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tigrikorn · 2 months

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A random fantasy themed sketchbook drawing becomes an idea for a story about a Naiad, an Angel, a Wizard & and Sea Serpent (originally conceived as a dragon).

My prompt to ChatGPT:

Please create a story about a powerful Naiad, an Angel wielding a flaming sword, a crafty Wizard and a wild Sea Dragon set on an ocean straddling cliff near an imposing castle.

ChatGPT response:

In the heart of an ocean-straddling cliff, where the crashing waves met the rugged rocks, stood an imposing castle, its silhouette looming against the stormy sky. Deep within the castle's domain, a powerful Naiad named Seraphina ruled over the waters, her domain stretching far and wide beneath the surface.

One stormy night, as lightning crackled across the sky, a band of adventurers approached the cliff's edge. Among them was an Angel named Gabriel, wielding a flaming sword that danced with the fury of the heavens. With him was a crafty Wizard named Aldric, his robes billowing in the wind, his mind sharp as the lightning that arced overhead.

Their mission was clear: to confront the ancient Sea Dragon that terrorized the coastal lands, its roars shaking the very foundations of the castle above. The dragon's scales gleamed with the iridescence of the sea, its eyes burning with an otherworldly fire.

As they ventured closer to the cliff's edge, the Naiad emerged from the churning waters, her form shimmering with the power of the deep. "Who dares disturb the tranquility of my domain?" she bellowed, her voice echoing across the waves.

Gabriel stepped forward, his sword ablaze with righteous fury. "We come in peace, but we seek to vanquish the threat that looms over these lands," he declared, his voice steady against the howling winds.

The Naiad regarded them with a mixture of curiosity and caution. "Very well," she said, "but know that the Sea Dragon is no ordinary foe. It is cunning and relentless, a force of nature unto itself."

Undeterred, Aldric the Wizard stepped forward, his eyes gleaming with determination. "Fear not, for we are not without our own strengths," he proclaimed, his hands crackling with arcane energy.

With the Naiad's guidance, the adventurers devised a plan to lure the Sea Dragon into a trap, using the cliffs and the castle's defenses to their advantage. As the dragon approached, roaring with fury, Gabriel stood at the ready, his flaming sword gleaming in the darkness.

With a mighty roar, the Sea Dragon lunged forward, its jaws snapping at the intruders. But Gabriel, fueled by divine strength, met the beast head-on, his sword striking true with each blow.

Meanwhile, Aldric weaved spells of illusion and distraction, confounding the dragon's senses and keeping it off balance. And with the Naiad's power coursing through the waters, they were able to ensnare the dragon in a web of currents, rendering it powerless against their onslaught.

In the end, it was the combined strength and cunning of the adventurers that prevailed. With a final roar of defeat, the Sea Dragon collapsed onto the rocky shore, its form dissolving into the foam of the waves.

As the storm clouds parted and the sun began to rise over the horizon, the Naiad approached the victorious trio, her eyes shimmering with gratitude. "You have saved these lands from great peril," she said, her voice soft yet resolute. "For that, you shall always be honored in the waters that flow beneath this castle's domain."

And so, with their mission accomplished, Gabriel, Aldric, and the Naiad looked out upon the ocean from the cliff's edge, knowing that their bravery and valor had brought peace to the realm once more.

#art #drawing #fantasy #sketchbook #ai experiments

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keingleichgewicht · 3 years

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WERE YOU KIDDING ABOUT THE ASK GAME if not i dont have any specific lyrics in mind but i always thought the lyrics to the mill were so cool and maybe you could get some thoughts out of them? :0

YEAH GOD OKAY LET’S TALK ABOUT THE MILL. LET’S TALK ABOUT UHHHHHHHHH [THROWS DARTBOARD]

this line. this MIGHT go on for a while so i will............ readmore

so the mill feels kind of notably different to the rest of the pafl songs, which tend to be unusually literal for lyric, either straightforward retellings of events (punch it, punk!) or character piece monologues set to plot visuals (strike 3) or both (all of them, but for instance particularly comfort zone, which is just dmitry’s horrible manifesto until it gets hijacked by a death sentence in the second verse.) the mill is a lot more like what we expect from poetry these days, which is to say it’s heavy on imagery, low on clarity, and fucking confusing!

I’ll draw a circle in the sand, drive myself around the bend in a desperate attempt to hold on to your battered hand Rocked to sleep beneath the snow, she is bathed in youthful glow ‘Strong enough to let it go,’ he says, but darling, I don’t know

a lot of the mill is about circles. this is in the name: a mill is something which turns. a waterwheel is a circle, a grindstone is a circle. it’s even in the melody: the chorus is a cyclic, pentatonic four-note riff that keeps going up and down and up its own ladder, chasing its own tail, not really reaching resolution. and then it’s also in, you know, the story:

the meat grinder!!!! everyone’s favorite fucking hellhole!!!! it is only semi-explicitly identified in the song but that’s because it’s a concept from the source material - both tarkovsky’s stalker and roadside picnic feature the meat-grinder, as a location nicknamed thus by stalkers because it is even more fucking deadly than the rest of the zone, all of which is already ridiculously fucking deadly, and if you’ve seen the movie:

it is more or less instantly recognizable in the mill as well. so here we have a circle! here we have a mill (the title has about seventy double meanings but this is certainly one of them,) and as it turns out, this mill at least will absolutely kill you. and horribly too. interestingly though, in roadside picnic (the book) the meat-grinder is not a tunnel, and it’s not round - it’s just a nondescript patch of ground which will wring you out like a dishcloth and kill you extremely dead if you walk into it. on the other hand what we have in the book in terms of circles is the golden ball, which is the equivalent of the movie’s the room, which is, well,

in short both stories ultimately hinge upon the idea that there is a something in the zone which can give you your heart’s desire. anything you want. everything you want. whatever you want. it is infinitely powerful; it is infinitely capable. the catch is that it will only give you what you want. the catch is that giving you what you want is not the same as giving you what you are asking for. the other catch is that in both cases you have to get through the meat-grinder first.

(so, by the way, what the fuck, right? does pafl’s zone have a wish-granting factory? is it also behind the grinder? where were the original trio going when they got themselves fucked up? and did they get there?)

but the point is: the golden ball, the wish-granting factory, is also a circle. it’s just sort of a sphere. it’s a big round fuckin yellow thing. you know, sorta like:

which is THE ONLY TIME yellow is used in occam’s razor not counting the full-colour shots, and it drives me CRAZY, but it is also me going full conspiracy board so let’s not even worry about it. THE POINT IS.

the circle is the death-machine and the wish-machine. neither of these things are really.... very good. the circle, or at least the arc, is also very closely associated with death:

(розовая дуга предрассветного, ‘rose arc of pre-dawn’. if i’ve fucked up that nominative please feel free to stone me to death!)

in the gdoc notes to message lost ferry briefly refers to the dawn as if it were a good thing, the dawn of hope, which is a usage that sort of agrees with the desolate and deathless hope of strike 3′s ‘everything will pass / a day will come,’ but on the other hand it really is very closely associated with dying. nikolai bites it; nikita bites it; sergei and olga left significant chunks of themselves behind. and the thing about ‘this too shall pass’ is that it’s always true, as is ‘everything ends’, but of course that’s ‘cause the thing that ends might be you. and as we know

dawn is an ending. so that seems concerning!

i think the circle, the arc, the bolt falling back to the ground, is not a good thing. i am getting a little conspiracy board here in general but forgive me, i cannot make you a wholesome answer, my wit’s diseased. i think the circle is an enclosed space. it’s an unbroken cycle. it’s the grindstone. it’s the mill. it’s about what pafl’s always been about: about being trapped, about having no chances, about being bordered upon. the circle’s the geometric figure of equidistance from a given point, and you can walk on it forever, and nothing will ever change; you will never get closer, you will never get further away, you will never get out! the sun rises, the sun sets, and you are no closer to anything you wanted. it’s worth noting that anya’s borderline city, the zone-edge port town she complains is trying to crush all her dreams, her mill

is a circle. (a cog in a machine! a grind-wheel! a cage!)

and yura, whose dreams have already been burned out of him, who starts the series already resigned to never getting out of here, calls it ‘this dire deja-vu’, i am specifically resisting putting the accent marks back onto that, which is to say, it’s a repetition that haunts him. it’s going round and round and getting nowhere.

so if we bring it back around: drawing a line in the sand, as the phrase is generally used, means setting a border, means saying this far and no further. often it’s yourself you’re setting the border for. you hit some divide you can’t abide crossing so you say this stops here, it may be too early or too late, but i say it stops here. so logically: drawing a circle in the sand means you’ve locked yourself in completely.

I’ll draw a circle in the sand, drive myself around the bend in a desperate attempt to hold your battered hand

the whole first half of this song, i think, is olga promising to grind herself down in a hundred ways if it means she won’t be left alone. how hard can it be to never let it overflow? she may feel lower than the low, she may wish she could just disappear out here, into the postindustrial rust, but though it gets harder all the time she will keep pretending. she isn’t going to burden sergei, or indeed anyone, with her problems, her fears, her scars. she is hurt, but she’s used to it, she’s gotten used to being haunted long ago. she keeps her bad eye covered. she stays within her circle she has drawn. she keeps going round and round. she will take the smallest sliver of human connection and be happy, she promises she will be happy, she promises she won’t ask for more, she will take just the ‘hello.’

but you knooooow it’s not true. you know it’s grinding her down, that she’ll be milled to nothing pretty soon, and really she knows it too.

i am perhaps seventy percent sure that this line is a reference to the windmills of your mind by michel legrande, which features such lines as

Like a tunnel that you follow to a tunnel of its own Down a hollow to a cavern where the sun has never shone Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind

which on one hand seems sort of obscure to be a purposeful reference but on the other hand would be a hell of a coincidence if it wasn’t, wouldn’t it. either way it characterizes circles ambiguously, but definitely unsettlingly. going around in circles is chasing infinity, but what in god’s name would you do with it if you caught it? what are you even hoping to accomplish? and:

the second half of this song is bitterer, sharper - staring down the mouth of the meat-grinder she’s a little more willing to admit to herself that this is going nowhere. she is running out of cages to keep herself in. she is very tired. it’s easy to say why don’t you leave it all behind, it’s easy to say, she’s strong enough to let it go, it’s easy to say, too strong to die. it is a lot harder to actually live.

this is also where the flashbacks admit to us how badly hurt they really were - sergei with his whole side in shreds, she still hides her eye but at least we get to see it’s bleeding. this moral compass is forever misaligned, she says, so there is damage, and it is lasting. and she can’t settle for hello, she can’t live like this, she needs someone by her side. the trouble is whether she can believe she has any hope of getting that

as for who ‘her’ is, or the ‘she’ of ‘she is bathed in youthful glow’, i figure there’s two possibilities: either it’s nadya, who haunts olga too, because nikita’s abandonment of nadya represents exactly what she most fears for herself, or it’s olga’s younger, unbroken, binocular self - both of whom were so young, and so easily hurt, and are now unfindable.

and then there’s this conclusion: ‘the sun will rise, until then / i’ll be waiting for you on the other side.’ which maybe is a sort of hope after all? she’s reached no real conclusions in the zone - she knows there must be hope but she can only barely believe in it - she thinks she is destined to self-destruct. but on the other hand she still has that, a version of sergei’s own ‘a day will come’

you may be hurt, but if you can hold yourself together, you can hope for a dawn someday. an ending. a change. but the trouble’s that there’s more than one kind of ending. and there’s more than one meaning for other side. there are cages, and then there are cages. and you know what else looks like a tunnel, a circle?

staring down the barrel of the gun.

#pafl #parties are for losers #it speaks #ask #in all fairness and in my defence when i made the joke i said i would write not less than one thousand words and by fuck #this has not been less than one thousand words!#jorgyjuice #THANK YOU FOR THE ASK ALSO THIS WAS REALLY FUN #and thank you VERY dearly to anyone who takes the time to read all this; you own my soul now; feel free to collect at any time #metatext

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thesimperiuscurse · 3 years

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08.04

It’s The Kingston Legacy’s sixth anniversary, so here’s a throwback post to celebrate! Last month I forced myself to reread the entire legacy, and while I stopped, clicked off the tab, and emitted a soundless scream of pure cringe numerous times (I wish I was kidding)—the past generations are actually not as terrible as I remember. I think enough time has passed for me to detach myself from the childish storytelling and look back in nostalgia.

Thank you to my fellow Wordpress writers who have come along the journey, some for many years now, through every high and low. It’s astounding how much has changed in the legacy from when I was 15, and 21. Follow me down the (very) long memory lane, as I reminiscence about each story and my perspective on them now ❤

Generation 1 — Fern (2015)

To my shock, I found myself genuinely enjoying Fern’s story. I think this was because the first generation was purely me commentating on gameplay, and not trying to write a story (that’s when the cringe began). I was inspired by one of the original stories, Alice and Kev, to make a homeless sim and document her struggle for a better life: Fern, a snobby aspiring writer. Reading this, a huge wave of nostalgia hit me, and it reminded me of how wonderful Sims 3 gameplay is. Although I’m long past it now, there’s real heart and life in the design. I think it speaks about the rich personalities and quirks that I could write a whole life story off it. It was super fun making Fern camp out at Old Pier Beach, stealing from townie picnics and roasting apples on the fire, finding little ways to scrounge money, giving her a makeover in the salon, watching the townie dramas unfold around her. Although she faced homelessness two times and a shitty first husband (yeah, fuck off, Xander), Fern grew into a strong and independent yet sweet and gentle character, in love with the ocean like her great-granddaughter comes to be.

I never actually addressed this, but she (and her love Christopher) passed away in the story between the end of Gen 3 and start of Gen 4. It just felt weird to make it a big deal because they never died in game—still ‘alive’ and well, scattered across different backup saves and the bin.

Generation 2 — Briar (2015)

Briar’s story was strange, because it was half gameplay and half story, which meant that there were things that just did not... make... sense. She was quite an ‘unreliable’ character to follow because of her Insane trait. The plot revolved around her as a fresh detective, investigating supernatural phenomena in Sunset Valley. Her character arc was almost the opposite to her mother’s: a naive, optimistic, silly girl hardening through trauma into a cold and ruthless police chief. Ash’s death was the one moment I felt true sadness in this legacy, because he did really die. Imagine me actually getting emotional over my characters, lmao. Wild.

Also, Max is OP. To this day he is one of the best male characters in my legacy, a healthy and supportive best friend (to husband) in stark contrast to the following generation.

Fallen Angels — Cherry (2016-2019)

Yes. It’s this generation. Square the fuck up, Cherry. I will fight her any day. Old readers will know of my pure hatred for this story. It’s been about two years since it thankfully ended. My verdict now?

It’s not quite as horrifically shitty, Gabriel and Lilith being a lot nicer than I remembered (Gabriel’s only a bit of a dick at the start), but it still has glaring problems, such as the pacing and clumsy handling of sensitive topics. The story would have been far nicer if it focused less on Cherry and Luc’s relationship and their respective issues, more on the found family and her relationship with Gabriel (which was rushed due to me despising the story by that point). During the first chapters, I was cringing spectacularly at the combination of Luc’s initial jackass behaviour and Cherry’s whining. Toxic as FUCK. I had to skip 3.8 and 3.9 entirely. These two (because of my own shameful mistake) tainted the generation in my eyes, and even though all of the characters grew from their toxicity, I can’t really see past that guilt to the better parts of the story.

Jade has been telling me for years that this story isn’t all bad, and upon forcing myself to reread, I can see what you mean. I’m sorry LOL. Something that pleasantly surprised me was the writing quality (just the prose, not the actual story mechanics... lmfao), and Raphael, who made me smile every time he appeared. Every single careless, sarcastic line of his was a banger. The pictures are something else I like, too. Many of them stand up to the best ones in En Pointe—the fiery, gritty, industrial tones of Bridgeport just hits different. The world was rich and immersive, which is missing at the moment in En Pointe because of me being too lazy to build a proper Los Angeles world, but Act III is set in Boroughsburg so I’m excited to get back into the city scenes. 17 year old me wasn’t mature enough to tackle dark themes, but at least the visuals for them were nice, I guess. The atmosphere of the story I really enjoy. It’s just the toxic characters and way-too-angsty moments that ruin the whole thing for me.

En Pointe — Evangeline (2019-)

And here we are now! The early chapters are kinda painful to read because 1) Mako looked so ugly and 2) the dialogue was so clumsy and generic. I sighed in relief when Chapter 5 came around, because it was then both of those aspects really began to improve. Eva’s voice was simple, with her punchy remarks, much less romantic and descriptive than Cherry, so it was interesting to see her voice becoming more complex and layered as I more understood her character. Also, me visibly struggling with the natural lighting and only getting a handle on it 7 chapters later has me shaking my head.

I’m already beginning to identify issues with the story, mostly with character arcs and pacing. It’s a strange combination of fast pacing (spanning half a year in 8 chapters) and Eva becoming surprisingly comfortable with Mako’s touch due to their unusual pas de deux circumstances. It’s curious how real life time actually played into the pacing of the story—because of the slow publishing schedule, less time has passed in the story as real life, so it’s almost as if the time jumps were made up by real life time, making the jumps feel not too strange. Reading consecutively, however, Evako’s relationship growth doesn’t feel slow burn... a little underdeveloped, in a way, despite their lengthy conversations. I think that’s because of Mako being such a reserved and mysterious character, and that I’ve unconsciously come to rely on Tumblr to give more depth to the characters/relationships. Luckily, pretty much everyone who comments on the story also follows me here, so this dual-platform storytelling is okay, I suppose. I want to post more of #Mishako since there just isn’t enough time to explore their bromance in the story!

At the moment I’m not happy with the story, but it’s fine. I’m learning. There’s more than half the story to go, which means plenty of time to reflect upon the issues and improve. I’m really looking forward to Eva and Mako’s character arcs in Act III. At the moment their relationship is based on their natural chemistry and respect for each other, and since they are yet to face trials their bond isn’t super deep, but Evako are still my favourite couple in the legacy thus far, and feel much more real than any character I’ve written before. It’s been very interesting for my aro ass (and being way more logical than emotional) to figure out a dynamic that is actually compelling to me, because most of the time when I look at romance I’m just like 😐🤨 I’m liking it so far but we shall see how everything unfolds, because I have barely any idea what’s going to happen beyond Act II, lmfao.

That’s it for my incredibly long throwback! I hope it was at least nice for the OG readers, and interesting for anyone else who managed to battle through this essay, haha. This family has been an integral part of me growing up, as a person and writer and artist (what I’ve developed in visuals I apply to architecture), learning a great deal of awareness about real life through story research, which is pretty cool now that I think about it. I’m aiming to finish En Pointe by the end of 2022. I’m excited for what unexpected changes are to come!

#wordpress is being annoying like tumblr right now #they're trying to sneakily integrate the new site design into the old #pretty sure a lot of people don't like the new one #why can't i view media by month #now i have to scroll through a million pictures to find old ones #why is it selecting several when i just want to open one pic #fuck youuu #anyway #very busy week #lilaremonn #thesimperiuscurse

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rist-ix · 3 years

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The prophecy arc in sparked was cause for some controversy, so I’ll do my best to clean this up here. Spoiler warning obviously for the finale.

First, the cut together prophecy so y'all don't have to look for it:

At last, King Oritel's trusted advisor, Hagen the Blacksmith, has returned from his quest to the gate of the stars. The witches may have destroyed the grand lenses, but the astronomers' records have survived. And from beyond the grave, they bless us with their knowledge.

The witches’ power can be broken, they foretell us, by a company of six warriors, fighting for the light beyond these times of darkness. It is the sliver of hope the King and Queen have longed for. There is no doubt now that the Company of Light will be victorious, with such obvious signs from the Stars.

What will become of Valtor, one might wonder, their most trusted weapon, once the witches are defeated? The astronomers’ studies have concluded that he can, in fact, exist outside of them. For the Flame is eternal, and even its stolen, corrupted sparks can never be extinguished. And the witches cannot command him through the veil of death. Surely, their spawn will rain new, unforeseen kinds of terror upon us all, in vengeance for his creators.

But the stars favor Domino once more. And so the late astronomers have given us one final prophecy.

Valtor will die.

Our recent failures to kill him have a simple, obvious reason: none of us are chosen. Only a true wielder of the Dragon's power could hope to destroy Valtor, fire against fire. And the astronomers have divined the time of his demise as well:

When the witches are torn from this world, at last, the power of the Dragon Fire will burn across dimensions in a glory once thought lost. Its faithful guardian will destroy the last traces of the Ancestresses, and slay the demonic beast they call their child. Our brave, beloved princess shall claim its spark as her trophy, and its body will rest in forgotten catacombs, deep beneath the earth.

Everything that was written in the chronicle deserves to be treated with a grain of salt, last but not least because it was written by an unreliable narrator: Lord Bartelby. I have no idea what his canon personality is like, but in my fic he's this zealous royalist (and somewhat nationalist) dragon flame stan. Most of the entry in the chronicle are his own words, the actual prophecy is rather short. I've marked it in purple above.

The second point that should have tipped Valtor off was the fact that the predictions, and especially Bartelby's interpretation, were already proven flawed:

He assumed Domino was going to go into a new golden age, and instead it was completely destroyed.

He assumed Daphne would be the one the stars referred to, but she was killed just four weeks later.

He assumed the company of light would be victorious, but half of them are either dead or in exile after the fall of Domino.

Valtor knows all this, but because he's a firm believer in destiny and the stars, and also emotionally impacted, he doesn’t pick up on these red flags. And since he's your POV character, neither did most of you!

(Gotcha!)

Let's cut out Bartelby's fangirling over Daphne and the rest of his speech, and look at the prophecy itself.

The witches power can be broken, by a company of six warriors, fighting for the light beyond these times of darkness.

This, on first glance to them, is referring to the company of light. (Duh.) Six people who fight for the light beyond the darkness, aka a better future, yadda yadda. And it’s not incorrect: the company of light did indeed defeat the witches, which lead to them being banished to obsidian.

But it’s not the only interpretation. Those who have watched the movie, or — like me — binged the wiki entries instead, will know that the Winx are dubbed the new company of light by the end. The witches weren’t really defeated by their predecessors after all, only their power was broken. The real defeating will be done by the Winx (conveniently also a group of six ppl) over the course of two movies.

Knowing this, the part “fighting for the light beyond these times of darkness” takes on a new meaning. It’s not “fighting for the light at the end of the tunnel” anymore, but “fighting for good, but long after these current dark times” aka 20 years later.

So Bartelby got the timing wrong, in his interpretation.

Another thing he got wrong? Thinking the second part of the prophecy meant Valtor would die. Because it’s never this explicitly stated. If you pay attention to the writing style, you can kinda tell which parts are the original, translated predictions, and which parts are his interpretation. “Valtor will die” doesn’t fit with the flowery rest of the prophecy, it’s safe to assume Bartelby just skipped ahead to the point with that line.

The only actual quote from the astronomers in that entire paragraph is this:

We have in part 1:

the witches are torn from this world (dead/trapped in obsidian)

Dimension-crossing dragon fire (Bloom being send to earth and returning to Magix (bringing the “glory thought lost” — the royal family was assumed extinct, after all)

Then, in part two:

destroying the ancestresses traces

Slaying their demonic beast child

And this is where Bartelby's, and by extension Valtor's big mistake is! They assume the guardian fairy would destroy the witches “last traces” by killing Valtor. But the two points are not necessarily related.

Bloom does destroy the witches' traces, but she does so by eradicating their power over Valtor. And she certainly slays his demonic form, in a way. It vanishes almost instantly, probably never to be seen again.

(And what happens *ahem* after counts as slaying too, in my book. Girl is gonna give him a heart attack one of these days)

If you want to be petty, you can argue that she does actually kill a demonic child of the witches later on - Mandragora, a character from the movie. That's Close Enough for the stars.

A big reason for Valtor and Bartelby interpreting this part as Valtor's death is the wording of the next sentence.

The Princess will claim Valtor’s spark of dragon fire (aka his life force, aka his heart)

His body will rest in underground catacombs, IMPLYING that he will be buried there and forgotten

And well. All this does happen, doesn’t it? She officially wins Valtor's heart and love for herself, and together, they find some well deserved rest in the catacombs. In other words, they Take A Nap.

Eat THIS Bartelby.

#im not sure if im making much sense here im tired #if there's any questions im always available #fic: sparked

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mystic-kitten-writer · 4 years

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this might seem random but what are your thoughts on the netflix live action atla remake? it seems like you’ve been a fan for a long time so i’m curious

Anonymous said:

Did you hear? Creators left neflix over reative difference. What do you think?

Anonymous said:

creators quit the ATLA live-action Netflix show, whatchu think?

Anonymous said:

Bryke left the production for atla live action...its going to be shit.

I got tons of messages last night about Avatar the Last Airbender Live-Action, in production by Netflix (even more than what I copied and pasted here). I just figured I’ll answer this before getting back into writing as I’m taking a break anyway.

In short, I was always consciously optimistic.

We got burned hard by the movie we shall never name, but knowing that the creators were on the production team for Netflix had given me a glimmer of hope.

But now that the original creators are gone?

I’m high-key scared and extremely nervous.

It’s important to understand that the creators of Avatar aren’t perfect people. They make mistakes, may have some out-there ideas. Still, ultimately, via a group effort with the original Avatar production team, they were able to create an amazing and heart-touching story. A story that still has a strong fanbase despite the show being more than 10 years old.

And now, after working with Netflix for two years, they have called it quits.

I can’t imagine, as someone who has created Limerence, working on something for that long and quitting.

Them leaving due to creative differences isn’t a matter of some small changes.

I read their posts explaining the situation and those messages aren’t your typical corporate talk of ‘we’re no longer working together but we love each other.’

They burned bridges, which means these changes are quite big and were a breaking point.

As much as we all love the original ATLA series, the redemption arc, the lore behind bending, and so much more - there were flaws.

I’m pretty sure that the creators (I believe they mentioned in an insta post?) said that they’ll be given more time in each episode to explore a few themes or scenes that they didn’t in the animation. Therefore, we can assume that rather than changing the plot, they were keeping accurate to the story, but fixing those loose ends and making specific plot points more apparent. Taking the show from amazing to perfect.

But now with Netflix and these ‘big changes’ - I’m 99% sure what these changes are.

As much as I hate to say it, I’m pretty sure Netflix is going to take ‘a family-friendly show filled with adventure and growth’ to a ‘teenage love story filled with drama and a side order of adventure.’

Netflix has produced some fantastic shows, but they also produced some smelly shit like the Death Note Live Action.

White-washing is most likely going to be a thing.

Ageing up the character to ‘sex-up’ the show (Riverdale x ATLA cross over - is that you I see in the distance?)

A love triangle between Zuko, Katara, and Aang (because people love pointless love triangles)

And the cherry on top is Mai is going to be the ‘villainized’ crazy ex-girlfriend (people already shit on her character, might as well add fuel to the fire).

They’re going to make characters like Sokka nothing more but comic relief.

Zuko into some angsty ‘bad boy.’

Aang is either going to be infantized OR - they’re going to westernize his character so he can fit the westernized perspective of what is conventionally ‘attractive’ (in other words, a Zuko 2.0).

I’m listing all these things on the top of my head, and I’m doing this because I already know how Netflix works. This is the shit they pull, and it’s sad.

I’ll be honest, when the show comes out, I’m going to wait for reviews before I watch it. But I swear, if this show ends up becoming a love triangle and the bending and stuff is a side dish - I’ll sue.

I pray they keep the show family-friendly, fix the loose-ends and add a few scenes (like Aang apologizing for the kiss he stole from Katara. Sure they like each other, but Katara was rightfully upset, and Aang was clearly regretful about it afterwards, but adding a scene of him apologizing and Katara accepting it versus us speculating would be amazing and make such a statement).

And while all the things I listed above could totally still happen even with the original creators on board, I highly doubt it. With the great flop of the live-action movie and how pained they were with that, making sure this was amazing was personal.

We can only hope Netflix doesn’t mess it up because judging by the reactions of the fandom, people aren’t impressed.

#atla #avatar #Avatar The Last Airbender #ask me anything #anon answered #ATLA live action #avatar legend of aang

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goldenhydreigon47 · 3 years

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Y'know, I'm bored. May as well talk about the OCs I have for Rebel Hearts.

Aight so context: Rebel Hearts is based on the Terraria Calamity mod and is set after the Supreme Calamitas fight (Henceforth, I shall refer to Calamitas as Cal, Catastrophe as Cat, and Devourer of Gods as Dev. Why? Because that's what they prefer to be called in the story) but before the Yharim fight. Why? Well, simple: The Yharim and Draedon fights aren't in the game yet.

Please note, the only characters original to Calamity mod involved in this story are Cal, Cat, Cataclysm (the youngest of the siblings of themself, Cal, and Cat. I'll make another post about these three and Dev since I like all four of them so much), Dev, Xeroc, Noxus, Ignalius, Providence, Yharim, Yharon, and Draedon. Everyone else is a fully original character. So, uh, yeah. Here we go!

First up is the main character: Mariko Yamamoto (he/him or they/them pronouns). He's half human and half demon and boyfriends with Cataclysm in the story. Mariko's in the Mage class but specializes particularly in ice magic. His father, who was a thief and murderer who also did quite atrocious things I don't feel comfortable mentioning on here, was killed in front of Mariko when he was only 5 years old. His mother, depressed at the loss of her husband, tragically took her own life a few weeks later. Mariko was trained in combat, education, and life skills by his brother, Kronus, until Mariko was 16. A few weeks later, Yharim came along, bringing a then brainwashed Dev and Cal with him, and demolished Mariko's entire hometown, his brother sacrificing himself to save his life. Mariko, determined to save people, guided everyone to the exits while warding off Cal, who was less aggressive seeing how noble and polite Mariko was. Afterwards, Mariko literally dies from exhaustion, but is revived by Xeroc, who mentioned that his brother's dying wish was to, "Keep Mariko safe," or something along those lines and gives Mariko temporary immortality. Three years and three hundred and sixty deaths later, he defeats Cal and her brothers, but spares their lives, knowing that they don't want to live under Yharim. Months later (and additional fifty deaths, one of which caused by a backstab from Mariko's ex-ally Necro. Also, Mariko is 20 by now), Mariko is kidnapped by Yharim and tortured, causing him to die ten more times. However, as he was chained up, Mariko saw remorse in Cal's eyes, and decided to free her himself since her brothers had escaped already. Three months later, he encounters an escaping Cal and Dev and togther, with Cal's brothers, they form an alliance to defeat Yharim, with others joining later on. Speaking of which...

Akira Tadashi (they/them) is the next major OC to join Mariko's alliance. They were a vigilante Rogue class after Yharim burned down their hometown with Yharon when Akira was 15. This, along with constant abuse from his father because of Akira's feminine looks, caused immense trauma and PTSD for Akira. As a vigilante, they sometimes encountered and helped Mariko, with Akira never saying their actual name to Mariko. Upon encountering Mariko, Cal, Cat, Cataclysm, and Dev, Mariko and Akira have a friendly duel to test each other's strength and, after Mariko wins, Akira quickly joins them in their quest to eliminate Yharim (they are 19 during the story).

Next is Josephine Joachim (she/her), or Jojo as she prefers. Raised in the village of Erupis, she is from a long line of Summoners and gained her Stardust Guardian, which she dubbed 「Guns and Roses」 (yes, this is the character most of the Jojo's Bizarre Adventure references are going to) after an encounter with Yharim when she was 14 (she's 18 in the story). Upon meeting Mariko and Cal, she offers to take the team to her hometown but tragedy strikes as her mother is killed in front of her by Draedon and his new assistant, Sunork (keep that name in mind when I give the villains analysis later this week 😉). As she watched her mother die in her arms, she realized her true purpose: Defeat Yharim and free those trembling in fear from his tyranny.

Also, Yhagrim (he/him). Labelled as the "Hermit of the Mountains," most details about him are unknown minus his age (he's 27). After being discovered by Mariko, Yhagrim explains that, in fact, he is the youngest of the sibling trio of himself, Ignalius, and Yharim (Yharim is also related to Mariko but we'll get to that in the villain info). Upon their village trying to kill Yharim for trying to obtain power with dirty deeds, Yharim goes mental and destroys the village, including killing Ignalius. When he saw his brother, Yhagrim noticed Yharim stole the dragon egg that he was given by his parents at age 13 (this egg hatches to become Yharon). Yharim then quickly takes over a majority of the world and banished Yhagrim, erasing his name from all records as well as any info about him. When asked if he wanted to join Mariko's squad, Yhagrim initially declines, but joins after hearing about some of what Yharim did to his subjects (trust me it isn't pretty. Btw, Yhagrim's Joining arc isn't complete yet but it goes DEEPLY in depth into Yharim's childhood and family life. This is just a summary). Being an expert at Melee class attacks, Yhagrim can dual wield two of the Melee's best weapons: Nanoblack Reaper and Triactis' True Paladinian Mage Hammer of Might, so don't cross him.

And finally for the main cast out of the OCs I made, Drakonis Tremaine (she/her or they/them). While this Ranger class hasn't joined Mariko's group yet, her arc is after Yhagrim's so its very soon (she even forms a love relationship with Jojo). However, I wanted to mention her here because, what the hell, I mentioned everyone else, may as well talk about her. She is notably the edgiest and angriest of the group (only getting slightly less edgy during the story might I add) and is very reckless. How this came to be? Well, as a child, she grew up around a very conservative community she didn't really care for, despite how rich her parents were. This hatred only grew as she slowly started to become more comfortable with saying she was trans feminine and lesbian. However, upon coming out to her parents, they screamed at her and abused her for several months because bastards. If that wasn't enough, because her parents were high standing citizens in her city, many of the other bigots living there harassed, bullied, and even attacked her with intent to kill. All she wanted was to be accepted and validated, which she would later gain upon meeting Mariko's group, but her idiotic community wouldn't give her the acceptance or validity she needed (this entire bigoted community thing is based on my experience as a bisexual in the highly conservative state of Kentucky. I am not okay. Send help). So, eventually, her bottled up sadness, pain, and rage erupted and she genocided everyone in her town. This temper and dark side of her was sought out by mega bastard Yharim. However, Drakonis now lived by the ideal of, "Trust nobody, not even yourself, unless your desperate," so she outright refused to join Yharim, shooting him in the arm and nearly killing him, but he escaped because of Draedon's teleportation device. Many years later (she's 18 by now), she encounters Mariko and Cal, who offer her a spot on the team. With an annoyed and sarcastic tone, she again refuses, but some midnight talks with Jojo while the group is in Erupis and another major event that takes place during Drakonis' arc force her hand causing her to join.

Main Character OC Infodump completed. Infodump on Cal, her brothers, and Dev is next, then an infodump on the villains.

Hope you enjoyed this and I'll post excerpts from the story (currently in Yhagrim's arc) soon to show what happens during each arc (which range from two to twenty five sections). : )

#terraria calamity #writing #original character

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geekgirles · 4 years

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Better Than I Know Myself

While I, admittedly, have enough songs that I believe would best fit Betrothed by @tipolover22 to create a playlist, there’s this one song I am convinced is perfect to describe Branch’s POV when it comes to his marriage to Poppy:

Better Than I Know Myself by Adam Lambert.

This is an analysis on the song written from the fic’s point of view, so it’s gonna be heavy on spoilers. So I’d recommend you read the story before reading this.

If people asked me why I think this song is perfect, I believe breaking down the lyrics is the best way to explain my point.

It starts out like this:

Cold as ice

And more bitter than a December

Winter night

That's how I treated you

Coincidentally, it starts just like the first arc of Betrothed; getting Branch to let go of his bitterness and start warming up to Poppy. This first verse reflects Branch’s train of thought up until chapter 6:

We all know Branch ignored Poppy, belittled her, was rude to her because of superfluous details like their different upbringings (and yes, I do consider that to be superfluous because they already knew about that when they decided to unite both kingdoms) or superficial traits (i.e. Poppy being pink), during the first few chapters he didn’t treat her or view her as his equal! And judging by how this becomes a source of regret and shame to Branch, it doesn’t seem so crazy to believe he would mention this aspect of their relationship in a song meant to express his true feelings for her.

Then, it comes the second verse:

And I know that I

I sometimes tend to lose my temper

And I cross the line

Yeah that's the truth

Now this focuses more on describing an established flaw of Branch’s, one he doesn’t display solely on Poppy, although she has been on the receiving end as well.

Branch has a relatively short temper. Simple as that.

He’s lost it at Poppy, especially before their breakthrough; he’s lost it at Mulberry whenever his antics went a little too far (like arguing with Arum in chapter 8, or accidentally bringing up Poppy’s refusal to kiss Branch in chapter 16), he’s, understandably, lost it at Creek (in this case it was a righteous anger, considering Creek’s attempts at getting under his skin or trying to steal Poppy from him)...

And as a result of his temper he crosses the line, something he ends up regretting one way or another.

When it comes to the times Poppy’s been at the receiving end of his anger, the most notable example would be, no doubt about it, the mandolin. He threw it away when his mind was too clouded by anger to think things through and he came to regret it immediately, not only because it crushed Poppy and only made matters worse between them, but also because it became something that would be brought up ever since.

As for Creek, whenever Branch’s let his words and actions get under his skin, it’s always had disastrous consequences.

Hadn’t Poppy taken things in stride, destroying the pedestal he built in chapter 10 would’ve made him look like an impatient brute.

In chapter 11 he was so blinded by his hurt and fury he didn’t hear Poppy and Suki approaching just as he punched Creek for taunting him, which led to a very serious argument with Poppy and a whole week of heartbreak for the two.

And, finally, in chapter 19, after finding out Creek tried to kiss Poppy while he was away, he almost killed him. And, as Creek pointed out, had he done it and his marriage with Poppy would forever be tainted by it, since Poppy would never be able to forgive Branch for killing him.

In other words, in this verse he’s acknowledging his flaws and apologising for them.

Now we have the bridge:

I know it gets hard sometimes

But I could never

Leave your side

No matter what I say

Again, if Branch were to sing this to Poppy, he’d be referencing how their marriage is a special case that required a lot of work before they became the power couple we they are today. Because, like all good things, they had to work very hard and compromise to achieve their happiness, but it was more than worth it. However, even if they are in love now, Branch is assuring Poppy that, no matter what, he will always fight for what they have, because he loves her and he can’t go back to living without her.

Which brings us to the chorus:

'Cause if I wanted to go

I would've gone by now but

I really need you near me

To keep my mind off the edge

If I wanted to leave

I would've left by now

But you're the only one that knows me

Better than I know myself

Leaving aside that they were bound to being together for their respective kingdom’s sake, it is true that, if things between them were really as terrible as Branch originally made them out to be, he could’ve just kept on living his life separately from Poppy. But, despite everything, early chapters and later chapters referencing earlier ones show he had actually started warming up to her long before Poppy finally snapped. In chapter 4 he was momentarily cranky because Poppy wasn’t in bed with him, even silently debating whether pink was a good or a bad colour. In chapter 13 we found out he kept and fixed the invitation she made him (reflecting canon) and started working on a new mandolin for her (and since it was never cleared up just when exactly he started working on it, it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to believe it happened even before he fell for her). Not to mention, chapter 17 reveals Branch didn’t burn down the invitation because 1) it was customised for him, and 2) when he looked at it he felt somebody actually cared.

Another thing that proves that no matter how bad things get in their relationship Branch would never want to leave Poppy is chapter 12; as soon as he tries to claim she means nothing to him after she rejected him he berates himself for such a lie; she means the world to him.

The chorus also reflects the special place in Branch’s heart Poppy holds: for a very long time, ever since they became closer, his wife is the only troll Branch allows himself to be vulnerable in front of. One of the best examples would be chapters 20 and 21.

In chapter 20, in contrast to his parents in chapter 12, who had to coax him into opening up about his problems with them; Branch voluntarily opened up to Poppy about Sprite’s situation after bonding together as a little family. In fact, Poppy never tried to force Branch to tell her what was wrong, she just wanted to cheer him up, which then resulted in him lowering his defenses enough to be honest and cry* in front of her. Something similar happened in chapter 21, Branch now trusts Poppy enough to actually let his guard down around her to the point he allows himself to have a panic attack in front of her! Something he hasn’t shown to anyone else! Pre-character development Branch would never!

*It should be noted that, while Branch has cried in front of others before (namely his parents), the amount of times he’s shown his vulnerable side to Poppy easily surpasses this.

The final verse of the chorus is the key: while they still have a long way to go before they can completely see eye to eye, Poppy knows Branch better than most people, even better than his fellow Forest trolls.

There’s also the third verse:

All along

I tried to pretend it didn't matter

If I was alone

This is obviously a part of Prince! Branch’s personality that is entirely faithful to canon Branch, but perhaps it may even be taken up to eleven with the added weight of a royal’s responsibilities on his shoulders.

One of the biggest contrasts between Poppy and Branch in Betrothed is the way they both try to hide their inner struggles from their people; Branch puts on an armor of seriousness and authority thanks to a perpetual scowl and abrasive personality, while Poppy hides her worries behind a positive attitude and a smile.

However, as a result of their different upbringings, Poppy is more prone to asking for help when things become too much for her to handle, unlike Branch, who prefers to deal with things on his own. He pretends to be able to and prefer to handle the responsibilities and burdens of his status all by himself.

Thankfully, an important part of Poppy’s role in their relationship is showing Branch that he is not alone; he has her now and they are a team. As husband and wife they are in this together. Something it’s very clear Branch is very grateful for.

And then there’s the fourth verse:

Deep down I know

If you were gone

For even a day I wouldn't know which way to turn

'Cause I'm lost without you

This verse, this whole verse is chapter 12. Hands down.

Because Branch admitted several times throughout the chapter that he didn’t know what to do without Poppy. Just remembering what he loved about her was enough to almost have him breaking down in tears, the longer he was away from her, the grumpier he got; heck, he couldn’t even sleep without her in his arms!

And, just like the song says, this was all in one day! One day without his wife and he became a wreck!

Hang in there, fellas! We’re almost done!

Let’s analyse the fifth verse, shall we? I get kind of dark

Let it go too far

I can be obnoxious at times

But try and see my heart

This verse combines the several hints where Branch acted like he doesn’t think he’s good enough for Poppy due to past mistakes (namely, his line, “I don’t deserve you.” from chapter 20), and the details from his past we have yet to see. Because, hey, this is Trolls with a sped up Broppy and a little extra drama, we are bound to see some dark stuff.

And, finally, we have the sixth verse:

'Cause I need you now

So don't let me down

You are the only thing in this world

I would die without

Because Poppy is his everything. Because she’s the one person he’s always needed by his side, even when he didn’t know it. Because she’s the love of his life. And what better way to prove it than sing it to her?

So, yeah. If anyone were to ask me which song I think would best describe Branch and Poppy’s relationship in Betrothed from the former’s point of view, I’d say, without an inch of a doubt, Better Than I Know Myself by Adam Lambert.

#trolls #dreamworks trolls #trolls analysis #trolls fanfiction #trolls fanfic #Betrothed #Betrothed Trolls #Poppy #Branch #Broppy #OCs #Creek #Song analysis #Better Than I Know Myself #adam lambert

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theharellan · 4 years

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101 DRAGON AGE QUESTIONS | not accepting

for the sake of reducing the number of ooc posts i’m answering these all in one and just @ing the people who asked the questions! thank you for them all!

if you sent me one of these btw and rbed this meme yourself and i didn’t send you something, please let me know! i want to send you things back and must have missed you reblogging the meme. this includes non-mutuals.

1. How did you get into Dragon Age? | asked by @kaaras-adaar & @dreamerlavellan

Sort of by accident, actually. It was the summer between my freshman and sophomore years in university (2011) and summertime is generally a time of inactivity and depression because I cannot tolerate the weather here. My dad happened to own Origins and I picked it up because??? Fantasy? RPG?

Starting the game I saw you could play as a dwarf, who have been my favourites in fantasy since a child as The Hobbit is among my favourite books. Then after that I fell in love with the worldbuilding for dwarves and Gorim, my first actual Dragon Age love. I was more or less hooked after that. DA was actually not my first Bioware game, I was obsessed with Jade Empire as a kid so like Origins appealed to me immediately despite being far less fun to play than literally any other Bioware game I’ve ever played. The characters and world more than made up for it.

I beat it relatively quickly and my dad bought Dragon Age II which had come out earlier that day, actually against my suggestion because I’d heard it wasn’t good. And in this instance my dad forgetting something I said turned out for the best because I ended up enjoying DAII more in some respects. While it took me a while to join the fandom as a content producer I was a consumer and certified DA trash from then on.

2. Have you finished all three games? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

Kskjdfs yes. I’ve beaten each at least 4 times, but probably more like 8. The only thing I haven’t played are some of the Origins DLC because as much as I enjoy my replays I am so ready to be out by the end of the game (and I have the worst luck with Awakening bugs) and I also don’t have Sebastians DLC b/c his never goes on sale individually and I refuse to spend more than like $4 on him.

3. How long did it take you to finish the series? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

I honestly don’t know. I think it took me like a week to beat Inquisition without 100%ing it, I’d say my first playthroughs all probably took about that long. I tend not to do everything in my first playthrough. Like shard collecting didn’t happen until round two, etc.

7. Favorite DA:O backstory? | asked by @dreamerlavellan & @fatefaulted

I’ve played through all of them and I enjoy them all except Cousland, but my favourite is Aeducan. I enjoy the politics, the culture, the aesthetic of Orzammar. I love Gorim Saelac and the surprising amount of depth to this character who is designed to be thrown away after the prologue. I love how it ties you to the Darkspawn threat in a bigger way than any of the origins accomplish. I love how it ties you to the Orzammar plot later in the game, and playing Aeducan first is probably one reason why I adore that branch of the game. It’s a good origin that establishes its world really well and has great characters to boot.

11. Share a pic of your favorite OC from any DA game. | asked by @dreamerlavellan

I just want to share pics of my girl and Solas’ future husband.

Ian Lavellan, non-Inquisitor written by @theshirallen

Thora Cadash, dwarven Inquisitor and default Inquisitor for this blog written by... me lmao.

22. Favorite DA2 party combo? | asked by @fatefaulted

My main Hawke is a mage Hawke, so this party is horrendously imbalanced, but: Varric, Merrill, Isabela. They all just like each other and I think that’s neat. Although in act one my favourite is probably Carver, Merrill, Isabela / Varric. Unfortunately the game doesn’t want me to have a warrior in my party.

24. Favorite main-story quest from DA:I? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

It’s hard to pick between In Hushed Whispers and In Your Heart Shall Burn. I love seeing the red lyrium’d companions and the dark future of Thedas, and speculating on what happened in the intervening year. I love reflecting on what it must do for the Inquisitor to see that and have it be undone. I think it sets up the rest of the game really well, and in ways Champions of the Just doesn’t do quite as well.

In Your Heart Shall burn is a simpler quest but I think the power and emotions in the quest are so raw. Playing this the first time was riveting and I was on the edge of my seat. The triumph of closing the Breach, the strangeness of your first encounter with Cole (whose appearance at the gates is another reason I prefer IHW tbh, I think it’s more tension building than Dorian’s), Corypheus, crawling through the snow. Capping it off with The Dawn Will Come and the journey to Skyhold idk, it’s just such an emotional high point in the series that every time I replay I get goosebumps.

25. Favorite DA:I place? | asked by @fatefaulted

It’s a tie between the Frostback Basin and the Emerald Graves. I love the lore in both, as elf trash I prefer the lore in the graves especially if I can include the Din’an Hanin into that category. But the Avvar lore and Ameridan is also Very Good, and while I adore the giant trees of the graves the Frostback Basin clearly was able to have more resources poured into its design, and as a result the different sections of the map have so much more character.

A close runner-up is the Hinterlands, as I think the quests there are fun and it feels like home. I enjoy returning to it. Which is good, b/c I’ve played through it... a lot... I think loving it might be a coping mechanism, but also I love the vibe of the early game that’s best captured in the Hinterlands.

32. Favorite DLC mission overall? | asked by @fatefaulted

Trespasser is up there with Shivering Isles as my favourite DLC ever produced. Its hits every emotional beat I think it needed to hit, set up the next game with greater detail and intrigue than the initial epilogue, and I’m honestly dying to get to replay it again on Thora despite what it does to my nerves. The first time I played it I could feel my heart beating faster like wtf me.

37. Blood magic: yes or no? | asked by @hopewrought

Would I use it myself? No. Morally I think it can be reprehensible but also neutral, much like any other magic in the game. In certain characters I think even if used for good it may encourage unhealthy habits, but I think it can be learned to be engaged with in better ways.

59. Who was written really poorly? | asked by @theshirallen you can’t hide behind anon I know it was you

Oghren fucking Kondrat. When I think about the reasons Origins is my least favourite game he is among them. With Oghren there was a really good chance to portray an alcoholic abuse victim, suffering from severe mental health issues, and still mourning his wife, with the respect it deserves. Instead he just... is a gross sexist dwarf and his alcoholism is mostly played for jokes. And then he comes back in Awakening and... continues to be a gross sexist dwarf whose alcoholism is mostly played for jokes.

There could have been some really interesting stuff with Oghren, the Warrior caste of dwarves I think would suffer from issues similar to qunari warriors, where when they can no longer fill the purpose society has dictated they must serve, what then? They can’t do anything but fight. There could be comradery with Sten, or perhaps Zevran or Alistair, or any of the companions who have had the path their lives took dictated to them by societal forces they had no say in (even if they are happy with that direction). There are snippets of good stuff in here, the line “let us show them our hearts, Warden, and then show them theirs” is one of the best of the good-byes the game offers us imo. It’s a shame about what came before.

Like there are other characters, such as Sera, who I think were done dirty by their writers, but Sera at least got some growth in the DLC and there were attempts to address criticism of her character. Oghren in Awakening was just kind of a take two of an already poorly-done arc.

60. Who do you wish had been given more story? | asked by @hopewrought

I wish Briala had more, like that she had some impact on the story in universes where Gaspard isn’t crowned with her as his puppetmaster. She and the elves reappears in that but not if you reunite her with Celene or exile her, and I think it would’ve been neat. I also wish she’d had a chance to interact with Solas in some small way given how many parallels were drawn by one of his own agents during Masked Empire.

I also wish we had more about dwarves in general in 2 and Inquisition. We get some great lore in Inquisition that was set up in 2, but with our only dwarf companion being Varric, who honestly has a relationship with his race that at times is comparable to Sera’s, it pulls a few of its punches. I really think they have dwarves set up to be important players in the next game, with their architecture featuring heavily in the dev diary, buuut no dwarves to be seen. So who knows. Just give me dwarves in the next game who aren’t Varric Bioware pls. Let me kiss one maybe.

61. Favorite NPC? | asked by @kaaras-adaar

I’m not going to count advisors even though they kinda are NPCs and I’m going to answer one for each game so uhh...

Origins - Anora

DA2 - Feynriel

DA:I - Krem

Bonus - Lord Woolsley, the only unproblematic DA character

63. Best story moment? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

It’s a tie between the journey to Skyhold and the talk with Solas at the end of Trespasser and the resulting disbanding of the Inquisition (if you so choose). I really can’t separate them because I think the reason Trespasser works so well is how it calls back to the very beginning of Inquisition and that moment with Solas in the snow. It’s triumphant and sad, something’s ending, the fellowship is breaking, but you know all of you will continue to work towards a better world apart.

In DA:O I think it’d be saying good-bye before the final battle and in DA2 I think the moment where you can tell the Arishok he was right to take in the elves who killed that guardmen is good. Probably one of the reasons why I think Hawke-Arishok work so well as a protagonist-antagonist combination.

81. Favorite fanfic? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

I don’t read a lot of fanfic, actually. Save what I read on here, which I do count, but idk if other people do.

My favourite writers to read are @theshirallen, obviously. Joly wants to tweakIan’s personal quest but I think the version they have written now is still very good and you can find it here. I love reading Peace’s stuff and find their smut especially spicy in the best possible way, you can find a Merrill/f!Mahariel piece here! Gaia doesn’t write on Tumblr much these days, but she wrote a wonderful Tug/Sketch (the companions from Leliana’s Song) that you can find here.

I follow so many talented writers and I can’t list them all but here are a few I can fire off real fast: @theshirallen / @ghilannainguideme / @seahaloed / @sabraelin / @valorcorrupt / @mercysought / @hopewrought / @ofrevas / @skyheld have all moved me with their words at some point, be it in fic or rp.

82. Favorite fanart/fanartist? | asked by @ghilannainguideme

Again I just can’t choose jsdfks.

The easiest way is to just link my Solas fanart tag. Obviously this favours Solas artists, however, so also here’s a link to thedaswlw where there’s a boatload of amazing fanart all of wlw.

Of people I’m mutuals with I know @abracafockyou, @kaaras-adaar, @dalathin (currently inactive but I gotta link them), and @syntharts are all very talented artists. I’m also a big fan of destinyapostacy, nipuni, elbenherzart, starscollected (on twitter), and many more.

97. What’s your favorite DA mod? | asked by @ghilannainguideme & @hopewrought

I’ll chose one as many as I want to apparently from each game again, b/c why not?

DA:O - I have to admit I find this game hard to mod because nothing can really salvage the gameplay or look of the game. I need Better Dwarf Model so I don’t have to look at the odd dwarf proportions in the game (the women have arms for days). Mostly I have armour mods. I like Grey Wardens of Ferelden so I can match Alistair in the final batte and have everyone in uniforms in Awakening. I do like Kirkwall Exports because I can put Zevran in the robes of the notorious pirate tho. I haven’t used this mod yet but I also love this mod I retweeted this morning.

DA2 - Again, I don’t mod 2 very much. You could probably make some kind of chart for correlating my enjoyment of a game versus my urge to mod it, with the more I love a game means I want to mod it more. With 2 I enjoy the combat and overall design of the characters more so I mostly use a couple of tweaks, my favourite is Ishs Scarf for Merrill which just adds a cute blue scarf to Merrill and hides the fact that elves in this game have weirdly long necks. Oh and a mod to fix the weird hand dirt.

DA:I - Equal Opportunity Solas mod, I bought the game again on PC just to use it. Being able to play Solas/Ian for screencaps was everything tbh. Other mods I enjoy are More Banter, which while I have better luck with banter it is nice to be able to count on it. I installed it this latest pt and I have heard location comments that have never triggered before. Black Hair for Everyone has changed my life because finally Thora doesn’t have grey hair. No Dirt Buildup is also amazing, as the dirt can cause some really weird blotting on PCs that’s especially noticeable on dark-skinned Inquisitors.

99. Where would you live (Ferelden, Orlais, Free Marches etc?) | asked by @heysales

Probably Ferelden. It is fantasy England and hey if I make it past Inquisition maybe nothing will ever happen there again. Somewhere in the Free Marches might also be chill. Not Kirkwall. Maybe Starkhaven? Honestly tho I just want to live in the Frostback Basin. Have a spirit friend. Shake hands with nugs.

101. If you could meet your Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor, what would you say? | asked by @dreamerlavellan

If I met Thora I’d tell her I’m proud of her. She’d be confused, but that’s ok.

#( munday meme )#( ooc )#( about me )#( asks )

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dernhelmalso · 10 months

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éowyn's dragon age bio/game involvement page is now fully up to date on her carrd! it's a lot but i tried to use headers so people can find what they need to know for their particular muse. some things may change as i further develop the verse, but i wanted to get a general idea out there of why she's present for each game's story, etc.

#v; here lies the abyss. ( dragon age )#arc; in her heart shall burn. ( origins )#arc; from the ashes. ( awakening )#arc; in hushed whispers. ( da2 )#arc; what pride had wrought. ( inquisition )

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thanflowers · 1 year

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@corvidblade: ❰❰ FREE ❱❱ sender frees the receiver from restraints

Her time in Fort Drakon is a blur of terrible indignities Elspeth is too hollowed out inside to feel. They strip her down to almost nothing and toss her in a cell, and she doesn’t have the strength to be embarrassed. They drag her out again some hours later and she knows she ought to feel afraid.

At some point, she must black out from the pain. There’s a rush of blazing heat and then...darkness, and the scent of charred flesh. Elspeth slips gladly into unconsciousness only to be met with gruesome visions: Cousland Castle burning down around her, the Archdemon gnashing its great teeth, blood on her hands, so much blood on her hands.

It’s all she knows for some time, until the sound of voices rouses her from her dreams. Ginger lashes flutter against freckled cheeks as she somehow manages to open her eyes. There’s someone picking the lock that binds her left wrist. She blinks wearily. “Zev?” For the first time since throwing down her arms at Cauthrien’s feet, she feels a glimmer of hope. “You came for me.”

#my friend i am so sorry my very first thing for u is so very grim #these were the only circumstance i could think about alksdjk #answered.#corvidblade #v; in her heart shall burn. ( main )#arc; origins.#torture implied cw #torture cw #.02; corvidblade

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atrayo · 3 years

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Jewels of Truth Statements and Favorite Quotes of the Month of November

Hello All,

I hope those of you in the States had a safe and pleasant Thanksgiving Holiday. I haven't posted so much due to some holiday blues. This is the 1st holiday season I'm spending alone. Otherwise, my mother which I'm a caregiver from a distance for the past 9 months. She will be shortly transferred to a long-term skilled nursing facility (SNF) versus her current memory care assisted living facility. (ALF). Due to her deteriorating health conditions overall, thus the holiday blues in part.

Aside from this human drama, I'm still channeling the angels just not as frequently as before. It's always been in cycles of periods of heavy-duty inspirational automatic writing and then periods I enter the doldrums over these 25+ years. Perhaps it's their way to keep me frosty without burning me out throughout the year.

Today's trio of angelic channeled "Jewels of Truth" statements are on the topics of Worship, Humanity Creates God Fulfills, and Divination & Magicks. I've always have channeled as a universal all-inclusive compassionate faith perspective. As if God has no favorite form of spiritual tradition or religion since it is all him in various flavors. Thus I can easily touch briefly on a statement that has Christianity, Hinduism, and Paganism all in one like a melting pot of the glorified heavens eternal.

May you find today's statements intriguing even though they may challenge you spiritually. Which is a good thing for it expands your inventory of possibilities of the Great Mystery of God in earnest. Amen.

Worship:

2989) To the heart that believes and dares to know in impossible realities through God(dess). You shall never be truly alone in the starry heavens of your galaxy and beyond into your cosmos. You are an intrepid knower on the soul level of what is miraculous is very much real to the divine essence of the Creator.

Theology or not, dogma and rhetoric can not withstand the pure heart of an earnest worshipper of the Constant Soul of God(dess). To draw conclusions that sit beyond the safe parameters of the known. No matter if clergy can quantify it or not by cultural faiths and norms. Yours is the conviction of things hoped for but rarely acknowledged as seen and much less heard as common or otherwise as to the wider scope of the metaphysical endless realities.

Here stands the giant of audacity and the trivial fool not willing to take a positive stand with realized merit in action and internal poise of character. Only the driven with an Imagined knowing can seize the powerful and the sacrosanct to behold the Mysticism of an Almighty Living God. Amen. ---Ivan Pozo-Illas / Atrayo.

Humanity Creates, God Fulfills:

2985) To the seeker who realizes many absurd things of his/her own native humanistic reality as skewed. Must acknowledge the differences that exist as a spectrum of potentialities some of which come into unbalanced fruition.

The Divine spiritual and religious traditions globally has been an attempt by humanity to transcend its mundane limitations. Now the Science experiment has replaced the ideations of the gods as angels and/or a Creator spiritually as God in part. It is merely one philosophical doctrine replacing another by evolutionary tendencies that are wholly natural by the arc of the eons of mortal existence.

The Universe is both seeped in the Divine regardless of Xyz of a particular faith tradition. It is also godless without spirituality as each entity as a childlike creation of a cryptic Maker has the liberty to choose within this Great Mystery. To this effect, the point of origin of existence is a paradox of godly/angelic design. It is subjective and objective simultaneously of your very mundane human finite lifetimes.

Each of you are vehicles as projections of the Infinite nature of the Universe extraordinarily so. This Universe is God-centric and it is not. The Universe of immense populated souls times infinite comprehension is just another stratum of higher echelon interpretation of the one Supreme Soul of God(dess). This Universe physical or otherwise metaphysical is just another incarnation of a spirit entity as a child of God. Much like your planet of the earth is Mother Earth as a spiritual sister to the singular Soul of God(dess). Which all life shares as its own rightful incarnation at a greater scale of life is Mother Earth and Father Sky than one mortal lifetime as people are predisposed as lifeforms to date. The Universe is only a subset of the Created children of a Majestic Deity which includes the astral multi-verse of the afterlife. (ie the heavens, limbos, and despicable hells)

Every philosophy dependent on like-kind is an expression trying to grapple with the meaning and function of existence at large. Humanity upon antiquity and before recorded history has always aimed its divinity to the stars of the cosmos. This is aside from the animism of the spiritual glory of the gods as angels found upon the myriad creatures of this earth. With limitless abandon of the afterlife has humanity with Imagination projected its Will of Mankind outwards.

In so far of this projection of the human condition wrapped around the enigma of the divine auspices of the soul of Life itself. Humanity created in its own flawed Image and Likeness to this very era. Be it philosophies as religions, spiritual traditions, the branches of the sciences, and so forth. It is natural and a noble enterprise for any semi-sentient species to attempt in order to embark on realizing its very limitless nature of God in them collectively.

Humanity upon antiquity created Pantheons of lesser deities not unlike the traditions of the human saints as patrons. Where every patron under the proverbial sky is a governor of a certain aspect of your reality in earnest. Be it of the human condition and/or of meteorological wonders and other meta forms of existence as its very misunderstood conundrums. Some succeed in piercing the veils of the astral metaverse of the spiritual continuum of what you term as the supernatural afterlife.

Meaning the afterlife is the angelic playground of the gods and goddesses as the lesser deities of all combined macro-mythologies across all realities simultaneously extraordinaire. Some worshippers of the angels (ie lesser deities) of now mostly dead religions as schools of thought that later became philosophical doctrines of various orders of a similar kind. Whereas the instance of the School of Diana (Artemis) as the ancient Greco-roman goddess. Is an angelic presence of the heavenly Olympus as the astral Kingdom of God in a metaverse all of its own divine nature.

You see where the children of God worship anything whatsoever as real or unreal all that raw spiritual power dynamo of the Soul of God for centuries has to go somewhere. Thus it becomes enchanted by magical or otherwise divine means under the Will of God mysterious as it stands. All myths and Legends are treated as reality upon the spiritual afterlife regardless if it was real or not on Earth and beyond. Anything that a semi-sentient species like humanity upon the cosmos worship through the Meta-Supreme Almighty Soul of God(dess). Becomes christened as a divine keepsake eternal entity given a spirit body as a zeitgeist of its era or society of its subsequent civilization(s) that birthed it philosophically.

Moreover, anything with sufficient reverence as adorations by humanity en masse. Becomes deified by the Will of God(dess) as the Great Mystery Loves to Create Wonders through its Children Forever as Divine Immaculate Law. A perpetual grandiose cause and effect conundrum on a scale that dwarfs comprehension. Of our combined spiritual understandings as mortals having a finite existence as people much less realized as eternal souls.

This is truly a thing of beauty as an unintended consequence of spirituality with timeless repercussions. God enchants through all of its/his/her Infinite Children as spiritual bodies in motion in any reality whatsoever that it is pleased. Humanity is no exception to this rule of cosmic divinity. So the angelic goddess entity of "Artemis/Diana" is man-made fictitious lore of a now-dead religious theological Hellenistic period of humanity. Albeit paradoxically she was born with her twin brother Helios/Apollo god of an angel by the metaphysics explained above. She isn't immortal stalking the earth as the huntress. She is a christened angel a lesser deity as a spirit body created by humanity's ancient greek soulful devotions worshipped spiritually speaking. Over two thousand years plus of worship and a spirit is born upon the astral realms of humanity.

It doesn't end there...Every Spirit Body given life as an angel as holy and unholy that was/is/will be worshipped by humanity across the centuries well into the eons. Is adopted by a like-kind Oversoul real angelic deity of a higher divine reality or echelon of spiritual significance with equal or near-equal similar attributes. So an Oversoul angelic meta-presence wears the humanity created spirit entity like a mask or costume akin to cosplay on a cosmic scale of the afterlife. So the spirit created by humanity as Artemis worshipped for two eons at least is worn like a mask or costume by a legitimate angel of the Lord God as an intercessor with similar like-kind inferences of divine forms. Living out sincerely its own mythology created by humanity as theological at its own discretion as it is required for eternity.

So when certain humans worship deeply in the astral afterlife an angelic vessel spirit body deity is created. Some religions as priestly classes bend the fabric of metaphysical reality to even create philosophies of High Magicks. To interact with said lesser deities (ie Artemis and Apollo) including systems of divination as Oracle spiritual traditions. Much like Michael Angelos's depiction as a ceiling mural of the Sistine Chapel of Man attempting to touch God finger to finger.

Humanity is a carnal rebirth or echo of the vast litany of angelic spiritual species of various stages of soulful eternal evolution. It is the Constant Will of a Living Creator God(dess) to create, recreate as sustaining, to destroy, and so forth in its Supreme Perfect Angelic Image and Likeness Forever. Amen. ---Ivan Pozo-Illas / Atrayo.

Divination & Magicks:

2984) Every form of simplistic to complicated ritualized and technical form of Divination system on Earth. Has its own corresponding High Magicks associated with it. With numerous expressions of energetic spiritual clearings/purifications of space with evocations and Invocations at large. Besides any other accompanying blessings and healings at least in the framework of the heavenly beneficent realms of grace.

This is to showcase to you "Ivan the Atrayo" what you deemed as an entry-level Intuitive holy gift of God. Is far wider and farther than meets the typical eyes, hearts, and minds of a genuine seeker of the divine. To name any form of divination from Viking Runes or your choice of a type of Astrology (ie Western, Indigenous American (ie Mayan, etc...), Vedic, Chinese, and even Babylonian). All these mentioned and countless more in the dozens from the Tarot to Lenormands to regular playing deck of cards and so forth. These can have a generic or a very specific corresponding School of Magicks associated with it as extensions to forms of Oracle Mysticism.

You see that Caribbean Hoo Doo as the folk magicks of VooDoo as a pagan spiritual tradition. Having its onset from the Haitian African Diaspora due to the Colonial Era slave trade of Europe and of the Americans. Had richly held Nigerian Yoruba influences very strongly set when encountered by the Caucasians religion of Christianity where it syncretized itself. So the Catholic Saints such as Mother Mary Queen of Angels and/or Saint Barbara for instance. Were blended together to make a cross-pollinated thing of beauty to such common folk of the Caribbean.

It is no different how the Ancient Greco religion influenced the Ancient Romans and yet again the Cult of Christianity upon Antiquity became the State Religion of the Romans. There are countless instances historically of other forms of spiritually fueled diviners creating and adopting magical interpretations of the divine given their epoch in time. Everything upon Creation is a constant melting pot of creativity for all perceived endless spiritual realities.

For all mortal kind and the heavenly afterlife with the angels as the lesser deities as corresponding anchors to the magicks in question. The global ancestors borrowed from other cultures they encountered as foreigners across routes of mass commerce and by subjugation through warfare. As the world evolved societies have come and gone as territories have become certain empires influenced the ages spiritually.

It is with this plethora of souls that opportunities present themselves time and again. For systems of divinations and subsequent magickal orders are latched onto the angels and lesser deities. To perform and safeguard our better lives as the practitioner sees fit by either faith or secular whims. The Will of God is all-inclusive for it is only the selfish petty whims of humanity that seek to control and centralize what is otherwise abundant not only on Earth but in the Cosmos.

No matter religion or spiritual persuasion no one is turned away that seeks greater spiritual union with the divine by whichever means makes the most sense to them. Thus the Oracle Spiritual Arts and the Magical Branches as Meta-Sciences as your Divine Inheritance of God(dess) have appeal globally no matter the epoch one is located therein. Amen. ---Ivan Pozo-Illas / Atrayo.

You have power over your mind-not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength. ---Marcus Aurelius.

When you feel yourself breaking down, may you break open instead. May every experience in life be a door that opens your heart, expands your understanding, and leads you to freedom. ---Elizabeth Lesser.

Ride the winds of change, unafraid. ---Larry Ward.

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. ---Hebrews 11:1.

My religion is nature. That's what arouses those feelings of wonder and mysticism and gratitude in me. ---Oliver Sacks.

When we are fully alert in spirit, mind, and body, we are more than we imagine and can accomplish more than we suppose. ---Barbara Holmes.

We should appreciate the beauty in the diversity. It would be a boring world, if every flower were the same shape, color, and size. ---Muhammad Ali.

If you want to have a full and happy life, in good times and in bad, you have to get used to the idea that facing misfortune squarely is better than trying to escape from it. ---Norman Fischer.

Ivan "Atrayo" Pozo-Illas, has devoted 25 years of his life to the pursuit of clairvoyant Inspired automatic writing channeling the Angelic host. Ivan is the author of the spiritual wisdom series of "Jewels of Truth" consisting of 3 volumes published to date. He also channels conceptual designs that are multi-faceted for the next society to come that are solutions based as a form of dharmic service. Numerous examples of his work are available at "Atrayo's Oracle" blog site of 15 years plus online. Your welcome to visit his website "Jewelsoftruth.us" for further information or to contact Atrayo directly.

#Jewels of Truth #Atrayo's Oracle #Ivan Pozo-Illas #Angels #automatic writing #inspirational #Psychic #channeler #spirituality #Spirit Guide #spiritual teacher #God #worship #divination #magick #Artemis #apollo #paganism

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stinkysmoothbrain · 4 years

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Plot

Kai (Rough draft Sep 11, 2020)

Origin: Deviltown, A place in hell. He was born in a moving house that is constantly changing to fit its guests, though this may sound nice, its not. The house brings out the deepest part of your mind and bring it to life to occupy it in its 4 walls.

The Moving House is a maze that not many can escape. Every door leads to another and every window leads to another "world" in the house. The more windows and doors you go though the deep you are in the maze. The vents are the only place that does not alter, it is hard to find and many cannot fit through it. Time is not a friend but a mere illusion in the house.

The house is fully aware of everything you do, if you gain its favour they can let you in and out, at its will. But be favoured too much and they might just keep you forever. To be loved by the house is much worse than to be hated. Though to be hated brings out more pain, being loved is a slow burn which prolongs your suffering.

Arcs:

Childhood- Most of his childhood was spent inside the house, he spent so much time there that he lived a thousand lives in it while sustaining his childlike brain and body, He has memorised every nook and cranny of the house and knows which window would lead where. Though the house takes many guests if you observe hard enough there are clues among the 4 walls on how to escape.

The house both despised Kai and loved him, the house could not live without Kai. He [Kai] was its only source of true entertainment, this shook the house to its core. Knowing that the house itself has a weak spot for a mere unwanted child, it was a sign of humanity in a demon.

In denial and vain the house kicked Kai out, with the key to its ever-changing front door. "Promise me that you will come back, the world is ever cruel, as am I, possibly even more. You are my weakness, take my heart and leave. If there ever should be a time you shall return, do not disappoint me as I will make a place for you; a throne, with it you will be my home."

This was Kai's journey, a journey that ends in unhappiness.

Journey through hell- (many things happen here, lots of unnecessary fighting and action scenes, fan service, everything that lead up to train to find the 6th demon sword.) The 6th Demon Sword isnt as powerful as the first nor the third. However it is the most stable, and if used, treated and trained correctly it might as well be the strongest weapon, excluding heaven's arrows ofc. The Sword has been passed on to many underdogs, be it knights, warriors, mages, unruly demons. Never has the sword chose a "Top-dog" [Vain creatures who blame the sword for its weak slices, stabs and casts, rather than their technique of attack.]

Path to unhappiness- The journey begins when Kai, who gets power hungry due to the lack energy he needs to bear when wielding the sword. To solve this problem he searches for companion. Gaining a true companion will benefit both parties if the pair builds a proper friendship or relationship. There are easier ways of gaining ‘easy’ energy but they do not last very long: fornication, (one of the most easiest way to gain energy, leaves the donor feeling lifeless for less than a week.) energy transfer, ( very excruciating but is worth it, recipient wont run out of energy for months, donor gets night terrors, cold sweats and ultimately unstable for the passing months; most do recover but the side effects alter their reality.) Drugs, (energy inducing opium, has little side effects but with persistent intake it will slowly deteriorate your body, there is no known cure for this.) Kai ultimately decides to try looking for companions, after finding out that the easy methods could not satisfy the sword. The sword increases the amount of energy needed every time it feels disdain towards its "owner". Kai heads to Earth, a place which thrives on relationships.

Path to unhappiness (2;Friendships =the longest arc both in terms of story telling and time in the world=)- ~How Kai meets the REDACTED and the other characters. The arc revolves around ultimately Kai's character development but as well as the others. Kai gains humanity blah blah blah.

Journey to unhappiness (3;Light)- Human what do what humans do best, decay. Friendships come to an end and some stay as strong as a lone sapling in the ground through a hurricane. This arc revolves Kai's unhappiness; confronting his friends about mortality. His friends die one by one refusing his offer on becoming immortal with him. (Being immortal isn't an easy mission, you would have to sacrifice everything you think is factual, not to mention the agony you would have to endure for a few hundred years to fully become immortal.) One friend was willing to give up everything to be immortal, REDACTED. This decision led up to the destruction of Kai; his unhappiness commencing.

Journey to unhappiness (4; The End)- REDACTED, the sweet, bubbly, the overall personification of what happiness is; to Kai, disappeared. Personality alteration is little especially when it came to the mission of immortality, most be more "themselves", more "refined" when going through immortality, REDACTED didn't. She had turned into a whole other person, a person that was locked and buried deep in her, a concept of her that was never meant to ever see the light. REDACTED became all of what she never wanted to become.

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beacon-sanctuary · 4 years

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Chapter 2: Class decisions and dorm warfare for the win!

introduction, Ch.1

Note to self: next time Bean and Merlin fight, get popcorn, and maybe grab wall rubble, I’m not a hoarder, scouts honor~

I looked up at the teachers with stars in my eyes, everyone was so cool! Plus, I got a head pat-so that’s even better! Ugh, why’d you guys have to make so hard to choose a class, hmmm let’s put our suspects, up shall we? Looking at the professors, I saw the grumpy Alchemist guy, his pale wood patterned skin shone in the lights above as once more those dang amber eyes of his bore into my mind. Like chill man, how can putting a baton in your jacket be mind warfare?! Huff, he looked so cool during the show but ehhh, too strict for me.

Well, Rasputin’s a no I guess, number 2, Louis Armstrong, seems like a fun guy, buuut I have no musical talent, got two left feet, voice sounds like a banshee bleh, ain’t a good fit. It’s not you Louis it’s me, sorry man. Onto suspect 3, Hobo Billy the kid, chill, kinda dusty, but I’m not stealthy, wouldn’t have light-up shoes if I was after all. Suspect 4 come on down! Here we have Joan of Arc, awesome sword wielder and dealer of cherished head pats, 9/10 we might have a winner here people.

Now onto suspe-oh no megaphone man’s back, just in case, I pulled my beanie over my ears, no hearing loss for me.

“Ah, jolly good show everyone! It was quite a sight to see, I must say, now children, if that display did not solidify your choice-well buck up! We’ve decided to allow our professors the chance to remind you of their profession and the meaning behind each class! And remember no class is better or worse than the ot-”

“Guerillas are best, don’t listen to the loudspeaker” Izusa jabbed in

“Heheheh, Izusa I am glad for your class pride still runs deep, but we are headmasters, after all, we need to be unbiased! Let our bright youths decide for themselves!”

“Unbiased, you have your freaking Knight necktie on” She fired back motioning to his stripped blue silver tie which he straightened.

“Well, of course, one must never forget their roots after all, and even though I myself favored our knights here, this is not-” Before he could finish, a sharp “Shush” interjected. Professor Blum strode forward hand massaging his temple.

“If we listen to this squabble any longer, we shall not move anywhere, and I would like to return to my facility before night comes if you don’t mind.” Fixing his overcoat, the amber eyes of the earth magi quickly returned to the crowd, piercing them with a cool stare as he began to speak once more.

“To you lot” he admonished us snapping his arm, “Listen well, for I shall only say this once. Despite what the news or the media has led you to believe, Alchemists are those who study and pick apart the gears of magic and the world for all its worth.” When he said news and media he spat out each word as if it were venom in his mouth, and as he began to go on, the methodical style of his speech began to ebb more into a stately passion.

“We are no mere scientists, we are alchemists! The fusion of creativity and scientific reasoning to understand, this little thing we call magic. Despite the moniker of “Youngest class,” Human, Magi, or whatever in between that’s shuffled about on this rock has always been curious of this force in our world. Whether you trace our origins to the wizards and warlocks of old, or to the Alchemists of which we’ve gained our title, we are both and neither of our predecessors!”

Pacing a bit, he calmed his voice back down as he continued on, “Were our ancestors simply explored the capabilities or tried to pick apart magic for their own uses, we have a different goal. We carry the light of knowledge, illuminating the unknown for our fellow people so that they may find comfort in said findings. If you choose this path, burn this into your mind! If you have no passion or hunger for finding the secrets of magic and our world, then as soon as you enter my facility, you. shall. be. Gone! I do not want to hear your complaining, “Oh it’s too hard,” or, “ Oh, it’s too boring” for if I see one hint of uninterest in your eyes, I'll throw you out myself! For if you have no passion or drive in your field what is the point of you? Now then,”

After a long sigh, he quietly composed himself, “if you feel this is right for you, step forward now.” he crooned out. And to my left, I felt a rustle beside me Orion groaned up and walked towards the old magi, he gave me a two-finger salute and lazily walked forward. And as everyone saw him go, bit by bit more people stood in front of Rasputin, as each was handed some black clothes in a bag. And as if on cue, a sharp whistle broke the silence, bringing all our eyes on Billy the kid.

“Alright, kiddos eyes on me for a sec’. Thanks to ole grandpa given that essay, I’ll be straight with ya. Guerillas are the rebels, outlaws, anarchists, or whatever they call us now. Where there's some rules we break 'em, were there's laws we go past 'em. We be the judge of those in power, that roarin' flame under they feet that keep our leaders in check. And if they go too far, well, this lil' fire finna burst into an inferno I'll promise ya that. If ya got freedom and rebellion in ya chest. We yo people, see a riot, we in there, see a protest, we in there, and if you see a revolution? Hoo boy, you sure as heck know we in there! We carry the light of freedom and change, always there to stop a leader if they go too far and if they do, we gon' hold 'em accountable and make somethin' new. If my words struck home, we be happy to have ya, welcome to the family kiddos.” legs dangling over the stage the professor watched as the future Guerillas approached, heck even one girl flew up and gave a high five to him. Thanks to her wings, she was an air magi, had some golden-brown wings and storm grey hair, and perched atop the stage as her classmates rushed up too.

At my right, I heard a grunt as freaking Joan of Arc hopped off her pommel and kicked the sword in her hand like it was nothing! Yup, definitely joining her I don’t care what anyone says-Imma be a knight!

“Heh, alrighty, may as well start, hmph” She grunted, holding her sword in a rigid pose. If I’m being honest her face looked like she was constipated “to be a knight you be gallant, focused measured precise and powerful, my children take up arms your calling is nye it is time for a crusade! We shall take back the holy land,Deus vult, DEUS VU-pfffft, heheheh, sorry I had to” she chuckled leaning on her sheath “Oh, that never gets old, ok serious time now” she took in a breath to speak but

“Ah, it seems the impossible did happen, you being serious” Rasputin interjected walking past her, to this he received a light snicker

“Listen I can be serious sometimes, on occasion, when I feel like it, every few years. But, as I was saying before mister essay interrupted me, Knights are old as heck alright, we’re the first beacons, defend people for generations, all that good stuff. But just cause we got knight in our name, don’t mean we’re Chivalrous, glistening warriors who vanquish evil to the ends of the earth that’s only a third of the pie, we’re not just warriors, we’re healers and guardians kids. The sword, shield, and healing hand, we become that light. We guard against the dark and give people a haven. In more than one way! So,” she said resting her sword over her shoulders,

“If you want to be a knight, grab some chainmail and a tunic from the stage and come to my class tomorrow. I’d be happy to have you” She winked strolling out. Yeeep, I’m all in let’s freaking go! I cheered in my mind, but I had a feeling I had a dopey smile on my face all the same.

After that, not much else happened, learned about the other two classes, Artificers, basically artists, builders, and all that fun stuff that entertains or helps people. And seekers, explorers, and stuff, always run headfirst into the unknown and hard to pin down. But by the end I got some bag of clothes and a rune stone. It was a smooth navy-blue rock with a messed-up F burnt into it. It felt warm and hummed a bit in my hand as I turned a bit, it was like a weird magic compass to my dorm I guess, this is so cool! Welp, into your prison-I mean my bag little guy. As I was putting my stone back in my bag, a gun shot made me nearly drop it on the ground.

“Gah! what is this, give Eir a heart attack day?!” I mumbled clamping my stone as Headmaster Ortiz cleared his throat.

“Knights, Alchemists, Seekers, Guerillas, and Artificers, thank you all for continuing in the protection of Human-Magi kind. This is the first step of your journey as Beacons! For even having the courage to step up this far, you should be proud! Bully indeed for you! I already can see great potential in all of you, all I can say is good luck, and may your lights always shine bright.” He finished his final speech and gave us all a hearty laugh and warm smile before walking into the back as Izusa made her way to speak.

“Alright Torches, like the headmaster megaphone said, this is your start, remember you all wanted this, so get ready, tomorrow starts four years of hell, have fun~” she sang away into the darkness from whence she came.

After the speeches of fluff and doom we all dispersed to our new dorms, which for some freaking reason was on the of the fort! School’s in the middle, makes sense, access to everything, but the dorms. At the very edge of the freaking coast, who designed this and where can I smack them with my bag? I’m going helicopter them so bad won’t know what hit them. But still, I walked to my dorm. Weird F rune dash 5 as the stone in my hand vibrated more and more the closer I got to my door. The jade-gold rune patterned carpet sat atop a shining wood floor and the air had a scent of strangely chocolate, and fire?

“Who’s burning something?” I thought aloud, but right as the words came out of my mouth, the wall right across from me shattered as a flaming girl bulldozed through while a hand patted me on the head. Whirling my head from side to side I saw Orion standing besides me snickering at the dragon girl. She had two jagged black horns sticking out of her messy flame like curls. She was short but had a stocky frame, I think I even saw a few muscles if I’m being honest. And as I saw her gold eyes stare daggers at Orion(nickname still pending) a wicked smile seared across her face, disrupting the red scales upon her cheeks.

“Orio get back over here so I can hit ya!” She growled in her rough voice, to which Orion strolled across from me with a playful shrug

“nahhh, don’t really feel like it sunflower, good offer though, you’re getting’ better at em, I’m proud!”

“Tsk, I told ya before, I ain’t no little flower, I am the sun!” she yelled crouching down for probably another charge. Orion chuckled as he held his free hand at his ear

“Uh, say that again white dwarf, I ain’t hear ya~” he teased, and at that my eyes even glared at him,

“Please don’t my ears have suffered enough for a day!” I groaned,

But as at the girl, it seemed like she physically had a tick mark on her head as the whole room heated up to 90 degrees. I had to take off my hat and fan myself, what the freak did he say to make her that mad? But unfortunately, I got no answer as the girl barreled forward with a battle cry. Careening towards Orion before I saw him poof out of existence in a blue flash before reappearing behind the solar magi. He placed a hand on her back and caused it to steam, but what instantly caught my attention was two words that slithered from his mouth.

“Liga Hostem” he said, and yanked his hand back as multiple black and blue chains wrapped around the girl, battling against the fire and the light she gave off. Making the hallway as wicked battle of heat and cold. Gasping from excitement I rapidly said

“You used a binding spell! It’s not the full incantation but that’s still awesome! Wait, your element doesn’t usually go into that unle-“

“let’s save this for later, I ain’t tryin’ be bbq magi over here” to further his point the girl took in a deep breath and bellowed out a stream of flames in the boy’s direction, cursing under his breath Orion slammed his hand on the ground and cried

“Fortifico!” as a black and blue hexagon of swirling void, blocked the incoming flames, and as soon as the barrier was released, the girl charged forward with an knee aimed at Orion’s fac, he rolled back and threw a punch at her stomach, but she brushed it to the side. Back and forth they parried and dodged each other’s blows like clockwork. Oh I wish I had popcorn, this is so good, but sadly before the fight could continue, the door behind me slammed open as I saw a baby face looking Asian guy with, a long, rat tail… Oh its him, time to give him a piece of my wait why is he my dorm mate?!

“QUIET” the pale faced boy roared, on his face was now a pair of jade, metallic looking goggles, and as soon as he looked at the two magi his face grew a face of sheer disgust. “Ugh, just typical of their kind, arrogant and loud beyond measure. You two, cease this disturbance immediately, I am trying to work. “ he screamed in his childlike voice waving a large wrench at the two.

“Hey, angery baby man, shush.” Said angery baby man looked agasp and was about to say something before I said

“Oi, ya owe me an apology from earlier, what was your deal?” I demaded looking over my shoulder

“just my luck, of course I’m roomed with you of all people.” He rolled his eyes

“Me of all people?! Square up baby man, lets go!”

“First of all, I am not, a baby man. My name is Lin Su-Wang, and I am not fighting a munchkin.”

And this is how this went for like thirty minutes, four people either fighting or yelling at each other before, nothing, I really can’t remember what happened afterwards, only thing is I woke up with a pain in my neck for some reason. Weird, buuut yeah, this was one interesting first day.

Day one-completed! :)

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recurring-polynya · 5 years

Text

It is time for the most important meta I have ever done:

When, Exactly, Did Rukia and Renji Hook Up?

When we first meet Renji, he and Rukia haven’t spoken to each other in 40 years. Seven months after the Thousand Year Blood War Arc, they get hitched. We’re… we’re missing something. Somewhere in the middle there, they started kissing, and to be honest, it could have been anywhere. I’m gonna run through the possibilities and give my personal rating on their likelihood.

We will not be considering whether or not they hooked up prior to their separation, that is a topic for another time. Out of respect for your dash, I shall put all of this under a cut.

Let’s go:

1. Very Quickly. Just Right Away.

Look, this is not as unlikely as it seems. We know Renji already had Big Plans to resume contact. They had motive, for sure: A bunch of jail-related emotional tension. Rukia feeling Renji’s reiatsu go to dark not once, but twice. The Catch. Running down all those steps. ‘I’ll never let her go, you bastard.’ Unfortunately, all this ends with Renji getting carted off to the Coordinated Relief Station and Rukia fussing over Byakuya, so we can’t really imagine a big, romantic, off-panel “We lived!” smooch.

HOWEVER, we do get this (with bonus: Byakuya’s faaaaaaace):

Ichigo has lost Rukia, and the first person he asks is Renji. It would be generally in-character for Renji to reply with “How should I know where she is?” but he doesn’t, which implies that someone demanding Rukia’s whereabouts (in front of Byakuya, no less) of him is very normal and reasonable. He didn’t talk to her for 40 years, and within a week, he’s the go-to guy for finding her? Hmm. Hmmmmmmmm.

Likelihood: It could have happened. Look, I love slow burn, just, like, an unreasonable amount, but I am also utterly charmed by the idea that they’ve been apart so long that they decide not to waste any more time and just straight-up start making out in the waiting room while waiting for Byakuya to get out of surgery.

2. Between the Soul Society Arc and the Advance Team Arc

Something happened in this period, because when they show up in the Human World, they have all these...joint moves? Look at this adorable crap:

They’re always together and they... touch each other a lot? Also, look at this friggin’ smoulder!!!

Likelihood: Not actually very high, but I’m into it. The main thing that makes me skeptical here is that they actually act less like a couple in later storylines.

3. During the Advance Team/Hueco Mundo Arc:

Nah, brah.

For starters, they are only in the Living World together for about three days before Rukia goes back to Soul Society and A Lot happens during that time. There is a short period between when Rukia and Renji get recalled to Soul Society and when they show up in Hueco Mundo, but I imagine they were pretty busy sneaking around and also Rukia in particular was pretty stressed out about Orihime’s kidnapping, not very conducive to romance. Also, their dynamic doesn’t really change throughout this storyline. So either they were already hooked up, or it happened later, but it didn’t happen here.

Likelihood: Low.

4. During the Timeskip:

A lot of people go for this one, and it’s hard to argue with, because we’ve got a year and a half of not seeing them and when they show up again, it’s clear they’ve been Living Their Best Lives: Rukia has gone from unseated to Vice-Captain, and Renji has grown out his hair and started showing off his pecs.

The shinigami only show up at the tail end of the Fullbringer Arc, but even so, it’s clear that Renji and Rukia are close-- when Byakuya brings Rukia back from her fight with Riruka, he immediately hands her off to Renji, although to be fair, I feel like Byakuya hands things to Renji all the time when he’s tired of dealing with them. All the other captains go home at some point and they tell Rukia to stick around with Ichigo, and Renji just stays, too, without fanfare. Later, though we find out that Renji was the one who brought Ginjo’s body back to Soul Society (why is it utterly unsurprising that “moving bodies” a thing Byakuya makes Renji do???), so maybe he was sticking around for that.

Why am I so skeptical about this? Mostly because Renji is tremendously weird during the Fullbringer arc. First, he starts talking about what a nice guy the Captain-Commander is??? And then he gives that awful, terrible, ‘I don’t hit women’ speech while fighting Jackie. UGH I HATE IT.

There’s an episode of the Bount Arc where Rukia, who has been injured, gets out of bed and makes Renji take her to Ichigo’s fight where she then gives the Karakura kids a ten-minute speech about not interfering in other peoples’ fights. I honestly like to think that Renji has a bad head cold in the Fullbringer Arc, and he’s on the same medicine Squad 4 gave Rukia in that episode. It is the only explanation I will accept.

Likelihood: Sure, I guess? Insufficient evidence.

5. Before Thousand Year Blood War:

The first time we see them in this storyline, they are definitely Old Married Coupling it up:

After the Quincy show up and start taking names, both Ichigo and Byakuya worry about the both of them in one breath. They’re shown lying in the rubble together in dual shots, even though they’re halfway across the Seireitei from each other, and then they share a hospital room. Wait, what? They share a hospital room? Jeez, yeah, they’re together.

Likelihood: It’s highly likely that they’re together at this time, but I don’t see any particular evidence that it would happen after the Fullbringer Arc but before the TYBW. More like retroactive evidence for “in the timeskip.”

6. In the Royal Realm

Welp. This happened:

These pages are a goddamn gift.

They very awkwardly refer to each other as “a friend,” which indicates to me that they are not, in fact a couple at this point. I will extremely defer to anyone who has read this in the original Japanese.

BUT AFTERWARDS, they show up in matching outfits, and start wrecking people. God, I love them as a power couple. I love it when they swing into action together. I love that they trust and depend on each other enough to just be like, “Okay, babe, you take care of this guy, I’ll see you later.” I love it that they know each so well that they know each other’s weaknesses.

There’s a brief interlude where they split up so they can each have a big Signature Fight, but aside from that, they share panel time constantly up until the end of the arc, when Renji hauls Ichigo back onto his feet to go fight Yhwach. Renji’s speech to Ichigo makes more sense to me if Renji and Rukia did just get together in the Royal Realm, rather than having been together for some time.

Likelihood: It’s honestly hard to believe that they haven’t gotten together by this point, but they are both kinda boneheads. And narratively, I love the idea that they get together at this point. I’d say it’s my fav, but maybe they’re all my fav??

7. After the TYBW

We Do Knot Always Love You is lame.

There. I said it.

HOW is there an entire NOVEL about them getting married, and it is not romantic at all and we never find out how they got together and there’s no proposal scene and like, it’s funny that Byakuya can’t seem to process any of this, but it’s also profoundly UNSATISFYING?!!?

Anyway, I feel like WDKALY would have us believe they got together after the war, and I GUESS, but unless you’re willing to do the work of providing some romantic story out of it, this is the lamest possible point for them to get together. I disapprove.

Likelihood: Canonically, high. In my heart, very low.

So what is the upshot, Polynya? When did it happen?

The answer, friends, is that it is unknowable. In the epilogue timeskip, they basically haven’t changed at all. They’re just a couple of salty goobs who make eyes at each other all the time and express their love for each other by punching other people in the face. This is a huge part of what makes them so compelling to me-- you could write 1000 fanfics of them getting together at literally any time in their relationship, and it would work and be canon compliant.

Feel free to send me your opinions, I am willing to talk about this topic until I die.

#renruki #rukia kuchiki #renji abarai #bleach meta #otp #the infinite jest of bleach metaposts #this would have so many more pics if tumblr would let me #is this...a fanfic punch list?#if this isn't your jam please just move along

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