk’s economic situation at the end of the harvest; things are going phenomenally, and comments that they’re pulling in money at rates to make Draupnir jealous. If they continue this way, the village will be even better off than when they were selling dragon carcasses. Hiccup makes the explicit comparison between sheepskin and wool.

Astrid is abusing trees with her ax again, but hasn’t told Hiccup what her mother said. Hiccup joins her, and probably makes her some more axes. His form is terrible, and Astrid teaches him a bit on the fine art of ax throwing, reflecting to herself that, yeah, she would rather have him a bit than not at all.

A few people sneak onto Berk to try their hand at Dragon-rustling, and manage to poach some of the more tame dragons, which are missed the next time the flock comes in for feeding, resulting a search; a few of the dragons return of their own accord for food, while a few others are gone completely.

Rumors and legends are reaching the Christian lands in greater numbers, from raids and stories from the merchants; Hiccup would be embarrassed by the exaggerations—and, yes, his battle with the Red Death (or Green Death) is being topped in story, sometimes with it being two giant dragons, one green, one red, and him riding a black beast. A few of the painted scales and carved teeth from Berk are being passed around as proof. (The baron looked closer at the statue, and it twisted in his mind, and he realized what he was looking at. “That… that is a tooth. A tooth as tall as a man.”)

Winter, year 2 At Yule, Stoick has a big announcement to the entire tribe, and Astrid’s heart plummets, given that there are a few representatives from other tribes in the hall. Hiccup pulls her aside, and, heart breaking, she goes with him, expecting him to tell her that they won’t be together, that his father is marrying him off to someone else. Instead, Hiccup proposes to her. Stunned, she babbles a bit, pointing out is turning down some significant negotiating power. Hiccup says that he and Stoick already turned those offers down, and that he wants her, his friend, his partner, the person who makes his heart sing, and who will happily pull him out of a funk and into ice water when its needed—if she’ll have him. She accepts, and a date is set for next spring. The two of them reenter the mead hall in time to hear Stoick announce that he is convening an Althing of the chiefs to discuss the dragons, and, with a thumbs-up from Hiccup, that his son is going to be getting married. The hall erupts into applause.

Another Christian lord hears of Hiccup’s tale, and is immediately worried, especially hearing of it through a Christian lens that views dragons as demonic/infernal

Astrid confronts Snotlout for his viking raids. “Is this some kind of a joke to you? We just ended one war; what are you doing, trying to start another?”

Spring, year 2 Stoick uses the income from the Dragon Express to push for an Althing, as a summit among the other neighboring tribes, especially when he realizes that many of them are simply not trusting the Dragon Express mail; he sends out his invitations in the traditional way (via ship), despite Hiccup’s beliefs otherwise. Hiccup and Astrid get married; Hiccup, rather than disturb his ancestors’ sleep, forges his own new family blade—which can burst into dragon-fire. Gobber is very proud of his apprentice, while Stoick, having seen the blade already, is still somewhat incredulous at his genius son. “Gobber, I tell ye, one of these days, a bunch of dwarves are going to tunnel up into that hatchery down there and say that Odin has another commission, or that they need help reforging Gleipnir, and ask if they can borrow Hiccup.” Gobber laughs. “Yea, but if they turn up in the next month, Astrid will say ‘no’ and chop off their heads, Ragnarok or no.” A Christian lord hears of the Althing, and begins planning out of fear

Summer, year 2 After a great deal of negotiation, the date for the Althing is set for the following year (to allow for provisions to be gathered and for travel time). Stoick has to essentially bribe a few other chiefs to come by paying for their provisions, and the dragon riders are kept extremely busy delivering messages. During this time, internal and external tensions within Berk and between the other tribes mount a bit; the detractors call the mail system Ratatoskr (after the squirrel that lives in Yggdrasil and carried malicious messages back and forth between Nidhogg and Vedrfolnir)

Autumn, year 3 One of the tribal chieftains that was hoping to get Stoick’s son married off to his own daughter tries an attack of opportunity against Astrid when she comes by to drop off mail. She manages to escape, but both Astrid and Stormfly are badly hurt, and barely survive the return flight to Berk. Stoick, Hiccup, Astrid and an honor guard return shortly to confront the tribe; Stoick wants to burn the place to the ground, but is holding himself in check, but it is hard when the other chieftain claims insult, that they would send the woman that he married his son off to to their tribe and not expect to see it as a taunt? Stoick growls, and challenges the other man to the holmgang, and, when the other man protests, Stoick basically says that he can either die in the ring or when Hiccup and Toothless finish burning the place to the ground, but he attacked Stoick’s daughter in law and his son’s wife, and they arm-wrestled to see who got first dibs, and they should be grateful that Hiccup lost. But the other man acted dishonorably, and no one will question the righteousness of Stoick killing him.

Winter, year 3 Snotlout, egged on by the attention and his own ego (and lack of long-term planning) goes on another raid, along with several others. This time, he kidnaps a woman for his wife.

When he gets back, Hiccup tells him to stop and to let the woman go; this escalates to the point where there’s a formal challenge to be the dragon marshal of Berk (a position that Hiccup holds by default).

It’s agreed to be the best of three challenges; first, the two have a race, which (despite some attempts at cheating by Snotlout’s supporters), Hiccup wins handily. Snotlout then gets to pick the next challenge, a duel, and Astrid steps in as Hiccup’s champion. Astrid kicks his ass, although it is a very close fight—he’s the better fighter of the two of them by a slim margin (mostly due to size and musculature, rather than strict skill, and she’s still healing from her wounds), and they both fight dirty, but she fights dirtier. , knocking Snotlout back into a subservient position and having the woman go free; Hiccup and Astrid escort her home.

Construction of more dragon-related infrastructure continues

Spring, year 3 Preparations for the Althing; Stoick sends off other Hooligans to prepare the site of the Althing; Timberjacks and Gronkles are sent with their riders.

Summer, year 3 The Althing Finally, the Althing arrives; Stoick, in an effort to placate the paranoia of his fellow chieftains, agreed to hold the conclave in a place other than Berk (”you expect us to walk into the dragons’ lair and talk terms with the beasts?”) Some representatives of persecuted Norse in the now Christianized Scandinavia also manage to come, as well as a few tribes that are culturally Norse but religiously Christian;

“Didya hear what happened to the last fool who claimed insult against me son for marrying for love? *snort* Besides, unless me brains and fingers aren’t working right, there are a few dozen of you in here, and Hiccup here couldn’t exactly marry all your daughters to be peaceweavers.” (Astrid very quietly has a fit of giggles while Hiccup turns bright red while the chiefs all start shouting) “So, lets say that he had married any one of yours? Then one of you gets the alliance that you are all hoping for, and then I have the rest of you still claiming insult, plus being worried about Berk and the other tribe ganging up on you.” THUMP “Think about it. Ye all are better off with him and her up there, and ye all have reason to keep it that way. As for me, well, I’m not going to pick favorites or treat any of ye lot special. We’re here to talk about the future, not the past, and my son’s marriage is the past. You want the future? How’s this—send your younger children and grandchildren to my son to foster, and you’ll get back dragon riders when they come of age.” Hiccup looks at his father in panic, while Astrid’s jaw drops open, as Stoick continues. “You have it on my word of honor that they’d be treated with kindness and understanding, and, besides, raising them couldn’t be worse than raising Hiccup here by me lonesome,” (”Thanks, dad”) “and they’d all know each other, so—” “So your boy there can put on a crown? How does us giving you hostages keep us from getting attacked by dragon riders from Berk!?” “Because my son will be training them and working with them. Their safety will be on my honor, and if I lost my mind and attacked anyone—” “Like the [tribe that attacked Astrid]” “He attacked my kin, he tried to kill my son’s wife! And, even with that provocation, I kept it to the Holmgang and didn’t claim his tribe as my spoils, even though I could have, easily, by the laws of the holmgang,”

A bunch of Christian lords, fearful of the dragon-riders now raiding their homes, hear of the Althing and, fearing a united Norsedom riding dragons, attempt to attack the Althing, having scraped together as large a force as they could manage of knights and levies, totaling a few thousand, maybe ten thousand on the top side. They nearly get spotted by the teens a few times when out riding on dragonback, but the kids aren’t actively scouting and are on tight leashes to the Althing (if anything, they lead the Christians, who are otherwise lost, to the right place). The Christians are aiming for a decapitatory strike, especially at the dragon riders, which they view as the biggest threat, but are also interested in wiping out as many of the pagans as they can. Snotlout gets himself captured in the resulting battle, along with Hookfang, due to sheer incompetence, but the Christians retreat, having killed some warriors and a few chiefs, but are repulsed by dragonfire, with Toothless and Stormfly making particular note of themselves. Hiccup is horrified, while Astrid is taken aback at how unprepared for facing dragons the Christians were (mistaking internal tensions between the loosely allied armies for lack of martial prowess, plus being much more hardened against dragonfire by virtue of being a Hooligan).

Astrid and Hiccup attempt an ill-considered rescue mission and damn near get themselves, and Toothless and Stormfly, killed, because the Christians learned from their mistakes (and have been torturing Snotlout for information) and because they’re facing a single foe in an entrenched position as opposed to someone in an open battlefield. Hiccup, while bandaging the dragons’ wounds, sarcastically comments that he’s not a very good viking; his first attempt at a raid, and look.

Stoick, meanwhile, is trying to ride herd on the Althing and the cries for vengeance and conquest, but ultimately fails, and internal tensions between the Norse and the Christians tribes also results in problems, as the “old custom” looks at the “new custom” with suspicion. He gets delivered an ultimatum by the war faction—teach them how to ride dragons, or else. He refuses.

One of the warmongering chiefs tries to have his thanes kidnap Hiccup for information on how to train dragons, with the aim of mustering a force and forging an empire of his own. Astrid intervenes—aggressively, and angrily, and beats off the kidnappers (with help from Hiccup and Toothless), and challenges the chief to the holmgang on Hiccup’s behalf (as the aggrieved party)

Hiccup takes the moment to try to push through peace, and gets his chance to take a peace offer to the Christian lords, with the explicit statement from the other chiefs that if they turn it down, they will happily go aviking.

Hiccup gets rebuffed and attacked, and only manages to get away with Snotlout and Hookfang by sheer dumb luck and help from the other dragon riders Meanwhile, the Christians have been learning how to tame dragons, although they’re taking a very different approach than Hiccup’s methods; instead of partners, the dragons are slaves. With great reluctance, Hiccup starts training en masse Viking dragon riders, musing that there’s no going back after this—the knowledge is out there, or can be redeveloped.

#a thing of vikings #writing

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averydecker1995 · 4 years

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Cat Pee From Mattress Super Genius Useful Tips

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Youtube Cat Spraying

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#Cat Pee From Mattress Super Genius Useful Tips #How To Remove Cat Spray

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dailykhaleej · 4 years

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Experts say utmost precautions required worldwide to beat pandemic

RIYADH: Within the wake of the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) pandemic, Saudi Arabia took a number of measures starting from whole lockdown to partial curfews relying on the state of affairs and the Kingdom additionally eased restrictions and allowed retail shops to reopen, however folks ought to know that the battle in opposition to coronavirus will take a protracted, very long time.

Dr. Mohammed Alhajji, a marketing consultant in social and behavioral sciences and Ph.D. researcher at Temple College, took to Twitter to remind folks that nothing about our understanding of the virus has modified since its look and urge them to proceed to be cautious.

“So far, there is no confirmed treatment, no vaccine, and no herd immunity. We also don’t know much about the possibility of a second (wave of) infection. We still need quarantine, social distancing, and all possible precautions. It is vital that we resist being tempted into ignoring the seriousness of the threat,” he mentioned.

Dr. Faheem Younus, chief of infectious illnesses on the College of Maryland Higher Chesapeake Well being, additionally used social media to debunk numerous myths in regards to the coronavirus. Tweeting from the “COVID frontlines,” Younus has been commonly posting vital details about new developments and correcting misconceptions, such because the extensively held perception that it’ll “disappear” in the summertime.

HIGHLIGHT

There isn’t any confirmed remedy, no vaccine, and no herd immunity.

Earlier pandemics didn’t observe climate patterns.

“Previous pandemics didn’t follow weather patterns, plus as we enter summer, there will be winter in the Southern Hemisphere. The virus is global,” he tweeted.

He additionally cited a video in regards to the US metropolis of San Francisco ending their lockdown early through the 1918 influenza pandemic, when the town not required its residents to put on masks in public after a lull in instances in November of that yr. Instances shot up in December, forcing the town to reinstate the masks coverage in January of 1919, however not earlier than the demise rely had practically doubled.

“The keyword is ‘early.’ Doctors want lockdowns to end too, but when the time is right. Don’t push your governments,” he mentioned.

Nevertheless, with the reopening of malls in the intervening time and the power to go away the home with out restrictions between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., many are torn between the idea of what this implies for them and whether or not or not they need to be leaving the home.

Maram Al-Khudairi, who works at a college, informed Arab Information that she has not left her home in any respect because the very first coronavirus case was introduced in Saudi Arabia, and he or she has not let anybody from her family go away both, except her husband doing the grocery buying.

“I have three kids, aged 17, 14, and 12. As much as they’re driving me crazy, and telling me that all their friends are going out now and they just want to leave the house for a little bit, I simply can’t risk it. I keep about how no one is social distancing and people have taken the lifting of the lockdown for granted,” she mentioned.

“I’m no doctor, but I know enough to know that the safest place for me to be is at home with my family, protecting them the only way I know how,” she added.

Nevertheless, others see this as a chance to check the waters a bit of, to see if life can resume a semblance of normalcy regardless of the continued pandemic.

“We Saudis are very social, so lockdown has been harder on us than most. Almost everyone I know has been affected mentally by being confined at home for so long,” mentioned Khulood Al-Shareef, a schoolteacher and mom.

She identified that the strict measures in place in malls and supermarkets and the fixed supervision by authorities authorities would go a good distance to assist folks proceed to be protected, so long as everybody did their finest to shield themselves and others whereas out buying.

“It goes back to the individuals themselves. Are you wearing a mask? Are you washing your hands? Are you disinfecting them when you touch things? If you protect yourself and try to protect others, I don’t see why you shouldn’t go out,” she mentioned.

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mac-lc-dude-blog · 7 years

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Selling the Toys

First and foremost, welcome to this random collection of thoughts. You can refer to me as the Mac Dude; I am a longtime user of the platform and have been known by any variation of that nickname for many years.

I had today off from work. Normally, in the middle of August, we use these days to go on vacation, but since my large-scale vacation already occurred, my off day was spent clearing out items from my mother’s house.

It has been many years since I lived there, yet a good deal of what remains belongs to me. With my mother wanting to downsize and my wallet looking for a few incoming dollar bills, my goal was simple: find things to sell on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or other similar sites.

What I had forgotten about was just how many items I could list for sale. When I moved out, I took what I needed to live with me and even brought a few frivolities and childhood memories along.

One such toy is a special edition Power Rangers action figure from 1995, released alongside the first movie. This figure is of Billy, the blue ranger, known best as the brainy member of the team. Billy was always a positive role model as a character, showing that a brilliant student can also be athletic and well-liked, not to mention a valuable team player. This particular Billy figure is one which can be “morphed” from human to Power Ranger with the touch of a button (which flips the figure’s head) and, as a limited edition figure, is a special metallic blue.

Most children who watch Power Rangers and collect toys, however, have more than one figure. After all, the Power Rangers team consists of six members. Sometimes, they even change their suit color during the season. They also get big robotic vehicles to drive and fight various bad guys. This means only one thing: tons of toys become available.

I didn’t realize just how many of these things I had until today. There were seven full-size giant vehicles (called “zords” on the show), several sets of rangers themselves, and even a few villains.

They had also been packed away for two decades.

The box containing the figures even was marked with my fourth grade handwriting, which had been penned with a magic marker.

As if that weren’t bad enough, there was a second box in the attic. This box was left over from a move made in third grade and housed a large playset resembling the headquarters of the Power Rangers. A complete set of Happy Meal toys from the Power Rangers movie promotion was inside, as was the set of small zords (all six of them!) sold separately at McDonald’s. There was also an eighth full size zord inside.

Within an hour of posting, they had been sold. I repacked them, this time in better material, to be sent off to their new owner. As I examined them one last time, I thought back to how often I played with these toys.

Most of the toys, still stored in their original boxes, looked unusually good for their age and could have passed for new.

There were a few more worn toys, but the overwhelming majority were in such good condition that the sale posts received many responses in a short period of time. While this was beneficial to someone looking for an extra dollar or two many years later, what about the past 21-22 years? Exactly *what* have those seldom-used toys done for me in that time span, even excluding the 20 years in storage?

Let’s make a list of what those toys didn’t do before we proceed. They didn’t get played with, first of all. They didn’t help me strengthen any friendships, learn anything new, or lead me to some moment of enlightenment. Despite the action features of some of the toys, I didn’t actually become a martial artist as a result of owning or playing with the toys. The transformative nature of the zords was neat, but it wasn’t as though there was a puzzle to be solved; all of the transformations were shown daily on the TV show.

The toys did offer a bit of imaginative play, but only when being played with. Simply sitting on the toy box made them glorified decorations. I do have a few decorations at my place even today, but none of them were actually intended to be anything more than a decoration.

The toys’ biggest contribution since being stashed away in 1997, after I had gone several months without even watching Power Rangers, was to provide me with a little extra cash today.

None of this has to do with the toys themselves. Some of the Power Rangers, specifically the ones with flip heads, were indeed well-loved. The Billy figure mentioned earlier looks good to an untrained eye, but only because I was gentle with my toys. It was, along with a few others, used quite a bit, as any action figure in the hands of a third grader should be.

I am not yet a parent. While I try to avoid criticizing the parenting techniques of my own parents, grandparents, and extended family, I do have to question the purchase of large quantities of Power Rangers figures. These, of course, were found alongside other toys under Christmas trees and at birthday parties. Yes, it always seems nice to buy the huge zord set to go along with the set of rangers, but were multiple zords really needed? Yes, the rangers did change zords from time to time on the show, arguably to drive toy sales, but why bother getting all six from the new set? Is it really necessary to form the mega-ultra-falconzord every time one plays with the figures? Why not let the underrated mastodon zord work alone for a change of pace? After all, it comes as part of a set of five! Are new villains always necessary? They were made of random objects on the show, why not build new, imaginative ones from Legos?

The new owner of most of my Power Rangers is an action figure collector. He’s about my age and not someone who will actually play with these things as intended. This is to be expected from an action figure aficionado who has reached a certain age. It’s not, however, the intent for most children, especially when these things are presented as toys.

Note how I said “most” of my Power Rangers. The metallic Billy was kept, along with a full set of non-metallic flip-heads, a pink Zeo ranger, a small blue ranger figure, and a Lord Zedd--if you’re going to keep one bad guy, keep the baddest of the bad guys. This way, when I am a parent someday, I can introduce my children to my old favorite show. Note, too, that the figures I kept were the ones that actually got a lot of use as toys, not as exhibits on the toy box shelf.

Children drift away from interests over time, especially when they tire of something which always goes to a certain script. Most episodes of Power Rangers do follow the same general format. The trouble with a Power Rangers toy is that it’s relatively fixed. It’s a Power Ranger--not a Starting Lineup baseball player, a Star Wars figure, or a GI Joe. When your interest shifts from a fantasy TV show with over exaggerated fighting to real sports, the action figures get set aside, maybe coming out many years later in a burst of nostalgia or because a figure of a person happens to be needed for a physics demonstration.

Other “toys” in my life at the time were spared due to their adaptability. Crayons can draw a Power Ranger, a baseball player, or a diagram of a double helix. If Math Rabbit gets outgrown on a computer, Math Blaster can replace it. Legos can be used to construct almost anything. As the Power Rangers made their way to the storage closet, the crayons, computer, and Legos soldiered on.

In the end, I got a little money from the unused toys, enough to get me to next Thursday’s Pirates game with some left to spare. That game will be an experience to cherish regardless of the outcome, as it is the annual faith night.

Now, let’s think about this: how much did these toys cost, which were purchased solely for the sake of buying toys and getting me into the habit of asking for them because it was all I knew? As I recall, the large zords often retailed around $40-$50. Let’s go with $50 because it’s an easy number to work with. A complete set of Power Rangers Zeo zords, of which there were six, would cost approximately $300 at that rate. What could $300 have purchased in 1996, the year the show aired, that would have been a better investment?

$300 would have been good for a pass to the local zoo, museum, history center, science center, aviary, and amusement park--with more than enough left over for a ticket to a baseball game. That’s seven great experiences right there, all for less than the cost of six dust collecting toys.

$300 would have purchased a few nights worth of stays at a decent hotel in 1996, enough to cover a weekend somewhere with an experience or two and a accommodations at a Hampton Inn with an indoor pool.

$300 is still more than enough, even in 2017, to cover several lessons in art, music, dance, swimming, sailing, or a sport. Imagine learning to sail or golf at nine-going-on-ten, sports which can be practiced at all ages.

In any of these cases, there would still be enough left over to buy a few small action figures. Jason and Billy versus Lord Zedd on the couch, costing only about $25 for all three? Well, as children, we do need to take time to play with toys and use our imagination...especially if only two of a six-person team show up and no giant zords are available! That, alone, could lead to a better problem solving situation, yet another case of making play a moment to build critical skills used later in life.

The buyer of my Power Rangers asked me if it was going to be difficult to part with a large collection. The only regret I have is not speaking up more as a child and asking for that trip out west in place of a full set of zords. In the end, I would have been just as happy with a handful of flip-head Power Rangers, but happier in the end because of the stories I’d remember for the rest of my life.

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cyberneticsystm · 7 years

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Bibi’s Revenge at U.N. Risks Israel’s Bid for Security Council Seat

The Council election last month condemning Israeli negotiations hit a substantial whack towards the worldwide reliability that was Jewish state’s. However the quality additionally confronted anything much more tangible Minister behind-the-moments push-to get a chair about the 15 to Israel – security body.

Within an campaign, Israel has involved for that previous year to secure 1 of 2 Safety Council chairs earmarked for American authorities for 2019-20 — an objective that’ll want it to defeat out possibly Belgium or Philippines.

That work has become in risk as U.S. President-elect Israel Donaldtrump, and its own followers within the Congress threaten to retaliate from authorities that backed the things they see like a seriously unjust quality and the Un. The transfer might alienate actually possible followers of an bid.

Netanyahu summoned the envoys of Safety Council member-states on Holiday to state his frustration. He introduced that Israel may reassess its relationships using the Un and slice help to 2 African followers of the quality, Angola and Senegal. This elevated the chance the Group, which makes up about 54 ballots within the 193-associate U.N. General Construction, might hit back.

Israel’s reaction to the negotiations resolution is not useful to their strategy. The African team won’t like this.”

An Arab diplomat named it “definitely a problem for them — not due to the election, by itself, but their a reaction to it.”

“They are back again to block one,” the Arab diplomat informed Foreign Policy.

A ambassador stated Israel hasbeen “pretty seriously interested in their candidature” in the last year, but-its charm offensive has struck the negotiations quality against a solid wall.

“I genuinely believe that it’s around,” the Western diplomat informed FP. “I never believed they might get anyways.”

In Washington the -managed Congress is planning regulation to reduce U.S. financing towards the Un. Trump, meanwhile, cautioned on Facebook that U.S. relationships using the Un is likely to be suffering from the election. “As towards the U.N., issues is likely to be various after ” Trump tweeted following the negotiations election.

A request was rejected by a spokesperson for Israel’s objective towards the U.N. for opinion. Israeli authorities identify they encounter a constant battle to get a Safety Council chair, but wish the atmosphere that is governmental may enhance from the period the Overall Assembly ballots within 2018’s summer.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities therefore are likely to sponsor their next visit by ambassadors to Israel later this season and stay devoted to seeking their strategy.

In middle-Dec, as Palestinian regulators lobbied assistance for that Protection Council’s disapproval of negotiations, Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon located a delegation of U.N. ambassadors from Africa, Japan, Latin America, and Europe to get a five-evening workshop on Israeli efforts in farming, counterterrorism, and cybersecurity.

the National Jewish Board structured and financed the journey. It received U.N. that was mature -centered diplomats from 14 nations — including Uganda, and Albania Botswana Mexico — to Israel to listen to its situation is made by the federal government on Israel’s efforts towards the worldwide group. It incorporated a-side visit to Ramallah, where the international delegation and a Palestinian authorities satisfied.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, released a public attractiveness final month to Kazakhstan Leader Nursultan Nazarbayev to back Israel’s bet. “If you will want actual change on the planet,” Netanyahu stated, “imagine a situation of Israel within the Safety Council of the Usa Nations.”

Israel’s expect a location in the Protection Council’s legendary horseshoe desk may be the newest phase of its continuing diplomatic outreach strategy centered on improving relationships with authorities all over the world, including African claims which have typically compared Israel in the U.N. and its own former Arab opponents in the Centre East.

Netanyahu visited to four nations that were African — Uganda, and Ethiopia Rwanda — to shore relationships up. In June, Netanyahu fulfilled with increased than the usual dozen African leaders and envoys across the sidelines of the Overall Assembly. Israel asked other leaders along with Rwandan Leader Paul Kagame on development and engineering to some meeting at headquarters in Africa. Netanyahu is likely to go Africa this season.

Israeli commanders think in growing their outreach, they’ve created substantial advances.

In an talk towards the General Construction, Netanyahu stated Israel has relationships with more than 160 nations, almost double as when he offered as ambassador the amount. Netanyahu traced this towards the proven fact that many authorities — in comparison using their — identify Israel could be a companion that was useful, having a world-class knowledge in from cybersecurity to improvements that may gain their people and intellect company. Israel offers cast essential, unofficial and although extremely subtle, relationships with rich Persian Gulf claims, including Qatar Saudi Arabia, and also the United Arab Emirates, which reveal its worries of the increasing Iran.

Israel is definitely an unbelievable aspirant for account within the U.N.’s protection body. The U.N. is regularly slammed by Netanyahu like a hypocritical, anti- organization that’s invested when it acknowledged Israel’s freedom, whichever ethical pressure it might have held. In his newest tackle, he mocked the U.N. General Construction like a “moral farce.”

But in the same period, Netanyahu has acquired and brought Israel’s long term work to stabilize relationships with additional states in the Un — a drive supported from the Usa. Your time and effort goes back towards the Clinton management, when subsequently-U.S. Richard Holbrooke served one of many local blocs that work the Un, Israel gain account within the European Yet Others Team. The improvement permitted Israel to contend for articles on committees. Israel continues to be the only real Middle-East nation that’s never offered about the Safety Council, but announced that its cap would toss in to the band.

However the 2018 election, while significantly coming, nevertheless shows you will find to far Israel may continue limitations. For a long time, Netanyahu has thought he might “minimize the significance of the problem and gain by forging useful relationships in East Asia Africa, and Europe, stated a Middle-East specialist in the Middle to get a Fresh American Protection, Goldenberg.

“The growing, peaceful protection assistance between Israel and several of the Arab claims is just a testament to that particular strategy, and also to increasing widespread pursuits in countering Iran,” Goldenberg informed FP. “The negotiations quality was a this technique has limits.”

Goldenberg stated the stalemated peace approach will probably “continue to correct a cost on Israel internationally.” But within the longterm, he included, Israel may proceed to increase its worldwide strategy to “seek to achieve higher worldwide acceptance.”

But have an period of time. It should gather 129 ballots, or two thirds of the Overall Assembly’s 193 nations, prior to the 2018 choice.

Israeli authorities understand that actually prior to the negotiation election, they confronted an uphill fight to secure a chair about the authority. However they nevertheless think they are able to get assistance that is enough — especially within an election where their ballots can be throw by associates anonymously. In July, to seat among the Common Assembly’s main subsidiary systems Israel was chosen for that very first time, beating hard resistance from Islamic and Arabic -bulk nations. Israel guaranteed 109 of the 175 ballots cast towards the Sixth Panel, which runs lawful issues for the Assembly. 2 yrs previously, in 2014, Israel was chosen vice-chair of the individual U.N. General Construction part body coping with decolonization.

Skeptics of capability to develop assistance that is enough governmental state Security Council decision demonstrates that is nevertheless mattered by Jerusalem’s negotiation guidelines — which missing a change that is revolutionary, Israel has of attaining the chair without any chance.

“Most Arab nations wish to move ahead in the Palestinian problem, but it’s furthermore apparent they can’t achieve this so long as the profession and also the negotiation plan proceeds because it is,” stated Hussein Ibish, a mature student in the Arab Gulf States Start in California.

From doing this, muchas proper measurements desire them to try and discover a way,” he included opinion as well as their own ideals avoid them. “Israel isn’t likely to obtain a Safety Council seat.”

Although Israel’s reputation might be been better, within the gutter. Lawmakers in both parties have dropped themselves to oppose the Barak administration’s choice to refrain from the Council election.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (DEB-N.Y.) named the abstention “extremely irritating, discouraging, and confounding.” Republicans in Congress went several actions more, vowing to move numerous promises in the Home and Senate condemning the U.N. election. (An election is planned in the Home on Friday.)

Meanwhile, three senators — Heller of Vegas and Cruz of Tx — launched legislation Wednesday to move the Embassy. All pro is projected for by the enthusiasm – prior Democratic has compared hawks.

Trump cranked the U.N. soon after the Safety Council election, contacting it “just a membership for individuals to obtain together, chat, and also have a great time.”

A driver for excitement that is such may be the National Public Affairs Panel, a strong expert- lobbying business that blows hundreds of huge amount of money to lawmakers meant for hard line jobs.

However the vote with one abstention, for that Safety Council quality, confirmed that pro-Israel fervor is significantly away from conventional so far as the worldwide group can be involved.

Along with a study Thursday unveiled shows that National emotion that is public isn’t operating Congress’ actions. Forty three percentage of U.S. voters haven’t noticed significantly, or anything more, concerning the quality condemning Israeli negotiations, based on the Politico/Day Consult study. With 28-percent in assistance and 28-percent saying they’re unlawful voters are dramatically split on assistance for Israel’s negotiation guidelines.

U.N. election that was “The was an enormous whack towards the mythology that guidelines are basically no further a questionable issue within the worldwide community Ibish said.

“The indisputable fact that Israel’s worldwide position quickly improved, despite its guidelines towards the Palestinians, is a pillar recently towards the Israeli community of Mr. message .

“But wherever he was mistaken, and deceive the general public, was within the idea that nobody truly cares anymore about Israel’s guidelines which the Palestinian problem has become a dead-letter, long-forgotten and dumped by both worldwide group and also the Arabic countries.”

Picture credit: TIM BURTON/Getty Photos

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from Cybernetic Systems http://www.cybernetic-systems.co.uk/bibis-revenge-at-u-n-risks-israels-bid-for-security-council-seat/

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